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Jan./Feb.
2003
COVER
PAGE Methods of Document Recognition and Authentication REGIONAL
NEWS FEATURE
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Regional
News
AUSTRALIA
China Ranks as Top Mainland Market
A study by IDP Education Australia — a nonprofit company set up by Australian universities to recruit overseas students — shows that China is now the single largest market for universities in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, with more than 60 percent annual growth. Including overseas campuses and tertiary institutions, China now ranks as the fourth-largest source overall after Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, for Australia's entire higher education system. However, for onshore enrollments at Australian universities, China is now Australia's largest market for international students. Overall figures for foreign students at Australian institutions of higher education show Singapore as the No. 1 sending country, with 24,005 students; 21,697 for Hong Kong; 21,696 for Malaysia and 20, 486 for China. Over the last year, the number of international students at Australian universities increased 9.2 percent, to 157,296 students. Higher education is now one of Australia's largest export industries, earning more than US$4 billion in the last financial year, which ended in June. —
IDP
Education Australia EU, Australia Launch Joint Project
The project, Learning through Exchange Agriculture, Food Systems and Environment, will enable 36 students from each region to join the master's program and to study abroad for one semester. The project aims to provide opportunities for the exchange of ideas and enhanced multilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture, food systems and the environment. Both sides have committed 500,000 euro to the three-year project, and four institutions from each region will be involved in the project. Commenting on the project, Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Education and Culture, stated she was confident that cooperation between the two regions would progress from the initiative and that "Australian universities and postgraduate students would be well represented in Erasmus World, a project starting in 2004 that will support high level masters with a European dimension and deliver grants to students from all over the world." —
Cordis
News Diplomacy
School First in Southern Hemisphere
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SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS: Crisis May Force Tuition IncreaseThe University of the South Pacific could raise course fees up to 30 percent under a proposal to solve the university's ongoing financial crisis. The university, which serves 13 island nations in the South Pacific, is owed millions of dollars in funding and faces a financial crisis brought on by the failure of member governments to keep up their contributions. The Solomon Islands government owes US$2.8 million, while Fiji and Nauru are also listed as governments who are behind in their payments. Government-sponsored students from the Solomon Islands studying at the Fiji campus have been told they can only return in 2003 if their government settles its debt with the university. —
UNESCO News
Service |
All WIU degrees are fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.
— Times of India
Dec. 2, 2002
Welsh Degrees Available in Pune
The autonomous Pune-based institution known as Training
and Advanced Studies in Management & Communications has received
validation from the University of Wales
to offer the following programs: MBA, with specializations in marketing,
finance, human resource management and information management; master
of science in information systems and bachelor of administration, with
specializations in marketing, finance, management and information management.
—
The Times of
India
Dec. 4, 2002
The Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur is offering two new programs for the 2003-04 academic year:
1) Master's in medical science and technology. The three-year program is offered through the institute’s School of Medical Science and Technology and trains medical professionals in engineering skills to prepare them for medical research in a number of areas, including telemedicine, bioinformatics, genetic engineering, biophysics and nutritional science.
Admission
requirements:
· Bachelor’s in medicine
and surgery (MBBS)
· A minimum of 60 percent
GPA (please refer to WES
grading scale)
· Mathematics at the +2
level
2)
Postgraduate diploma in information technology. This is a two-semester
postgraduate program focusing on the foundations of information technology
and applications.
Admission requirements:
· Bachelor’s degree
in any branch of engineering OR a master’s degree in physics, chemistry,
mathematics, statistics or computer applications
· A minimum of 60 percent
GPA (please refer to WES
grading scale)
— University News
Jan. 13-19, 2003
Scandal-Plagued College Changes Name
Sakata Junior College, 70 million yen (US$583,000) in debt and accused
of misappropriating 43.5 million yen (US$363,000) in government-funded
scholarships, changed its name Aug. 2002 to Mizuho Gakuen Junior College.
