Regional

Foreign Enrollment in Europe Increases as U.S. Continues Decline

Education officials from European countries have been reporting substantial rises in the number of foreign students applying to their institutions of higher education. France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany have seen applications from China, in particular, surge.

In Germany, the number of international students has increased as much as 27 percent year on year over the last three years, with numbers from China and India showing the biggest increase, according to figures provided by the German Academic Exchange Service. Meanwhile, international students are also streaming into the Netherlands, where the government awards public schools extra funding for every non-Dutch student they enroll.

The ever-increasing difficulty in obtaining U.S. student visas, intense European recruitment efforts and the United States’ political fall from grace have been widely cited as contributing factors to the recent drop in the number of foreign students enrolling at universities and colleges in the United States. In addition, many European institutions claiming rosier economic prospects and a more international outlook make Europe a more attractive location for international students.

— International Herald Tribune
Oct, 19, 2004

Goal of Increased European Mobility Vulnerable to Over-bureaucratization

The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) recently issued a report warning that efforts to improve European student mobility are being hindered by an overly bureaucratic approach. HEPI Director Bahram Bekhradnia warned that Europe is overreaching by trying to give a blanket guarantee of movement between participating institutions. Instead, the director said, like-minded bodies should try and establish transfer agreements. The report cites the limited success of the United Kingdom’s credit accumulation and transfer systems (CATS), as well as programs involving two universities – the University of California and the University of British Columbia. Both have made significant progress on the basis of trust and specific agreements with other institutions. The report notes that generic agreements, in contrast, require complex compatible quality-assurance arrangements, which run the risk that “the whole edifice will topple over because of its complication.”

— Education Guardian
Oct. 28, 2004

Denmark

Graduate Shortages Impacts Global Competitiveness

Speakers at a conference of Danish business owners and managers recently warned their colleagues that high taxes are rapidly depriving the country of a competitive work force. Delegates also heard how the traditional Danish business structure of small- and medium-sized companies not usually hiring college graduates is also affecting competitiveness. Both of these problems are causing a severe brain drain in the country, according to the speakers.

Denmark’s tax rate is 63 percent. Conference speakers said clearly documented evidence shows companies that outsource production maintain far higher rates of growth than companies that remain in Denmark. “ We tax the best brains right out of the country,” commented Ole Krog, director of Dansk Industri. However, according to a recently released report issued by a government think-tank just 5,000 jobs a year are lost overseas.

— Copenhagen Post Online
Sept. 29, 2004

France

Germany, France Reach Agreement on Qualifications Comparability

Germany and France have agreed on criteria allowing for comparability between their respective vocational qualifications. The agreement will allow employers and employees in both countries to cross-reference their qualifications. Signed into law by the educational ministers of both countries in October, many see it as an important achievement in the effort to harmonize higher education in Europe.

— Campus Germany
Nov. 1, 2004

Germany

Fellowship Program Launched to Stem Brain Drain

The Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers has launched its third fellowship program this year as part of an intense international-recruitment drive. Administered jointly by Helmholtz and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Helmholtz will offer 27 doctoral and 12 postdoctoral fellowships. The program is an extension of the Helmholtz Young Investigators Initiative, which targets those under 37 years of age. Another program, the Helmholtz Research Award, is designed for more established, proven researchers.

There has been growing concern among German academics that the country is losing many of its graduates to better-funded institutions in the United States. A recent report in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung shows that one in seven doctoral graduates subsequently move to the United States; 30 percent of them stay for good. Despite such statistics, the German government continues to deny that a brain drain exists. This has frustrated German academics, many of whom hope the Helmholtz Association’s programs will help address the problem.

— Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Aug. 20, 2004
— The Scientist
October 22, 2004

Greece

Controversy Abounds After Abrupt Closure of La Verne Campus

One of Athens’ most respected and expensive private colleges has abruptly closed after 29 years. La Verne Athens opened in 1975 and originally served as a resource for the children of overseas U.S. military personnel. However, since 1993 it has operated as a franchise of La Verne California. On Sept. 17, Stephen Morgan, president of La Verne California, signed a letter addressed to students giving them 48 hours’ notice of the closure.

The closure has caused bitterness among employees and students on the Athens campus. Morgan cited a negative net equity of US$3.17 million and concern over the “precarious position” a mid-semester closure might leave students in as the reasons for closing the campus.

Angry students and staff, however, rejected these arguments, pointing to a suspicious sequence of events and the way the sudden timing of the announcement left them with little recourse to seek alternative study options.

The Greek Constitution does not allow for the recognition of credentials from private, degree-granting institutions. Public universities in Greece therefore cannot accept transfer credits from La Verne. The University of Indianapolis agreed to postpone the opening of its Athens campus by one week and to accept any La Verne students who wanted to transfer. La Verne also gave the Athens students the option of transferring to its California campus at the same tuition they paid in Greece; 30 to 50 students are thought to have done so. For those left in the cold, however, legal action seems like a likely recourse. Already, several groups of former employees and students are suing the Athens branch in local courts. They said they intend to file lawsuits against the university as well, in California courts.

