Australia

Investigation into Treatment of Foreign Students Underway

Australia’s reputation has been damaged by its treatment of overseas students, its third-biggest source of foreign income, said the head of an inquiry. Bruce Baird, a former Australian lawmaker, was appointed by the Australian government to review the Education Services for Overseas Students Act to improve support for students and strengthen regulation of the sector, which was worth an estimated A$15.5 billion ($13.4 billion) in 2008.

Violent attacks on Indian students in Melbourne this year and questions regarding the quality of education at vocational colleges in Australia have raised concerns in India and strained relations between the two nations.

“Certainly our brand has been damaged significantly in India, you’ve only got to see the press clips and see the very bad coverage we’ve had,” Baird said on Ten television. “It hasn’t been helpful.”

Baird’s review will provide an interim report by November, with a final report expected in early 2010, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in August. In related news, the Ministry for Education has released the communiqué of a roundtable during which 31 international students enrolled at Australian Universities were invited to reflect on the challenges faced by international students and suggest actions to be undertaken at the government level.

– Bloomberg
October 3, 2009

Enrollment Drop of Up to 10% from Abroad Projected

Australia’s tarnished image as a study destination in India and a stronger Australian dollar will result in a recruitment drop from abroad of up to 10 percent by later next year, according to a report by Hobsons Asia-Pacific.

“If the drop in inquiries during the last quarter continues, then the drop in enrollments in second semester for 2010 could be double-digit,” said David Harrington, managing director of Hobsons Asia-Pacific, in an interview with The Australian newspaper. Mr. Harrington’s organization represents 14 Australian universities, including three of the nation’s top eight research universities.

Inquiries from abroad fell 15 percent in the last quarter, although demand from China, a key market, remained strong, growing 15 percent, the report said. Australia cannot continue to recruit Chinese and Indian students at the current rate of growth without compromising education standards, the country’s largest overseas recruiter, IDP Education, warned, suggesting that a drop in enrollment figures might not be the worst news.

China and India together account for 40 percent of Australia’s total international student body of 547,600 students. International student recruiters believe that enrollments from India alone over the next five years could reach 500,000, but IDP warns that there are simply not enough professors or classes to accommodate that growth.

According to IDP Education’s Chief Executive, Tony Pollock, recent negative publicity surrounding Australia, especially in India, would likely lead to a softening in the overseas market although he predicts it will bounce back during the next six to nine months as a result of growing international demand, the easing of the financial crisis, tightening British entry requirements and difficulties accessing US student visas. Worst hit will be the vocational sector, which took a reputational body blow this year after a number of high-profile media reports outed corrupt practices in recruitment, admissions and teaching.

– The Australian
October 14, 2009

China

More Science and Engineering PhDs in China than US by Next Year

University enrollments in the United States have more than doubled over the last 36 years to 17,500,000 in 2006. Over the same period, China’s enrollments have grown approximately 250-fold to 23,400,000. A study for the National Bureau of Economic Research explores the impact of what the author — Richard B. Freeman, an economist at Harvard University — calls the “human capital leapfrogging in the huge populous developing countries.”

Building on UNESCOs overall enrollment numbers, Freeman uses data from the National Science Foundation to explore the fields that students select in the United States and the rest of the world, showing that Americans are much less likely than others to focus on science and engineering.

In 2004, for example, 12.9 percent of the first degrees awarded to students went to those in the United States. But only 8.5 percent of the first degrees awarded in science and engineering were awarded to those in the United States. At the doctoral level, Ph.D. enrollments have been relatively stable in the United States but have grown exponentially elsewhere in the world, especially in countries like China where doctoral study is highly concentrated in science and technology fields. According to Freeman, China essentially had no science or engineering doctorates in 1975, but by 2004, the NSF found that China graduated 23,000 Ph.D.’s, about 63 percent of them in science and engineering. And between 1995 and 2003, new students in doctoral programs increased six-fold in China, to 48,740.

Assuming continuation of these trends, Freeman predicts that China will produce more science and engineering doctorates than the United States by next year. Freeman notes that the “quality of doctorate education surely suffers from such rapid expansion, so the numbers should be discounted, but as the new Chinese doctorate programs develop, quality will undoubtedly improve.”

