Regional
East Asia Moves Forward on Education Harmonization Project
China, Japan, and South Korea, East Asia’s big three education markets, have taken a small step toward academic integration with the first government-level meeting aimed at increasing the regional mobility of students and professors.
The “Campus Asia” project is designed to harmonize the three nations’ colleges and ultimately keep more students in the region, which is a major supplier of undergraduates to American and European campuses. Representatives from the three governments met in Tokyo in April to establish a committee to explore credit transfers, exchange programs, and quality control in universities across the region.
A series of meetings rotating among the three participating nations, with the next one in China this fall, will flesh out the details, says Yuichi Tanaka, a spokesman for Japan’s Ministry of Education [1]. “There are many problems to overcome.”
Earlier this year, Japan announced plans to standardize student-evaluation methods with universities in China and South Korea, the possible first step in a Pan-Asian student-exchange program. Universities in the three counties swap academic credits at their own discretion, but many colleges refuse to recognize foreign-based evaluation systems.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [2]
April 20, 2010
Hong Kong Universities Ranked Best in Asia
Universities in Hong Kong have topped a ranking [3] of Asian institutions of higher learning published in May, performing far better than institutions in mainland China.
The 2010 Asian rankings, compiled by the London-based QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) [4], a higher education information company, is dominated by institutions in Hong Kong and Japan. Hong Kong University [5] topped the list, followed by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology [6], while the Chinese University of Hong Kong [7] was fourth behind the National University of Singapore [8] in third. The top Chinese university, Peking University [9], was 12th with Tsinghua [10] in 16th place. Japanese universities occupied 57 of the top 200 places and five of the top 10 in this year’s table, with Tokyo University [11] ranking highest at 5th place. Fifteen South Korean universities and seven Indian Institutes of Technology placed in the top 100.
This is only the second time QS has produced Asian rankings since the inaugural Asian rankings last year. QS ranked what it deemed as Asia’s top 200 universities, using criteria such as academic peer review, staff-to-student ratios, citations, and the number of foreign teachers and students on campus.
– QS [3]
May 13, 2010
Australia
Minister Signs Cooperation Agreement with India
Australia’s Education Minister Julia Gillard and India’s Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal signed a Joint Ministerial Statement in April that is designed to strengthening educational ties between the two nations and promote trust.
The statement [12] confirms Australia and India’s commitment to expanding current educational exchange programs, in a move designed to build greater cooperation between the two countries’ institutions of higher education. The meeting was the result of a commitment made in New Delhi last August to start an annual dialogue between the two ministers and followed efforts by Australia to counter widespread condemnation in the Indian media over attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney.
The two sides agreed to investigate the establishment of an India-Australia Education Council to improve collaboration on education-related issues.
– Economic Times [13]
April 8, 2010
Stakeholders Warn that Immigration Reform Could Negatively Impact Export Industry
Immigration reforms could result in Australia losing out in the market for foreign graduate students. Glenn Withers, chief executive officer of Universities Australia, said that the priority given to employer-sponsored skilled migrants could make it harder to attract Ph.D. candidates from abroad, The Australian newspaper reported.
“That is squeezing the independent category, where our PhD students, and indeed many of our undergraduates, choose to apply,” he said. Dr Withers said that universities lacked the career structure to offer international doctoral students the jobs necessary to sponsor them. A typical postdoctoral position funded by a three-year project grant from the Australian Research Council was not enough to qualify, he added.
– The Australian [14]
April 14, 2010
Australia Re-tightens Visa Regulations
Australia will further tighten its policy on student visas to ensure they are only given to “genuine” individuals. According to a press release [15] from the Ministry of Immigration and Citizenship in late April, the “tough new measures” will ensure that only “genuine international students are accepted to study in Australia.”
“This latest round of changes strikes the right balance between making the visa application process easier for genuine students while imposing additional checks on those who may seek to abuse the system,” Chris Evans, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, said in an address to the American Chamber of Commerce in Perth in April.
The measures include changes to the assessment of students studying more than one course, increased powers to cancel visas and streamlining the processing of graduate students.
