Regional

International Double Degrees in Law

A growing number of universities are collaborating to offer a double qualification in two jurisdictions in the field of law, reports The New York Times. In an increasingly globalized and interlinked world, knowledge of two or more legal opportunities offers students greater career opportunities.

Some examples include:

• Kings College London and University College Dublin offer a program with the Université Panthéon-Assas, in Paris.
• Columbia University and Cornell University law schools in the United States are partnering with various schools in Europe to offer double qualifications in law and finance.
• The New York University Law School has linked with the National University of Singapore.

However, double degrees are not for all and the cost of international travel can be prohibitive on top of already expensive tuition fees. In addition, the extra work of working for two degrees in the time usually taken for one can be a heavy burden and still leaves students with a less in-depth education than if they had pursued a single degree in their domestic legal system. And while the programs are intensive they are still pared back to the essentials.

But setting aside all these potential concerns, international law employers are clearly attracted to the sort of cross-border exposure that double degrees aim to provide. Mini Van de Pol, an international partner at Bakers & McKenzie in Melbourne, told The Times that when considering job applicants, “the ‘x-factor’ we look for are those individuals with global fluency.”

However, for the training and recruitment of most practicing lawyers, a full grasp of home country law remains the overriding requirement.

– The New York Times
December 1, 2009

‘No’ to Trade in Education

Students worldwide have united in their opposition to the “commodification of higher education.” European, Asian, African, Arab, North American and Australian student organizations met in January at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris to issue a Global Student Declaration.

The groups stated their opposition to “opening up higher education as a free market through processes such as World Trade Organization negotiations and the General Agreement on Trade and Services”. Ligia Deca, chair of the European Students’ Union, said: “We oppose restricting access by imposing tuition fees or increases in their levels. Such developments are inevitable if governments continue allowing commodification of education while moving away from it as a public responsibility.”

– ESIB
January 2010

Denmark

Working to Build World-class Universities

According to the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Denmark will achieve its budget goal of spending one percent of GDP on public research this year, a 20 percent increase from 2006 and part of Denmark’s plan to create a network of world-class universities.

While the spending goals look like they will be met, opposition parties are seeking more tangible results, reported University World News in December. Kirsten Brosbøl, spokeswoman on research for the opposition Social Democrats, proposed appointing a national commission to investigate how universities might reach world-class level. The proposed national commission would qualify the definition of world-class higher education and the costs needed for realizing this goal, she said.

– University World News
December 13, 2009

France

President Budgets Huge Spending Program for Higher Education

French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled an 8.5 billion euro plan (US$12 billion) in December to pump new funds into the nation’s higher-education sector, as the centerpiece of an ambitious 36 billion euro ($51 billion) stimulus program.

The plan is “aimed at preparing France for the ‘challenges’ of the future,” according to The Guardian newspaper, and to “turn its struggling universities into the best in the world.”

Under the plan, 10 new campuses will be created, bringing together leading institutions. One campus, to the southwest of Paris at Saclay, would become a hot spot for science and technology, Sarkozy said. “Our aim is quite simple: we want the best universities in the world.” But critics said the plan, instead of closing the gap between elite establishments and neglected universities, would reinforce the existing two-tier system.

– The Guardian
December 14, 2009

Elite Universities Criticized for Elite Admissions Standards

French government officials are unhappy with the highly selective universities known as grandes écoles for resisting a government proposal that they seek to reserve 30 percent of their places for low-income students. The institutions rejected setting such a goal, fearing it would lead to admissions quotas and lower academic standards.

Luc Chatel, the education minister, said he found it “deeply shocking that anyone imagines that it would lower standards to call on students from underprivileged backgrounds,” the Reuters news agency reported. Valérie Pécresse, the higher-education minister, said the government would not impose quotas, “but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have ambitious objectives.”

– Reuters
January 5, 2010

Increased Autonomy Granted to Second Group of Universities

A group of 18 universities were granted autonomy from government control a year ago, and in January a second group of French universities were granted increased autonomy by the government, bringing to 51 the number of institutions granted increased freedoms to manage their own affairs under the 2007 Universities Freedom and Responsibilities law.

The 33 newly autonomous universities enroll a total of 900,000 students and employ 65,400 workers. The remaining 32 universities are scheduled to earn their autonomy by January 1 2012. In an effort to encourage a focus on results in the tertiary sector, the government has tied funding in part to graduate employment rates and research assessments. Now, 20 percent of resources will be allocated depending on institutions’ educational and research performance, instead of 3 percent previously. Remaining funds will be distributed according to “the number of students present in examinations, and no longer the number enrolled”; and, for research, the number of lecturer-researchers who have published research.

Under other provisions in the new law, university presidents assume a greater role as the institutions take on new responsibilities such as managing global budgets, recruiting academic and research staff and fixing their pay and awarding bonuses, deciding research strategies, and owning university buildings.

