Australia

Australian Universities Plan India Test

Australia’s largest online learning platform, Open Universities Australia (OUA), is getting ready to make its offerings available overseas for the first time, with plans for a trial to run in India in 2006.

OUA’s internationalization plans come on top of a 60 percent increase in domestic enrollments during this current academic year to 37,000. The former Open Learning Australia has formed a partnership with Indian coaching center IMS Learning Resources, which will promote four undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

The OUA group, which consists of seven shareholders — Monash, Griffith and Macquarie universities, Royal Melbourne Institute for Technology, Swinburne, the University of South Australia and Curtin — will test demand in India before considering further overseas expansion. The four degree programs that will be offered through the pilot are: Griffith University’s communications degree, Swinburne University of Technology’s business degree and Curtin University of Technology’s Internet studies and international health degrees. IMS will provide support through locations for orientation and broadband access, and a pick-up point for course materials.

— The Australian
Nov. 30, 2005

Carnegie Mellon’s Adelaide Branch Gets Green Light

An agreement signed between Provost of Carnegie Mellon University Mark Kamlet and South Australian Premier Mike Rann in late November gives the official go-ahead for the establishment of a branch of the private university’s Heinz School of Public Policy in Adelaide. This project has been the cause of some debate in South Australia.

The South Australian government is spending US$15 million to help bring the prominent Pittsburgh-based university to Adelaide. Carnegie Mellon will be the fourth university in South Australia after the University of South Australia, Flinders University and the University of Adelaide. Critics have questioned the reasoning behind spending such large sums of state money to assist an overseas private university with a relatively small enrollment capacity. Federal government funding to Australian universities has been declining, and now the Heinz school will compete with the income-earning abilities of the three other universities in the state. Proponents suggest that collaborative arrangements between Carnegie Mellon and local universities will facilitate research in underserved fields and greatly increase the attractiveness of South Australia as a study destination for overseas students.

Beginning in May, Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz School Australia will offer its master of science in information technology and its master of science in public policy and management. The school is expecting 50 to 75 students in its first year. In four years, full-time enrollment is expected to grow to approximately 200 students.

— Ascribe Newswire
Nov. 29, 2005

China

New Anti-Graft Measures Introduced

With the long-term view of reducing the level of corruption in Chinese society, 570,000 primary schoolchildren in Southwest China will be required to take anti-graft classes. A textbook for grades four, five and six has been produced and distributed to all students taking the course in the city of Chongqing, one of China’s largest. Plans are afoot to extend the compulsory course to the junior and senior level next year. In April, the Ministry of Education set up a special panel to promote anti-corruption education among students of all ages nationwide.

In related news, the Chinese government is considering a new law calling for sentences of three to seven years for flagrant cases of exam fraud. The law would cover national exams, such as the college admission tests, graduate admissions exams and English competency exams. It would not apply to individual schools’ internal exams, professional tests or exams run by overseas bodies. Punishments would depend on the “impact on society” of individual infractions. Minor infractions may result in a fine.

— Xinhua
Sept. 14, 2005

Warnings Over Autonomy, Quality Temper University Growth

A recent New York Times piece reflected on the dramatic growth of the university sector in China in recent years, citing mind-boggling figures such as a fivefold increase in the number of undergraduates and doctorate holders in the last 10 years; a doubling of state funding to US$10.4 billion between 1998 and 2003; and an increase in the proportion of the college-age population in higher education to approximately 20 percent from 1.4 percent in 1978. In engineering alone, the country is producing 442,000 new undergraduates, 48,000 graduates with master’s degrees and 8,000 doctorates a year. Despite the impressive numbers, many prominent voices within Chinese academia are warning that quantitative growth must be accompanied by qualitative improvements.

