Regional
Southeast Asian Credit System Set to Expand
A system designed to encourage standards and quality among universities in Southeast Asia will expand, according to a recent article from the official Malaysian news agency, Bernama. At a recent meeting for regional leaders in Bali, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin of Malaysia said the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Credit Transfer System [1] would be broadened to include more universities, programs, and students.
The program, which began in 2010, currently includes Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, and is designed to promote the internationalization and harmonization of the quality of higher education within the region, according to the deputy prime minister.
– Bernama [2]
July 18, 2011
Afghanistan
Private University Numbers Grow to Meet Demand
There are currently more than 40 private institutions of higher education in Afghanistan, and they are becoming increasingly popular among students, with just 43,000 out of 117,000 applicants being granted admission to the country’s 24 public universities following a national entrance examination in March. A total of 13 private institutions were established in the last year alone, according to the Ministry of Higher Education [3].
And the private sector is expected to grow, despite plans to expand the public system. By 2014, half a million young Afghans may be competing for 135,000 state-university places, says Osman Babori, former deputy minister for higher education.
With the government’s meager resources swamped by demand, private providers, in a very loosely regulated sector, have aggressively pursued students. Banners, billboards, television spots, and radio ads promise an “open educational environment,” “library and well-equipped lab,” and “debate and thought exchange programs.”
However, public education in Afghanistan also leaves much to be desired. The state-mandated curriculum has not been updated in the 30 years since it was introduced by the Soviets during their occupation. By contrast, many of the newer private higher-education institutes offer competitive extras, like English and computer science. Committed private providers can also use their resources to hire better instructors, offer smaller classes, and aim to meet Western academic standards.
New government standards mean that those who flout the rules can expect to lose their operating licenses, but there are many problems still to solve, like the monitoring of instructor qualifications. Many instructors employed in higher education, both public and private, hold only bachelor’s degrees. The ministries say they will continue to perform spot checks to close the holes in the system. But for now, they say, they are powerless to help with the other big concern of parents and students: rising tuition fees.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [4]
June 26, 2011
Australia
U.S. For-Profit Provider Looks to Open University in Adelaide
US-based Laureate International Universities [5] hopes to open up a new institution of higher education in Adelaide by 2012. If approved, it will be the first new university in Australia for more than a decade.
The International University of Australia, as it would be known, aims for an equal mix of domestic and international students. Laureate believes that the school will create A$1.8 billion (US$1.93 billion) of economic activity in the Adelaide area by 2020, and generate about 550 new jobs. Fees for a full degree will run approximately A$80,000 (US$86,000).
Initial offerings would focus on bachelor degrees in design, hospitality management, and global business. The hope is to then offer a masters in adult education and vocational education, and by 2016 the school aims to have expanded to six broad fields of study. The school hopes to recruit 3,500 students by 2022.
The Baltimore-based Laureate currently has a network of 55 traditional campus and online universities, covering 28 different countries. This will be the second time it has sought to open up an institution in Australia. Last year, it looked into setting up an alliance with Southbank Institute of Technology [6] in Brisbane.
– The Australian [7]
June 15, 2011
New University Regulator Approved by Parliament
After six months of intense negotiation, the bill to establish the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency [8] (TEQSA) passed through Parliament in June and is now law.
The new agency was officially established on July 1. Its powers as a national regulator come into effect on January 1, marking a radical shake-up of tertiary education regulation and quality assurance. TEQSA is responsible for registering all higher education providers, accrediting the qualifications they offer and ensuring they comply with a national quality framework. Some still have concerns about academic freedom and institutional authority under TEQSA but feel that students should benefit from the regulations and quality controls.
– Campus Review [9]
June 27, 2011
Immigration Data Suggest Sharp Drop in Foreign Student Numbers
According to a report [10] released in July, Australia faces a continued collapse in enrollments from overseas in the coming months and years following a government clampdown on foreign graduating students gaining permanent residency. Much of the recent growth in enrollments among international students in Australia has come because of the pathway to permanent residency that an Australian higher education offered. This was mostly the case among Indian and Chinese students, whose numbers have skyrocketed over the last decade.
But the report, based on an analysis of Immigration Department data by researchers at Monash University, says unpublished departmental estimates suggest that under the government’s new points test, the number of applicants getting permanent visas will fall to around 4,000 a year – down from 19,352 in 2006-07 and 17,552 in 2007-08. Enrollments from India, the second largest source country, have been affected even more severely by the tighter visa restrictions as well as worldwide publicity last year regarding attacks on Indian students. The rising value of the Australian dollar, along with increasing competition from Britain and America, have added to the pressures on foreign students to look elsewhere to study.
