Afghanistan

Students Have New Curriculum; Access Still Limited

Afghanistan’s schoolchildren have a new curriculum and textbooks that emphasize mathematics, science and literacy, while still incorporating elements of daily Islamic life.

The curriculum was developed by a commission of 100 teachers, experts and professionals – 15 of whom are women. English will be taught from fourth through 12th grade, instead of starting in seventh grade, as it did under the previous governments. Computer studies will gradually be made mandatory, starting in Kabul, where there is enough electricity and equipment. Lessons in human rights and logic will also be included.

Despite the progress represented by the new curriculum, immense problems still exist. According to education authorities in Afghanistan, approximately 1.5 million children cannot attend school because there are not enough classes or teachers. More than 70 percent of the country’s educational infrastructure has been destroyed, and of the 5,063 existing school buildings, approximately 3,525 need major repairs.

Hamid Kharzi, president of the transitional government, has established a high commission on education, which UNESCO supports. The commission is charged with identifying the country’s immediate educational needs and problems; formulating proposals for education objectives, policy and development strategies for the revival of education in Afghanistan; and how these should be enshrined in the new constitution. The commission will present its work to Afghan authorities in Kabul in May.

— Institute for War and Peace Reporting
April 15, 2003

Australia

Firm’s Acquisition of Chinese University Breaks New Ground

Perth-based Amnet Ltd. has become the first foreign investor to buy a university in China and incorporate the institution into its operations.

The company bought HaiLian University in Chongqing for US$16 million in cash and shares in 2002. The university includes three schools – for primary, secondary and vocational education – and offers degree courses in civil engineering, banking and finance, hospitality, information technology and performing arts.

Enrollment at Chongqing’s first private university grew to 5,000 after the first semester. Amnet is confident HaiLian will reach its full capacity of 10,000 students in the near future. Under its new ownership, the university will soon offer English-language programs supplied by RMIT University in Melbourne and the Edith Cowan University in Perth.

Following the last Communist Party congress, the government established the legal framework for foreign involvement in educational institutions. Over the past two years, it has set down interim regulations on foreign involvement in education institutions and has released working papers encouraging direct investment in education (other than the provision of courses).

— Campus Review
Feb. 11, 2003

Unique Knowledge Management Program Begins

The University of Melbourne recently launched a master’s degree program in knowledge management, believed to be the only dedicated, cross-disciplinary course of its kind in the world.

The program offers a postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma and a master’s degree. Each course is designed to provide the skills and experience needed to facilitate the development and coordination of knowledge management strategies in a complex economic environment.

— Campus Review
Feb. 19-26, 2003

University of Southern Queensland Moving into US Market

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has announced plans to establish a USQ International College in Seattle as part of an alliance of Australian and U.S. higher education institutions.

University Vice Chancellor Peter Swannell said the college will be a joint venture with Washington state’s Green River Community College and New York state’s Excelsior College, and the first intake of students was expected in July. Under the agreement, USQ will establish a college in Kent, Wash., enabling USQ’s programs to be offered in Seattle by supported distance education in partnership with alliance members.

The alliance will open a gateway for USQ to offer its distance education programs in the US, with community college students getting advanced standing into USQ courses.

It will extend to allied institutions of the US-based colleges and USQ’s Australian TAFE partners, the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE and TAFE International, WA. Students from the Australian technical colleges will earn a formal pathway to gain a degree in the US, with credits for their Australian study.

— USQ news release
March 13, 2003

Chinese Numbers Swell Among Foreign Students

Recent figures from the Department of Education, Science and Training reveal that an estimated 140,000 foreign students took courses through Australian universities in 2002. The recruiting agency IDP Education Australia says this number could be as high as 160,000. Approximately 88 percent were on campus in Australia, while the remainder was enrolled as external students, who by and large were in their home countries.

Of the 38,000-plus foreign students who completed their courses, half were awarded bachelor degrees and just under a third were awarded master degrees. More than 600 students graduated with doctorates.

Chinese students – the biggest ethnic group among the foreign students – comprised about half the 95,000 or so Asians enrolled. The number from mainland China grew 44 percent in a single year, and China now represents the fourth-largest source market for Australian higher education, after Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

— Campus Review
April 2-8, 2003

3 Colleges Merge to Form Swan TAFE

In Perth, Western Australia, three technical and further education (TAFE) colleges have merged to form Swan TAFE.

