Australia
Universities Predict Major Growth in Enrollments among Foreign Students
Australian universities are predicting a surge in foreign-student enrollments, with some institutions fearing they may struggle to accommodate the influx. The Australian National University [1] and the University of Canberra [2] are among those to have voiced concerns about soaking up the rise in enrollments from overseas.
Both universities pointed to the lower Australian dollar as a key factor in attracting more students from abroad. John Dearn, acting vice-chancellor of Canberra, said plans had been drawn up to increase the supply of student accommodation. Undergraduate applications at the Australian National University have risen by 13 percent and postgraduate applications are up 22 percent year on year, The Canberra Times reported.
– Canberra Times [3]
November 26, 2008
Report Calls for Sweeping Overhaul of Australian Higher Education
A government-commissioned report [4] on Australia’s higher-education system has recommended sweeping reforms, with an eye on improving quality standards and ensuring that the country’s universities remain viable, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The independent review recommends an overhaul of the way universities are funded, forcing universities to compete for government funds, which would be increased significantly under the plan.
The 272-page report, known as the Bradley Review, suggests moving away from a system of centrally allocated seats, and instead giving students vouchers. According to the framers of the report, if students could more easily choose where they wanted to study, universities would be forced to not only offer more popular courses but also improve quality and efficiency in order to attract students. This scenario might lead to the merger or closure of lagging regional and remote campuses.
Too few Australians are pursuing university degrees, and far too few go on to conduct graduate research, the report concluded.
– Sydney Morning Herald [5]
December 17, 2008
Universities Announce Merger
In anticipation of the recommendations made in the Bradley Review (see above), two institutions in New South Wales, Charles Sturt University [6] and Southern Cross University [7], announced in December they would merge to form a new national university based in regional Australia.
In a prepared release, the two said: “With an expanded course profile and increased investment in digital technology, the new university would improve the accessibility of professional education in its regions and nationally. Consolidation of its research programs will bring increased innovation of particular relevance to regional Australia.”
– The Australian [8]
December 12, 2008
China
Rapid Enrollment Increases Lead to Skyrocketing Unemployment
More than 6 million Chinese students graduated from university in 2008 and an estimated 25 percent are yet to find work. And things are likely to get worse as the global economic slowdown deepens. The situation is such that the Ministry of Education [9] felt compelled in December to issue the following warning to future college graduates:
“The grim economic situation poses an unprecedented challenge for college graduates to get a proper job.”
However, commentators have implied that the government might be using the economic slowdown as a convenient excuse for a problem that has been mounting ever since the government dramatically increased the supply of university places in 1999.
“The number of graduates increased too quickly – by 2006 there were already five times more than in 1999. The labor market can’t take that big an increase in such a short time,” said Professor Yang Dongping of the Beijing Institute of Technology [10], the author of a report on graduate employment.
Beijing’s move to increase enrollments in 1999 came as it sought to move the Chinese economy from a primarily cheap mass production base to a more skilled production focus. However, the creation of skilled jobs has not nearly kept pace with the number of new graduates. Four million graduates in recent years have yet to find their first job, according to officials. However, the true figure is probably higher as the current system relies on reporting by universities, who have a vested interest in showing that graduates can find work.
In a bid to get graduates into jobs, the Education Ministry will host a series of online job fairs, which are part of a broader effort to channel graduates into China’s more remote and less developed western regions. The Ministry also has plans to recruit 30,000 college students as rural teachers during the year. It is also encouraging graduates to join the military, where they could be eligible for fast-track promotions.
– The Guardian [11]
Dec 4, 2008
Bringing Home Academics from Overseas
For years, Chinese scholars have moved overseas in search of higher wages and better research opportunities. Now the government and private entrepreneurs want them back.
Shanghai’s Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business [12], where today 27 of 35 faculty members are Chinese academics educated in the United States is a case in point. The Graduate School of Business is one of three ambitious programs established by the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing to improve the quality of Chinese higher education, in part by drawing back some of the thousands of Chinese scholars who have left since China began opening up in the 1980s, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education.