The top-ranking concern seems to center on a lack of academic freedom, which is reflected in the comparatively small number of liberal arts programs across the country, which some suggest stifles the atmosphere of free speech necessary to promote effective academic debate. Other critics point to the speed of progress, suggesting that China is trying to achieve too much too soon in too many areas, which is resulting in the duplication of effort and the watering down of excellence. The demand for quick results also has caused some to suggest that researchers are being forced to pump out results before they are fully matured. But the greatest concern always circles back to academic freedom, the suppression of which may in time stem the flow of top foreign-trained Chinese academics back home.

— New York Times
Oct. 28, 2005

Liverpool Looking to Follow Nottingham’s Lead with Chinese Campus

The University of Liverpool in October announced that it is close to finalizing a deal to establish a new university in China. The new university would be jointly run with Xi’an Jiaotong University — one of China’s top 10 universities for teaching and research — with a provisional name of Liverpool Xi’an Jiaotong University. The new institution, located 60 miles west of Shanghai, would have degree-awarding powers granted under the aegis of China’s Ministry of Education.

If given the green light, the university will initially teach electronics and electrical engineering and associated subjects, and later, business studies and life sciences. A third of the faculty will come from Liverpool, a third from Xi’an Jiaotong University and the remaining will be recruited from around the world. The university hopes to enroll its first cohort of approximately 350 to 500 students in September 2006.

The collaboration follows two years of intense negotiations with the Chinese Ministry of Education. A deal also has been struck with U.S.-based Laureate Education Limited, which will be the financial backers of the deal. The private company already works with Liverpool on its online courses, which are offered around the world. Many foreign universities operate similar online ventures in China, and others teach within Chinese institutions, but Liverpool’s would be the second campus to be set up in China after Nottingham, which, unlike the Liverpool arrangement, awards only Nottingham degrees.

— The Guardian
Oct. 27, 2005

Australian University’s Beijing Plans Stall on Bribery Charges

The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), is five months late in opening the Beijing campus of its Asian expansion project because of accusations from an agent who claims he bribed Chinese government officials on behalf of the Australian institution.

The planned campus – a joint venture between the university’s commercial arm Insearch http://www.insearch.edu.au/international/insearchchina and the Beijing Language and Culture University http://www.blcu.edu.cn/english/index.asp – was scheduled to begin classes in July. However, disagreements with the project manager, Jonathon Yan, have prevented classes from starting. After Insearch attempted to remove Yan, the project manager allegedly argued he could not be fired because he had bribed government officials on behalf of the company. As a result, Insearch has been locked out of its 20-classroom facility — even though it has been paying rent for the last five months.

The Beijing campus is meant to be part of UTS’s plan to establish a college in each of China’s 23 provinces. Insearch has a successful campus in Shanghai, which has been operating for 11 years and currently enrolls more than 3,000 students. According to Insearch officials interviewed by the Australian newspaper, once matters with Yan are resolved, UTS remains keen to make a success of the Beijing joint venture.

— The Australian
Nov. 23, 2005

India

IIT Admissions Criteria to Change

The government announced recently that beginning in 2006, admissions requirements for India’s most prestigious engineering schools, the highly competitive Indian Institutes of Technology, will be altered and, some say, made even more stringent.

Changes affect the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), which is used by all IITs for admissions purposes. Next year, only those students achieving a first class (60 percent) or equivalent in their 12th grade school-leaving examinations will be eligible to take the JEE; for students from minority groups or lower castes, there will be a relaxation of 5 percent. The examination itself will be reduced from two sections to one and will be based largely on comprehension and analytical ability. Additionally, students will be allowed only two attempts at the examination — the year they pass their class XII standard examination and/or the following year.

Officials hope the changes will reduce stress on exam takers and give credit to a student’s performance on the 12th grade examination, thereby increasing the importance of high school education and reducing the impact of test preparation classes. As exam coaching is largely an urban phenomenon, the reforms are likely to work in favor of rural students and less privileged sections of society. Of the approximately 200,000 students seeking admissions to an IIT this year, only 4,000 gained admission. To reduce the level of competition, the government is also in the process of assessing seven institutions that it has identified for promotion to the status of IIT (see October 2005 issue of WENR).

