Regional

Chilean University Unseats Brazilian Incumbent at the Top of Regional Rankings

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), has overtaken Brazil’s Universidade de São Paulo to top this year’s QS University Rankings: Latin America. São Paulo drops to second after three years at the top.

In this, the fourth annual regional ratings exercise, the QS University Rankings: Latin America highlights the 300 top universities in the region, based on seven indicators. The methodology is adapted from that used to compile the QS World University Rankings, with several additional criteria included to enable more in-depth comparison based on regional priorities.

Brazil had three of the top four institutions and 10 of the top 20, while 16 of the 20 leading Chilean universities had improved their position. A total of 21 countries featured at least one institution in this year’s rankings, from Brazil with 88 to El Salvador and Puerto Rico, both with two. Brazil’s tally puts it ahead of Mexico, with 46, followed by Colombia (41), Argentina (34) and Chile (30).

The results showed that while São Paulo was the top institution for research productivity, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile was well ahead when it came to research impact, measured by counting citations per paper. In third and fourth places were Brazil’s Universidade Estadual de Campinas and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Universidad de Los Andes Colombia was Colombia’s highest-ranked institution but it fell one place to fifth. In sixth place was Universidad de Chile, which fell one spot this year.

– QS University Rankings
May 2014

Brazil

New Education Plan Calls for Significant Increases in Education Spending

The National Congress of Brazil passed the National Education Plan (Plan Nacional de Educação, PNE) in June, around four years after the proposal was initially tabled by the Ministry for Education. Among other things, the plan calls for an increase in spending on education to 10 percent of GDP within a decade.

Brazil currently spends around 6.4 percent of its GDP on education – including on schools and universities – a similar figure to that of the UK. The PNE is composed of a set of defined goals that the ministry aims to have reached by around 2023. There are proposals related to primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Among the latter, the ministry intends to raise the number of students aged 18-24 enrolling in higher education up to 50 percent by 2023. As of 2012, the percentage stood at 30.2 percent.

Graduate education is another of the PNE’s focuses, with the ministry intending to gradually increase the number of enrollments in graduate studies. There were 42,878 master’s students in 2012, but the figure is expected to reach 60,000 by 2023. Similarly, the number of those with PhDs is intended to rise from 13,912 in 2012 to 25,000 in 2023.

– Times Higher Education
June 7, 2014

New Round of Funding Announced for Science without Borders International Scholarship program

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff announced in June a second stage of the country’s massive overseas scholarship program, Science Without Borders. The goal for this new phase is to offer another 100,000 scholarships to students from different universities around the country.

“Science without Borders is a program created to generate an innovation policy in Brazil. We have already granted 83,200 scholarships and will reach the goal of 101,000 by September this year. Therefore, we designed this new phase by offering scholarships to all Brazilian students who can qualify after a language proficiency process,” the president stated.

President Rousseff also highlighted the different areas considered in the program. “The program’s main objective is to grant scholarships for Engineering, Computer Science, IT and other Technology fields. The remaining scholarships are divided amongst Biology, Pharmacy, Bio-Diversity and Bio-Prospection.”

– Government News Release
June 26, 2014

Chile

Chilean Universities Collaborate to Attract International Students

A group of 21 Chilean universities has launched an initiative to promote themselves to international students. The initiative aims at promoting Chile as an “internationally recognized and qualified” destination for higher education.

The Learn Chile project, launched at the NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference in San Diego in May, proclaims that Chile offers international students “a rich life experience.” It is aimed particularly at students from Europe, China, the U.S. and Brazil, and is supported by the Chilean government.

Interest in promoting Chilean higher education institutions to international students has increased in recent years. Chilean Ministry of Education figures suggest that the percentage of international students attending one of its universities increased on average 14 percent each year between 2009 and 2012, and 26 percent between 2012 and 2013, according to Learn Chile. The Learn Chile website offers tools to help students considering studying in Chile and a list of the 21 universities involved.

– Times Higher Education
June 5, 2014

Canada

Community College Association Rebrands and Renames

The 132 member and 42 year-old Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) has launched a new brand and website under the name Colleges and Institutes Canada.

The new name has been launched to better reflect the identities of association members. “At the forefront of Colleges and Institutes Canada’s goals is to ensure people know about college innovations; contributions to communities and employment; as well as the broad support Canada’s colleges and institutes enjoy from Canadian industry and partners around the world,” according to an association press release.

The Association operates in 29 countries via 13 offices around the world. Colleges and Institutes Canada is also the secretariat for the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics.

– CIC news release
May 27, 2014

Mexico

U.S. Students Look Beyond Mexico for Latin American Study Experience

Young Americans wanting to study in Latin America are looking beyond Mexico, which has dropped from first to fourth for U.S. students going to university in the region over the last 10 years. Only about 4,000 U.S. students now study in Mexico, with crime and drug violence being the main deterrent. More go to Costa Rica, Argentina and Brazil.

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who heads the 10-campus University of California system, said in an interview with the Associated Press, that she wants to increase exchanges between University of California campuses and Mexican universities at all levels, from undergraduates to faculty and researchers. Of 233,000 students in the UC system, only about 40 study in Mexico each year, while about 1,900 Mexicans were at UC schools last year. Student exchanges would help correct misperceptions on both sides of the border that Mexico is dangerous and that the United States is unfriendly to Mexicans, Napolitano said.

President Barack Obama’s new higher education exchange initiative aims to have 100,000 U.S. students studying in Latin America and 100,000 from the region studying in the U.S. by 2020. A similar program in Mexico, “Proyecta,” has the goal of sending 100,000 Mexican students a year to the U.S. by 2018. Just over 14,000 Mexicans study there today.

