Regional

EU Establishes Scholarships for Latin American Scholars

In 2002, the European Commission adopted Alßan, a high-level scholarship program specifically designed for Latin America. It is expected that approximately 3,900 Latin American students and professionals will benefit from these scholarships in the European Union during the next nine years.

The first recipients of the program will start their postgraduate education – for master and doctoral degrees, or for higher specialized training – during the 2003-04 academic year. Periods of training range from six months to three years, depending on the project and the academic level.

The European Commission is contributing 75 million euros (US$88 million) to the program.

— Programme Alßan

Argentina

University Strikes Reflect State of National Education

For one day in late March, 34 of Argentina’s 37 state universities were brought to a halt in a protest organized by the deans and supported by the students, teachers and administrative staff unions. The strike sought to focus attention on university underfunding in Argentina.

Argentina’s lengthy recession has prevented successive governments from meeting payment obligations to the country’s public universities. These institutions which, depending on the source, are currently owed anywhere between US$170 million and US$400 million. The final straw came for university officials in February, when the government used nearly US$2 million set aside for university funding for other purposes.

The lack of funding to public universities and the 1.2 million students they enroll has left the majority of campuses unable to maintain facilities, pay for research or finance scholarships. Professors’ salaries have plummeted, with nearly half allegedly not being paid at all.

The universities of Lanús and Tres Febrero, which recently received a US$7 million budget increase, were the only institutions not to join the protest.

— Buenos Aires Herald
April 4, 2003

Canada

Canada Sees Growth in Overseas Student Numbers

A report from the Canadian Education Centre Network (CEC) suggests that international student numbers in 2002 increased, despite a change in immigration rules that distorted statistics.

Beginning in June 2002, students were allowed to study in Canada for up to six months without a student visa. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, this led to a 7 percent drop in the number of student study permits issued in 2002. The CEC report indicates, however, that there was a significant increase in the number of permits issued from some countries. It also reports increases in student enrollment at a majority of language schools, which run many courses that are shorter than six months.

India had the biggest increase in issued study permits, with 67.4 percent more than in 2001. Vietnamese study permits were up nearly 30 percent; increases were also noted in Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia and South Korea.

Both Brazil and Argentina experienced a drop-off in numbers in 2002. Mexico, an important market for Canada, saw the number of study permits rise in the period previous to June 2002, followed by a significant drop. The CEC says the drop is explained by the fact that short-term study has always been indicative of the Mexican market.

Students from the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Hainan must now apply for study permits via Hong Kong, which helps explain the 15.5 percent decline in applicants from mainland China in 2002 and 17.3 percent rise from Hong Kong.

— Language Travel Magazine
June 2003

Minister: All Ontario Students Will Find University Place

Despite a 46 percent jump in student applications (102,000) to Ontario universities over previous years and widespread anxiety that thousands of students will be shut out, the government said in early May the universities will definitely be able to accommodate the sharp hike in numbers.

The potential for overcrowding caused by the elimination of Grade 13 has caused great uncertainty for students, but Dianne Cunningham, Ontario minister of postsecondary education, declared the province’s high school graduates should worry no more.

“Based on past experience and good data and good numbers, we can assure parents and students that we’ll meet the demand (for university places),” said Cunningham.

The universities believe the number of places offered to students should be similar to the proportion in previous years. Students, however, face larger class sizes as the final group of Grade 13 students graduate in June at the same time as the first set of graduates from the new four-year high school program.

With an election due within a few months, skeptics have accused the Conservative government of misleading the public about the universities’ ability to absorb new students. The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations said the government has reached for the “Tokyo subway solution – cramming as many bodies into temporary spaces and inadequate classrooms as can be done.”

— Toronto Star
May 2, 2003

Northern Ontario’s First Medical School to Open

With C$95.3 million (US$70 million) in Ontario government aid, a joint venture between Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and Laurentian University in Sudbury will establish the first medical school in northern Ontario. It is hoped that students will stay to practice in the area after qualifying as physicians, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves said in early May.

The school will feature main campuses in Thunder Bay and Sudbury, as well as teaching and research centers across northern Ontario. Eventually, the new institution will have 224 students. The province wants students to begin classes in fall 2004, but officials said the target date is under discussion while the school awaits accreditation.