“This means that students applying for more than one course will be required to meet the highest level of risk assessment within their package of course. Further, changes have been made to the migration regulations to improve visa cancellation guidelines if it is found that a student has suspended or deferred studies for non-genuine reasons,” Evans said.
– Indo-Asian News Service [16]
April 29, 2010
University Applications from Overseas Tank
Applications by foreign students to Australian institutions of higher education plunged 40 percent in April versus the same time last year, reports The Australian newspaper. Education experts have blamed the drop on more-rigorous requirements for student visas, the changes for which were “abrupt and rapid,” according to Tony Pollock, the head of IDP Australia [17], the country’s largest recruiter of international students.
Experts say that a delay in the government’s announcement of which jobs are “priority skills” and could lead to permanent residency for non-Australians was a factor. Much of the drop came in the professional and vocational sector, but universities are still concerned as these sectors are typically feeders for university enrollments. Immigration Minister Chris Evans has said changes to the skilled migration program would remove incentives for overseas students to apply for a program simply to win residency.
– The Australian [18]
May 12, 2010
China
Former Beijing U President Defines ‘World-Class,’ Lamenting that China has no Such Institutions at this Time
China has no global top-ranking universities, according to Xu Zhihong, a member of the Chinese Academy of Science [19] and former president of Peking University [9], at a lecture at Huazhong University of Science and Technology [20] in April.
Xu said global top-ranking universities have three characteristics. First, they have world-famous professors conducting high-level research. Second, they possess a collection of achievements that could affect human civilization and the development of society and the economy. Third, a large number of outstanding people who have made great contributions to human civilization have graduated from these universities.
“If a university has these characteristics, then it can be called a global top-ranking university.” Xu added.
He added that while Peking University produces a similar number of research papers as top U.S. universities such as Yale [21], the impact of that research does not meet that imparted by foreign top-ranking universities, and there is still a long way to go. Xu said that he believes the most important thing for universities is to cultivate good scholars and students, noting: “If the soil of domestic universities becomes very fertile, China will finally produce some Nobel Prize winners.”
– People’s Daily [22]
April 16, 2010
List of 148 Institutions Permitted to Enroll Foreign Students Published
China’s Ministry of Education has published a list of the 148 Chinese institutions entitled to enroll international students under Chinese government scholarship programs: http://www.edu.cn/Internationaledu_1499/20100330/t20100330_461444.shtml [23]
– Ministry of Education [23]
March 30, 2010
Education Overhaul on the Way
The Chinese government in April approved a comprehensive package to overhaul the national education system. The plan, approved by the State Council (cabinet equivalent), covers kindergarten through college education and stresses the need for better teaching and research, greater diversity in what is taught at colleges, and closing the quality gap between rich and poor colleges. It also takes aim at how colleges are run, urging experiments with American-style university charters and college boards.
The guidelines, which have attracted more than 27,000 comments, according to the education ministry’s website [24], expands upon what many academics and government officials in China have been saying for years: that the country’s education system is outmoded, overstretched, and ill-equipped to train its citizens for the modern global economy.
Sun Xiaobing, director of policy and regulation at the Ministry of Education, said in March that the guidelines will give colleges more autonomy “in teaching, scientific research, enrollment, and international exchanges,” reported the China Daily newspaper. In addition, he said, “Professors will also be given an important position in teaching and academic decisions.”
The guidelines appear to build on the rapid expansion of China’s higher-education system. In 1999, 6 percent of college-age Chinese attended universities, but by 2009 that figure had risen to 23 percent, according to Ministry of Education data. Likewise, there were 599 colleges with bachelor’s programs in 2000, compared with 1,079 in 2008.
This growth has predictably brought problems, including poor teaching, overcrowded classrooms, and academic cheating, many academics and observers say. Academics too are increasingly dissatisfied, even at elite universities.
