Canada

Education Company Buys Community College with China Ties

CIBT Education Group, a Canadian education company that currently manages 17 institutions of higher education in China, has bought Sprott-Shaw Community College in Vancouver, British Columbia, which has plans to export many of its 140 vocational programs to China.

CIBT runs 2+2 programs for students who study for two years in China and then go overseas, usually to Britain for the final two years. Tony Chu, CIBT president, said his company had started looking for a destination in Canada because Chinese students say they want to study there. Chu told the Sun that the biggest markets are currently in the United States and Britain, but Canada is the most competitive market in terms of lower living costs. Chu said the Sprott acquisition will likely be followed by other purchases in Vancouver, though talks for these are still in the early stages.

– Vancouver Sun
December 18, 2007

Ontario University Applications Hit Record High

Demand for first-year university places at Ontario universities are at highs not seen since the double cohort graduated in 2003 because of the elimination of Grade 13. The new numbers are likely to increase pressure on the province to create additional spaces.

Demand for freshman places at campuses across the province is up by about 5 percent, according to preliminary figures sent to Ontario’s universities in January. Approximately 83,000 high-school students submitted applications by the January deadline, an increase of some 4,000 from 2007.

The Ontario numbers are in stark contrast to some other parts of the country, especially in the three Atlantic provinces where university enrollment is expected to fall by as much as 10 percent in the next decade.

– The Globe and Mail
January 17, 2008

Chile

Chinese Language Gaining Traction as Exports Boom

As China pushes patiently for increased access to Latin American mineral resources, so the number of Mandarin learners on the continent is increasing. Chinese classes were written into a 2006 free-trade accord between Chile and China. While China has its eye on the world’s largest source of copper in Chile, for Chile the accord is a chance to become Latin America’s gateway to the Asia-Pacific region.

Just as it has on the African continent, China has been expanding its economic position in Latin America for about a decade, while establishing cultural and commercial ties in countries that supply the commodities it needs to maintain growth. Its top trade partners in Latin America are Brazil, Argentina and Chile, which are major grain and metals suppliers.

Chile was also the first country in the region to support China’s entry into the World Trade Organization and is the only one with a trade agreement with China. No wonder young Chileans are focusing their efforts on learning Chinese. While the Mandarin program is still small, with about 60 students in three public schools, education officials say they want to expand it quickly, adding at least three more schools in March. In addition, at least 20 Chilean universities are already offering Mandarin courses, as are many private language schools.

Panama is taking similar steps and hopes to implement a Mandarin program in public schools next year. Venezuela and China expect to begin a language exchange program in 2008.

– Reuters
January 2, 2008

United States

Yale Opens its Courses to the Public for Free

Five years after MIT first began offering the content of many of its courses for free on the internet, Yale University has decided to follow suit with the launch of “Open Yale Courses”, an open content initiative that makes available selected undergraduate courses for free over the internet. Not only can users download audio recordings and written transcripts of each lecture, along with syllabi, reading assignments, problem sets and other assigned materials that accompany the courses, but they can also watch live lecture feeds from certain classes.

– Yale Daily News
December 12, 2007

Brightest British School Leavers Attracted to US Ivies in Increasing Numbers

A record number of high-achieving British teenagers are looking beyond Oxford and Cambridge and applying to Ivy League universities in the United States, lured by attractive scholarships, broader curriculums and superior facilities. Students from families with household incomes of up to US$180,000 now qualify for financial assistance at Harvard, and it also recently raised its threshold for free tuition and board for the poorest students. Yale University made similar announcements this month (see below), making it more affordable and attractive for talented British school leavers.

Leading British schools say that some of their highest-achieving pupils no longer see Oxford and Cambridge as the pinnacle. Instead they are attracted by the broader curriculum and supposedly superior facilities at Ivy League universities. It raises fears that the cream of British students will increasingly look abroad, potentially undermining the global standing of the country’s top universities. The number of British students applying to Harvard was 197 five years ago. By 2006 it had risen to 290. Applications to Yale from British teenagers have more than tripled from 74 in 1997 to 234 last year.

– The Times
December 24, 2007

NAFSA Offers Study Abroad Guidelines

A report released by Nafsa: Association of International Educators in January has offered a range of principles for managing study abroad programs, while stressing that the principles are by no means prescriptive. It comes five months after an investigation by the New York State attorney general raised questions about some of the sector’s business practices.

Among many other recommendations, the report, “Strengthening Study Abroad: Recommendations for Effective Institutional Management for Presidents, Senior Administrators, and Study Abroad Professionals,” stresses that study abroad programs need to be much better integrated into campus life, rather than a fringe office manned by a handful of staff members. The report lays out core standards to guide college officials in areas such as institutional planning, financial resources, and accountability.

– NAFSA Press Release
January 16, 2008

Yale to Cut Tuition for Many

Yale University has announced plans to cut tuition fees by as much as 50 percent for some students, as it keeps pace with a number of other elite schools seeking to make college more affordable for lower-, middle- and upper-middle-income families, officials said in January. A week later, Dartmouth college joined the push to reduce costs by announcing that beginning in the fall undergraduates from families with incomes less than $75,000 would receive free tuition.

The move comes amid concern about the cost of college and calls by U.S. legislators for universities with large endowments to do more to ease the financial burden on families. Last month, Harvard University announced that it would cut costs by as much as 50 percent and eliminate student loans. Like Harvard, Yale is also eliminating the need for students to take out loans, allowing all families that qualify for financial aid to receive it in grants.

For the current academic year, undergraduate tuition, room and board total nearly $45,000. Under Yale’s program, families with incomes of $60,000 to $120,000 will contribute 1 percent to 10 percent of the student’s bill. Previously, a family with an income of $90,000 and assets of $150,000 would have paid $12,550 annually; now that family will pay $2,950, a Yale news release said. Families with incomes of less than $60,000 will not be required to pay anything toward the cost of a student’s education.

– Washington Post
January 15, 2008

Two High-Profile US Universities Sign Agreements with Top Universities in China

Georgetown University opened its first Chinese liaison office in December at Fudan University in Shanghai. The office is located at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, and will aim to enhance scholarly exchange between Georgetown and Fudan, as well as other leading Chinese universities and research centers. In related news, Tsinghua University and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) signed a collaborative agreement for a joint neuroscience research program in January.

– Xinhua
January 15, 2008
– Blue and Gray
January 14, 2008