Regional
Mapping Mobility
European countries are home to more than half of all foreign students worldwide, and in the last nine years, their overall number has risen over 80 percent, to more than 1.5 million, according to a new study [1] commissioned by the European Commission.
Growth has come largely from non-EU countries, and particularly those in Asia. But about one quarter of these students were already resident in their country of study, even though they held a foreign passport. And numbers of foreign students differ radically between European destinations. They are very high in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Austria – but very low in Poland and Slovenia, for example. Outflows are also unevenly distributed – and go mainly to other European countries. Less than 15 percent of internationally mobile European students study outside of Europe.
These are some main findings of the new study, Mapping mobility in European higher education, written by the Academic Cooperation Association [2] (ACA) and the International Centre for Higher Education Research (University of Kassel). The study also tracks the efforts of the international data collectors OECD, UNESCO and EUROSTAT in terms of differentiation and quality of mobility data, and it sums up the globally available knowledge on staff mobility. Next to providing an overview on all of these issues, the study includes in-depth case studies of 11 European countries.
– ACA [3]
October 2011
Diploma Mills Proliferate Globally
According to a recent report [4] from the UK-based background screening company Verifile Limited [5], there was a 48 percent year-on-year increase in the number of known degree or diploma mills operating worldwide last year. The report identified more than 2,500 bogus institutions across all regions, but primarily in North America and Europe.
Verifile’s Accredibase report determined that the majority of known degree mills continue to operate mostly from locations in the United States, identifying 1,008 bogus operations – or a 20 percent increase. More than 40 percent of them came from one of four states: California, Hawaii, Washington and Florida – although there was a considerable increase in the number setting up business in the District of Columbia.
Outside of North America, the largest number of known degree mills (603) are based in Europe, with the UK playing host to 339, an increase of 25 percent from last year. Growth elsewhere in the world was also significant, including a 170 percent expansion of bogus mills operating from unknown locations (800).
– University World News [6]
November 13, 2011
France
New Rules Could Mar Overwhelmingly Positive View of French Higher Education Among International Students
Ninety percent of international students with experience of French higher education would recommend France as a study destination, according to new research carried out before the introduction of controversial tightened restrictions on foreign graduates working in France.
A quarter of foreign students who graduate stay on to work, according to a survey [7] of 21,000 foreign students for CampusFrance [8], the government agency that promotes French higher education internationally.
University stakeholders have expressed serious concern about the new regulations, which could affect thousands of graduates who previously would have been recruited by French multinational companies, but who are being refused permits to stay and work in France, even when they have been offered a job.
In 2010, more than 280,000 foreigners came to study in France which makes it the fourth most popular host country for international students. According to the survey results, reasons for choosing France include quality of education, knowledge of the language, cultural interest and the [relatively low] cost of studies. Among negative aspects were the country’s high cost of living, bureaucracy, housing problems and difficulties integrating.
Among the inquiry’s findings were that a quarter of respondents who had completed their studies had stayed on in France to work, and 36 percent of those were still there after two years.
– University World News [9]
November 31, 2011
Germany
Student Numbers Surge
German universities have been welcoming a huge increase in freshmen students this year as a result of double school-leaving cohorts and the end of military conscription. Across the country, the Rectors’ Conference [10], representing the heads of German universities, estimates that first-year enrollments will increase by 15 percent this year.
Institutions have been bracing themselves for an onslaught of students this winter semester as a shortening of secondary school education around a decade ago worked its way through the education system. Added to this is a one-off peak in enrollments following the end of military conscription. Normally, prospective students doing service in the army would enter universities around 18 months later. Contingency plans have been put in place at various institutions, with universities making arrangements with churches and cinemas to secure extra facilities for lectures, or renting tents and portable modular buildings to accommodate students.
– University World News [11]
October 21, 2011
New Graduate Schools Attract Record Numbers of International Students
An increasing number of the world’s best doctoral students are undertaking studies at Germany’s new graduate schools. In 2010, nearly 4,000 foreign students graduated from German doctoral programs – twice as many as a decade earlier.
One reason Germany has become so attractive for international students is the introduction of specialized graduate institutions. The term “graduate school,” or Graduiertenschule, is a new one in the German education system. Introduced to Germany in the 1990s, the graduate school is a place of highly structured, usually interdisciplinary, study.
Generally, students at Germany’s graduate schools, which now number approximately 700, do coursework in their first year and then undertake a research project with the support of a team of supervisors and led by up to three professors. Most graduate schools in Germany try to get their students to complete doctoral programs in three to four years, which is viewed by many international students as an advantage over countries like the United States where it can take seven to nine years to complete a master’s and Ph.D.
– Deutsche Welle [12]
October 15, 2011
Netherlands
International Students Too Expensive
In the last four years, the number of foreign students in Dutch higher education has increased 54 percent from 36,000 to 54,500, prompting calls from political parties on the right and left for the introduction of quotas, and specifically for the allocation of places through a government lottery.
Since 2007, the share of allotted lottery places in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine going to foreign students rose from 9.3 percent to 18.3 percent. Following reports that foreign students are costing the government EUR100 million (US$137 million), the liberal VVD, which is currently in the coalition government with the social democrats CDA, the right-wing PVV, which supports the coalition, and the left-wing SP have all stated that foreign students are too expensive, Dutch newspapers Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad reported.
The Netherlands does not limit the number of students that can be admitted to in-demand programs such as medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine, as in many other European countries. Instead, since 2000, it has been operating a weighted lottery system based on a combination of secondary school grades and a lottery draw.
Today foreign students make up 10 percent of the total student body in Dutch universities and 6.5 percent in universities of applied sciences, with increased flows from neighboring countries, particularly Germany.
