Brazil
Angola – Brazil Expand Relations on Higher Education
The Brazilian embassy in Angola recently announced that scholarships for local students to study in Brazilian universities for the 2008 academic year are now available. The Students’ Program-Graduation Pact provides scholarships worth US$4,000 to Angolan students between the ages of 18 and 23 to complete their higher education in Brazil. There are currently an estimated 3,000 Angolan students enrolled in Brazilian universities and colleges.
— Angola Press
May 10, 2007
Canada
First Secular, Private University to Open
Former president of the University of British Columbia [1], David Strangway, is close to realizing his goal of opening the country’s first private, secular university. Students who enroll at Quest University Canada [2] for the inaugural semester in September of this year will take general arts and sciences classes under a curriculum that focuses not on specific disciplines, rather on a general area of specialization, choosing from arts and humanities; imagination and expression; social sciences; self, community and the world; life sciences; life and the natural environment; physical sciences; and science, technology and societies. Students will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree.
Located in Squamish, B.C. the institution will welcome an inaugural class of 160 students. Approximately 100 of 300 applicants have already been accepted. Forty percent of those applicants hail from Canada, 40 percent from the US and 20 percent from other countries. Enrollment will be capped at 640 students by its fourth year. In May 2002, the provincial legislature passed the Sea to Sky University Act, granting the university official status. The university has also forged “founding-partner” agreements with 18 universities from around the world. The 18 schools, which include University of London [3] in Britain and Siam University [4] in Thailand, will offer exchange programs for students, and have also sent teams of advisors as the Quest project has moved forward.
— Vancouver Sun [5]
April 27, 2007
Report: Predictions of Tertiary Enrollment Slump Unlikely
Predictions that enrollments at Canadian universities will drop significantly as the children of baby boomers file through college are based on poor perceptions of demographic theory, according to a report [6] released in May by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada [7].
In the 1980s, forecasters expected college attendance to plummet once baby boomers had completed their degrees. The AUCC report, Trends in Higher Education, says that a sole focus on demographics was a mistake as enrollments actually increased during that period. The university association hopes that the new report will help head off similar mistakes based on assumptions about the “echo boom,” as the cohort of children of baby boomers is known. That group includes people now in their early teens to mid-20s.
The report outlines various social and economic “drivers” that affect enrollment, including the growth of jobs that require degrees, the increase in the number of parents with degrees, the preponderance of students from urban centers among those attending universities, and the changing face of campuses, which now have more women, members of minority groups, older students, and international students.
— The Chronicle of Higher Education [8]
May 11, 2007
Private University Ordered to Close
Lansbridge University-BC, a private Canadian-based institution, closed its doors in May after two years in operation following orders to do so by British Columbia’s Ministry of Advanced Education [9]. The university, which is owned by the Kingston Education Group [10] Inc., also based in Canada, was ordered to reimburse students for tuition fees already paid and to provide liaison services to assist current students in transferring to other institutions.
The institution was ordered closed because it was found to be in serious violation of the provincial Degree Authorization Act; however, concerns about the institution were raised only after Kingston College, an affiliated institution, was ordered to close in October 2006 amid allegations of illegal recruitment activities overseas. The B.C. government investigation into Lansbridge concluded that the institution advertised degree programs before gaining authorization, submitted misleading documents when applying for degree-granting status, and did not maintain the required financial security to protect students, among other violations.
Approximately 300 students attending Lansbridge University-BC and Kingston College – the majority international students from India and China – spent up to C$40,000 in tuition for a four-year degree, in addition to living costs, and are now left without credentials. Many of these students are facing the possibility of having to leave Canada as their student visas run out.
Lansbridge’s sister university of the same name in New Brunswick [11] continues to offer its programs online in compliance with New Brunswick provincial regulations.
— Macleans [12]
April 24, 2007
Chile
Bachelet, Lula Support Latin American Cooperation in Higher Education
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made an official State visit to Santiago last month to meet with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and sign an accord promoting regional cooperation in higher education. During his stay in Santiago, Lula spoke about the importance of higher education to the region and in doing so proposed the formation of a Latin American University system whereby students could move freely throughout the region studying at affiliated institutions of higher education. Under Mercosur, a South American regional trade agreement, proposals have been made for the creation of a limited regional university system, but while Lula acknowledged this development, he advocated for a Pan-Latin American agreement with further reach. Bachelet commented that their cooperation agreement was a step in the right direction.
