Australia
International Student Enrollments up 11% in 2006
According to data released by the Department of Education Science and Technology [1] in February, Australian institutions of education enrolled 383,818 full-fee paying international students on a student visa in calendar year 2006, a year-on-year increase of 10.9 percent. New enrollments grew by 13.6% in the same period. With more than 75% of all international enrollments, Asia remains Australia’s main source of international students. Growth was most significant from India (42%), Brazil (44%), the Middle East (36%) and Vietnam (27.5%), while Australia’s most important market, China, remained strong with growth of 10.5%. The top five sending countries were China (90,287), India (39,166), Korea (31,257), Hong Kong (20,523), and Malaysia (19,166). Enrollments at institutions of higher education accounted for 45% of the total; growth of 5.2%. Over half of all tertiary enrollments were in business- and IT-related fields (43% and 12% respectively).
— Australia Education International news release [2]
Feb 21, 2007
Australia More Popular than UK as Study Destination for Indian Students
According to a news report from the Times of India, which was gleefully picked up on by The Australian newspaper, Australia is set to surpass the United Kingdom as the destination of choice, after the United States, for Indian university students. According to the Indian broadsheet, while as many as 27,661 Indians applied for Australian student visas in 2005-06, only 16,227 made similar applications to the British High Commission. It said this strong trend was likely to continue, with Australian universities predicting a 40 percent increase in Indian student enrollments for 2006-07. The newspaper listed the most popular Australian universities among Indian students as the University of Western Australia [3], Curtin [4], the University of Queensland [5], the University of Adelaide [6] and Monash [7].
— The Australian [8]
Feb 12, 2007
Millions to be Spent on Improving Rankings
At a recent symposium of international rankings experts in Brisbane, a recurring theme was the inability of rankings systems to measure teaching rather than just research performance — an indicator that is typically used by international and domestic ranking methodologies to account for faculty strength. As part of a review process for Australia’s performance-based university funding system, the government is making available US$4.7 million to be spent on a project to overhaul the way Australian universities gauge faculty strength so greater emphasis can be placed on teaching abilities rather than research output. The project — run by the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching [9] — will overhaul the indicators and metrics used to assess the quality of university teaching and learning by examining the ways in which teaching quality is recognized and rewarded at the individual, institutional, national and international levels.
— The Australian [10]
Feb. 14, 2007
China
Think Tank Warns on Brain Drain
A top Chinese think tank has warned that the country may face a brain drain as a result of large-scale emigration. According to the 2007 Blue Book on Global Politics and Security, a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Science [11] (CASS), 300,000 talented Chinese emigrants are currently working skilled positions abroad. An estimated 1 million Chinese students studied abroad between 1980 and 2006, a figure that has risen dramatically from 560,000 in 2003, according to the Ministry of Public Security [12], which also reports that since 2002 more than 100,000 students have departed each year for overseas studies. According to the CASS report, approximately two-thirds choose to stay abroad, a majority in the preferred destinations of Europe, Australia and the United States. Although some see this as an unfortunate loss of talent, others believe that China currently has an overabundance of qualified professionals, meaning the so-called brain drain actually helps ease unemployment problems while greatly increasing the amount of wealth from abroad being sent back to China. According to a 2006 UN report, overseas Chinese send home an estimated US$20 billion in remittances each year.
— China Daily [13]
Feb 13, 2007
City of Shanghai Looks to Become Regional Hub for International Students
Officials from the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission [14] (SEC) have set a target of doubling the number of foreign students enrolled at schools, colleges and universities in the city by 2010. Spearheading the drive will be private institutions which have been given the green light to enroll foreign students, something they were previously not allowed to do. Foreign students will also be enticed by the Shanghai Government Scholarship Program, instructions for which were announced in late January. Current enrollment growth rates — 30 percent annually since 2000 — suggest the target is achievable. At the end of 2006, 31,600 foreign students were enrolled at 24 public universities in Shanghai.