– InsideHigherEd
October 5, 2009

China Claims No.2 Spot in Academic Research Ranking, Pushing UK into Third

China has overtaken the United Kingdom to become the second-largest producer of academic research in the world. An annual report by data analyst Evidence, published in October by Britain’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, shows that China has moved into second place after the US in a ranking of nations by their research output.

Although the UK published 91,273 papers in 2008 – an average of 2.3 per researcher and up more than 11,000 on 2007 – it was not enough to keep pace with the most populous country in the world, which has experienced a four-fold rise in its output over the past decade. China produced more than 110,000 papers in 2008 – an increase of about 30,000 on the 2007 figure.

The report notes an “exceptional” global increase in the number of papers published this year, driven largely by China, Brazil, India and Iran. Despite the drop in its share of publications, the UK’s share of the world’s citations – formal references of papers by fellow academics – increased. It rose from an average of 11.2 percent over the past five years to 11.8 percent in 2008, putting the UK in second place after the US.

– The Times Higher Education Supplement
October 2, 2009

Chinese Students in U.S. Earn Doctorates in Far Greater Numbers than Indian Students

China has been spending heavily on developing its science and technology infrastructure and learning institutions over the last two decades, and according to a new report the country now sends two and half times as many science students to the United States as India does, despite the fact that Indian sends the most students overall to study in the United States, according to the Institute of International Education’s annual Open Doors report.

Chinese students also outnumber Indians in terms of engineering and basic-science doctorates earned at American universities. The report, produced by India’s National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies, has validated the fears of many Indian scientists that India lags far behind other developing countries in research, according to interviews conducted by Mint, an Indian newspaper.

– Mint
October 14, 2009

Universities Create the Elite 9 Conference

The Ivy League, the Group of Eight, the Russell Group, and now the C9. Yes, China now has its own small band of elite research universities. They have been dubbed the C9 because there are nine universities in the club and they are the first nine universities funded by the much broader 985 Project. Oh, and nine is a lucky number.

The Ministry-of-Education-approved C9 conference is an association of elite universities that will allow credit transfer and more flexibility in exchange programs, according to the Xinhua news agency. Described as “China’s Ivy League,” the universities — Peking, Tsinghua, Fudan, Zhejiang, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Nanjing, Xi’an Jiaotong, Harbin Institute of Technology, and the University of Science and Technology of China — formed the group on October 12.

– Xinhua
October 26, 2009

Military to Take 130,000 Graduates Out of Job Market

A record 130,000 graduates from Chinese universities and colleges are expected to join the army this winter, as the country looks to improve the quality of servicemen while reducing the number of unemployed university graduates, reports the official news agency Xinhua.

Gradates are being offered an attractive financial incentive to serve: a one-off refund of up to 24,000 yuan (US$3,500) on college tuition fees or student loans. The money, paid from the central government’s budget, roughly equals the tuition fee for a four-year university education in China.

Graduates will also have a better chance of being promoted or receiving education at military academies. After finishing the two-year compulsory service, they are also promised preference while seeking jobs at police and other law-enforcement departments.

– Xinhua
October 21, 2009

Fiji

New University to be Established

A new university in Fiji will open next year through the amalgamation of six existing state-run tertiary institutions. Filipe Bole, the Education Minister, told local radio that the Fiji National University would be based at the Fiji College of Advanced Education at Nasinu. A vice-chancellor, independent of the constituent institutions, will be appointed to run the university. There are currently only two universities based in the country: the University of the South Pacific and the University of Fiji.

– Fijilive
September 22, 2009

India

Foreign Education Providers Bill Hits Roadblock

Pending for over three years, the Foreign Education Providers Bill has now run into objections from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which feels the legislation is not in keeping with the new education reform agenda. This is likely to further delay the passing of the Bill by Parliament.

The ministry responsible for higher education has since started circulating a new version of the Bill for inter-ministerial consultations to address some of the objections raised by the PMO.

