Regional

ASEAN Gears Up for Increased Regional Mobility

A recent article in the ICEF Monitor argues that the rise in intra-region mobility is “one of the most important trends in international student mobility today.” Recognizing the value of intra-regional mobility to promote increased trade and cultural links between member states, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is seeking to drive greater integration among the region’s 6,500 higher education institutions.

ASEAN is a political and economic organization of 10 Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The region is in the midst of an ambitious drive to create an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a multifaceted model for greater cooperation that will see the free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labor (and freer flow of capital) as early as 2015.

The ASEAN states established an ambitious plan in 2009 to promote greater integration of the region’s 6,500 higher education institutions and 12 million post-secondary students. The plan is aimed at creating a so-called “Common Space of Higher Education” and is based around four main priorities: student mobility, credit transfer, quality assurance, and research clusters.

The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) clearly sees improved quality assurance and cross-regional credit transfer systems as key building blocks for greater student mobility within the region. In fact, ASEAN states are currently working on a strengthened credit transfer protocol, ACTFA, that will include ASEAN members plus Japan and Korea, the first aspects of which may be adopted as early as this year. SEAMEO will pilot the program for student exchange among universities in Southeast and Northeast Asia for one to two semesters beginning this year.

However, there are several challenges to overcome before a region-wide transfer system can be fully established. As noted in a recent item in University World News:

“Gaps in the quality of education, compounded by low gross tertiary enrollment rates of less that 50%, remain major stumbling blocks. Besides Singapore, none ranks among the top 50 globally in technological readiness. Except for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, innovation is likewise weak for the rest of the ASEAN.”

While work continues on the critical issues of quality assurance and credit transfer, the region has taken its first steps toward more widespread mobility programs. SEAMEO, for example, operates the ASEAN International Mobility for Students (AIMS) program. AIMS traces its origins to a 2009 pilot of Malaysian, Thai, and Indonesian universities. The program has expanded quickly in the years since to include seven member countries, seven study fields, and 59 participating universities throughout ASEAN.

– ICEF Monitor
January 21, 2014

Australia

Student Visa Application Numbers Point to Recovery of International Market

Recent data on offshore student visa applications over a six-month period last year suggests that Australia’s international education industry could be recovering from a four-year slump in enrollments.

Australian Department of Immigration and Statistics data shows a 7.1 percent rise in student visa applications from March to September 2013, propelled by offshore applications for higher education institutions benefiting from streamlined visa processing.

With a 4.9 percent rise, China maintains its top position accounting for a quarter of overall offshore applications. According to the government, this was the highest September quarterly figures in the last four years with most sectors including English language and VET experiencing growth.

Figures show offshore applications increased by 27.6 percent from the same quarter last year to 40,306, the highest number since 2009 (46,132). The rise owes to a 42 percent increase in applications for higher education visas, driven by streamlined visa processing introduced last June. Offshore VET visas showed year on year growth of 9 percent and independent English providers experienced a slight increase over the quarter.

In addition to the 5 percent increase among Chinese visa applicants, Indian applications were up 7.3 percent, while Vietnam lodgings surged by 41.6 percent. Applications from other top markets including Brazil, Pakistan and Nepal also showed growth, however, numbers outside of the top seven dropped.

Meanwhile, year-end enrollment figures for 2013 reveal an almost double-digit rise in commencements in 2013 compared with the previous year. This upturn was across all sectors except the VET sector, which was flat. Overall, enrollments were up for the first time since 2009, suggesting a turn-around for Australia’s beleaguered education-export industry, according to the data from Australia Education International.

China remains an important source country overall, representing close to 30 percent of all international students in the country. The Chinese share of new commencements (as opposed to enrollments) also represents 25 percent of that data set. In the vocational sector, India tops China as the most significant source country, and remains in second position overall, followed by South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.

– The PIE News
January 30, 2014

Cambodia

Ministry Will No Longer Sign Degree Certificates Under New Quality Assurance Measures

Cambodia’s minister of education will no longer place a validating signature on the country’s university degrees, and institutions of higher education will soon be audited under a new accreditation process. Universities with sub-par programs will be shut down entirely, or ordered to take serious remedial action to improve their level of teaching, an education ministry official said.