– Ministry of Higher Education and Research
January 1, 2010

Finland

The Finnish Tuition Model for International Students

Finland’s Universities Act of 2009 allows universities to charge tuition fees, a concept previously abhorrent to most in the Scandinavian nation. Beginning this year, universities are permitted to charge tuition fees to students from outside the European Union, although under certain highly restrictive circumstances.

The new fee scheme has been introduced as a five-year pilot program to promote international contacts. The tuition fees would be applicable only to special masters programs, different from those available to domestic students. Universities will also have to establish a scholarship scheme.

The universities will decide whether to offer fee-paying programs and will decide on how much they wish to charge. The last time the topic of fees came up, a working group proposed fees ranging from 3,500 euro to 12,000 euro. The fees to be charged now in many cases will not cover the full cost of tuition. The government has promised that funds earned from fees will be available for direct use by the universities that earn them, and that government funding will not be reduced as a consequence.

Those universities that do choose to introduce tuition fees will likely start doing so from the beginning of the new academic year in September. As yet, none have advertized anything related to fees on their websites. However, it is fair to assume that most tuition programs are likely to be in English.

Foreign students made up less than 4 percent of all university enrollments in Finland in 2008, with half of those from European nations that would be exempt from fees under current legislation, meaning that fees received under the current model will account for only about 1 percent of the total income received by universities.

– University World News
January 24, 2010

Germany

Dropout Rates Increase in new STEM Bachelor Programs

According to a new study released by the Higher Education Information System (HIS) in January, dropout rates for science, engineering and math bachelor programs have increased when compared to traditional longer programs, lending credence to claims that the new structure of German higher education is overwhelming students.

German university students have been protesting for months, and according to the study, which looked at dropout rates and students’ explanations for dropping out, many of the new bachelor programs are asking students to do too much in too little time. However, it appears to be the case in just science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, with dropout rates actually decreasing for new language and humanities programs.

The HIS researchers asked 2,500 students who had ended their studies without earning a degree in the 2008 academic year what their reasons were for dropping out. Of those surveyed, 20 percent said they were unable to cope with the requirements of their program. Another 11 percent cited failed exams. The authors of the study combined these two groups to find that 31 percent of dropouts left university because they were overwhelmed by the demands of their programs, an increase of 11 percent since 2000.

Approximately 75 percent of German academic programs have been reformed from the Diplom system to the two-tier bachelor and master system. The former Diplom took on average six years to earn and was roughly equivalent to a master’s degree. The change is part of a larger education reform taking place in Germany to meet the requirements of the Bologna process, an agreement signed by 46 European countries to integrate their education systems.

– Deutsche Welle
January 15, 2010

Republic of Ireland

Let the Students In!

The Mayor of Dublin told the Irish government that its immigration policy is hurting the Irish economy by blocking international students from taking up places at Irish universities.

Emer Costello, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, said that almost 40 percent of applications from Chinese students and almost half of applications from Turkish students to tertiary-level institutions had been rejected, even when they had offers of admission. By contrast, the mayor claimed, Britain accepts 95 percent of Chinese students and 90 percent of those from Turkey.

Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s welcome for international students in December, Ms Costello pointed out the importance of international students to the Irish economy and in job creation, citing a figure of 500 million euro as the contribution made annually by international students to the Irish economy.

– Irish Times
December 14, 2009

National University of Ireland to be Dismantled

The National University of Ireland (NUI), which awards qualifications at some of Ireland’s major tertiary institutions, is to be dissolved after more than a century in existence.

Established in 1908, the NUI approves study programs and awards qualifications up to doctoral level in nine constituent colleges including NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, University College Dublin and University College Cork. The degrees awarded by these colleges are deemed degrees of the NUI. The decision was made as cost-savings measure.

– Irish Times
January 21, 2010

Sweden

No More Male University Quotas

The Swedish government wants to end the use of gender quotas in higher education, and it intends to do that under a proposal to amend the Higher Education Act so that gender quotas, typically in favor of men, are removed.

Men have received preference in university admissions to popular programs in which their gender is under-represented. This has been the case when the number of candidates with top scores has outnumbered places available. Some such programs include dentistry, medicine, veterinarian studies and psychology.

The Higher Education Act prescribes that a gender quota should be used to separate applicants with equal qualifications. The gender quota has worked in the favor of men 95 percent of the time, according to Minister for Higher Education, Tobias Krantz, in a recent opinion piece in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

– Stockholm News
January 12, 2010

Tuition Fees for International Students in 2011

Sweden is scheduled to introduce application fees, and most likely tuition fees, for international students from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area from fall 2011.

The legislative bill that would legalize the details of tuition fees in a country that has until now fully subsidized education for all, regardless of citizenship, was previously postponed but is now scheduled for introduction to parliament in the first quarter of this year. The Swedish government has also instructed the Swedish Agency for Higher Education to work out a system for introducing fees on applications for a study place.

