Australia

University Introduces 1st US-Style Programs

The University of Melbourne’s plan to reform it’s university offerings inline with US-style offerings has borne fruit with the introduction of a master’s degree in teaching. The new degree is part of a planned institution-wide move away from specific undergraduate degrees to a stronger emphasis on graduate schools. The university’s one-year teaching diploma is to be phased out along with many other undergraduate programs, including bachelor degrees in primary and early childhood education, in favor of professionally oriented master’s degrees.

The program will be offered from next year in early childhood, primary and secondary streams. By 2011, undergraduate offerings at Melbourne will be narrowed to six broad generalist subject areas, from a current offering of 96 programs, and graduate programs will be emphasized and taught at a raft of new professional schools.

The “Melbourne model” mirrors the recent conversion of some European universities to a similar model: a general undergraduate program followed by professional graduate courses. At Melbourne, the period of undergraduate study will continue to be three years, and students will major in the arts, biomedicine, commerce, environment, music or science.

– The Australian
October 2, 2007

China

British Universities in Negotiations to Open China Campuses

Imperial College, London is one of a number of British universities currently in talks with Chinese officials to open campuses in the Middle Kingdom, despite a recent Chinese government announcement stating that “in principle,” no further applications from foreign universities to open campuses would be accepted before the end of 2008. Imperial is talking with representatives from Pudong, Shanghai’s finance and business center, over plans to open a campus there. Another London university is understood to be in an advanced stage of negotiations for a campus in Jiangxi province.

According to the Times Higher Education Supplement, David Willetts, the Conservative Party’s Shadow Higher Education Minister, was instrumental in brokering the Imperial deal after meeting the mayor of Pudong, who announced plans to attract a foreign university with a strong record in science. Mr Willetts said Shanghai’s “free enterprise zone” had more freedom in such ventures than other regions.

– The Times Higher Education Supplement
September 21, 2007

Nottingham Reaping Handsome Returns from Asian Ventures

Nottingham University‘s Ningbo campus has a current enrollment of 2,850 students working towards degrees equivalent to those in the UK. Nottingham says its aim is to build research and industry links with China and to improve student mobility between the countries, a goal that appears to be working with the number of Chinese students studying at the UK Nottingham campus rising from 1,037 to 1,166 in the past academic year. Nottingham owns a 37.5 percent share in the Ningbo campus, a joint venture with the state-owned Wanli Education Group. Wanli provided the infrastructure, worth US$28 million. Nottingham has invested a further $11 million in its Malaysia campus, in which it owns a 29.1 percent stake.

A spokesman for Nottingham told the Times Higher Education Supplement that his institution “confidently expects handsome surpluses from China and Malaysia within five years at most. We estimate that the campuses in Malaysia and China already have a combined value of £150 million. That’s a pretty phenomenal return on a £40 million investment – of which we contributed less than 25 percent,” he said.

– The Times Higher Education Supplement
September 21, 2007

British Firm to Deliver Online Classes to 20m Chinese Students

Under a deal signed between the UK’s LP+ Group and Chinese media company, Sun Media, the British firm will build a system designed to deliver online lessons in Chinese to pupils in 20 major Chinese cities. Lessons will be accessible through an internet browser. The content, across a range of subjects, will be provided by the Chinese partners – with the first students using the materials in spring 2008. They will draw on the educational technology experience of Shireland Language College, in the west Midlands – with teachers from the college traveling to Beijing later this year to support Chinese schools.

– The BBC
September 24, 2007

162,000 Foreign Students in China in 2006

China hosted more than 162,000 students at over 500 institutions of higher education in 2006, according to education ministry officials quoted in state-run media in September. The government has reportedly signed agreements with 30 countries and regions on the mutual recognition of academic certificates and degrees. The number of foreign students in China has tripled since 2000.

– People’s Daily
September 25, 2007

Hong Kong

Government to Offer Preferential Treatment to International Schools as it Strives for Regional Hub Status

Donald Tsang, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said in October that his government will give preferential treatment for the development and expansion of international schools. The announcement comes as Hong Kong continues its efforts to attract students from across the region in a bid to develop its status as a regional education hub. The chief executive also pointed to the fact that attracting more outstanding students to study in Hong Kong will enlarge the city’s pool of talent and enhance the quality of its population.

“The Government will introduce a package of measures which includes increasing the admission quotas for non-local students to local tertiary institutions, relaxing employment restrictions on non-local students, as well as providing scholarships to strengthen support to local and non-local students,” he said.

– Xinhua News Agency
October 10, 2007

Fiji

New Accreditation Body Approved

The Fijian Cabinet has approved the Higher Education Advisory Commission to advise the Minister for Education and manage accreditation and approval processes in the sector. The government is creating the new regulatory body due to concerns that current standards would otherwise be compromised within higher education.