— The Globe and Mail
May 8, 2003

Ontario Schools Surpass Saturation Point

Ontario universities may have to use movie theaters and possibly increase the number of evening and weekend classes to accommodate the record number of incoming freshmen in the province’s double-cohort class.

More than half of Ontario’s institutions of higher education have more students accepting offers than the number of spaces available for the fall. Approximately 72,000 students have accepted offers of admission, accounting for roughly 70 percent of the 102,000 members of the double-cohort graduating class. In a normal year, universities accept about 40,000 new students.

The real test will come in September, when the new inflated crop of freshmen begins to show up for class. Will the universities be able to provide them with a quality education? There will be the issue of overcrowding in classrooms, residences and libraries, coupled with the “face time” students have with their professors in a province whose faculty-to-student ratio of 22:1 is already the highest in Canada.

— The Globe and Mail
July 1, 2003

Ecuador

Teachers End Classroom, Hunger Strikes

On June 12, the government reached an agreement with 120,000 striking public school teachers for salary increases and more government investment in education. The next day, 260 teachers ended a hunger strike they had begun on June 9, and on June 16, members of the National Educators Union returned to work.

— Americas.org
June 15, 2003

Peru

Presidential Pay Cut Ends Strike

Peru’s 280,000 public school teachers went back to work June 12 after a monthlong strike that grew to include protests by farmers and government workers.

Under the agreement, teachers — who earn less than US$200 a month on average — will receive an extra US$30 a month, less than 50 percent of what they were seeking. The pay increase came as President Alejandro Toledo took a 30 percent pay cut, his second in two years. When he took office, Toledo awarded himself a monthly salary of US$18,000.

More problems may lie ahead as the government must find the cash to pay the wage rises promised. According to the Economist “The kitty is empty, and his {Toledo} proposed package of emergency tax-raising measures has backfired.”

— Washington Post
June 12, 2003

The United States

New Programs, Acquisitions, Accreditations

• The University of California at San Diego opened a new arts and technology residential college in fall 2002 for courses in computer engineering, studio arts and cultural studies.
• Ramapo College of New Jersey and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) will combine undergraduate study in biology with graduate education in a physician assistant program. The program will include three years at Ramapo to earn a B.S. in biology and three years of professional education at UMDNJ.
• DeVry has purchased Ross University, which includes a medical and veterinary school in the Caribbean.
• Texas College has overcome financial troubles to regain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and reinstatement as a member of the United Negro College Fund.
• Corinthian Colleges Inc. signed agreements June 10 to acquire for profit-education companies Career Choices Inc. and East Coast Aero Tech LLC.

— College Bound
June 2003

Community Colleges to Award Bachelor’s Degrees

Community colleges are beginning to offer four-year teaching programs as state legislators attempt to address teacher shortages and provide more opportunities for a diverse range of students.

In fall 2002, St. Petersburg College Florida transformed itself into a full-fledged, four-year college and began to offer bachelor’s degrees in education. The school was still a two-year community college this time last year.

Critics of the Florida program say this new course is a duplication of already existing programs and therefore a waste of resources. Furthermore, they worry that the program is less rigorous and will lack some of the essential services that other four-year institutions provide.

The introduction of the School of Education in Florida comes as part of a national movement to offer four-year teacher-training programs on community college campuses. According to a preliminary survey from the Center for Community College Policy, there are, to date, community colleges in 22 states offering teacher preparation courses. Nineteen of those involve hands-on experience in K-12 classrooms. Raw data, however, have been collected for approximately 30 states.

The survey found that while models vary, four-year programs are cropping up where there is both a need for teachers and a shortage of opportunities in higher education.

Maryland was the first state to offer associate’s degrees in teaching. California has developed partnerships in which students take entry-level education classes at community colleges and transfer to four-year institutions to finish their bachelor’s degrees. In Texas, community colleges offer an alternative-certification program for people who have already earned bachelor’s degrees. Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana and Nevada have initiatives similar to the one at St. Petersburg College.

— Education Week
April 30, 2003

Mergers and Closures

St. Mary’s College of Ave Maria University, an institution in metropolitan Detroit that came into being three years ago through a merger, is changing hands again. Madonna University will take over St. Mary’s on July 1. A new name for the institution has not yet been chosen.

