Australia

Overseas Study: All Take and no Give

Compared to the legions of foreign students who study at Australian institutions of education, relatively few Australian students choose to study abroad, which has led to charges that Australian universities are more interested in export dollars than true educational exchange.

Cost has been identified by universities as one of the key reasons preventing students from heading overseas for a semester, however, federal Education Minister Julie Bishop blames the situation on a student perception that overseas study would not count toward their degrees in Australia. The minister’s assessment is based on government research that was conducted earlier in the year, and will reportedly form the basis of national policy to address the imbalance in international exchanges. Several universities have significantly increased scholarships to persuade more students to go abroad, but now say they need government help.

No national figures are available, but as an example, last year the Dutch Education Minister noted that 400 Dutch students were on exchange in Australia but only 40 Australian students were on exchange in The Netherlands. Anecdotal evidence cited in The Australian newspaper suggests similar imbalances have been noted by U.S. and British institutions with regards to short-term exchanges.

– The Australian
August 8, 2007

China

Government Issues Directive Aimed at Curbing Substandard Foreign Degree Providers

China’s Ministry of Education has warned local governments to watch out for “a few obvious problems” among the growing number of foreign educational programs in China, and has promised increased oversight of those ventures. In a memorandum issued in April, “The Notice on Regulating the Standard of Cooperation of Chinese and Foreign Educational Programs,” the ministry criticized what it sees as the poor quality, high cost, and lack of oversight of a number of foreign degree programs. Among the concerns about Chinese institutions of higher education that have formed partnerships with foreign providers are that they have in some instances failed to properly evaluate the standards of the foreign partner or their ability to run an overseas program. In addition, the ministry said it was concerned that some foreign providers used too many local professors to teach the courses.

China began allowing foreign institutions the right to offer degrees in 1995. Since then, the number of joint venture programs has risen to more than 700, many of which focus on disciplines such as business and technology. From now on, the ministry said, it will review each request by a foreign institution to set up programs in China, deciding whether or not it meets government standards. It will also supervise and evaluate existing programs on a regular basis; a significant change from its former hands-off approach. The ministry also warned against attempts at excessive profit making and against creating programs that are already in oversupply.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
July 26, 2007

Government to Tighten Regulations Governing English-Language Medical Programs

The Chinese Ministry of Education issued a notice on its website in July stating that it will limit the number of universities offering English-language medical programs for foreign students, citing quality concerns. The notice states that the ministry has created a special committee to review English-language medical programs beginning in the 2007-8 academic year. Just 30 universities around China were approved this year to accept students for medical training. Approximately 20 other universities were not approved and will not be allowed to offer the programs.

The ministry said that Chinese universities have rapidly expanded their English-language medical programs for foreign students to meet a rising demand, but that the fast growth had resulted in problems that hurt the reputation of China’s higher-education sector. Indian students, who are attracted by China’s low-cost universities, make up most enrollments in the medical programs. Press Trust India reported in early August that the Chinese ministry’s announcement came as a consequence of complaints from Indian students.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
August 7, 2007

India

Draft Bill Would Govern 16 New Central Universities

The Indian government has drafted a bill that would lay the groundwork for the establishment of 16 new Central Universities in the 16 states that currently do not house one. The draft bill is part of the government’s university expansion program aimed at improving access to higher education. The bill has been sent to various government ministries for comment and, if approved, is likely to be tabled in parliament in the upcoming monsoon session.

Currently, there are just 22 federally funded Central Universities in the country. Four of those are located in the capital, Delhi. According to media reports, the proposed universities are to be established as unitary, non-affiliating universities similar to Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hyderabad University. The 16 states that do not currently have Central Universities are Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Punjab.

The initiative to increase access to higher education was made public in June when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced his plans to create at least one Central University for each State and a degree college for every district. The Prime Minister said that each university should become a symbol of excellence, a model of efficiency and an example in terms of academic standards and university governance for other State Universities to emulate. The prime minister also stressed the urgent need to greatly increase enrollment rates among the college-age population. In the 350 districts, where the gross enrollment ratio is below the national average, Dr. Singh has asked the government to assist the states through the University Grants Commission in setting up degree-granting colleges.

