Regional
Universities in Hong Kong and Singapore Dominate Top 3 in Regional Ranking
Two Hong Kong universities and the National University of Singapore (NUS) took up the three leading positions in the QS University Rankings: Asia [1], released in June, with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ranking first for the second year in a row and NUS and Hong Kong University sharing second place.
Only one Chinese university – Peking – appears in the top 10, up one place to fifth, its highest ever position. Korean institutions take three places in the top 10: Seoul National University (fourth), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (sixth) and Pohang University of Science and Technology (seventh, equal with the Chinese University of Hong Kong).
The ranking shows a continuing upward trend for international students studying at ranked institutions in the region, from 175,286 in 2009 to 255,212 this year. At the same time, total international faculty has grown from 21,223 to 35,677.
Ben Sowter, head of the QS Intelligence Unit, said: “As Western governments struggle to maintain funding levels, Asian institutions have rapidly increased their ability to attract the world’s best faculty and students.
“As the cost of studying rises in North America and the UK, Asia is reversing the brain drain by investing in scholarships to attract top students from the West.”
– University World News [2]
June 11, 2013
China
“Fly-In, Fly-out” Programs Problematic
“Fly-in, fly-out” academics are a source of frustration for Chinese students taking UK degrees in their own country, a new report says.
Approximately 38,000 students in China were studying locally for qualifications taught by a total of 70 British higher education institutions last year, either through a branch campus, partnerships with Chinese universities or via distance learning.
However, a Quality Assurance Agency review [3] into overseas provision in China, published in May, questions whether UK staff are spending enough time teaching students on their degree programs, with contact hours mostly delivered by Chinese academics. The review said that most students interviewed expressed a desire for “more face-to-face contact with academic staff from the relevant UK university.”
Issues with “fly-in, fly-out faculty” has led to several unaddressed problems with the partnership between the University of Central Lancashire and North China University of Technology, set up in 2005. Reviewers also noted that another institution, the University of Surrey – which operates a partnership with Dongbei University of Finance and Economics – had recently stopped using “fly-in, fly-out” academics in favor of staff based in China.
The report’s publication follows recent calls by David Willetts, the universities and science minister, for UK higher education institutions to teach more students overseas, however the QAA highlights several concerns about applying such a policy to China including issues with English language and difficulty with British examination methods.
– Times Higher Education [4]
May 16, 2013
University Presidents Travel from U.S. to Strengthen Partnerships with China
Two US university presidents, from University of Pennsylvania and Indiana University respectively, visited China recently in an attempt to forge partnerships, broaden their international reach and provide academic and research opportunities for students and faculty.
The University of Pennsylvania “is deeply committed to its engagement in China”, said Amy Gutmann, president of the Ivy League school in Philadelphia, who hosted a Penn alumni event in Hong Kong in May. Her visit also was intended to promote the planned Penn-Wharton China Center in Beijing.
Michael McRobbie, president of Indiana University, was on his third trip to China since 2007. His first stop on this trip was Guangzhou for meetings on partnership expansion and the opening of a philanthropy center at Sun Yat-sen University. He then traveled to the University of Hong Kong to establish a dual-degree master’s program in public administration between Indiana’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs and HKU’s master’s program in nonprofit-organization management.
McRobbie also signed an agreement with National Taiwan University to generate collaboration between the two campuses’ law schools and visited Shanghai, where he met with higher-education leaders and hosted a reception for Indiana alumni.
– China Daily
May 24, 2013
New Trends in Outward Mobility: Looking Past China
China has in recent years dominated the flow of international undergraduates coming to the United States – but that’s an old story, reports Inside Higher Ed. A recent session at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference focused on identifying “the next big thing” (or place) in international student recruitment, drawing on data from the College Board and the experiences of recruiters at two different types of institutions.
“China and India have been top of mind,” said Clay Hensley, director of international relations and strategy for the College Board. But Hensley and his co-presenters focused on other potentially emerging destinations, in four regions or subregions: South America, particularly Brazil and Ecuador; West Africa, especially Nigeria and Ghana; the Greater Mekong, including Vietnam and Thailand; and other countries in the Persian Gulf aside from Saudi Arabia, notably Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Trends such as the dramatic rise in SAT registrations, exploding numbers of applications to US universities and increased funding for scholarships have all contributed to increased outward mobility from these regions.