Two private institutions in the Los Angeles area may combine their operations. Officials from Chapman University and Western University of Health Sciences are looking into the possibility of a merger to increase their competitive edge. A final decision is expected in 10 to 12 months.

The Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, a 95-year-old technical college in Boston, plans to cease offering college degrees and to focus instead on a nondegree program in remedial education. The Board of Directors voted to end degree programs at the private two-year college due to financial troubles. The college enrolls about 400 students.

The New Jersey Institute of Technology will end its degree program in Mount Laurel at the end of 2004’s spring semester, citing financial troubles and failed enrollment targets. The program is allegedly more than a half-million dollars in debt and would require an additional $400,000 to meet accreditation standards. The Mount Laurel program, which offers bachelor’s degrees in four disciplines, was projected to have 500 students. However, only 346 enrolled in 2001. NJIT has a total of 8,800 students.

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
April 25, 2003

— Associated Press
April 11, 2003

New Programs and Acquisitions

The University of Southern California School of Engineering recently announced the creation of a master’s program in computer science with a specialization in security, one of the nation’s first. The 18-month program will enroll its first students this fall. The program is a response to recent Bush Administration studies that have identified a crisis in the number of trained security personnel. The program will be available both online and on campus.

The bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in business at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have gained accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). This comes in addition to accreditation through the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Less than 21 percent of all business programs nationwide are accredited by AACSB. The programs, offered through the university’s Department of Management, focus on the management of technology, and feature an interdisciplinary curriculum emphasizing leadership, ethics, communications and a global perspective.

Education Management Corp. announced plans in April to buy the four campuses of South University for $50 million. The deal comes amid a series of purchases made by large, for-profit education companies looking to broaden their offerings in the health sciences. South University houses its main campus in Savannah, Ga., and offers associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing and medical technology. South University has regional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

— AACRAO Transcript
April 28, 2003

— PR Newswire
May 12, 2003

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
April 30, 2003

Survey: Fewer Foreign Summer Students Enrolling in U.S. Programs

In what some see as a potential developing trend, far fewer foreign students are attending English-language programs at colleges in the United States this summer.

Both public and private institutions reported a 30.5 percent drop in enrollments by foreign students in their summer language programs this year compared with 2001, according to a survey conducted by the American Association of Intensive English Programs and the Institute of International Education. The groups surveyed 163 English-language programs in early May.

Both SARS and visa delays and denials have been cited as explanations for the largest drop-off in summer enrollment numbers the U.S. has ever seen, although such programs have been seeing gradual declines in enrollments before 2001. Intensive English-language programs are often the first step in the educational track of foreign students who need to pass the Test of Foreign Language before going on to other undergraduate or graduate programs.

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
June 18, 2003

New ESL Accreditor Gets the Nod

The U.S. Department of Education on June 10 recognized a second accrediting organization for programs in English as a second language.

The Commission on English Language Program Accreditation is now the only accreditor recognized to certify ESL programs of two- and four-year colleges and universities. The Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training, the other Education Department-approved agency, can certify only intensive English-language institutes and not the programs.

The commission has been granted a two-year period of recognition. At the end of that period, the commission will have to respond to concerns about its financial viability and the number of board members with academic ties in order to regain accreditation from the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity.

— The Times Higher Education Supplement
June 17, 2003

Venezuela

English-Language Industry in Crisis

According to a report from Language Travel Magazine, English-language agents in Venezuela are feeling the pinch as political turmoil, currency devaluation and strikes buffet the country’s economy, leaving the population with considerably less money in their pockets than 18 months ago.

Since February, the government has implemented tight currency controls on foreign exchange, making it very difficult for Venezuelans to buy U.S. dollars. Consequently, the outbound student market has severely dropped off.

The Bolivar was first devalued 120 percent against the U.S. dollar in February. Since then, agencies estimate that business has dropped an average 50 percent. A number of English-language agents say visa denials for their customers are on the rise due to the tendency for students to extend the length of their coursework.

Venezuela traditionally has been a strong student provider for the United States. According to the 2002 Open Doors report by the Institute of International Education, Venezuela is the sixth-largest source market for English-language enrollments, accounting for 3.2 percent of the 78,521 students in the survey. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the historically strong market in Canada for Venezuelan students is waning due to high numbers of visa denials.

— Language Travel Magazine
May 2003