– The Hindu
July 26, 2007

Planning Commission Proposes Bonanza Growth in IITs, NITs, IIITs, IIMs…

A government commission has proposed a plan for the next seven years that would include establishing eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), eight new Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) 20 new National Institutes of Technology (NITs), 20 Indian Institutes of Information Technology and 50 centers for training and research in cutting edge areas. The proposed special seven-year plan (2007-2014, a two-year extension to the upcoming five-year plan) was submitted to the government by the Planning Commission, an advisory body, in August. Of the IITs, three have already been cleared and one IIM at Shillong has also been approved.

The plan also envisages the creation of 30 new Central Universities, 14 in addition to the 16 that would be established in the states that do not currently have one (see above). Also, 350 new degree colleges in districts with low gross enrollment ratios would be established and 6,000 colleges would be strengthened.

India’s National Knowledge Commission, under the Planning Commission, says only 7 percent of India’s 18-to-24-year-olds are enrolled in higher-education institutions, a proportion that is just half the average for Asian countries. In January, the Knowledge Commission said in a report that India must increase its number of universities to 1,500 by 2015, from 350 now, to raise the proportion of 18-to-24-year-olds entering higher education to at least 15 percent.

– The Times of India
August 2, 2007

Japan

Government to Crack Down on Faculty Members Holding Bogus Credentials

Citing concerns that increasing numbers of overseas institutions are awarding fake university degrees, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced recently that it is conducting an investigation to out any faculty members at Japanese universities that have claimed such degrees for employment purposes. The ministry hopes to make its report public in the fall.

Recently, some Japanese university prospectuses have featured teaching staff whose qualifications were obtained from overseas degree mills. The ministry has asked universities to report back on whether they have ever hired academics on the basis of credentials that were later found to be bogus, and whether those credentials were unwittingly featured in school promotional literature or on the school’s websites.

– The Yomiuri Shimbun
July 25, 2007

Record Number of Foreign Students Stay in Country to Work after Graduation

A record 8,272 foreign students found jobs in Japan in 2006, up 40 percent from the previous year, according to the Justice Ministry’s Immigration Bureau. The surge is attributable to an improving job market and growing demand for translator and interpreter jobs due to Japanese companies’ expansion of overseas operations.

Asian students accounted for more than 90 percent of foreign residents who found jobs in Japan after graduation. Chinese students topped the list with 6,000 people, a 43.3 percent rise from 2005, followed by 944 South Koreans and 200 Taiwanese students, also up 26.4 percent and 19 percent year on year, respectively. Bangladesh (119) and Malaysia (118) rounded out the top five.

– The Yomiuri Shimbun
August 15, 2007

Malaysia

Newly Minted Research Universities Scouting Global Talent in the Hunt for a Top-100 Global Ranking

Four of Malaysia’s universities were reclassified as “research universities” under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), and were each awarded additional government funding to the tune of US$30 million for research, development and commercialization activities. As part of that plan, the Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) have been pushing to attract international academic talent to their campuses. This year those efforts have been rewarded, to an extent, with the appointment of two world-renowned academics.

Jeffrey Sachs of New York-based Columbia University will take up his post as holder of the Royal Prof Ungku Aziz Chair in Poverty Studies at Universiti Malaya. The special advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals is perhaps best known for his bestseller The End of Poverty.  Paediatric surgeon Tan Hock Lim, meanwhile, is due to join Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in September. Professor Tan, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, was born in Malaysia but has spent over 40 years abroad, and is a pioneer in pediatric keyhole surgery.

Malaysian universities, however, still have much to do to catch up with regional competitors such as Singapore and Hong Kong in terms of headhunting top scientific talents. Big-name scientists who have relocated to Singapore in recent years include Alan Colman – the British researcher who played a pivotal role in cloning Dolly the sheep – who is now heading a stem cell research group in Singapore. More recently, the husband-and-wife scientific team Neal Copeland and Nancy Jenkins chose to relocate to Singapore over leading cancer research centers in the United States.

According to Malaysian officials, the government wants to see the four universities feature among the top 100 in international rankings. Last year, UKM was the highest-ranked university at 185 in the Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings, followed by UM at 192, USM at 277 and UPM at 292.

