Australia
New Visa Interviews for Students from Seven Source Countries
Students from seven major source countries will face interviews and have restricted access to visa applications online, in a crackdown on visa fraud among foreign students who enroll in Australian onshore education institutions.
The changes, which already apply to students from China, were announced by Immigration Minister Chris Evans in August and will also include students from India, Pakistan, Mauritius, Nepal, Brazil and Zimbabwe. China and India are currently Australia’s two largest source countries for foreign students.
The move comes when applications for student visas from around the world have risen dramatically in the last year. The reason for the sharp rise appears to be directly related to the belief that studying in Australia has become a fast and cheap way of gaining permanent residency. The Immigration Department received more than 360,000 applications in the year to 30 June and of these 28,000 were rejected.
Students thought to be at risk of cheating immigration requirements will face interviews to determine if they are legitimate. A one-off deposit of cash in a bank account and enrollment in lesser-known and possibly suspect institutions are likely to lead to extra scrutiny of students by immigration officials.
– The Age [1]
August 21, 2009
Australian Institutions in India
Despite the currently turbulent waters between India and the Australian education sector, Australian universities could soon be operating in India after both countries signed an agreement in late August to begin an annual dialogue to promote education links.
On the first official day of a five-day visit to India in August/September, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the two countries had agreed to regular ministerial talks that would involve representatives from Indian and Australian universities and industry on ways to build collaboration.
“It’s a very healthy sign and a welcome development to see at the highest levels of Indian government the suggestion of a new partnership on Indian education,” Ms Gillard said when asked of plans for Australian campuses in India.
The new dialogue was agreed to during a meeting with India’s Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal, who aims to push through new laws by next July opening up India’s heavily regulated education sector to foreign interests. Australia’s Monash University [2] is currently partnering the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay [3], and last year built a A$10 million (£5.1 million) facility in Mumbai.
– The Australian [4]
September 1, 2009
Kaplan to Collaborate with Adelaide University
Kaplan University [5] and the University of Adelaide [6], in South Australia, have announced plans [7] to establish a Kaplan University campus there. If approved by both the Australian government and Kaplan’s American accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission [8], Kaplan would offer its bachelor’s and master’s programs both on the ground and via distance education, beginning in 2011.
Under current plans, Kaplan would introduce e-learning technologies to deliver degree programs across Australia, with students able to study at Kaplan’s Adelaide-based campus or anywhere in Australia online.
The plans were announced after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Premier of South Australia, the Hon. Mike Rann; the Chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Company, Mr Don Graham; the Chairman and CEO of Kaplan, Inc., Mr Andy Rosen; the CEO of Kaplan Asia Pacific, Mr Mark Coggins; and the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide, Professor James McWha.
The local government in Adelaide is seeking to develop its ‘University City’ project that would see Adelaide grow as an international center for university education.
The first intake of students is expected to commence in 2011. Initially, financial services and business programs will be offered. Kaplan plans to eventually enroll as many as 5,000 students in Adelaide and many more online, targeting under-represented groups, including working adults, students from low socio-economic backgrounds and students in regional and remote areas.
– Kaplan/Adeliade news release [9]
September 23, 2009
Hong Kong
Fellowship launched to Attract Top Research Talent
The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Zone launched the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme [10] to attract quality research students from around the world. The Fellowship will be promoted by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council with a series of road shows.
The Fellowship provides a monthly stipend of HK$20,000 (US$2,600) and a conference and research related travel allowance of HK$10,000 (US$1,300) per year for the awardees for a maximum period of three years. 135 PhD Fellowships will be awarded for the 2010/11 academic year.
– Government news release [11]
September 14, 2009
India
Tertiary sector Primed for more Reform
After asserting that his ministry has fulfilled all promises for the first 100 days in office, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said in September that he is set to introduce six new education bills, including one to replace regulators such the University Grants Commission [12] and the All India Council for Technical Education [13] with an overarching single agency.
“Our ministry has circulated the draft bill about an autonomous overarching authority for higher education. We would like to introduce it in the next parliament session,” Sibal said while addressing the media about his ministry’s first 100 days in office.
Sibal said the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) has already discussed the recommendation and the ministry has already set up a task force for aiding and advising the government on setting up the proposed body, named National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER).
The minister also said that draft legislation and a concept note have been circulated among ministries about a law for mandatory assessment and accreditation in higher education through an independent regulatory authority. A bill to prevent, prohibit and punish educational malpractices is undergoing “legal vetting”. The ministry is also set to introduce legislation in the coming parliament session to allow foreign universities to open campuses in India.
