Australia
Future Overseas Enrollment Numbers Uncertain with Immigration Rule Changes
Far fewer international students in Australia will become permanent residents with changes to the country’s immigration rules; however, enrollments continue to grow. When reality bites and students learn exactly what the immigration rule changes mean for their chances of gaining residency, enrollments could start to drop, according to a new study on Australia’s education export industry.
In an article for the Monash University [1] journal, People and Place, Dr Bob Birrell states that more than 40,000 former overseas students applied for temporary or permanent visas over the past 12 months, and the vast majority are yet to gain residency, either with a temporary visa or a bridging visa pending processing.
Many of those students waiting to hear about their applications for permanent residency came to Australia with the belief that they would be able to settle permanently because of what they had been told by agents. Birrell writes that those students on temporary visas can work while they wait, but for the most part they are working in low to semi-skilled jobs in major urban centers on the east coast at a time when many other new entrants are looking for work in a shrinking labor market.
Birrell says the government should act and immediately stop accepting applications for permanent visas from those whose occupations are not classified as on the “critical skills list”. It should also not permit employers to sponsor people with trade occupations who lack the skills needed. The government should also increase the minimum English language requirements for students seeking a visa to undertake a vocational course from IELTS 5 to 6.
“The international student industry must be put on a sustainable basis,” Birrell says. “For this to occur, the industry must accept that things have changed… Those providers who have built their business around marketing a credential that will lead to permanent residency must refocus. They need to sell skills credentials that overseas students believe they can take back to their country of origin with profit.”
– University World News [2]
July 26, 2009
National University Merger Called Of
A proposed merger between Southern Cross [3] and Charles Sturt [4] universities has been called off and along with it the dreams of a national university to serve regional and rural Australia better. The merger was abandoned after the scheme failed to attract partners.
The initiative emerged from last year’s Bradley Review [5], a high-level look at the state of Australian higher education. The two regional universities in New South Wales quickly offered to merge to form a new institution and began to look for a cross-state partner. In March, the government backed the plan with a grant of A$2 million (US$1.64 million) towards a feasibility study to help them achieve the goal. But in July, Southern Cross University announced it had abandoned the merger, stating that costs of up to A$625 million (US$480 million) proved prohibitive, given the economic downturn’s effects on federal finances.
Southern Cross is proposing a collaborative model across all regional universities as an alternative solution.
– Sidney Morning Herald [6]
July 21, 2009
College Collapse Adds to Woes of Education-Export Industry
Facing something of a barrage of bad press this year, Australia’s education-export industry took another blow on the chin in late July with the announcement that Sterling College, a Sydney vocational college that enrolls mainly Indian students, had gone into bankruptcy.
Sterling College, which operates from several sites in Sydney and Brisbane, offers courses in English, financial services and hospitality and has more than 500 enrolled students nationwide. The closure follows a string of private college collapses over the past year, which has highlighted dubious business practices across Australia’s lucrative overseas student industry.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship [7] has launched a crackdown on “providers of concern,” and in Victoria alone, authorities are auditing 17 “high risk” private colleges.
Many students are believed to have paid Sterling College tens of thousands of dollars in tuition fees in advance. The Australian Council for Private Education and Training [8] said in July it would ensure students did not suffer financially, academically or in terms of immigration as a result of the closure.
– The Australian [9]
July 29, 2009
New K-12 Regulator Created
Australian Education Ministers have announced the creation of the new Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. [10] ACARA has been established to drive a new era of transparency and quality in all Australian schools and will develop a national curriculum for K-12 in specified learning areas as well as create a national assessment program aligned to the national curriculum to measure students’ progress.
– Ministers’ Media Centre [11]
June 3, 2009
Minister Looks to Shore Up International-student Protections with Amendment
Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, introduced in August the Education Services for Overseas Students [12] (ESOS) Amendment (Re-registration of Providers and Other Measures) Bill 2009, in a bid to add further protections for international students in Australia.
A summary of the amendments are listed below:
- Re-registration of all institutions currently registered on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) by 31st of December, 2010.
- Two new registration requirements for education providers:
- the principal purpose of the provider is to provide education; and
- the provider has demonstrated capacity to provide education of a satisfactory standard.
- Providers to be required to list the names of education agents who represent them and promote their education services and to require providers to comply with any matters prescribed in the regulations concerning their agents.
- Discretionary removal of the prohibition on education providers collecting monies from studying students when a course has been suspended.
