Regional

Agent Survey Suggests U.S. and Canada are Most Attractive Destinations for Foreign Students

According to the findings of a recent poll of international recruiting agents, the United States and Canada are the most attractive international destinations for foreign students.

The ICEF i-graduate Agent Barometer, now in its seventh year, polled recruiting agents for six weeks between September and October, drawing responses from 1,194 placement professionals from 117 different nations and responsible for the placements of nearly 330,000 students worldwide.

In terms of program placements, language courses are the most popular (71 percent recruit students for these courses), followed by undergraduate (67 percent) and graduate programs (64 percent). The next most popular placement is distance/online learning, for which 50 percent of agents said they recruit students. Foundation programs accounted for 47 percent of placements, followed by high school (39 percent), vocational/continuing education (36 percent), work and study programs (26 percent), MBAs (18 percent), and work and travel programs (8 percent).

In terms of attractiveness of study location, the U.S. continues to lead according to agents, followed by Canada. The top five, according to “very attractive” mentions are:

• US: 73 percent (stable since last year)
• Canada: 64 percent (stable since last year, now in second place)
• UK: 63 percent (-1 percent since last year)
• Australia: 53 percent (+5 percent since last year, continuing a rebound from a low in 2010 of 40 percent)
• New Zealand: 33 percent (+1 since last year)

– ICEF
November 6, 2013

Brazil

New Report on Brazilian Mobility Program

A new report from the Institute of International Education (IIE) provides data on the growth of the Brazilian government’s Scientific Mobility Program in the United States and across the world.

The report, “Brazil Scientific Mobility Undergraduate Program in the United States: A New Phase in U.S.-Brazil Educational Exchange” provides an overview of the Brazilian Scientific Mobility Undergraduate Program and presents a snapshot of current trends and statistics. Among those trends is information on where scholarship students have been applying to study. To date, eight countries have received more than 1,000 Brazilian students: United States (5,842), France (3,539), UK (3,491), Canada (2,962), Portugal (2,669), Spain (2,600), and Australia (2,269). A total of 30 countries have received scholarship students so far.

The report focuses mainly on U.S. trends, and it projects that over 7,000 students will enroll at more than 340 U.S. host institutions in the current academic year. The report highlights, among other things, top receiving states, top receiving institutions, field and level of study, and top Brazilian sending institutions.

– IIE
November 2013

Canada

Canadian Stock Rises as Destination for International Students

A new study from the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) reveals that Canada continues to pull in increasing numbers of international students, with growth of 11 percent between 2011 and 2012. Last year there were more than 265,000 international students studying in Canada, a 94 percent increase since 2001.

The findings are reported in the second edition of the A World of Learning report, released in November in conjunction with CBIE’s 47th annual conference in Vancouver. The study estimates that Canada plays host to 5 percent of all internationally mobile students globally, making it the 7th most popular study destination worldwide. The CBIE estimates that international students had an economic impact of nearly CDN $8 billion in 2010, producing more than 81,000 jobs.

The top five source countries remained unchanged between 2011 and 2012; China, India, Korea, Saudi Arabia and the US, combined, continue to make up more than half of Canada’s international students. Chinese students represented 30 percent of Canada’s international student population in 2011, growing 20 percent in 2012.

The study also includes findings from an annual CBIE survey of international students in Canada. This year’s survey drew responses from 1,509 students representing 25 institutions. Of those, only about 300, or 20 percent, reported they had applied to countries other than Canada (for the most part, these students had also applied to institutions in the US, UK, or Australia). This represents a substantial decrease compared to the 2012 survey where 45 percent of respondents reported applying to countries other than Canada. Nine out of 10 respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with their experience in Canada, according to the report with 96 percent of students indicating they would definitely or probably recommend Canada as a study destination.

The survey responses were mixed on the question of the role of international education agents. More than half (53 percent) of respondents said agents played an important role in their decision but, as the report notes, interesting regional differences can be observed in the survey data.

