France
French Universities Perform Well in New Internationalization Ranking
French institutions have performed particularly well in the second annual internationalization rankings from user-driven global higher education U-Multirank [1] rankings, while all of the 27 of 237 institutions analyzed and achieving top scores are in Europe.
This is the first year U-Multirank has published a ‘ready-made’ table comparing how institutions perform in the area of internationalization. The top-achieving 27 institutions achieved an ‘A’ grade in each of the four metrics: incoming and outgoing student mobility; proportion of international staff; international joint publications; and international doctorate degrees.
France leads the rankings, with six institutions attaining top marks across the board, followed by Austria, with four, while Belgium and the Netherlands each had three. Among the top-ranked institutions are EPF de Lausanne, HEC Paris, Dublin City University in Ireland, University of Innsbruck in Austria and Technical University Denmark. The ranking considered 237 universities deemed to be active in the area of internationalization, with 7.5 percent or more of their student body being foreign degree seeking students. Just 11 of the 27 institutions feature in the top 200 of the 2014 Times Higher Education ranking, and Frans van Vught, a U-Multirank project leader, commented: “These rankings identify high-performing universities not captured by other rankings with their heavy research focus.”
A second edition of the rankings covering five dimensions of university performance is due for release at the end of March 2015, covering a broader range of subjects than last year’s publication, adding psychology, computer science and medicine. U-Multirank was launched last year, and is based on a combination of information supplied by institutions; data from international bibliometric and patent databases; and surveys of more than 60,000 students at participating universities.
– The PIE News [2]
February 9, 2015
The Netherlands
Government Introduces New International Scholarship Scheme
The Dutch government released a new strategy for international education in July 2014, built around the idea of expanding student mobility, transnational education initiatives, and international partnerships for Dutch institutions. Part of that program included a €5 million-per-year (US$5.7 million) scholarship program for foreign students, primarily those from non-EU countries, as well as some support for Dutch students studying abroad.
The government has since provided further details of the program [3] with an update in January stating that it will provide 768 scholarships of €5,000 ($5,700) each for foreign students, and a corresponding number of scholarships (of €1,250 each) for Dutch students going abroad. Scholarship recipients will be selected by Dutch universities and colleges, which are also sharing in the cost of the program.
The number of foreign students studying in the Netherlands grew by 61 percent between 2005 and 2012, numbering just under 70,000 in 2011/12 according to official figures from Nuffic. The majority of students are from the EU, which also accounts for much of the growth in inbound mobility over those several years, but about a third come from non-EU countries.
– ICEF Monitor [4]
January 29, 2015
Ukraine
Internationalization Plans Continue Despite Conflict
The internationalization of higher education in Ukraine continues to be vulnerable to the tensions of the region’s geopolitics, but despite the distraction of war, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko last July signed a ‘Law on Higher Education,’ significant because it is the first such law developed through consultation with the Ukrainian public, reports University World News.
The new law sets the stage for Ukrainian higher education to act with greater autonomy, accountability and transparency, enabling more nimble responses to international opportunities. The implementation of quality-assurance processes is a significant step forward in improving the transparency of university accreditation in Ukraine. The new processes are supported by the creation of a National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance in Higher Education.
To help promote internationalization across Europe, the new legislation defines an academic credit and the number of credits in a full-time academic year in compliance with Europe-wide standards under the Bologna Process. Furthermore, the introduction of the PhD degree at Ukrainian universities significantly benefits the global mobility of Ukrainian scholars, whose home status of ‘candidates of sciences’ is not well-understood abroad.
Also under the new law, universities are expected to intensify research capacity and production. Faculty, traditionally overloaded with more than 900-950 hours/year of classroom teaching, will see a decrease in their load to 600 hours/year.
– University World News [5]
February 6, 2015
Republic of Ireland
International Enrollments Grow Despite College Closures
The number of non-EU students enrolling in Irish institutions of higher education over the last year has grown, according to new government statistics. A recently published review of immigration in Ireland in 2014 stated that nearly 49,500 non-EU/EEA students were given permission to study in Ireland for English language and degree-level study between January and November last year, representing a 3,700 year-on-year increase in student numbers.
The boost in numbers suggests that the country’s reputation hasn’t been tarnished despite a series of private English language school closures in 2014. In explaining reasons for the increase, the government cited a package of reforms to the international education sector and the student immigration system introduced in direct response to the closures, and evidence of immigration abuse in the education sector.
Also cited was the management of an application backlog for citizenship to Ireland which, near the start of 2011, had reached approximately 22,000 applications that had been waiting for a decision for longer than six months. Since then, over 90,000 applications have been cleared, and processing times have been reduced from 31 months to less than six.
– The PIE News
February 17, 2015
Russia
Crimean Students Face Hurdles when Applying to Russian Universities
Nearly a year after Russia took Crimea from Ukraine, students from the region trying to get places in Russia’s dwindling number of good universities are finding the process increasingly competitive and expensive. Trying to get a “budget place,” or free tuition, is even more challenging, with parents often spending huge sums on tutoring their children to get the required grades or number of points.
With the economy heading for recession and education targeted for budget cuts, the stream of students from Crimea is adding to simmering anger over how much Russians are having to pay for annexing the peninsula from Ukraine in March last year, reports Reuters.
