Regional

Recruiting and the Parent Factor

Considering the investment many parents make in their children’s education, especially those traveling abroad, it should come as no great surprise that they have an incredible influence over the final choice of study destination. Indeed, a recent study in China showed that decisions on country, program and institution were made by parents 65 percent of the time. Meanwhile, a survey of 2,160 international students in Australia conducted in September showed that nearly one in five of them had a sibling who was studying or had studied in Australia. In addition, 77 percent were studying in the same city as their sibling, with 38 percent attending the same institution. Furthermore, one in four had a close family member living in the student’s destination city.

The research was presented by Rob Lawrence, from Prospect Research and Marketing, at the Australian International Education Conference in Melbourne in October. “We need to start realizing we are not serving just individuals, but entire families. (Universities) have got to put strategies in place that recognize and engage with families,” stated Mr. Lawrence.

Beyond family influence, nearly 40 percent of students had visited Australia before studying there, according to the report. While most had come for a holiday and to visit family and friends, one in 10 had come on a study tour and more than 6 percent came to attend a graduation. Mr Lawrence said what surprised him was the level of “anonymous” on-the-ground research and information building that was going on.

“During their last visit, 38 percent visited the place where they are currently studying. A lot of them did it anonymously, being shown around by a friend or family member,” Mr. Lawrence said.

“We have to assume every day on campus there are five, maybe 20, people just having a look around. And they are not so much interested in the outside of buildings, but what goes on inside.”

Institutions interested in recruiting abroad need to take into account the role of parents, family and friends in school decision-making processes and come up with ways to connect and engage with them. Tools might include parent newsletters, parent portals, social media pages for parents, and contacts for the parents of prospective students to contact parents of current or alumni students.

– The Australian
October 16, 2012

Australia

Government to Issue Grants for Asia Study Abroad as Part of Engagement Process

More than 10,000 Australian university students will receive grants to study in Asia and thousands more will have access to generous student loans as part of the federal government’s strategy to strengthen engagement with the world’s most populous region, the Ministry for Tertiary Education announced at the end of October.

The A$37 million (US$38.48 million) AsiaBound Grants Program will offer students up to $5,000 to undertake short or semester-length study exchanges, as well as $1,000 grants for preparatory Asian language study. Announcing the new scheme, Tertiary Education Minister Senator Chris Evans said eligibility for the government’s loan scheme would be broadened and simplified to give more students access to increased loan amounts and encourage them to experience Asia.

“AsiaBound will support more than 10,000 Australian students to enjoy the experience of living and studying in an Asian country,” Evans said.

“This is a program to give Australian students the opportunity to build lifelong professional networks and friendships. In addition, all Australian students, across all disciplines, will have greater support to take up part of their study in Asia.”

The government will work with universities to substantially boost the number of students studying in Asia as part of its scheme to strengthen ties with the region.

– Government News Release
October 31, 2012

Foreign Students Found to Increase Unemployment Among Younger Australians

Efforts by the Australian government to make studying in Australia more attractive to foreign students appear to have boosted unemployment rates among the nation’s young people, according to a new report.

The report says tens of thousands of foreign students are successfully applying for different visas at the end of their programs so they can stay and work in Australia, in the hope of becoming permanent residents. But the rapidly rising number of temporary migrants, including students, tourists and working holidaymakers, is causing increasing unemployment among young Australians.

A study by Dr Bob Birrell and Dr Ernest Healy of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University has found that the Australian-born workforce grew by just 58,000 in the 12 months to August whereas at least 100,000 migrants arrived in the course of the year and found employment. These temporary migrants added to the one million already in the country.

The report, Immigration Overshoot, argues that Australia’s intake of migrants is too high and that several of the major visa subclasses being used by foreign students to remain in Australia need to be abolished. It notes that 255,000 foreigners held student visas in December last year, yet over the past 12 months nearly 140,000 former students were granted a different visa that allowed them to remain and work.