- Conditions imposed by states and territories on education providers to be recognized by the Commonwealth.
- Exemptions from punitive provider default refund requirements for providers changing their legal entity.
- Clarify the definition of “suitable alternative course”.
According to a news release from Australia Education International [13], a branch of the ministry, the amendments are the first in a series of measures the government is taking to ensure Australia continues to offer world-class quality international education in its current challenging and changing environment.
– AEI news release [12]
August 19, 2009
Working to Prevent Sector Collapse
Australia’s federal government has been in full damage-control mode with regards to its multi-billion dollar education export industry, which has had a disastrous summer with enough bad press to last a generation. So much so that certain media outlets have been talking of a sector collapse, especially in the lucrative Indian market.
Some universities and colleges are already reporting declining enrollments from India, following a number of widely reported attacks on Indians in major host cities. In addition, the sector has suffered from high-profile media reports that colleges have been ripping off students and offering illegal access to permanent-residency visas for high fees.
Two universities in Melbourne have reported signs of a drop in demand from Indian students while the nation’s biggest recruitment agency, IDP Education Australia [14], has told of an 80 percent drop in appointments by students at its 14 offices in India.
In response, the federal and state governments sent a team of officials to India in July to try to allay government and media alarm at the attacks on students. In addition, the government wanted to make clear that students should be studying in Australia not for residency but for a quality education, after critics of the flood of Indian and Chinese students to Australia in the past two years have said that the sole reason many arrive is to gain permanent residency. The huge rise in the number of colleges offering vocational courses, and illegal means of gaining residency visas, is thought to be a direct result of the demand.
Changes to Australia’s skilled migration program which has cut out hairdressing and cooking as skills in demand seems certain to result in a decline in enrollments once students in India and China realize they will not be able to gain residency visas.
– The Australian [15]
July 30, 2009
China
Affirmative Action for Rural Students
The Chinese government has unveiled plans to help students in the country’s rural middle and western regions enter university. The China Daily newspaper said quotas will be introduced for the fall semester that will raise the total number of students enrolled from the middle region by 6.5 percent and from the western region by 7.3 percent.
– China Daily [16]
July 17, 2009
With No Jobs at Home, U.S. Graduates Look to China
Facing unemployment nearing double digits at home, U.S. graduates are beginning to look to China for work. The New York Times reports that even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heading east, lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.
Mainly based on anecdotal evidence and interviews, the Times’ report describes young graduates with entrepreneurial spirits who are prepared to take risks, and are looking to capitalize on China’s surging economy. The availability of more senior positions for young western graduates that would not normally be available to recent grads in the United States is another major lure.
Companies in China are reportedly looking for employees with the ability to make connections beyond China and capable of communicating with the Western world and navigating the American markets. Another dynamic in the hiring process is that Westerners can often bring skills that are harder to find among Chinese graduates, specifically the ability to take the initiative rather than take orders. Many young people told the Times that a big draw of working in China is that they feel it allows them to skip a rung or two on the career ladder.
With all that said, the Times reports that among many young Americans, the China exit strategy is a common topic of conversation.
– New York Times [17]
August 11, 2009
India
Indira Ghandi University to Open Campuses in UK
Campuses of the Indira Gandhi National Open University [18] (IGNOU) are to be opened around the world to cater to increasing demand for the programs it has syndicated to institutions in Europe and Africa. The Times of India reports that the distance learning institution will “be setting up the first centre in the UK, which will be offering courses in history and Indian performing arts in collaboration with the University of Lincoln [19].”
After the two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding, V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, vice-chancellor of IGNOU, said that “people in developed countries are eager to learn about Indian history, culture, art and dance.” IGNOU already runs programs in 39 countries worldwide.
– The Times of India [20]
July 13, 2009
Controversial New University in Orissa Gets Green Light
The state government in Orissa has decided, after a two-year delay, to allow the establishment of Vedanta University [21]. A bill approving the new university was passed in late July after an Indian court halted land acquisition for the US$3.5 billion project.
Vedanta University is backed by mining mogul Anil Agarwal who is providing much of the start-up capital. The groundbreaking for the new university was held up by a petition from villagers who would lose land. The bill approved last week includes amendments setting up admissions quotas for meritorious but poor students from the state and for children of those who will lose land.