In what is sometimes referred to as China’s “reverse brain drain,” government programs and individual academic departments alike are now offering competitive benefits and salaries to candidates interested in returning from abroad, and they began gaining increased traction as the Chinese economy hit overdrive. Between 1978 and 2005, 770,300 students went abroad, and less than a quarter returned. But the majority of those who did return came back after 2000, with 35,000 coming in 2005 alone.
Returnees tend to assume positions of leadership, with the power to introduce new teaching methods, direct research, or oversee curricular reform. The incoming trail of academics has become so noticeable that it has prompted a backlash. Cultural conflict, resentment from locals, and even infighting among returnees are reportedly common.
The first major opportunity for homesick scholars came in 1998, when the central government started plowing millions of dollars into a handful of elite universities in an effort to bring them to international prominence. It gave nine top universities the equivalent of $120 million each in grant money and stipulated that 20 percent go to hiring from overseas. Private donors contributed as well. In addition to financing the Cheung Kong universities, Mr. Li’s foundation bankrolls the Cheung Kong Scholars Program [13], which provides annual bonuses of up to 100,000 yuan ($15,000) for recruitment of public-university professors from overseas. Since 1998, more than 800 foreign-educated professors, most of them returnees, have taken positions through this program.
Individual universities are also leading their own recruitment drives, in a bid to boost their positions in international rankings with professors who can publish in international journals. Today, four prominent Chinese academics from abroad have taken up deanships at Peking University [14] alone.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [15]
December 19, 2008
Peking U. Starts U.S.-Style Fundraising Drive
One of China’s top universities has launched a major “US-style” fundraising campaign to add to its state funding.
Peking University [14] has set up a development committee to oversee the fundraising drive. Xia Jiechang, an economics professor at the university, told China Daily: “(Government) funding falls far short of meeting the demands of the university. It was inevitable that universities would resort to raising money through other channels. Compared with top American universities that have hundreds of development staff and run regular campaigns, Chinese ones have only recently started asking for money, therefore they need to form an effective mechanism.”
– China Daily [16]
December 9, 2008
A Second Chinese Business School Receives Gold Standard Accreditation Decision
The China Europe International Business School [17] (CEIBS) in Shanghai has been accredited by AACSB International [18], a US agency that is the most prestigious of the international bodies accrediting business schools. The award is important for CEIBS because, despite huge investment and a sector which is growing rapidly, there remains a suspicion that China’s business schools tend to focus on quantity versus quality.
CEIBS is just the second mainland Chinese school to receive AACSB accreditation, after Tsinghua University of Beijing [19]. CEIBS has already received accreditation from EQUIS [20], Europe’s primary accreditation agency.
– AACSB News Release [21]
December 22, 2008
India
Prime Minister Announces Plans to Double Spending on Scientific Research
The Indian government has announced plans to establish a quasi-independent National Science and Engineering Research Board, with a similar model to the National Science Foundation in the United States. The government will double financing for science and technology, to 2 percent from the current 1 percent of gross domestic product, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in early December, according to a report from the Indo-Asian News Service.
The board “will provide unfettered financial assistance to researchers, academic institutions, research laboratories, and industrial concerns,” Mr. Singh said. The board will be autonomous, with its own budget and members who will have the power to decide which projects are to be financed, an unnamed government official told The Telegraph.
The move is designed to expedite the process through which proposals are considered; something that researchers have often complained takes too long with current government agencies, such as the university regulator. Research in science and engineering in India is backed by both government and industry, however industry is increasingly the main supporter of research at universities, but industry-backed research is mostly oriented to the market.
Stating that newly industrializing nations like China and South Korea have “leapfrogged ahead of us by their mastery of science and technology,” Mr. Singh said Indian universities and research institutes should be revitalized to better compete with the rest of the world.
