Regional
News
Asia/Pacific
| SARS,
an IDP Australia report on the impact on the international education
market
As
the SARS virus seems to be coming under control — a June 3
World Health Organization update cited that the average number of
new probable cases in China per week has declined from 166 during
the first week in May to 2.5 in the latest days — IDP Australia
has published a report on the implications for the international
education industry in Australia and other competitor countries.
•
The impact of SARS will be reflected in the number
of visas issued in the most affected countries. To date, no numbers
are available.
•
As an industry, international education has already
been affected but it may be some time before the full effects are
understood.
•
The Asian Economic Crisis had least effect on
the higher education sectors. This is seen as a positive sign for
the effects of the current crisis on the industry.
•
Most institutions expect Semester 1, 2004 will
be the most severely affected recruitment period.
•
In key recruiting areas such as Hong Kong and
China, where local examinations and English-language competency
tests are being delayed, students reliant on these results for confirmation
of their enrollment in foreign institutions will impact on visa
application numbers.
•
Some institutions have expressed specific concerns
in relation to China, commenting that there are always lengthy delays
in processing visas in China, and the
SARS situation will result in an enormous backlog once these students
are ready for visa processing.
•
Postponements of English-language tests will delay
international intakes, but once things calm down, it is expected
that a higher number of sittings and dates will occur.
•
In marketing services, the industry is focusing
on alternative ways of contacting students while travel advisories
to affected areas are in effect.
United
Kingdom
•
Thousands of Chinese students whose English-language
tests have been cancelled may have to defer taking up places for
a year unless UK universities take over the process, the British
Council warned.
•
Abut 12,000 students a month who would normally
sit the IELTS examinations at British Council centers in China are
having to wait for the lifting of the ban on large public gatherings
before they can take the tests.
•
A number of recruiting events and festivals have
been postponed until later in the year.
•
IELTS test sittings in China were cancelled by
the British Council in April and May. China IELTS Network (CIN)
has taken the decision to resume IELTS testing on June 21 in selected
cities.
United
States
•
Schools in the U.S. have cancelled a number of
Asian summer study programs and researchers have shelved a number
of cooperative projects with Chinese scholars. Asians enrolled in
American colleges have abandoned plans to return home after final
examinations.
•
NAFSA states that it is the responsibility of
each institution to determine its own policies. In the well-publicized
case of UC-Berkeley, who closed summer courses to students from
affected areas, classes are scheduled to resume as usual for the
fall semester with a full student body.
•
ETS said in a media release dated 25/4 that it
will not offer the Test of English as a Foreign Language, the Test
of Spoken English, or the Graduate management Admission Test in
China until further notice.
•
Colleges across the U.S. decided to bring students
home early from study-abroad programs in Asia and canceled plans
for summer courses, particularly in China and Hong Kong.
•
Some universities are deciding to quarantine and
screen students coming from China.
Canada
•
Canada is the country with the highest number
of SARS-related deaths outside the Asian region.
•
According to a media release on 15/5 from the
University of Toronto, “based on current public health advice
there are no grounds for alteration of University activities such
as classes, examinations, symposia or other gatherings.”
•
In a further media release dated 5/5 the institution
states that “by most accounts, SARS has had little impact
on student interest”
Australia
•
Events/fairs/exhibitions in the Asian region have
been cancelled or postponed.
•
Lower numbers have inquired about studying in Australia.
•
English-language tests have been postponed. Travel to affected areas
has been postponed.
•
Institutions have imposed self-quarantine restrictions on international
students after arriving in Australia and health-checks.
•
There is “Business as usual” in the Australian Embassy
in China, for enrollment and visa enquiries.
•
The countries most affected by the outbreak have been key source
countries for the Australian international education industry.
Long-term
implications:
According
to the IDP report Global Students Mobility 2025, the demand for
international higher education in Australia is forecast to increase
from 68,405 in 2000 to 562,000 in 2025. If the SARS outbreak is
not contained in the medium and long term it will impact on the
forecast numbers of international students in the Australian international
higher education sector.
Australian
international education managed to survive the Asian economic crisis
of 1997-98. In 1997, there were 131,696 Asian students in Australian
institutions at all levels. As a result of the Asian crisis, in
1998 there were 129,424 representing a decline of 2,272 Asian students
or 1.7 percent. The following year, 1999, the numbers went up again
to 138,107. The higher education sector was the least affected area.