– The Star
July 22, 2007

Public Universities Increase their Outreach to International Students

There are approximately 50,000 international students studying in Malaysia, and a majority study at private universities; however, enrollments at public universities are increasing annually, according to a recent article in The Star.

Although enrollments of foreign students at public universities are capped at 5 percent of total enrollments in undergraduate programs, there continues to be growth as most students are enrolling at the graduate or doctoral level. The Ministry of Education has recently set up an international students’ division to cope with the rising numbers, targeted to hit 100,000 by 2010. Foreign students come largely from Indonesia, China and countries in the Middle East, but there are also others from African nations such as Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia as well as a handful from Europe. Universiti Putra Malaysia has the highest level of international enrollments among public universities with close to 1,700, followed by Universiti Malaya (1,400), Universiti Sains Malaysia (1,400), and Universities Kebangsaan Malaysia (1,171).

The appeal of Malaysian public universities is fourfold according to administrators: quality research opportunities, the appeal of familiar culture for students from other Muslim countries, safety, and affordability. Another draw is that many programs are taught in English, although it is compulsory for international students to take and pass one unit in the local language, Bahasa Malaysia.

– The Star
August 5, 2007

New Zealand

International Students Mixed on NZ Study Experience

A survey of New Zealand’s universities has found that international students generally have a positive experience in New Zealand, but they may not recommend it to others. Education New Zealand, representing the education export industry, released the findings in August from a comparative survey conducted by UK-based International Graduate Insight Group.

The survey compared the responses of over 3,800 international students, in five New Zealand universities, with tens of thousands of responses from students all over the world. The study found that New Zealand was well ahead of the global benchmark in areas such as living costs and support, but behind in areas such as student unions and internet access. Seventy percent of respondents from New Zealand would recommend their university to others, compared with 83 percent of respondents abroad.

– NZPA
August 9, 2007

North Korea

International University Nears Completion

There have been reports in recent weeks that an English-language university, which would play host to academics from around and teach the country’s smartest graduate students, is close to completion. The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology is being built by 800 soldiers and being financed by a network of Christian groups and other supporters, who are aiming to raise US$150 million to cover the university’s costs. So far, the institution has raised enough cash to cover operating expenses of $20 million. Those behind the project estimate the university will begin teaching students in the spring of next year.

The institution is eventually expected to have 2,600 undergraduate and graduate students and help train a new generation of elite business executives and technicians. The initiative currently has the backing of North Korean leaders. If that remains the case, the university could represent a significant opening to the rest of world by the famously reclusive nation. Experts agree that despite chronic underfunding and poor facilities, North Korea has good universities, especially in the fields of computer science, software, and applied mathematics, which some describe as world-class.

With a faculty of 45, the university will offer a master’s in business administration as well as courses on information technology and agriculture. The initial cohort of about 150 students will be recruited from the country’s top research institutions, including the prestigious Kim Il Sung University.

– The New Zealand Herald
July 13, 2007

Singapore

The Global Schoolhouse Ten Years On

In a bid to establish itself as a regional hub for the provision of quality higher education, Singapore set a goal of bringing 150,000 international students to its shores by 2015 and establishing 10 world-class foreign institutions within 10 years. These goals were set a decade ago, and despite the high-profile closure of Australia’s University of New South Wales this year, and last year’s announcement by Johns Hopkins University that it would be closing its biomedical research facility in the city-state, the government has bettered one of its goals by attracting 15 highly regarded foreign institutions – from China, the United States, France, India, Germany, and the Netherlands.

In addition, foreign programs offered in partnership with 140 local private providers have helped to meet the demand of local and foreign students who have not met the requirements of Singapore’s prestigious public universities and foreign institutions. With regards to the goal of attracting 150,000 foreign students by 2015, approximately 80,000 international students were studying in Singapore in 2006, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. If that rate of increase is sustained then Singapore will more than meet its enrollment goals by 2015.

