MARKET NEWS BULLETIN:

9TH MAY – 22ND MAY 2014

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Contents

Summary Section - UK

- USA and Canada

- Australia and New Zealand

- Asia

- International

Full Articles - UK

- USA and Canada

- Australia and New Zealand

- Asia

- International

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Summary Section

UK Back to top

London Real Estate Sizzles Off Campus :: The New York Times :: 12th May

International college students are pouring into London, deepening an extensive housing shortage. The result is that student housing is becoming another red-hot corner of the city’s property market. That has tempted international pension funds, major private equity players and real estate giants to build up or sell off large portfolios of buildings for handsome profits. The values of many of these portfolios are rising (and consequently, yields are falling) as a result of the intense investor interest.

UK and US slip in global education achievement rankings :: Study international :: 13th May

The newest comprehensive global education rankings have put Asian countries on top again, with the UK and US trailing behind.

UK: no reprieve for ELT sector as numbers fall and politics toughen :: The Pie News :: 14th May

The UK’s ELT sector “faced on onslaught in 2014” according to English UK CEO Eddie Byers, who this week reported a decline in both student weeks and numbers for the country’s private and state ELT providers.

International students 'key' to UK economy :: The Telegraph :: 18th May

Restricting foreign students' post-study work opportunities was "a mistake", says leading academic, as overseas students are "key" to economic success

UK immigration: International students put £2.3bn into the London economy :: City AM :: 18th May

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The contribution of foreign students to London’s economy is “overwhelmingly positive,” according and London First.

Alternative Sources: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/may/18/londons-international-students-prove-

lucrative-for-uk-economy-claims-study

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/international-students-support-70000-jobs-and-boost-london-economy-by-28-billion-10260407.html

http://thepienews.com/news/londons-international-students-contribute-2-3bn/

USA and Canada Back to top

Fee for Being Foreign :: Inside Higher Ed :: 8th May It’s not uncommon for universities to charge relatively modest international student programs or services fees: within the Big Ten, for instance, Indiana University at Bloomington charges an $85 per semester fee to international students and Rutgers University charges $125 per semester. But what is new is the movement toward heftier fees or even differentiated tuition rates for international undergraduates at some public institutions, many of which have experienced rapid growth in their international student enrollments in recent years.

Australia and New Zealand Back to top

Australian anti-corruption commission highlights risks and best practices in international recruitment :: ICEF Monitor :: 20th May A recent report from Australia’s New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has touched off considerable debate in Australia as to the incidence of fraud in international student recruitment, including related impacts on academic standards in the country’s universities.

Survey says foreign students highly satisfied with studies in Australia :: ICEF Monitor :: 11th May

The Australian government has just released the findings of its International Student Survey 2014, which focused on measuring students’ satisfaction levels as well as comparing these to international benchmarks obtained via the International Student Barometer (ISB) survey.

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Streamlined Visa Processing for International Students in Australia Hit by Row :: Australia Forum :: 8th May

There are calls in Australia for a quality rating to be introduced when immigration officials determine whether a university of college is entitled to streamlined visa processing.

Further evidence of corruption in Australia's international student practices :: Study International :: 12th May

A new report recommends that universities separate the functions of their international student officers to avoid the risk of corruption.

Asia Back to top

English language training in India pegged for significant growth :: ICEF Monitor :: 12th May

With evidence demonstrating that English language fluency opens the doors to greater employment opportunities and higher income among its graduates, demand for English Language Training (ELT) is on the rise in India.

Growth in Indian Students Going Overseas Outpaces China, Report Says :: The Chronicle of Higher Education :: 12th May

The growth rate in the number of students from India heading to universities abroad has outpaced China for the first time, according to a new report on Indian student mobility trends to the main English-speaking countries – the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

China now world's biggest source of international students as more Chinese head overseas for broader education :: South

China Morning Post :: 15th May Experts say China's talent pool will improve as overseas universities throw open their doors to mainlanders as source of profit and diversity

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International Back to top

MBA under pressure: The changing context of advanced business programmes :: ICEF Monitor :: 15th May

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree has long been the gold standard for those aspiring to the most prestigious corner offices of leading corporations and financial institutions. But the credential – and those schools that offer it – is under pressure from a host of related developments both on the supply and demand side of education.

24/7 digital student support service launched :: The Pie News :: 8th May

In an industry first, guard.me, one of the international education sector’s biggest insurance providers, has partnered with Canada-based Morneau Shepell to launch a 24/7 international student counselling and support service.

Shai Reshef, University of the People :: The Pie News :: 8th May After 20 years in for-profit education, Shai Reshef now has another goal: to make higher education accessible to as many people as possible globally. As founder and president of UoPeople, he talked to The PIE about the university and why he believes his target to teach millions tuition-free is attainable.

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Full Articles

UK Back to top

London Real Estate Sizzles Off Campus By Jenny Anderson :: The New York Times :: 12th May

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/business/dealbook/hot-spot-in-london-real-estate-student-off-campus-housing.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-

region&_r=1&referrer= Joyce Ge, a student from China who is studying business management at King’s College, pays 880 pounds a month, or $1,310, to live in a pint-size, stylish studio apartment in the far reaches of east London, in a building with roof decks gazing toward the distant city skyline. Her rent covers water and electricity, as well as Wi-Fi and cleaning of common spaces every two weeks. Many investors are betting that there will be a lot more Joyce Ges arriving in the coming years. Their bet is a simple one: As students from the world’s growing middle and upper classes flock to London for higher education, the stark supply-demand imbalance in student housing will grow. International college students are pouring into London, deepening an extensive housing shortage. The result is that student housing is becoming another red-hot corner of the city’s property market. That has tempted international pension funds, major private equity players and real estate giants to build up or sell off large portfolios of buildings for handsome profits. The values of many of these portfolios are rising (and consequently, yields are falling) as a result of the intense investor interest. About £3.5 billion worth of British student housing deals have been done so far in 2015, according to the real estate consulting firm JLL. That’s more than double the value of deals completed in 2014. “The volume has increased dramatically, and the values per bed have risen significantly,” said Philip Hillman, the head of student housing and higher education at JLL.

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Among the notable transactions are the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board’s £1.1 billion purchase of Liberty Living, previously owned by retail investors, and the Carlyle Group’s sale of its Pure portfolio of student housing to LetterOne, a group of Russian investors, for £535 million. Greystar Real Estate Partners, which is based in the United States, has completed seven deals, including buying Nido, a portfolio of student housing, for £600 million. (Blackstone sold that same portfolio to Round Hill Capital in 2012 for £415 million.) “The pool of international buyers is expanding because the returns are attractive, the cash flows are attractive and there are platforms trading rather than individual assets,” said Brett Lashley, a managing director at Greystar who is based in London. Previously, universities provided housing to students, or students teamed up to rent a house together. The university housing was suitably shabby and “customer service was not a concept here,” said one international investor. But in the 1990s, the private sector jumped in to fill the gaping hole universities could not cover. Companies that developed properties and then managed them sprouted, and grew. Some took on too much debt. During the financial crisis, private equity players like Blackstone and Carlyle stepped in to scoop up these properties, building up portfolios of student housing and creating the scale the market lacked to make it attractive for institutional investors. Britain has 1.8 million full-time students, foreign and domestic combined. But to illustrate the shortage, only about 525,000 purpose-built student housing beds are available. These can be rooms to rent, a combination of what universities can offer and what the private sector leases — either directly to students or via an agreement with the higher education institutions. About 220,000 of those beds are commercial properties, according to JLL. Rents have been rising 3 percent to 4 percent a year with occupancy rates at 97 percent to 99 percent. Even after significantly steeper university fees were introduced in 2012, the market still grew. Intake for the 2014-15 school year hit a new peak, with 512,000 students matriculating. Investors say growth is robust and nearly recession-proof. At the higher rent levels, many students are willing to pay whatever the cost. “A lot of investors want to invest where the main driver is not the strength of the economy but more demographics,” said Mr. Hillman of JLL, who has been involved in student housing for 25 years, giving him a window into how substantially the market has changed.

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Crucial to growth in the sector, especially at the high end, where investors like Greystar are focusing, is the flood of international students. Of the 1.3 million students who were looking for a place to live in the 2013-14 school year, 72 percent were British, 7.5 percent were from the European Union and 20 percent were from other countries, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency. The five-year growth rate of international students has been 20.3 percent, compared with 8.3 percent for European Union students and only about a 1 percent increase for the domestic market. The government’s Department of Business, Innovation & Skills predicted in 2013 that international students in higher education would rise 15 percent to 20 percent over the next five years. In 2013, the chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said the government would eliminate the cap on the number of students a university could accept in 2015, also adding to the increase. Universities are eager to attract foreign students because they pay more in fees. And student accommodation providers say they pay a lot more for their housing, too. Another appeal for investors is that the student populations move or graduate almost every year, allowing owners to increase rents. “Rather than provide a room and a bed, we are providing a consumer experience,” said James Pullan, head of student property at Knight Frank, another large London real estate group. “It’s all about the international students.” Wi-Fi, in particular, is a major priority in amenities. “It’s like having electricity,” Mr. Lashley said. British students are disquieted by the trend. “All the new builds are high-end and expensive and marketed to international students,” said Colum McGuire, vice president for welfare for the National Union of Students. “Other students have to scrape to live in them.” He knows: Though he grew up in London, he had to leave to attend college outside the city because of the cost of housing. The National Union of Students measures affordability every few years. In its last survey, it found that the cost had more than doubled in the last decade. “That is in no way in correlation to the cost of living or inflation,” Mr. McGuire said. Those seeking to make money in this market, however, argue that they are bringing more choice and quality to the market. “It’s extremely positive to have high-quality investors putting their money in this sector,” said Richard Simpson, head of property for the Unite Group, the largest provider of student accommodations in Britain. “It will drive standards up,” he said, and create better housing stock. (Unite has “refreshed” all of its buildings in the last 12 months.) As the demand for investments in student housing rises, yields are coming down. Yields have dropped sharply, to about 5 percent in central London from 6.25 percent a year ago.