As
in the Asian economic crisis, trade and business will continue through
the short-term complications, and prospects are good in the long
term. The international education industry as a whole will no doubt
suffer from the outbreak, but the industry should be able to find
a way to sort out the crisis in the short and medium terms to lessen
the blow in the long term.
|
AFGHANISTAN
University
of Kabul Graduates Computer Specialists
Six women and 11 men graduated from the University of Kabul’s new
Cisco Networking Academy, earning the first industry-standard certification
for computer networking ever offered in the country.
The United
Nations Development Program and network hardware vendor Cisco Systems
launched the academy in October to create a core of Afghan specialists
who can help move the country onto the digital highway. Three new classes
began at the university in May, and the first all-women classes were scheduled
to begin this month. Those classes will be taught by women trained at
the academy.
In March,
the country gained control of the “.af” domain for Afghan
Web sites and e-mail addresses.
—
UNDP
Newsfront
April 17, 2003
Fulbright
Program to Return
The U.S. State Department announced in May that the Fulbright
Program will be re-established in Afghanistan after a 24-year absence.
The program was canceled in 1980 after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The program
will initially focus on a one-year, nondegree program bringing 30 to 40
Afghan students to study in U.S. colleges and universities this fall.
The program will emphasize the teaching of English-language skills and
“priority themes” that include American studies, journalism,
economics and business, social studies, computer science and the fine
arts.
Not yet reciprocal,
it is hoped that U.S. scholars will be working in Afghanistan later this
year.
—
The
Chronicle of Higher Education
May 1, 2003
AUSTRALIA
NTU to
Become Charles Darwin University
Northern Territory University (NTU)
plans to merge with Centralian
College to form a new institution, Charles Darwin University. The
restructuring follows a year of reforms for NTU and a A$3 million (US$2
million) commitment by the commonwealth to help it overcome financial
troubles. Legislation to establish the new university will go before the
Territory Parliament by mid-year.
Initially,
the new institution will have four campuses: Casuarina (Darwin), Palmerston,
Alice Springs and Katherine, with study centers at Nhulunbuy, Jabiru,
Yuara and Tenant Creek.
—
Department
of Education Science and Training news release
April 9, 2003
Education,
Research Center Opens
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
(RMIT) has launched RMIT Hamilton, an education and research center with
nursing and computer laboratories, textile centers and an art studio.
The new institution
offers a range of programs, from certificate to postgraduate degrees,
as well as professional development courses.
—
Campus
Review
April 23-29, 2003
New
South Wales Clamps Down on Dodgy Degree Providers 
New South Wales, which attracts more than 60,000 overseas students a year,
has introduced new laws to protect the reputations of legitimate universities
operating in the state.
New legislation
passed in May includes increasing penalties from A$550 (US$363) to a maximum
of A$22,000 (US$14,500) for any higher education provider found to be
offering bogus degrees. A new register of all education providers will
be set up, along with a new Web site to help students report unaccredited
institutions.
According
to Education Minister Andrew Refshauge, fake degrees are readily available
from more than 40 sources in Australia. A pamphlet, “Is That Degree
Genuine?” will be distributed to high schools, employer groups and
embassies to help people identify the holders of fake degrees.
In Queensland,
the operations of all new universities will be reviewed after the first
five years. Interstate universities will have to comply with national
standards, and foreign universities will undergo rigorous approval processes.
—
The
Australian
June 4, 2003
BHUTAN
Looking
for Closer Ties with Australia
Australia’s first ambassador to Bhutan, Penelope Wensley, in her
first meeting with King Jigme Singye Wangchuck on May 7, said education
will continue to be the basis and priority of Australia’s development
cooperation with Bhutan.
The ambassador
said Australia will make more of an effort to attract Bhutanese students
to Australia. She said she would like to see Australia playing a special
role in the development of the government’s plans to set up a university
in Bhutan. There are currently 87 Bhutanese students taking undergraduate
and graduate courses in Australia, 32 of them on AusAID scholarships.
Formal diplomatic
relations between Australia and Bhutan were established on Sept. 14, 2002.
—
Kuensel
May 9, 2003
CHINA
University
City Being Built in Guangdong
A complex of university campuses is under construction in the southern
province of Guangdong. The project, dubbed “University City,”
aims to train graduates to meet the country’s growing needs.