The merger of South East Metro, Midland TAFE and the Balga campus of West Coast TAFE will allow more than 40,000 students to access some form of training when Swan TAFE opens for business. The head office of the new TAFE will be in Midland and will comprise five main campuses and a number of smaller ones. The six curriculum divisions are: metals, mining and engineering; building services and construction; aeronautical and transportation; hospitality, manufacturing and allied services; business, finance and computer services; and community and cultural services.

— Campus Review
Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2003

Cambodia

Khmer Rouge Years Struck From Syllabus

Since 1979, most educators in Cambodia have chosen silence as the best approach to the subject of the Khmer Rouge, partly due to the fact that no textbook in a decade has touched on it. However, in late 2001, the Education Ministry decided to include a new section on the bloody years of Pol Pot’s rule in 12th grade social-science textbooks.

A few months later that decision appeared to end. Politicians accused the government of a biased account of the 1993 general election, a turning point in modern Cambodia, and the book was recalled. Officials say they are working on an updated edition, but refuse to say when it will be completed. Teachers say they have no option but to strike the period 1975 to1979 from classes.

Despite the ministry’s claims that it has not yet issued a new version, copies of the book, minus the final chapter, mysteriously are on sale in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Chhut Sereyrum, a member of the committee that drafted the 2001 textbook, admits the historical account leaves many questions unanswered, including how some Khmer Rouge leaders were never prosecuted and how others live in prosperity today. He believes the solution is to hold a war-crimes tribunal and lay the ghosts to rest. He adds that it is still very difficult to teach history from that period because many leaders are still in power, and careless comments could leave dissenters in trouble.

To others this is unacceptable, given the wealth of evidence against the Khmer Rouge. Teachers in some schools are covering this period anyway, often using supplementary texts, such as survivors’ accounts of their suffering.

Youk Chhang, director of the independent Documentation Center of Cambodia, believes that instead of waiting for a state-sanctioned tribunal, committee members should conduct research for their textbooks. “They don’t understand the difference between history and propaganda,” he said.

— The Christian Science Monitor
Feb. 12, 2003

China

Work Starts on New Shanghai Graduate School

The University of Science and Technology (CUST) in eastern Anhui province is establishing a graduate school in Shanghai. The school is scheduled to start student recruitment in September for its programs in modern management, software information and life sciences.

The business school of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Asian Research Institute of Microsoft will cooperate with CUST in terms of supplying academics for the new school. It is hoped that the institution will provide skilled employees for Shanghai’s rapidly developing hi-tech Pudong New District and the prosperous Yangtze River Delta.

— People’s Daily Online
Jan. 15, 2003

Rural China Suffers from Escalating College Fees

In a country where education was once fully subsidized by the government, many rural families are now finding tuition fees beyond their means, a trend that threatens to widen the yawning divide between China’s haves and have-nots. The funds that once allowed high-achieving students to attend college no matter what their economic backgrounds are no longer available. Instead, families now have to save, borrow and fight debt to give their children an opportunity.

Through Confucian teachings and thousands of years of history, China has instilled a great reverence for education as a means of self–improvement. According to the Los Angeles Times, only 6 percent of Chinese adults have higher degrees, so many parents are willing to sacrifice whatever necessary to put their children through college, as it provides a source of great pride and is also seen as a ticket to raising a family’s social and economic conditions. Students who pass China’s highly competitive college entrance exams are assigned a college. If they cannot afford to go, they rarely have another choice. Student work programs do not exist, and low-interest bank loans, though being started, are thin on the ground.

Cuts in public funding forced institutions of higher education to raise their fees more than 20 percent a year between 1990 and 1997. In rural areas, annual college expenses can amount to five times the household income, comparable to a U.S. family with a $30,000 annual income having to pay $150,000 in education costs. Today’s saturated job market in China provides no guarantee for a return on a graduate’s educational investment. Competition for jobs is so fierce that the Education Ministry has recently made employment for college graduates a top priority.

— Los Angeles Times
Dec. 27, 2002

Study Reveals Teacher Shortage

By 2005, China will have to recruit approximately 110,000 university professors, says a report by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The report, China’s first research document on education and human resources, states that the student/teacher ratio should be 15 students per teacher by 2005 and that 2008 will mark the peak number of entrance-age students (124 million).