It is unclear how quickly and thoroughly the reforms are going to be implemented, as the system of higher education is large and complex. At present, China’s universities are each run by a president and a Chinese Communist Party secretary appointed by the government. At 37 top universities, the Ministry of Education appoints the leaders; for other institutions, provincial authorities appoint the officials. Top-tier college presidents hold government positions equivalent to vice ministers. A plan to stop granting official government ranks to university leaders caused a minor squabble during the normally compliant National People’s Congress, in March.
All involved in the debate agree that if the Communist Party reduces its influence on higher education, the move must be piecemeal and slow. The government has given colleges 10 years to make the changes laid out in the guidelines. Each institution can decide what to tackle first, whether it’s tenure, setting up a board, or improving teaching.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [25]
May 13, 2010
Fiji
Merger Creates New university
Fiji National University [26] (FNU), a public institution, was established at the beginning of 2010 through a merger of Fiji College of Advanced Education, Fiji College of Agriculture, Fiji Institute of Technology, Fiji School of Medicine, Fiji School of Nursing, and Lautoka Teachers College.
The university was opened February 15th 2010 in Nasinu by Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama. The Nasinu campus, formerly known as Fiji College of Advanced Education (FCAE), is now the FNU headquarters.
The merge also sees the creation of five new colleges under the FNU body and they are the College of Engineering, Science and Technology; College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences; College of Humanities and Education; College of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; and College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies.
– Connectme [27]
February 15, 2010
India
India Looks for Guidance from Abroad in Establishing Innovation Universities
India reached out across its newly independent borders decades ago to work with foreign universities in establishing the Indian Institutes of Technology, a network of world-class technology institutes decades ago. As the government looks to radically reform Indian higher education in the 21st century, it is again looking overseas for help in establishing 14 innovation universities.
The new universities are to be centers of excellence, and the plan was first announced by President Pratibha Patil during her address to Parliament soon after the Manmohan Singh-led government took over last year. The government wants the universities to be autonomous entities with no ‘regulation from outside’. According to a ‘concept note’, prepared by the Education Ministry [28] and circulated to other government departments, the universities would be allowed to frame their own rules for academics and the qualifications needed for teaching positions. They would have freedom to decide their fees, curricula and rules for the appointment of faculty.
Yale University [21] has already approached the Education Ministry and wants to develop leadership programs to mentor the 14 innovation universities that would include input on curriculum, teacher training and research. During a visit to India last month, George Joseph, Yale’s assistant secretary, said the university would work with India “on the new innovation universities for references and conceptualizing”.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology [29] (MIT) has also expressed interest in mentoring one university focused on the energy sector. According to officials, MIT is keen to expand its Energy Initiative [30] which pairs the institute’s world-class research teams with key players across the innovation spectrum to help improve today’s energy systems and create tomorrow’s global energy marketplace.
Education Minister Kapil Sibal has indicated that, apart from the US and UK, he is seeking Singapore’s help with infrastructure in setting up the innovation universities. The 14 institutions will be set up under India’s 11th five-year plan (2007-12) and the government hopes to start the first university next year.
– University World News [31]
April 18, 2010
Faculty Shortages Worsen
One of the biggest problems currently facing the Indian tertiary system is a lack of qualified teaching manpower, even at the nation’s most prestigious institutions, and this is especially troublesome for officials who are looking to greatly expand access to higher studies in the coming years.
India’s elite institutes of technology, or IITs, and institutes of management, IIMs, which train some of the country’s top engineers and managers are not immune from faculty shortages, in fact the number of academic vacancies at the seven IITs has increased from 877 in 2008-09 to 1,065 in 2009-10, Junior Education Minister Daggubati Purandeswari revealed during a parliamentary question time in April. Vacancies at India’s IITs stood at 971 in 2007-08.
With the opening of eight new IIT campuses this year and last, the problem looks set to worsen before it can get any better. Potential faculty are typically lured away by better pay in the private sector – industry and academia – or by institutions overseas.
Meanwhile, some 95 vacant posts exist at the country’s seven institutes of management. Seven new IIMs planned by the Education Ministry [28] will need 392 more academics over the next three years. In the public sector more broadly, the situation is even worse. A sample survey of 47 universities by a government pay review committee in December 2008 showed that 48.6 percent of teaching posts were vacant. Out of the 16,579 posts, only 8,064 were filled.