– The Indo-Asian News Service [22]
December 3, 2008
Manipal Buys Caribbean Medical School
One of India’s largest private universities, with operations across the globe, announced the acquisition of the American University of Antigua [23] (AUA) in December from New York-based Greater Caribbean Learning Resources.
A number of medical universities operate in the Caribbean, and they largely service medical students from the United States who cannot find places at mainland schools or who are attracted by cheaper tuition fees. According to Anand Sudarshan, Manipal Education [24] CEO, in an interview with the Economic Times, Manipal “saw a huge potential and strategic value in the acquisition as the Caribbean serves the unmet demand for medical seats in the US. The US is estimated to have 16,800 medical seats, while there are over 60,000 students who clear the MCAT annually.”
AUA currently has over 1,000 students on campus. Manipal plans to boost capacity to 2,500 with the construction of a new campus. According to Economic Times, there is a shortage of 75,000 doctors in the US, and Manipal is keen on exploiting this opportunity by focusing on the Caribbean education industry. As many as 45 US states currently accept AUA credentials for licensure examinations.
The deal marks Manipal Education’s third acquisition in 18 months, after its purchase of a fifty percent equity stake in U21 Global [25], an online university, and MeritTrac [26], a skills assessment and testing firm. Manipal operates campuses in Malaysia [27], Nepal [28] and Dubai [29], in addition to its India-based campuses.
– Economic Times [30]
December 5, 2008
Humanities Shunned
Alumni from the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) have opposed a plan to broaden the institutes’ area of study. A commission headed by a senior government adviser has proposed “upgrading the character” of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) to offer courses in medicine and the humanities. However, the IIT alumni association warned that changes of this type would load IITs with “political baggage”, The Times of India reported. Shashi Gulhati, a former professor of civil engineering at IIT-Delhi [31], said: “Already there is a faculty shortage. At this juncture, asking IITs to teach humanities is irrational.”
– Times of India [32]
December 1, 2008
Regional University in Peril after Mumbai Terror Attacks
The November terror attacks in Mumbai, believed to have been carried out by Pakistani militants, have put into question the viability of a new university, scheduled to open in 2010, that was supposed to help promote peace in the subcontinent.
South Asian University [33] has been promoted as an institution that would help bring together students from across the region, while also offering an avenue for India to boost its weak efforts to internationalize its higher-education system. Supported by the governments of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and with an initial commitment of US$2 million from India, the university’s development has been an important regional confidence-building measure, especially between Pakistan and India.
In the wake of the terror attacks, and India’s accusations that Pakistan has not acted strongly enough, the university will quite likely die a high-profile death, according to some educators and political analysts. The university’s supporters say it will proceed on schedule. Visas will certainly be harder to come by for Pakistani nationals, students included. Yet for the university to become a reality, the governments of all the countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation [34] had agreed that students selected for the university would be guaranteed visas. That agreement appears now to be in jeopardy, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Others interviewed by the Chronicle suggested the attacks make the argument for the university even stronger now, as do some other academics.
“It would be a blow to not just the South Asian University, but [would] also strengthen those who want enmity, not peace, between Pakistan and India,” said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physics professor at Quaid-i-Azam University [35], in Islamabad, Pakistan.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [36]
December 11, 2008
Top Business Schools Understaffed by 20 Percent
According to a news report from ExpressBuzz, an Indian news website, one in five faculty positions is vacant at the country’s seven, elite Indian Institutes of Management. The schools jointly administer their own entrance examinations, and in December a record 300,000 aspirants sat the examination. ExpressBuzz obtained the data on unfilled faculty positions from the ministry in charge of higher education, under open-records laws.
Institute officials blame the shortage on “unattractive pay” and the institutes’ lack of autonomy, which makes it difficult for them to raise faculty salaries, the news site reports. An entry-level professor at one of the management schools is paid 18,400 rupees ($376) a month, substantially less than what a graduate of the same institute can earn in a corporate job.