The document states that due to a lack of resources, only half of those wishing to attend an institution of higher education get the opportunity.

— China Daily
Feb. 19, 2003

Hefei University to Add 16 Doctorate Programs

The Chinese University of Science and Technology in Hefei plans to add 16 doctorate programs after receiving approval from the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council.

The doctorate degrees involve new and cross-disciplinary fields that the Xinhua News Agency describes as “sorely needed in China.”

The programs are: biology mathematics, mathematics physics, recyclable clean energy, space environment science, structural biology, biology-related information technology, biology engineering mechanics, material and design micro-mechanics, information security for both electronic information engineering and computer science, synchrotron radiation and application, finance engineering, business intelligence, assessment engineering and media management.

— Xinhua News Agency
Feb. 28, 2003

22 Universities to Test Alternative Admissions Policies

The Ministry of Education recently gave 22 universities greater freedom in admissions policies. In a trial run this year, universities will be testing a system of selecting students through methods other than the traditional entrance exam.

Universities will be able to interview students who come recommended from their high school. Universities will also run background checks on the prospective students, and then make a decision based on their own standards, which will differ from institution to institution.

Qualified candidates are those with provincial-level awards or those from the top 15 percent of their class. Although the process will only apply to 5 percent of the total number of incoming students at each university, a recruiting officer at Qinghua University revealed, “This move is seen as a challenge to the long-standing policy of using the national entrance exam score as the only standard.”

— China Daily, Hong Kong Edition
March 13, 2003

GRE to Electronically Test Again, SARS permitting

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test will be delivered in two parts in China and Korea by July, the United States-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) revealed in March. The Analytical Writing section will be administered electronically, while the Verbal and Quantitative sections will still be paper-based.

Last October, the computerized GRE exam returned to paper after several Chinese Web sites provided questions and answers to the test. However, illegible Analytical Writing essays in November’s written test led to grading problems.

In July, ETS will apply new software to ensure the validity of the written test. The software detects identical use of language – one of the red flags from last October’s cheating episode.

More recently, ETS had to temporarily suspend the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the Test of Spoken English (TSE) and the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) in China due to health concerns related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). According to ETS, the postponement will affect 30,000 TOEFL, 500 TSE and 3,000 GMAT registrants scheduled to take the tests through July 31. Since testing for the GRE is not scheduled to resume in China until July 1, officials at ETS say they hope the situation will be resolved by then.

Details of new testing regulations, fees and registration are available on the GRE Web site.

— China Daily, Hong Kong Edition
March 21, 2003

New Regulations Encourage Foreign Universities to Operate in China

New regulations on Sino-foreign joint schools clearly define the ground rules for foreign universities wishing to establish joint degree programs with Chinese universities. The new rules will add more transparency to the bureaucracy of China’s education system and will encourage foreign universities to expand their presence in China, the Ministry of Education hopes.

Effective Sept. 1, the laws grant Chinese legal protection and “preferential” treatment to foreign universities that open programs in China.

The new rules allow foreign universities to grant diplomas and certificates bearing their names only, a break from the past, when diplomas and certificates offered in joint-degree programs had to include the name of the host Chinese university. Although foreign universities still legally need a sponsoring university, the move is seen as giving more autonomy to foreign institutions.

The regulations specifically encourage cooperation in introducing the advanced academic courses and teaching materials in higher and vocational education that are in urgent demand in China. Subjects involving the military, police and politics are, however, strictly off limits, as are religious institutions and foreign independently run programs.

— China Daily
April 5, 2003

Hong Kong

Scottish University Provides Hong Kong Students a Lifeline

Interactive University (IU), set up by staff from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University, is offering 30,000 students free access to their resources for the next four months. Students will be able to study online for exams while schools and colleges are closed because of the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. The deal between IU and Hong Kong authorities provides a lifeline for Hong Kong students sitting A-levels and Highers this summer.

— The Times Higher Education Supplement
May 1, 2003

India

Mumbai-Based Authority to Regulate Minority Institutions

After a number of meetings, the State Cabinet arrived at consensus on amendments to its higher education policy in response to a Supreme Court judgment on minority and private education institutes in Maharashtra.

The Mumbai-based Educational Institute Regulatory Authority (EIRA) will fix college fees and, starting in 2004, establish minority quotas for colleges run by minority education institutes. It will also regulate higher and technical education courses through eight university sub-centers. A separate authority will regulate medical colleges.