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But the sector of privately financed student housing has been marred by some well-publicized failures. Opal, a major student housing company, went bankrupt in 2013, and two other large student housing fund companies were forced to suspend redemptions when they could not sell property to meet the demands. Yet the Opal bankruptcy proved to be a tipping point. Greystar started to build scale, teaming up with Goldman Sachs to complete one £300 million deal. Investors from the United States, Russia and the Middle East started pouring in. British institutions, recently surveyed by JLL, want to increase their allocation to the sector. “It’s a global asset class,” Mr. Hillman said. “It’s not a quirky British thing.” If Ms. Ge of King’s College is any indication, the global investors may have to step up their game. She’s moving from her tiny studio next year to her own apartment, even though she will still be a student. “It’s too expensive for what you get,” she said, as she loaded her laundry into smart-card-operated machines. “And there are too many rules.”

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UK and US slip in global education achievement rankings

By SI News :: Study International :: 13th May https://www.studyinternational.com/news/uk-and-us-slip-in-global-education-achievement-

rankings The newest comprehensive global education rankings are out – and, unsurprisingly, Asian countries are on top yet again, with the UK trailing behind many of its Asian and European counterparts. The rankings, released yesterday by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which also administers the global PISA (Programme for Internatioanl Student Assessment) tests, compare standards in math and science between 76 different countries. The report includes an assessment of the levels of basic skills among 15-year-old students in the two subjects as well as measures of national economic performance, and concludes that increasing skill levels would significantly contribute to improving economic growth in every country surveyed. Following a familiar pattern, Singapore snagged the top spot on the rankings, followed by Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Finland was the highest-ranked European country at 6, The UK came in 20th on the rankings, below other European countries like Poland and Slovenia, while the US slid in below at 28. The report found that about one fifth of UK 15-year-olds lack the basic skills to make them functionally literate in math and science and capable of performing relatively easy tasks like calculating exchange rates. According to the authors, ensuring that all students in the UK reached this basic skill level by 2030 would contribute a total of £2.33 trillion to the national economy by 2095, or over the lifetime of those students. The economic growth potential was even greater for developing countries, which ranked lower on the overall list but had much greater possibility of increasing their economic performance by investing in education. Ghana had the greatest growth potential, with a 3881 percent possible increase in GDP if all 15-year-olds in the country achieved this basic level of education. It was followed by South Africa, at a potential 2624 percent growth, then Honduras, Morocco and Oman. These countries, in reverse order, were the lowest countries on the achievement rankings, hence why they also have the greatest potential for growth. The report posits that the standard of education is a “powerful predictor of the wealth that countries will produce in the long run”.

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"Poor education policies and practices leave many countries in what amounts to a permanent state of economic recession," write the authors. These new rankings are seen as a more comprehensive alternative to the PISA tests, which tend to focus primarily on wealthy industrialised countries and don’t incorporate an economic analysis. In contrast, these comparisons are the “first true global metric of the quality of education,” according to Andreas Schleicher, OECD’s education director. "The idea is to give more countries, rich and poor, access to comparing themselves against the world's education leaders, to discover their relative strengths and weaknesses, and to see what the long-term economic gains from improved quality in schooling could be for them," he said. The report will be formally presented next week at the World Education Forum in South Korea, during a United Nations conference on targets for raising global education standards by 2030.

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UK: no reprieve for ELT sector as numbers fall and politics toughen

By Sara Custer :: The Pie News :: 14th May http://thepienews.com/news/uk-no-reprieve-for-elt-sector-as-numbers-fall-and-politics-

toughen/ The UK’s ELT sector “faced on onslaught in 2014” according to English UK CEO Eddie Byers, who this week reported a decline in both student weeks and numbers for the country’s private and state ELT providers. Visa policy and students counted in net migration figures compounded trouble already created by significant drops in key source countries, Byers expounded at the EUK annual conference (#eukac15) in Manchester this week. “Markets decreasing isn’t a new problem but with market-based issues, like politics and immigration policy, it makes a difficult operating environment for members,” he explained to delegates. Students declined by 0.83% to 580,618 and student weeks dropped 2.02% to 2,348,116 across both sectors. Numbers from private providers, the majority of EUK members, were even more worrying, showing a 3.3% drop in numbers and a 0.5% drop in weeks. The private sector took another hit in average course stays, which dropped to 5.25 from 5.47 among adults and 2.76 from 2.91 among young learners. “There are less students in total staying for a shorter time,” observed Byers. Key markets that saw notable declines include Spain, Russia, Brazil, Turkey and Japan while Italy, Venezuela, Mexico and Saudi Arabia increased. “The market isn’t moving forward; the market is eroding,” said Byers.”Without growth it’s difficult for any business to navigate its way through challenges that it faces.” Centres saw a slight jump in numbers in 2013, giving hope that the sector had bounced back from its Olympic slump. However figures from 2014 suggest a continuation of that downward trend. “After 2013’s uplift, we clearly didn’t turn that corner,” commented Byers. Now with the reality of a Conservative majority ruling Westminster for the next five years, the sector is bracing for what’s next after half a decade of unfriendly policy that saw the tightening of visa issuance, a crackdown on highly trusted sponsorship, and the overhaul of Secured English Language Test providers.

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“I think people came into 2015 hoping that 2015 will be better than the year before because of the issues that have been faced already,” Byers told The PIE News. “I think that’s now a question mark.” In April the government announced that only IELTS and Trinity College London exams would be accepted for Tier 4 student visa applications and decreased the number of testing sites worldwide from around 1,000 to a few more than 100. The transition has left UK ELT providers with concerns about capacity and a decline in business as former IELTS test centres have seen test taker numbers drop as students opt to take IELTS for visa purposes at specific locations. “Most of us view with extreme scepticism that there is room for capacity in the new SELT system,” commented Timothy Blake, Chief Executive of London School of English, while another delegate referred to the situation as as a “car crash waiting to happen”. Byers said that overall members have reported some “teething problems” but is waiting to see how far the impact will reach. “We’ll have to see if that materialises into something more significant as of yet. I’m definitely concerned about it and keeping a very close eye on it.” However, he said the EU referendum set to take place some time in the next two years will be the sector’s biggest obstacle. “If you take the view that 50% of the UK industry is based on European students then that is clearly the single biggest challenge. That’s not to say the other things are unimportant, but that’s the major strategic challenge that we face.” EUK’s strategy for the coming year includes commissioning independently verified economic research to show government the value of the ELT sector as well as efforts to cut red tape by lobbying for the Accreditation UK scheme to confer with Tier 4 status. “We’re not trying to do anything radically new, what we’re trying to do is fine-tune our approach to take account of these times and do it better in the future than we have in the past,” said Byers. “That’s not to say that we don’t think the organisation and the sector has been successful in the past, it’s just that we think now there are new things that need to happen but there are developments of what we’ve already been doing. It’s a continuation of what we’ve done before and trying to do it better.”

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International students 'key' to UK economy

By Josie Gurney-Read :: The Torygraph :: 18th May http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11601739/International-students-key-

to-UK-economy.html Foreign students studying in the UK should be excluded from Government net migration targets as they contribute key funding towards research and science while supporting the local economy, a leading academic has said. Professor Colin Bailey, deputy vice chancellor of the University of Manchester, said that while he welcomed moves to restrict students entering the UK to study at "non-legitimate colleges", genuine international students were "key" to the economy. His comments follow warnings by business leaders, in an open letter to the Financial Times, that the UK is at risk of losing "talented people to competitor economies as a result of ill-thought-out immigration policies." Prof Bailey also argued that welcoming foreign undergraduate and post graduate students was crucial to enhancing the reputation of UK higher education across the globe. "International universities are gateways to the rest of the world," he said. "International students studying at our universities are funding into the research and science base, but are also funding into the local community. It’s a long term business relationship, and that is really key." Speaking to the Telegraph ahead of his talk at the Educate North conference – run in association with The Telegraph in June – Prof Bailey warned that the perceived message that "international students weren't welcome" had damaged the image of the UK as a desirable destination. Last April, a study from the Government’s Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) found that the number of foreign students being recruited to English universities had dropped for the first time in around 30 years. The research revealed that, in 2012/13, 307,205 international students enrolled at universities in England, a drop of 1.5 per cent in 12 months and the first time numbers had declined since 1983. Furthermore, according to Universities UK, the number of overseas entrants to STEM courses has fallen by 10 per cent, with postgraduate taught courses being particularly affected. Education professionals warned at the time that the raising of tuition fees coupled with stricter student visa rules introduced in 2012 could be behind the decline.

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Universities currently achieve around one-eighth of their income from international students’ tuition fees, according to Universities UK, and these students contribute around £7 billion a year to the economy, leaving UK universities "vulnerable" to fluctuating demand. While Prof Bailey acknowledged that universities and the Government had made steps to address the issue, he said more could be done – particularly regarding post graduation work opportunities – to make sure the UK attracted higher numbers of high calibre students. "A lot of international students go to Australia and America," he said, pointing out that while the decision in the US to tighten student visa requirements in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks led to a decline in students numbers, the country has since introduced measures that allow STEM students to stay for an additional 17 months of work experience following graduation. Currently, international graduates are able to remain in the UK for an additional four months after completing their studies in order to search for work, while the eventual job obtained has to pay £20,800 a year. However, Prof Bailey called the Government's decision to end the longer post study work visa a "mistake". He added: "Previously, students could stay for up to 2 years to get work experience. Why is that so important? If you think of some of our big companies, JCB is an obvious example, the company works all over the world, so what you would want is to have a student who came to the UK to study, did a bit of work experience at JCB in the UK, and then moved with the company across the globe." "The problem is that people look at immigration without understanding how important it is for the UK to work on the global stage."

