Regional
Yale Leads in the Creation of New Network of Global Business Schools
Led by Yale School of Management, a group of 21 elite business schools is setting up a Global Business School Network [1] with the goal of expanding international partnerships. The member institutions include top-ranking schools such as the London School of Economics and Political Science, Insead, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, as well as lesser-known institutions such as the University of Ghana Business School and the University of Indonesia Faculty of Economics.
The group, which met at the Yale campus in April, hopes to build a new model of cooperation beyond the faculty and student exchanges and shared degree programs that are now common. For one, the partners hope to encourage faculty members to undertake joint research in areas of mutual interest, such as sustainability, social inclusion, and entrepreneurship and innovation. They also hope to involve companies in the network.
– Financial Times [2]
April 30, 2012
Ranking the World’s Higher Education Systems
In a departure from the proliferating number of institutional ranking systems, a new league table launched in May ranks 48 countries and territories said to be the ‘best’ at providing higher education. Published by Universitas 21 [3], a global network of 23 research-intensive universities, the ranking system found the top 10 countries for the delivery of higher education to be the U.S., Sweden, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, The Netherlands and the UK.
The Universitas 21 results [4] were launched at an event at Lund University in Sweden, where the ranking systems was described as a “benchmark for governments, education institutions and individuals.”
The rankings were produced by researchers at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research [5], University of Melbourne. They reviewed the most recent data from 48 countries and territories across 20 different measures grouped under four broad indicators: resources (investment by government and private sector); output (research and its impact, as well as the production of an educated workforce to meet labor market needs); connectivity (international networks and collaboration, which protects a system against insularity); and environment (government policy and regulation, diversity and participation opportunities). Population size is also taken into account in the calculations.
The U-21 report says the results represent an initial attempt to rate national systems of higher education for a relatively large number of countries covering different stages of economic development. While this widened the value of the exercise, it made the data collection more complicated. The researchers hope the rankings will encourage improvements in data, both for included countries and to enable them to extend the range of countries in future updates.
– University World News [6]
May 11, 2012
Brazil
Millions of Dollars in Brazil-Canada Scholarships and Partnerships Announced
Canadian universities and their Brazilian counterparts announced 75 new partnerships and scholarship programs worth just under US$7 million in university and government funding following a Canadian university presidents’ mission to Brazil, organized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada [7] (AUCC), from April 25 to May 2.
The announcement includes an additional $10.5 million investment in undergraduate internships and graduate fellowships through Canada’s Mitacs [8], which connects university-based researchers, including graduate students and faculty members, with Canadian companies through collaborative research projects. The Mitcas program, which is being co-funded by the Brazilian government’s new Science without Borders program, the Government of Canada, Canada’s provinces and several Canadian universities, also provides research internships to top international undergraduate students.
Among other institution-to-institution agreements that were signed during the tour, 10 Canadian universities signed partnerships with the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) worth $1.18 million. During the trip, Brazilian authorities reportedly committed to sending 12,000 scholarship recipients for study in Canada under the Science Without Borders program.
– AUCC [9]
May 2, 2012
Cuba
Universities Slash Enrollments
Cuban universities have cut enrollment by nearly 26 percent because of deep cuts in government spending, according to official and news media reports.
Cuba’s National Statistical Office reported in May that overall enrollment in universities – all state-controlled – dropped from 473,309 in the 2010-11 academic year to 351,116 in the 2011-12 period. That’s a drop of 122,193 students, or 25.8 percent. The largest group of students, 118,914, was enrolled in medical sciences, reflecting the government’s focus on educating doctors, dentists and nurses.
The biggest drop in enrollment was in social sciences, though it remained the second largest group with 77,200, according to the Statistical Office report. Cuba’s Ministry of Higher Education sets admission quotas depending on the skills needed, but government officials have complained recently that universities are turning out too few scientists who can help modernize the economy and open new areas of production lines.
– Miami Herald [10]
May 16, 2012
United States
Colorado State Finalizes Deal with UK Recruiter
After a year of negotiations, Colorado State University has inked a deal with INTO, a UK-based private company that partners with universities to attract and recruit international undergraduates and graduates. Finalized in February, the partnership [11] between INTO and the university is slated to increase international enrollments at CSU next year by up to 100 students. In five years, the goal is to raise that number to 1,000 additional students.
Jim Cooney, CSU’s vice provost of International Affairs, told the Rocky Mountain Collegian that CSU has worked hard and seen success the last three years recruiting and building collaborative programs in China. However, those efforts, Cooney said, were “time consuming and expensive.” “We simply do not have the resources to make similar efforts in countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey,” he added.
Under the terms of the partnership, INTO will be responsible for recruiting students from around the world while also implementing support systems for the students once on campus. CSU retains full control over the curriculum, which will be administered by the current Intensive English Program and taught by university professors.