— The Times of India
Sept. 18, 2005

CBSE Plans Exam Changes

The National Council for Educational Research and Training, in conjunction with the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), the country’s largest secondary examination board, have announced a series of reforms to the grading structure of class X examinations. An alphanumeric grading structure will be adopted to replace the percentile system, and the terms “pass” and “fail” will be dropped from marksheets. Beginning in 2006, students from CBSE-affiliated schools also will be allowed to retake the exams — through an improvement exam — if they so desire. Following the example of CBSE, state examination boards also have agreed to award 20 percent of overall marks based on coursework performance through the year. The reforms were initiated to “reduce stress” on students by limiting the importance of final exams and private tuition classes.

— Education World
October 2005

Harvard Business School Opens in Mumbai

Harvard Business School (HBS) has opened an Indian Research Center in Mumbai in an effort to expand its ties with business, universities and researchers in India.

Research will focus in particular on Indian companies seeking to pursue new opportunities in a globalized economy; on companies and investors from outside the region seeking opportunities in India; and on policy makers working to create an environment that facilitates national competitiveness and economic growth in India. As a complement to the research agenda, the Center will also facilitate selected executive education courses taught in the region by HBS faculty. Two such courses are slated to open in January 2006.

The IRC is the latest addition to the school’s network of international research centers, which includes offices in Latin America (Buenos Aires), Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong, Tokyo), and Europe (Paris).

— Harvard Business School news release
Nov. 2, 2005

NIIT Signs Agreement with UK’s Open University

India’s largest information technology trainer, NIIT, which offers IT programs in 30 countries, has signed an agreement with Britain’s Open University to offer its bachelor in computing at NIIT education centres in 6 countries, initially, to students in Bangladesh, Botswana, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria and Vietnam. In addition to its agreement with the Open University, NIIT has agreements with nearly 20 universities worldwide.

The program will be conducted by NIIT faculty trained to teach the Open University curriculum. Students will be examined and certified directly by the Open University’s Examination and Assessment Board.

— Open University news release
Nov. 21, 2005

Japan

University Bridges Academic Divide with China

An unspecified number of students from Waseda University in Tokyo are taking courses at Beijing University this semester as part of an exchange backed by two Japanese companies. The students are taking courses in environmental science and corporate finance with funding and guest lecturers from Mizuho Securities Co. and the Tokyo Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. The Chinese government also is providing guest lecturers from state agencies. This is the first time a Chinese university and Japanese university are working so closely together on specific courses, said Makoto Inoue, a Waseda spokesman.

The courses, which run through January, are only being offered at Beijing University, but Waseda University hopes to host the exchange the next year. Even though the two courses run for just one semester, the Waseda students will stay on for another semester to study; students can obtain credits from both universities, and if they earn enough they will be eligible for dual degrees. This is the first example of a double-degree program being offered between Japanese and Chinese universities.

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
Oct. 14, 2005

Malaysia

Government to Keep Tabs on Overseas Students

Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education is introducing legislation to enable it to keep tabs on students who go abroad to study. Students, both government-sponsored and private, will be required to obtain a certificate before being allowed to leave the country.

Ministry officials say the new measure will help them to better track students and make sure they are attending legitimate institutions. Those students applying to institutions not recognized by the government will be refused certificates and thus, permission, to leave the country. The more than 10,000 Malaysian students who go abroad to study every year will be required to provide details of their academic qualifications and proof that they have been offered a place when they apply for a certificate. It is hoped the legislation will be passed soon.

— The Times Higher Education Supplement
Sept. 30, 2005

Poor Rankings Prompt Ministry Call to Arms

In 2004, the University of Malaya was ranked 89th in the world by The Times Higher Education Supplement ’s global ranking of universities. After the November release of the 2005 rankings revealed that the British newspaper now ranks the university 169th, Malaysia’s prime minister has ordered an investigation and a rectification of the situation for next year’s rankings.

