Regional
News
Videoconferencing
Is
a Big Hit in the East
Videoconferencing
as a means for distance education has begun to catch on in a big
way in the East. Pioneered by Waseda
University in Tokyo, a program called CuSeeMe
is now used by students at 15 universities around the globe, including
the University of Malaya in
Malaysia, National Taiwan Normal
University, National University
of Singapore, the universities of Edinburgh
and Essex in Britain and the
University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Students
log onto camera-equipped computers and can see and communicate with
other students who have a similar hook-up, no matter the location.
Many feel the program has the potential to bridge cultural gaps
and enhance language.
The
program has been a hit among students and educators alike. Proponents
of the system say that in the wake of Sept. 11 and other terrorist
attacks, programs like CuSeeMe have become even more important to
dispel many of the negative stereotypes that have cropped up.
—
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Feb. 15, 2002
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AUSTRALIA
New Monash
Center Aids Foreign Students
Monash
University's Clayton Campus in Melbourne recently opened a new center
for international students. The facility includes computer and language
laboratories, an independent learning center and lecture theater.
The center
was built to meet the growing demand among international students for
preparatory courses. The school allows both Australian and foreign students
who cannot secure a university place an alternative route to Monash degrees.
Students enroll in preparatory studies that lead to degree programs in
business, information technology and engineering.
Monash attracts
more international students than any other university in Australia and
has campuses in Malaysia and South Africa. This year, the university estimates
more than 9,000 students from overseas will be enrolled at its Melbourne
campuses, with an additional 200 enrolled offshore.
—
Campus Review
Jan. 16-22, 2002
BANGLADESH
Plans
Progress for Women's University
An international coalition has obtained approval from government officials
in Bangladesh to create the Asian
University for Women, with plans to open in 2005. The idea to build
a women's university was first conceived some years ago by UNESCO and
the World Bank, but has come to fruition through the efforts of Kamal
Ahmad, a London-based lawyer who is spearheading the international coalition.
To be located
near Dhaka, the country's capital, the university hopes to enroll some
2,000 students from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Laos, where
women find opportunities for higher education extremely limited.
The university
will offer four-year degrees in liberal arts and English language programs,
and aims to offer 50 percent of its student body financial aid. Faculty
will be recruited from various Asian countries. The university also hopes
to begin a distance-education program, thereby allowing even more women
to gain access to higher education opportunities.
—
The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 22, 2002
CHINA
Top
Official Urges Academic-Degree Reform
China plans to introduce more advanced educational resources from abroad
through high-level international cooperation and exchanges.
At the 19th
meeting of the Academic
Degrees Committee of the State Council in Beijing, Vice Premier Li
Lanqing urged continued reform of China's academic degrees administration
in order to train more qualified professionals. Academic degrees, he advised,
should be more job-oriented.
He said colleges,
universities and other institutions of higher education that confer academic
degrees should foster a healthy academic climate and should encourage
an innovation-oriented faculty who are "qualified both academically
and ethically."
—
People's Daily
March 28, 2002
China
Helps Minority Students
Southwest China's Sichuan Province will allocate 6 million yuan (roughly
US$727,000) to establish "remote education centers" in 12 middle
schools in three minority autonomous prefectures this year.
The project
seeks to help more local children receive higher education and bolster
local scientific and technological development, which is dragging behind
the national average.
An official
close to the project said it would enable students in Aba Qiang Autonomous
Prefecture, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Liangshan Yi Autonomous
Prefecture the same educational opportunities as their city-dwelling contemporaries.
The remote education network will likely cover 48 county-level middle
schools in the three minority autonomous prefectures in the next three
years.
—
People's Daily
March 28, 2002
HONG KONG
Hong
Kong Doors Open Wider to Mainland Students
With the relaxation of former restrictions, students from Mainland China
are starting to fill the ranks at Hong Kong universities, something they
were not permitted to do in past years.