— Shanghai Daily [15]
Feb. 12, 2007
China Offers 100 Scholarships to EU Students
The Chinese Ministry of Education [16] has initiated a scholarship program for European students. The Chinese Government Scholarship Program will support EU students wishing to study Chinese in China for a maximum of 1 year. For the period 2007-2011, 100 full scholarships will be provided per academic year. To be eligible, candidates should be citizens of the European Union, high school graduates or undergraduates, and under the age of 35. The scholarship scheme is administered by the China Scholarship Council [17] (CSC). Detailed explanations about the scholarship program, as well as an application form, are available on the website of the Mission of China to the EU [18], and of the CSC.
— ACA [19]
February 2007
Private Providers Face New Regulations
The Ministry of Education [16] issued a regulation in March exerting further control over privately run institutions of higher education. The new regulation states that, “all privately run colleges and universities must focus on public interests instead of private economic gains.” Furthermore, tuition fees charged by privately run colleges and universities should be “mainly used for educational activities and improvement of campus facilities.” It also requires an annual audit of the school’s financial records. In the last 20 years, the Chinese government has encouraged private colleges to help accommodate students who have failed the public university entrance exams. Many private colleges charge fees two or three times higher than public ones, as they do not receive the financial support the government offers to public schools.
— Xinhua [20]
March 3, 2003
India
Manipal Academy Changes Name to Reflect University Status
Although the name suggests otherwise, the Manipal Academy of Higher Education [21] (MAHE) has been a university since 1993. To better reflect this fact the board of management approved a name change for the 54-year-old institution, which is now known as Manipal University. The change in nomenclature is applicable to all campuses in India and to its international campuses in Nepal, Malaysia and Dubai.
— Educationworld [22]
February, 2007
India/EU Sign Cooperation Communiqué
The governments of India and the European Union have signed a joint agreement for cooperation in the fields of science and technology, known as the ‘New Delhi Communiqué.’ Under the agreement, India will for the first time have the opportunity to participate in research projects in 11 key areas of collaborative research, while also enjoying intellectual property rights to the technology.
— New Europe [23]
Feb. 10, 2007
Outsourced Online Tutoring to Change Funding Model
In the countries of Europe, East Asia and North America, private tutoring has long been a popular way to supplement classroom instruction, but it has, for the most part, been available only to children from well-to-do backgrounds. The fastest growing sector of the private tutoring market is online delivery. In the US, for example, it accounts for approximately 6 percent of the US$2.2 billion market, but at cost of between $40 and $60 an hour it is still out of reach for many.
Those willing to take on an Indian tutor, however, will pay as little as $20 an hour; or, under a model championed by Bangalore-based TutorVista [24], unlimited personalized tutoring for just $100 a month. Employees — who typically have graduate degrees — earn in the region of $250-300 per month, which is double what an entry-level teacher earns in India. With a large pool of English-speaking graduates from disciplines such as math and science, and increasingly reliable high-speed internet connections, India can offer equal services at a fraction the cost. There are at least six Indian firms that currently have links to US companies tapping into this market. At present, India is estimated to be earning about $15 million per year from online tutoring — 10 percent of the total market share. This is expected to grow to $2.4 billion in the next three years.
— Asia Times Online [25]
Feb 27, 2007
Enrollments in Secondary, Higher Education Booming
According to data released in the government’s annual economic survey, high school and tertiary enrollments have surged in recent years. In the higher education sector, enrollments have increased from 7.26 million in 1997-98 to 10.48 million in 2004-05, an increase of 44 percent. Particularly impressive has been the overall growth in the share of higher education places occupied by women, who in 2004-05 represented 40 percent of students, compared to 34 percent in 1997-98.
— IndiaPRwire [26]
Feb. 27, 2007
Path Cleared for Foreign Educational Institutions
The Indian Government is set to introduce a bill that would define the conditions under which foreign educational institutions could operate in India. A clause in the bill would allow the government to exempt international institutions from any provisions of the legislation, according to an article in the Hindustan Times. The bill is largely aimed at preventing low-standard, profit-seeking institutions from establishing themselves on Indian soil. An advisory board will be responsible for making exemption decisions, based on criteria yet to be finalized. Foreign universities seeking this exemption will have to invest at least 51 per cent of the total capital investment required and will be barred from investing the surplus generated for any other purpose. According to the draft bill approved by the Cabinet in February, foreign institutions would have to meet all regulations laid down by the University Grants Commission [27] (UGC) for Deemed to be Universities, and also apply for that status under the UGC Act before they can start enrolling.