Since March 18 when President Vladimir Putin hailed what he said was the historic homecoming of Crimea, patriotism still runs deep, with more than 80 percent of Russians supporting the move in opinion polls. Moscow has moved swiftly to stamp its authority on the peninsula, tempering the instability of overthrowing all Crimea’s old Ukrainian systems with vote-winning policies such as increasing pensions and public-sector wages. Officials say Crimea should become fully integrated into the Russian system next year. Meanwhile Russia’s Education Ministry said universities with more than 50 budget, or free tuition, places will offer Crimean students between 2 and 5 percent of them.
Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for Crimea, and falling oil prices, have pierced the economic stability Putin has overseen since coming to power in 2000. With the budget facing a shortfall of $45 billion this year, mainly because of lower prices for Russia’s main export oil, cuts have to be made, and education is a prime target. As in earlier crises, education will “live with severe budget constraints,” said Vladimir Knyaginin, director of Center for Strategic Research North-West. And that would be from an already low level.
– Reuters
February 13, 2015
United Kingdom
A Third of Academics Rate Language Proficiency of Their International Students Inadequate
Nearly a third of academics do not believe that international undergraduates in their departments speak and write English at a level that is adequate for degree-level study, a Times Higher Education survey suggests.
According to the results of the second annual THE Best University Workplace Survey, 31 percent of scholars do not believe that, in general, undergraduates from overseas have the necessary English skills. Academics identifying as “business and law” scholars are most likely to disagree that international students’ language is up to scratch (45 percent), with those in “engineering and technology” and “biological and physical sciences, mathematics” disciplines the next in line (both 32 percent). At the other end of the scale, only 19 percent of education scholars say the same.
The survey questioned more than 4,150 university employees from nearly 140 institutions. The poll sought their views on everything from pay and conditions to their relationships with coworkers, and some of the thousands of comments made by respondents show the difficulties that academics can face with overseas students’ English.
– Times Higher Education [6]
February 5, 2015
12,000 Students Thought to Have Lost Places Under Government’s Visa Crackdown
More than 12,000 international students may have lost places at UK colleges in a government crackdown on immigration fraud, according to a report that suggests few, if any, have had their fees refunded. The Home Office action, which began in June when overseas recruitment was suspended at three universities and dozens of colleges, resulted in 65 private colleges losing their visa sponsorship rights.
Students who lost places included those with alleged fraudulent English language qualifications, but also others who enrolled in good faith at an institution that lost its license. A sponsorship working group set up to assist genuine students was told that more than 5,000 people had been given 60 days to find a new place to study or to leave the UK.
However, a report from the National Union of Students [7] claims that a “significant number” of students were “excluded” from the group’s remit, including those who attended colleges that had their licenses suspended after June. The real total of affected students was likely to be more than 12,000, the report says.
– Times Higher Education [8]
February 12, 2015
London Tops City Search Index Among U.S. Students
London is the world’s most searched-for city on the internet among U.S. students looking to study abroad, new research by Google reveals. Announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson at a London higher education showcase in New York, the data shows the capital’s institutions also dominate individual university search rankings by Americans.
Paris and Barcelona were the second- and third-most searched-for cities, followed by Berlin, Singapore, Amsterdam, Rome, Dublin, Hong Kong and Oxford. London is the most popular study abroad destination outside North America for U.S. students and is host to some 30,000, including 6,440 on undergraduate and graduate programs. In addition, London is home to an estimated 22,000 U.S. students who arrive for a 5- or 16-week period study abroad program and many more plan shorter two-week study tours.
The most searched for UK universities among U.S. students were the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. King’s College London, University College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science followed. Trinity College Dublin and Australian National University were the only two non-UK universities to appear in the top 10, in eighth and tenth place respectively. Five Australian universities appeared among the top 30 most searched-for institutions, along with two in Korea and one in China.
– The PIE News
February 11, 2015
A Quarter of All Students Enrolled on Taught Master’s Programs in England are Chinese
The number of Chinese students enrolling on full-time taught master’s programs in England has grown to all but match the number of home students. There is a warning about English universities’ “overreliance” on China in an analysis [9] of Higher Education Statistics Agency data by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, published in February.
The report says that full-time taught master’s programs in England “rely primarily on international demand,” with non-UK learners making up 74 percent of the 2013-14 intake. Non-European Union entrants represented 62 percent of new students, with the 29,360-strong Chinese contingent accounting for 25 percent of the total alone. This was up from 23 percent in 2012-13. Across all full-time graduate programs in England, Chinese students represented 37 percent of all non-EU entrants in 2013-14, compared with 25 percent in 2010.
Home students made up only 26 percent of the intake to full-time taught master’s programs in 2013-14, down from 34 percent in 2005. In contrast, Indian students made up 8 percent of the total, compared with 18 percent in 2010. This represented a drop of 7,600 (54 percent) in the total number of Indian students starting graduate programs compared with three years ago.
– Times Higher Education [10]
February 18, 2015
British School Leavers to be Allowed to Include European Universities in Centralized Admissions System
British school leavers will be able to apply to European universities through the UK admissions system for the first time, under a landmark reform that will transform the higher education market, according to the Guardian newspaper.
The change, promoted by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) as extending student choice and reflecting the increasingly globalized nature of higher education, is likely to accelerate the steady increase in the number of young Britons studying abroad. The trend has already been boosted by a boom in the number of programs taught entirely in English by continental universities and priced well below the maximum £9,000 (US$13,900) a year annual UK tuition fee or, in some countries, with no fee at all.
Students due to leave school this summer will have the option of applying to a handful of European universities via UCAS after it reversed its opposition, provided the universities meet equivalent quality standards to the UK.
– The Guardian [11]
February 17, 2015