In the technical sector, the 10 elite Indian Institutes of Technology, face faculty shortages of 20 percent to 30 percent, for similar reasons. And a government report this year found that about 50 percent of positions at federal and state-financed universities are vacant. That may soon change, according to a report in the Hindustan Times that predicts the global economic downturn may force unemployed engineering graduates into teaching.
– ExpressBuzz [37]
December 10, 2008
Study: Indian Education One of Worst among Emerging Economies
The Indian education system has been ranked sixth in a comparative study of the education systems of the seven largest emerging economies.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India [38] Eco Pulse (AEP) ‘Comparative Study of Emerging Economies on Quality of Education,’ is based on an analysis of 20 parameters relating to primary, secondary, tertiary education and higher education and demography. Data provided by UNESCO, IMF, WEF, Financial Times were used in the study.
China, the largest in size among the developing countries and with the fastest growing economy, was ranked second behind Russia. Brazil ranked third, followed by Mexico and South Africa. Indonesia was ranked as having the worst of the seven education systems.
India ranked poorly across all sectors. The study used metrics such as gross enrollment and student/teacher ratios, in addition to female enrollment rates to quantify results.
– ASSOCHAM [39]
December 15, 2008
New, Tougher Regulations for the Award of Doctoral Degrees
The Indian Government plans to introduce stricter guidelines for the award of doctoral degrees after complaints that universities are awarding them without sufficient rigor, reports The Telegraph.
The new guidelines, which include more scrutiny of the quality of doctoral candidates’ research, will be introduced with the passage of a revised pay scale bill for university faculty through parliament. According to the new salary structure, a Ph.D. holder who is hired by a university will receive at least 27,000 rupees (about $550) a month, more than entry-level salaries for civil servants. Ph.D. holders will also automatically be qualified to teach in universities without having to pass the national or state eligibility tests that non-Ph.D. holders have to take. This measure is being rationalized by the introduction of the new quality standards governing the award of doctoral degrees.
Under the government’s new salary structure, approved in December by the Indian Cabinet, tertiary-level academics in the public sector can expect an average pay rise of 70 percent to a minimum of 37,400 rupees, or US$786.
The new regulations for awarding Ph.D.’s will include halting a practice that allows students to select their thesis supervisors and limiting the number of Ph.D.’s an institution can award each year. That number will be based on how many faculty members a university has who are qualified to supervise doctoral research. Universities will also have to conduct entrance tests to select Ph.D. scholars and will also have to put them through at least one semester of course work before they begin their dissertation.
– The Telegraph [40]
December 24, 2008
Government Sets Tougher Regulations Regarding Overseas Campuses
The Indian government has issued new regulations prohibiting private institutions of higher education from employing Indian faculty members when setting up campuses abroad, because of a severe faculty shortage at home, The Times of India reported in January. Under the same regulations, profits derived from domestic campuses cannot be moved to foreign campuses or be cross-subsidize with them.
The Human Resource Development Ministry [41], which is in charge of higher education, has issued 15 such rules, it said, to ensure that the quality and academic standards of domestic campuses do not suffer. Among other things, the rules require private institutions to seek government permission to offer a course on an overseas campus that is not available on the home campus.
The rules also mandate a distinction between degrees awarded by the offshore campus and the Indian one. The mere completion of a degree program at the foreign campus does not necessarily mean that the degree is acceptable in India, the ministry said. So, for example, an Indian medical student graduating from a private Indian university’s overseas campus would not automatically be eligible to practice in India unless the student satisfied the conditions of eligibility in India.
– The Times of India [42]
January 10, 2009
Indonesia
New University Law That Might Attract Foreign Universities Unpopular with Students
The Indonesian parliament voted in December to reform laws governing public universities that would turn them into independent legal entities or corporations, a move that might help attract foreign universities. Parliament’s decision was protested by students who complained that autonomy would lead to commercialization of education, causing tuition fees to go through the roof, according to a report in The Jakarta Post.
