Australia

British Academic Presence Increases in South Australia with Development of First Independent Campus

After the signing of an agreement in May between University College London (UCL) and the South Australian government, UCL will next year become the first UK university with a campus in Australia. Under the agreement a UCL school of energy and resources will open in Adelaide.

The new campus will join Britain’s other presence in its former penal colony: Cranfield University’s business development office, which is set to deliver what it describes as “world-class specialist defense education at universities in South Australia.” The South Australian government has also welcomed US-based Carnegie Mellon University to Adelaide. Like Carnegie, UCL will receive funding from the state government to the tune of A$4 million (US$3.8 million).

Under the terms of the agreement, the school will start work in 2009 and become fully operational the following year. Up to 60 students are expected to enroll in its two-year masters program in energy and resources but the school will also offer executive education programs for senior industry executives and engineering managers.

– The Independent
May 29, 2008

Committee Sets Sights on Funding Overhaul for Australian Higher Education

In a review of higher education in Australia, a government-appointed panel has called Australia’s current tuition fee system “inconsistent and irrational.” In a draft report, the panel stressed that fees differed for the same programs and students were asked to pay vastly different amounts.

The panel’s final report is expected to set the groundwork for a radical restructure of university financing, teaching, and research. The panel, which is led by Denise Bradley, a former vice chancellor of the University of South Australia, was convened by the newly elected prime minister, Kevin Rudd, to assess Australian higher education after a decade of budget cuts under former premier, John Howard.

– The Sydney Morning Herald
June 10, 2008

Australian Universities Boost Online Recruitment of Chinese Students

A consortium of seven Australian universities has signed a partnership agreement with a Chinese student recruitment agency in a bid to boost distance-learning enrollments among Chinese who cannot leave the country, yet want to earn a foreign credential. The Consortium, Open Universities Australia (OUA), aims to boost enrollments through its partnership with EduGlobal. Studying through OUA in China – where the student receives full credit from Australian partner universities in the event they decide to study there – is estimated to be a quarter of the cost.

OUA delivered 64,000 courses to about 25,000 mostly domestic students in 2007, up from 25,000 courses offered to 10,000 students in 2004. Under the agreement, EduGlobal (55 percent owned by the Navitas Group) will recruit students for OUA, leveraging the flexibility of online learning in China. Navitas (formerly IBT) is one of the country’s largest recruiters and preparers of overseas students for Australian universities, and among other acquisitions last year bought a 55 percent stake in EduGlobal China Ltd.

OUA consists of Curtin, Griffith, Macquarie, Monash, RMIT, Swinburne and UniSA.

– The Australian
May 14, 2008

R&D Spending Up 25%

Australian universities have been increasing their research and development (R&D) spending significantly in recent years. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal that total expenditure on research and development rose by 24.9 percent in the two years between 2004 and 2006, the most recent period for which figures are available, to A$5.4 billion (US$5.2 billion).

The rise has mainly been fueled by a A$460 million increase in spending on medical research, and is set to continue as money pledged by the government in 2006 flows through. By 2010, funding for the National Health and Medical Research Centre will have increased 500 percent over 15 years, The Australian newspaper reported.

– The Australian
June 16, 2008

China

British Publisher Set to Acquire English Language Chain of Schools

Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, is said to be in advanced talks about acquiring a chain of private schools in Shanghai, the first time it would own an education institution anywhere in the world. LEC comprises 15 schools and the deal offers Pearson a way of entering the heavily regulated Chinese education market ahead of the Beijing Olympics. LEC schools provide private after-school education for children aged five to 12.

The LEC deal, which has been in the works for at least a year, would run counter to competitors in the education market who have been abandoning or selling up their international operations to private equity and focusing on the US. Pearson has reportedly identified China, Africa and India as the most attractive growth markets for its education arm.

– Thomson Financial News
May 5, 2008

Government Increases Living Allowance Grants for Foreign Students

Demonstrating its desire of becoming a major international study destination, the Chinese government has substantially increased living allowances for international students studying in China under the Chinese Government Scholarship Scheme (as of January 1, 2008).

– AEI
July 2, 2008

India

University Sector Seeks Britain’s Help

India has asked Britain for help in establishing a world-class Central University. The Telegraph, an Indian newspaper, reports that this is the first request for foreign assistance in almost 50 years. The first Indian Institutes of Technology were created with assistance from the Soviet Union, Britain, and West Germany in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Last year India’s prime minister announced that the country would set up 14 world-class Central Universities to compete with elite institutions around the world. The locations of the universities were announced in March.