The main category of new visa granted is the graduate skilled visa, which was issued to 35,800 students who had completed their undergraduate programs. It allows the holder to stay in Australia and work for a further two years and was one of the key decisions made by the government aimed at attracting more foreign students to Australia after a sudden and disastrous decline over the past three years.

Almost the same number enrolled in a new program of study after graduating an initial program, while 27,000 stayed on as tourists in 2011-12. The study describes this as ‘churning’ – using the flexible arrangements allowed by the Immigration Department for students to stay on in Australia.

The report’s authors argue that, “for many, their main purpose for taking up a student visa in the first place was to gain access to Australia’s labor market. The ultimate goal for those with this aspiration is to obtain a permanent residence visa.”

“The combination of the slowdown in employment growth and the intense competition for work from hundreds of thousands of migrants (permanent and temporary) is swelling the ranks of the unemployed,” the report adds, while calling for a government crackdown to stop foreign students and other temporary migrants exploiting Australia’s visa system by working illegally and often under inferior conditions and pay.

– University World News
November 21, 2012

China

Government Considers Tighter Regulations on Third-Party Recruiters

New regulations currently being considered by China’s Ministry of Education could lead to a tightening of services provided by international student recruitment agents. According to a recently published draft of the new regulation, provincial education authorities will be able to approve or reject third-party agencies, strengthen supervision of their activities and have the power to ban foreign agencies from operating in China.

The draft regulation stipulates that overseas agencies – including their representative offices in China – foreign-invested enterprises, Chinese-foreign joint schools and individuals shall not be engaged in ‘intermediary services’ in China. According to the official news agency Xinhua, the ministry said some “unqualified” agencies provide services to students wishing to study abroad and some help clients to forge materials required for applications or “cheat” clients out of money.

The rules come in the wake of numerous accounts in Western and Chinese media of aggressive recruitment of Chinese students by foreign universities, making false claims about their facilities and degrees in order to attract fee-paying international students. Although foreign-based agents are not necessarily considered the main culprits, they are thought to be difficult to regulate, unlike China-based companies, which must be officially registered.

– China Daily
October 31, 2012

U.S. Establishes University-Based Cultural Centers in China

Colleges in the United States have begun creating State-Department-funded “American Cultural Centers” in partnership with Chinese host universities, reports Inside Higher Ed. Colleges that have received the grants have used the funding to create resource centers or reading rooms, host visiting faculty lectures on American cultural topics, and sponsor arts programming.

China has long been engaged in a similar program across the world through its network of Confucius Institutes — Chinese government-funded centers housed at universities. The institutes have vastly expanded the resources available for Chinese culture and language study.

The State Department’s request for proposals implicitly poses the Confucius Institutes as a model for the kind of university-to-university collaborations it is hoping to promote: “The PRC’s creation in the United States of multiple university-based ‘Confucius Institutes’ has increased the level and quality of the study of Chinese language and culture in the U.S,” the document states. “Though China as a national policy requires the study of the English language broadly among its students, there is no equivalent mechanism for increasing understanding and appreciation for the strength and diversity of American culture and society. While hundreds of affiliation agreements between U.S. and Chinese universities have promoted academic cooperation, the sharing of technical expertise, and U.S. study of China, they have done little to help address the overall level of misunderstanding of U.S. society and culture.”

Arizona State University received a pilot grant from the embassy in 2010, for a center at Sichuan University. An additional 11 proposals were funded in 2011, and seven in 2012. Among the universities that have received grants are South Carolina’s Greenville Technical College and Presbyterian College (which jointly run a center in partnership with Guizhou University); the Universities of Chicago, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North Dakota; and Appalachian State, Iowa State, Ohio State, Morehead State, Southern Utah, and Vanderbilt Universities. One nonprofit organization, the U.S.-China Education Trust, received a grant.

– Inside Higher Ed
November 2, 2012

Government Increases Overseas Scholarships to 18,000 for 2013

China will send 18,000 people to study abroad in 2013 under a government-funded scholarship program, the China Scholarship Council (CSC) announced in November. Of those 6,000 will study at the graduate level and 12,000 at the undergraduate level or as senior researchers or visiting scholars.