The college has been embroiled in scandal since 2001, when approximately 180 of its 330 Chinese students left Sakata in search of jobs. Immigration authorities raided the school for allegedly providing a haven for illegal immigrants. Few of these Chinese students attended lectures, and some were busted for working in sex shops. Ninety-four percent of the college's students at the time were Chinese.
The current number of Chinese students has dwindled to 26. It is experiencing dire financial difficulties and there have been delays in payments of salaries to its employees.
The lack of operation funds could bring down the college.
—
Mainichi Daily News
Nov. 2, 2002
New Body to Promote Malay Education Abroad
The newly created Malaysia Council will have offices at foreign missions
worldwide to promote educational opportunities in Malaysia.
The Ministry of Education initiative is part of a wider plan to enhance the country's international image as a center for academic excellence. According to a ministry spokesman, "Malaysia Council offices will not be set up in countries such as Britain, where our country's education sector is already known. It is more for the newer markets, such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia."
The existence in Malaysia of Australian, U.S. and U.K. degree-granting institutions with tuitions lower than in their home countries makes Malaysia an attractive destination for students from developing markets.
—
Education Travel
January 2003
Controversial English-Language Policy Implemented
This year's return to school marked the implementation of the government's
controversial decision to teach high school mathematics and science in
English.
Teachers are using an array of software and equipment, costing the government US$225 million, to aid teachers in presenting mathematics and science concepts in English. To ensure that teachers implement smooth lesson plans, part of the software allows them to click on tricky words to get Malay translations.
The first batch of students learning with the new methodology are those in Primary 1, Secondary 1 and those in the first year of pre-university-level study.
The government believes the English-language instruction will prepare students for a tougher working environment, where the mastery of English is important. Chinese educators are worried the policy is the start of more government encroachment into the 1,200 Chinese-language primary schools, which are generally run separately from the national school system.
—
The Straits Times
Jan. 6, 2003
Maoists Close Nepal Schools
A strike called by Maoist students on Dec. 9 shut more than 26,000 schools
and colleges across Nepal for a two-week period.
The strike ended when a student group sympathetic to the rebels secured key demands from the government for lower tuition costs. Almost all private and state schools, including universities, had shut down amid fears of rebel retaliation if they stayed open.
Under the agreement reached with the pro-Maoist All Nepal National Free Students, Union-Revolutionary, private school administrators pledged to reduce tuition between 10 percent and 15 percent. They also promised to offset the revenue shortfall by curtailing spending on building construction and maintenance.
Student union leaders have vowed to launch an indefinite strike across the country in two months' time if the government fails to meet their demands — including its key demand that it is not to be labeled as a terrorist group. The Maoist "people's war," which aims to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, has claimed more than 7,000 lives since 1996, according to security forces' figures.
The pro-rebel student group has also demanded an end to instruction in the Hindu holy language of Sanskrit, which Maoists associate with the caste system and influence from neighboring India. The Sanskrit requirement is also cited as a major reason why few lower-caste students from low-income backgrounds graduate from high school and go on to college.
—
Radio Singapore International
Dec. 23, 2002
Government Tightens Control over Language Schools
The government's Tertiary Education Reform Bill went into effect in January.
The bill requires all institutions offering courses for foreign students
— including courses of less than three months' study — to be
registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). The bill
also includes an education export levy of 0.5 percent on all foreign students'
tuition fees.
The bill was introduced because the government believes the growing industry needs tighter regulation and centralized input, due in part to an explosion in the number of both NZQA-accredited and non-accredited language schools. The bill is part of a concerted effort by the government to promote New Zealand as a destination for quality educational opportunities. There are an estimated 200 non-NZQA-registered language schools in the country. The hope is that the legislation will bring unregulated institutions under government control and force closures where deemed necessary.
The bill can be viewed in PDF format HERE.
—
Language Travel Magazine
Feb. 2003
Critic:
Assessment Tinkering Doesn’t Work
Peter Lyons in the New Zealand Herald suggests that all is not well with
the newly managed assessment system for secondary school graduates. The
first results for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement
(NCEA) were released recently, and Lyons believes they are “an abysmal
example of change management.”