The other two legislative initiatives are aimed at having a tribunal to deal with higher education disputes and amending the Copyright Act.
– IANS [14]
September 10, 2009
Official: “50 Foreign Foreign Universities Looking to Establish in India”
With Indian members of parliament set to consider legislation to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India in the coming parliament session — something the country’s new minister in charge of higher education has promised – an unnamed ministry official is on record as stating that approximately 50 foreign universities have approached the ministry in the last three months about doing just that.
According to a report in Mint, [15] a local newspaper, most of the interested universities are in the United States, Britain, and Australia. The only foreign institution named in the article was Duke University [16].
Foreign universities are currently not allowed to offer degree courses in India, although the country allows 100 percent foreign investment in the sector. However, nearly 150 foreign institutes offer courses with Indian universities under twinning and franchising arrangements.
– Mint [15]
September 16, 2009
9 New National Institutes of Technology Get Green Light
The Indian government has announced that it will spend US$542 million to establish nine new National Institutes of Technology (NIT) in states that lack the engineering institutions. Beginning next year, the new NITs will be established in Manipur; Meghalaya; Mizoram; Nagaland; Goa (which will also cater to UTs of Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshdweep); Pudducherry (which will also cater to Andaman & Nicobar Islands); Sikkim; Delhi (which will also cater to Chandigarh) and Uttrakhand. The admissions process is slated to begin in academic year 2010-11.
– Government of India news release [17]
September 17, 2009
Proposed Bill Governing Foreign Universities Likely to Undergo Heavy Revision
According to a report in The Telegraph newspaper, Kapil Sibal, India’s minister in charge of higher education, is planning to drastically revise legislation allowing foreign universities to operate in India to allow foreign universities to set tuition and not have to observe admissions quotas, as public universities are required to.
According to unnamed government officials, the long-delayed Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, as revised by Sibal, would create a new category of institution—”foreign education providers”— that would not have to answer to regulators in India’s tertiary sector, the newspaper reports. The bill says nothing about quotas and would effectively allow foreign universities to charge fees as they see fit.
The redrafted bill would require foreign institutions to have operated for at least 10 years in their country of origin and be accredited by the relevant domestic body before they could apply to open a campus in India. This provision is designed to weed out disreputable providers. A central panel would scrutinize each institution’s credentials before allowing it to offer courses.
– The Telegraph [18]
September 19, 2009
Indonesia
700 Private Universities Put on Notice
Seven hundred of Indonesia’s 2,700 private universities have been told by the Ministry of National Education [19] that their accreditation will be withdrawn if they do not comply with regulations to re-register with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.
Many of the country’s private universities are run by foundations known as yayasan, which are essentially charities and have something of a controversial history after late dictator Suharto used a network of more than 100 of them as a front to hide and move revenues. The National Education Ministry gave these foundation-run higher education institutes three years up to December 2008 to complete the re-registration process that would bring them under proper supervision, but the 700 in question are yet to do so.
Universities are being given the option of changing their status by discontinuing their relationships with the foundations that run them by becoming managed educational agencies (BHPP) or public educational agencies (BHPM). This would bring them into line with the 2009 Law on Autonomy for Educational Institutions passed last year by the House of Representatives.
Universities that do not comply will lose their operating licenses and essentially be closed down.
– University World News [20]
August 30, 3009
Malaysia
British University Drops Malaysia Plans
Hull University’s [21] plans to develop a campus in Malaysia as part of a major new development in the south of the country have been dropped. Last year, the university signed a memorandum of understanding to build a Faculty of Science, Health and Enterprise at the Iskandar Edu City development [22] in the Johor region, which is being set up as part of Malaysia’s plan to become a higher education “hub” in Southeast Asia, but complications reportedly arose when market research suggested that neither an engineering nor health faculty would be financially viable.
Despite the setback, Iskandar Investment Board (IIB), which is behind the development, insists that demand remains high among other UK institutions looking to fill part of the 600-acre complex. The aim is to attract a collection of Western universities that will each set up a single faculty – a similar model to that being pursued at the planned Kuala Lumpur Education City [23].
Malaysia has a target to get 100,000 overseas students studying in the country, more than double the current number, and sees transnational education provided by universities in the UK, US and Australia as a key factor in achieving its goal. Britain’s Newcastle University [24] has already secured an agreement to open a medical and biotechnology faculty, while several British public schools are also looking to open branches.