The National Knowledge Commission [32], a think-tank on education, said in 2006 that India would need 1,500 additional universities to cater to the aspirations of young Indians. There are 504 universities and higher education institutions at present.
– University World News [33]
May 2, 2010
New Central Universities to Host Common Entrance Exam
India’s seven newly created central universities will hold combined entrance examinations from this year for admission to approximately 25 programs, reports the Press Trust of India.
The institutions are the Central Universities of Kashmir [34], Jharkhand [35], Bihar [36], Rajasthan [37], Karnataka [38], Kerala [39] and Tamil Nadu [40]. The combined entrance exam is the first such exercise conducted by central universities, although the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management hold their own, highly competitive – entrance examinations.
– Press Trust of India [41]
April 26, 2010
Foreign Providers Bill Goes Before Parliament
In early May, the latest version of a long-awaited and much-discussed bill governing the entry of foreign universities into India went before Parliament. With the submission of the bill by the Indian prime minister to Parliament, domestic and international observers finally get a look at the specifics.
Among other things, the draft bill states that the federal government would have the final word on approving any foreign university seeking to operate in India. It also states that foreign institutions should have been accredited in their home countries for at least 20 years, while online providers would apparently be left on the sidelines. Foreign universities would also be required to establish a bank account in India with a minimum holding of US$11 million, while profits would have to stay in country to be reinvested in the campus.
Those provisions alone, if passed, appear likely to discourage many institutions from pursuing India operations; however, the bill does not require that foreign universities reserve places for underrepresented ethnic and caste populations – which at many public universities account for 50 percent of all seats. Nor would they be required to abide by tuition caps. And it states that the federal government may exempt institutions that have a strong reputation and solid international standing from all but a few provisions of the bill.
The downside to that freedom, though, is that the government would then become involved in running the institution through an advisory board of academics it nominates. Each government advisory board would consist of three members who had been named by the government as “national research professors.”
The bill now goes before a standing committee of members from the leading coalition party and other parties. They will evaluate it and propose changes, if any, to the ministry in charge of higher education. Once that is complete, the revised bill goes to a full Parliamentary vote, although it appears unlikely that it will pass by the next academic year, as hoped by the Congress Party Government.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [42]
May 5, 2010
Aerospace University Cleared for Lift-off
India is set to open its first aerospace university in the state of Gujarat, the Times of India reported. The Gujarat Vittal Innovation City [43] (GVIC) will be developing the university in conjunction with the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation [44] (CAPA).
The GVIC is designed to be India’s first planned innovation zone, and is modelled on Silicon Valley, with international universities and research and development centers located in close proximity to the private sector.
“We intend to start work on the project in 2010, which happens to be the golden jubilee year of Gujarat. The project will be commissioned by the end of 2012,” the Times of India reported GVIC chief operating officer Pankaj Sharan as saying.
The university will offer short and long programs of integrated multi-disciplinary education and training, CAPA South Asia chief Kapil Kaul told the Times of India. Kaul said the programs offered would include pilot training, air traffic control, maintenance, repairing and overhauling of aircraft, customer service and aviation law.
CAPA will bring in expertise from international institutes including US-based Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University [45] (aerospace engineering), New Zealand’s Airways International [46] (air traffic training) and the UK’s Oxford Aviation Academy [47] (pilot training) to Gujarat.
– Times of India [48]
May 2, 2010
Private Multibillion-Dollar University Project Put on Hold
A number of Indian industrialists are building, or have built, large private universities around India. Construction on probably the most ambitious of them all was recently suspended by the country’s environment ministry after complaints about alleged construction and development “irregularities,” reports The Hindustan Times. [49]
The $3.5 billion Vedanta University [50] project in Orissa is the brainchild of Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal. Last month the ministry gave the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the university’s developer, conditional approval to build the university, but has put that order on hold as it investigates the allegations. “This ministry has received information alleging inter alia irregularities, illegal, unethical, and unlawful deeds by Anil Agarwal Foundation,” the ministry said.