Foreign universities running educational courses in Maharashtra will also have to be registered with EIRA. Central Entrance Tests (CET) will be conducted for admission to medical and management courses. There will be no CETs for engineering courses; instead, students will be admitted on the basis of Higher Secondary Certificate exam results.

— Mumbai Newsline
March 25, 2003

Sylvan Offering Dual-Degree Courses

The South Asia International Institute in Hyderabad, under the aegis of Sylvan International Universities Network, will begin offering two dual-degree programs in August.

The institution will seek “deemed university” status. In the first two years, the five-year integrated programs will be: bachelor’s in technology and master’s in technology; or bachelor’s in technology and master’s in business administration, in one of three areas: computer science and engineering, telecommunication or engineering and electronics engineering.

— The Times of India
March 18, 2003

14 RECs Upgraded to NIT Status

On June 26, 2002, India upgraded 10 Regional Engineering Colleges (REC) to the status of National Institutes of Technology (NIT), along the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). Four more RECs were subsequently upgraded, and three more are under review.

The move to restructure the framework of RECs was done to address the demand in India for scientific and technical manpower at the earliest and in the most cost-effective way. Rather than set up costly new IIT institutions, RECs that already had the existing infrastructure were upgraded to allow for more autonomy through “Deemed University” status.

Like the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission into an IIT, the All-India Engineering Examination is conducted for admission to NITs. Although the NITs have been fashioned along the lines of the IITs, Minister of Human Resource Development Murli Manohar Joshi stressed that they would not be in the same league.

“The IIT brand name will be protected,” the minister said. “That is why admission to NITs will be done through the AIEE and not the JEE.”

June 26, 2002:

• Allahabad
• Bhopal
• Calicut
• Hamirpur
• Jaipur
• Kurukshetra
• Nagpur
• Rourkela
• Silchar
• Surthkal

Since June 26, 2002:

• Jalandhar
• Jamshedpur
• Surat (Sardar)
• Warangal

Under Review:

• Durgapur
• Srinigar
• Tiruchirapalli (Tiruchi)

— Department of Education
June 28, 2002

New Regulations on Foreign Researchers Worry Scientists

New guidelines requiring Indian universities to seek clearance from the federal government before inviting foreign scholars or before collaborating with foreign institutions of education have Indian researchers worried about the effects on academic freedom.

The guidelines were passed down by the Ministry of Human Resource Development earlier this year. The ministry cited “national interests from [a] political security and sensitivity angle.” Essentially, the new guidelines mean India’s 16 central universities are now required to gain permission from the ministry before entering into any agreement, in both sensitive and nonsensitive areas, with foreign institutions.

The guidelines stipulate that when applying for foreign collaboration, Indian universities must provide details of activities to be undertaken, cost estimate and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation. Permission must also be gained to invite foreign scholars, visiting professors and participants in international conferences.

— SciDev.Net
April 4, 2003

India Looks to Fill U.S. Need for Trained Nurses

Across India thousands of nurses are studying for licensing exams and dreaming of better jobs in the United States, where an acute shortage of nurses has caused hospitals to look ever further abroad for nurses with graduate degrees, fluency in English and at least three years’ experience.

Previously, recruiters used the human resource markets in the Philippines, Ireland and Canada to find English-speaking nurses – but these sources apparently are drying up. It is hailed by some as the next revolution, and since the collapse of the Internet boom has cooled demand for India’s technology workers, this may well be the case.

In response to the demand for Indian nurses, training and recruiting companies are springing up across India to prepare nurses for American jobs. In the central Indian city of Nagpur, Dhanananjay Gawande is one among many, diversifying from training software experts to training nurses. “This business is hot,” he said.

While demand for Indian nurses in the United States is strong, experts do not expect the exodus to reach the levels of Indian software programmers in the 1990s during the Internet boom. Difficulty getting visas is one reason. Nurses can apply for an H1C work visa, but only 500 are granted each year.

Those lobbying in Washington for eased immigration laws covering nurses cite the projections of the U.S. government’s own Health Resources and Services Administration that vacant nursing positions, which now total more than 110,000, will exceed 700,000 by 2020.