University Sains, Malaysia dropped from 111th out of the top 200. The institution has since hired a London-based consultant to advise where it might improve according to the newspaper’s ranking methodology. According to The Times, Malaysia’s fall in the rankings owes much to its far lower international percentage of both staff and students than in 2004, as well as its poor staff-student ratio. Minister of Higher Education Shafie Mohd Salleh has announced that he will convene a committee to draw up a plan to improve the international reputation of the country’s public universities.

The furor over the rankings comes at a time when the higher education sector has been faltering in its goal of establishing itself as a regional hub for international students. Ministry targets of enrolling 50,000 students by 2005 fell short of the mark by approximately 20 percent (see January/February 2005 issue of WENR), and its goal of attracting 100,000 foreign students by 2010 currently looks ambitious.

— The Times Higher Education Supplement
Nov. 11, 2005

Two New Australian Degree Courses Offered

Kolej Shahputra in Indera Mahkota, Pahang is offering two new bachelor’s degree programs in affiliation with Australia’s Flinders University. The new three-year degree programs are in information technology and commerce and have been approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and the National Accreditation Board. As well as offering a number of programs through twinning arrangements with Malaysian universities, the college offers an Australian-backed bachelor’s degree in digital design through Griffith University.

— The Star
Nov. 27, 2005

New Zealand

Schools Continue to Opt for Exam Alternatives

Schools are continuing to use alternative leaving examination systems after continued headaches for the new state-operated NCEA examination, which last year was plagued by problems.

The number of schools offering International Cambridge Examinations has increased fourfold to 45 in the four years they have been available. A small number of private schools also are offering the International Baccalaureate as an alternative to the NCEA.

The secondary teachers union has called for an end to schools adopting international systems, saying schools need to show a commitment to the embattled NCEA. The Qualifications Authority, which administers the examination, has assured that problems troubling last year’s round will not be repeated.

— The Dominion Post
Oct. 12, 2005

Pakistan

Program to Send 200 Graduate Students to New Zealand

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has announced it is finalizing the details of a program that will see 200 graduate students from Pakistan sent annually to study in New Zealand in the fields of basic and applied sciences, designated by the HEC as priority areas.

Pakistani students will enroll in joint master and doctoral programs in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, computer sciences, biotechnology, economics and business and management. Officials from Massey University in New Zealand have been leading the negotiations with Pakistani education officials and will likely receive the first batch of graduate students.

— Pakistan Tribune
Oct. 4, 2005

Singapore

Warwick University Scraps Campus Plans; Cites Concerns Over Academic Freedom

Concerns about academic freedom have led Warwick University to cancel its plans to establish a full-fledged campus in Singapore. The university council decided to abandon its plans for the branch campus a week after its senate — consisting of academic staff and students — voted against the expansion plans. The move comes as a blow to Singapore’s strategy to attract more foreign students and academics as part of its efforts to transform the island into a knowledge-based economy.

The city-state already is home to overseas satellite campuses of 16 universities, including French business school INSEAD, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These campuses offer specialized, usually professional, programs, or maintain affiliations with universities in Singapore but do not award degrees locally. Current government targets envision doubling the number of international students to 150,000 by 2015 as part of a strategy to reduce its reliance on manufacturing and establish itself as an international hub for tertiary studies.

Warwick and Australia’s University of New South Wales were the only two foreign universities selected by Singapore’s Economic Development Board to set up full-scale campuses, which can award undergraduate degrees. Singapore requires foreign educational institutions to abstain from interfering in its domestic affairs. There are also limits on freedom of assembly, speech and press.

— Reuters
Oct. 19, 2005

Australian University to Begin Foundation Classes in January

In the lead-up to the opening of the Singapore campus of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2007, UNSW is offering its one-year foundation program in Singapore beginning in January. The 40-week, pre-university program is designed to prepare students for full undergraduate study at the Singapore campus of the Australian university and is open to students with the equivalent of 70 percent or better on high school leaving examinations. Students who successfully complete the foundation program are guaranteed a 2007 place at UNSW in one of six subject areas: science, engineering, commerce, international studies, design or media.

