HE News Brief 16.4.12
- India: Five-year plan calls for a significant increase in student numbers
- Canada: Business schools paving the way for internationalisation
- Australia: Paper discusses whether Australian institutions are preparing Chinese students for domestic employability
- Italy: Controversial move causing an uproar
HE News Brief 12.3.12
- Australia: Australian universities lose twenty percent of its foreign student numbers
- World: Institutions in the US, Japan, and South Korea top list of WIPO’s patent filers
- UK: Twenty years later and former polytechnics are making strides
- China: Thousand Foreign Experts program seeks to recruit foreign university staff and entrepreneurs
HE News Brief 5.3.12
- Europe: Research ministers call for bigger role for social sciences in Horizon 2020
- India: Massive rise in number of Indian students sitting Graduate Record Examination
- US: Liberal arts education on the rise in Asia
- Asia Pacific: Australia-China higher education forum announced
HE News Brief 21.11.11
by Abby Chau
- AUSTRALIA: Internalisation activities are entering a third stage
- MIDDLE EAST: Foreign branches in Qatar and Dubai are faring well
- INTERNATIONAL: A new Autonomy Scorecard produced by the EUA
- CHILE: Students are going to the table after six-months of protests Continue Reading
HE News Brief 18.10.11
by Abby Chau
- UK: A new report outlining the higher education outlook
- LATIN AMERICA: A new rankings of the region has raised questions about governmental spending habits
- INDIA: Foreign branches must adhere to too many restrictions
- US: Some institutions have closed foreign branches
- AUSTRALIA: Trends for international student numbers Continue Reading
HE News Briefs 27.9.11
by Abby Chau
- AUSTRALIA: Visa restrictions have been lifted for international students
- UNITED STATES: Admission officers feel pressure to look at students who can pay their own way
- SAUDI ARABIA: The country has been building partnerships around the world but some warn caution
- SPAIN: Finding it difficult to implement its second year plan for the Bologna Process
- BRITAIN: Tuition fee hikes have made some consider other routes for students Continue Reading
Tough Australian student visa requirements to be lifted
The Australian, one of Australia’s leading newspapers, described the review as ‘a jewel’, praising its clarity, its depth, and even the entertaining way in which it is written. But it is not the literary value of Michael Knight’s review of the Australian student visa process that will most please Australia’s 39 universities and those who harbour ambitions of studying in one of them, but the nature of the proposals made within – all 41 of which have been approved by the Australian government.
The publication of the report has been eagerly awaited. It was commissioned in December 2010, a consultation period was run in March, during which various groups could submit their proposals to Knight (around 200 were submitted), and the final document was submitted to the Australian government at the end of June. The report was finally published, along with an announcement of the government’s acceptance of the proposals, on September 22nd.
For those thinking about studying in Australia the news will be welcome. The tough visa process, which has reportedly played a large part in the drop in international student numbers which has occurred in Australia since 2009, has been simplified. The changes will be particularly welcomed by students from Asian nations such as India and China, who, despite contributing the highest number of international students, were subject to some of the most stringent regulations. Continue Reading
HE News Brief 23.8.11
by Abby Chau
- UNITED STATES: California’s beleaguered higher education system
- SINGAPORE: Cap on foreign student numbers
- AUSTRALIA: International student woes
- UNITED KINGDOM: New report by HEPI looks into UK higher ed system
Continue Reading
Why are fewer international students choosing to study in Australia?
By Mansoor Iqbal, Education Writer
After a decade of growth, enrolments of international students are beginning to slow in one of the world’s most popular international study destinations
In terms of higher education destinations, there are only a handful of countries in the world that can rival the draw of Australia. A heady combination of strong universities, led by the elite Group of Eight, and an eminently desirable lifestyle (not to mention institutional efforts to take advantage of these assets) has meant that, over the past decade, the nation has consistently been home to one of the world’s largest populations of international students.
The number of international students there has grown each year, not just in line with the global increase in numbers of students studying abroad, but beyond it, as demonstrated by the greater market share Australia now enjoys as compared to the turn of the century. Between 2002 and 2009, the population actually doubled.
As an established study abroad destination, it is almost inevitable– particularly in straitened times – that the nation’s universities, and the wider economy, have come to rely on the income generated by international students (famously education is the nation’s biggest export after coal and ore). It is estimated that around 18 per cent of Australian universities’ income is generated by international students, increasing to nearly 30 per cent at some particularly internationally focussed universities. Continue Reading
Too many graduates, or too few?
by Mansoor Iqbal, Education Writer
Competition for jobs may be intense, but the vital role played by graduates in economic growth and recovery means that some voices believe the world needs more, not fewer.
It has recently been reported that no less than 83 applicants apply for every graduate level role in the UK. The total number of graduate jobs is expected to rise by 2.6% in 2011, and it should be remembered that graduates can often be pretty indiscriminate when applying for a first job, but the figure is still pretty daunting. It is no wonder, then, that one proposal in the recent white paper presented to the government by the UK’s Minister for Universities, David Willetts, was that universities publish data on how many of their graduates are able to find work – this is one of the primary concerns of students in the 21st century (as reflected in the methodology of the QS World University Rankings®, which takes into account the prestige afforded to universities by graduate employers).
Graduate unemployment figures inevitably add to these concerns. While the UK is used as an example here, the problems are certainly not limited to that particular nation – graduates in countries as prosperous as the US and China are also facing stiff competition for jobs (though it should be noted that graduates are generally less likely to be unemployed that non-graduates). The almost inevitable consequence of this is voices calling for the number of students in higher education to be greatly reduced, particularly while we are still living in the shadow of the financial crisis that occurred at the end of the last decade. Continue Reading
← Older posts-
Recent articles