“All universities must sign [their own degrees] and be responsible for the education quality themselves,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said in February.

An accreditation committee is reportedly being established. Along with the perception of corruption in the education sector, a lack of proper oversight in the accreditation process has led to criticism that some universities in the country are operating as no more than degree mills.

– Cambodia Daily
February 11, 2014

China

Government Targets Chinese Universities in Anti-Corruption Drive

The Chinese government launched a wide-ranging anti-corruption drive at the end of 2013, and universities will be included in the national graft audit, scheduled as a ‘five-year plan.’

Investigations into university officials began in 2013 and will continue in the coming year, according to official reports. China is aiming to become a global science and technology power within 10 years, but realizes that university corruption has the potential to harm the country’s international research reputation, as well as exacerbate inequalities as the wealthy use bribes and official connections to secure student admissions, while those in rural areas and the poorest are left behind.

However, “a glass ceiling will soon be reached if a modern system of higher education cannot work properly, so the Chinese leadership realizes [corruption] is a serious issue,” Yang Rui, professor of education at Hong Kong University, told University World News.

“Although it is comparatively less than in other sectors in terms of absolute amounts, misconduct in higher education is widespread,” said Yang. “In theory they [the leadership] want to tackle corruption in higher education, but in practice it is impossible to achieve, because it is so widespread in China, it [involves] almost everyone.”

According to a UNDP report, graft in the higher education sector occurs most commonly in infrastructure contracts, decision-making and in student enrollment. A number of high profile university leaders have already lost their jobs or stepped down in recent months due to the campaign, according to University World News.

With regards to admissions graft, the Xinhua news agency reported in early December that up to CNY1 million (US$165,000) was being paid for admission to a top university in Beijing. Graft is reportedly worse in graduate admissions than at the undergraduate level.

– University World News
January 15, 2014

UK Transnational Degree Provider Enjoys Great Success

A recent article in the International Unit’s International Focus newsletter recounts the trials and tribulations of delivering degree programs internationally, while looking back on a decade of success for one institution.

In 2004, Queen Mary University of London set up a partnership with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) to offer a set of jointly run degree programs in telecommunications systems and networks. Students graduate with a degree from BUPT and from the University of London, and teaching is split 50/50 between the universities. Students are admitted under the centralized gaokao examination system in China and they must score significantly above the top national line set as minimum entry for China’s Key universities.

The relationship has enjoyed great success, and it has now been extended to Nanchang University in the field of Biomedicine. Of the annual list of graduates, numbering approximately 500, a high proportion (65 percent) go on to graduate education at top universities outside China.

The syllabus and teaching materials are based on the curricula of both institutions, and are subject to the quality assurance systems of both universities and countries. All teaching takes place in China, in English, with 50 percent of the teaching from each university. The first five cohorts have now graduated and the program has a total enrollment of 2,000 students, with the addition of a new program adding another 800 students.

In addition to safeguarding academic quality, the university reports that compliance with local laws, regulations and tax policies is also essential. To ensure compliance in all aspects, Queen Mary retains the services of a firm of international lawyers in China, and a firm of tax advisors.

– International Focus
February 2014

George Washington Decides Against China Campus

George Washington University has decided against building a campus in China. Under the leadership of the university’s former business school dean and vice president for China operations, Doug Guthrie, the university had explored the possibility of seeking approval from the Chinese Ministry of Education to develop a campus in partnership with the University of International Business and Economics, in Beijing. (Only five Western universities, including Duke, Kean and New York Universities, in the U.S., have such approval.). However, Guthrie was fired from his administrative posts in August for budget overages.

“The university did not have a formal plan to build a campus in China,” the university’s provost, Steven Lerman, said in a statement. “We had been looking at a variety of options, and with the help of a faculty advisory group, we decided instead to enhance existing partnerships such as our new Confucius Institute and study abroad programs.”