The project
will be home to 10 already-identified tertiary institutions, and will
be in the Panyu district of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong. It will
have an area larger than 43 sq. km, according to Hong Kong’s Ming
Pao Daily News.
University
City will reportedly accommodate as many as 200,000 students and will
hire 20,000 lecturers and 50,000 other staff. The most optimistic plans
see the first batch of students arriving in September 2004.
—
The
Straits Times
March 22, 2003
Overseas
Student Numbers Rising
Accelerated by its accession to the World Trade Organization, China is
experiencing an increase in the number of overseas students.
Statistics
from the Ministry of Education indicate that China hosted 85,829 foreign
students from 175 countries in 2002. These students were dispersed among
395 institutions of higher education in 31 provinces. Of the foreigners,
93 percent (6,074) were self-supporting. Sources from the Ministry of
Education said they were working on regulations to help provide work-study
opportunities, which are likely to include part-time jobs.
In 2002,
77 percent of overseas students were from Asia, 10 percent each from the
Americas and Europe, 2 percent from Africa and 1 percent from Oceania.
South Korea, Japan, the United States, Indonesia and Vietnam were the
top five sending nations and accounted for the majority of overseas students
in China.
Beijing ranked
first in receiving foreign students, followed by the municipalities of
Shanghai and Tianjin; and the provinces of Jiangsu, Liaoning, Shandong,
Jilin and Heilongjiang.
—
People’s
Daily
April 15, 2003
Elite
Institutions’ Reforms Follow U.S. Example
Students at Beijing, Qinghua
and Nanjing universities
are now able to take a core curriculum in their freshman year of study
that comprises the social sciences, philosophy and psychology, history,
language and literature and the arts.
The more
than 10,000 students affected by the reforms do not have to choose their
major until their second or third year, which, like the U.S. system, exposes
them to a wide range of subjects before specializing.
All 12 faculties
at Qinghua University, often cited as a leader in educational reforms,
have switched to the new system. At Nanjing University, seven of the 12
faculties have adopted the changes.
A radical
departure from the traditional university system, the reforms allow high
school students to declare a department, not a major, rather than having
to list their top three preferred colleges and a corresponding major and
then begin training in their chosen specialty from the first year with
little or no hope of being able to change their major.
Beijing University’s
administrators are even toying with the idea of allowing third-year students
to switch majors if doing so better matches their interests.
Many faculty
members and students welcome the changes and believe that other schools
in China should follow suit as China pushes to modernize and integrate
its system of education.
—
The
Straits Times
March 11, 2003
Community
College System Gains Interest
At an international conference on community colleges held at Shanghai
Teachers University, professor Li Yixian, a leading Chinese educator and
president of the Community Education Association of China, called on his
colleagues to press forward with the establishment of community colleges.
The conference
also endorsed a proposal by T.P. Shao, chairman of the U.S.-China
Education Foundation, to establish a leadership-training institute
for China’s future community college educators. Shao pointed out
that the Chinese Ministry of Education has identified the development
of community colleges as one of its “five urgent tasks” in
educational reform.
The recently
concluded Community Colleges in China Project worked with seven schools
to design programs developing credit systems, career counseling and student-centered
curriculums. In addition, each school selected mid- to high-level administrators
to participate in internships at U.S. community colleges.
A study tour
of U.S. community colleges was conducted in 2001 for a leadership group
of Chinese education officials and college leaders, and a second visit
was sponsored in 2002, which included a delegation from the Tertiary Technical
and Vocational Education Research Association of China. The project also
instigated discussion in China with two workshops in Shanghai.
Ministry
of Education official Liu Junyi said in his conference opening remarks
that “China needs community colleges to meet the needs of regional
economic development, to provide lifelong learning opportunities and to
meet the needs of an urbanizing rural sector.”
—
Community
College Times
March 4, 2003
Nottingham
Breaks New Ground in China
The cooperation agreement signed between the University
of Nottingham and University
Center of Wanli
in Zhejiang province will result in mainland China’s first branch
campus of an internationally recognized university.
Based on
the British university model, the institution will occupy approximately
67 acres within the Ningbo
University campus. Students from all over the world will be admitted
when recruitment starts next year, but priority will be given to Chinese
students. The Ningbo campus is the University of Nottingham’s third
foreign branch campus; the others are in Malaysia and Singapore.