The modified version of the Bill terms foreign institutes as ‘Foreign Education Providers’ instead of ‘deemed to be universities’ and clarifies that these institutes will be empowered to grant degrees, diplomas and equivalent awards but not by “distance mode”.

According to the minister in charge of higher education, Kapil Sibal, in an October interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education, the bill is likely to be passed before next July, when the academic year begins. The minister also stated that any foreign higher-educational institution allowed into India—if unaided by the Indian government—will be able to determine its own tuition and curricula. But it will have to seek accreditation in India, and will not be able to repatriate profits.

– India Express
October 13, 2009

Minister Wants SAT-Like Admissions Tests

India is currently constructing 15 new central universities, and according to the country’s minister in charge of higher education they will be required to formulate a common admission test modeled on the SAT in the United States, according to a government statement.

The common examination could later be extended to 25 other federally supported universities as well, reported the Business Standard. Every Indian university currently admits students based on their marks on a high-school-graduation exam and, occasionally, a personal interview.

In addition, the new standardized test would help improve the current system that relies on results from a national patchwork of high-school-graduation tests around India, a situation that makes it extremely difficult to gauge a student’s relative abilities. For that reason, the higher-education minister, Kapil Sibal, has also announced plans to devise a common high-school-graduation test.

– Government news release
October 13, 2009

Top Business Schools Given Green Light to Operate Abroad

The Indian government said in October that it had no objection “in principle” to allowing the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), the country’s top-ranking public graduate-management schools, to expand internationally, according to Indian media reports.

On the flip side of the equation, there was concern raised by officials from the top management schools that foreign schools, if allowed to operate in India as seems increasingly likely, might poach their professors. The decision, made under Kapil Sibal, the minister in charge of higher education, reverses a 2006 decision made by his predecessor that prevented an IIM from establishing a campus in Singapore.

– The Telegraph
October 16, 2009

Top Technology and Management Institutes Look to Source More Foreign Students

Looking to boost international reputations and research efforts, India’s Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management have said they will introduce measures designed to increase overseas enrollments. The plan includes an initiative to reserve 10 percent of IIM seats at each school for students from abroad, especially those from neighboring countries, reports the Hindustan Times.

“To qualify for admission to India’s best b-schools, the foreign students might be required to take a separate test, something on the lines of Graduate Management Admission Test,” Devi Singh, told the newspaper.

The Indian Institutes of Technology plan to introduce scholarships and reduced fees to attract more foreign graduate students. Currently foreign students have to pay much higher tuition than their Indian counterparts, whose tuition is government-subsidized.

– Hindustan Times
October 25, 2009

Education Minister Visits Presidents of Leading U.S. Universities on Weeklong Tour

Kapil Sibal, Indian minister in charge of education, traveled to the United States in late October for what have been describe by The Chronicle of Higher Education as “extensive discussions on how the United States could more deeply engage with India.”

The government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which replaced a more conservative education minister with Mr. Sibal this year, has ambitious plans to rapidly expand and reform India’s higher-education system. Part of that plan is to engage top international universities in developing curricula and building campuses. While in the US, the minister met in New York with the president of the New York Academy of Sciences and Indian-American academics. From there he traveled to Boston for meetings with the presidents of Harvard and Boston Universities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and members of their faculties. He also traveled to Yale University and to Washington, where he met with the presidents of Georgetown and Duke Universities, and held discussions with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and other federal officials, including Judith A. McHale, the State Department’s under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs.

Several of those who met with Mr. Sibal, according to The Chronicle, said that they came away impressed by his directness and his intelligence, and that, while he acknowledged that much hard work lies ahead, he was clearly committed to opening the doors, and reducing barriers, to many types of collaboration.

Mr. Sibal’s tour was designed in part to lay the groundwork for a visit later this month by Mr. Singh, the prime minister, saying that he hoped to have formed a new India-U.S. education council by the time Mr. Singh arrives to help further educational collaborations between the two countries.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
November 1, 2009

Japan

Private Universities on the Brink as University-age Population Continues to Shrink

According to the ministry of education, a record 47 percent of Japan’s roughly 550 private four-year universities are falling below their government-set recruitment targets, while over 40 percent are reportedly in debt and close to going out of business. The most dire of forecasts suggest that one-third of the country’s private universities could go bankrupt or merge in the next decade. But the government, which has the power to close failing colleges, is taking a hands-off approach, hoping that the market will take care of the sector.

