Regional
Growth in Europe-Based International Enrollments Outpaces North America
According to a new report from the European Commission’s European Migration Network [1] (EMN), the number of international students in Europe increased by roughly 114 percent in the first decade of the new century. This compares to approximately 55 percent growth of international students in North America.
The EMN report, Immigration of International Students to the EU [2], is based on data from 25 EU countries. The report found that 21 percent of all new first residence permits in the report’s participating countries were issued for education reasons, while EU students under the ERASMUS mobility scheme accounted for just 1.4 percent of the total number of first permits issued in Member States in 2011.
These data points suggest that non-EU students are contributing significantly to the goal among many education-exporting countries of attracting skilled students who upon graduation become skilled workers. For many countries this is a strategy designed to fill skills shortages in their labor markets.
– European Migration Network [1]
April 24, 2013
Growth in English-Taught Masters Programs Continues Across Europe
In June of this year, a total of 6,407 master’s programs were offered in English outside of the United Kingdom, a 38 percent rise over the 4,644 programs available just 18 months earlier, and 10 times higher than the overall number offered in 2002, according to a report [3] by the Institute of International Education.
The study is based on program listings from the Study Portals [4] website, which provides information from 1,200 public and private universities in mainland Europe. Programs in English account for almost a third of the 21,000 master’s programs advertized on the site in continental Europe, the report says.
The increased selection of continental master’s programs in English may explain why applicants visiting Study Portals are becoming less likely to search for courses in Britain, the report suggests. Britain’s share of page views fell from 31 percent in 2011 to 24 percent in 2013, while Germany’s share rose from 14 percent to 18 percent over the same period. Interest in programs in Sweden and France also increased.
Several Scandinavian countries appear to have switched almost all their graduate teaching to English, the report says. Some 708 master’s programs in Sweden were taught in the language this year – an increase of 73 percent on 2011 figures and more than four times the number offered in 2007. The Netherlands provides the highest number of English-taught master’s degrees on the Continent, with 946 available compared with 386 six years ago. Meanwhile, Germany has 733 such master’s programs – up from just 88 in 2007.
– Times Higher Education [5]
October 10, 2013
U.S. For-Profit Education Company to Sell European Interests
Career Education Corporation signed a deal in October [6] to sell its European operations to Apax Partners, a private-equity group, for $267 million in cash.
The U.S. higher-education company said the sale includes a chain of business, communications, and health-care colleges based in Paris, the Inseec Group [7], that Career Education bought 10 years ago for about $20 million. It also includes the International University of Monaco [8], which it acquired in 2010 for $6.3 million. Total enrollment across all campuses for sale, as reported by Career Education, was about 11,400.
– Career Education Corporation [6]
October 24, 2013
Norway
Government Proposal Would Help Fund All Norwegian Students Worldwide
Norway has proposed finalizing a long political process that would provide all of its students abroad with access to state funding worldwide. And a new budget proposal would extend support to first-year Norwegian students in the United States. But this latest stage in an increase of support for Norwegians studying in foreign institutions may fall prey to politics. “Don’t celebrate too early,” warned new Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
Conservative Party leader Solberg’s new populist government will have to approve the proposal made in October in the 2014 budget by the outgoing government of Jens Stoltenberg, which subsequently resigned.
Over the past few years, Norway has gradually increased funding support for Norwegians studying in foreign institutions. In 2011, the government opened up funding for four-year degrees from BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China. In 2012 this was expanded to include remaining non-Western countries. At that point, Norwegian students were entitled to state funding for full university degrees in all countries except the United States.
If the new proposal is approved for the 2014 budget, Norwegian students will be able to study, at any academic level, anywhere in the world with access to support in the form of loans and scholarships from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund.
– University World News [9]
October 23, 2013
Republic of Ireland
Indian Enrollments Double in a Year
Ireland has seen 100 percent growth in the number of Indian students enrolled at its institutions of higher education this year as compared to last year, although the base has been very small, growing from approximately 1,000 in 2012.
Ireland has long been one of the largest education destinations for American students, and now it is hoping to forge a similar relationship with India. The problem lies in the fact that little is known about the country in India, reports Business World. However, a visa waiver program started in June 2012 has put Ireland on the map as a tourist destination for Indians.
“Three years ago we had 14,000-15,000 Indian tourists a year; last year we saw 19,000; this year we’re looking to attract 24,000-25,000 Indian tourists,” says Ambassador Feilim McLaughlin.
With the hike in tuition fees across England, Indian students planning to study abroad have been incentivized to look elsewhere for newer and cheaper alternatives, according to the Business World article.
– Business World [10]
October 11, 2013
4,000 Brazilians Headed for Irish Institutions of Higher Education
Ireland’s universities and institutes of technology welcomed more than 1,000 science and engineering students from Brazil this fall, with a further 3,000 expected over the next four years. The number of Brazilian students in Ireland has jumped from 120 to 1,200 in just 12 months, with Ireland being made a key partner in the South American government’s Science Without Borders scholarship program.
From the point of view of economic strategy, the scholarship program couldn’t have come at a better time, suggests Irish Times, noting that “the developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China are key targets for Irish exports.”
– Irish Times [11]
October 14, 2013
Russia
Government Looks to Big Business for Help in Developing Higher Education
The Russian government is turning to the country’s major industrial companies in an effort to get them to invest in establishing higher education institutions and chairs in top universities, and to prepare highly skilled employees to produce research for their sectors.
The initiative, which is targeting companies, especially in the hydrocarbon sector, such as Rusal, Rosneft, Gazprom and LUKOIL was proposed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who promised that the government would provide companies with all the support they needed to implement such projects, including partial tax exemptions.
As part of the plan, special boards – expected to comprise university managers and employers – would be established in all of Russia’s state universities.
Some of Russia’s big companies, such as those mentioned above, already have considerable experience in cooperating with leading universities. For example, oil giant LUKOIL has an agreement with Moscow State University that implements joint scientific activities. The agreement includes cooperation in research, development and design work in geology, development and hydrocarbon production. Meanwhile, LUKOIL’s major competitor Rosneft has partnerships with 27 Russian universities, of which seven have strategic status, providing funds for the development of the academic base at universities, establishing new departments and laboratories, and conducting student training at the company’s plants and other production facilities.
– University World News [12]
October 11, 2013
United Kingdom
University Offers of Admission Grow After Tuition-Inspired Decline
Data from Britain’s central university admissions service, UCAS, show that 445,820 UK and European Union students were accepted onto degree programs 28 days after A-level results were released. This is up from 408,480 at the same point last year, but slightly down on 2011, the final year before the cap on tuition fees was trebled, when the figure was 465,070. Freshman students at the UK’s institutions of higher education are, this year, the second cohort to face £9,000 (US$14,400) fees.
The UCAS report also shows that a third of the students accepted to university degree programs in England this year had gained at least an A and two B grades in their exams. In total, 111,010 of those accepted by institutions in England had got ABB at A level or an equivalent qualification, in comparison with 103,980 the previous year.
– BBC News [13]
September 28, 2013