A recent article in the Boston College journal, International Higher Education, suggests, however, that regulators in the city state should remain vigilant on three fronts: setting realistic targets and estimates for enrollments and costs (UNSW and John Hopkins being cases in point); establishing a transparent system for the quality assurance of foreign provision, which to date is limited to a registration scheme for private education operators, addressing consumer protection issues such as fee policies, means of student redress, and an insurance scheme in case of operator failure (but not academic standards); and thirdly to ensure that in attracting foreign talent to the job market after graduation, Singapore is not harboring resentment among the local talent pool.

With regards to academic quality, it has been suggested recently that the government is exploring the possibility of introducing a licensing system to ensure that private schools meet certain standards in terms of financial stability, student welfare, and academic rigor. It also seems that further regulation of Singapore’s private education sector may be imminent with the development of an accreditation system to recognize high-quality private providers, thus offering students greater guidance in the selection of an institution and increasing pressure on lower-end providers.

– International Higher Education
Summer 2007

Prime Minister Announces Creation of 4 th Public University

In his National Day Rally speech, August 19, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that his Government has plans to increase access to publicly funded tertiary studies by creating a fourth public university. In his speech, the prime minister stated that the government aims to increase the percentage of tertiary students receiving subsidized education from 23 percent to 30 percent by 2015, an annual increase of 2,300 places. To achieve this, Lee stated that it was more practical to build a new institution (or two) than to expand further the three existing universities.

– President’s National Day speech
August 19, 2007

South Korea

Regulations Governing Joint Programs with Foreign Providers Relaxed

The Korean Ministry of Education issued new regulations in August that will ease cooperation agreements between Korean and overseas universities. Included in a list of 33 new measures to be introduced through 2011 are regulations stating that domestic universities will be allowed to decide on the number of credits required to be taken at their schools when operating joint education programs with foreign universities. Also, foreign university professors will not be required to come to Korea for a joint credit program. Currently, all classes must be taken in Korea if students wish to receive an international joint diploma.

Beginning next year, regulations will also be put in place to operate a program that will enable students to complete undergraduate and graduate courses in five years, officials said. Among other measures was an initiative to relax immigration regulations for foreign students coming to Korea. Universities will also be given greater autonomy over admissions policies.

– Korea Herald
August 3, 2007

Koreans Must Study Overseas for at Least One Year

A new government regulation requires that Korean students wishing to study overseas and receive credit from domestic institutions of higher education for that study must attend a foreign institution for at least one year. The new government regulation does not count English-language study as meeting credit requirements.

– AEI
August 2007

Women’s University to Open 6 Centers in China and the U.S.

Ewha Womans University has completed the construction of six international campuses, three each in the New York area and Beijing, and the university plans to establish more in approximately 20 other cities by 2010, according to university officials. The campuses, or centers, are housed within the confines of already-existing institutions and have been established to ease the transition for Korean students traveling abroad to study. The university expects to send some 1,900 students – about 60 percent of all freshmen – abroad to take part in various programs.

The satellite campuses have been constructed at New York University, Stony Brook College and Rutgers University in the New York area; and Peking University, Renmin University and Central University for Nationalities in Beijing. The campuses form part of an initiative dubbed Global Ewha 2010 Project.

– The Korea Herald
August 10, 2007

Junior Colleges to Award Degrees

Students will be able to obtain four-year university diplomas at two-year colleges starting next year, Education Ministry officials declared in August. The ministry issued an advanced notice of a revised Higher Education Act that permits such programs at junior colleges.

Graduates of Korea’s vocationally oriented two-year colleges will be eligible to receive bachelor’s degrees after completing one- to two-year intensive educational training courses that fit their field of study, ministry officials said. In order to apply for the program, students must be employed for at least a year at a company that is related to their major. Students must take a minimum of 140 credits to graduate from two-year colleges. Colleges must first seek approval from the ministry to award four-year degrees by submitting a detailed overview of the majors that will be included, the required number of class hours, the total number of students and the quota of students per class, the curriculum, and a recruitment outline of professors. The move is aimed at increasing the nation’s stock of skilled technicians.

– Korea Herald
August 13, 2007

Government to Create its Own English Proficiency Test

The Korean Government has announced that it will spend US$22.5 million to develop a new test for English proficiency over the next 2 to 4 years to provide an alternative to TOEIC and TOEFL. The plan is in part design to stem the outflow of money spent by Koreans on these overseas tests.

– AEI
August 14