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UK immigration: International students put £2.3bn into the London economy

By Billy Ehrenberg :: City AM :: 18th May http://www.cityam.com/215953/uk-immigration-international-students-put-23bn-london-

economy The contribution of foreign students to London’s economy is “overwhelmingly positive,” according and London First. The report, entitled “London Calling: International students’ contribution to Britain’s economic growth,” goes some way to debunking many fears about international students overstay their welcome and cost the national coffers. It is at odds too with the stance Theresa May took before the election - hinting at legislation to restrict net student immigration to zero. The figures that London’s international students contribute an annual average of £2.3bn to the capital's economy. That is after £540m has been taken off for public services, including the NHS. There are around 100,700 international university students in London, or 27.4 per cent on the total and 42 per cent of all postgraduate students. 27.4 per cent of undergraduate students are in the capital come from abroad. What is more, the report found that students support around 70,000 jobs in the capital, both through their fees and the money they spend whilst in the country. One widely held fear is that education is a way for immigrants to enter the country by legitimate means, and then stay here. Only 12.5 per cent of students stay after their courses finish. The average international student earns a salary of £19,000 per-annum after graduation, with the combined income tax contribution being £9m and national insurance contributions £17m. The experience of British culture and values makes it more likely that international students will do business with companies in the UK after leaving. Of those surveyed, 60 per cent said they’d be more likely to deal with Brits after experiencing the UK’s culture. The British education system was also praised in the report – 60 per cent of those asked viewed their career prospects as having improved as a direct result of having studied in the UK. Why it’s interesting The report flies directly in the face of Conservative rhetoric: in the run up to the General Election, home secretary Theresa May hinted at zero net student migration being enforced by law. The report shows this would in fact be detrimental to the economy.

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As well as debunking fears about student immigration, the report also suggests ways in which the government can address some of the issues surrounding the topic.The report also touched on the negative experiences of students, many of whom said the UK’s immigration requirements, and in particular their complexity, had negatively affected their time studying. The authors suggest the government enter into a “proper debate” about the UK’s immigration policy, which should “welcome those who contribute economically to our country”. It outlines three ways in which the government can improve the way it deals with student. The first is to improve the collection and use of immigration data, “so that we can see the real facts on inward and outward flows”. The second is to classify students as temporary residents rather than migrants, much as Canada and Australia already do: They are here for a short time only and by choosing to study in the UK, they are contributing to jobs, growth and cultural understanding in this country. By classifying them as migrants and including them within the net migration target we are implying they are unwelcome. Far from encouraging the widely-held fear that too many students stay in the UK after completing their studies, the report believes this should be encouraged. The Government should reinstate the automatic option or make it easier for international students to work here for a few years after graduation; this would be good for UK universities, good for UK business, and good for Britain’s long-term relations with the global business community when these graduates return to their home countries. In short The report shows that many fears people hold about students’ contributions are unfounded, and that migration is often far from a negative influence on the UK economy.

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USA and Canada Back to top

Fee for Being Foreign By Elizabeth Redden :: Inside Higher Ed :: 8th May

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/08/some-public-universities-are-charging-differentiated-tuition-rates-or-raising-fees

Public universities have traditionally had two tiers of pricing for undergraduates: rates for state residents and for nonresidents, respectively. At most public universities, international students pay out-of-state tuition rates. But some public institutions have introduced a third, higher tier specifically for students coming from abroad. In April, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved a slate of tuition increases for out-of-staters, including, for the first time, a $1,000 surcharge for international undergraduates at the Madison and Platteville campuses. In Wisconsin, where public universities are bracing for major state budget cuts -- even if legislators say those cuts will be smaller than the $300 million reduction originally proposed by Governor Scott Walker -- undergraduate tuition at the flagship campus in Madison will increase by $3,000 for domestic out-of-staters and $4,000 for international students this fall. At the UW-Platteville campus, undergraduate tuition will increase by $277 for domestic out-of-staters and $1,277 for international students. (Tuition rates for Wisconsin students, frozen for the past two years, are expected to remain frozen for another two years.) In justifying the tuition hike for international students, officials at UW-Madison pointed out that several peer institutions in the Big Ten -- Ohio State and Purdue Universities and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign -- already charge higher rates specifically for international undergraduates (though in Ohio State’s case the international student surcharge is classified as a $500 per semester fee). Other Big Ten universities that have begun charging $500 per semester fees to international undergraduates in recent years include Michigan State and Pennsylvania State Universities. In 2013, the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities introduced a new $125 per semester academic services fee for international undergraduates on top of an existing $145 per semester international student administrative fee. It’s not uncommon for universities to charge relatively modest international student programs or services fees: within the Big Ten, for instance, Indiana University at Bloomington charges an $85 per semester fee to international students and Rutgers University charges $125 per semester. But what is new is the movement toward heftier fees or even differentiated tuition rates for international undergraduates at some public institutions, many of which have experienced rapid growth in their international student enrollments in recent years.

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Differentiated Tuition Similar to the movement toward differentiated tuition rates by undergraduate major or program -- in which, for example, universities might charge engineering majors more than they would a cheaper-to-educate English major -- the higher tuition rates for international students are described by university officials as necessary to pay for services that these students use exclusively or more intensively than others. Universities that enroll international students unquestionably have extra monitoring and reporting requirements to the federal government -- requirements that can extend beyond graduation if a student opts for a postgraduation work placement through the optional practical training program -- and may face additional costs in providing adequate academic support and other services to a population of nonnative English speakers. But not all the revenue raised from these differential tuition rates is directed toward these support services. Darrell Bazzell, the vice chancellor for finance and administration at UW-Madison, said the university anticipates holding the line at a $1,000 differential tuition rate between nonresident domestic and international students. “What we’re trying to do is accommodate the reality that it costs more to educate an international student in a post-Sept. 11 environment. The requirements we have to monitor international students are greater, and the cost of counseling and advising services is higher. We want to recognize that with our tuition structure,” said Bazzell. He said that the money collected from the higher tuition rate will go into the university’s general coffers, as opposed to into a segregated revenue stream, but added, “It’s our intention to allocate the dollars at least in part to cover the higher administrative costs of serving the international population.” The student government at Madison opposed the tuition surcharge for international undergraduates. “It’s not a very equitable approach if it’s being done with the justification of balancing a budget,” said Derek Field, the vice chair of the Associated Students of Madison. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, international undergraduates in most fields will pay an additional $830 in tuition this fall while international undergraduates in engineering will pay nearly $3,000 extra. Half the differential paid by international engineering students is set aside for scholarships for Illinois residents. “Like so many public institutions, maintaining affordability for our stakeholders and especially our state residents is a big issue,” said Charles Tucker, the university’s vice provost for undergraduate education and innovation. Purdue University charges international undergraduates an additional $2,000 in tuition, which, across its 5,282 undergraduates from abroad, yields more than $10 million in annual revenue. Of that the university has allocated roughly a million dollars in recurring funds for international programs and related services, said Michael A. Brzezinski, the dean of international programs. “We have had an increase in international undergraduate students over the last six, seven or eight years, and this funding helped alleviate some of the additional pressure for adequate services for these students across campus,” said Brzezinski, who said that this new pot of money has funded a variety of initiatives and positions across campus, including the hiring of a Mandarin-speaking psychological counselor.

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Purdue first introduced a differentiated tuition rate for international students in 2011. Brzezinski said the decision -- which he was not involved in -- was explained to him in terms of tax contributions. While out-of-state students or their families pay federal (but not Indiana) taxes, international students pay neither state nor federal tax, and thus the thinking was that they should be charged a higher tuition rate (a lawmaker in Washington State employed similar logic in proposing a tax on international students two years ago). Higher Fees Both Michigan State and Ohio State Universities introduced a $500 per semester, or $1,000 per year, international undergraduate student fee in 2012. According to Jason Cody, a university spokesman, Michigan State previously had a $150 per semester fee for international undergraduates, but raised it to $500 in order to invest in new programming and resources to support the rapidly growing international student population. Cody -- who listed predeparture orientations in China and the hiring of a Mandarin-speaking police officer as two examples of new investments -- said revenue from the international student fee is not segregated but rather goes into the university’s general pool of funds. At Ohio State University, revenue from the international student fee has likewise paid for new orientations for students in China as well as study abroad scholarships and information technology needs for the international programs office. “I can’t speak to what the future may hold given the financial situations at our university and other universities, but right now that fee and the monies go exclusively toward international programs, with the lion’s share going directly to programs that address the needs of our international students,” said William Brustein, the vice provost for global strategies and international affairs at Ohio State. In an announcement about the introduction of a new $500 per semester fee for international undergraduates in fall 2014, Penn State pledged that all proceeds “will be used to directly support international student programs and services.” At Minnesota, the $125 per semester international student academic services fee introduced in 2013 is also a segregated fee, the funds earmarked to “enhance academic services for international students, with the focus of ensuring retention, timely graduation and student satisfaction with their University of Minnesota experience.” Nowhere to Turn The universities that have introduced special tuition rates or hefty fees for international undergraduate students are in many cases brand-name institutions that have no trouble attracting international students -- and in fact have struggled to cope with rapid influxes in recent years. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University are the top two public universities in terms of international student enrollments nationally.

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At the same time that these universities are seeking to raise more revenue from their international students, some are seeking to attract them by effectively charging cheaper in-state rates. As one example, Minnesota State University at Mankato automatically offers a cultural contribution scholarship to all incoming international undergraduates that covers the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition and which students can maintain by earning a 2.5 grade point average and participating in 25 hours of “culturally related” activities each semester. Stephen J. Stoynoff, the interim dean of international affairs at MSU-Mankato, said 575 of the university’s 745 international undergraduates receive the scholarship, with most of those who don’t being those who are sponsored by third parties. “We are not Purdue, we’re not UC Berkeley, we’re very aware of that,” Stoynoff said. “We have a role to play in higher education and we think we represent an excellent value and return on investment for any student, domestic or international, who chooses to study here but we also recognize that for many international students who are sponsoring themselves that cost is a factor. It [the scholarship] has probably been one of the most important factors in us being able to double the number of international students on our campus in the last five years.” Starting with new students next January, however, MSU-Mankato plans to adjust the scholarship so that it covers 90 percent of the differential between in-state and out-of-state tuition with international undergraduates covering the remaining 10 percent. Stoynoff said that the funds raised from this change this will go toward international programs and services. “It was a very difficult decision to make knowing that the cost of tuition is one of the major factors for why students choose Minnesota State Mankato when they’re coming from abroad," he said, “but we also know that with a doubling of student enrollment, with a tuition freeze by the legislature and with no change in the operating budget for international student services and programming and staffing, we didn’t have anywhere to turn.”

