Identifying excellence and diversity in international education: rankings and beyond
On 18th May 2011, QS will be running a rankings and evaluation symposium, hosted by École Normale Supérieure-Paris (ENS).
Join high-profile speakers as they share valuable insight and debate issues crucial to universities in their quest for excellence and international recognition. Speakers include:
- Jan Sadlak, IREG Observatory,
- Richard Yelland, OECD
- Monique Canto-Sperber, ENS
- Paul Thurman, Columbia University
- Yasushi Adachi, Elsevier BV
- Ben Sowter, QS Quacquarelli Symonds
- Kevin Downing, City University of Hong Kong
and more…
Results of the 2011 QS World University Rankings® by Subject will also be announced, revealing the top ranked higher education institutes in natural sciences disciplines including: Earth & Marine Sciences, Mathematics, Environmental Sciences, Metallurgy & Materials, Physics & Astronomy and Chemistry.
The event is free for university staff. Click here for more information and to register.
The future of branch campuses
by Susan Gatuguta Gitau
A recent article featured in University World News highlighted Qatar’s aspiration towards developing a hub of academic excellence in the Arab world through the proliferation of foreign universities in the country. The growth of satellite universities in developing countries attracts arguments, for and against them. Of particular interest is the impact of foreign universities on the nations’ brain drain dilemma.
Brain drain refers to the emigration of well-educated, skilled professionals from their home countries. This problem is most prevalent in developing countries. By setting up satellite universities in these countries, it’s believed that local talent will be persuaded to stay and more local students would enrol. In Qatar’s case, it is argued that brain drain has been stemmed by adopting these institutions. In addition, the nation is now attracting international students. These institutions equally provide an opportunity of brain gain as promising academics are attracted back home. Continue Reading
Cuba, a new important player for higher education in Latin America?
by Liliana Casallas
Interestingly, UNESCO reported that in the last ten years, there has been an impressive 96% increase of the number of mobile students from Latin American and the Caribbean countries. As shown in
Table I, in 1999, students from Caribbean countries formed a large proportion (66%) of the student migration from this Region who decided to study in Cuba. 25% were from South America and Mexico for the same year. This dramatically changed.
In 2008, the total number of mobile students in the region studying in Cuba reached 24,928 students. Mexico and South America represented 74% of the students enrolled in Cuba; Caribbean students represented only 10% (although their number tripled since 1999). Is this change in the flow of students a matter of educational quality, cost and/ or a sign of effective government agreements?
| Region | 1999 | 2008 |
| Caribbean Islands | 700 | 2,555 |
| Central America | 92 | 3,995 |
| South America & Mexico | 259 | 18,378 |
| Total mobile students in Cuba | 1,051 | 24,928 |
Table I. Source Unesco . Latin American and Caribbean Students in Cuba
As the graph shows below, since 2004, Spain has been displaced as the top destination for Latin American Students by Cuba which received 14% of the mobile students in the Region compared to only 6% enrolled in 2007. Certainly, it would be interesting to understand the factors that have influenced the fall of Latinamerica students pursuing studies in Spain since then.
A closer outlook at the numbers show that this phenomenon bloomed in 2001 with an increase of 71% of students in Cuba from the previous year. Again, in 2007 the number almost doubled from 12,447 to 22,916 students from Latin American and Caribbean countries. Cuba hosted 26,889 international students in 2007, almost the same proportion as countries like Sweden, Belgium and Netherlands. Continue Reading
10th Anniversary of the Bologna Process
by Abby Chau
Ministers from 46 participating countries met in Budapest and Vienna in March to discuss the Bologna Process and to tout the European Higher Education Area. When Bologna was established in 1999, goals were set to firmly launch the EHEA in 2010 in order to harmonise and improve higher educational standards and qualifications in participating countries. The result, they hope, will promulgate and support academic and student mobility, improve student employability, ensure quality teaching standards, and to make institutions accountable for maintaining acceptable benchmarks.
Bologna’s vision for 2010, according to the Budapest-Vienna Declaration, is an “internationally competitive and attractive European Higher Education Area where higher education institutions, supported by strongly committed staff, can fulfil their diverse missions in the knowledge society; and where students benefiting from mobility with smooth and fair recognition of their qualifications, can find the best suited educational pathways.”
This may sound like a tall order, particularly as there are so many countries involved in the initiative (Kazakhstan recently signed up.). And indeed immediately after the 10 year anniversary, major protests broke out in Europe against Bologna, as disgruntled students raged against what they saw as the machinery of bureaucracy. Socialist Labour Party writer Tilman Ruster proclaims that, “the Bologna process and its consequences have led to the most powerful student protests in a long time. Lecture rooms were occupied, roads and train stations blocked, mass demonstrations carried out and much more.” Continue Reading
Will the higher education budget cuts in the UK fuel international competition for students?
by Deena Al Hilli
Last week the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) announced the funding of £7.3 billion for universities and colleges in England, which is a reduction of £449 million from previously announced plans for the 2010/11 financial year.