Orissa’s higher-education minister, Debi Prasad Mishra, said the university planned to build a self-contained campus that eventually would serve the needs of 25,000 faculty members and 25,000 non-teaching staff members, in addition to 100,000 students. The first phase of academic programs is expected to start in mid-2011, and will include colleges of arts and science, engineering, and management.
– Economic Times [22]
July 30, 2009
14 ‘Innovation Universities’ Planned
India’s Human Resource Development Ministry [23] has announced plans to establish 14 “innovation universities” from 2010. The universities would build “disciplinary focuses” and push research and development to a “world-class” level.
The new universities will concentrate on innovation and research in different subjects, with health, environment and new technologies for power plants reported as being top priorities. The HRD ministry’s concept note said admissions to undergraduate classes in these universities — to be established through public-private partnership — will be open to students from all over the world and conducted through rigorous admissions tests.
“The move should also boost PhDs in the country. Currently, while India awards around 8,000 PhD degrees every year, China gives around 50,000. This divide needs to be bridged,” said HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal.
– The Times of India [24]
August 12, 2009
Distance Learning at the Doctoral Level Banned
India’s University Grants Commission [25] (UGC) has banned India’s 14 open universities from registering new doctoral and MPhil students, citing declining quality of research in distance learning programs. The announcement comes soon after plans to boost doctoral studies in the country were released by the government (see above).
The move has caused angry reactions from academics and students attached to open universities who believe the “declining quality of research” is a national concern and not confined to open universities.
– Business Standard [26]
August 10, 2009
IIT to Work with US Partner in Offering Medical Degrees
The Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur [27], one of India’s top engineering schools, has announced plans to open a medical college and hospital in partnership with the University of California, San Diego Health Sciences [28]. The two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding in August to collaborate in the development of an International Medical Center (IMC) at IIT Kharagpur.
According to officials at UC San Diego, the academic medical center would offer clinical care at a 300-bed hospital, on land provided by the IIT, as well as undergraduate and graduate programs in medical education. The Indian engineering school already conducts research related to biomedical engineering and related fields, and it offers a three-year master’s degree in medical science and technology. In interviews with local Indian media, the institute’s director stated that the IIT and the California university will be financial and academic partners in the venture. The institute plans to finance the project with an initial $170 million and is seeking an additional $213 million for further expansion, so as to be able to accommodate 20,000 students by 2020, from 8,000 initially.
A UC San Diego news release reported that UC San Diego will partner in developing the IMC, providing leadership and training in such areas as nursing, hospital administration, health information systems, pharmaceutical practices, telemedicine, quality assessment and safety, among others.
– UC San Diego news release [29]
August 18, 2009
Japan
First 13 of 30 Global-Recruitment Universities Chosen
Japan’s Global 30 [30] program aims to establish 30 Japanese universities as centers of internationalization and to promote Japanese higher education overseas. 13 Japanese universities were selected for 2009. Eight overseas promotion offices will be established in Moscow, Tunis, Hyderabad, Tashkent, Hanoi, Cairo, Bonn and New Dehli.
– JSPS [30]
July 1, 2009
Philippines
Government to Double Science and Engineering R&D
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the Commission on Higher Education [31] (CHED) to strengthen its scholarship program in a bid to double the country’s number of engineers and scientists involved in research and development.
The Philippines News Agency reports that the Presidential Coordinating Council on Research and Development, which the President chairs, noted that the Philippines’ R&D standing is below the average for developing countries as determined by UNESCO. It noted that the average spending for R&D should be equal to one percent of gross domestic product and the average number of scientists and engineers per million of the population should total 380. Currently, the Philippines is spending an average of 0.12 percent of GDP on R&D and has an average of only 125 engineers for every million people.
To increase the number of engineering graduates, CHED will make use of the P1-billion Student’s Assistance Fund for Education for a Strong Republic program which the President launched last year to provide interest-free loans to third- and fourth-year college students to enable them to finish their schooling. It has also emphasized the need to strengthen engineering departments in all state universities and colleges.
– PNA [32]
July 26, 2009
Singapore
RMIT Disassociates Itself from Singapore Business School
Australia’s RMIT University [33] has lodged a complaint with Singaporean authorities over claims that Singapore’s Brookes Business School has misrepresented its relationship with the institution. According to a report in The Age newspaper, RMIT has no association or agreement with Brookes, yet the school claimed to offer a one-year course leading to an RMIT undergraduate degree. RMIT lodged the complaint with Singapore’s Ministry of Education [34] and the Consumers Association of Singapore.