The number of scholarship recipients next year will be 2,000 more than in 2012, and more than double the 7,500 in 2006, according to the CSC. Currently, over 24,000 Chinese citizens are studying abroad under the program. The CSC said that in the last five years, more than 98 percent of sponsored students and scholars have returned to China after finishing their study period abroad.

– China Daily
October 30, 2012

NYU Readies for Inaugural Year in China

New York University (NYU) founded its new Shanghai campus on October 15, becoming the first higher education institution jointly established by China and the U.S. that is licensed to award degrees. According to university officials, it is expecting 300 undergraduates in 2013, with just over half (151) of them being Chinese students who have applied via the gaokao (or national college entrance examination). The rest will be students from other parts of the world.

NYU Shanghai is a joint venture between East China Normal University and New York University, and in total it will accommodate an estimated 3,000 Chinese and international students. Classes will be conducted in English, covering a full range of academic majors including the standard U.S. general education component. Students who successfully complete their programs will be awarded an NYU degree and an NYU Shanghai degree. Students who plan to apply have to submit to the standard American university admission process as well as an NYU supplement to be considered for admission, according to an application tutorial video posted on the university’s website. With regard to English proficiency, the university will focus more on the students’ English communicative ability instead of any test scores and this would be assessed in interviews during the university open day.

Tuition fees have been set at just under US$16,000 a year, which is comparable to universities in Hong Kong, but 10 to 20 times more than mainland universities.

– Global Times
October 22, 2012

India

New Education Minister Has Much On His Plate

M.M. Pallam Raju has replaced Kapil Sibal as the head of India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development, which oversees education in the country. Mr. Raju pledged to continue his predecessor’s reforms, which included a campaign to allow foreign universities to establish campuses in the country.

Those reforms and others have been in a state of limbo thanks to divisions in India’s political system. Currently, there are about seven education bills pending at several stages in the Parliament. Months of reaching out to opposition leaders by Raju’s predecessor Kapil Sibal have resulted in little action. It will be the job of the new minister to build the political consensus necessary to pass the bills.

“The reforms introduced by Shri Kapil Sibal meant well and were forward looking and sensible. We need to build a (political) consensus for these (proposed) changes. That’s the job at hand,” said Raju.

– India Today
October 28, 2012

Committee: Affiliated Colleges Bringing Down Quality Standards

India has approximately 32,000 colleges affiliated to degree-granting universities, and the system is adversely affecting higher-education quality standards, according to the findings of a Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) committee. It has recommended a reduction in the number of such colleges.

The committee’s report found that approximately 90 percent of undergraduates, 70 percent of graduates and 80 percent of faculty members are studying or teaching at affiliated colleges.

“Over time, the number of colleges affiliated to the 297 state universities in the country has increased and it stood at 31,324 on August 2011. A large section of administrative and academic human resource machinery of universities is used to manage affiliated colleges, limiting academic productivity time to innovate and create new knowledge,” the report says.

The Maharashtra government, which has a record 4,631 affiliated colleges, appointed a committee last year to find ways to reduce the burden on its universities. It said, “the heavy burden on universities should be brought down by establishing autonomous examination boards. Affiliated colleges should be granted performance-based autonomy, which should be reviewed periodically. This would enable autonomous institutions to innovate and reduce the burden on universities.”

The CABE committee has made similar recommendations. “Colleges in government and aided sectors having over 25 years standing and National Assessment and Accreditation Council grade ‘A’ may be considered for autonomous status. States may not be permitted to constitute uni-disciplinary universities and central funding to such universities may be cut,” it says. Those failing to meet or maintain teaching standards should lose their university affiliation, the report recommends.