– Times Higher Education Supplement [25]
August 27, 2009
Polytechnics to Get Image Upgrade
At least three polytechnics are to be awarded “Apex” status in an attempt to change the perception that they are “second choice” options for higher education. Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, the Deputy Higher Education Minister, told The Star: “People still feel that polytechnics are second choice, and polytechnic trainees are second-class students because they failed to enter other institutions of higher learning.”
In fact, he said, polytechnic graduates are highly sought after and have a lower unemployment rate than university graduates. The Malaysian government has created the Apex status as a means of promoting and funding institutions that it believes have the potential to be recognized as “world class”.
– The Star [26]
August 18, 2009
Building an Education Hub on Western Dreams
Britain’s Nottingham University [27] has been operating a campus near Kuala Lumpur since 2000, and built a second campus in Semenyih in 2005. Each campus offers degrees identical to those awarded by the parent campus in the Midlands of Britain.
The University of Nottingham in Malaysia [28] (UNIM) is the most ambitious example of a British university’s involvement in Malaysia, but the country offers many more opportunities and partnerships with UK institutions – links that are at the core of its aspirations to become an international “hub” for higher education, which would see the country draw in foreign students from elsewhere in the region and the wider Muslim world. Education officials want eventually to see 100,000 foreign students at the nation’s institutions of higher education. There are thought to be close to 44,000 currently
There are currently more than 800 transnational education programs in Malaysia, just under half involving British institutions. According to British Council officials interviewed by the Times Higher Education Supplement, there are three times as many Malaysian students studying for UK qualifications in Malaysia as there are in the UK.
Perhaps the most significant factor driving demand for transnational education in Malaysia is cost – it is far cheaper to study for a UK degree in Kuala Lumpur than in London.
The UK’s pioneer in the full-campus model is Nottingham, which in addition to its two campuses in Malaysia also operates a campus in Ningbo China. A more popular approach, which is less risky than a campus but a more substantial commitment than a twinning or franchise agreement, is the education-city model.
There are a number of UK universities looking to set up faculties in the two education-focused developments currently being built. The projects are Kuala Lumpur Education City, close to the capital, and the Iskandar development in the south of the country, across the water from Singapore.
The Iskandar development, which is in the less developed Johor region, is a huge government-backed project that seeks to host eight faculties operated by eight Western universities. The first institution to sign up was Newcastle University [24], which signed a deal to develop a medical school there last November. Other UK, European and US institutions are believed to be in talks to join the project, although Hull University [21] recently pulled out (see above).
– The Times Higher Education Supplement [29]
August 27, 2009
11th Most Popular Study Destination
Based on the 69,154 international students at Malaysian institutions of education, as reported by The Star, the country is reportedly the world’s 11th most preferred study destination.
A majority of Malaysia’s international students come from Indonesia, China and the Middle East. The new figure is a 26.5 percent increase from the 2008 count of 50,788.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the rise indicated that the ministry’s (revised) target to have 80,000 international students by 2010 was achievable. Part of the plan is to attract students to foreign universities with a base in Malaysia (see item above)
– The Star [30]
August 29, 2009
Private Universities Need to Enroll Qualified International Students to Avoid Status as “Dumping Ground”
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said recently that the country’s private universities and colleges need to enroll only qualified international students to avoid being branded as diploma or degree mills, and the country a dumping ground for students who cannot earn places elsewhere.
From next year, university standards will be assessed and institutions will be graded in the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (SeTara) to benchmark their performance. Until now, participation in SeTara has been voluntary but from next year it will become mandatory.
The minister made his remarks at a press conference after meeting leaders of private higher education institutions.
– The Star [31]
September 16, 2009
North Korea
First Foreign-sponsored University Opens Doors
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology opened in September, and in doing so became the first foreign-sponsored university in North Korea. The university is backed by the South Korean Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture, which has spent more than US$32 million on the project. Faculty members will be Koreans — from North and South Korea, and ethnic Koreans who live elsewhere.
Classes are due to begin next year for some 200-300 students after a trial run for courses this year. The campus, on which construction began in 2002, includes video-conferencing classrooms installed for the first time in North Korea. More research equipment and facilities are on the way, however, sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s nuclear activities prevent some equipment being shipped to the North.
– Agence France Presse [32]
September 14, 2009
Philippines
Six Law Schools Face Closure
The Commission on Higher Education [33] in the Philippines has decided to close down six law schools across the country because not one of their graduates has passed the bar exams in the last 10 years, commission chairman Emmanuel Angeles said in September.
Angeles said that following a “thorough and careful study”, CHEd decided to take action against the law schools for consistently posting a performance percentile rank of ‘zero’ in the bar examinations administered by the Supreme Court from 1999 to 2009.