– GW Hatchet
February 4, 2014

Shanghai’s British Branch Campuses

In 2004, the University of Nottingham opened a campus in Ningbo, across the bay from Shanghai. In Suzhou, a 23-minute train ride from Shanghai, the University of Liverpool has partnered with Xi’an Jiaotong University in a jointly run institution since 2006. The University of Manchester also has a presence, with Manchester Business School’s China Center in Shanghai. And there is the Sino-British College (SBC), which offers British degrees in Shanghai from nine of the 11 universities that make up the Northern Consortium of universities (NCUK).

Then there is New York University, which is scheduled to open its latest international “portal” campus in Pudong later this year. And Duke University plans to open its much-delayed campus in nearby Kunshan, a joint venture with Wuhan University, in the fall.

Ian Gow is principal and chief executive of SBC, having formerly served as the founding provost of Nottingham Ningbo. In talking to Inside Higher Ed about the differences between UK and U.S. campuses in Shanghai, he notes, “that the British had come here to educate Chinese students and brought in international students to internationalize [their campuses]. New York and others, this is part of their global strategy. Their first driver is to educate their [U.S.] students about China – that is how I see it.”

He describes SBC, which has about 2,000 students, as a different model from Nottingham Ningbo and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU). While the last are “independent legal entities,” SBC is “embedded” within a Chinese institution – the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and teaches on a franchise basis. Students can either spend their whole time in Shanghai or, if they can afford it, spend one or two years of the program at their British university. Nottingham’s Ningbo campus is a joint venture between Nottingham and Wanli Education Group, a private company that runs Zhejiang Wanli University.

The benefit to Chinese students is that they are “getting taught entirely in English” and “getting a British degree for a lot less than they would in the UK,” Gow says. And the “benefit to Shanghai is of course that they want as many people [as possible] trained up in key subjects who are highly competent in English.”

– Inside Higher Ed
February 14, 2014

India

IITs May Rank as One Unit in the Future

All 13 Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) may compete as a single unit for a place in international rankings, reports Firstpost.India. Higher education secretary Ashok Thakur said the idea was to position the institutes as a single unit much like their brand.

International ranking agencies would be informed accordingly, he said. Central universities and other institutes could follow the IITs to position themselves in the ranking lists, he said.

Thakur’s comments came after a retreat of IIT directors held in New Delhi, also attended by Human Resources Development Minister MM Pallam Raju and some public sector enterprise heads. Currently, none of the Indian institutes feature in the top 100 of any of the world rankings. Panjab University is the highest ranked of the IITs, clubbed in the group of universities ranked between 226-250 by Times Higher Education in its latest ranking.

– Firstpost.India
January 16, 2014

British University Consortium to Enter Indian market

Pathway provider North Consortium UK (NCUK) will begin offering its programs in India, its first foray into the market in its 25 year history, after signing an agreement with the Delhi based training arm of Indian student consultancy The Chopras.

Indian students hoping to study in the UK will now be able to complete the pre-masters pathway program at Chopras Institute of Professional Education (TCIPE) centers in Bangalore and Delhi, allowing them to progress to a master’s degree at one of NCUK’s 11 member universities. The consortium plans to expand into other cities in India including Mumbai, Pune and Chennai (based on demand) over the next few years.

TCIPE is currently recruiting for its first intakes in March and May, and will also offer NCUK’s International Diploma in Business from September onwards. NCUK hopes to recruit over 100 students across India in the next two years, a spokesperson told The PIE News.

– The PIE News
February 10, 2014

GRE Test-Taker Numbers Soar in India

The number of GRE tests taken by students in India increased by 70 percent in 2013 from the year before, according to figures released in February. The numbers, from the Educational Testing Service, which administers the GRE, the entrance examination used by most graduate-school programs, suggest that a recent surge in the number of Indian students entering American graduate schools may continue. A report released last fall by the Council of Graduate Schools showed a 40 percent rise in first-time graduate enrollments from India from 2012 to 2013.

ETS’s new figures show that more than 90,000 GRE tests were taken by Indian students in 2013, while tests taken in Asia overall increased by 35 percent. Christine Betaneli, a GRE spokeswoman for ETS, said the company expanded its reach in India last year by conducting more visits to campuses and student fairs. It also increased emphasis on social-media engagement with Indian students.

