Regional

Report shows majority of international students call Asia home

Asian students continued to represent over half of international students enrolled in tertiary education in 2013, according to the latest Education at a Glance report by OECD. The report also shows that the proportion of international students is higher at the more advanced degree levels.

Looking at data from 2013, the report found that Asia was the home continent for 53% of all international students enrolled in mainstay study destinations (34 member countries and 12 others). Speaking from a webinar presenting the OECD report, Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills at OECD, said that this region is “where you can see the hunger for learning”.

“It may change in the future but at the moment, [Asia is] by a large margin the most dominant source of international students, followed by Europe, with a large gap,” he said.

A quarter of outbound international students hailed from Europe, followed by 8% from Africa. Latin America and the Caribbean had 5% of the share of international students. North America represented 3% of outbound international students.

– The Pie News
November 25, 2015

Australia

Australians welcoming more international students

Australia is welcoming unprecedented numbers of international students in 2015; governmental leaders say changes to visa rules will stimulate further growth.

In a joint statement, Peter Dutton, the minister for immigration and border protection, and Richard Colbeck, the minister for tourism and international education, said almost 230,000 student visas were granted in 2014-15, up 2.6% on the previous year. Dutton said the introduction of a new international student visa framework from next year – a change designed to make it easier for overseas students to study in Australia – will build further on the growth.

Australia’s is also developing its first national strategy for international education to provide a 10-year outlook for strengthening the sector further.

Of the total student visas granted in 2014-15, 21.9% were granted to Chinese students while grants to students from India also remained high and the number of grants to students from South Korea, Brazil and Thailand also increased from previous years. However, Australia is behind the US, China and the UK as a destination for students from Asia, which has 60% of the world’s students.

– University World News
October 31, 2015

New record for Australia’s international education income

Exports from Australia’s international education services sector – two-thirds of it comprising income from international higher education students – reached a record high of $18.8 billion in 2014-15, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data has shown. According to the Minister for Tourism and International Education, Senator Richard Colbeck, the figures eclipsed the previous peaks of $17.6 billion in calendar year 2014 and $16.3 billion in financial year 2013-14.

The figures confirmed that international education remains Australia’s largest services export and its third-largest export overall after iron ore and coal. The vast majority of the income, $18.2 billion, was contributed by the nearly half a million students who chose to study in Australia over this period. International students in the higher education sector generated $12.5 billion in export income, while students in the vocational education and training sector produced $2.9 billion.

The importance of international education to Australia came to the fore during meetings with alumni in Jakarta in mid November, as part of the Indonesia-Australia Business Week, who included Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships alumni, and newly awarded recipients of this highly regarded program.

Meanwhile, on 16 November the government also published a list of 100 new research projects to be funded under the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme in 2016 and 2017, under which almost $3.5 million will be shared by Australian and German researchers to pursue joint research projects with their counterparts halfway around the globe.

– University World News
November 23, 2015

China

Bridging the language gap

Chinese President Xi Jinping put his weight behind the expansion of Mandarin language teaching overseas, during visits to the US and UK this month, as leaders from both countries agreed that language is the best way to create truly bilateral relations.

The world’s 1,000th Confucius Institute was opened in the UK this fall. To support the expansion of Mandarin provision, the US launched the1 Million Strong program in late 2015. During Xi’s visit to Washington, DC in November, President Obama announced the new initiative, which seeks to ensure that 1 million US students are studying Mandarin by 2020.

The announcement was made after Xi declared his support for student mobility between the two countries while visiting Seattle as part of his US tour. Supporting greater mobility between the UK and China also topped the Xi’s agenda during his recent visit to the UK.

In order to further encourage movement between the countries, UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced the extension of the UK’s six-month tourist visa, including multiple entries, to two years for Chinese visitors. The program will launch in January and could be extended to introduce a 10-year visa. Meanwhile, the White House announced a US-China Tourism Year in 2016, a joint program led by the US Department of Commerce and the China National Tourism Administration designed to promote travel between the two countries.

– The Pie News
October 26, 2015

Japan

University funding dwindles as budget deficit continues

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) “Education at a Glance 2015” report revealed that Japan ranks at the bottom among 31 member states in the amount of the country’s wealth spent on education, including higher education.

According to the latest statistics released in the report, Japan spends just 3.5% of gross domestic product, or GDP, on education, below the average of OECD countries of 4.7% of GDP. It is the sixth consecutive year that Japan has performed so poorly in education. Professor Takamitsu Sawa, president of Shiga University, a public institution in West Japan, said the core reason for low spending is the country’s large budget deficit.

To make ends meet, Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura issued a notice to national universities in May this year supporting a six-year reform plan starting in fiscal 2016, from next April. Under these reforms universities are required to set specific goals and road maps that outline mid-term goals and plans to produce human resources that match the needs of society.

– University World News
November 28, 2015

Malaysia

Malaysia announces cuts in university budgets

Malaysia’s public universities are reeling after higher education appeared to bear the brunt of cuts announced in the 2016 budget last week. Higher education will see a decrease of US$325 million compared to the previous year.

Some 19 out of the country’s 20 public universities will see their budget allocations slashed, with the country’s flagship University Malaya facing a 27.3% decline in government’s proposed funding for next year. Parents are concerned that the cuts of 20% to 25% in the budget allocations for individual universities could lead to skyrocketing university fees in the near future.

Malaysia’s economy has come under pressure from lower oil and commodity prices and the need to reduce a yawning budget deficit has led to the cuts, according to Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh. The government has been attempting to defend the budget cuts in the face of criticisms that it will be unable to carry out its flagship higher education Blueprint to 2025 to spur “excellence in higher education”, in the face of such swinging cuts.

– University World News
October 29, 2015

Myanmar

Student hunger strike continues in Myanmar

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party, or NLD, won a resounding victory in this month’s democratic elections in Myanmar, is attempting to intercede in a hunger strike by student leaders. The students are demanding that all jailed political prisoners be set free. Political leaders, including Suu Kyi, have been trying to persuade them to call off their strike, amid fears that unrest over the hunger strike could disrupt the post-election transition to a new government.

The strike began at the end of October, with at least a dozen other students joining in at staggered intervals. Some of the student leaders, jailed earlier this year after they demonstrated against the controversial national education law, were sent in poor health to Yangon General Hospital on 14 November.

Aung Hmaing San, a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, or ABFSU, and the leader of students on hunger strike, said the strike will not go on indefinitely. Other students have indicated they may be willing to postpone their fast, but would resume if their demands were not met.

Some 127 people including student protesters and supporters were arrested, but some were released. NLD spokesperson Nyan Win noted that many students who were arrested for protesting over the current education law are still facing trial and the court process is ongoing.

– University World News
November 19, 2015

South Korea

Student recruitment company talks expansion

South Korea-based student recruitment company, iae Global, has earmarked Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia as markets offering significant opportunity for growth of its student counseling and placement business.

First established in 1992 in Seoul, iae Global has expanded to 39 international branch recruitment offices in 15 countries.

Following a significant investment into the company by Japanese PE firm, New Horizon Capital, iae Global plans to expand its operations regionally, building on its successful track record of counseling and sending students overseas to study.

– The Pie News
November 25, 2015