– The Hindustan Times [49]
May 12, 2010
National Defence University Approved
Eight years after it was first recommended by a ministerial committee, the government in May approved the establishment of an autonomous defense university in Gurgaon, a southern suburb of New Delhi.
“The union cabinet accorded ‘in-principle’ approval for setting up of the Indian National Defence University (INDU) as a fully autonomous institution to be constituted under an act of parliament,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after a May cabinet meeting chaired by Manmohan Singh.
Under the proposed plan, the National Defence College [51] (New Delhi), the College of Defence Management [52] (Secunderabad), the Defence Services Staff College [53] (Wellington) and the National Defence Academy [54] (Khadakwasla) will all operate under the umbrella of INDU.
“INDU will undertake long term defence and strategic studies and create synergy between academic community and government. (It) will educate national security leaders on aspects of national security strategy, national military strategy, national information strategy and national technology strategy through teaching and research,” an official statement said.
“It will also promote policy oriented research on all aspect relating to national security as an input to strategic national policy making,” the statement added.
– Economic Times [55]
May 13, 2010
Indonesia
All Institutions of Higher Education to Undergo Accreditation by 2012
As it currently stands, students who graduate from unaccredited study programs can still pursue advanced education, seek employment in the public and private sectors, or use their diplomas to seek promotions in their careers. New government regulations state that educational institutions will not be able to issue diplomas and certificates unless they are accredited from 2012.
Officials from the National Accreditation Agency for Higher Education [56] state that those students who have graduated with credentials from unaccredited institutions will face limited opportunities when compared to students who graduate from accredited study programs because an increasing number of public and private organizations are using accreditation as criteria for admission, granting scholarships, employment, and job promotions.
At least two years after a study program has obtained an operational permit from the government it can apply for accreditation, as long it has complied with minimal educational standards set by the government and a number of other requirements set by the national accrediting agency. Under normal circumstances an application for accreditation will be processed and completed within two to three months.
– Communication with the National Accreditation Agency for Higher Education
April 16, 2010
Universities to Lose Autonomy
The Indonesian government said in April that a new draft law to replace the 2008 Law on Educational Entities would retain its provision of greater autonomy for universities in managing their financial resources, according to a recent article in the Jakarta Post. However, a decision by the Supreme Court has annulled the ministry’s decision. Opponents of the legislation claimed it gave unfair assistance to the offspring of wealthy families.
“When drafting the new regulation, we must keep in mind the importance of providing autonomy to higher education institutions, both in terms of their academic activities and in managing their financial and human resources, as well as other assets,” Minister of Education Mohammed Nuh said at a press conference held at the Presidential Office after a cabinet meeting in early April.
The autonomy envisioned by the ministry would have enabled universities to generate up to one-third of their operational funds in the form of tuition fees and ‘donations.’ In a country with notorious systemic corruption, it was the latter that alarmed opponents most. The law envisaged the government providing half the funding for higher education institutions. But the court rejected this argument, judging it was based on the invalid assumption that all higher education institutions were equally able to comply.
The government now has to come up with another plan to cover university finances.
– Jakarta Post [57]
April 13, 2010
– University World News [58]
April 25, 2010
Japan
U.S. Higher Education Losing Its Luster Among Japanese Students
Japan was once the number one sender of international students to U.S. university campuses. No longer. Undergraduate enrollment in U.S. universities has fallen 52 percent since 2000; graduate enrollment has dropped 27 percent.
Meanwhile, enrollment from China is up 164 percent in the past decade; from India, it has jumped 190 percent; and while South Korea has about 76 million fewer people than Japan, it now sends 2 1/2 times as many students to U.S. colleges.