– The Times Higher Education Supplement
September 28, 2007

India

Indian Businessmen Targeted by Foreign Business Schools

A recent article in the India Times newspaper suggests that foreign business schools are increasingly looking to offer customized programs to private companies in India, in addition to traditional joint program tie-ups with established Indian partners such as the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Among the schools named in the piece are Duke, Harvard, ESCP-EAP European School of Management, University of Texas at Austin-McCombs, and Thunderbird School of Global Management. ESCP-EAP, which operates five campuses, is reportedly getting ready to launch customized education programs offering open enrollment.

IIM-Ahmedabad has a joint program with Duke, and the institute is reportedly talking to other international business schools for similar collaborations. “With joint programs, Indian institutes too get an opportunity to offer courses to companies abroad,” according to senior IIM-A faculty interviewed by India Times.

– India Times
September 11, 2007

Seeking Answers to Faculty Shortages, IIT Bombay Offers Signing Bonuses

Faculty shortages in India are a major problem, and even the nation’s top schools are sorely affected. One institution, the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, is hoping to attract academic talent by offering all new faculty members a signing bonus equal to almost US$7,800. The bonuses are being raised by donations from IIT alumni, who in recent years have become more organized and interested in giving back to their alma mater. Another initiative has seen seed research grants given to new faculty members increase threefold to $28,000.

Together, the two initiatives reveal a reality in Indian academia where even the most prestigious institutes of higher education are no longer able to overcome their relatively poor compensation packages and attract young talent. IIT faculty salaries range from $7,800 to $16,000 a year, whereas an IT professional with less than five years experience can expect to earn an average annual salary of $16,000, according to market research by IDC India. A growing dearth of students obtaining doctorates has also added to the pressure.

IIT Bombay currently has 420 faculty on staff, and approximately 100 vacant positions. Across the seven IITs an estimated 900 faculty positions remain open. According to a report on revitalizing technical education in the country, an additional 10,000 doctorates will be needed by 2008 to meet faculty requirements at Indian engineering institutions.

– Hindustan Times
October 1, 2007

Where are all the Professors?

Indian institutions of higher education cannot even come close to filling vacant faculty position, with as many as a third lying vacant at some universities. This shortage comes at a time when the government is proposing to build a large number of new universities and colleges leading to deep concerns that India will not be able to staff its higher education system without drastic reforms to current pay and research models. With pay currently so low for professors (capped at US$16,000 a year), the private sector is a much more attractive job path for those graduating from Indian universities today.

The faculty shortage has increased professors’ teaching loads, making it difficult for them to keep up with their research. A decline in research has, in turn, made academic careers, even at the top universities, increasingly unappealing. As a result, many universities are settling for poorly trained professors.

The government plans to open five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, seven new Indian Institutes of Management, and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology — roughly doubling the number of top-tier institutions in the country. The government also wants to create 16 new universities and more than 350 colleges. The federal government has long been concerned that no more than 10 percent of young Indians enter higher education, and faculty members say they don’t see how these new institutions could function when staff shortages run so deep at the country’s 350 existing universities.

Professors and administrators say that flexibility in setting salaries would go a long way toward fixing the problem. As it is, India’s notoriously bureaucratic higher-education system has rules in place under which professors, no matter how brilliant, are treated and paid like civil servants. Administrators say that the financing and management of research also needs to improve, as it is hampered by the same slow-moving bureaucracy that burdens the rest of higher education. Corporate involvement in education has also been recommended as has raising tuition. The only moves the government has made so far to ease the shortage has been to raise the retirement age for faculty members and allow some of the elite institutes to recruit foreign professors.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
October 12, 2007

Shortage of IT PhDs Poses Major Problems for India’s Global Outsourcing Dominance

There is such a shortage of computer science PhDs in India currently that the country’s role as the world’s information technology services outsourcing hub is in jeopardy, according to the chairman of Microsoft India.

“It’s an incredibly urgent and important issue,” Ravi Venkatesan told the Financial Times newspaper. “It affects the pipeline of future talent because the teaching institutions aren’t getting enough qualified faculty and, of course, if you really want to do cutting edge innovation in computer science, you’re restricted by the pool of talent out there.”

Although many Indians pursue postgraduate studies overseas, India’s universities now produce only about 35 computer science PhDs a year compared with approximately 1,000 in the United States. India’s universities turn out about half a million engineering graduates a year but few stay on for postgraduate studies.

While Indian companies have relied on a comparative advantage in Indian wages compared to those in developed markets as a model to attract business, the strategy is not sustainable, Mr Venkatesan said. Indian entry-level IT salaries are presently about half those in the developed world but they are increasing by about 15 percent a year and will be on a par with the developed world within the next seven to eight years, the Microsoft head said

– Financial Times
October 10, 2007

Malaysia

Laureate Bids on Malaysian University

American for-profit higher education company, Laureate Education, Inc., has made a US$36-million offer to acquire a controlling share of the company that owns Malaysia-based INTI International University College. Based in Baltimore, Laureate operates a network of universities around the world as well as the internet-based Walden University.