– The Indian Express
October 27, 2012

Japan

Parents Voice Concern Over Change to Academic Calendar

The University of Tokyo is planning to move the start of its academic year to the fall, an initiative that is being welcomed by many higher education leaders in Japan, who expect the move to be replicated elsewhere. However, parents have expressed concern about what they will do with their children between when they graduate high school and when they enroll at a university.

The idea is that Japanese universities will benefit by being on a similar academic calendar to that used in much of the Western world, and that high school graduates can enjoy a summer vacation rather than starting their programs in the spring.

– Japan Daily Press
October 25, 2012

Kazakhstan

New International Study Scholarships

The Government of Kazakhstan‘s Center  for International Programs, which manages the Bolashak Scholarship Program, has launched a new Fellowship Program in 2012 to allow awardees to carry out research and work-based training in other countries for a period of up to 12 months.

The program can include up to six months of prior intensive language training. It is aimed at faculty and teaching staff in universities, and at engineers, scientists and medical professionals

– International Focus
November 2012

Malaysia

International Branch Campuses Welcome

Malaysia currently plays host to six branch campuses of established Western universities, and it is open to hosting more. The most recent international additions to Malaysian campus life are Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, a branch of Britain’s University of Newcastle, which was established in 2009. And this year another British institution, the University of Southampton, established a campus. The other four were set up a decade earlier. Three are from Australia: Monash University’s Monash Malaysia and Curtin University’s Curtin Sarawak campus established in 1999, and a Swinburne University of Technology branch set up in 2000. Britain’s University of Nottingham also established a Malaysian campus in 2000. Ireland-based Dublin Business School closed its Malaysian doors in 2007, while Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology shut its branch in 1999.

University World News reports that the Malaysian government wants other reputable foreign universities to establish branch campuses there, and is publicly encouraging their entry by clearing regulatory hurdles, although not necessarily offering public financing rather letting market forces play out.

Malaysia offers foreign universities the ability to attract students from across Asia, especially among Muslim populations looking for a Western-style education in a Muslim environment. Currently, Indonesia, China and Iran send the most foreign students to Malaysia. The total international student body is currently around 100,000 and the government plans to double that number by 2020. There has been a 14 percent increase in international students attending universities in Malaysia in the past three years.

Malaysian education officials say the demand is there, with the country attracting just under 4 percent of the world’s international students – making it the world’s 10th most popular study destination. At the established branch campuses, enrollments also appear strong. Monash’s branch campus has 5,100 students, with approximately one quarter being international. Curtin University has students from 40 different countries, while Swinburne’s campus has 4,000 students from more than 50 countries.

To get government backing for the establishment of a branch, foreign universities must have a good reputation and add value to Malaysia’s higher education system. Institutions offering programs currently lacking or in high demand in Malaysia are especially attractive. As a result, branch campuses currently focus on technology, engineering, science, commerce, computing, design, medicine and social sciences courses.

– University World News
October 28, 2012

Myanmar

IIE Launches Program to Aid Myanmar’s Struggling University Sector

The Institute of International Education announced a new program in America that is intended to help U.S. institutions of higher education establish ties with universities in Myanmar to help rebuild the country’s higher-education system.

The program is the Myanmar version of the IIE’s International Academic Partnerships Program, which has helped American colleges build collaborations with institutions in China, India, and Brazil. It follows a recent visit by President Barack Obama to the country, where he stated his commitment to help advance education there in a visit to Yangon University. Many people said they hoped the speech would provide the impetus for the once-renowned university’s revival. The city-center campus has been abandoned and rundown since the military regime moved universities to outside of the city in the 1990s to quell the spread of student dissent.

The participating U.S. campuses involved in the planning process for the partnership program are: American University, Arizona State University, Ball State University, Hawaii Pacific University, Northern Illinois University, Northern Arizona University, Samford University, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and University of Washington.

The Myanmar effort, which IIE called “broader in scope” than its programs elsewhere, involves institutions that “have significant experience with the country, whether through diaspora students and faculty on their campuses or through previous work in the country.”