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Australia and New Zealand Back to top

Australian anti-corruption commission highlights risks and best practices in international recruitment

By ICEF Staff :: ICEF Monitor :: 20th May http://monitor.icef.com/2015/05/australian-anti-corruption-commission-highlights-risks-and-

best-practices-in-international-recruitment/ A recent report from Australia’s New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has touched off considerable debate in Australia as to the incidence of fraud in international student recruitment, including related impacts on academic standards in the country’s universities. Learning the hard way: managing corruption risks associated with international students at universities in NSW is based around a series of observations as to the potential fraud risks facing universities in New South Wales (NSW), the most populous region in Australia and home to the capital of Sydney as well as 11 universities. Essentially, the paper asserts the following:

The significant enrolment of foreign students in Australian universities (international students account for about one-fifth of total tertiary enrolment in NSW today), along with the increasing international competition for those students, has created a conflict between institutional goals to maximise international revenues and compliance with academic standards.

An “academic standards gap” – that is, the admission of students who do not fully comply with academic requirements, particularly in terms of English proficiency – has contributed to a greater incidence of academic misconduct, including plagiarism or other forms of cheating.

Universities in NSW rely heavily on international agents – the Commission reports that as many as 60% of international students at the state’s universities are recruited via agents – whose interests, ICAC suggests, “are not fully aligned with those of the universities. The student capability gap is not central to their concerns. They are more interested in ensuring the students that they recruit enroll successfully so they can receive the commission.”

The ICAC report was released on 16 April 2015 and followed shortly after by an investigative documentary by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners news programme.

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The ABC report purports to show two Chinese education agents indicating that academic records could be falsified for submission to Australian universities. As Inside Higher Ed has reported, however, “The two agencies in question, Shinyway International and EduGlobal, have disputed their portrayal on the news programme as inaccurate or misleading. ‘The fact that ABC could only pick out two out-of-context and edited sentences made by the EduGlobal adviser from a 20 minutes’ counseling session has shown that the ABC could not prove their point of ‘corrupt agencies’ with respect to EduGlobal, the latter agency said.’” Facts and arguments By any objective reading, both the ICAC report and the related ABC news programme rely heavily on general assertions and anecdote to support their findings. As such, the ICAC report is not a finding of fact with respect to fraud or academic misconduct. Rather, it is an identification of the risk of fraud or misconduct to which NSW universities could be exposed. In indicating why the Commission produced the report, ICAC notes, “There is a widespread public perception that academic standards are lowered to accommodate a cohort of students who struggle to pass.” Many of the report’s observations – and those of the Four Corners investigation – appear to flow from this underlying belief. However, other observers have since responded to challenge those assertions and to question the level of sectoral input or expertise reflected in both reports. The International Education Association of Australia (IEAA), for example, has released a statement to say, “IEAA maintains that the Four Corners programme lacked consultation with key industry representatives. In fact, when IEAA contacted the programme last week to suggest the need for sector-wide input, they were informed by the programme’s senior journalist that this was unnecessary.” Emmaline Bexley is a lecturer at the University of Melbourne and Thao Vu is a PhD candidate at the same university. In a recent post on The Conversation, the two challenged what they perceive as a limited view of the international student experience in the Four Corners programme. “Anecdotal evidence about plagiarism is a good example here. The programme explicitly drew a link between the surge of overseas students and ‘the increase in plagiarism’, blaming the rising participation of international students in Australian tertiary education for falling academic standards. It would be unsurprising if plagiarism was on the increase – more students likely means more cheating, unfortunately. But do international students plagiarise more than locals?…International students are a heterogeneous group. Their capacities, aspirations and behaviours as learners ought not to be simplified and stamped with certain stereotypes…The programme’s explicit emphasis on depicting international students as strugglers with a mere motive to pass and a threat to the Australian academic standard may subsequently create an incomplete and biased imagining of international students.”

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Others, including Sophia Arkoudis, an associate professor and the deputy director of the University of Melbourne’s Center for the Study of Higher Education, have framed the issue more in terms of a widening access to postsecondary education in Australia. “The issue around academic standards is a really big one for Australian universities because we’re widening participation,” said Ms Arkoudis. “We’re bringing in more diverse students, including from within Australia…If you’re widening participation, and the entry standards that we’re using to allow students into university are broadening along with that, we really need to focus more on what our exit standards are going to look like in order to protect the academic standards of Australian universities.” Whose best practices? The ICAC report is accompanied by a series of recommendations as to how NSW universities can prevent fraud and misconduct. However, these rely heavily on best practices already advanced by universities in Australia, and in particular by the universities contacted by ICAC during its research. “Investigation and discourse into international education in Australia is welcomed and highlights the importance of this ‘major industry’, as ABC commented,” said IEAA President, Brett Blacker. “Whether it be through institutional compliance frameworks related to our Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) legislation and National Code, or more recent policy initiatives such as Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP), Australian universities continue to be at the forefront of compliance based processes for the admission of genuine students.” ICAC found that all universities in NSW had experienced incidents of fraud in dealing with international students or agents. However, argues Mr Blacker, this is not an indictment of current practices within NSW’s institutions; rather, “[It] verifies the effectiveness of many of the control mechanisms in place.” Some of those controls and best practices currently in use in NSW universities, and directly reflected in the ICAC recommendations, include:

“Restricting the ability of academics to enter into agreements on behalf of the university.” (That is, such agreements should be the exclusive responsibility of professional international office staff.)

“Understanding the full-cost profile of international students, particularly the ongoing and significant cost of managing the gap between student capability and academic demands.” (In other words, investing in appropriate academic and advisory supports for international students.)

“Assessing risk in markets and using this assessment to develop organisational responses tailored to the specific market risks.

Leveraging university strengths, where possible, to develop niche international operations.

Altering incentive structures applied to agents to better encourage the provision of quality students.” (That is, tying student success to agency terms.)

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“Reducing the number of overseas agents.

Increasing due diligence on and monitoring of agents, particularly focusing on the use of fine-grained data analysis of student issues.

Forming closer relationships with trusted agents.

Developing partnerships with overseas institutions as an alternative to agents.” ICAC offered a further recommendation with respect to establishing a clear separation between the compliance and business development functions within universities’ international operations. “Compliance” in this context refers to the establishment and enforcement of academic standards. This responsibility is naturally distributed widely across the university but, as it pertains to international students, it has a particular focus in the admissions office. We can therefore understand this recommendation to be advancing a clear functional and management separation of the international admissions and international recruiting functions within the university. From best to better practices Such practices have emerged within NSW universities (and, indeed, in universities in major destination markets around the world), because of the need to detect and prevent academic fraud from both international and domestic students alike. As American International Recruitment Council (AIRC) Executive Director, John Deupree recently said to Inside Higher Ed, “Fraud and misrepresentation can occur at any point along the enrolment spectrum – beginning with parents, students themselves, third parties and both sending and receiving educational institutions.” Universities Australia Chief Executive Belinda Robinson agrees, “As with any multi-billion dollar sector, there are risks, as both Four Corners and the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption concede. Universities have been working continuously to reduce and mitigate them through ever-evolving processes and systems, plagiarism detection software, new taskforces, and terminating the use of suspect agents.” “Any evidence of cheating, lax academic standards, and malpractice…should be condemned and thoroughly investigated by the appropriate authorities,” Ms Robinson added. “Universities are determined to protect Australia’s hard-earned reputation for the provision of high quality education and are taking action through institutional, national and international initiatives to reduce any fraud or misconduct.” As Ms Robinson’s comment indicates, Australia’s international education sector has taken, and continues to take, concrete steps to improve practices and controls with respect to academic fraud or misconduct.

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For one, the IEAA is in the midst of a project to examine the potential for an expanded quality framework for education agents. “Australia has an enviable record of quality assurance measures relating to international students, including the establishment of the ESOS Act, National Code and an online training course for agents,” says an IEAA statement. “However, the governance of education agents is currently self-regulated and relies on education providers to provide contractual, financial and other support as a means of quality assurance.” The current research project is supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training and will investigate what such a framework might look like, including possible options such as a code of ethics and accreditation system. It will also include an assessment of global best practices. As the IEAA statement suggests, the Australian government’s introduction of Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) in 2012 has been a contributing factor towards greater oversight and quality controls in international recruiting in the years since. The ICAC report says of the impact of SVP: “[It] requires universities to proactively monitor their education agents to ensure their risk rating remains below problematic levels. The visa changes shifted much of the visa management responsibility onto the universities and made universities responsible for monitoring their agents and for ensuring that the students they enrolled were genuine. Universities have been responding to concerns around integrity by improving their due diligence on agents, utilising their data on student performance, forming and investing in close, mutually rewarding relationships with high-integrity agents (including increased auditing rights) and regularly sharing information with other universities and [government]. The effect of legislative changes has been significant. SVP places the burden, and therefore cost, of vetting applications onto universities and can penalise them for approving student applications that the department later rejects or revokes. Universities across the sector have, consequently, adopted a far more targeted approach towards agents, trying to use agents the university thinks will provide graduating students.” As these concrete examples illustrate, increasing quality controls in international student recruitment in Australia have been both a product of regulatory change (via ESOS legislation and more recently through the introduction of SVP), and by industry moves towards greater self-regulation (most recently through the IEAA’s current initiatives towards a strengthened quality framework for education agents). This reflects a similar trend towards enhanced quality assurance across the international education sector in major destination countries, and, to different degrees, among agency associations in key source markets. In that sense, if the ICAC and Four Corners reports are a call for stronger quality controls and standards within international education, Australian educators and their international partners have a compelling response to offer in the form of policies and processes already in place today as well as those that are leading to better practices for the future.