INTI International, which specializes in programs in hospitality, multimedia design, and mobile telecommunications, operates eight colleges in Malaysia, in addition to campuses in China, Indonesia, and Thailand. The university is owned by a company called INTI Universal Holdings Bhd. The company that Laureate is seeking to buy, INTI Supreme Holdings Sdn Bhd, said it would negotiate exclusively with Laureate for three months.

– Reuters
September 19, 2007

College Upgraded to University

In 2001, the Advanced Technology and Management Center was upgraded to the University College of Technology and Management Malaysia (KUTPM), and on Oct. 2 of this year it was officially upgraded to university status. KUTPM, with a student body of 17,000 and 11 faculties, will now be known as the Management and Science University.

– The Star
October 7, 2007

New Zealand

International PhD Enrollments up 56 Percent Last Year

Doubling the growth rate from 2003-2005, PhD enrollments among foreign students increased 56 percent at New Zealand universities last year, according to acting Tertiary Education Minster Steve Maharey. The minister said that a policy of attracting doctoral students to New Zealand by charging the same rates as those paid by domestic students was paying dividends in terms of pulling in academic talent.

There were 1,084 international student PhD enrollments last year compared to 693 in 2005. The domestic-fees policy followed the introduction three years ago of the International Doctoral Research Scholarship which funds studying and living costs. The largest growth in enrollments was from India, up 205 percent, China, up 103 percent and the United States, up 102 percent. Most new enrollments were in sciences and arts. Under the International Doctoral Research Scholarship recipients from 20 countries will study subjects ranging from global warming effects on glaciers to environmental chemistry.

– New Zealand Press Association
September 27, 2007

Otago University Partners with Harvard in Dubai

The University of Otago’s Wellington School of Medicine & Health Sciences has entered into a collaborative project with the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center Institute for Postgraduate Education and Research, which has been assisting the Dubai government in developing Dubai Healthcare City – an advanced healthcare facility made up of independent hospitals and clinics staffed by doctors from world-leading hospitals and medical schools – since 2003. HMSDC was established to create postgraduate medical education programs for the Middle East region and to provide continuing medical education and professional development programs.

The collaborative project between the University of Otago and HMSDC is a postgraduate medical program. It includes continuing medical education and formal academic education in occupational medicine, and will be offered mainly via distance learning to students around the region. Otago officials state that this is “a pilot program at a regional level throughout the Middle East that will promote technology transfer between Otago University and educational institutions working under the DHCC umbrella. It will help lead the way in international distance education.”

Otago also offers programs through its distance learning network in Canada, the UK, Dubai, Sweden, China and Australasia. Working with HMSDC allows the university to work with “a partner who had a major academic footprint in the Middle East, as well as credibility among [its] potential markets.”

– Market New Zealand
September 27, 2007

South Korea

Number of Students Studying Abroad Surpasses 200,000 for First Time

A study by the Korean Educational Development Institute reveals that the number of Korean students studying at the tertiary level abroad has broken through the 200,000 barrier for the first time. This year, 217,959 Koreans studied overseas at universities or language institutes, up from 190,364 in 2006. As of April 1, 2007, there were 59,022 Korean tertiary students in the United States, 42,269 in China and 19,056 in Japan.

– Chosun News
September 27, 2007

Less than 1 Foreign Professor per University

Despite high-profile efforts toward internationalizing their campuses, Ministry of Education data show that only 22 full-time foreign professors worked at Korea’s 23 public universities in 2006.

The figure, which was disclosed in October by Rep. Lee Sung-kwon of the main opposition Grand National Party, showed that just eight of Korea’s 23 state-owned universities employed foreign professors full time last year. Among those schools, Seoul National employed eight foreign professors, while Kyungpook National University and Pukyong National University each had four full-time foreign professors.

In contrast, 1,976 full-time foreign faculty members were hired at Korea’s 149 private universities in 2006. As a percentage of overall faculty numbers, foreign professors accounted for just 3.75 of the total at public and private institutions combined. Hongik University had the largest number of foreign faculty, with 131 professors.

– Korea Herald
October 15, 2007

Vietnam

Top-200 University by 2020

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan that would see at least one of Vietnam’s universities ranked among the world’s top 200 by 2020. The 12-year plan also opens the way for the creation of private universities and colleges which will be free to solicit overseas investment. By 2020, the government hopes to have between 30 and 40 percent of tertiary students enrolled at private institutions.

– Vietnam News Service
October 5, 2007