The crisis has been slower to affect public universities, which receive greater public support, have better brand recognition, and are considered more prestigious among Japanese students. Still, public universities are not immune and some have begun to make significant cost-cutting measures. In the private sector, cuts – across the board – are the norm, while thousands of students from Japan’s neighbor China are being recruited to fill empty classroom seats. But that solution has created its own set of problems. At some institutions, international students, mostly Chinese, are failing to turn up for lectures, using their student visas instead as cover to work.

Japan has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates and a shortage of children so severe that the government recently created a cabinet position to deal with it. The problem has rippled through each layer of the education system, shutting elementary, junior high, and high schools and now finally reaching colleges. Since peaking in 1992 at 2.1 million, the number of 18-year-olds has plummeted by more than 700,000 (33 percent). The population shrank last year by a record 51,317. All the while, the government continued to issue licenses to the private-university sector, which has grown by a third since the late 1980s.

Two years ago, then-Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pledged to nearly triple Japan’s foreign-student enrollment to 300,000 by the end of the next decade. Privately, many higher-education specialists call the pledge unworkable, saying Japan is simply not equipped, structurally or psychologically, to deal with such an influx without major government help. Most cite housing high on a list of problems that must be solved: Apartments are expensive, and Japanese real-estate companies in rural areas still often refuse to rent to non-Japanese customers.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
October 25, 2009

Malaysia

Private Universities to be Included in National Evaluation Exercise

Both public and private institutions of higher education will be required to take part in the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (Setara), which is aimed at improving quality standards as part of Malaysia’s goal of establishing itself as a hub for higher-education services.

Higher Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin, said it was not currently compulsory for private universities to undergo an evaluation through Setara – but it will be by May next year. “We are now meeting with all the chief executive officers of private universities to let them know that their courses will be analyzed under the Setara program,” Nordin told the New Straits Times newspaper in September.

The programs will undergo a quantitative survey and data collected will be analyzed based on six areas – academic staff, student selectivity, research, academic programs, resources and management.

– The New Straits Times
September 23, 2009

Malaysia Looks to Develop New Initiatives to Attract Foreign Students

Malaysia is currently on target to surpass a goal set by the Ministry of Education to host 80,000 international students by 2010, according to an article in the Star Online. Currently, Malaysia ranks as the 11th most preferred destination for internationally mobile students, according to the OECD. However, this achievement takes place in the context of growing global competition for students, and the government is meeting with the CEOs of private higher education institutions in the country to develop new strategies for growth.

In 2008, there were a reported 69,154 international students from more than 150 countries at Malaysian institutions of education, a 26.5 percent increase on the year prior. A majority of these students are enrolled at private institutions of higher education, and it is in this sector that the government wants to ensure standards are being maintained.

At a closed-door meeting in September, ministry officials met with the leaders of top private institutions. Chaired by Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, representatives of the private institutions were told that any significant growth in the tertiary sector would have to come from them as public funding for higher education is not expected to rise, especially at the undergraduate level.

Under current government plans, private institutions increasing competitively priced student places in specified science and engineering disciplines will be offered tax breaks. In addition, they will be offered allowances to upgrade facilities. As noted in the article above, private institutions will also be subject to increased quality control measures as the nation looks to develop and improve its education brand globally.

– Daily Star
October 4, 2009

Pakistan

Higher Ed Budget to Increase by 20 Percent of GDP

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said in October that public funds budgeted for higher education would be increased by 20 percent of gross domestic product over the next five years. The president told a group of more than 100 university leaders that the government had approved salary increases for professors and officials, according to news reports. The government is also working on a plan to reform madrassa colleges, which teach Islamic theology and religion, to influence their “extremist mind-set,” Mr. Zardari said.

In related news, the World Bank recently granted US$100 million for higher education under the Higher Education Support Program Credit, which will support the government’s initiatives to increase participation, enhance quality and relevance and strengthen the efficiency and financial sustainability of higher education institutions.

