Regional
News
AUSTRALIA
The School of Medicine at James Cook University
has passed the initial review by the Australian
Medical Council, the national accreditation body for undergraduate
medical education. When the accreditation process is completed, the new
course is expected to graduate doctors with a better understanding of
the problems confronting remote, agricultural communities. The School
of Medicine is the first new medical school in the country since 1976.
In related
news, the new medical course at the University
of Western Australia has been accredited through 2007. Also the university
has pledged to review its assessment plans for students and better its
mechanisms for coordinating teaching and student support.
—
Campus Review
Nov. 29, 2001
The University of Melbourne purchased
the Edinburgh School of English
in hopes of expanding its international network of English language schools.
Future plans at Melbourne Enterprises
International (MEI), the University's commercial arm, include similar
purchases in Vancouver and Dublin. MEI and the University of Melbourne
do not have an immediate agenda to drastically change the school's program,
which remains a Scottish company and enrolls only 200 students. However,
within the next two years MEI aims to encourage the enrollment of Asian
students and add more academic-oriented English courses, bolstering the
school as a premier site for study-abroad English language instruction.
—
Times Higher Education Supplement
January 2001
University access has emerged as a major issue in the upcoming general
election scheduled for November. Labor Party leaders have announced their
plans for a new public online university, which they claim will offer
higher education to 100,000 additional students. The new university is
part of the Labor Party's program to retain Australian specialists and
teachers. Opponents of the plan claim that such an institution would be
extraneous in light of the already existing "open university,"
Open Learning Australia, which was
likewise the result of a previous Labor Party proposal. The OLA has announced
its intentions of moving to online instruction in the near future and
increasing its current enrollment of 10,000 students.
—
Times Higher Education Supplement
January 2001
CHINA
The Educational Testing Services (ETS)
has issued a letter to American universities advising caution in treating
the results of the Test of English as a
Foreign Language and Graduate Record
Examinations administered in China. An excerpt from the ETS release
reads: "It is always important to review all elements of an applicant's
file. In the present circumstances, it is particularly important that
all evidence submitted by an applicant from China be reviewed, and that
test-score results be fully supported by other elements of the file."
ETS recently
filed a lawsuit against the New Oriental
School, a test-coaching program, for allegedly stealing questions
from the current tests and using them to unfairly prepare the students.
The school's distribution of the questions has cast doubt on test scores
from October 1999 to September 2000.
Chinese students
have decried the admonition, claiming that their hard work in preparation
for the test should not be tarnished for reasons outside of their control.
—
Chronicle of Higher Education
Feb. 16, 2001
JAPAN
Falling birthrates have led to a decrease in demand for higher education,
a trend that is forcing Japanese universities into harsh competition for
students. The country's population of 18-year olds has fallen to 1.51
million in 2001 from 2.04 million in 1991. Many predict that by 2009 the
population will equal the capacity of the country's universities, threatening
the growth of educational institutions.
Schools have
begun to respond to this development by streamlining and outsourcing.
Many junior colleges have collapsed into related universities. Nearly
30 universities in Tokyo have agreed to form joint classes to supplement
their individual programs. The pressure to attract students has been felt
even at Waseda University, a top-tier
school that has graduated a number of Japan's political leaders. In April,
Waseda will initiate a unit-exchange program with four other private universities
to make itself more appealing.
The president
of Tama University, Gregory Clark,
has taken a different route to boost enrollments. He will place greater
emphasis on recruiting foreign students and the development of professional,
business-oriented courses of study. Many prognosticators believe that
adult and professional education must inevitably be further incorporated
into the university to ensure its survival.
—
The Japan Times
Feb. 1, 2001
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government
has announced an unprecedented plan to enroll students without high school
diplomas. The Japanese government requires admitted students to have graduated
from high school or attained equivalent certification. Under the new plan,
the four Tokyo Metropolitan schools will offer a "challenge enrollment"
system that will give applicants a trial period to prove their ability.
This measure intends to accommodate competent students who do not excel
at the state-run entrance examinations.
The planned
reforms also include the complete reorganization of the four schools:
the Tokyo Metropolitan University,
Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology,
Tokyo Metropolitan University of Health
Sciences and the Tokyo
Metropolitan College. All schools will share facilities, general requirements
and a common credit system. Officials have allotted four years for the
complete implementation of the plans, if introduced.
Japan
Times
Feb 10, 2001
INDIA
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had included in the annual federal budget
a huge provision for students seeking loans to pursue higher education
abroad. Under the new policy, up to 1.5 million rupees (US$ 32,000) will
be available for overseas study student loans, with low-interest fees
and repayment required after as many as seven years. That sum is twice
as much as the maximum loan available to Indian students seeking higher
education within the country.
The majority
of the country has praised the initiative, which evidently is geared to
facilitate overseas study for students from low-income households. Previously,
foreign degrees, highly regarded throughout the country as symbols of
status and prestige, have been confined to the lucky few in the upper
class. Proponents of the new budget say it will level the playing field
and maximize the country's intellectual resources.
However,
leftist political parties, most notably the Communist Party of India,
have voiced their belief that the loans will only strengthen the urban
middle class and obscure the government's neglect of educational institutions
within the country.
North American
and European institutions welcome the measures and are expecting an increase
in students enrollments from India.
—
The Times Higher Education Supplement
March 16, 2001
PAKISTAN
Aga Khan University, based in Pakistan,
will open three new campuses on three different continents. In its first
initiatives to expand internationally, the university plans to establish
an Institute of Islamic Civilizations in London and an Advanced Nursing
Program in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. At home, Aga Khan University will
open a College of Arts and Sciences in the Sindh Province, which will
take the mold of a liberal arts college and keep a steady focus on Muslim
issues and ethics.
These steps
are the first in the university's long-term agenda to expand internationally.
Officials hope that these institutions will be effective in breaking stereotypes
about Islam and Islamic education in the West, while providing new educational
opportunities for Muslims outside of predominantly Muslim countries.
— ACU Bulletin
January 2001
SINGAPORE
The Ministry of Education has decided
to restructure its policies on university governance and funding, electing
to give universities more autonomy in their salary distribution. In the
past, universities, most notably the National
University of Singapore, have submitted pay plans to the government
for review and approval. The new structure allows for the university to
determine the salaries of professors out of a lump sum granted to the
institution every three years.
The impetus
behind the change is to give the universities the capacity to attract
higher quality educators. Freeing up the pay structure allows for professors
to operate in a talent market, wherein universities can offer what a particular
employee is worth. Vice chancellors throughout the country hope this new
freedom will put their universities on an internationally competitive
level to attract skilled teachers and researchers.
— NUS Campus News
October 2000
SOUTH KOREA
In a landmark advance in Korean-Japanese relations, Seoul
National University (SNU), Korea's first modern university, has announced
it will offer the first Japanese language course in the school's history.
In addition, the university plans to offer a degree in Japanese studies,
while the University of Tokyo has
agreed to offer a degree in Korean studies. Formed in 1946, the SNU has
traditionally neglected the study of Japanese culture due to Korea's resented
colonial history under Japanese rule, from 1905 to 1945.
— Chronicle of Higher Education
Jan. 5, 2001
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