– Inside Higher Ed [5]
May 31, 2013
Many Chinese Students Face Linguistic Roadblocks
A large-scale survey of Chinese students interested in studying in the United States has found that nearly two-thirds of them do not speak English well enough to participate in an American classroom discussion.
According to a survey conducted by Zinch China, a consulting firm that advises American colleges and universities about China, 62 percent of prospective Chinese students had “poor” or “subfunctional” spoken English. Last year, just 38 percent fell into that category.
Such students could need months, or even a year, of English-language preparation to fully function in an academic setting, said Sid Krommenhoek, one of Zinch’s founders. The sharp drop in language proficiency, which could be due to heavy focus on grammar, reading and writing and not conversation, could complicate recruitment by liberal-arts college that are heavy on discussion-oriented classes.
Another factor could be the dramatic rise in Chinese students interested in coming to the United States. That means, taken as a whole, today’s Chinese students coming to the United States may be less academically elite, have fewer years of English-language training, or come from cities or regions that offer fewer opportunities to build international connections.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [6]
May 30, 2013
India
India’s Efforts to Reverse Brain Drain
India’s new science policy aims to position the nation among the top five global scientific powers by 2020. To help reach that goal, the government and industry, along with India’s elite universities and technical institutions, have united to implement a series of measures to stem the tide of graduate students overseas, while also encouraging large numbers of researchers to return home.
According to the study [7] International Mobility and Employment Characteristics among Recent Recipients of US Doctorates by the US National Science Foundation, India has the largest diaspora, with 40 percent of its home-born researchers working overseas and 75 percent of its scientists going to the US.
But the tide is slowly turning. As the nation’s elite institutions try to morph from world-class teaching institutions to world-class research centers, they have put in place flexible recruitment policies, generous research grants and industry-academe collaborations to attract their researchers back from foreign institutions.
Furthermore, efforts such as increased funding, corporate sponsorship of research facilities and projects and government backed fellowship programs have also been implemented in an effort to retain talent.
– University World News [8]
May 18, 2013
Japan
University of Tokyo Looks to Internationalize and Strengthen Student Body
The University of Tokyo is taking steps to broaden its international scope and attract more talented students. Partly due to a national recession, the institution is seeing fewer students from areas outside Tokyo, and just 0.5 percent of its students studying abroad. Nearly 40 percent of those that passed the entrance exam this year were graduates from Tokyo high schools.
Within the last year, in an effort to promote foreign exchange, the university launched both the Fresher’s Leave Year (FLY) program, which funds study abroad programs, and the Programs in English at Komaba (PEAK), an undergraduate program provided exclusively in English at the university’s Komaba campus. But overseas, “Todai,” as the University of Tokyo is nicknamed, doesn’t have the brand recognition it does in Japan. Last year, just 27 foreign students entered the PEAK program.
Starting this fall, the university will also introduce a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), and in 2016, the university will begin implementing a recommendation-based entrance examination, in order to increase academic rigor.
– The Ashahi Shimbum [9]
May 23, 2013
Korea
Fewer High School Graduates Studying Overseas
The number of high school graduates pursuing studies abroad has been decreasing in recent years, according to a recent study.
According to admission data by the Ministry of Education, which was analyzed by the private education group Etoos, the overseas college admission rate this year has declined by 0.1 percent. Echoing these findings, data from 19 special interest/foreign language secondary institutions, all known for sending large numbers of their graduates overseas, revealed that the number of students studying overseas after graduation dropped to 355 last year from 507 in 2008.
Education experts attribute the ongoing economic slump coupled with the dormant real estate market to the decreased number of students studying overseas despite the country’s longtime obsession with English.
“[Unlike in the past] It has become much more burdensome for parents to pay for overseas study expenses including school tuition under the current economic conditions,” said Oh Jong-un, evaluation director at Etoos.
Some experts say an increasing number of parents also worry that their children will deprive themselves of developing their personal network formed during college if their children study overseas. The network is deemed highly important in Korean society, where collective group values are strongly emphasized.
– Korea Joongang Daily [10]
June 11, 2013
Indonesia
U.S. – Indonesia Higher Education Consortium to Increase Student Mobility
The Institute of International Education, in conjunction with leaders from twelve higher education institutions in the U.S. and Indonesia, launched the USIPP Consortium [11] in May at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference in St. Louis, MO. The USIPP Consortium is a private, bilateral initiative that brings together six U.S. and six Indonesian colleges and universities to collaborate on all forms of academic exchange, including study abroad programs, joint research, student exchange at all academic levels, as well as faculty exchange.