– ICEF Monitor
November 20, 2013

Chile

Odds-on Favorite in Presidential Elections Promises Tuition-Free University

Presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet is the overwhelming favorite to win a second round of voting on December 15 for what would be a second term in office, and her campaign has released a proposal to provide universal access to higher education at no cost to students.

Her campaign’s five-member special unit’s proposal also calls for the elimination of for-profit universities, which currently play an important role in the country’s education system. The team is proposing new taxes on ‘professionals’ to cover the cost of providing free access to universities.

This particular policy proposal stems most recently from a series of student protests that began in 2011, under the administration of Chile’s current President Sebastián Piñera. At the center of the protests was a demand for an improved education system, and ‘free’ university access.

– PanAm
November 22, 2013

Mexico

Mexican University Branch Campuses North of the Border

A number of Mexican universities have set up shop in U.S. border states in recent years to offer educational services to immigrant populations. And while most of the half dozen or so schools with U.S. centers offer little more than English, Spanish and cultural classes, they’re eyeing greater prominence in the United States by offering higher-level programs, reports the Hechinger Report.

Nearly 34 million people in the United States identify themselves as Mexicans or of Mexican origin, but only five percent have university degrees, compared to about a third of immigrants in general, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Mexican universities see a market.

In a shopping center called Plaza Mexico in Lynwood, just south of Los Angeles, the Universidad de Colima offers classes to about 100 adult Mexican immigrants; however, just a handful are on full Mexican degree programs. By contrast, the Universidad de Guadalajara has set its sights on educating the millions of Californians from its home state of Jalisco. The university already offers a joint nursing degree in Los Angeles, but the partnership will end in October, and the school is now considering offering degrees there independently in several subjects.

The Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS) has taken its first steps toward a campus near Sacramento, building on the accreditation it already has for its Mexican campuses along the border. The university currently educates about 300 San Diego-area students.

California, where public universities have been dealing with deep budget cuts and enrollment limits, will likely be the principal target of Mexican universities. Several Mexican universities have already opened offices or started offering classes in California, including the nation’s biggest, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), which has a campus in Los Angeles in addition to one in San Antonio, Texas.

The nearly 70-year-old San Antonio campus of UNAM is reportedly in the process of getting U.S. accreditation with an eye toward vastly expanding its offerings from language classes to full-blown academic programs.

– Hechinger Report
November 3, 2013

United States

Enrollments Among Indian Graduate Students Skyrocket in 2013

Data from the Council of Graduate Schools show a dramatic increase in the number of Indian students entering American graduate schools this fall, while the share of new graduate students from China increased only modestly. This is distinct and sudden trend change from recent years.

In recent years, first-time graduate enrollments from India have largely been flat, but this year – seemingly out of nowhere – they surged 40 percent, according to the CGS report on international graduate-student trends. Meanwhile, after seven consecutive years of double-digit growth, the number of Chinese students beginning graduate programs in the United States was up just 5 percent.

One possible explanation for the sudden growth from India could be the lack of interest from the sub-continent in British graduate programs after the government there restricted access to post-graduation work opportunities. This year saw a dramatic 30 percent drop in Indian applications to British graduate programs among Indian students, according to a survey of institutions by Times Higher Education. Some observers have also speculated that the number of Indian graduate students able to afford to study in the United States might actually dip moving forward with the dramatic decline in the value of the rupee. The suggestion is that Indian students are choosing to enter U.S. education before their currency devalues any further.

With the huge spike in Indian enrollments, the number of first-time graduate students from overseas at U.S. universities climbed a healthy 10 percent. Total enrollment of international students in American graduate schools increased 7 percent from 2012 to 2013, the eighth consecutive year of growth.

Aside from India, the other country with significant enrollment increases was Brazil, where the number of entering graduate students increased 17 percent, largely due to the Brazilian government’s ambitious overseas scholarship program. The number of new students from South Korea, the third-largest source of foreign students, declined by 12 percent, continuing a downward trend. More Koreans may be electing to stay home as the quality of research institutions in that country improves.