The new program will provide three separate learning tracks for international students to choose from at CSU. Students with advanced English language skills will go into what INTO terms a pathway program, which combines English with credit-bearing intro-level classes on campus. After one or two semesters in the pathways program, students will matriculate into full-time classes at CSU. The academic English track is designed for students with beginner or intermediate levels of English. Students will take non-credit bearing classes that focus entirely on English acquisition. Once they graduate, they can move into the pathways program or directly to the university.
– Rocky Mountain Collegian [12]
April 29, 2012
International Team of Universities to Create Brooklyn Campus
New York University (NYU) will lead a consortium of universities in creating an applied sciences campus in Brooklyn after becoming the second winner in a contest sponsored by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to boost New York’s global competitiveness in the sciences.
NYU is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University, City University of New York, the University of Toronto, University of Warwick (UK) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay on the campus in downtown Brooklyn. IBM and Cisco Systems are also part of the consortium. The city sought proposals for applied sciences schools from universities worldwide in July of last year. Mayor Bloomberg selected Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in December to create an engineering campus on Roosevelt Island.
New York City is seeking to diversify its economy beyond Wall Street with the development of science campuses that will create technology companies and jobs. The NYU campus is expected to generate $5.5 billion in new jobs and tax and other benefits for the city through businesses that are spun off by the campus and related research, according to an analysis conducted by the city’s Economic Development Corp.
– Bloomberg [13]
April 29, 2012
Harvard and MIT to Spend $60 Million Offering Free Online Courses
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced in May a partnership through which they will offer online courses from both institutions for free on a jointly owned platform called edX [14].
The partnership will be overseen by a nonprofit organization governed equally by both universities, each of which is contributing $30 million to the initiative. Students will not earn academic credit, but they could earn certificates for completing the courses. edX will host its first courses this fall across a broad field of disciplines.
The leaders of edX have described the venture as a tool through which they can experiment with online courses and study how students learn. Given that the courses are likely to reach hundreds of thousands of students, a critical mass of data could be gathered and analyzed in a relatively short amount of time. In the future, the platform will be offered to colleges that want to join Harvard and MIT in creating brands with the “x” signifier, according to current plans, and it also would be offered as open-source software for institutions that want to build on it.
The edX announcement came a month after four other top universities made public their collaboration with Coursera [15], a for-profit company, to offer a similar package of free online courses. That initiative involves Stanford University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and is ultimately designed to be a profit maker for Coursera. It is not yet clear how edX or Coursera will support themselves over the long term once seed funding is drained.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [16]
May 2, 2012
10 Business Schools with Highest Percentage of International Students
International students accounted for 45 percent of applicants to full-time business programs at U.S. graduate schools in 2011, up 6 percent from 2010, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council [17].
Among the 135 business schools that reported enrollment statistics to U.S. News & World Report for its annual university ranking, international students made up 28.3 percent of full-time students in M.B.A. programs, on average.
The 10 schools below enrolled the highest percentages of full-time students from countries abroad in fall 2011.
| Business Schools with Highest Percentage of International Students | ||
| Business School (Name) (State) | Fall 2011 Full-time Enrollment | Percentage International Students |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Lally) (NY) | 85 | 70.6% |
| University of California—Riverside (Anderson) | 155 | 66.5% |
| Hofstra University (Zarb) (NY) | 106 | 65.1% |
| Clark University (MA) | 117 | 61.5% |
| Purdue University–West Lafayette (Krannert) (IN) | 210 | 57.1% |
| Bentley University (McCallum) (MA) | 84 | 54.8% |
| St. John’s University (Tobin) (NY) | 529 | 53.7% |
| University of Rochester (Simon) (NY) | 293 | 52.6% |
| Thunderbird School of Global Management (AZ) | 509 | 52.5% |
| Case Western Reserve University (Weatherhead) (OH) | 143 | 52.4% |
– US News & World Report [18]
May 15, 2012
College English-Language Programs Will Need to Get Special Accreditation
Universities that already have institutional regional accreditation will soon also be required to get program accreditation for their English-language programs, according to a bulletin [19] recently sent to colleges and language schools by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. If they fail to apply for separate specialized accreditation, schools may lose their ability to enroll students from abroad.
In its bulletin, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program said that both stand-alone and college language programs must produce evidence of their accreditation during certification reviews. Under a 2010 law, independent language schools are now required to have, or to show they are in the process of applying for, accreditation in order to be approved to admit foreign students. While two groups, the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training [20] and the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation [21], specifically evaluate and approve language programs, many university-run intensive English programs are not individually accredited but are certified through institutional accreditation.
Earning accreditation can take a year or more, educators say. That could be problematic for universities, as language programs are important points of entry for foreign students, especially as larger numbers of students with subpar English skills seek to study in the United States.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [22]
May 20, 2012