— The New York Times
Feb. 10, 2003

Japan

Downsizing Tertiary Education

According to an Education Ministry report issued in January, at least 35 of Japan’s 99 national universities are planning mergers within the next three years.

The number of high school students has dropped between 20 percent and 25 percent since 1985, to less than 4 million. Although enrollments at national universities have risen in recent years, institutions still face the prospect of declines. A recent Economist article forecasts that by 2009, the number of university applicants will match the number of places offered. Junior colleges have been facing falling enrollments since 1993.

Japan’s Education Ministry is pushing hard for national universities to merge, and although there are many dissenting voices, universities essentially have to obey. According to many, the mergers are budget-driven. The ministry says major layoffs are not inevitable, but many academics believe that faculty members and administrative personnel will lose their jobs. One rumor suggests that 35 percent of faculty will eventually lose their jobs.

Enrollment at junior colleges plummeted from 446,290 in 1996 to 289,199 in 2001, but the number of schools only dipped to 489 from 502 in the same period. Ninety percent of junior college students are women. In the past, junior colleges were viewed as “finishing schools” for women who would work as assistants to male workers and then marry before the age of 25 to become housewives. The colleges also offer training for such jobs as dental hygienist, translator and flight attendant.

If junior-college graduates wanted to attend four-year colleges, they had to start from scratch. Now, with universities scrambling for students, more and more of them are accepting transfer credits from junior colleges. But many women, under less pressure to marry young and with more career opportunities available to them, avoid junior colleges altogether and enroll in four-year universities.

The first mergers of Japanese national universities in over a half-century officially began on Oct. 1, 2002 when Tsukuba University of Library Information Science began to combine programs with the University of Tsukuba, and Yamanashi Medical University started the process with the University of Yamanashi.

In October, 20 more universities are expected to merge, with full integration and enrollment of new students taking place in April 2004. Eleven other universities have made apparent their intentions to merge but have not decided when. A large number of other universities are seeking appropriate partners or are in the negotiating stages.

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
Feb. 21, 2003

Exam Reforms for International Schools on Hold

Plans to give graduates of international English-language high schools the right to take entrance exams at government-funded universities without going through daiken college pre-admission tests have been frozen, according to ministry sources.

The move follows a wave of public criticism and protests from non-English international schools. Korean, Chinese and other ethnic schools in Japan are not included in the Education Ministry’s decision.

On March 6, it was announced that graduates of 16 international schools in Japan that have been accredited by Western education groups can take national university exams, enabling them to bypass the daiken tests. The international schools were accredited by one of three ministry-approved groups: Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the Association of Christian School International of the United States and the European Council for International Schools of Britain.

Since the three organizations only certify schools where the main medium of instruction is English, none of the Korean, Chinese and other ethnic schools in Japan qualifies under the new plan.

— Yahoo Asia News
March 20, 2003

Ministry Launches Plan to Boost English-Language Education

The Education Ministry presented a plan in March that will send 10,000 high school students overseas each year to study and will select 100 high schools to provide advanced English education by the 2005-06 academic year.

The five-year plan for strengthening English-language education at public schools is an attempt by the ministry to meet goals of improving proficiency. It is hoped students can communicate in English by the time they graduate from junior high or high school and use it at work after they complete their university studies.

— The Japan Times
March 18, 2003

Malaysia

Council Toughens College Entry Requirements

The National Higher Education Council has announced that Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) holders are no longer allowed direct entry to first-degree programs at public and private colleges.

Previously, a number of private and public institutions took in SPM holders for degree courses. The SPM qualification represents 11 years of education. Students wishing to enter degree-level courses now have to enroll in a foundation program equivalent to the two-year Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia program or its equivalent (e.g. British A-levels) to gain admission.

The Ministry of Education has introduced these new measures to ensure that Malaysian standards in tertiary education meet that of international standards.

— New Strait Times
March 4, 2003

Nepal

15,000 Teachers’ Qualifications Questioned

An anti-corruption body in Nepal has started checking the academic qualifications of teachers after an investigation found nearly 15,000 could have fake certificates, officials said recently.

Details of the initial investigation have not been revealed. However, an official from the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority indicated that the majority of forged certificate-holding teachers were from the southern area of Terai, where forged certificates can be obtained for US$150 to $500.