– The Council of Graduate Schools
November 5, 2013

Overall International Enrollments Continued Strong Growth Last Year

According to data released by the Institute of International Education in November, the total number of internationals on student visas in the United States increased 7.2 percent in 2012-13 to a new record of 819,644. The Open Doors report also showed that the number of Americans studying abroad grew to 283,332 in 2011-12, representing a 3.4 percent increase over the previous year.

The overall increase in international student enrollments continues to be driven primarily by China and Saudi Arabia, the first and fourth-largest sources of international students respectively. China from an already huge base was up 21.4 percent to 235,597, while Saudi enrollments were up an even bigger 30.5 percent to 44,566. The totals for China and Saudi Arabia have grown massively since 2005-06 when they were 62,582 and 3,448 respectively. That’s growth of 276 percent and 1,193 percent each over six years. Chinese students now make up 28.7 percent of all international students in the U.S.

The second and third-largest sending countries, India and South Korea, were down 3.5 and 2.3 percent respectively. Other noteworthy double-digit growth came from Brazil (up 20.4 percent to 10,868), Iran (up 25.2 to 8,744), and Kuwait (up 37.4 to 5,115). Like Saudi Arabia, enrollments from Brazil and Kuwait are being fuelled by government scholarship programs.

The drop in Indian numbers comes despite a recently released report from the Council of Graduate Schools, which found a 40 percent surge in new graduate enrollments from India this fall. When thinking about this, it should be noted that the IIE data relates to last year; however, an IIE snapshot survey for this year suggests continuing weakness from India, which makes the two datasets somewhat difficult to reconcile, even if the CGS data is specific exclusively to the graduate level.

With huge growth in undergraduate enrollments among Chinese students international undergraduates outnumber foreign graduate students in the U.S. for the second year in a row after more than a decade in which the opposite was the case.

Also up were first-time international enrollments, which is indicative of continued short-term growth in overall numbers. Open Doors found that first-time international enrollments increased 9.8 percent in 2012-13.

– IIE Open Doors
November 2013

British Recruiter and Pathway Provider Works on Fifth U.S. University Partner

Based in the UK, INTO University Partnerships is close to inking a deal with George Mason University that would see it recruit internationally for the Virginia-based university. In addition, INTO would provide pathway programs for students that need extra academic or English-language tutoring under a long-term joint venture. This is a similar model to that already in place at four other partner universities INTO collaborates with in the United States.

The agreement comes after GMU turned the company down initially, opting instead to develop a transition program for international students on its own. But George Mason’s four-year-old bridge programs – which combine academic and intensive English courses into a “pathway” year for international students – never attained the scale administrators wanted. So the university returned to the negotiating table and recently announced that it is finalizing a joint venture agreement with INTO, pending approval by the university’s Board of Visitors in December.

George Mason’s provost, Peter N. Stearns, said that two things have changed since INTO’s initial approach. The first is that the British-based company has established a track record with American universities: its partnership with Oregon State University is now in its fifth year, and it has since launched programs at the University of South Florida, Colorado State University and, most recently this fall, Marshall University. The second is that George Mason has a more acute sense of its own limitations.

“Having built a successful transition program here we also realize that we face some clear limitations in expanding it to the scale we would like in meeting the university’s goals for internationalization,” Stearns said, explaining that the university simply doesn’t have the capital to replicate INTO’s recruiting network. George Mason is currently enrolling a total of about 140 students in its undergraduate and graduate pathway programs and another 180 in its English Language Institute. It hopes, through the partnership with INTO, to increase the number of international students coming to George Mason by an additional 300 to 400 a year.

According to INTO officials, it has delivered at all its U.S. sites. Oregon State has 1,305 students enrolled this fall in INTO OSU programs, South Florida’s INTO USF, now in its fourth year, has 709 students and Colorado State’s INTO CSU, in its second, 535. INTO Marshall, in its first year, has 170. These figures all represent significant increases from the numbers of students enrolled in these universities’ intensive English institutes prior to the start of the INTO partnership.

– InsideHigherEd
November 1, 2013