Going Global Conference, London 2012
QS attended the 2012 edition of the Going Global International Education Conference organised by the British Council. Among others, this was a good occasion for several QSIU analysts to get further in touch with universities and their leaders in a more practical way, beyond rankings figures.
After opening addresses from Dr Jo Beall and Rt Hon. Dr Vince Cable, the conference in London continued with a talk from Professor Homi Bhabha, who raised some major questions and challenges, setting the agenda for debate over the following two days. The second session of the day was devoted to the necessity of institutions to welcome change and transformation, in order to respond to the needs of new generations. Ben Wildavsky presented a number of emerging models that point the way to change, whether driven by technology or by changing notions of how to serve students.
Parallel sessions were taking place during the following days of the conference, some with specific regional focus (I attended the Eastern Europe and Central Asia one and found it very interesting) and others relating to global problems such as the changing role of the university, employability or internationalisation. The diversity of speakers and their experience in higher education has delivered knowledge and expertise in a concentrated manner to all those attending. But if you did not have the chance to be there, you can access videos and presentations from the 2012 Going Global Conference here
Russia’s Education Reform
by Ina Chiriliuc
Almost two years after Russia fully introduced its Unified State Exam (later referred to as EGE –“Ediny Gosudarstvenny Ekzamen”), students, parents and teachers are still dismayed by the change. The exam is similar to the American SAT-s and is a mandatory requirement for acceptance into higher education institutions. At the polar opposite of the oral exams and essays that were the basis of the Soviet testing system, the new multiple choice testing is supposed to be “directed against corruption and should be much more transparent”, according to president Medvedev, a strong supporter of the EGE.
Introducing the EGE is part of Russia’s commitments as a member of the Council of Europe, under the Bologna Convention on Higher Education. Besides its strategic role, this education reform is expected to introduce an unbiased, consistent and measurable method of evaluating students before they enter universities.
The intentions behind EGE are apparently the best, but people are still protesting; the main subjective reason being that it completely substitutes the once glorious Soviet education system, which was very focused on science and produced bright minds. Unfortunately the reality is that the former Soviet system has been lagging behind the rest of the world for quite some time and Russia has been losing its best high-school graduates in favour of Germany, US and UK. A reform was thus necessary. A more believable reason to reject the new EGE is that it has caused even more corruption, particularly in schools. Teachers were caught taking the exams in place of students for 40000 rubles. Continue Reading
Trends in student mobility
by Ina Chiriliuc
There has been a significant shift in the preference for study destinations. Students planning to pursue their courses abroad have started to consider new locations and this is only natural since the rather popular study destinations are very competitive, expensive and for many, a great distance away from home. The once obvious foreign destinations such as: United Kingdom, Germany and France have been losing inbound students in the last period, according to data in the “Education at a glance” 2010 Report, published by the Organisation for Economic and Co-Operation Development (OECD).
Considering that globally the number of foreign students has in the mean time increased, it is only obvious that there appeared a whole new range of booming destinations for studies. In a comparison of OECD’s “Education at a glance” reports for 2009 and 2010, there has been a remarkable growth in the number of inbound students to New Zealand, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovak Republic and the Russian Federation.