In related developments, newly appointed UNSW Asia President Greg Whittred said in late October the Singapore government has guaranteed an acceptable level of academic freedom.

— The Star
Oct. 23, 2005
— The Australian
Oct. 26, 2005

New Partnership Deals Announced with UK Universities

Newcastle University and the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC) have announced new partnerships in Singapore. Newcastle has signed a letter of intent with Nanyang Technological University to create an energy research center, while UWIC has agreed to franchise hospitality and business management courses with the East Asia School of Business Institute of Management.

— The Times Higher Education Supplement
Oct. 28, 2005

South Korea

New Universities Subject to Stiffer Regulations

Regulations for establishing new universities have been revised to prevent institutions with fewer than 1,000 students from being established. A revised bill was passed in October that increases the minimum enrollment threshold for new universities from 400 to 1,000. Additionally, a university foundation should have property holdings worth at least US$9.5 million.

Since the Ministry of Education eased the rules for building universities in 1996, 72 universities have been established. Currently, there are 397 universities in South Korea. There has been concern of late, however, that some smaller universities were established with little regard for quality standards. In addition, the number of college-age students has been declining, which has negatively affected the financial viability of a number of institutions. In a broader sense, the new regulations come as part of the government’s plans to enhance the international competitiveness of South Korean universities.

The ministry plans to channel US$120 million into the university sector from 2005 to 2008, in part to complete the merger of 10 national universities into five (see August 2005 issue of WENR). The education authorities also will provide US$75 million to another 15 national and private schools, which were selected as leading schools for specialization in designated study fields.

— The Korea Herald
Oct. 18, 2005

English-Language Teachers Arrested Over Fraudulent Credentials

As many as 50 Canadians and 20 other native English speakers are thought to have been arrested, deported or investigated in recent months as part of a crackdown on English-language teachers breaking visa laws and using bogus credentials to obtain jobs. The move comes as part of a continuing effort by South Korean authorities to crack down on illegal workers and improve the reputation of English-language teaching in the country.

South Korea currently is aiming to increase the number of native English language teachers in its primary and secondary schools, but the government has expressed concern recently that overzealous recruitment efforts have made the country a haven for unqualified teachers.

According to news reports, most of the teachers arrested for using fake credentials obtained their jobs through Internet ads and were given fake degree certificates to get them through immigration. To teach in South Korea, teachers need to have completed a degree in order to obtain the necessary E2 working visa. In July, officials estimated there were 7,800 English teachers working illegally in the country.

— The Guardian
Oct. 26, 2005

Taiwan

Mainland Harmonizes Fees for Taiwanese Students

In an effort to encourage more students from Taiwan to study in China, and possibly as a step toward improving cross-Straits relations, tuition fees for Taiwanese students have been aligned with those paid by their peers in China. In addition, a scholarship fund worth almost US$900,000 annually has been established.

The average annual tuition for Taiwanese undergraduates studying in China used to be approximately US$1,000 to $1,500; the average for Chinese students was $367. The decision in August to drop fees for Taiwanese students was followed in September by an announcement from Taipei that Chinese degrees would not be recognized in Taiwan for employment and transfer purposes (see October 2005 issue of WENR). It is unclear whether the announcement from the Taiwanese Ministry of Education was a reaction to Beijing’s decision.

In 2004, 1,777 Taiwanese students enrolled at Chinese institutions of higher education — a record high since China began accepting Taiwanese students in 1985.

— China Daily
Aug. 25, 2005

Vietnam

Australian University Inaugurates New Campus

In its fourth year of operation in Vietnam, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) officially opened its new Saigon South Campus in July. The Australia-based institution’s first campus was based in downtown Ho Chi Minh City; its first freshman class had 30 students. The university currently enrolls 1,500 full-time students, and the new campus, four miles south of the city center, will bring students to one location with an overall potential capacity of 3,000 students. RMIT Vietnam also has a campus in the capital, Hanoi.

— RMIT news release
July 15, 2005