Critics of the NCEA agree that the previous system of assessment was severely flawed and there was a need to recognize the diverse nature of subjects and to better gauge student capabilities. However, mismanagement has contributed to a growing fragmentation of assessment systems in secondary schools, Lyons argues in the Herald. So much so that many private schools are opting for overseas qualifications, such as the Cambridge exams or the International Baccalaureate.
In the early
to mid-1990s, unit standards were to be introduced to replace school qualifications.
Since the abandonment of unit standards in favor of the NCEA, few employers
are now aware of the value of students’ work under the unit system.
This is the risk of constantly tinkering with a qualifications system,
Lyons says. Validity comes from public acceptance and awareness of what
a qualification actually means, he argues.
Despite a publicity campaign, anecdotal evidence suggests many New Zealanders
not involved in the education system are unaware of what is meant by the
NCEA.
In concluding, Lyons asserts that unless the NCEA’s resourcing and credibility issues are promptly and adequately addressed, private schools offering alternative, internationally recognized qualifications will become increasingly attractive to parents who can afford them. The result, he says, will be like a country using several types of money because of a lack of faith in its own currency.
—
The New Zealand Herald
Jan. 25, 2003
Thousands
of Empty Schools Await Faculty, Students
According to a report by The Dawn newspaper, there are more than 2,175
recently built educational institutions in Karachi and the Sindh waiting
for staff and students.
The buildings were built over the last 10 years under annual development programs. An estimated Rs5.2 billion (US$90 million) has been spent on the construction of buildings -- ranging from primary schools to colleges and technical institutes -- most of which are ready for academic activities.
According to an official at the Education Department, most of the buildings, however, have been vacant since they were built. He said that without the availability of sufficient staff, the institutions cannot be run and, thus, the very purpose of these buildings cannot be served.
Almost 2,000 primary schools, 175 secondary buildings and 48 institutions of higher learning are waiting for faculty and students.
—
The Dawn
Nov. 26, 2002
Australian Law Degrees Recognized
Under the recently concluded Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement,
four more Australian universities will have their undergraduate law degrees
recognized by the city-state.
They are Australian National University, the University of Western Australia, the University of Queensland and Flinders University. Before the new agreement was reached, Singapore had only accepted degrees from Monash University and the University of Melbourne.
Australia has been seeking wider recognition of its law degrees for many years, and it is hoped that the move will create new opportunities for the export of legal education services.
—
The Australian
Dec. 11, 2002
New IT University Given the Green Light
A new information technology (IT) university is to open in Gwangju, Gyeonggi
Province, in March. The university's creation is part of an effort by
the government to boost the country's IT work force.
—
The Korea Herald
Dec. 12, 2002
Ministry to Ease Regulations on Foreign Schools
The Ministry of Education and
Human Resources Development said recently it plans to allow Korean
corporations to establish foreign schools and grant Korean students greater
access to them. The ministry expects the new measures to go into effect
as early as March after a final review.
At present, only foreign businesses are permitted to open foreign schools. The new plan will empower Korean corporations to set up such schools, provided they have an as-yet undecided amount of capital and a recommendation from the government behind them.
The current system also limits enrollment at international schools to foreigners and Koreans who have lived outside the country for more than five years. Under the new plan, the minimum requirement will be reduced to three years. In addition, the students who finish foreign primary, middle and high schools will be recognized just the same as those from Korean schools, if their schools provide them with more than two hours of classes on Korean language and culture a week.
Currently, the academic backgrounds of international-school students are not recognized officially in Korea.
—
The Korea Herald
Jan. 3, 2003
Forgery Spurs Tighter Screening
Seoul National University will
tighten its screening of foreign applicants after a student from China
was found to have been accepted into the prestigious school with forged
documents.
The university has also decided to re-examine the applications of the 240 foreigners accepted for the 2003 academic year. The school will focus on forms submitted by incoming freshmen from China, which account for 104 of the total 240 overseas students accepted this year.
The school will also delay the release of its 2004 list of accepted foreign students so there will be enough time to properly examine all admissions papers from abroad.
—
The
Korea Times
Jan. 19, 2003
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