— Hindustan Times [28]
Feb. 22, 2007
US Scholars Face Hurdles in India
Scholars from the US wishing to conduct research in India have been faced with tightened visa-regulations in the last two years, according to an article in the Sunday Express citing recent Fulbright figures. Typically, up to 100 Indian researchers travel to the United States on Fulbright scholarships every year and a similar number from the US make the journey to South Asia. However, in the last two years the waiting period for visa clearance has increased significantly to anywhere between six and 21 months, and an unprecedented number of research proposals have been rejected out of hand with no explanation as to why. Officially, the visa process should take no more than three months. At the beginning of the academic year, in August 2006, there were 93 of 100 visa applications still pending. The Fulbright in-country orientation was cancelled, inducing 33 scholars to send a letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to intervene. When asked to explain the delay, Ministry of Human Resource Development Secretary R P Agarwal, said, “Our Ministry is only a postbox. We have asked the MEA and Home Ministry to speed up clearances.”
— India Express [29]
Feb. 11, 2007
Budget Brings Good News for Education
India’s budget, released at the end of February, includes a heavy increase of 34.2% on education spending.
— The Economist [30]
March 6, 2007
Japan
Universities Change Names, Relocate to Attract Dwindling Pool of Students
With the lowest birth rate in the world, it is estimated that for the new academic year in Japan there will be more university places available than there are prospective students, which essentially means open enrollment at second-tier universities, a situation which has rural universities scrambling to attract students. In an effort to appeal to students who typically prefer urban settings, a number of rural universities are re-branding themselves, adopting new names or relocating to the city. Among the initiatives that some universities have taken:
- Akita Keizaihoka University [31], will change its name to North Asia University on April 1.
- Nasu University [32], a single-department college in Nasu-Shiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, that opened in 1999, has moved its campus to Utsunomiya and changed its name to Utsunomiya Kyowa University. The name of its urban economics department also has been changed to the City Life Department.
- In Tochigi Prefecture, a group of public and private universities established the Consortium of Universities in Tochigi in April 2005. Member schools of the consortium cooperate in such ways as acknowledging academic credits earned in other universities and offering extramural lectures. Similar programs have also been adopted in Yamagata, Yamanashi and other prefectures.
- Two departments of Hokuriku University [33] in Kanazawa are admitting students on a recommendation basis from all 5,200 full-time comprehensive high schools in Japan starting this year.
For more on Japanese education and the impact of falling birth rates, please see the May 2005 issue [34] of WENR.
— Yomiuri Shimbun [35]
March 9, 2007
Pakistan
British Boards to Conform to Pakistani Standards
The coordinating body for secondary examination boards in Pakistan has refused a recent request from British examination boards Edexcel International [36] and Cambridge International Examinations [37] that O and A level certifications be considered equivalent to the Pakistan Secondary School Certificate for public college and university admissions. The Inter Board Committee of Chairmen [38] (IBCC) told the Daily Times that the British examination boards would first have to abandon their grade-point-average (GPA) system and adopt a subject-specific results system similar to Pakistani boards. The IBCC added that it believed under the GPA-system students were getting higher grades than those examined by Pakistani boards. Tens of thousands of students reportedly take O and A level examinations in Pakistan.
— Daily Times [39]
Feb.10, 2007
South Korea
Universities introduce more English-Language Programs in Attempt to Halt Student Exodus
Tired of seeing top students leave for foreign, English-language shores, universities in Korea have decided to increase the number of English-language course offerings. High-ranking institutions such as Yonsei [40], Ewha Women’s [41] and Korea University [42] are not only trying to stem the departure of Korean students, but also attract greater numbers of foreign students, who currently constitute just 0.2 of the student body. Korea University currently offers 35 percent of its classes in English, compared to just 10 percent in 2002, and it is hoping to offer 6 in 10 Anglophone classes by 2010. At top-ranking Yonsei University the Underwood International College [43] was set up two years ago. The prestigious college offers four-year programs taught entirely in English, and attracts top professors and students by offering rich salaries and generous scholarships. There are currently 200,000 Korean students (K-18) studying overseas, one of the world’s largest expatriate student bodies.
— Newsweek [44]
Feb. 26, 2007