Canada
B.C. Government Halts Operation of Unlicensed Colleges
The province of British Columbia has blacklisted a private postsecondary college, more than two years after it became aware the institution was offering unauthorized university degrees. The Ministry of Advanced Education [1] posted a statement [2] on its website advising that Rutherford University, Rutherford College and Senior University have been operating in B.C. in contravention of the law and have been ordered to stop.
Robert Clift, the executive director of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C [3]., who monitors post-secondary institutions operating outside the law, told the Vancouver Sun he was pleased government officials are taking action, but added that their slow pace in dealing with such issues leaves many students at risk.
According to the newspaper report, Clift reported Rutherford’s activities to the ministry in 2005, but the government didn’t order an inspection until May 2007. The inspector found evidence that Rutherford has been operating in the province in contravention of the Degree Authorization Act since 2003.
– Vancouver Sun [4]
June 10, 2008
Algoma University College Upgraded to University Status
Under legislation tabled by the Ontario government in May Algoma University College [5] is to become Algoma University. Located in Sault Ste. Marie, Algoma University College is presently an affiliated college of Laurentian University [6] in Sudbury. The government announcement means students graduating from Algoma will no longer receive Laurentian degrees; instead they will receive their degrees directly from Algoma.
Algoma is not the first college of Laurentian to become its own university. Nipissing University [7] in North Bay was an affiliated college of Laurentian until 1992 when it was granted independence.
Students are unlikely to notice a great difference between being an affiliated college and a full-fledged independent university. Algoma U has been offering degree programs for 41 years and has effectively operated as an independent unit of Laurentian University for many years. Algoma is also the North American location of the Master of Science programs offered through the University of Abertay Dundee [8] in Scotland. The program only accepts twenty-four students each year who study at Algoma and earn their degree from Abertay.
– Macleans [9]
May 26, 2008
Report: International and Domestic Student Mobility and Credit Transfer Trends
The Educational Policy Institute [10], a not-for-profit research organization with offices in the U.S., Canada and Australia, has just released a study [11] entitled Student Mobility and Credit Transfer: a National and Global Survey. The first part of the report analyses issues related to student mobility, from both a Canadian and international perspective. The second half of the report deals with issues related to credit transfer and how the issue of credit recognition is best seen as a policy issue which requires the “exchange” of one institution’s credits into a currency that other institutions can freely accept.
– Education Policy Institute [11]
June 2008
Chile
Contentious Education Bill Passes Through Lower House
Chilean teachers and students have been out in force this summer protesting a controversial reform package meant to replace the Pinochet-era Organic Constitutional Education Law. In June, the biggest protest saw more than 10,000 people marching through Santiago to the parliament building, where legislators were debating and voting on the bill.
The central issue up for debate focuses on whether or not the new law does enough to reform the existing law, which both conservative and liberal politicians agree creates unequal access to educational opportunities. Chile’s Chamber of Deputies approved the contentious General Education Law (LGE) on June 19. Officials from Chile’s National Teacher’s Association criticized the Chamber’s decision and said they would urge the Senate to vote against the proposal.
The LGE calls for the creation of an Education Superintendent, which would be in charge of distributing government funds earmarked for public schools. The proposal also includes the creation of a Quality Agency to monitor student performance and standards for institutions opened with public funding.
Bill supporters say that the LGE will improve the quality of Chile’s public schools. The bill’s detractors maintain that the Ministry of Education [12] and the Chilean government have not considered teacher and student concerns, such as the continued privatization of Chile’s education system. Chile’s National Teachers’ Association said that it has started behind-the-scenes negotiations with senators in order to prevent the LGE from becoming law.
– Santiago Times [13]
July 1, 2008
Government Approves Huge Study Abroad Program
The Chilean government approved in May a program to award 30,000 study-abroad scholarships to graduate students over the next decade in mostly non-traditional technical fields, including tourism, energy, public health, and mining. The awards will be distributed under a merit-based system, with 1,000 full scholarships being awarded this year – twice the number given in 2007. The government is providing US$600 million in funding over the next decade. Students will be encouraged to attend universities in North America, Europe and Australia.
Until three years ago, the Chilean government paid for just 170 graduate scholarships abroad. With the new fund, the number of scholarships will be raised to 1,000 this year, 2,500 next year and to 6,500 by 2012. Most of the scholarships will be focused on post-graduate engineering, science and technology studies, which are considered the key areas to help the country produce more sophisticated — and higher priced — export products.
The fund, known as Bi-Centennial Human Capital Fund, will be financed with revenues from Chile’s booming export industries which have benefitted from a massive run-up in global commodity prices in recent years. In addition, the fund – first announced by President Michelle Bachelet in a May 21 state of the union address – will pay for additional scholarships to 2,000 young technicians for courses at community colleges in the United States and other industrialized countries, and for at least 100 foreign scientists to teach at regional universities in Chile’s rural areas.
– Miami Herald [14]
June 5, 2008
United States
Ranks of Minority PhD Holders in the field of Business Boosted by Longstanding Project
After 14 years of operations, the PhD Project [15] has helped to triple the presence of minority students at business schools across the country. The PhD Project is a mentoring network for African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans working towards becoming business professors.
Since its formation in 1994, the PhD Project has increased the number of professors from minority groups among the faculty of American business schools from 294 to 903. Another 400 are working toward their doctorates. Universities still have a long way to go to bring a wide range of backgrounds to business teaching and research, experts say. The three minority groups represent less than 4 percent of the roughly 26,000 business professors with PhDs.