Lead researcher Bob Birell said the unpublished Department of Immigration and Citizenship estimate of 4,000 was “an unmistakable signal that the industry needs to set its marketing around selling an education that is valuable back in the country of origin.”
Further evidence of the decline is contained in a separate report [11]released by Australia’s Immigration Department, which shows a 20 percent drop in international student-visa applications in the most recent fiscal year. Chris Evans, the tertiary education minister, attributed the year-to-year decline to tightened visa rules, which have made it more difficult to immigrate to Australia. “Quite frankly, that’s a result of us tackling what were visa scams and poor-quality education providers operating for profit on migration outcomes rather than education outcomes,” he told The Age.
The number of applications from students in India, who have been particularly likely to enroll in vocational programs as a path to immigration, fell by nearly 63 percent in the fiscal year ending June 30. The number of visa applications from China and Vietnam fell 24 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
– The Australian [12]
July 20, 2011
– The Age [13]
August 1, 2011
Independent Report Gauges Impact of International Enrollment Downturn on Economy
Universities Australia released a commissioned report [14] in July assessing the impact of the downturn in international student numbers. Deloitte Access Economics analyzed both the total expenditure by international students in Australia and spending across industry sectors to model the effect of such a downturn on the higher education sector and the repercussions for the wider Australian economy.
The report models the downturn of international student enrollments over time and estimates that in net present value terms the reduction in GDP over the 2010-2020 modeling period will be A$37.8 billion. The modeling also suggests that Australian employment will fall over the period because of a lower number of higher education enrollments.
The report argues that growth in international enrollments will return in the medium term in the absence of any policy factors discouraging new students, while also suggesting that the high Australian dollar – frequently cited as a major contributing factor in the downturn – is not that significant. Deloitte argues that factors that have been most central to the downturn in international student enrollments include sudden policy changes to student visa regulations and to the General Skilled Migration program. The report also notes that Australia’s reputation as a safe destination for travel and study has been damaged as a consequence of some relatively recent high profile student safety issues and the overseas reporting of these.
– Universities Australia [15]
July 5, 2011
China
College Board Looks to Allow S.A.T Testing Sites on the Mainland
Currently, mainland Chinese applicants to U.S. universities have to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (S.A.T) abroad. The U.S. College Board [16] is looking to change that.
The S.A.T college-entrance exam isn’t offered in mainland China, so students have to fly to Hong Kong, South Korea or other destinations to take the exam. With the number of Chinese undergraduates in the United States quadrupling over the last four years, the nonprofit College Board, which owns the S.A.T, P.S.A.T, and Advanced Placement programs, is seeking the Chinese education ministry’s permission to start offering the S.A.T on the mainland.
“We’ve had serious discussions with Chinese officials,” says Board President Gaston Caperton. “They recognize it’s a big burden on parents.”
The S.A.T’s absence on the mainland is a relic of an era when China was less open to the West, Caperton says. As a former British colony, Hong Kong has long let students take the exam. China permits other U.S. tests such as Advanced Placement exams, which let high-schoolers earn college credits.
– Bloomberg Businessweek [17]
February 3, 2011
Birmingham University to Establish Joint Research Institute in Guangzhou
Britain’s Birmingham University [18] has announced that it will be setting up a joint collaborative research center in the southeastern Chinese province of Guangzhou. The University of Birmingham Guangzhou Centre, which will open in the next few months, “will help identify, design and coordinate the delivery of joint research projects in Guangzhou, the province of Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta region,” the university said in a July announcement.
The graduate research institute will train doctoral students and post-docs, conducting collaborative science and social research. Initial research projects will be jointly funded by Birmingham University and Guangzhou municipal authorities, with the hope that major research and clinical trials could attract funding from large agencies in the West, and later from the pharmaceutical industry.
The new research agreement has grown out of the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study [19] into genetic and environmental influences on the development of chronic diseases, which has been a long-running collaboration between the Guangzhou municipality, Birmingham University and Hong Kong University [20], resulting in a large number of academic publications in prestigious journals since 2006.