The University
of Nottingham will provide the teaching materials, and the faculty will
essentially be composed of British professors. Diplomas will be mutually
recognized.
—
People’s
Daily
April 3, 2003
University
Evaluations Set to Begin
A new teaching evaluation system is being established for all higher education
institutions this year. Evaluations will be performed on a five-year cycle,
and the results of the first round of inspections and observations will
be available to parents and members of the general public by the end of
the year.
The Ministry
of Education may form an intermediate agency, China Higher Education Evaluation
Center, to take up the exercise. This evaluation will gradually develop
into a professional evaluation system. It is hoped a database of teaching
quality at higher education institutions will be established and made
open to the general public.
—
China
Youth Daily
April 10, 2003
INDIA
Scottish
University Links with Indian Institution
Queen Margaret University College
in Edinburgh is offering a post-basic bachelor of science degree in nursing
studies with Omayal Achi
College of Nursing (OACN) in Chennai.
The two institutions
had agreed recently to look at the development of mutually beneficial
education programs, including the post-basic nursing degree.
Professor
Alan Gilloran, dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at the
Scottish university, said, “Lecturers from Omayal Achi College of
Nursing will have the opportunity to come to Scotland to observe and experience
our approaches to learning and teaching. However, the degree will be taught
in the cultural context of India and delivered by Indian staff.”
Gilloran
also hopes the agreement will help British nurses learn from their Indian
counterparts, who “have substantial practical experience and are
extremely good at community health care.”
The OACN
will offer the new course in September to those who hold a diploma in
nursing and have worked a minimum of two years. The degree will be awarded
by Queen Margaret University College.
—
Queen Margaret
University College News Release
May 2003
Declining
Foreign Enrollments Highlight Educational Inequalities
At a seminar on “Internationalization
of Indian Higher Education – Quality Dimensions,” the Union
Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Vallabhbhai R. Kathiria,
said the globalization of education is leading to inequalities in the
field.
Kathiria
said the number of foreign students studying in India has declined in
the last five years, from 11,888 to 6,988. In contrast, the number of
foreign students in Australia doubled. In the United States, it increased
from 415,000 to 514,000, and in the United Kingdom to 220,000. More than
54 percent of the foreign students in the United States were from Asia,
including 42,000 from India. Conversely, only 707 Americans studied in
India, he added.
Kathiria
said there is hope for increasing foreign enrollments, but drastic changes
are needed in the approach to higher education. He added that the quality
of higher education varies greatly in India.
The director
of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, V.N. Rajasekharan
Pillai, spoke recently of the problem of ensuring quality, saying that
5,000 out of 12,000 colleges in India are not under the purview of the
University Grants Commission.
—
The
Hindu
April 24, 2003
Foreign
Institutions Face New Regulations
The All-India Council for Technical Education
(AICTE) has set new regulations for all foreign universities and institutions
offering technical and business degrees in the country, including the
authority to set fees and intake, bar unapproved institutions and block
repatriation of profits.
The move
comes as the number of foreign institutions offering degree programs in
recent years has mushroomed. A majority of those providers are offering
engineering or business courses, and regulatory bodies have long wanted
a program that ensures the interests of Indian students are protected.
The new AICTE
regulations state that no foreign university or institute can operate
in the country and award diplomas, degrees and doctorates without the
permission of the council and the concerned embassy in India. The institute
should also submit a detailed project report to the AICTE, after which
the council will inspect the facilities and grant permission.
In creating
the regulatory framework, the council wanted to make sure that all foreign
institutions would be held accountable to the same regulations as those
for Indian institutions. The council also wanted to ensure that all accreditations
are genuine and that the accrediting bodies themselves are internationally
accepted.
—
The
Hindu
June 12, 2003
JAPAN
Junior
Colleges Struggling for Survival
In the past four years, 17 junior
colleges and at least one four-year university stopped enrolling freshman
students, effectively ending their tenure as educational institutions.
Declining
birth rates and a dwindling pool of freshman students have hit postsecondary
institutions (see WENR
March/April, 2003) hard as the population of 18-year-olds has declined
from approximately 2.05 million to approximately 1.5 million in the past
decade.