— The Santiago Times [13]
April, 27, 2007
British University in Santiago Receives Official Recognition
The British House of Commons has approved the formal recognition of the British University of Santiago [14], a Chilean institution that functions in partnership with the British Cultural Institute language learning center. The university will work closely with the University of London [3], Open University of London [15], University of Warwick [16], University of Lancaster [17] and the University of Cambridge [18] to promote both foreign language learning and faculty/student exchange. Britain is currently a popular destination for Chilean students studying abroad, as an estimated 300 students from the South American nation are already pursuing postgraduate degrees at British universities and colleges.
— The Santiago Times [19]
April 27, 2007
United States
Liverpool U. and Laureate Announce Expanded International Cooperation
Laureate International Universities [20], one of the world’s largest networks of private higher education institutions, and the University of Liverpool [21] announced in May the expansion of their international e-learning initiatives to campus-based institutions around the world in a bid to foster the joint development and sharing of study abroad programs, dual-degrees and curriculum.
Laureate Online Education [22] has served as the e-Learning partner of the University of Liverpool since 1999, during which time the two institutions have developed several international online master’s programs, using specially adapted versions of University of Liverpool campus-taught degrees. By extending its association to campus-based institutions, the Liverpool-Laureate partnership seeks not only to increase the number of students who study abroad, but also to expand the availability of international academic programs for students who may not be able to travel abroad.
The University of Liverpool-Laureate agreement will promote the development of a variety of additional international opportunities through study abroad opportunities; summer language school at the University of Liverpool for students at Laureate institutions; dual degree programs that provide students the opportunity to earn two degrees by conducting part of their studies at a Laureate institution and the remainder of their studies at the University of Liverpool; consulting and curriculum design; and through the offering of University of Liverpool programs onsite at Laureate Institutions in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
— Laureate News Release [23]
May 1, 2007
Yale MBA Makes Study Abroad Mandatory
All first-year students at the Yale School of Management [24] (SOM) studied abroad during the first two weeks of January 2007 as part of the school’s first International Experience, a mandatory component of the school’s new MBA curriculum that was launched in September, 2006. Yale SOM is the first major MBA program to require students to study abroad.
Students choose from one of eight destinations — Argentina, China, Costa Rica, India, Japan, Singapore, a combined trip to England and Poland, and another combined trip to South Africa and Tanzania — where they engage in intensive study, meet with business, government, and nonprofit organization leaders, complete a trip project, and take part in cultural activities.
— Yale News Release [25]
December 18, 2006
Sweeping Harvard Curriculum Change to do Away with U.S. “parochialism”
Harvard University [26] in May approved its biggest curriculum overhaul in three decades, placing new emphasis on sensitive religious and cultural issues, the sciences and overcoming U.S. “parochialism.”
The curriculum change, proposed on February 8 after three years of faculty debate, is intended to counter criticism that Harvard is too focused on the academic, thereby graduating students with a weak grasp of real-life issues. One of the eight new required subject areas — “societies of the world” — aims to help students overcome U.S. “parochialism” by “acquainting them with the values, customs and institutions that differ from their own,” Harvard said.
The curriculum shake-up is the first major overhaul since Harvard formulated its current “core” course requirements in the 1970s. It had been advanced by former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, who resigned his post in June after a faculty revolt over his leadership style.
— Reuters [27]
May 15, 2007
Venezuela
Door Open at Medical School for All of Latin America and Caribbean
This month marked the official inauguration of Venezuela’s Latin American Medical School [28] (ELAM) in Caracas. The second of its kind, ELAM is modeled after ELAM-Cuba [29] in Havana and is an initiative of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a Latin American regional integration agreement with the stated goal of educating doctors throughout Latin America who will then return to their native countries in order to administer healthcare to the region’s poor.
A total of 400 students from Bolivia, Cuba, Peru, El Salvador, Brazil, Nicaragua Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Panama, Ecuador, Suriname, and Uruguay have undertaken medical study at the new university. The ELAM campus in Venezuela has a capacity to enroll some 1,900 students, and in collaboration with the Cuba campus endeavors to graduate 200,000 Latin American and Caribbean doctors over the next decade.
— Prensa Latina [30]
May 8, 2007