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Survey says foreign students highly satisfied with studies in Australia

By ICEF Monitor Staff :: ICEF Monitor :: 11th May http://monitor.icef.com/2015/05/survey-says-foreign-students-highly-satisfied-with-studies-

in-australia/ The Australian government has just released the findings of its International Student Survey 2014, which focused on measuring students’ satisfaction levels as well as comparing these to international benchmarks obtained via the International Student Barometer (ISB) survey. The scope of the research included international students studying at Australian universities, vocational and training institutes (VET), and the English language training sector (ELICOS); a total of 55,609 students responded. A separate survey covered international students aged 16 years or over studying in Australian secondary schools in years 11 and 12. High satisfaction overall Nearly nine in ten (88%) international students studying at the tertiary level in Australia reported being satisfied with their experience in 2014, virtually matching the levels recorded for the previous two survey periods (87% in 2012 and 86% in 2010). Eight in ten (80%) international students studying in VET institutes said Australia had been their first choice of destination for study abroad; this fell slightly among students in higher education, ELICOS, and the schools sector (73%, 72%, and 71% respectively). The most important motivations for students choosing Australia are the reputation of Australian qualifications, quality of education providers, and overall education system; personal safety; and the quality of teaching and research (all above 90%). Nearly nine in ten tertiary students reported being satisfied with their experience of living in Australia (89%) as well as their study experience (87%). The schools survey found higher levels of satisfaction than in 2012 (82% are satisfied with their overall study experience, compared to 74% in 2012). In general, Australian international students’ positive experiences remain stable from previous years, and they are similar to the levels of satisfaction found among international students in other countries surveyed by the ISB. The study makes a point of noting that the high levels of satisfaction of international students studying in Australia’s ELICOS sector (90% satisfied) is important given that students often move on from ELICOS to further programmes of study in Australia. Good news from the schools sector

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More good news stems from the country’s schools sector, where 81% reported satisfaction with their living experience in Australia, up significantly from 72% in 2012. 77% consider the teaching they are experiencing is good or very good, up from 69% in 2012. Moreover, 76% of school respondents said they wished to move on to tertiary-level study in Australia. Room for improvement The importance of students getting work experience and feeling prepared to enter the workforce is a constant theme in ICEF Monitor articles; across the world, schools are realising that it is ever more crucial to establish industry linkages for their programmes. While Australia’s education providers do not come in much below international benchmarks for satisfaction with work experience and careers advice, they are nevertheless slightly below on this measure overall (78% compared to the international benchmark of 80%). Satisfaction in these areas slips further, albeit only slightly, in relation to international benchmarks in some sectors:

Australian higher education: 65% and 68% for work experience and careers advice, respectively, compared to the international benchmarks of 68% and 72%.

Australian VET: 78% each for work experience and careers advice compared to the international benchmark of 80% for both measures.

In terms of postgraduate responses, satisfaction was slightly higher than international benchmarks for “managing research” and “topic selection” but significantly lower for “opportunities to teach” (64% versus the international benchmark of 75%). Satisfaction was high for the following measures, across sectors:

Learning supports;

Technology;

Learning alongside students from other cultures. Smooth pathways Importantly for the overall health of international education in Australia, international students studying in one sector reported strong levels of enthusiasm for transferring to another one. Four in ten (41%) VET students, nearly half in ELICOS (47%), and 80% of school students indicated they were on a pathway to further study. We wrote recently about the key role the ELICOS sector in particular plays in funneling international students through the Australian education system. Feeling welcome

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The survey found high levels of satisfaction among international students arriving in Australia and getting set up (as gauged by such measures as support for getting a bank account, finance office assistance, formal welcome, Internet access, support of friends). There is room for improvement in making international students feel integrated and comfortable once they are studying. Australian schools came in under international benchmarks for satisfaction on such measures as host friends (69% versus the ISB international benchmark of 74%), local orientation (77% versus ISB 86%), and meeting staff (79% versus ISB 91%). Living in Australia International students indicated high levels of satisfaction (around the 90% mark) for the experience of living in Australia (gauged by such measures as campus environment, “good place to be,” eco-friendly, safety), but were less happy about the cost of living, the ability to earn money, the cost of accommodation, and financial support. Satisfaction with these affordability-related measures was in some cases as low as 49%. It is important to note that Australian schools did not fare badly regarding affordability concerns relative to other countries surveyed by the ISB; but in many cases, students’ satisfaction levels in these areas fell by various degrees compared to what they were in previous years. The decreases in satisfaction on these fronts is particularly important when we look at the VET sector, since Australia’s VET programmes are so popular among foreign students. Satisfaction with financial support fell from 77% in 2012 to 69% in 2014, and satisfaction with the ability to earn money fell from 75% in 2012 to 68% in 2014 among students in the VET sector. The report notes that affordability issues are particularly acute among students in the higher education and VET sectors because of the longer duration of their programmes compared to relatively short ELICOS courses. Nearly nine in ten (87%) international VET students said that being able to work while studying was a factor when deciding where to study, and 76% of higher education students said the same. Increased use of agents In 2010, just over a quarter of higher education respondents said agents had been a major influence in their choice of where to study in Australia. By 2012 that percentage had risen to 44%. In 2014, it rose to 50%. Students recorded high levels of satisfaction with agents; for example, 90% reported that the service they received was good or very good.

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Use of agents increased across other sectors as well, and in general, students said agents had been more influential than friends or relatives in their choice of school. Motivations for study The top three reasons international students chose Australia varied according to sector:

For higher education, it was reputation of chosen qualification (95%), reputation of chosen institution (94%), and reputation of Australia’s education system (93%);

Reasons were similar among students in the VET sector, and personal safety and the reputation of the qualification were equally as high for VET students;

For ELICOS, it was teaching quality (97%), personal safety and security (95%), and reputation of the institution (92%);

For schools, it was improve English (65%); gain experience living and studying in another country and/or culture (62%); and improve chances of entering a good university in Australia (53%).

A commitment to improvement Overall, international students studying in various types of institutions are reporting high levels of satisfaction regarding their study abroad experience in Australia. Improvements in two areas could see Australia boost its competitiveness still further:

1. Providing more career guidance and opportunities for students to work while studying; 2. Increasing a commitment to industry linkages and, where possible, job opportunities.

Of the findings, Chief Executive of Universities Australia, Belinda Robinson, commented: “Australia’s reputation as a world-leader in international education is built on a commitment to delivering an education experience of the highest quality – and as this survey shows, this isn’t going unnoticed.” But Ms Robinson also noted that there would be ongoing commitment to improving international students’ experiences still further: “Whilst our universities are proud of Australia’s enviable reputation for quality, their commitment to continuous improvement is essential for maintaining the global high regard we enjoy.”

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Streamlined Visa Processing for International Students in Australia Hit by Row

By Ray Clancy :: Australia Forum :: 8th May http://www.australiaforum.com/information/australia/streamlined-visa-processing-for-

international-students-in-australia-hit-by-row.html There are calls in Australia for a quality rating to be introduced when immigration officials determine whether a university of college is entitled to streamlined visa processing. The Productivity Commission has backed the call from the international education industry amid concerns over document fraud, bribery, cheating and poor academic standards. Claims that quality is being compromised comes at a time when more international students are applying for visas to study in Australia. Indeed, the latest data from the Australian ¬Bureau of Statistics show that in the year to March, international students contributed a record $17.5 billion to the economy, the highest since 2009. A recent report from the Productivity Commission on international education warned that streamlined visa processing is perceived by potential students as a stamp of quality and warned that the system created ‘perverse incentives such as students using SVP to get a visa and hopping into an easier or cheaper course. The Commission says that such practices have the potential to undermine the integrity of the visa system at a time when attracting and retaining good international students is important to Australia’s economy. ‘Competition for international students is intensifying. If Australia wants to remain an attractive destination we will need education providers to provide learning experiences that respond to students’ expectations. Governments, too, need to ensure that our broader immigration and education policy settings also support this objective,’ said Commissioner Paul Lindwall. The report finds that the sustainability of international education is more closely linked to regulatory settings than many other sectors. The regulatory settings around the quality of education and around student visas are both crucial to the sustainability of Australia’s international education sector. It points out that it is crucial that education and immigration are synchronised and coherent so that Australia can best take advantage of opportunities in this sector as sometimes changes in policy in one area can have unintended consequences in the other. It also points out that Australian institutions rely heavily on agents to attract students and while agents can be an important part of marketing education, institutions should actively reduce their use of agents and rely more on direct recruitment.

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‘The quality of the education that Australia provides is of course paramount to students deciding whether they wish to study here. It is important that they have reasonable expectations as to the institutions and courses on offer,’ explained Lindwall. Australia’s share of the global international education market is only around 6% but it has one of the highest concentration of international students in total national tertiary enrolments, with around 20% of total students enrolled in higher education coming from overseas. There were more than 450,000 international students on a student visa in Australia in 2014. Another 160,000 were enrolled in programmes delivered by Australian institutions abroad. The Productivity Commission has suggested that the quality of providers be made more explicit by a public rating system overseen by TEQSA and ASQA while being explicit that visa processing was a separate immigration issue.

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Further evidence of corruption in Australia's international student practices

By SI News :: Study International :: 12th May https://www.studyinternational.com/news/further-evidence-of-corruption-in-australias-

international-student-practices Authorities at universities in Australia's New South Wales state should separate the different functions of their offices serving international students in order to cut down on corruption and mistreatment of those students, according to a new report by an academic corruption watchdog organisation. In its report, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption recommends that universities separate the academic compliance and incentive functions of their international student officers to avoid the risk of corruption. “To intertwine compliance and profit rather than separating them, and to reward profit over compliance, can be conducive to questionable and corrupt behaviour,” the report’s authors wrote. This report comes on the heels of another damning investigation of practices affecting international students among Australia’s universities, conducted by ABC’s Four Corners programme and released to the public just a few weeks. That investigative report found, among other problems, that corrupt agents were helping international students with low levels of English gain entry to Australian universities, despite language requirements for incoming foreign students. Both reports are particularly important considering the growing numbers of international students enrolling in Australian universities. The number of international students in New South Wales has increased 13-fold from 1988 to 2014, with foreign students accounting for 17 percent of the state’s university operating revenues as of 2013. According to the ICAC report, this economic boom has also led to the problem of universities beginning to depend financially on income from international students, meaning they “cannot afford to fail” foreign students, even if they are not performing up to academic standards. As universities face increased pressure to step up their international recruitment and attract more foreign students, some are also not being as strict with their language standards as before, accepting students with IELTS scores well below the recommended level for linguistically demanding academic courses. “For almost 30 years, [universities] have experienced problems such as fake qualifications, questionable agent behaviour, visa-driven enrolments, nepotism in offshore campuses [and] loss of intellectual property to partners,” the report states.

