Regional

Global Tuition Fees Mainly Stable

A survey of 39 countries found that more than 75 percent of them did not increase university tuition fees in 2010. However Higher Education Strategy Associates, the Toronto-based consulting company that conducted the study, expects universities worldwide to seek more financial support from tuition and other private sources as public financing for higher education decreases in the future.

The report, Tuition Fees and Student Financial Assistance: 2010 Global Year in Review, also said that Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand “probably faced the largest increases in barriers to education” because of major cuts in student aid.

The 60-page report says that although the global situation for tuition and student financial aid policies did not change drastically last year, “major changes to the affordability and accessibility of higher education around the world are on their way.”

The Year in Review offers an overview of trends in higher education financing in the G40 countries that account for more than 90 percent of global enrollments and research production. Iran was excluded from the list because of lack of data.

– Higher Education Strategy Associates
February 2001

Business Schools Need to Do More to Globalize

Business schools have changed their programs and need to consider further changes as a result of globalization, according to a report issued in February by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The report outlines ideas for the kinds of changes business schools need to consider while reviewing some of the notable changes already made.

– AACSB
February 10, 2011

Canada

Immigration Data Show International Student Numbers Continue to Rise

Preliminary immigration data for 2010 show a continuing increase in the number of foreign students coming to Canada, according to a statement issued by the immigration minister.

More than 96,000 students entered last year, which is over 28,000 more than in 2005, or a 41 percent increase in five years. Most of the students came from China and India. New students joined tens of thousands of foreign students already in the country on previously issued study permits. An immigration snapshot taken in December showed more than 218,000 foreign students with study permits were in Canada. However, this is not the total number of students because permits are not needed for courses or programs less than six months, such as language courses.

– Citizenship and Immigration Canada
February 13, 2011

Canada to Launch Agent-Certification Process

The Canada India Education Council (CIEC), which coordinates educational ties between the two countries, plans to launch iCARE, an agent certification process, this July ahead of the Fall 2011 academic session. The initiative is aimed at students concerned about recent instances of fraud abroad. Approximately 12,000 Indian students are currently studying in Canada.

Senior Canadian government officials told the Hindustan Times that the federal government is backing the initiative that it hopes will help Canada to develop as a popular study destination for Indian students.

“Students in India are worried about studying abroad after the TVU (Thames Valley University in California) scam and the recent instances of fraud and race attacks in Australia. We believe that if we pitch Canada appropriately, we can show Indian students that our country is a very attractive alternative,” an unnamed senior Canadian official said. The iCARE process will allow Indian students keen on studying in Canada to ensure that education agents they approach are certified, CIEC executive director Husain Neemuchwala said.

– Hindustan Times
February 16, 2011

Research Spending Pays Dividends

A national strategy launched in the mid-1990s to attract top talent from around the globe with billions of dollars in grants has put Canada on the global research map, attracting talent from abroad while keeping top domestic academics at home, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Federal and provincial governments have pumped in unprecedented amounts of cash for people and equipment to spur innovation and build a critical mass of expertise, beginning in 1997 when the federal government created the Canada Foundation for Innovation as an independent agency to finance research infrastructure. Other measures followed, including the creation of high-profile grants for emerging and top scholars in Canada and abroad; lucrative fellowships for Canadian and international graduate and postdoctoral students; and, most recently, up to US$200 million over seven years to recruit up to 20 top international researchers. As a result, Canada’s universities have become competitive for people, at a time when the global recession has hit university budgets much harder elsewhere in the English-speaking world.

In 2000, the Canadian government established 2,000 research professorships, each worth either $1.5-million over seven years (and then renewable) for leaders in their fields, or $500,000 for five years (with one renewal) for promising researchers. Of the 1,845 scholars holding these research chairs now, 290 are from the United States and other foreign countries, 256 are Canadians who have returned from abroad, and the rest were already working in Canada. Last year Canada expanded its efforts, with the Canada Excellence Research Chairs program. The federal government pledged $200 million over seven years to attract 19 internationally recognized researchers to pursue their work in Canada in any of four areas: environmental science, natural resources, health, and information/communications. The winners—eight from the United States, four from Britain, six from Europe, and one from Brazil—each receive $10-million for seven years. Their host universities commit to support them after that.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 20, 2011

Dalhousie to ‘Sell’ Places at Medical School to Saudi Students

In a somewhat controversial move, Dalhousie University announced recently that its medical school will be selling 10 spaces for US$75,000 each to qualified students from Saudi Arabia as it attempts to make up an operating-budget shortfall.