“Once (the exchanges) are delayed or stopped, institutions set up affiliations and programs elsewhere, having longer-term consequences for the numbers,” said Shannon O’Neill, senior fellow at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. “So even if violence wanes, it can be hard for the numbers to rebound.”

According to the Institute of International Education, 8,360 Americans studied in Mexico in the 2000-2001 academic year. That dropped more than 50 percent to 3,815 by the 2011-2012 school year. Today, laid-back Costa Rica is the No. 1 pick of U.S. students, with nearly 8,000 Americans.

– Associated Press
May 1, 2014

United States

States Increasingly Help Universities Internationalize

According to a recent report, state governments are doing more to support efforts by public colleges and state higher-education systems to be more international.

The report, “States Go Global: State Government Engagement in Higher Education Internationalization,” says that such interest is largely driven by a desire to make local economies more globally competitive. This trend includes a variety of new efforts that include legislative resolutions expressing support for global education, college and university consortia aimed at attracting more international students to their states, and state systems have established centralized programs to coordinate study abroad for all of their campuses.

State backing could help colleges overcome challenges in becoming more global. In addition, it is perhaps a sign that more state officials and legislators appreciate international programs at colleges. Historically, some states have been wary of such work and restricted the use of public dollars for certain out-of-state activities.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
May 30, 2014

Study: Pathway Providers Eye Growing U.S. Market

Regional universities in the United States are likely to turn to for-profit firms to guide more international students onto their campuses, as they seek to increase tuition revenue following budget cuts, according to a new report.

Currently, less than 3 percent of U.S. institutions use foundation program providers, according to an analysis from consultants OC&C, which concluded this spring. The analysis predicted that the number of students enrolled annually through “pathway programs” could grow by 10,000 in the medium term.

British companies such as INTO University Partnerships and Study Group, which recruit and prepare international students for university through a foundation year, are looking to expand their businesses into the U.S. because the UK is already considered a mature. As of March this year, the biggest five pathway providers had partnerships with 56 institutions in the UK.

The study found that nearly one in five U.S. universities surveyed had a “strong interest” in establishing a pathway program, while a further quarter had “some interest.” Interest was particularly strong among regional universities – which do not rank highly in national tables – where nearly four in 10 expressed a “strong” interest in establishing a pathway program. This is where the bulk of pathway program growth will occur, according to the analysis. The majority of regional universities wanted to boost their international student numbers for financial reasons, whereas others tended to cite other motives, such as diversifying the student body, the research shows.

On the flip side, nearly half of the universities surveyed by OC&C that had a “low” interest in a tie-up with a pathway provider cited a “desire to protect institutions’ reputation.”

– Times Higher Education
June 5, 2014

Community Colleges Drop ‘Community’ From Names

A small but growing number of community colleges are making changes to their brand image by dropping the word “community” from their name. The move comes as more states allow two-year colleges to confer bachelor’s degrees, which typically take four years or longer to complete.

Three Seattle community colleges are dropping ‘community’ from their advertising material to become Seattle Colleges. Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Mich., just dropped community from its logo and marketing campaign, while nearly all of Florida’s community colleges have changed their names; several now call themselves state colleges.

Officials at those institutions say the change reflects the evolving nature of community colleges – many of which were born as junior colleges. The schools have traditionally offered two-year and shorter-term technical degrees – and still do. But 21 states now allow them to also confer bachelor’s degrees. That’s more than double the number 10 years ago.

“The changes are driven by a desire to remain more market relevant in the eyes of prospective students and employers,” says Tim Westerbeck, president of Eduvantis, a Chicago-based higher education consultant. “Often, schools change their name because of some externally driven factor that makes their particular name a disadvantage and they want to symbolize reinvention.”

Officials at Jackson College in Summit Township, Mich., which just opened a new international student institute, hope the shorter name will benefit recruitment efforts abroad. Educating international students “is a real growth potential and something we think we can do well,” says Cynthia Allen, vice president of administration.

But some educators say the receding visibility of “community” is a sign that two-year colleges are neglecting the populations they were created to serve. Funded in part by local taxpayers, community colleges grant admission to any students who want to enroll, regardless of their academic record. They typically represent the least expensive option in higher education.

– USA Today
June 4, 2014

Study: Financing is Key to International Retention Rates

In late May, Nafsa: Association of International Educators released the findings of a nationwide survey on international-student retention undertaken by the Research and Advisory Services arm of World Education Services.

The survey includes the perspectives of both international undergraduates and the college administrators who work with them. It found that the two groups view retention issues quite differently. Educators attributed foreign undergraduates’ decision to drop out or transfer to a variety of reasons, including finances, academics, English-language problems, and the desire to attend an institution that is a “better fit.” By contrast, the factors most cited by the students themselves were largely financial: access to jobs or internships, affordability, and availability of scholarships.

The survey results, based on responses from nearly 500 educators and 500 students at more than 100 colleges, underscore that “there may be a gap in understanding about what students want and what they’re getting,” said Rahul Choudaha, the project’s lead researcher, who added that “students may not understand what institutions want and what they’re getting.”

Based on the findings, the report recommends that institutions be transparent about college costs and financing. If campus jobs are limited, for instance, international-admissions officers should make that clear to foreign students, who are forbidden under U.S. law to work off-campus. In addition, international-student advisers may need to collaborate more with other campus offices, such as career services.

Despite those concerns, retention and graduation rates for international students remain high—in many cases, higher than those of American students. More than 60 percent of the baccalaureate and master’s institutions surveyed and more than half of the doctorate institutions said their retention rates were higher for foreign than for domestic undergraduates.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
May 28, 2014