Of the 17
junior colleges, two – Nano College in Ishikawa and Meizen Junior
College in Kagawa – have yet to decide their future, two have already
closed and the remaining 13 are expected to close once the current crop
of students graduate. Officials at Seishin Gakuen Women’s Junior
College in Ibaraki, which stopped enrolling students in 2002, said the
only junior colleges that can still attract students are those that offer
courses in elderly care and welfare or child-care programs, as they apply
directly to in-demand jobs.
In an attempt
to overcome the declining popularity of junior colleges, some schools
have converted to four-year institutions. Since 1998, 10 to 20 junior
colleges have made the switch annually. This approach does not necessarily
guarantee survival. Risshikan University, which converted in 2000, became
the first four-year college to announce closure plans.
According
to the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan,
about 197,000 students applied to private junior colleges in 2002, about
one-fourth the number of applicants a decade ago. As a result, 48 percent
of private junior colleges are unable to fill their enrollment capacity.
—
The
Asahi Shimbun
March 15, 2003
MALAYSIA
Technical
Instruction to be in English by 2008
The policy of teaching technical
subjects in English will be implemented fully at all polytechnics in Malaysia
by 2008, the Ministry of Education says.
The government
says it will equip all institutions with such essential communication
tools as laptops and LCD screens. The move is in line with recent legislation
that mandated English-language instruction for science and mathematics
classes in Standard One, Form One and Form Six at high schools across
the country, effective this year.
—
The
Straits Times
March 19, 2003
Study:
Recruit from Indonesia, China, Gulf
Malaysia’s plans to attract
50,000 foreign students by 2010 and establish itself as a regional education
hub hinge on attracting students from China, Indonesia and Gulf states,
according to a recent study.
The report,
prepared by international consultants and commissioned by the National
Economic Action Council, shows that the number of higher education providers
had grown from 291 in 1995 to 720 in 2001. The foreign student population
in public universities grew 8.65 percent year-to-year between 1997 and
2000. In the same period, international student enrollment in private
colleges and universities grew a remarkable 60.1 percent year-to-year.
The study
recommends that students be allowed to seek employment during and after
their studies. It also suggests tweaking immigration rules to make it
easier for Malaysia’s 691 private colleges to hire teaching staff
from abroad.
Comparative
studies of higher education suggest costs are about 30 percent lower in
Malaysia than in Singapore, which should help attract students from such
markets as China and Indonesia.
This month
a delegation from Malaysia Multimedia
University is touring various Iranian universities, and meeting with
the Iranian Minister of Higher Education to discuss educational cooperation
between the two nations.
—
The
Star
Feb. 27, 2003
University
Quota System Tossed Out
The Malaysian government announced
in January that student placement at the country’s 17 public universities
will be granted according to merit, rather than on the current ethnic
quota system, which favors Malay students over Chinese and Indian students.
The 31-year-old
quota system has been controversial for some time, as many academically
able Chinese have seen their places granted to less able ethnic Malays.
Many Chinese students, as a result, have gone overseas to study. Malaysian
universities hope the change will encourage more students to stay and
study at home.
—
Muzi
news
May 10, 2003
Japanese
Degrees Recognized
The government has approved and now
fully recognizes 240 Japanese degrees, in line with the government’s
“Look East” policy.
The move
is an effort to halt the brain drain to Japan. In the past, many students,
having studied in Japan, remained there because their degrees were not
recognized back home. The Ministry of Education says approximately 450
Malaysians annually travel to Japan to study.
Recognized
universities include Akita,
Chiba, Ehime,
Fukui, Gifu,
Gunma, Hiroshima,
Kobe, Kyoto
Institute of Technology and Tokyo
Institute of Technology.
—
Education
Intelligence Asia
April 2003
MYANMAR
Schools
and colleges closed
The ruling junta of Myanmar, formerly
Burma, closed all schools and colleges indefinitely on the first day of
a new semester June 2, two days after detaining pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.
The government
ordered closed all institutions that fall under the auspices of the Ministry
of Education until further notice, making it unclear when the universities
might be ordered open again.
Universities
in Myanmar have often been the center of civil unrest and pro-democracy
rallies and have as a result experienced many bouts of closure and reopening.
In 1988 thousands of students were murdered by the military and closures
have been commonplace since then. For the last three years universities
had been operating a fairly consistent schedule until this latest period
of unrest.