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It says that some universities have also unintentionally been involved in bribery, cheating and plagiarism and exploitation of students, among other issues. ICAC has recommended that universities restrict the number of education agents with which they work on international student recruitment, as well as establishing closer relationships with trusted agents, increasing their oversight and monitoring of agents and strengthening partnerships with overseas institutions in order to decrease reliance on agents as a go-between. Sites like Study International are also contributing to this effort to increase transparency in international student recruitment, by connecting universities directly with pre-vetted students who meet Australia’s international student requirements. “Going forward it’s critical that all universities do more to run their international marketing independently as oppose to using third party agents”, said Study International managing director James Craven. “That’s the path to long term, sustainable international recruitment for Australian institutions.” One silver lining of the ICAC report is that its demonstration that universities have identified cases of fraud and corruption “verifies the effectiveness of many of the control mechanisms in place”, according to Brett Blacker, president of the International Education Association of Australia. The problems highlighted in these two reports are, of course, not unique to Australia. As universities around the world, particularly those in English-speaking countries, have joined the international student arms race to broaden their alumni networks and attract more students who will pay high-priced international student fees, the risks of corruption and cutting corners have become more significant than ever.

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Asia Back to top

English language training in India pegged for significant growth

By ICEF Staff :: ICEF Monitor :: 12th May http://monitor.icef.com/2015/05/english-language-training-in-india-pegged-for-significant-

growth/

With evidence demonstrating that English language fluency opens the doors to greater employment opportunities and higher income among its graduates, demand for English Language Training (ELT) is on the rise in India. India’s government regards improved English proficiency as a key plank in maintaining the nation’s competitiveness in a fierce global marketplace. And, with India revamping its education policies and signaling a new openness towards international collaboration, foreign partnerships in the provision and delivery of ELT programmes are only expected to grow. English proficiency levels an issue A 2012 report by the British Council noted that while English is widely perceived as a valuable life and employability skill among Indians, India ranked only 14th out of 54 countries in a global survey of English proficiency conducted by EF (Education First) placing it in the category of “moderate proficiency”. (Note that the 14th-place ranking refers to an earlier edition of the proficiency survey. The latest EF survey ranks India 25th of 63 nations.) The report also quotes David Graddol, author of the book English Next India, who argues that a shortage of English language teaching in schools has hindered proficiency levels and is causing India to lose its competitive edge to other developing countries. Indian universities fall far short of rival countries in teaching and research quality, he says, and “poor English is one of the causes.” The report’s authors note as well that Aspiring Minds, a company that focuses on assessing student employability, found that about 78% of 55,000 Indian graduates surveyed in 2011 struggle in the English language. The report projected that the ELT market would grow in size from US$2.76 billion in 2012 to US$4.67 billion by 2015. Vocational training was valued as the most attractive segment in 2012, with a market share of 35%, followed by the coaching and K-12 segments.

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Actual ELT revenues in the Indian market by category, 2010-2012 with projected category

revenues through 2015. All values shown in US$ (million). Source: British Council (**Compound Annual Growth Rate)

Other sources have particularly noted the growth potential of the vocational training (VET) sector as the Indian government works towards its goal of training 500 million people by 2022. This ambitious goal arises from India’s attempts to confront significant skills gaps among its youthful population (nearly half of its 1.2 billion people are under the age of 25). And part of that gap has to do with language: while English is India’s second official language, it is estimated that only an eighth of the population has any formal training. Demand driven by higher incomes, competitiveness Last year, we reported on the release of a study that found that Indians who speak English fluently earn up to 34% more than those who don’t speak the language, confirming the link between English language proficiency and the scope for greater employment opportunities and better earning potential. Yet what else is driving the upsurge in demand? According to a recent article in Asia Briefing, the struggles with English proficiency among India’s workers is causing the country to lose its competitive advantage to rivals like the Philippines, particularly in the lucrative call centre sector. The article points out that the Philippines has overtaken India in recent years as the largest hub for call centres in the world, with more than one million Filipinos working in call centres and the broader Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. Most of the increase in BPO activity in the Philippines has come at the expense of India, with the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) reporting in 2013 that India lost over 50% of its BPO sector to foreign countries, costing the Indian economy an estimated US$25 billion.

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“The primary reason companies have moved their outsourcing from India to the Philippines is because Filipino employees often speak fluent American-accented English,” says the report. “While Indian employees are also known for good English compared to the rest of Asia, employers have found that the Indian accent can be hard to understand for some of their customers in the US and Europe.” New regulations, initiatives to meet demand Clearly, the provision of ELT services in India has not kept pace with market demand. This is set to change with planned reforms to India’s education system, in particular a new recognition on the part of the Indian government that internationalisation and greater collaboration with foreign providers are vital planks to achieving ambitious growth targets. India announced earlier this year that it is drafting a new education policy, the first of its kind in over two decades. An early release of related discussion themes includes:

a renewed focus on internationalisation;

digitisation of education;

skills development. These are all areas with potential opportunity for foreign providers. The policy process comes on the heels of signals by Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani that she is willing to move forward on a foreign provider bill that’s been stuck in political deadlock since 2010. As we reported late last year, “In a bid to clarify the regulatory requirements for foreign institutions hoping to expand in India, the national government introduced the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill in 2010. The Bill sparked a great deal of interest among foreign providers but was subsequently withdrawn in 2012 and replaced, in some respects at least, by new regulations introduced last year by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Essentially an executive order under the administration of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the new regulations permit foreign institutions to establish branch campuses in India and confer foreign degrees.” The massive expansion of higher education in India is a notable challenge. The government has a stated goal to increase higher ed participation rates to 30% by 2020 from 18% today – a target that will require the creation of an additional 14 million spaces in the country’s tertiary institutions over the next six years.

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Such growth, according to the National Knowledge Commission, is projected to cost upwards of US$190 billion in order for the country’s education system to expand to meet this target. Growth of this scale and pace will likely only be done in collaboration with the private sector, and through a wide range of partnerships with foreign providers. Some early successes There are some early success stories in India’s burgeoning ELT sector. Kings Learning, for example, is a new ELT school targeting Indian nationals that has seen greater-than-anticipated demand for English language training at its centres in Bangalore and Chennai. Kings Co-Founder Tahem Veer Verma explained recently that demand was being driven by white collar workers who realised that good working English strengthens their career prospects. “There is a glass ceiling in English and if you don’t speak English, there is only so far you can go in the corporate world,” he said. “English is a social status symbol.” In another initiative, Hyderabad-based English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) provides English language skills training to a range of Indian professionals – from defence personnel to Indian Foreign Service (IFS) probationers, corporate executives and government officials. Opened in 1958 as Central Institute of English (CIE), the university now offers M.A. programmes in English literature, English language teaching, cultural studies, linguistics and phonetics, and media and communication. It has linkages with 22 universities, mostly in Europe and the United States, and offers English training (and training in Indian culture) to non-Indian nationals. As these programmes attest, the demand among Indians for quality, globally-recognised English language training will only grow in the foreseeable future. India’s burgeoning middle and executive classes are fueling the demand, but the Indian government also recognises that in order to remain competitive globally – whilst also closing skills gaps at home – a focus on English language training is key.

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Growth in Indian Students Going Overseas Outpaces China, Report Says

By Yojana Sharma :: The Chronicle of Higher Education :: 12th May http://chronicle.com/article/Growth-in-Indian-Students/230099?cid=megamenu

The growth rate in the number of students from India heading to universities abroad has outpaced China for the first time, according to a new report on Indian student mobility trends to the main English-speaking countries – the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These five destination countries account for nearly 85% of outbound student mobility from India. Although overall student numbers from India heading abroad are still behind China – crossing the 300,000 mark in 2014, compared to more than 650,000 from China, big rises in Indian students going to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand point to a revival of interest from India after a four to five year drop, and a trend that will have implications on all receiving countries, according to the just-released report by New Delhi-based MM Advisory Services entitled Indian Students Mobility Report 2015: Latest trends from India and globally. India is “at the centre of action now, just as China has been for the past decade or so”, says Maria Mathai, director of MM Advisory Services, as international student numbers from India grew faster than from China for the first time ever in 2014. While China saw a growth rate of 8% in student numbers to the five destination countries between 2013 and 2014, for India the increase was just over 10% during the same period – a “significant development” according to the report which brings together statistics from government departments in the main receiving countries, the Institute of International Education in the US, the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD, to examine trends since 2005. International student numbers from India crossed the 300,000 mark in 2014, with the figure climbing back to its previous high of 2009 before it declined for four years. “This year the direction has changed, and in a strong manner. Except for the UK, every other country has seen more students go [there] from India this year than previously,” the report said. Even the biggest market, the US, grew sharply by 8.1%, the biggest growth for the US since 2005. The US will continue to be the most popular destination for international students in the years to come, the report predicts. “Considering that Indian student numbers to the top five destination countries had been declining for the past few years before 2014, this bounce-back could be significant ,” Mathai toldUniversity World News. “According to our analysis this growth trend will continue for the next few years.”