Each year, the nonprofit organization invites potential career-changers to an introductory, all-expenses-paid conference where professors, deans, and current minority doctoral students help explain that an MBA is not the only route for students pursing graduate studies in business. In fact that is one of the four myths the program attempts to dispel: you don’t need an MBA to engage on a business-related PhD; doctoral programs are not costly, in fact fees are often waived by the program and researchers given a stipend; you’re not too old, in reality business schools look for PhD candidates with work experience; and finally there’s the perception that scholars take a vow of poverty. With a shortage of business professors projected to intensify in coming years, six-figure starting salaries are not uncommon.
In its 14-year history, the project boasts a 92 percent completion rate, compared with about 70 percent overall for business doctoral programs, according to program officials interviewed by The Christian Science Monitor.
– The Christian Science Monitor [16]
June 4, 2008
Study: Foreign Scientists, Engineers of Benefit to the Nation
A new report [17] from the RAND Corporation [18] finds that the United States is still the dominant global leader in science and technology, despite mounting choruses from naysayers stating otherwise. Helping the United States build and maintain its science and technology lead has been an inflow of foreign graduate students in the sciences – as well as scientists and engineers from overseas – even as many other nations increase their spending on research and development. Continuing this flow of foreign-born talent is critical to helping the United States maintain its lead, according to the study.
The United States accounts for 40 percent of the world’s total spending on scientific research and development, employs 70 percent of the world’s Nobel Prize winners and is home to three-quarters of the world’s top 40 universities. Investment in U.S. research and development outpaces the rest of the world – growing faster than Europe and Japan. While China is investing heavily in research and development, it does not yet account for a large share of world innovation and scientific output, which continues to be dominated by the United States, Europe and Japan, according to RAND researchers.
“Much of the concern about the United States losing its edge as the world’s leader in science and technology appears to be unfounded,” according to Titus Galama, co-author of the report. “But the United States cannot afford to be complacent. Effort is needed to make sure the nation maintains or even extends its standing.”
The report, “U.S. Competitiveness in Science and Technology,” can be found at http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG674/ [17]
– RAND news release [19]
June 12, 2008
Boston-Area Colleges Thank Weak Dollar for Surge in Overseas Applicants
Overseas enrollments are set to increase sharply this year, according to the Boston Globe, and most interviewed by the newspaper think it is because of the weakness of the dollar and relative affordability of U.S. tuition fees. As the dollar has lost value to major currencies around the world, so the cost of an American education has become more affordable for those shopping for an overseas education, especially when compared to competitor countries such as the UK, where the currency is much stronger.
According to anecdotal evidence from a number of Boston-area college administrators, and higher education specialists interviewed by the Globe, there has been an unusual surge in applications from abroad this year. The influx is expected to reverse the declines in foreign student enrollment that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Many colleges in Massachusetts and across the country report sharp increases in applications and acceptances from international students for the coming school year, especially from India, China, and European countries. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst [20] expects an approximately 20 percent increase in new international students this fall, while Northeastern University [21] will enroll 17 percent more students than last year’s class. Foreign students will comprise nearly one-quarter of Babson College [22]‘s incoming class, after a 67 percent rise in their numbers.
Boston is currently the country’s third-leading host city with nearly 24,000 foreign students, behind New York and Los Angeles. Last year, the nearly 29,000 foreign students in Massachusetts contributed almost $1 billion to the state’s economy, according to a new study [23] by the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. [24] If the Massachusetts figures play out nationally, then the US should see a continued rebound in international enrollments to heights not seen since 2002, when tighter restrictions on student visas and growing anti-American sentiment abroad caused enrollments to decline. According to the latest figures [25] from the Institute of International Education [26], there were nearly 583,000 foreign students who attended US colleges and universities last year.
– The Boston Globe [27]
July 5, 2008
U.S. Student Visa Issuances from China for 2008 Up an Estimated 30 Percent
According to a number of different news outlets, citing evidence of the anecdotal and data-driven type, the number of foreign students coming to the United States this fall is set to increase over last year. Anecdotal evidence comes from various interviews conducted with college officials, many of whom are predicting international enrollment increases, while data-driven evidence comes in the form of visa-issuance figures from India and China, the two countries that send the most students to American universities.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing told The Chronicle of Higher Education that for 2008 it was expecting a 30 percent increase over last year in visa issuances for students and exchange visitors. The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi said that student visas were up 4.5 percent for the months from October to June, compared with the same period last year. Together the countries account for 25 percent of the foreign students in the United States.
The predicted increase in international enrollments would support evidence that international enrollment declines post-2001 are continuing to reverse. Last year the Institute of International Education [28] said in its annual “Open Doors [25]” report that the number of international students enrolled at American colleges and universities rose by 3.2 percent in 2006 – the first significant increase since 2001.
Increased recruitment efforts by individual universities, improvements in the visa process, an increased perception that the U.S. is welcoming to foreign students, and the weak U.S. dollar have all been cited as reasons for the turn-around.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [29]
July 21, 2008
New Rule Allows Greater Flexibility in Student-Exchange Programs
The State Department issued a new rule in June that allows American colleges and universities to sponsor foreign students to work in the United States for up to 12 months. The rule came into effect July 21 and amends the Exchange Visitor Program.
Under existing regulations, it is difficult for American colleges to sponsor foreign students to be placed in companies or organizations as interns because there is no provision for that purpose. The new rule will help colleges develop exchange programs with foreign institutions. A move that will encourage collaborating foreign institutions to accept American students for internships in their countries.
– Federal Register [30]
June 20, 2008