The University
of Hong Kong alone plans to recruit up to 500 mainland students next
year, up considerably from the 30 new students recruited this year. Its
goal is to attract as much as one-third of its student body from the mainland.
In 2001, Hong Kong officials further strengthened ties to Mainland China
when they implemented a new policy allowing students from the mainland
to stay and work in Hong Kong after graduation.
—
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Feb. 8, 2002
INDIA
India
Opens 7th Institute of Technology
The University of Roorkee was
recently converted into the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and
has been fully integrated into India's IIT system.
The institute,
which began as the Thomason College of Civil Engineering in 1847, became
the University of Roorkee in 1949, and was officially designated the seventh
Indian Institute of Technology in 2001. The institute boasts the largest
number of academic departments (19) and research centers (27) among all
technical institutions in India.
—
University of Roorkee
November 2001
Sylvan
Learning Sets Sights on India
In December, Baltimore-based Sylvan
Learning Systems announced plans to open an international institution
of higher learning near Hyderabad, an area in south-central India that
is attracting a large number of information technology businesses. Sylvan
is in the process of purchasing a 250-acre plot of land for the university,
which hopes to enroll as many as 10,000 students.
The new university
would be Sylvan's sixth international venture and its first outside of
Europe and Latin America. Officials described the university as specializing
in information technology, hotel management, engineering, business, and
health sciences.
It would
also be the first institution Sylvan would develop from the ground up.
The others were existing institutions in which the company invested.
—
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Jan. 11, 2002
Calcutta
University to Change Name
The 145-year-old University
of Calcutta (CU) is set to change its name to University of Kolkata.
The state
government is pushing for a name change despite opposition from some Senate
members. It is unclear as of yet when the change will go into effect.
—
The Times of India
March 28, 2002
MALAYSIA
New Nottingham
University Campus Breaks Ground
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Jan. 29 in Semenyih for the opening
of the University of Nottingham's
newest offshore campus. Expected to open to students in 2004, the university
will accommodate 2,500 students and will be Nottingham's fourth permanent
campus in Malaysia.
—
University
of Nottingham in Malaysia
Jan. 29, 2002
Informatics
Malaysia Partners with Australian University
Informatics Malaysia
and the University of Southern Queensland,
Australia (USQ), have cemented their plans for collaboration and will
now offer a new USQ bachelor of information technology degree at Informatics
centers.
Students
in the program will spend their first two years of study in Malaysia and
their final year at USQ in Australia. The Informatics centers in Malaysia
are located in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru and Kuching.
USQ, recipient
of the Prize of Institutional Excellence by the International
Council for Distance and Open Education, enrolls nearly 20,000 students
a year in a broad range of career-oriented courses and programs.
—
The Star
Feb. 17, 2002
New
Malaysian Policy Limits University Enrollment
In an effort to upgrade the quality of Malaysian education, the country's
Ministry of Education recently
instituted a policy that will allow only those possessing Malaysian Higher
School Certificates (STPM qualifications) to be eligible for enrollment
in public universities.
The decision
means only those with 12 years of school — six at the primary level,
four at secondary and two at upper secondary — will be eligible for
higher education. Local authorities said the change will reflect the higher
standards practiced internationally, and will give foreign universities
less reason to doubt the credibility of Malaysian institutions of higher
education.
— The Star
Feb. 15, 2002
NEW ZEALAND
Fake-Degree
Web Sites Face Potential Legal Action
University
officials in New Zealand are considering taking legal action against Web
sites that sell fake degrees bearing the names of three well-know institutions
of higher education. The New Zealand Vice Chancellor's Committee, an association
representing the country's eight national universities, is currently discussing
legal options for getting the school names removed from the sites.
Both New
Zealanders and foreigners have used the phony degrees to try and procure
jobs and visas. Although one of the sites in question does feature a disclaimer
maintaining that the degrees are for "novelty" purposes only,
university officials are still intent on shutting the sites down.