– Birmingham News Release [21]
July 1, 2011
China to Spend Large Sums Improving Tibetan Universities
Chinese authorities have pledged the equivalent of US$461.5 million to improve higher education in the Tibet Autonomous Region at its six institutions of higher education, with the goal of raising gross-enrollment rates to 30 percent by 2015, official media sources have reported. Tibet’s current gross enrollment rate stands at 23.4 percent, slightly lower than the national average of 26.5 percent, according to official figures.
Part of the money will support efforts to make Tibet University [22] a leading international institution, officials said. The announcement came as China’s vice president, Xi Jinping, visited Tibet University as part of a delegation of Chinese officials that traveled to Tibet to mark the 60th anniversary of what the Xinhua news agency describes as the “peaceful liberation” of the region.
– Xinhua [23]
July 18, 2011
Engaging with Western Partners to Improve Domestic Higher Education Provision
A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Chinese government officials are rethinking the way they engage with institutional partners in the West to focus more on quality and less on quantity as they strive to reform the way Chinese students learn.
The article cites recent invitations from the Chinese government to institutions in the West to establish campuses in China that might help model the kind of learning and teaching that Chinese officials would like domestic universities to offer. A recent example is last year’s invitation to the University of Nottingham [24], which runs the oldest foreign branch campus in China, from government officials in Shanghai asking to consider opening another location, this one 140 miles north of its undergraduate campus in Ningbo [25]. The project would involve a substantial donation by a wealthy Chinese philanthropist and government land adequate for a campus of 4,000 students. In return, Shanghai municipal officials hoped Nottingham would build a research-oriented campus focused on such subjects as drug development, stem-cell research, and regenerative medicine.
Nottingham agreed to the proposal, inspired by the belief, says Christine Ennew, pro vice chancellor for internationalization, that Chinese officials “see foreign involvement as a catalyst for change and a source of innovation.” The Chinese government recognizes “the key role that higher education can play in social and economic development,” she says.
The Chronicle article goes on to say that the Nottingham project “illustrates a broader central-government push to raise the caliber of higher education in China through deeper engagement with foreign universities.
Through speeches and policy papers, the Ministry of Education has made clear in recent years that it is unhappy with the widespread use of rote learning and narrowly defined academic programs at its universities. Last year it came out with a 10-year plan for educational reform that outlined what it viewed as the system’s deficiencies.”
In particular, the plan proposed to introduce Western-style critical thinking and interdisciplinary work into the college curriculum, and expose students to other Western concepts, such as experiential learning and professional training. Foreign campuses are reportedly seen as one way to introduce such teaching strategies and inspire Chinese institutions to adopt similar methods and programs.
At the same time the government is trying to discourage lower-quality dual- and joint-degree programs, which in the past decade have grown in number from 71 (2001) to 579 this year, with more awaiting approval. Complaints about shoddy teaching and high tuition have sparked a backlash against what some Chinese feel is the overly commercial approach some foreign providers have taken.
New York University [26] and Duke University [27] are also building campuses in China, in cooperation with local governments that have provided land and financial support. Like Nottingham, NYU is working with the Shanghai municipal government; its campus, scheduled to open in 2013, will be located in Pudong. Unlike Nottingham, it is building a liberal-arts college meant to draw as many as 3,000 students from around the world. Duke is building a different sort of campus in nearby Kunshan, a new industrial city up the Yangtze River Delta. Its emphasis will be on graduate and professional programs in areas including management, finance, and public health. As noted above, Britain’s Birmingham University [18] is engaging in doctoral and post-doctoral research at a soon-to-be-established research institute in Guangzhou province.
According to the Ministry of Education [28], China has licensed 579 transnational higher-education programs at the bachelor’s level or higher. If study-abroad programs and other forms of non-degree academic exchanges are included, the total is at least 1,400. Business degrees are the most common joint ventures, followed by science and engineering.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [29]
July 17, 2011
Hong Kong
China’s Best Students Choose Hong Kong
The top performers in China’s ultra-competitive national university entrance examination (gaokao) have opted to study at universities in Hong Kong rather than China’s own prestigious institutions.
While the number who opted for Hong Kong is miniscule – the four top scorers in Beijing district, regarded as having the country’s best high schools, and around a dozen others with top scores from other provinces – the psychological impact in China has far outweighed the figures, reports University World News.