“Our intention, barring any unforeseen circumstance, is to admit 10 Saudi students a year for the foreseeable future,” said Tom Marrie, dean of the medical school based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to The Chronicle. He believes this is the first deal of its kind for a Canadian medical school. Such schools in Canada are government subsidized.

In a somewhat unusual circumstance, the school had some extra spaces for students at its Halifax campus after it opened a satellite facility in the neighboring province of New Brunswick. However, the Nova Scotia government has refused to pay for any additional students, so that left 10 unfilled seats in Halifax for this fall.

Nova Scotia says it must complete a study to see how many additional doctors it needs before it will pay for more places. However, opposition politicians have been vocal in their criticism of the government’s failure to use the places, and they oppose the idea of educating foreign doctors at a time when they say there is a shortage of medical professionals in some parts of the province.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 14, 2011

Chile

Exponential Growth in Overseas Enrollments Over Course of Last Decade

The enrollment of foreign students in Chilean universities has grown by 700 percent over the last decade. The majority of this growth is from North American students, especially those from United States looking to learn Spanish.

At the Pontífica Universidad Católica (PUC) in Santiago, exchange programs to Chile began 20 years ago when the first batch of 22 students arrived from Stanford University under a program that allowed the same number of Chileans to study in the U.S. Ten years later, student exchanges to PUC had risen to 600, and are now at 1,400.

At the Universidad de Chile in 2001, there were 800 foreign students enrolled, whereas now there are approximately 1,400. This includes 55 percent from the U.S., 35 percent from Europe, and 5 percent from Asian countries. The Universidad Católica in Valparaíso has seen even bigger growth, from 150 to 850 in just 10 years. The Universidad de Valparaíso, where 112 foreign students were enrolled this semester, has exchange programs with 12 different countries.

– Santiago Times
March 10, 2011

Ecuador

Ministry Launches Foreign Degree Recognition Website

The Ministry for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (Secretaría Nacional de Educación superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación) has launched a web-based and free of charge system for the recognition of diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions.

– Ministry of Higher Education (in Spanish)
February 2011

United States

University of Virginia Again Rated as Best-Value Public College

For the third year running, the University of Virginia (UVA) has been named the best value public college by the Princeton Review and USA Today. UVA is one of five schools in Virginia to make the top 100, while Florida is also well represented on the list, with the New College of Florida and the University of Florida placing second and third. Swarthmore College was voted the best value private school in the United States, followed by Duke and Princeton.

To determine their rankings, the Princeton Review and USA Today considered data from surveys conducted at 650 competitive colleges and universities. Of these, 50 private and 50 public colleges were selected for excellence in academic strength, cost of attendance and financial aid. All financial information was provided in fall 2010, and other surveys took place between the fall of 2009 and 2010.

In their interactive list, USA Today offers a profile of each school which includes information about the school, institutional statistics, financial aid details and “the bottom line.” The Princeton Review has more on methodology.

– Princeton Review
February 22, 2011

Number of Foreign-Born University Presidents on the Increase

As colleges in the United States expand study-abroad programs and establish campuses overseas, they are also hiring an expanding number of foreign-born leaders.

The Association of American Universities, which represents large research campuses in the United States and Canada, said that 11 of its 61 American member institutions have foreign-born chiefs, up from 6 five years ago. In the past two months, three colleges in the New York region have appointed presidents born abroad: Cooper Union hired a scholar originally from India; Seton Hall University, a candidate from the Philippines; and Stevens Institute of Technology, a native of Iran.

The globalization of the college presidency, higher-education experts say, is a natural outgrowth of the steady increase of international students and professors on American campuses over the past four decades. It will, they say, most likely lead to more relationships and exchanges abroad while giving students a stronger sense that they are world citizens — a widely advertised goal in academia.

And it’s not just at the top of the ladder that the ranks of foreign academics are swelling. The number of international scholars working at colleges and universities in the United States — as researchers, instructors and professors — rose to 115,000 last year, an all-time high, from 86,000 in 2001. That growth, documented by the Institute of International Education came despite the problems in obtaining visas after 9/11.

Of the foreign-born presidents of institutions that belong to the Association of American Universities, three are from Canada (including Shirley M. Tilghman, at Princeton), one is from South Africa and one is from Australia. The other six hail from China, Greece, France and Cyprus.

– New York Times
March 9, 2011