“We want the help in the form of skill development, faculty support, and necessary training,” said D. Purandeswari, India’s junior higher-education minister, according to a statement issued after meetings in May with Bill Rammell, Britain’s higher-education minister. Further talks, aimed at ironing out details, were held in July in London.

– The Telegraph
May 27, 2008

India Makes its Contribution to Free Online University Course Materials

Seven technical universities in India are collaborating to create a free YouTube library of engineering courses. There are more than 50 English-language courses online. A blog devoted to open access materials states that the video collection already rivals that offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which began the Open Courseware movement almost five years ago when it began making lecture notes, and more recently lecture tapings, available through its OpenCourseWare project.

The project is called the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, and it is a joint effort of campuses of the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Science. MIT’s collection features far more courses—about 1,800 of them. But many of MIT’s courses on the web provide only written lecture notes, rather than video recordings of lectures.

– OpenCulture
May 27, 2008

Report: Top Engineering Schools Lose Research Students to the West, Employers

India’s engineering colleges are still struggling to establish themselves as vibrant research centers, and continue to focus primarily on teaching at the undergraduate level, as engineering students continue to opt for foreign graduate study or employment opportunities in much greater numbers than those who chose to pursue master’s or doctoral degrees in India. These are the main findings of a report released in early June.

The report, Engineering Education in India, states that India graduates fewer than 1,000 Ph.D.’s in engineering annually, despite producing an estimated 240,000 engineering undergraduates every year. The report reveals that most enter the job market or move to the United States for advanced education. Even the cream of the country’s engineering colleges, the seven Indian Institutes of Technology, are unable to keep their best engineering graduates for doctoral degrees. Just 1 percent of students earning bachelor-of-technology degrees choose to pursue a master’s degree and only 2 percent of master’s recipients opt for doctorates. By contrast, Indians made up 10 percent of the science and engineering doctorates awarded in the United States from 1998 to 2001, the report says.

“There is a general perception that research opportunities and facilities in U.S. are the best,” Professor Rangan Banerjee, an IIT Bombay professor and one of the report’s authors, was quoted as saying by a local newspaper. “Students also manage well-paying fellowships and are easily absorbed by the industry, which is not the case in India. Doing a Ph.D. is seen as time-consuming, and usually students want to take up a job right after their degree,” he said. The report recommends that India reverse the pattern by starting a national Ph.D. program to offer fellowships of around US$600 a month, and industry support for 5,000 fellowships a year.

– Observer India
June 2, 2008

University for Returned Overseas Indians to Open in Bangalore

India’s first university for Indians who live outside the country is to open in Bangalore. The institution, which is to be set up by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education Trust, will aim to take advantage of demand for higher education among the huge population of Indians living abroad. It is estimated that 20 million people of Indian origin live outside India, and that their combined wealth exceeds the country’s entire gross domestic product. The Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs said the private university would have to abide by the government’s quotas for Indian home students. The institution will be up and running in time for the next academic year, according to a report in The Mangalorean.

– The Mangalorean
May 24, 2008

Six New IITs This Year

Original plans had called for three new campuses of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh this year; however, a May announcement from the Indian government states that six new institutes are to open. The announcement from the Human Resources Development Ministry comes despite a faculty shortage at the existing seven institutes of between 20 to 30 percent.

The six new institutes have no premises or faculties of their own, and most of them are expected to function temporarily out of the seven existing institutions. With the addition of six new institutes, there will now be a total of 6,872 places available this year, an increase of more than 700 places. When campuses are ready, the other three IITs will operate in Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat. Two other campuses have been approved for Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. They are expected to begin operations with the 2009-10 academic year.

– The Times of India
May 30, 2008

Private Institutions of Higher Education Account for More than 50% of Enrollments

According to government data contained within the government’s 11th 5-year plan, the total number of private unaided higher education institutions, in relation to the total number of institutions of higher education in the country, increased from 42.6 percent in 2001 to 63.21 percent in 2006. Their share of enrollments also increased from 32.89 percent to 51.53 percent in the same period. In addition, “this trend is likely to continue and therefore, it is reasonable to expect that about half of incremental enrollment targeted for higher education will come from private providers.”

– The Times of India
June 5, 2008

Regulators Clamp Down on Foreign Collaboration Deals

The All India Council for Technical Education has issued notices to more than 100 institutes, mostly private, to stop entering into partnerships with foreign universities and colleges without its approval.