In defending the new law, the government noted that it requires the state to still cover half the costs associated with all public universities. The remaining half will be covered by tuition and by universities’ fund raising.
Despite student protests, the Ministry of Education [43] maintained that the law would allow universities to develop their own resources and areas of specialization in order to become “world class.” The government hopes the new law will also attract more foreign universities to the country, a move that will provide competition and hopefully inspire domestic institutions to improve. It will also encourage Indonesia’s brightest students to stay home rather than leaving to study abroad. Foreign universities were allowed into Indonesia under the 2003 Education Law, but they have been able only to offer joint programs with Indonesian universities. Last year a presidential regulation opened up the education sector to limited foreign investment.
– The Jakarta Post [44]
December 18, 2008
Malaysia
Politicians Obsess over International Rankings
A leading Malaysian politician has labeled the performance of the nation’s universities in the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings [45] a “national shame”.
Lim Kit Siang, leader of the opposition Democratic Action Party, warned that the country’s universities were being outperformed not only by leading international universities, but also by less well-known universities closer to home. In a speech to party supporters, he said: “Malaysia is losing out in the unrelenting battle for international competitiveness … Even to Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines, something unthinkable in the first three decades of our nationhood.”
He said the failure to register in the top 200 had been compounded by the “ignominy” of falling behind regional competitors. The position of the University Sains Malaysia [46], an institution the Government is trying to position as a “world-class” institution through its Accelerated Program for Excellence (Apex), at 313th place, was “sad and pathetic”, he said.
In an editorial, the newspaper Malaysia Today added to the chorus by stating “our education system, given its track record and the huge budget allocations these past 50 years, should rightfully be a model for the developing world”.
Sharifah Hapsah Shahabudin, vice-chancellor of University Kebangsaan Malaysia [47], which was ranked 250th, said the failure of the University Sains Malaysia to rise up the rankings was not necessarily indicative of a failure in the Apex program. The university, she said, was a “guinea pig” for other research universities in the country and predicted that its successful transformation could lead to up to three Malaysian universities breaking into the top 100 by 2015.
– The Times Higher Education Supplement [48]
December 4, 2008
A Focus on Recruiting Government-Sponsored Students from the Muslim World
Malaysia has been promoting itself as a regional education hub for a few years now, and has set ambitious enrollment targets as part of that strategy; however, the mission to recruit 100,000 students by 2010 appears unlikely.
One of the main reasons students are not traveling to Malaysia in the numbers the government would like relates to concerns over quality standards, an issue the government is targeting through a number of measures. According to a recent article in Bernama, a new measure will be to shift the nation’s recruiting focus from private students to government-sponsored students. According to Malaysia’s Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, “governments will only sponsor the best students and we need good students to help improve the rankings of our universities.”
In addition, the minister explained that efforts to make Malaysia a regional education hub is more than just about attracting an increasing number of foreign students to its 60 or so public and private universities. It is also about assisting developing countries, especially Muslim nations, to progress by equipping their people with relevant skills and knowledge.
“We’re providing access to our higher education, places in our universities, because we believe that this is one way of contributing towards the development of our fellow Muslim countries,” Khaled said in an interview in Dubai, disclosing that Malaysia is home to 60,000 foreign students, about 18,000 of them from the Middle East and North Africa region.
– Bernama.com [49]
January 4, 2009
Economic Downturn Good for Education Sector
Hundreds of private universities across Malaysia are set to profit from the global economic recession, according to a report in The Star. The newspaper predicts that the financial crisis will mean fewer Malaysians will be able to afford overseas study; however, for those who want a foreign degree, opportunities exist domestically through private colleges that offer twinning programs with foreign institutions, or by attending recently opened foreign branch campuses. Australia’s Monash University’s Sunway campus [50] is reporting higher-than-normal application rates. Private institutions also hope that the economic woes will make Malaysia more attractive to African and Asian students seeking an affordable education in an English-teaching country.