Action will be taken against the law programs in six higher education institutions: Eastern Samar State University, Polytechnic College of La Union, Samar College, Ramon Magsaysay Technological University, Southern Bicol College and Abra Valley College.
– Philippine Daily Enquirer [34]
September 23, 2009
Singapore
Japanese University Opens Research Institute
Waseda University [35] has opened a research institute in Singapore, its first independent overseas research operation. The Waseda Bioscience Research Institute will focus on bio-imaging, bioengineering, biophysics and nano-biotechnology. It has committed SGD2 million (US$1.4 million) for its research activities in Singapore and will commence operations with a small number of researchers from both nations. Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research [36] signed an agreement with Katsuhiko Shirai, president of Waseda that will support research collaborations between scientists from the two organizations through joint symposiums and workshops.
– Singapore Government news release [37]
September 14, 2009
Private Education Act Passed
Singapore’s government recently passed the Private Education Bill to better regulate a sector whose image has been tarnished in recent months and years by providers issuing bogus or substandard credentials, reports Channel News Asia.
Under the new legislation, a Council for Private Education [38] has been established to enforce rules and regulations for private school operators. Operators found contravening the rules risk fines of up to US$10,000 and up to one year of jail. A voluntary quality assurance scheme, EduTrust [39], also sets stringent rules regarding matters of administration, school fees and student welfare.
Private schools in Singapore now have to meet a list of criteria before they can register with and be recognized by the Education Ministry [40]. The list includes ensuring that foreign institutions that are collaborated with are recognized in their home countries, and that they undergo an audit by EduTrust if they want to enroll foreign students. Institutions will also be required to renew their registration with the ministry on a periodic basis to ensure minimum standards are being maintained. In addition, institutions will have to register any new courses with the Council for Private Education.
– Channel News Asia [41]
September 15, 2009
South Korea
Universities Looking to Hire from Abroad
Universities in Korea are looking to increase their global competitiveness – with an eye on global rankings – by recruiting professors from abroad. Seoul National University [42] has hired 19 foreign professors for the current semester, which accounts for 32 percent of new hires.
At Yonsei University [43], 15 professors out of the 34 professors newly recruited for the fall semester are from abroad. Kyung Hee University [44] has hired 15 foreign professors (62 percent) for this autumn semester, while Hankuk University of Foreign Studies [45] has decided to keep the proportion of foreign professors at 30 percent.
– Korea Herald [46]
September 8, 2009
R&D Spending Up Over 10% in 2008
South Korea spent approximately 34.5 trillion won (US$28 billion) in 2008 on research and development (R&D), up 10.2 percent from 2007, according to government data released in September. R&D spending now accounts for 3.37 percent of gross domestic product, placing South Korea sixth among the OECD’s 30 member states.
By way of comparison, the United States spent $368.8 billion, while Japan spent $150.7 billion
The money spent by government and the public sector accounted for 26.8 percent of the total amount Korea spent on R&D while money from the private sector and abroad accounted for 72.9 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.
– The Korea Herald [47]
September 16, 2009
International Enrollments Surge 20%
The number of overseas students seeking degrees in Korea jumped 20 percent year-on-year from April 2008 to April 2009, according to data from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology [48] released in September.
There were 50,591 international students in Korea in 2009, accounting for 1.41 percent of the total number of college students. The 2009 number is 10,000 more than in April 2008. Of that number, 36,525 are seeking bachelor degrees, 10,697 at the master’s level and 3,369 on doctoral programs. Chinese nationals accounted for approximately 40,000 of the total (78 percent), followed by 1,632 Mongolian students, 1,467 Vietnamese and 1,113 Japanese students
The number of foreign professors is also increasing. There are currently 4,127 overseas educators, representing 5.5 percent of the total number of faculty members, up from 3,433 last year, 2,919 in 2007 and 2,540 in 2006.
– Korea Times [49]
September 11, 2009
Taiwan
Vocational Schools First to Enroll Mainland Students
In a change of policy, the Taiwanese government announced in September that vocational schools will be the first to enroll students from mainland China.
The announcement marks a reversal from an original 2008 policy announcement that public and private universities would be allowed to take Chinese masters and doctoral students from spring 2010, and private universities would be able to register undergraduates beginning in fall 2010. Vocational schools would have been the last to take mainland students. But Lin Tsong-ming, administrative deputy minister of education, noted that pressure from both experts and the general public prompted the government to make changes.
During the first ministerial report meeting Sept. 10, Wu said he realized from a mainland investigation trip in August that Taiwan’s vocational education is far more advanced than mainland China’s.
– United Daily News [50]
September 11, 2009