These university budget cuts have sparked varied reactions nationwide. Many issues such as job losses, larger class sizes, denied access to thousands of students and closure of courses have been raised in the aftermath of the announcement. Amid the fears is that international institutions will now gain a competitive edge, as the quality of UK institutions become at risk.
A major concern that has risen is that the higher education sector in places like Asia, Europe and some parts of the USA is receiving increased funding to get out of the current economical crisis, whilst the UK is working in the reverse order. Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, said “Our competitors in Europe, Asia and the US are pouring more resources into higher education as a strategy for coming out of recession.” The group also said, ”If government targets these huge cuts on university budgets they will have a devastating effect not only on students and staff, but also on our international competitiveness, national economy and ability to recover from recession.” In an article for the Guardian, the Russell Group also says, “Nicolas Sarkozy has just announced an investment of 11bn Euros in higher education in France, stating he wants ‘the best universities in the world.’ Germany pumped a total of 18bn Euros into promoting world-class research alongside university education, while Barack Obama ploughed an additional US$21bn into federal science spending.”
Britain is a very popular destination for international students, particularly with Indian students. However the Indian government recently announced plans to allow foreign universities to offer degrees and set up campuses in India, which may reduce the number of Indian students studying in the UK. However, it appears that UK institutions need to limit the number of spaces per course in any case, as government enforced fines will take place with over recruitment of students. Six thousands fewer students will gain places at university this year. With Europe, Australia and New Zealand welcoming an increased number of British applicants, could this lead to international institutions gaining those six thousand places and more? Or will leading UK institutions be able to sustain their competitive advantage?
Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE said, “This is a challenging financial settlement, but we are doing all that we can to support excellence in teaching and research by keeping across-the-board reductions in core funding to universities and colleges to a minimum. Our approach will also give institutions maximum flexibility to pursue their priorities.” Continue Reading
Iraq – The cradle of civilization, can the civilization of advanced higher education return?
by Deena Al Hilli
Algebra, geometry and arithmetic all stem from Babylonian Mathematics in Iraq, a country once renowned for its higher educational standards. Students in Iraq were headhunted from international universities to continue their further education and apply their expertise. However, years of sanctions and wars has damaged the educational system in Iraq. Following the fall of Saddam in 2003, the system got worse before it could get better with issues such as university books and equipment being stolen, lack of school supplies, kidnapping of students and academics, terror threats, lack of clean water and many people fleeing the country to find stability and security.
An interesting article I came across which highlighted a good future for a few great Iraqi students http://www.al-jamiat.com/featured/search-great-iraqi-students talks about an initiative of improving Iraqi Education by sending 50,000 students to universities in the West. Encouraging students to study abroad will help the government in the long term, however focusing on the remaining number of students who will be lacking world class education appears to also be in great need.
This issue led me to another article that caught my attention, an article written in 2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2004/sep/23/research.highereducation highlighting the hardship that universities in Iraq are facing. The best university in Iraq doesn’t have chairs for students to sit on. These issues obviously make it hard for the university to continue running, let alone improving the education standards. What happens now to the many Iraqi students who will be staying behind in the country, due to lack of funding or are not eligible to be sent abroad? Continue Reading
Politics and higher education – a volatile mix?
by Ben Sowter
I can’t help but have a little admiration for Nicolas Sarkozy. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his positions – he at least seems prepared to actually do something. Not without a little resistance, however. There have been plenty of protests at all levels in response to his education reforms but the latest loosely represents a mutiny by the Grandes Ecoles as reported last month in The Telegraph – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6941075/Nicolas-Sarkozy-faces-revolt-from-elite-French-colleges.html.
In a nutshell, the Grandes Ecoles are resisting an attempt to force them to take 30 percent to their intake from under-privileged backgrounds. On the one hand, the populist view is that such students are disadvantaged when faced with the extremely challenging entrance exams, on the other that standards will drop if entry requirements are relaxed.
Both views seem valid, but the key battleground may not be at university admissions age but earlier – with a view to driving standards, and aspirations, amongst more diverse students sooner. Or alternatively to focus on diverse entrants to the often expensive preparatory classes rather than the Ecoles themselves which appeared to be Sarkozy’s view just 14 months ago: http://www.javno.com/en-world/sarkozy-tackles-discrimination-in-french-education_215815
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