Japanese young people interviewed by the Washington Post said they prefer the comfort of home to venturing overseas, while the economic advantage of attending a U.S. college is now considered questionable. At big Japanese companies, many bosses don’t like what they see as the sometimes uppity and overly independent ways of American-educated young Japanese, said Tomoyuki Amano, chief executive of Tomorrow Inc., which publishes a magazine about foreign education. Amano said many employers prefer the “harmony” that comes from hiring the locally educated, who they believe work longer hours, complain less and request fewer vacations.
But money appears to be the main driver behind the huge Japanese enrollment drop. In the 1970s and ’80s, when Japan’s economy was booming, the bottom line did not matter for many young Japanese. It was fashionable, stimulating and affordable for them to travel the world, study English in foreign settings and attend college in the United States. Their parents had money, and jobs were plentiful when they came home. The collapse of the bubble economy in the 1990s changed those calculations. And the construction inside Japan of more than 200 new universities, and a declining college-age population, has made it easy to find an affordable education.
– Washington Post [59]
April 11, 2010
Guidelines Released on Establishing International Degree Programs
The Japanese Ministry of Education [1] (MEXT) has released a set of draft guidelines for Japanese universities to follow when developing double and joint degree programs with overseas partner institutions. In addition to providing general principles for establishing double and joint degrees, the guidelines recommend such programs as a means to increase student mobility.
– AEI Newsletter [60]
April 21, 2010
Malaysia
Ministry Invites US Universities to Set up Shop
The Prime Minister of Malaysia said recently that the United States had some of the finest higher education institutions in the world and could be instrumental in helping Malaysia meet its needs in higher education.
“There is a paradigm shift as traditionally, we have been looking at Britain for higher education but I find there are now more and better choices in the United States,” he told a forum on US-Malaysia Relations: Looking Ahead at Key Pillars of Cooperation at the Centre for Strategic International Studies in Washington D.C. in April.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said that while British and Australian universities had set up branch campuses in Malaysia, there were currently none from the United States. “I hope to see some form of collaboration in education between the US and Malaysia,” he said in reply to a question raised at the forum.
– Malaysia Star [61]
April 16, 2010
New Zealand
Danger of Brain Drain to Australia
New Zealand has been warned that it will lose high-quality staff and students to Australia without more government investment in academia. David Skegg, vice-chancellor of the University of Otago [62], said recently that the university attracts about NZ$28,000 (US$20,000) per full-time student in government funding, the Otago Daily Times reported.
That is about half the public funding received by the University of Western Australia [63], with which Otago works closely. “Unless this gap in funding can be narrowed, it is hard to see how New Zealand universities can continue to attract and retain staff and students of the highest caliber,” he said.
– Otago Daily Times [64]
April 21, 2010
North Korea
Pyongyang’s First Foreign University Starts Classes
After months of politically motivated delays, the first group of students – carefully picked by local authorities – began classes in May at Pyongyang’s first foreign-funded university. Pyongyang University of Science and Technology [65], funded by US and South Korean donors, was completed from a physical infrastructure standpoint just over a year ago. The arrival of students on campus marked the first time a non-publicly owned institution has been allowed to instruct in North Korea.
A total of 60 graduate students and 150 undergraduates began their classes in mid-May, the university’s co-chairman Professor Malcolm Gillis told University World News. Gillis is a former President of Rice University in Texas and a co-chair of the university’s founding committee.
A third of the 50 or so teaching staff due to start classes are South Korean and their safety in the North must be guaranteed. Another third are ethnic Koreans holding foreign citizenship, mainly American, who are also understandably nervous. The rest will be foreign academics from other nations teaching subjects such as information technology, agriculture, health, engineering and construction, and business.
– University World News [66]
May 7, 2010
Singapore
Tuition Increases Unlikely to Detract from Education-Export Industry
Singapore’s three public universities announced recently that they would be raising tuition fees for foreign students this year, however, this is unlikely to deter foreign students from enrolling because the new fees remain internationally competitive, according to a recent article in the Straits Times.
After the fee increases, which are meant to differentiate foreigners and permanent residents from citizens, a foreign undergraduate studying at the National University of Singapore [8] (NUS) or Nanyang Technological University [67] would have to pay SG$11,030 (US$8,030) for tuition per year for an arts degree. This is up from $9,930 last year.