— Athens News
Sept. 24, 2004

Ireland

Proposal to Reintroduce Tuition Fees Worries Alliance

Education is Not For Sale (ENFS), an alliance of teachers, trade unionists, university students and staff, has broadly rejected a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recommending the re-introduction of tuition fees and an increase in private investment in higher education. The report, “A Review of Higher Education in Ireland,” was produced at the request of the Irish Department of Education and Science.

University fees were abolished in 1995 with the hope of increasing access for the economically disadvantaged. The move has not had the desired effect. The OECD report found that the number of students in higher education has increased in Ireland approximately 2 percent annually, but “the take-up rate in higher education [remains] highly dependent on socioeconomic background.” Only 20 percent of children whose parents are in semiskilled and unskilled manual employment attend university higher education. Sharing the belief of many that university fees could be used to subsidize access for poor people, former Minister for Education Noel Dempsey sought their re-introduction in 2003 but retreated on the issue after fierce opposition.

Cutbacks in government funding for state schools at the secondary level have created a two-tier system, according to ENFS. The vast majority of students in Irish universities graduated from private secondary schools, which have better facilities. The re-introduction of higher education fees would only perpetuate the problem of access by creating another financial obstacle, critics say.

— INTO news release, speech at Education is Not For Sale meeting
Oct. 29, 2004

Serbia

Mitrovica University Faces Boycott

The European University Association (EUA) recently called upon its members to boycott the University of Mitrovica in Kosovo. The move came after the dismissal of its rector by Serbia’s Education Ministry and the appointment of Radivoje Papovic, a former senior official of Slobodan Milosevic’s Socialist Party. Though located in Kosovo, the university depends on Serbia for support because of the refusal by Kosovar provincial officials to grant it official recognition.

Since coming to office, Papovic has replaced four deans and abandoned plans to implement a series of bylaws intended to replace the institution’s Communist-era ones. As a result, the United Nations has refused to renew its accreditation. The institution had been accorded provisional U.N. accreditation after the new authorities of Kosovo refused to recognize the institution. Perhaps the most significant consequence, however, is the potential for exclusion from European mobility and cooperation initiatives. Already, the European Union has terminated the university’s links to Tempus, a program of East-West academic cooperation. Furthermore, the EAU has warned that Papovic’s moves would prevent the institution from coming out of isolation and becoming part of the community of European universities.

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
Oct. 19, 2004

Slovakia

Debate Continues Over Need for New Universities

The Accreditation Committee of Slovakia is considering applications for the establishment of six private universities. However, there is some disagreement over whether additional universities are necessary and/or viable. While many welcome the influx of private capital into higher education such a move would bring, there are concerns that it would lead to a decline in standards and necessitate the recruitment of international professors and academics to staff the institutions. Others, including the Education Ministry, argue that the demand for non-paid state university education exceeds the capacity of existing universities.

— The Slovak Spectator
Nov. 8, 2004

United Kingdom

Wider University Access Promised Despite Concerns Over ‘Light Touch’

Sir Martin Harris, head of the Office for Fair Access to University (OFFA), has said he will secure wider access to university education for the economically disadvantaged but will not force institutions into accepting student quotas to achieve his goal. Speaking to TheGuardian, Harris said, “There will be no predetermined targets or benchmarks, no social engineering; merely a determination … to seek applications from those most able to benefit.”

The Schwartz Report, a series of recommendations addressing middle-class dominance of the university system, was published in September. Parliament left it up to the universities to implement most of the recommendations, but it was hoped OFFA, established to offset concern over the government decision to reintroduce university fees in 2006, would bring some coercive weight to bear on the situation. With no role for OFFA in admissions policies and a personal promise from Sir Martin of a “light touch” in his university dealings, doubts linger as to how effective it will be in assisting the government achieve its pledge of a 7 percent increase in the number attending higher-level institutions.

— Education Guardian
Nov. 9, 2004

UK Foreign Enrollment Numbers Up, Share of Global Market Down

Figures from “Education at a Glance,” the annual report of the Organization for European Cooperation and Development (OECD), show an increase in foreign student enrollments at British institutions of higher education but a decrease of 4 percent in its global share of the international student market.

The study found that between 1998 and 2002, foreign enrollment increased 34 percent, with 1.9 million students enrolling in courses in OECD areas outside their own country. The United Kingdom’s share of the market dropped to 12 percent during this period, although it remains tied for second with Germany, behind the United States, which has 30 percent. Australia and France rank fourth and fifth, respectively, with a 10 percent and 9 percent share of the global market.

According to a separate report by UK Visas, the joint Foreign Office/Home Office agency charged with administering visas, almost 30 percent of student visa applicants were refused in 2002-03. Some estimates suggest foreign enrollment could be worth US$24.85 billion to the British economy by 2010.

— Education Guardian
Sept. 14, 2004

Scotland Establishes Franchise in China

Napier University of Edinburgh plans to establish an international franchise by opening a campus on the grounds of Zhengzhou University of Light Industry in Henan Province, China. In a first for Scotland, Chinese students will be able to study for a Scottish degree without having to go to Scotland. It is hoped the first intake of students will occur in September 2005. Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell described it as a “perfect example” of the growth opportunities China provides for Scotland. It was also revealed that both governments intend to appoint officials to explore the potential for further cooperation in other areas of education, including undergraduate and postgraduate exchange programs, as well as research.

— The Scotsman
Oct. 1, 2004