— Hindustan Times
Jan. 8, 2003

New Zealand

Cambridge Exam Gains Equivalence

International examinations have been gaining favor in some New Zealand schools as disenchantment with the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) has grown. Following that trend, the Vice Chancellors Committee has given equivalence to the Cambridge International Examination as a qualification for entrance into higher education.

All state schools must offer the NCEA but are allowed to administer alternative exams. Students who pass the Cambridge exam will leave school with the internationally recognized General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and A-levels.

So far, 22 schools have registered to offer the Cambridge exam alongside or in place of the NCEA.

— The New Zealand Herald
Feb. 8, 2003

Private Providers Launch Association to Protect Interests

Six private education and training providers have set up a new association they say will differentiate them from lower-quality providers and have called for the government to cut funding to substandard providers.

Associate Minister of Education Steve Maharey officially launched the Career Colleges Association in October.

Quality has become a key issue for private providers, with some in the sector saying they have been tarnished by the failure of a handful of poor-quality providers. Membership to the association is open to providers with more than 100 equivalent full-time students, an audit cycle of two years and above-average completion and graduate placement rates. Association Director Dave Guerin believes only 30 or 40 private providers are likely to be eligible to join.

— Campus Review
April 9-15, 2003

The Philippines

English-Language Instruction Reinstated in Schools

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has restored English as the medium of instruction in the nation’s elementary and high schools.

The new mandate replaces the bilingual policy of the 1972 Constitution, which had attempted to promote Tagalog and English as the nation’s two official languages. Critics of the old policy point to a generation that cannot speak either language fluently; rather, they speak a blend of the two, known as “Taglish.”

The Philippines has long been attractive to outside investors because of the competency of the human resources market in the English language. With this in mind, President Arroyo made the difficult decision of reinstating English as the language of high-school instruction.

— Overseas, Overwhelmed
Feb. 19, 2003

Singapore

More Overseas Medical Degrees Recognized

The degrees of graduates from 47 medical schools have been added to the previous list of 24 schools recognized by the Singaporean Medical Council.

The move is in response to a current shortage of medical personnel in the city-state. The longer list of accepted schools is expected to bring in more than 140 foreign-trained doctors in 2003, said the Singapore Medical Council, which accredits doctors.

Singapore accepts foreign-trained doctors from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Ireland, the United States, Canada and Hong Kong because instruction is in English and the countries have systems compatible with Singapore’s.

— The Straits Times
March 9, 2003

Cornell Partners with NTU

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is partnering with Cornell University to offer a postgraduate degree in hotel management. Classes are expected to start in early 2004.

The Economic Development Board (EDB), which has already brought in 10 top-ranked universities to set up campuses in Singapore, now wants to bring in some of the world’s best schools in the arts, design, hotel management and culinary arts. The NTU-Cornell University agreement, according to EDB officials, is the start of a strategy to turn Singapore into a high-quality, diversified education center.

Course graduates will obtain a degree from Cornell University and will face the same fees as in the United States: US$30,000 a year. Students will spend two semesters at Nanyang Business School and two at Cornell’s campus in Ithaca, N.Y.

— The Straits Times
Feb. 26, 2003

South Pacific Islands

University Gets Australian Boost

The Australian government plans to help the University of the South Pacific expand its education and training programs with a contribution of A$9 million (US$5.5 million).

Australia will provide A$3 million (US$1.8 million) a year for the next three years to help the university develop in the areas of governance, teacher training and distance education.

The university is planning to establish a Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Governance and Development to help promote good governance in the region. Through developing its distance education programs, the university will be able to deliver a full bachelor’s degree in primary education to islands that do not have campuses. The program is linked to the Virtual Colombo Plan, which is a joint effort by Australia and the World Bank to bridge the growing gap between countries that are information-rich and those that are information-poor, through the use of new technologies.

—AusAID media release
Feb. 21, 2003

Thailand

Police Crack Down on Illegal Tuition Schools

The Ministry of Education has asked the police to crack down on illegal private schools after evidence of their involvement in exam cheating.

Four tutors and 58 Ramkhamhaeng University students have been charged with using pagers to cheat in exams. The owners of P&G and Premier Tuition Institutes were arrested recently and charged with operating tuition schools without permission and illegally having and using radio communicators.

Police said the two schools had hired other tutors to register as Ramkhamhaeng University students, so they could take exams and copy the questions. The school then sent the answers to the students via pagers.

— Bangkok Post
Jan. 28, 2003