—
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Feb. 11, 2002
Influx
of Chinese Students Catches Universities Unprepared
Thanks
to relaxed visa procedures, New Zealand universities have seen a dramatic
rise in Chinese student enrollments in the past year. The schools are
unsure how to accommodate the influx and changing ethnic landscape, and
admissions staffs are also facing the increasingly difficult task of verifying
documents and certifications.
Universities
have tried to hire on more administrators, and especially bilingual staff
members, but they are finding it difficult to find such talented personnel
with limited financial resources.
—
The Guardian
Feb. 21, 2002
PHILIPPINES
Government
to Integrate Madrassas
A plan
to integrate madrassas, traditional institutes for higher Islamic
studies, into the country's national education system has been approved
by the Philippine government. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the
goal is to "foster religious understanding between the country's
Muslim minority and the Christian majority." Another objective, officials
claim, is to make the madrassa system more compatible with the
curriculum of the country's formal education system.
According
to Mona Valisno, presidential assistant for education, the integration
will hasten the accreditation and eventual recognition of the madrassas,
which are situated in areas heavily populated by Muslims.
The integration
plan will be implemented as part of a larger program called Education
for Peace and Development in Mindanao.
—
Gulf News
Feb. 09, 2002
SOUTH KOREA
Program
to Boost Non-Metro Enrollments
Starting
next year, students who graduate from two-year professional colleges will
be eligible to transfer to four-year universities. The plan, introduced
by the South Korean Education Ministry,
enables students to transfer to four-year institutions outside of major
urban centers.
Local education
officials believe the new transfer system could benefit as many as 7,000
professional-college students, who could choose from the 97 four-year
universities and 19 industrial colleges located in rural areas.
—
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Feb. 15, 2002
Education
Trend Could Hurt Country
Korea's
undergraduate students have been moving away from science and engineering
fields, a trend that could potentially hurt the country's economic growth.
Samsung
Economic Research Institute (SERI) analyzed the country's science
and engineering manpower supply, and after citing the declining statistics,
called on the government to take drastic measures to remedy the problem.
SERI issued a report claiming that 56 percent of science and engineering
students and researchers in Korean graduate programs have considered switching
majors. Making matters worse, many students have moved to other countries
for better-paying jobs.
If this trend
continues, South Korea may fall short of its goal of becoming one of the
region's most technologically advanced countries, SERI warned. The report
pointed to declining salaries as a potential reason for the exodus. Engineering
and science salaries were once much higher, but times have changed.
—
The Digital Chosun
March 27, 2002
TAIWAN
$286
Million University Overhaul Announced
A U.S.$286 million university-restructuring plan, long under consideration
by the Ministry of Education, was announced
in January and will be carried out over three years. The plan's goals
are to strengthen the island's academic system and to encourage Taiwanese
universities to match standards held by first-rate universities internationally.
The overhaul
will focus on fostering greater integration and cooperation among universities,
merging older universities with newer ones, creating new research-oriented
programs and attracting more international scholars.
— Netherlands Organization for
International Cooperation in Higher Education
Jan. 18, 2002
VIETNAM
Melbourne
University to Build in Ho Chi Minh City
Australia's RMIT University will
soon begin construction of a US$31.5 million campus in Ho Chi Minh City.
While RMIT University Vietnam
began a year ago in a temporary setting with nearly 60 faculty and 370
students, it just received formal approval from the Victoria government
in Australia to take out loans from the International Finance Corp. and
the Asian Development Bank to begin construction.
The university
offers courses developed by RMIT, with the same academic standards as
in Australia, but it is able to act independently in setting curriculums,
fees and student enrollment targets. All courses are conducted in English
and will likely be available online sometime in the future. Enrollments
could reach 3,000 students, and the university will be open to Australian
students who wish to do an exchange program in Vietnam.
—
The Times Higher Education Supplement
March 22, 2002
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