– The Age [35]
June 18, 2009
South Korea
Government Looks to Merge Universities
The Korean government is looking to merge a number of state universities, after its efforts to restructure ailing institutions have achieved little due to strong opposition. Under the plan, three or more universities in the same region will form an alliance with a single decision-making process but maintain separate campuses before fully merging within three years.
The Education Ministry [36] has been looking for a solution to low enrollment rates and financing issues for years. Mainly is has been pushing for university closures, so the merger option could be seen as a compromise. Under the new gradual model, the ministry said the overlapping departments among partner universities will be scrapped or consolidated and each institution will focus on its specialty.
– Korea Herald [37]
August 10, 2008
Sri Lanka
Encouraging Private-sector Participation in Higher Education
A new policy framework will soon be finalized that will allow more private sector participation in higher education in Sri Lanka and to set up a separate body to regulate private and public institutions, reports The Sunday Times.
The Higher Education Policy Framework will offer “a major deviation in the policy, from the present system,” and will “involve the private sector, because we have to accept that the state cannot bear the burden of education alone. Or that we should restrict higher education to a few state universities,” said the Chairman of the National Education Commission [38], Professor AV Suraweera at the launch of a World Bank report on higher education in Sri Lanka, Towers of Learning: Performance, Peril and Promise of Higher Education in Sri Lanka [39].
Sri Lanka’s system of higher education has come in for major criticism in recent years for the poor quality of degree programs, and graduate programs in particular. Private education, meanwhile, is largely unregulated, with no quality assurance or accreditation systems. The new policy recommendations aim to improve the quality of higher education while also increasing access.
– Sunday Times [40]
July 26, 2009
Taiwan
Taiwan’s Brightest Receive Open Invitation to China’s Best Universities
Chinese officials from the mainland announced recently that top Taiwanese students are free to accept places at Chinese universities without having to take the gaokao (China’s central university admission exam).
The Straits Times reports that students who score well on the island’s own exams could be admitted into China’s universities as early as this summer, according to notes from a high-level cross-Straits forum in July centered on media, culture and education.
Currently, about 2,000 Taiwanese university students enroll in Chinese universities each year. Taiwan, however, does not recognize degrees from Chinese universities, due to opposition from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, as well as academic groups which fear competition from China. In particular, the lesser known of Taiwan’s 173 universities worry about losing students to competitors in China. As it is, their enrollments are already dropping due to Taiwan’s falling birth rate.
Beijing’s move to recognize Taiwan’s college-entry exams has put more pressure on Taiwan to, in turn, recognize Chinese degrees and admit Chinese students, which tentatively Taipei plans to do starting next year, but this still has to be approved by the Legislative Yuan.
– Straits Times [41]
July 16, 2009
Record vacancies at Nation’s Universities
According to enrollment figures released in August, Taiwan’s colleges and universities will suffer their lowest enrollment and highest vacancy rates when the new school semester begins in September. A total of 76,434 students were admitted to Taiwanese universities, leaving a record-high 6,802 vacancies on the campuses and another record high college admission rate of 97.14 percent, according to the Joint Board of the College Recruitment Commission. That was up from 4,788 vacancies and a college admission rate of 97.10 percent last year.
The latest figures continue an upward trend with regards to admission rates and vacancies at tertiary institutions in recent years. Taiwan’s falling birth rate and the rapid increase in the number of colleges and universities opened in Taiwan over the past 15 years are cited as the main reasons for the trend. In 1986, there were only 28 four-year colleges and universities across Taiwan, but the number surged to 147 in 2008 — the result of a government policy to reduce the pressure on high school students trying to get into a university. A total of 18 college and university departments in Taiwan failed to recruit any students for the coming semester, according to the commission’s figures.
– Central News Agency [42]
August 7, 2009
Thailand
Nation’s Top 7 Institutions to Become ‘National Research Universities’
The seven Thai universities that appeared in the Top 500 [43] of the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings [44] in 2008 have qualified to become national research universities. The initiative to develop Thailand’s leading institutions has been approved by the cabinet, and the government will spend Bhat 12 billion (US$ 330 million) in developing it.
The seven universities are: Chulalongkorn [45], Mahidol [46], Kasetsart [47], Thammasat [48], Chiang Mai, [49] Khon Kaen [50] and Prince of Songkla [51].
– The Nation [52]
August 9, 2009