Despite the increase, Singapore remains competitive, especially when compared to more expensive study destinations such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where tuition fees for undergraduate degrees range from $25,000 to $50,000, according to the Straits Times’ article.
– Straits Times [68]
April 15, 2010
Singapore Looks to Specialize as an Education Hub
Singapore aims to turn itself into a leading center for international accountancy and financial management by 2020, reports the New York Times. A government-appointed committee recommended in April the introduction of a new, postgraduate accountancy qualification program characterized by “global recognition, international portability and Asian market value.”
Set up in 2008, and bringing together leading local accountants, executives, academics and officials, the Committee to Develop the Accountancy Sector also proposed the creation of an institute to train corporate financial officers.
The new qualification would replace Singapore’s existing Certified Public Accountant status, which “is not yet well known internationally,” according to Jeremy Hoon, president of the Singapore branch of the British accountancy body, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants [69], or A.C.C.A, and a partner with KPMG in Singapore.
The A.C.C.A. and the national accountancy body, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore [70], currently run a Certified Public Accountant exam program from which 800 to 1,000 students graduate every year. Additionally, graduates of local universities and some Australian universities can also earn the Singapore C.P.A. qualification. “The result is that there are no uniform examination and training standards,” Mr. Hoon said.
The three-year postgraduate course would include mandatory, structured, on-the-job professional experience with approved training organizations. One way to achieve this, according to members of the committee, could be through mutual recognition agreements with other national professional accountancy bodies, allowing appropriately qualified Singaporean accountants to practice abroad. Mr. Hoon said he expected that many foreign students would in any case be drawn to Singapore to study for the A.C.C.A. qualification because of the association’s large international membership, and broad recognition.
Beyond that, they would go on with additional training and examinations for the Singapore qualification only if they wanted to practice in Singapore itself, or saw enhanced value in the Singapore brand. The committee also called for Singapore to become a “center of excellence” for training chief financial officers and accountants specializing in fields like international tax law, risk management, business valuation and internal audit.
– New York Times [71]
April 26, 2010
Taiwan
Government Funds Distributed to Universities to Bolster Internationalization Efforts
The government of Taiwan will this year give more than NT$62 million (US$2 million) to universities to recruit more international students, with Ming Chuan University [72] in Taipei City to receive the highest amount, reports The China Post. In all, 20 universities will receive financial aid from the Ministry of Education [73] for the 2010 academic year.
Ming Chuan University has nearly 600 international students enrolled from various countries including Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia and Mongolia, officials said. A high percentage choose to study management, communications and tourism. In future, more classes will be conducted in English to appeal to a greater variety of foreign students.
– China Post [74]
April 7, 2010
China Offers University Places to Taiwan’s Best, Taiwan Says they Won’t Come
The Chinese Ministry of Education [24] announced in April that its top 123 universities will accept high school students from Taiwan who score in the top 12 percent on the General Scholastic Ability Test, without further testing other than an interview.
In response the Taiwanese Ministry of Education [73] said that China’s top universities will not attract many applicants. Yang Yu-hui, deputy director of the MOE’s Department of Higher Education, said that currently, Taiwan only recognizes the academic credentials of 41 universities in China, and Taiwanese students who want to pursue higher education in China should consider carefully whether that would be in their best interests.
In addition, Taiwanese students in the top 12 percentile should be able to gain admission to top universities in Taiwan, she said. Surveys have shown that 70 percent of parents are not willing to let their children study in China because of political and social factors, Yang noted.
– China Times [75]
April 15, 2010
– Central News Agency [76]
April 14, 2010
Ministry Warns about Mainland Study
The Ministry of Education [73] warned Taiwanese high school students against studying at universities in mainland China until the Legislative Yuan has passed amendments to related laws.
“The ministry might not recognize credentials obtained before related amendments are passed,” Ho Jow-fei, director of the MOE’s Department of Higher Education, said April 15.