– IIE News Release
November 20, 2012

New Zealand

300 Chinese Students Falsified Visa Documents

An investigation by Immigration New Zealand found that a total of 299 Chinese students falsified papers to obtain student visas, with 219 of them having already begun their studies in New Zealand, according to China’s Xinhua news agency. Twenty-six of those students had already been deported by the end of October. The investigation is still ongoing.

– Xinhua
November 8, 2012

4 Private Providers Ordered to Stop Enrolling Foreign Students

Four private institutions of higher education in New Zealand have had their intake of foreign students suspended after they were found to be in breach of their obligations to international students, according to an investigation by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and Immigration New Zealand.

The authorities found students studying for less than the minimum 20 hours per week, misleading or poorly maintained attendance records, a failure to deposit student fees in full into their Student Fee Protection trust accounts and fee discrepancies.

The four institutions are the National Institute of Studies, EDENZ Colleges Ltd, Aotearoa Tertiary Institute and the New Zealand School of Business and Government. Their total of 842 international students will be unaffected by the suspension, which only impacts on new or undecided visa applications.

– Fairfax NZ News
November 23, 2012

Singapore

New York University Arts School to Close

Tisch Asia, a graduate film and creative arts school in Singapore that is a branch of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, announced in November that it would close, possibly in 2014.

Singapore currently hosts nearly a dozen foreign branch campuses, and a similar number of partnerships offering joint Singaporean and international degrees. Experts said Singapore officials were deeply embarrassed by the distressed high-profile institution and were examining the reasons for its failure, hoping to refine their strategy for inviting and retaining top international institutions. The city-state seeks to create a ‘Global Schoolhouse’ on its shores by inviting prestigious institutions from around the world to establish branch campuses.

Singapore has specifically turned to institutions, such as Tisch, with a reputation in industries that it is keen to attract. However, after years of financial problems since it opened in 2007, Tisch School of the Arts Asia said in a memo from Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell that it would close, despite attempts to keep it afloat with injections of millions of dollars in grants and loans from Singapore’s Economic Development Board.

Tisch Asia had 28 full-time faculty members when the announcement to withdraw from Singapore was made in early November. Around 158 students were enrolled in the two-year master of fine arts degrees in animation and digital arts, dramatic writing and international media production, and a three-year program in film. With tuition fees close to S$55,000 (US$45,000), Tisch Asia has for some time had difficulty attracting local students, with most of its student body from overseas.

– University World News
November 16, 2012

South Korea

George Mason to Launch Campus in Songdo

George Mason University’s Board of Visitors has authorized the university to establish a campus in Songdo, South Korea. The move is somewhat controversial as the university’s first attempt to establish an overseas branch in the United Arab Emirates ended in closure just three years after it began operations there. It’s Ras-Al-Khaimah campus failed due to slow enrollment growth, funding difficulties, and disagreements with the UAE government body that was financing the campus.

George Mason now plans to be a part of Songdo Global University Campus, under construction on land reclaimed from the Yellow Sea in the Incheon Free Economic Zone, which aims to be an educational and high-tech hub. The goal of Songdo Global University is to have 10 different foreign universities operating on a single campus. Each institution will operate independently but will collaborate in offering general education classes, for example.

Songdo Global University is heavily subsidized by the Korean government, and participating foreign universities have each received generous subsidies to support campus operations through the first five years of operation. The State University of New York at Stony Brook is currently the only university operating there, with an inaugural March enrollment of 35 students in four master’s and Ph.D. programs in two fields — computer science and technology and society. Other universities that are moving ahead with plans for campuses are the University of Utah and Ghent University (Belgium). George Mason is in the process of applying for approval from South Korea’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and hopes to attract 80 students in two majors – economics and management – when the campus opens in the spring of 2014.

– Inside Higher Ed
November 6, 2012

Number of Koreans Studying Overseas Shrinks

The number of Koreans studying overseas fell this year for the first time in four years amid a prolonged economic slowdown, a report revealed in November.