Hong Kong’s universities regularly top Asian university rankings, but it is only recently that a growing number of top gaokao students have been choosing Hong Kong over China, and the numbers are growing. This year some 290 students from the mainland were accepted into Hong Kong’s universities and more than a dozen of them are regarded as ‘gaokao champions.’ This is double the number of top scorers admitted to Hong Kong institutions last year.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology [30] has only 150 places for students from the Chinese mainland but had 4,000 applicants this year, according to school officials interviewed by University World News. Hong Kong Baptist University [31] admits just 100 mainland students a year but 1,000 applied. The government eased its restrictions on the numbers of overseas students universities can take from 10 percent in 2002, and has capped the proportion at 20 percent since 2008. Currently around 13 to 15 percent are estimated to be from outside Hong Kong, with 80 percent of them from China.
– University World News [32]
July 24, 2011
India
Visa Applications for U.S. Study Skyrocket
Indian students looking to study at U.S. institutions of higher education are applying for visas in significantly larger numbers than they were last year. In fiscal year 2011, applications from prospective Indian students grew 20 percent, compared with 2010, according to figures from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The State Department issued more than 24,500 visas to Indian students in the 2010 fiscal year.
Experts interviewed by The Chronicle of Higher Education say that the booming Indian economy, increased competition for high quality higher education opportunities in India, and tightened immigration policies in other top destination countries are all contributing to the growth.
While higher visa application number do not necessarily equal growth in enrollments, the trend is definitely a positive leading indicator after a couple of years of enrollment stagnation from India, the second-largest source of foreign students in the United States. At World Education Services [33], we have seen a 24 percent increase in credential evaluation volume from India in the first half of 2011, as compared to last year, another strong indicator that Indian students are looking at U.S. colleges in greater numbers.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [34]
August 1, 2011
Details of India-U.S. Education Summit Announced
The governments of India and the United States have announced the dates and details of a much-anticipated India-U.S. higher-education summit. It will be held on October 13 in Washington to discuss ways universities in both countries can collaborate.
According to a joint statement made after a meeting in New Delhi between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and India’s minister of external affairs, Shri SM Krishna, the two governments have plans to hold an annual higher-education meeting co-chaired by Ms. Clinton and Kapil Sibal, India’s education minister. The gathering will include representatives from higher education, corporations, and non-profit organizations.
In addition, the statement offered new details about the $10-million Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, which will provide funds [35] to strengthen higher education ties between the countries. The United States-India Educational Foundation [36] will be in charge of the American investment, while India’s university regulator, the University Grants Commission [37], will disburse India’s. Grant recipients will be chosen by a bi-national selection committee. As another part of the deepening connections with Indian higher education, the U.S. government announced a “Passport to India” program to increase the number of American students studying and doing internships in India.
– Hindustan Times [38]
July 19, 2011
Indonesia
US Universities Trying to Lure Back Indonesian Students
The United States used to be the top destination for Indonesian students looking for an overseas education, but that has changed in recent years. The number of Indonesian students enrolled at U.S. colleges has dropped from a high of 13,282 in 1997-98 to 6,943 in 2009-10, according to data [39] from the Institute of International Education [40]. The drop in Indonesian numbers comes at a time when enrollments from abroad are at an all-time high.
U.S. colleges are facing increasing competition from other countries — among them, Australia, which attracted more than 10,000 full-time Indonesian students studying abroad in 2008, about one-third of the total. Cost, distance and fears about visa denials in the post-9/11 era have been cited as some of the reasoning behind the drop from Indonesia.
Recently representatives from 56 U.S. colleges participated in a higher education fair in Jakarta, Indonesia, to recruit students. U.S. Embassy officials were there also touting the 95 percent approval rate in Indonesia for student visas. The event was the first major effort by the government toward achieving a goal set last year by President Obama and Indonesian officials to double the number of Indonesians studying at U.S. institutions.
– USA Today [41]
June 23, 2011
U.S-Indonesia Summit on Higher-Education Cooperation Planned for the Fall
The U.S. State Department announced in July that a U.S.-Indonesia summit on higher education will take place in Washington on October 31. The news came during a trip by U.S. officials to Indonesia to continue the work of the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership [42].
The partnership includes a $165 million plan unveiled last June to strengthen academic ties with Indonesia. President Obama pledged the money to deepen student and faculty exchanges, develop ties between universities, and strengthen Indonesian higher education. The administration is coordinating with a variety of organizations, government departments and funding organizations, including U.S. AID, the National Science Foundation, EducationUSA, Fulbright, and the State Department’s Community College Initiative Program to expand exchange, research, and training opportunities for Indonesian and American students and faculty members.