– The Star [51]
January 12, 2009
North Korea
First Foreign University Set to Open after Hitting Numerous Roadblocks
After failing to meet numerous deadlines, North Korea’s first foreign-funded university is finally expected to open this year. International tensions have been the major reason why the university failed to open in September 2007 as originally planned, according to the foundation behind the landmark project.
The Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture [52] (NAFEC), based in South Korea, said it has now set April 2009 as the target date for the opening of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology [53] (PUST) after delays caused by disputes over the North’s nuclear program and by inter-Korean tensions.
There is no guarantee that the April opening date will be met, considering that the current political climate with inter-Korean ties are at their lowest ebb since the conservative government of President Lee Myung-Bak, who took office in Seoul in February, rolled back a policy of reconciliation under 10 years of liberal predecessors. The United States, whose support is essential for the university to be equipped with lab facilities and faculty members, is also hesitating to cooperate — citing the unsettled nuclear issue.
Despite the political climate, NAFEC aims to build an institution that will give the impoverished and isolated communist state the skills to function in the international community. North Korea is providing the land while NAFEC has invested almost US$32 million, mostly raised by churches and individual donors in South Korea and abroad. Faculty members will come from many different countries but all instruction will be given in English. In the first year it aims to accept some 200-300 graduate students.
– Agence France Presse [54]
December 30, 2008
Pakistan
Plan to Create 9 International Engineering Universities Scrapped
Facing severe budget shortfalls, Pakistan’s government announced that it has suspended plans to create nine engineering schools in cooperation with consortia of universities from abroad, The News International reported.
In 2007, Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission [55] announced that Pakistan planned to spend US$4 billion on the nine projects with universities in Austria, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and South Korea.
Begum Shehnaz Wazir Ali, the chairwoman of Higher Education Commission, told Pakistan’s National Assembly on Tuesday that the plan to set up the schools had been made in a hurry and nobody had considered its financial impact on the national economy. Each school, if established, would have cost 45 billion rupees (US$565 million), she said. Ms. Wazir Ali said the government did not want to spend money on “grandiose education schemes,” according to the newspaper. The government had decided instead to strengthen existing universities and other higher-education institutions, Ms. Wazir Ali added.
In 2002 Pakistan began an ambitious program to reform its higher-education system by setting up the commission, which has since created programs to enroll more students in Ph.D. programs in Pakistan and abroad, to hire foreign faculty members, to establish new universities throughout the country, and to collaborate with foreign partners to open engineering schools. The reforms have been controversial. Since late last year, many Pakistani students studying abroad have found themselves in tuition trouble because the Higher Education Commission had not paid their fees for the latest academic session.
– The News [56]
January 21, 2009
Philippines
A Mission to Increase Punctuality
“Filipino time,” the nation’s habitual lateness to prearranged meetings, has become a pet peeve of Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus, who blames tardiness for the country’s low productivity and sloppy work habits.
The Department of Education [57] and several higher-education groups are starting a 10-year campaign to teach students the value of being on time. The Watch program (We Are Time Conscious and Honest) will sponsor essay contests, games, and seminars to teach students how punctuality encourages civility and raises productivity.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [58]
January 23, 2009
South Korea
Financial Crisis Deterring South Korean Students from Studying Abroad
The global economic crisis has put a serious dent in the number of South Koreans looking to study abroad in high-cost education systems, according to a January article in The New York Times, which cited the plummeting value of the South Korean won against the U.S. dollar as a key factor.
South Korea sends more college students to the United States than all but two other countries, India and China, according to the most recent data from the Institute of International Education’s “Open Doors [59]” report, which covered the 2007-8 academic year, before the financial crisis struck.