– The News
October 17, 2009

US Pledges $45 Million to Higher Education Body

In late October, a little more than a week after suicide attacks on a major Pakistani university left at least eight people dead, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the United States would contribute $45 million to Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission.

According to a U.S. government press statement, the money will be used to expand relationships between Pakistani and American universities by increasing academic exchanges, and to increase university and technical education for students who have been affected by the fighting in the country, among other things.

– U.S. government news release
October 28, 2009

South Korea

Yale Vs Dongguk, A Lesson on the Importance of Verifying Credentials

Dongguk University has accused Yale University of negligence and a cover-up after it mistakenly verified the legitimacy of a fake doctorate claimed as genuine by a Donguk professor. The result, thus far, is a heated legal battle and a lesson in the importance of the document-verification process in the equivalency of international credentials.

The controversy began in 2005, when Dongguk hired Shin Jeong-ah, a rising star in the art world, as a professor. Shortly after her hiring, questions about her credentials arose and Dongguk sent a letter to Yale asking for authentication of a document provided by Ms. Shin. The document, which appeared to have been signed by a Yale administrator, stated that Ms. Shin had earned the doctoral degree.

The confirmation letter was a fake, but the Yale administrator whose name was on it confirmed its authenticity in a fax to Dongguk, apparently not checking the university’s records or even noticing that the administrator’s name had been misspelled. Dongguk officials and Korean reporters pressed Yale on the question of Ms. Shin’s degree again in 2007 as rumors persisted. After checking its records, Yale announced that Ms. Shin had no degree but also initially denied having received the original inquiry from Dongguk and said documents suggesting otherwise had been forged.

The growing scandal made headlines in Korea and became known there as Shin-gate. Ms. Shin resigned and was eventually convicted of falsifying records and of embezzlement. Yale issued an apology to Dongguk in December 2007. Dongguk filed suit for US$50 million the next year in Federal District Court in Connecticut, saying Yale had engaged in “reckless” and “wanton” conduct, and had defamed Dongguk, which “was publicly humiliated and deeply shamed in the eyes of the Korean population.” The university said it lost millions in contributions and the opportunity to build a new law school.

– New York Times
October 30, 2009

Vietnam

A Vietnam-US University?

According to a report from Voice of Vietnam News, Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training and the US Embassy in Hanoi are laying the administrative foundations for the future establishment of a Vietnam-US University in Vietnam. At the end of September, the representatives from the two sides signed an agreement to cooperate in education, under which both parties have agreed to step up cooperation through a training program between Vietnamese and US colleges and universities.

The United States will provide more scholarships for Vietnamese graduate students looking to study in the US. From now until 2020, the US will also work with Vietnamese partners to train 2,500 lecturers with doctorate degrees. The US will also help Vietnam to improve the quality of English teaching and build a tertiary evaluation system based on international standards.

In related news, Taiwan signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Vietnam under which 500 university instructors will travel to Taiwan over the next 12 years to obtain doctoral degrees, Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji announced Oct. 1. Under the agreement, the Vietnamese government will provide plane tickets and room and board for the university instructors, while Taiwan will offer tuition and fee waivers as well as scholarships.

– VOVNews
September 30, 2009
– China Times
October 2, 2009

$50 Million for Higher Education Development

The World Bank in August approved a loan for US$50 million to the Vietnamese government. The money is to be used for the government’s higher education development program, which aims to catch up the education sector with a surging Vietnamese economy. As it currently stands, Vietnamese institutions of higher education cannot produce the kind and quantity of skilled workers that the economy is demanding. Under the same loan, the government will receive an additional US$127 million for primary education projects.

The current trajectory of higher education reform has been stalled because of government infighting and a stiff resistance to change, so it is somewhat unclear what impact the World Bank money will have, if any. A major change the development bank would like to see is greater institutional autonomy and far less government interference in day-to-day operations. In addition, both the bank and the government agree that a much larger pool of qualified teaching talent is required to man an expansion of the sector.

– World Bank
August 21, 2009