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Australia, New Zealand gains Among destination countries for international students overall, Australia led growth, registering a rise of 12% between 2013 and 2014 compared to increases of 8.1% for the US, and 2.4% in the UK. Most of Australia’s rise was driven by growth in the number of students from India, which jumped 28% compared to 2013, according to the report. “India has been a big contributor to this growth in Australia,” said Mathai. “This is having an impact on all other countries, globally and within India.” The highest inbound figures were registered in 2009 when international student numbers in Australia almost equalled the US. In New Zealand student numbers from India grew sharply by 49% between 2013 and 2014, a significant increase as international student numbers have stagnated over the past 6 years. In 2014, New Zealand saw a 12% increase in total international student numbers, fuelled mostly by the increase from India. “Both Australia and New Zealand emerged as strong choices among Indian students this year,” Mathai said, adding that New Zealand is likely to usurp the UK’s place as the fourth most popular destination for Indian students within the next two years. Canada rising A major change in Canada’s reporting methodology has led to a significant revision in international student numbers to Canada for all previous years – a 30% upward revision in the statistics since 2009. According to the report, this change means that the number of international students to Canada is expected to cross the 400,000 mark when 2014 figures are released, the report said. Canada has started reporting cumulative figures for international students through the calendar year rather than the end-of-year figures it reported previously. The revised numbers suggest Canada has increased its international numbers at the rate of almost 10% every year for the past five years. From the Indian student perspective, interest in Canada, which previously attracted less than 10,000 Indian students a year, began to grow when concerns over racially motivated attacks in Australia led to a sharp drop to that destination. “Indian students are discovering Canada,” Mathai said. Gains in Australia and Canada are at the expense of the UK which brought in tighter work and immigration laws and was seen as less welcoming for international students.

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The UK’s overall international student numbers grew by about 2.5% in the past year, but its numbers from India declined by almost 12%. “Stringent work and immigration laws have led to disenchantment with the UK market, and given the country’s immigration pressures, we don’t expect a let up in the decline,” the report said. The number of Indian students to the UK declined in recent years from around 30,000 to 20,000 in 2014. However, Mathai said, “on its own the loss to the UK [of Indian students] is not sufficient to explain Canada’s growth”, which has gone from 8,000 in 2003 to 50,000 Indian students. “UK’s drop will have contributed a bit, but the bulk of Canada’s growth will have been at Australia’s cost,” she said. According to Mathai much of the growth in Canada was because student recruitment agents in India shifted focus to Canada from Australia, due to the negative perception among students in recent years. Australia has relied mostly on agents for international student recruitment, even at the masters level. Most of the growth in Canada came from student sign-ups for community colleges, which have also been driven almost entirely by agents. The 2014 Australia data suggest that agents are likely switching back to the Australian market again, the report said. Overall trends The US is likely to hold on to its number one position for Indian students heading abroad with the numbers rising again after a hiatus of some five years, the report says. However, some other countries could enter the top destinations list – Germany is close to attracting 10,000 students from India this year, compared to 3,000-4,000 a decade ago. Although France last month announced a special two-year residence permit for Indian students graduating from French institutions and work permits for those hired by French companies, it is still only attracting some 2,600 students from the country. It hopes to double the number over the next five years, but Mathai said, visa issues on their own may not be enough. “The visa requirement is an incentive, but if you look at trends from India just positive visa requirements or post-study work is no longer sufficient. New Zealand has had incentives and post- study immigration for many years but until the immigration incentives were coupled with a proper marketing campaign to get that information about universities out to Indian students, New Zealand hadn’t seen growth in numbers.” In the past 3-4 years New Zealand has launched concerted campaigns to attract international students, she said.

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According to Mathai, for all the main destinations: “I would expect growth year on year from India for the next 10 years barring another global financial crisis or other negative incidents.” “There are simply not enough higher education institutions in India and large numbers of quality students who are not sure they will get admission locally, ” Mathai said, referring to the very high marks required to get into top Indian institutions.

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China now world's biggest source of international students as more Chinese head overseas for broader education :: South

China Morning Post

By Mandy Zuo :: South China Morning Post :: 15th May http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1797429/china-now-worlds-biggest-source-

international-students-more China is the world's biggest source of international students, with its growing middle class increasingly sending their children for studies abroad even as the authorities express concern about the influence of Western values on Chinese youth. A record 460,000 mainlanders studied overseas last year, up 11 per cent from 2013, according to the education ministry. Dr Wang Huiyao , director of think tank, the Centre for China and Globalisation, said this indicated China was entering a new era in globalisation. "Consumers are becoming more financially capable, and they now have higher expectations for education," Wang said. "These students aren't just studying in the United States or western Europe, but also in Malaysia, India and Russia, among other countries. This will improve China's talent reserve and its globalisation capacity as it pushes its 'One Belt, One Road' strategy." Even so, the authorities remain concerned that more of the country's young people will be influenced by Western values. In a controversial speech earlier this year, Education Minister Yuan Guiren ordered education departments to "firmly keep universities away from textbooks that spread wrong Western ideas". Yuan's warning against Chinese students absorbing Western ideology amid an open education market, sparked heated public debate. National Institute of Education Sciences researcher Chu Zhaohui said that while an open education market marked social progress, it was also dangerous if local universities lost students. "Our own universities should improve their teaching and research so that they can be more attractive," Chu said. "If we keep losing students, we'll lose the base for better education." A growing number of middle-class mainland families are sending their children to study overseas as they weary of the Chinese education system, which is deemed rigid and overly focused on academic achievements at the expense of the overall development of the student.

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Chu noted that foreign schools were very welcoming of Chinese students as they helped the institutes become more culturally diverse and were also a huge source of profit. The University of San Francisco said in Beijing last week it would admit mainland high-school graduands as long as they met a certain grade in their national college entrance examinations and passed a face-to-face interview. These students would not have to undergo further tests or provide other qualifications, official media reported. The American university also set up a dedicated webpage for the scheme and established an office in Beijing to attract more students from the mainland, the Beijing Evening News reported.

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MBA under pressure: The changing context of advanced business programmes

By ICEF Staff :: ICEF Monitor :: 15th May http://monitor.icef.com/2015/05/mba-under-pressure-the-changing-context-of-advanced-

business-programmes/ The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree has long been the gold standard for those aspiring to the most prestigious corner offices of leading corporations and financial institutions. But the credential – and those schools that offer it – is under pressure from a host of related developments both on the supply and demand side of education. Perhaps the overarching threat to the traditional MBA programme is increasing competition amid a rapidly changing marketplace. The number of graduate business programmes has dramatically increased in recent years, even as domestic demand in some developed economies has stalled or even fallen off. Recent reports from University World News and The Globe & Mail provide a combined snapshot of a maturing market for graduate business education. For example:

There are many more business schools today than was the case a decade ago, and the landscape is increasingly global. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) estimates there were 7,622 educational institutions offering business degrees in 2005. By 2014, the number of business-degree-granting schools had more than doubled to 15,731. Those schools offer a variety of graduate degrees, certificates, and executive training programmes.

Taken together, India, the US, the Philippines, China, and Mexico are home to 56% of the world’s business schools.

Business remains one of the most popular fields of study in many markets. In the US, for example, business is the leading choice for undergraduate studies and accounts for nearly 21% of all bachelor degrees awarded in America. More than a quarter of all masters degrees in the US are granted in business studies. Needless to say, business, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, is reliably a top programme of choice for international students as well.

Roughly 87,000 Americans sat the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) in 2014, a drop of nearly a third from the 127,000 who challenged the test in 2010. Canada saw a similar drop (23%) over the same period. However, the pool of GMAT test-takers continued to expand in Asia, particularly in China where 57,783 wrote the test during 2014 (an increase of 91% over 2010).

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Against this backdrop, there is also the question of the financial return arising from advanced business studies. Graduate business programmes, particularly those at top schools, require a significant investment which students have traditionally aimed to recoup via improved earning potential after graduation. Yet there are fewer and fewer companies able to offer the kind of compensation that has attracted graduates of top schools in the past. Business Insider puts it this way: “The only people who can afford graduates are places like McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, hedge funds, and private equity. So in ‘classic disruption style,’ top MBA programmes have overshot the salaries that the majority of companies can bear.” Moreover, there is a shrinking pool of companies and financial institutions requiring the credential as the global economy has diversified and opened up a range of options for entrepreneurial students. More and more, up-to-the-minute skills – ones frequently refreshed or expanded to meet new demands – are the ones many employers are looking for. Companies are also increasingly valuing job candidates who have demonstrated a global orientation to their studies and work experience. MOOCs gain more traction To meet these requirements, students are looking beyond the MBA (and other traditional degrees), not the least because alternatives are often drastically less expensive. There are an increasing number of advanced business courses delivered online via MOOCs or other low-cost models. These allow students to piece together an array of courses (often associated with prestigious universities) for a fraction of the cost of a traditional master’s programme. For now, the mix of courses students are assembling is arming them with knowledge and something impressive to present employers. Eventually, it is likely their coursework will be recognised more formally. The credibility of assembled MBAs and/or business courses delivered online by top schools via MOOCs appears to be on the rise. In 2014, the media was all over the case of Laurie Pickard, who stitched together her own MBA programme out of MOOCs for less than US$1,000 and who wrote about it via her No-Pay MBA blog. Though Ms Pickard has by now completely exceeded the course requirements to gain an MBA, she continues to take more MOOC courses. She told Fortune Magazine: “I have to keep my finger on the pulse and keep my skills fresh.” Less than US$1,000 for an MBA, or its equivalent in the eyes of employers, is a compelling offer, especially for students who may have limited funds – but unlimited Internet access – as is the case for many students in countries across the world. Later this year, the first digital MBA from the elite College of Business at the University of Illinois will be accepting applications from anyone. Leading MOOC provider Coursera will host the “iMBA,” which will cost US$20,000 – much less than the cost of a traditional MBA from a top-ranked business school.