As of this April, students at foreign universities or on short-term language programs dropped by nearly 9 percent to 239,213 from a peak of 262,465 students in 2011, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The report shows that 154,000 students are pursuing degrees at overseas universities, a 6 percent decline from 2011. The report also found that the number of foreign students on degree programs in Korea dropped by 4.8 percent to 69,589 from a year earlier.

– Korea Herald
November 19, 2012

Taiwan

Taiwan Looks to California for Students

Education officials from Taiwan traveled to California in October to recruit students. About 1,000 people — many of them recruited because they are Taiwanese-Americans — attended the first education fair ever put on by Taiwan in the United States.

Wei-Ling Chiang, Taiwan’s minister of education, made the case, noting that undergraduates would pay about $3,000 in tuition, lower living costs than in the United States, and that some programs are taught in English.

“Just 3,561 American-born students are enrolled in Taiwanese universities, while about 24,000 Taiwanese students enroll in universities in the U.S,” Chiang said. “We really have to address the situation now.”

The idea of a Taiwanese education appealed to parents who believe their children will graduate into a job market increasingly dominated by Asian languages and businesses. For many, the prospect of an American education has lost its shine.

– Los Angeles Times
October 28, 2012

Parents Exert Strong Influence on Students’ School Choices

A recent survey by Nuffic Neso Taipei, a Dutch education agency working in Taiwan, shows that parents in Taiwan play an important role in the decision-making processes of their children, when it comes to studying abroad.

The report found that Taiwanese parents who want their children to study abroad think that their child will benefit from exposure to different cultures and a high quality education, and that the international experience will benefit his or her career opportunities. Hence, Taiwanese parents have high expectations when it comes to sending or allowing their child to study abroad, with safety and affordability high on their list of priorities.

Taiwanese parents have a strong say in which destination country is selected, and noteworthy here is that many parents only consider countries where relatives are living. The prospective students appear to have more autonomy in their choice of specific fields of study.

– Nuffic
November 19, 2012

Mergers Announced for 6 Universities

Six Taiwanese universities will merge into three due to the nation’s declining birth rate, the Ministry of Education announced in November.

Minster of Education Chiang Wei-ling said that the ministry was currently adjusting its college admissions system and aimed to merge six major universities into three. The six are: National Taiwan University and National Taipei University of Education; National Tsing Hua University and National Hsinchu University of Education; and National Pingtung University of Education and National Pingtung Institute of Commerce.

The ministry is prioritizing national universities that have fewer than 10,000 registered students. There are 53 national universities and polytechnics that currently have fewer than 10,000 students. Authorities hope the current round of mergers will be completed by the end of the 2013 academic year.

– China Post
November 20, 2012

Vietnam

New Law Tightens Regulations on Foreign Providers

A new government decree came into force in November tightening the regulations on foreign providers and cross-border programs in Vietnam. The law is aimed at stopping the unregulated proliferation of foreign-linked institutions and raising standards in the education sector more broadly.

At the higher education level, the new law specifies a minimum level of investment per student (US$7,500), strict rules on teacher-to-student ratios (in science, engineering and technology they should not be higher than 1:15, while the ratio in social sciences, humanities, economics and business should be 1:25 or better), and on minimum English-language proficiency, as well as regulations on teacher qualifications. It follows a government order earlier this year to seven higher education providers affiliated with institutions in Singapore, Australia and France, to cease operations and pay fines.  In March, the first foreign-owned education institution – Raffles Vietnam, run by Raffles Singapore – had its license to operate in Vietnam revoked because of “continuous violations” of the rules. Raffles disputes that it was acting against the law, and the defense in some other cases has been that the rules were unclear and sometimes contradictory.

Previously, cross-border programs and foreign-based education institutions – wholly owned and joint ventures alike – operated under a raft of different regulations, which experts described as unclear, lacking in detail, often superficial and not applied systematically. Since the first cross-border program was launched in the mid-1990s, some 500 programs and four foreign-linked universities, have been established in Vietnam.

– University World News
November 1, 2012