The USIPP Consortium is a direct result of the U.S.-Indonesia Partnership Program for Study Abroad Capacity (USIPP), a two-year initiative sponsored by the U.S Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and administered by the IIE’s Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education from 2010 to 2012.
The Consortium, which will be led by a rotating bi-national secretariat, includes three main goals in its framework: to support the 2010 Obama/Yudhoyono U.S. – Indonesia Higher Education Partnership by increasing student mobility in both directions; to facilitate the formation of mutually beneficial academic partnerships between U.S. and Indonesian institutions; and to generally increase all academic collaboration between the two countries.
– Institute of International Education [12]
May 28, 2013
New Zealand Plans to Woo More Foreign Students
New Zealand in May announced a multi-million-dollar marketing drive to attract more foreign students – especially from Asia – to its universities. Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said the government had committed NZ$40 million ($33 million) in its new budget to promote New Zealand in key markets such as China, India, Southeast Asia and South America.
New Zealand has eight universities and Joyce said almost 100,000 overseas students were enrolled in tertiary institutions last year, supporting about 32,000 jobs and contributing NZ$2.0 billion to the economy. He said the government’s goal was to more than double the international education sector by 2025.
“Our high-quality education sector, together with the lifestyle experience that New Zealand provides for international students, is a combination few other countries can match,” he said.
A spokesperson for Joyce said the marketing drive would include advertising, scholarships and social media.
– Global Times [13]
May 16, 2013
Sri Lanka
Scholarships and Quotas Raised for International Students
Sri Lanka’s Higher Education Ministry has increased the quota of international students it will allow at its universities and is offering additional scholarships to foreign students in its aim of becoming a higher education hub in Asia. But the moves have met with resistance amid fears that the number of places for local students will be reduced.
The ministry said it hoped that around 1,000-4,000 fee-paying foreign students would be admitted in the course of the next three years – many of them from China, although the majority would be from other South Asian countries.
But student unions, university staff and several political parties have opposed the decision to expand foreign student numbers, saying it will limit the local intake. Sri Lankan lecturers have also been concerned about lower entry requirements for fee-paying students, including some foreign students, at some medical schools, and have urged the ministry to stop the controversial practice.
Despite the protests, the Sri Lankan cabinet recently approved a memorandum submitted by the higher education minister to expand the scholarship scheme for foreign students, who will receive a full scholarship to study medical, management, law, engineering or arts degrees. Under the scheme, students will also be assisted with living expenses, and the government will pay airfares and visa fees.
– University World News [14]
May 24, 2013
Vietnam
Vietnam Struggles with Serious Shortage of Qualified Lecturers
Vietnam is facing a shortage of highly qualified academics in its universities and colleges as a result of the over-expansion of higher education in the past two decades. In 2012, only 11 percent of the country’s 84,109 lecturers held doctorate degrees. In 2000, nearly 15 percent of 30,309 academics had PhDs.
The ratio of PhD-holding lecturers per student is even more serious – over the 12 years the ratio has fallen from 0.5 percent (one highly qualified lecturer per 200 students) in 2000 to 0.415 percent in 2012.
The Vietnamese government has implemented projects to lure young scientists back. In 2000, the Ministry of Education and Training launched ‘Project 322’ and sent 4,590 talented students and young scientists to study abroad. In 2010, another project named ‘911’ – an extension of Project 322 – was implemented with the goal to provide full scholarships to 23,000 PhD candidates to complete their programs, including 10,000 studying abroad. But many experts have described the plans as inefficient or simply a ‘pious hope.’
Another problem for policymakers is that such projects could exacerbate Vietnam’s brain drain. It is believed that many of Project 322’s scholarship students have not returned, even though this was a pre-condition for participation in the program. Other factors that have led to brain drain are scholars moving to the private sector, poor quality of PhD programs at local universities and lax publication review standards.
But while the country has yet to see the fruits of the ministry’s endeavors, there are some positive signs; recently local media reported that for the first time a local pioneer, Duy Tan University, required PhD candidates to have at least one paper published in an indexed journal.
–University World News [15]
June 1, 2013