Ho was referring to the University Act, the Vocational School Act and the Act Governing the Relations between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, still pending review in the legislature. The MOE made the call in response to mainland China’s latest policy to attract top students from Taiwan to its universities (see above).
– China Times [77]
April 16, 2010
Lawmakers Exchange Blows Over Contentious Proposal to Admit Students from China then Agree to Let Them In
Taiwanese lawmakers resorted to physical violence in April as a dispute over whether to admit students from mainland China to Taiwanese colleges became a little too animated. Television broadcasts showed opposition lawmakers grabbing Chao Li-yun, chair of the Education and Culture Committee, around the throat. She later fainted and was taken to a hospital, according to The Taipei Times. Members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, were trying to prevent a hearing on two bills that would remove a ban on mainland students and recognize their college credits. The government “is selling out everything to China. We won’t allow selling out education to China,” said one DPP lawmaker, Kuan Bi-ling, Agence France-Presse [78] reported.
Just over a week later the DPP agreed to withdraw its opposition as long as the Ministry of Education accepted extensive amendments that would, among other things, prevent Chinese citizens from working in Taiwan after graduation. Opponents have argued that students from the mainland could flood Taiwan’s small higher-education system and snatch up the best jobs if allowed to enter the work force. Taiwan has only 1.3 million university students in its system, according to Ministry of Education data for 2008-9, while China’s universities expected to enroll seven million new students last fall.
Total Chinese enrollments will be tightly capped, along with the number of colleges allowed to accept them. The Democratic Progressive Party is pressing to tighten the quota to 1,000 students a year, rather than 2,000, as outlined in the draft bill. Chinese students will also not be allowed to take the exams required to become teachers or civil servants, and must leave Taiwan after graduation. They will be excluded from scholarships and banned from working while studying.
The education reforms are part of President Ma Ying-Jeou’s drive for warmer relations with China, which has also opened up transportation links and tourism. Mainland students may be able to enroll in Taiwan’s colleges as early as this fall if the legislation passes quickly.
– Taipei Times [79]
April 22, 2010
– Taipei Times [80]
May 4, 2010
NTU and Fudan Collaborate to Offer Joint EMBA
National Taiwan University [81] (NTU) announced in April that it will work in cooperation with Fudan University [82] in Shanghai to offer an executive master’s of business administration (EMBA) program with classes being taught to 60 students on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. Students will spend one third of their time in Taipei and two-thirds of the program in Shanghai. The two-year EMBA program will focus on business strategy, leadership and effective organization skills.
NTU Vice President Tang Ming-je said that with increased cross-straits exchanges, closer linkages in the higher education space are inevitable. Lu Xiongwen, dean of the Fudan University School of Management [83], said via a video conference that “Chiwan” — China+Taiwan — has become the latest emerging economy in Asia. Lu said that bilateral exchanges would definitely bring more benefits than unilateral learning, noting that Greater China needs to step up efforts to nurture more management talents.
– China Post [84]
April 14, 2010
Thailand
University Applications Down 20%
The number of students applying to sit this year’s central university admissions exam has dropped by 20 percent, according to officials from the body that administers the test.
As of the last day to apply to take the central university admissions examination, a total of 99,454 12th graders had applied for seats at 24 state-run universities nationwide, said Suranaree University of Technology [85] rector Prasart Suebkha, head of the Association of University Presidents of Thailand, which organizes the central university admissions process. The applicants were expected to reach 100,000 at midnight, the deadline for applications. Last year there were approximately 120,000 test-takers among an equal number of school leavers, he said.
– Bangkok Post [86]
April 24, 2010
Vietnam
Government Berates Private Universities
A government inspection team in Vietnam has criticized the rate at which the private university sector has grown, urging that those institutions that fail to meet minimum standards be shut down.
The team of investigators, working under the auspices of the National Assembly, found that universities were opening despite lacking sufficient professors or even a single building. The revelations are not new, but airing official criticism of the government in public is rare. All higher-education institutions, including those that are privately owned, are controlled by the government, yet none has ever been closed.
– Saigon Daily [87]
April 23, 2010