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The iMBA’s price tag is interesting because, while much less expensive than a traditional MBA, it is still significant. This is part of a growing trend among MOOCs to monetise some of their business courses – a testament to their staying power, evolution, and the real competition they present to traditional business schools. Online MBAs in general are on the rise; writing on the BusinessBecause website, Seb Murray notes: “Over five years the number of schools offering online MBA programmes has ballooned by around 25%, according to AACSB International, the accreditation body.” Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), meanwhile, reports that 27% of prospective MBA students are now looking for online programmes, up from only 4.4% in 2008. Corporate education MOOCs are not the only threat to traditional MBA schools. Clay Christensen, Harvard professor and pioneer of the idea of disruptive innovation changing the model of higher education, considers a major game-changer to be the trend of companies creating their own in-house training courses. He considers that even Harvard will have to adapt to meet the challenge of “corporate education”: “What’s disrupting us is that operating companies are pulling in the training of management inside. They’re creating their own corporate universities, like Intel University, GE at Crotonville. The best corporate university that I’ve visited is Perdue University … This is not in West Lafayette, Indiana, but it’s in Salisbury, Maryland. Perdue Farms, the chicken company, has its own university. They teach themselves while they work, and it’s growing like crazy.” Margaret Andrews, top education consultant and instructor at such schools as Hult International Business School and Harvard, wrote recently about other examples of corporate universities whose courses are specifically geared to career-oriented students. She cited (among others):

Leading strategy firm McKinsey’s McKinsey Academy, a platform using McKinsey consultants as teachers and offering courses such as Business Strategy, Mastering Challenging Conversations, and McKinsey’s Approach to Problem Solving.

Skillshare, “a learning community for creators.” Students pay only US$10 a month for as many online courses as they wish to take in subjects including email marketing, entrepreneurship, and storytelling. Skillshare now has over 750,000 students, and is licensing out its courses to entire companies who want to offer them to their employees.

How to compete?

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It is fair to say that few if any corporate training programmes can still match the prestige and profile of a highly rated graduate business school. And, while demand is clearly growing for online programmes, the bulk of the market still consists of the more traditional face-to-face delivery mode. But with these disruptive competitive threats increasingly a factor for traditional graduate programmes, and with the number of business schools proliferating around the world, how are established business schools competing today? Some are simply scaling back operations – that is, they are responding to a smaller, domestic applicant pool by reducing the number of students accepted each year. Others are looking abroad and stepping up efforts to recruit students from markets, such as China and India, where demand for graduate business programmes continues to grow. Other strategies currently in play include:

Reducing the length of study – While the two-year MBA is still seen as the gold standard in many quarters, business schools now offer an increasing field of shorter programmes as well with a number of new MBA options introduced in recent years that can be completed with 12 to 16 months of study.

Going global – As business has become more globalised in recent decades, so has business education. And MBA programmes increasingly feature exchange or field school opportunities to help students build international experience and professional networks.

Think different – Certainly there are more specialised programmes available today, but observers point out that the expanded field of graduate business programmes available around the globe today have often only been modestly differentiated from one another. We can expect to see more specialisation going forward as schools continue to pursue a competitive advantage via more highly differentiated niche programmes. In one notable example, Canada’s Athabasca University recently announced an Executive MBA for the Business of Hockey, an online programme for current or aspiring hockey industry executives.

Whether a student aims to run a hockey team one day, manage a supply chain, or invent a new technology, there is increasingly going to be a more targeted graduate business programme for him or her. Through such new specialisations, not to mention new modes of delivery, programme models, and providers, it seems likely that the landscape for advanced business studies will look very different again a decade from now.

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24/7 digital student support service launched

By Beckie Smith :: The Pie News :: 8th May http://thepienews.com/news/24-7-digital-student-support-service-launched/

In an industry first, guard.me, one of the international education sector’s biggest insurance providers, has partnered with Canada-based Morneau Shepell to launch a 24/7 international student counselling and support service. Through the International Student Support Program, students will be able to access support anonymously and in their own language at any time via a range of platforms including online chat, video and email. “Through the ISSP plan students will be able to receive support and counselling services 24/7, which is especially important when being away from home and studying abroad,” commented guard.me CEO Keith Segal. The service is part of guard.me’s ongoing keep.me SAFE campaign that focusses on international student wellbeing. Segal explained that data reveals expenses stemming from psychological problems make up a large proportion of international students’ insurance claims. With many university counselling services only available during office hours. the ISSP aims to be useful to a generation of digital natives, offering support beyond limited on-campus services, Segal told The PIE News. In addition, many students may feel more comfortable with a support model that does not require them to talk about personal or sensitive issues face-to-face, particularly in the first instance. “Today, we find that more and more young people are accessing counselling and advisory services through various digital channels,” echoed Richard Albert, VP international of Employee Support Solutions at Morneau Shepell. “This is why we offer support solutions around the clock through our video counselling, app or by telephone.” The ISSP will be offered to universities as a plan for the entire international student cohort at a cost of $44 per year per student. The programme launched last month ahead of this week’s Canada’s Mental Health Awareness week.

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Shai Reshef, University of the People

By Beckie Smith :: The Pie News :: 8th May http://thepienews.com/pie-chat/shai-reshef-university-people/

The PIE: How did UoPeople begin? SR: I spent over 20 years in for-profit education. Among other things, I started the first online university outside of the US in Europe – through a partnership with the University of Liverpool, we delivered the online degrees. Through this work I realised how powerful online learning can be. We had students from all over the world, they could keep jobs, stay with their family, but at the same time get this great European education. However, I realised that for most people around the world an online degree was nothing but wishful thinking. It was simply too expensive. So I ended up selling this university and went into semi-retirement, just to realise that it’s not for me; but I didn’t want to do more of the same. I thought: I have enough. It’s my turn to give back. So I looked around and I realised that all the components that made higher education so expensive were already available and for free: open source technology; open educational resources; and the new internet culture, the social networks, where people share, teach and learn from each other for free. So I told myself: all I have to do is put it all together. So I created University of the People. The PIE: How is it funded? SR: When I announced the university in 2009 at a conference, the day after, we had an article in the New York Times and the next day we had hundreds of professors who sent me emails saying: “We want to volunteer.” Now we have over 3,000 volunteering professors and they are the backbone of the university. Our President’s Council, chaired by John Sexton, the president of NYU, includes the vice chancellor of Oxford, the president of George Washington University, the president of Berkeley and lots of others; I’m a volunteer, the provost is a volunteer. Saying that, we have a sustainable financial model. While we are tuition-free, we are not free. We expect the students to pay $100 per end-of-course exam. These fees end up to be $4,000 for the entire BA degree, and it makes us sustainable because we have a very lean budget. Until we get to that point, which will happen in two years, we lean on grants, and we have the support of the Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, Hewlett Foundation, and companies such as HP, Google, Microsoft, Western Union and many others. The PIE: How many students are enrolled at the moment? SR: We have about 2,000 enrolled and we are doubling the number every year.

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UNESCO stated that in 2025 there will be 98 million students who will not have seats in the then-existing universities. We built a model for developing countries’ governments, where the lack of seats is huge, to say ‘you can educate every single person in your country because it will hardly cost any money’. We are here to serve the students, to stimulate others to replicate our model, and we will continue to grow until all the students that need services like the one we offer are served, whether by us or by others. The PIE: You believe that the model is scalable then? SR: The model is definitely scalable. And it’s not only that we give students an education; we give them the right education that they need to find jobs in the 21st century global economy. We teach them the needs of the market. The PIE: Do students need to take an admissions exam? SR: No. A student must demonstrate a high school graduation diploma from a recognised school and proficient English, but there’s no entrance exam. The PIE: How do they demonstrate their English ability? SR: If they’re not coming from an English speaking country or they haven’t studied in a high school where English was the main language of instruction and they haven’t taken an exam like the IELTS or the TOEFL, we created a special English course for them which they have to pass in order to be accepted. We don’t ask them to take the TOEFL or any other exam. The PIE: What proportion of people who apply to UoPeople do you accept? SR: Everyone that meets these requirements is accepted. There are two challenges: some people find our process hard even though it’s relatively short; the second is sometimes people have a hard time having the documents. And if they don’t have the documents we can’t accept them, unless they are refugees or have special status that means there’s a reason why they don’t have those. But we accept virtually everyone that has those documents. The PIE: What does the virtual classroom look like? SR: We put students in classes of 20-30 – often representing as many countries – each with an instructor. We believe that by doing so, we make them part of the global village, open their minds, and allow them to interact with fellow students who they normally wouldn’t have a chance to interact with. Actually, we make them part of a small world and that’s our small contribution to world peace – but that’s beyond the reason of them coming to study with us. The PIE: And how does teaching work?

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SR: Every course is nine weeks long. The first day the student goes into the classroom and finds the lecture notes, the reading assignment, the homework assignment of the week and the discussion question. The discussion question is the core of our studies. Every student must give at least one original comment to the discussion, and comment at least five times on other students’ contributions. So the students discuss the topic of the week under the supervision of the instructor, who is in the virtual classroom every day to read what the students say and to get involved if there are questions. By the end of the week, they take a quiz, hand in their homework that is assessed anonymously by their peers under the supervision of the instructor, and they get a grade. They then take an exam and they can move to the next course. The PIE: Is the exam taken remotely? SR: The exam is sent to a proctor that the university nominates, and the student comes and identifies themselves with an ID and takes the exam in front of the proctor. The exam is sent virtually but taken under human supervision. The PIE: What completion rate have you seen so far? SR: In terms of courses, we have a 90-95% completion rate. The reason for that is we have academic advisors that actually try to help the students, because a large percentage of them are coming from hardship to us: survivors of the genocide in Rwanda; people who went through civil wars; survivors of natural disasters; and we have a lot of refugees too. In order to succeed, they need personalised attention and we do our best to give it to them. And 75% of our students move to the second year. The PIE: How do you get the word out about the university to students? SR: This is a challenge. We use the media and social networking to spread the word. We have 1.2 million friends on Facebook – we’re actually the second largest university on Facebook after Harvard – then there’s the TED talk I did. Saying that, we still have a challenge because if you think about it, the New York Times have written about 10 articles on us, which is great, but you read the New York Times, I read the New York Times, but Sudanese refugees who need our services might skip the New York Times. Take Nigeria: every year, there are about a million and a half students that pass the university entrance exam. There are about half a million seats for them. So every year, about two thirds, or about one million Nigerian students cannot carry on to higher education. This is a lost generation. It will change their life, it will change their country’s life if we can serve them – but how can they find out about us? We rely on word of mouth and media coverage.

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