According to ETS, more than 1,100 business schools accept GRE scores for their MBA programs, an 8 percent increase from the previous year, which is an additional factor cited for the increased GRE demand. The number of international programs accepting GRE scores increased by nearly 12 percent, compared with 2012, according to ETS.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 11, 2014

India Ripe for Engagement

In a report released in February, the British Council says there is a “sense of urgency” to expand the Indian system of education at a fast enough pace to meet an impending demographic surge in demand “while increasing quality and ensuring equitable access.”

The report, which is aimed at UK institutions of education says there are many and diverse opportunities for engagement with India, but that any institution doing so needs to take the long view. It notes, while there are plenty of existing partnerships with the handful of elite Indian institutions with international reputations, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, and institutes of national importance, the vast majority of institutions have no contact with overseas universities.

“While the … sector has been working with Indian central government institutions, the real growth opportunities are likely to come from state governments, as the Indian education sector becomes more devolved out of New Delhi.”

The report says India’s current rate of enrollment in postsecondary study is 18 percent, but the government is looking to have a 30 percent enrollment rate by 2020, which will require 14 million new university places in just six years.

– Inside Higher Ed
February 18, 2014

New Zealand

Government Pumps Additional Funding into Education Exports

The New Zealand government announced recently that it will apportion a further NZ$465 million (US$220 million) to the International Education Growth Fund (IEGF). This is the second round of funding grants following an initial round of Growth Fund grants in summer 2013.

The IEGF grants are an indication of New Zealand’s commitment to targeted investment in international education, whether in a major market like China – where New Zealand aims to build a reputation for quality and regain a more significant share of Chinese students abroad – or in important emerging markets in ASEAN, the Middle East, or Latin America.

The IEGF is a matching program, through which eligible organizations (including institutions, peak bodies, or private businesses offering educational products or services) can access matching funds to support new international market development initiatives. The funds are “matching” in the sense that applicants are required to invest funds of their own with investments ranging from a minimum of NZ $10,000 to NZ $50,000 per project. To date, the fund has approved grants of more than NZ $1.4 million for 41 projects with a combined marketing investment, including the applicants’ contributions, of more than NZ $2.8 million.

In making the funding announcement in February, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce noted, “New Zealand’s future prosperity depends on our ability to successfully export our products and services internationally, and that includes the delivery of New Zealand education offshore, as well as recruiting more students to study here.”

“The first round of funding released in June 2013 has already delivered results: Wellington-based company Software Education, has launched five new courses in Singapore and signed six new partnerships with US organizations; and Kiwa Digital, of Auckland, has used its funding to close international contracts valued at NZ $386,000.”

– ICEF Monitor
February 24, 2014

Philippines

Universities Shift Academic Calendars in the Name of Internationalization

The Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines announced in February that they were shifting their academic calendars from June–March to August–May, aligning them with overseas partners and ensuring that graduates would have a global outlook, reports GMA News. However, the University of the Philippines-Diliman rejected the shift and will continue to adhere to the June to March academic calendar.

A statement posted on Ateneo’s Facebook page said its board of trustees approved the shift at a February meeting and that the new schedule would take effect in the 2015-16 academic year. It said the university had decided on the shift to align its calendar with the more than 80 percent of its current university partners overseas, and noted that more than 70 percent of all universities in the world follow the same academic timetable.

Meanwhile, the University of the Philippines system also approved shifting the start of the academic calendar to August from June effective academic year 2014 to 2015. Under the new academic calendar, UP’s first semester will begin in August and end in December, while the second semester will be from January to May.

Other Philippine universities have also expressed their intention to change their academic year as part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) integration in 2015. These include De La Salle University, University of Sto. Tomas, and Far Eastern University. The Philippines is the only member of the ASEAN still starting its academic year in June, since Thailand adopted the September-May calendar in 2011.

– GMA News
February 6, 2014

South Korea

Government Forces Mergers and Closures

The government of South Korea is planning on shutting down universities that cannot attract enough students. In response, universities and colleges are merging and reorganizing in a bid to stay viable.