The Times article echoes trends evident last November in the Council of Graduate Schools [60]’ annual report [61] on international graduate enrollments on American campuses. The report, based on fall-2008 data, said that total enrollments and first-time enrollments from South Korea were down, by 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively. The report’s author ascribed the trend in part to the won’s depreciation and in part to South Korea’s efforts to increase graduate enrollments at home.
According to the Times, South Korean students are seeking English-language study in cheaper destinations, including Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Africa.
– The New York Times [62]
January 10, 2009
Taiwan
Consortium Launches Free Online Courses
A consortium of colleges and universities in Taiwan has launched the “Open Course Ware Consortium,” with the goal of sharing its resources with the public. The program is modeled after the OpenCourseWare Consortium [63] originally developed by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty committee wishing to share their course materials openly on the internet and now involving 200 institutions and organizations.
The initiative in Taiwan, started by the National Chiao Tung University’s [64] (NCTU) Open Education Office, will allow users to download materials for personal use and modify the content. Currently, NCTU offers 40 online courses in calculus, physics, and chemistry. Materials from those classes available online include outlines, handouts, assignments, and exams.
Other members of the consortium are expected to post resources for at least 10 courses over a two-year period. Although no credit nor degrees will be offered to people who use the materials, high school graduates may be eligible for advanced credit at their respective colleges if they’re able to pass an exam on a subject they’ve studied using the online materials.
– Campus Technology [65]
January 7, 2009
Clarification on Rules for Entry of Chinese Students
Taiwanese authorities announced late last year that they would allow Chinese nationals, and those with Chinese credentials, to enroll and study at Taiwanese universities beginning this year. Currently, mainland-issued academic credentials are not recognized by Taiwanese universities and authorities, which means Chinese diplomas cannot be used for application to Taiwanese graduate schools or for employment purposes in the public sector. Under new legislation, this policy would be reversed. Considering the history between the two territories, it is no great surprise that the move has been met with significant public opposition.
Opponents of the new policy argue that the Taiwanese taxpayers effectively will be subsidizing Chinese students that attend public universities, which in turn would reduce opportunities for domestic students. In response, Minister of Education Cheng Jei-cheng in November announced the “three-restriction and six-no principle,” stressing that his ministry would protect the rights of Taiwanese students while allowing Chinese students to pursue studies in Taiwan.
Cheng said the move to open up to Chinese students was primarily made as a means of promoting understanding across the Taiwan Strait. According to Cheng, the ministry [66] would cap the number of Chinese enrollments at less than one percent of total capacity, and no scholarships would be offered. Chinese students would not be allowed to study national security-related subjects. Chinese students would also not be permitted to seek employment while enrolled. In addition, they would be required to return home as soon as they complete their studies.
The MOE plans to recognize credentials only from Chinese schools with “distinguished academic reputation.”
– Taiwan News [67]
December 29, 2008
Vietnam
Qualified Lecturers a Scarce Resource
Vietnam is suffering from a huge shortage of lecturers, official statistics suggest. According to figures from the National Title Council, reported by Chinese news agency Xinhua, there is a particular shortage of senior academic staff. Although Vietnam has more than 56,000 lecturers, including 1,845 associate professors, there are only 314 professors in the country, it said. Since Vietnam has 369 universities, this represents fewer than one per institution. The news agency also reported that doctorates are held by fewer than 15 percent of university teachers, a figure the Government wants to see increased to 20 per cent by 2020.
– Xinhua [68]
November 24, 2008
$400 Million to Boost Position in World Rankings
In an effort to climb the world university rankings, the Vietnamese Government has agreed in principle to spend US$400 million on four new universities. The aim is to build institutions that will meet international standards, with funding already secured in the form of loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The effort is part of Vietnam’s 2008 strategy on education development, which sets out government-led projects in the sector until 2020. According to news website Vietnamnet “it is expected (by the Government) that the universities will be named among the 200 top universities in the world.”
– Vietnamnet [69]
December 15, 2008