The introduction of fees for foreign students has broad support from within Sweden, partly because of a taxpayer desire not to be funding average international students and partly because of the large number of applications taken by universities from foreign citizens, which exceeded 140,000 last year.

The application fee will probably be set at 1,000 SEK (EUR110) and the annual fees for foreign students will be open to the institutions to decide on a full-cost basis.

According to a recent survey of international students in Sweden, 76 percent said they would not pay fees, or that they were ambivalent about choosing Sweden. Only 24 percent confirmed they would have selected Sweden even if fees were required, while 3 percent said they would pay 3,000 euro or more. A total of 80 percent said free education was the main reason for selecting Sweden while 58 percent said they would choose Sweden if grants were available.

– University World News
January 24, 2010

Switzerland

Rectors’ Conference Adopts Qualifications Framework

A Qualifications Framework has been adopted by the three Swiss rectors’ conferences representing universities (CRUS), universities of applied science (KFH), and universities of teacher education (COHEP). The definitive version was adopted by the common steering committee of the rectors’ conferences in November last year and was passed on to the State Secretariat for Education and Research.

The move comes as part of Switzerland’s commitments under the Bologna process, which requires nations signatory to the agreement to define the different levels of higher education and qualifications as they relate to each other within the national context and the broader regional context. The Qualifications Framework for the Swiss Higher Education Area defines the following elements: generic descriptors, admission criteria, ECTS credits, academic degrees.

– CRUS
November 23, 2009

United Kingdom

Points-based Visa System Keeps Thousands of International Students Out of Country

Britain’s new points-based immigration system, design to unmask terrorists and crack down on fake students has been blamed for delaying the entry of tens of thousands of legitimate students, according to a recent report.

Errors and obstructive behavior by immigration officials have been a major part of the problem, according to a study by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA). The study found that immigration officials working for the UK Border Agency in embassies and high commissions are misinterpreting the new rules and refusing visas to genuine students.

The study questioned 2,777 international students who applied for a student visa between July and September last year. It found that two-fifths of the students had experienced difficulties or encountered “errors or obstructions” that had put them off studying in Britain or resulted in them being refused visas.

Immigration minister Phil Woolas in November admitted that more than 23,000 overseas students had been forced to reapply for their visas in the last six months and had been granted them on the second or third attempt.

– The Guardian
December 6, 2009

Two-year University Degrees?

The British government is encouraging universities to develop “fast-track” degrees that could be finished in two years instead of the traditional three, The Guardian reported. Government officials said such degrees could save money both for students and the government. University and student groups have expressed serious reservations about the idea.

– The Guardian
December 22, 2009

Sector on Verge of Meltdown?

Britain’s most-prestigious universities warned in January that the government’s plan to cut hundreds of millions of pounds in funding would put their world-class reputations in jeopardy. Cuts in government funding are particularly troubling for British universities because unlike most elite institutions in the United States, they are heavily reliant on public funds and have little chance of raising significant funds on their own: Student fees by law are capped at about 4,000 pounds a year, and endowments generally are no more than modest.

The British government, facing huge budget shortfalls has slashed its higher education budget by 600 million pounds (nearly $1 billion) over the next three years — a figure estimated by The Guardian newspaper as a 12 percent reduction when combined with other cuts.

The Russell Group, representing 20 leading research universities, said the cuts would have a devastating effect, not only on students and staff, but also on Britain’s international competitiveness, economy and ability to recover from recession, according to an editorial by the group’s Chairman Michael Arthur and Director Wendy Piatt, published in The Guardian.

In defending its decision, the government noted that higher education funding had risen by 25 percent since 1997. Higher Education Minister David Lammy said now was time to look to the higher education sector to tighten its belt.

– The Guardian
January 11, 2009

Enrollment Increase at the Research Level Mostly from Overseas

British universities have rapidly expanded the number of overseas research students they enroll, but growth in the number of domestic researchers is far slower, a study has found.

The analysis, Postgraduate Education in the United Kingdom, by the Higher Education Policy Institute and the British Library, published in January, urges the government to make doctoral degrees more attractive to British students to arrest the erosion of the UK’s research base.

The number of UK students on first-year doctoral or research masters programs grew by 3 percent between 2002-03 and 2007-08, the report finds. However, the number of students from other European Union countries rose by 11 percent, and the number of non-EU students – who pay higher fees – increased by 39 percent. In 2007-08, the last year for which statistics are available, 44 percent of doctoral and research masters students hailed from overseas, along with 50 percent of taught masters students.

The five institutions with the highest number of overseas students as a proportion of their total postgraduates are: the universities of Cambridge (43 percent), Oxford (37 percent), Cranfield (36 percent), St Andrews (34 percent) and Imperial College London (34 percent). The overall number of postgraduates studying in the UK rose from 249,117 to 278,272 over five years, an increase of 12 percent. Fees for overseas students rose by between 37.7 percent and 46.2 percent over the five years studied, depending on subject.

– British Library
January 21, 2010