South Korea saw an increase in the number of universities in the 1990s in response to increased demand for a better-educated populace. After peaking in 2012, the number of high school graduates in South Korea began falling, and hit 630,000 in 2013, with 560,000 university places available. It is estimated that in 2018 the number of university places will come close to topping the number of school-leavers.

Now, if a university experiences financial difficulties or does not meet its enrollment targets, the government will slash its funding, push it toward a merger or acquisition or close it down. According to a South Korean research institute, five universities have been forced to close their doors since 2004, while an additional 40 have been pegged for restructuring. There are currently 350 universities and colleges in South Korea.

The government will soon announce a new framework for university management. Beginning next fiscal year, universities will be categorized into five grades, such as “excellent” or “good.” Student quotas will then be allocated according to grade. Government funding for universities in the bottom two grades will be minimized. If they cannot then manage, they will be forced to close.

– Asahi Shimbun
February 7, 2014

Vietnam

At Least One World-Class University by 2020 

Vietnam says it is shooting to upgrade one national university to ‘world-class’ status by 2020, while also developing regional research-led universities so that they can compete with the best in Asia by 2015.

However, competing with more advanced Asian neighbors – let alone global powerhouses – will require major changes in the way larger universities are governed, experts say. In particular Vietnam needs to grant more autonomy to big national and regional universities, according to Hien Huynh, a former manager in charge of research and development at a constituent college of Da Nang University, a regional university with several campuses.

Vietnam has no universities in the world’s top 200, or Asia’s top 100. Getting one university into the top 200 by 2020 “would require a massive investment of funds in one institution; the creation of a completely autonomous public university; and measures to concentrate research talent – students and staff – in one institution,” said Martin Hayden, a professor from Southern Cross University in Australia and recently a consultant to Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training.

Vietnam National University Hanoi is closest to achieving Vietnam’s world-class aspirations, although it is still unable to compete with several other ASEAN countries on resources, governance and concentration of research talent.

Aware that restructuring existing universities may not be enough, Vietnam is also setting up four to five new multi-disciplinary research universities, partnered with foreign universities and promised greater autonomy. Three have been established in partnership with Germany, France and Russia, and two more are being negotiated with Japan and Britain. Backed by substantial World Bank and Asian Development Bank loans, the hope is that at least one can reach the world’s top 200 by 2020, although few newly established universities have reached that level in such a short period.

– University World News
January 24, 2014

Lack of Lecturers Leads to Cut of 207 Majors

Up to 207 majors in 71 universities in Vietnam will not be allowed to enroll students in 2014 because of a lack of permanent lecturers, according to a dispatch signed by Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga.

Notably, most of the training majors of the Hanoi Stage and Cinema University will be suspended. Well-known universities such as the Hanoi Pedagogical University will have to stop enrolling students in eight fields, including civic education, art pedagogy, information technology, mathematics, chemistry, biology, literature and psychology. The HCM City National University will have four majors suspended, including oceanography, Spanish language, Italian language and Han Nom.

The Ministry of Education and Training says that by the end of 2015, if these universities have enough permanent lecturers for these majors, they will be allowed to resume, otherwise the ministry would revoke licenses for the majors.

– VietNamNet Bridge
January 27, 2014

New University Admissions Procedures Introduced in Effort to Reduce Cramming

The Vietnamese government introduced a new university admissions policy in December that will come into effect starting from the 2014-15 academic year. Under the new policy universities can seek approval to enroll students under their own admissions schemes rather than through the centralized admissions system. These may include a variety of assessment methods including interviews, essays or school reports.

The policy is being introduced, in part, to lessen the focus students put on studying for the university admissions examination, known as the ‘three commons,’ which requires school-leavers to sit tests in three subjects over two days. With domestic institutions providing only enough places to meet a quarter of student demand, the test cramming industry has exploded in recent years. Many blame the rise in cramming on the ferociously competitive one-size-fits-all university entrance examination.

At a press conference in January Bui Van Ga, deputy minister of education and training, said dismantling the ‘three commons’ to allow universities to conduct their own admissions processes would help tackle the shortcomings of the centralized exam in selecting the most appropriate students for each university.

– University World News
February 21, 2014