– University World News [13]
October 23, 2011
Poland
Private Higher Education Confronts Challenges
The number of private providers of higher education in Poland has grown tremendously since the 1990s to the point that 32 percent of all students in the tertiary sector are now enrolled in private institutions. However, according to a recent article in University World News, the sector is currently facing some major challenges.
The typical student at Poland’s private institutions are young and from poorer backgrounds, usually studying extramurally while working. They are students who have been unable to earn places at tuition-free state universities. And while private universities have enabled huge social advancements for a large group of ambitious, hard-working young people, the sector now faces a huge demographic decline. In 2020, it is estimated that there will be 361,473 19-year-olds, 48 percent fewer than in the peak year of 2002 and 32 percent less than last year. It is expected that the state sector will be able to meet nearly all that demand, which is problematic for existing private universities.
Some predict that as many as 75 percent of current private providers will eventually close, and that process has already begun. At the beginning of the current academic year, 17 institutions were in various stages of liquidation, while there were 80,000 fewer students enrolled in the sector than in 2007. Institutions are trying to deal with the situation by consolidating (merging into larger structures) and by trying to counter the fall in domestic students by attracting international students. However, they complain that the state is doing nothing to help their cause.
– University World News [14]
October 16, 2011
United Kingdom
Top UK University Adopts GPA System
University College London [15] will stop classifying degrees under the traditional first through third class system, instead giving them an American-style ‘grade point average.’ The new system gives students a score based on all the courses they have taken as undergraduates.
The UCL move is aimed at combating ‘award inflation,’ which many education observers say is undermining the traditional undergraduate degree classification. Official figures showed almost two-thirds of students gained a first or upper-second class degree in 2010. Some 46,825 students – one in seven – were awarded first-class degrees by UK universities, double the number a decade ago.
Malcolm Grant, the provost of UCL, said that the honors degree classification was no longer capable of providing the information that students deserve and employers require. “There is clearly award inflation,” he said.
– The Telegraph [16]
October 9, 2011
International Student Numbers More than Double in a Decade
The number of foreign students studying at UK universities has more than doubled in the last decade, according to recent research.
Between 2008/09 and 2009/10 alone there was an 11.7 percent increase in students from outside the EU, according to a report [17] by Universities UK [18]. The study, Patterns and Trends in UK Higher Education, reveals that there were 126,720 non-EU students at UK institutions in 2000/01. By 2009/10 this had risen to 280,760 – an increase of more than 121 percent.
The 11.7 percent increase in international students in one year alone is four times the increase seen in UK student numbers in the same period. The report does say that the UK’s share of the international student market has reduced as other countries become more competitive in trying to attract them. It also raises concerns about government changes to student visas, noting that “this trend does not include the impact of recent changes to non-EU student visas, which may result in a greater loss of market share in the future.”
– Universities UK [17]
October 17, 2011
Half Price Teaching University Opens for Business
A ‘no-frills’ university college offering teaching seven days a week and degrees for approximately half the price of traditional universities started recruiting students in November.
Coventry University College [19] will focus on professional programs including accounting, law and marketing, at a maximum cost of £4,800 (US$7,500) for a full-time degree student. It is an offshoot of Coventry University [20], but students at the new institution will not have access to the university’s library, computers or sporting facilities. Instead of the traditional long summer holiday, the university college will be open 42 weeks a year. Located alongside the university in the city center, it will offer teaching from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm on weekdays, and until 4:00 pm at weekends.
The college is aimed at students concerned about taking on debts to fund their higher education, as well as helping employees combine work with gaining new skills.
– The Guardian [21]
October 23, 2011
EU Students Flood UK Universities
A record 125,000 students from European Union member states took up places at higher education institutions in Britain last year, a rise of some 35,000 compared with a decade earlier. The increase was approximately twice as fast as the rise in admissions among British students.
Undergraduates from the EU are subsidized by the British taxpayer and are eligible for the same low-interest government loans as those taken out by their British peers. They also count towards the strict cap on university places, putting them in direct competition with applicants from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But the figures from an annual report [17] published by Universities UK, the vice-chancellors’ group, show that EU students still account for just one-in-20 of the total number of places.
– The Telegraph [22]
October 17, 2011
Accounts from Nearly 2,000 Indian Banks Listed as No Good When Applying for British Student Visas
In a move that will affect thousands of Indian students wanting to study in the United Kingdom, British authorities in October released a list of 1,900 Indian banks from which they will not accept financial statements for student-visa applications because it has been difficult to verify those statements.
”An unsatisfactory verification check means that the institution does not respond to or provide a reliable response to our request for information, or we are unable to contact the institution,” the British Home Office said. “The change is to ensure that we can verify that student visa applicants hold the required maintenance funds to support themselves and pay for their course in the U.K.”
– Press Trust of India [23]
October 25, 2011
470 Colleges Banned from Recruiting Internationally
More than 470 private colleges have been told to stop recruiting international students after most of them failed to sign up to the British Home Office’s new rules for inspection of the sector.
The colleges, which together are responsible for bringing in around 11,000 students a year from outside the European Union, have either lost their licenses or face a ban on new recruitment from overseas. It follows the introduction of the government’s new policies on student visas, under which all providers must apply for Highly Trusted Sponsor (HTS) status and undergo inspection by bodies such as the Quality Assurance Agency [24].
A total of 251 colleges had their licenses revoked after failing to apply for HTS by an October deadline, while another 172 colleges applied for HTS but failed to sign up for the “educational oversight” inspection regime by a separate September deadline. They can continue to teach existing students but cannot seek new recruits from overseas. A further 51 colleges have also lost their licenses after a UK Border Agency investigation into more than 100 colleges that showed a spike in applications from South Asia just before English language rules were tightened earlier this year.
– Times Higher Education [25]
November 2, 2011