The regulator, which is responsible for approving higher-education courses in engineering, business, and other technical disciplines, has also served notices to nearly 170 other institutes for offering unauthorized courses. AICTE is authorized to monitor the operations of foreign institutions that provide technical education in India.

– Indo Asian News Service
July 20, 2008

Japan

Chinese Students Constitute Largest Overseas Student Group, But Top Students Head West

There are approximately 70,000 Chinese students enrolled at Japanese universities, a heavy majority among the nation’s 120,000 international students. Nonetheless, Homare Endo, an adviser to Teikyo University Group who has served as a counselor for Chinese students in Japan since the early 1980s, told the Daily Yomiuri that the best Chinese students usually head to the United States or Europe.

Among the factors influencing top Chinese students are the opportunity to develop English-language skills, antipathy toward Japan among Chinese people, and the prestige of a Western degree.

– Daily Yomiuri
May 31, 2008

Waseda, Peking to Open Joint Graduate School

Japan’s Waseda University and China’s Peking University signed an agreement in June to create what will be know as the Joint Graduate School of Sustainable Development. The project is being backed by a consortium of industry, government and academia. In April 2009, a double degree program in Environment & Sustainable Development will be offered at both the Waseda and Peking University campuses. The two universities have been working together since 2003 through a project known as the Waseda University – Peking University Joint Center for Instruction and Research.

– Technology News
June 2, 2008

Malaysia

Beating of African Students Harms International Recruitment Efforts

Malaysia’s efforts to promote itself as a safe international destination for university students was damaged in May when Malaysian students used baseball bats and metal pipes to attack three African peers because they were dating local girls. One African student was hospitalized with a broken arm, while the two others received minor injuries, according to the Star newspaper.

Shortly after the assault, which occurred at Legenda College, students from several African countries armed themselves with bats and sticks and gathered outside their dormitories to confront local students. Police and college officials were ultimately able to keep the two groups apart.

Malaysia has been striving to establish itself as an international education hub, especially among regional students and those of Islamic faith, and has set a target of attracting 100,000 foreign students by 2010, a figure that would be double the current number. According to the Star, Lagenda College, which lies about an hour outside of Kuala Lumpur, the capital, has 3,500 students. About 15 percent are foreigners.

– The Star
May 30, 3008

New Zealand

International Student Enrollment Figures, 2001-2007, Released

Education Counts, a statistical division of the Ministry of Education, released a report in June that summarizes international student enrollment data within New Zealand from four publicly available data sources between the years 2001-2007. Summary information is also available for approved student visas and permits over the same time period.

The report, International Student Enrolments in New Zealand 2001-2007, includes data on the enrollment of international students in all New Zealand Education sectors – including higher education – by origin and by qualification level from 2001-2007. Further information is given on the estimated economic value-added to New Zealand from international education.

– Education Counts
June 2008

Singapore

New Zealand University to Offer Degrees in Singapore

In collaboration with Singapore Polytechnic, New Zealand-based Massey University will start offering the final two years of its Bachelor in Food Technology program to top students from Singapore Polytechnic in August. All students will have completed the Polytechnic’s three-year diploma in food.

The tie-up is part of the Singaporean Government-backed Polytechnic-Foreign Specialized Institution Collaboration Framework. Its aim is to allow Singaporean students to undertake “gold-standard” degree programs of study without leaving Singapore. The venture is hosted and supported by Singapore Polytechnic.

Visiting Massey staff will be responsible for all the teaching. Instruction will also be offered via teleconference. Funding from the Singapore Government means the University is able to recruit additional staff to support the program. The first 30 students will start in August, with the possibility of increases to 40 students in each of the next two years.

– Massey Press release
May 26, 2008

Vietnam

Ministry Launches Multi-Million Dollar Plan to Lure Expatriate Academics Home

Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has launched an initiative designed to attract its overseas-domiciled academics, particularly in the sciences, back to Vietnam, or at least to engage them in some form of research and technology transfer activities. According to MoET, the project is to be funded with hundreds of millions of dollars and will draw participants from many scientific sectors beginning this year and running through 2020.

An estimated 300,000 of the Vietnamese currently living and working abroad are university or post-university graduates and account for 10-15 percent of the total number of Vietnamese expatriates. Professor Dr Hoang Ngoc Ha, director of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment, under the MoET, told the Voice of Vietnam that it is necessary to create favorable working and living conditions for overseas Vietnamese scientists if the country wants them to return home to work.

The Government has said it will fund 70 percent of the project’s costs until 2010 and 60 percent of other costs for the next 2011-2015 period.

– Voice of Vietnam
June 30, 2008