– State Department [43]
July 25, 2011
Japan
International Students Returning to Universities, if not Colleges
Japanese universities are reporting that most of the international students who left the country after the tsunami and associated nuclear worries, and whose programs haven’t ended, are returning.
The universities have been pushing — with help from the Japanese government — for students to return. Visa procedures were simplified for those who didn’t realize they would need a re-entry permit. And the Japanese government is paying for some return airfares for those who had to evacuate certain areas.
According to Ministry of Justice figures, 70,170 foreign students (40 percent of the 175,000 total body) left Japan between March 12 and April 8. Efforts by government and university officials to bring students back paid off. A ministry of education survey of 135 schools with 33,867 foreign students found that 96 percent, including 86.5 percent in the Tohoku region, had returned to Japan by May 20, a notable improvement from a month earlier, when only 35 percent of foreign students in Tohoku had returned before the delayed start to the school year.
While the overall picture remains positive, worrisome trends in the numbers of two categories of foreign students continue to threaten the Ministry of Education’s stated goal of increasing their number to 300,000 by 2020. Numbers of short-term study-abroad students coming to Japan have dropped. According to figures from the Japan Student Services Organization [44], in 2010 there were 11,824 short-term international students studying in Japan. It remains to be seen how many will come in 2011 but the number of programs cancelled this spring is high. A dramatic decline in the number of foreign students applying to study at Japanese language schools poses a potentially greater problem, with 10 to 30 percent of continuing students (depending on the school and the region) and 30 to 50 percent of new students not arriving.
– Japan Times [45]
July 12, 2011
Malaysia
Getting Serious About Standards at Private Institutions of Higher Education
According to a recent report in The Star newspaper, Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education [46] has been getting serious over the last couple of years about cracking down on private education providers that offer unauthorized courses and otherwise violate the law, after years of essentially turning a blind eye. The Star report mentions some recent ‘breakthroughs.’
In one recent case, ministry officials say a college specializing in fashion design was fined for offering courses that had not been approved by the government. Malaysian law dictates that all programs or courses offered by private providers must be approved by the ministry in order to ensure their quality. In another case, a university was fined for offering unauthorized music courses. Additional problems include institutions moving to new grounds without permission and using instructors who lack teaching permits. Another issue, the government says, is inaccurate or “gimmicky” advertising promising students benefits such as “free laptops and accommodation.”
The government issued nine fines in 2009, 47 in 2010, and 47 from January through March of this year, according to recent ministry statistics, suggesting that it is getting more serious about cracking down on providers that bend the rules.
– The Star [47]
July 17, 2011
New Zealand
Budget for New International Agency Doubled
In a sign that New Zealand’s education authorities are serious about promoting their education-export industry, the tertiary education minister announced that the new Crown Agency for International Education, due to start operations on September 1, will receive twice the budget of its predecessor.
The agency plans to strengthen strategic promotion offshore and to consolidate bilateral education relationships with key trading and education partner countries and regions.
– NZ Government [48]
May 26, 2011
North Korea
Universities to Stop Classes for 10 Months
According to experts in North Korean affairs, universities in the country closed at the end of June for up to 10 months while students are sent to work on farms, in factories and in construction.
Diplomats in Pyongyang confirmed that students were being drafted into manual labor on the outskirts of the city until April next year to prepare for major celebrations to commemorate the centenary of the late leader Kim Il Sung’s birthday. But they said this did not mean the closure of universities.
Reports originating in South Korea and Japan suggested that the Pyongyang government had ordered universities to cancel classes until April next year, exempting only students graduating in the next few months and foreign students. In June, students reportedly were studying as normal at PUST [49], a postgraduate institution funded by Korean-American and South Korean philanthropists that teaches mainly engineering.
– University World News [50]
June 30, 2011
Sri Lanka
Students Protest Ministry Plans to Recruit More Foreign Students
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Higher Education [51] recently announced a plan to recruit university students more heavily from abroad. According to the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF), this plan, which they see as being motivated by potential income generation, would reduce opportunities for local students.
According to IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara, the quota for foreign students – formerly 0.5 percent of the total students body – has been increased up to 5 percent through a circular issued by the UGC to be effective from the upcoming academic year.
“Following the changes implemented by the UGC, at least 1,100 foreign students will enter the local universities. This is a grave injustice done upon the local students because over 100,000 students lose chances for higher education due to the competitive nature of the A/L examination,” Bandara added.
– Daily Mirror [52]
June 22, 2011