—
The
Guardian
June2, 2003
NEPAL
Chinese
Universities Seek More Nepalese Students
More than 1,000 Nepalese students
are currently studying in China, 813 of whom started their studies in
2002. A recent two-day China Education Exhibition in Kathmandu hosted
29 Chinese universities looking to attract students from Nepal.
The Chinese
government has made scholarships available to 800 Nepalese students in
the last four decades.
—
People’s
Daily
April 14, 2003
NEW ZEALAND
Schools
Seeing Significant Drop in International Student Numbers
New Zealand has been awash with international
students in recent years, but recent warnings from education insiders
suggests that the flow of language students could drop as much as 50 percent
by the end of the year and worsen further in 2004.
New Zealand
welcomed more than 80,000 international students in 2002, and export education
earned an estimated NZ$1.7 billion (US$1 billion) in what has grown to
become the country’s fourth-largest industry. The Ministry of Foreign
Trade has said it is investigating the dropoff, particularly in students
from China, but some education experts believe the government remains
unaware of the seriousness of the problem and the implications it could
have.
Factors that
may have contributed to the downturn include the SARS virus; lingering
terrorist concerns, the strengthening of the New Zealand dollar, negative
reports in the Asian media about language schools in New Zealand and local
attitudes toward foreigners and rising unemployment among Chinese graduates.
—
New
Zealand Herald
May 14, 2003
SINGAPORE
Polytechnics
Introduce Aerospace Courses
Singapore Polytechnic is launching
a three-year diploma course in aerospace electronics, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic
will offer a course leading to a diploma in aerospace technology, beginning
this year.
The three-year
program at Ngee Ann will admit up to 60 students and will offer courses
in the basics of engineering as well as aircraft systems, structures and
processes. The diploma will work as a foundation for aerospace-degree
courses at universities in Singapore, Australia, the United States and
Britain, thus allowing students to skip certain modules.
—
Education
Intelligence Asia
April 2003
New Benchmark
for Private Schools
Furthering Singapore’s desire
to be competitive in the world education market, the Economic Development
Board has introduced a new quality-assessment system for private institutions
of higher education.
There are
more than 300 private information technology, fine arts and language schools
in Singapore. These schools, which cater to more than 100,000 local and
foreign students, had no system for quality control and assessment until
now.
Under the
new system, private schools can apply for the Singapore Quality Class
(SQC) for Private Education Organizations (PEOs). Based on the Singapore
Quality Award Framework, PEOs that qualify for the SQC will have access
to shorter student processing times, inclusion in International Enterprise
Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board promotions overseas and, for students
from China, exemption from an interview at the Chinese Embassy in Singapore.
The Economic
Development Board hopes to qualify at least 20 private schools for the
program by the end of the year.
—
Channel
NewsAsia
Feb. 23, 2003
Stanford,
ESIEE Sign Agreements with NTU
Stanford University and the Engineering
School of Electronics (ESIEE) in Paris signed partnership agreements
with Nanyang Technological
University (NTU) in February and March, respectively.
The Singaporean
institution will implement two double diploma programs, a master’s
degree in environmental engineering with Stanford, a field that Stanford
ranked first in the United States last year, and a master’s in microelectromechanical
systems engineering with ESIEE.
—
Nanyang
Technological University media releases
Feb. 25, 2003, and March 5, 2003
New
Australian Institution Gains Foothold in Increasingly Crowded Market
James Cook University (JCU) has entered
into a joint venture with PSB Corp., a commercial spinoff of the Singaporean
government, to open a campus that will place the Queensland-based university
in the hunt for a slice of the offshore Asian market.
The initiative
is part of the university’s aggressive internationalization strategy,
which hopes to attract 5,000 international students by 2010. Vice Chancellor
Bernard Moulden describes the new campus as “a unique and secure
beachhead in Asia,” and hopes the university will help the Singaporean
government achieve its ambition of establishing the city-state as an Asian
educational hub.
JCU Singapore
will offer courses in five fields: business, education, engineering, information
technology and psychology, with 20 programs, ranging from certificate
to doctoral, on offer in 2003. Students will be able to complete a substantial
part of their education in Queensland, and the university hopes the new
agreement will encourage the recruitment of students to Australian campuses.
—
JCU
media advisory
March 25, 2003
SOUTH KOREA
Declining
Enrollments Worry Institutions of Higher Education
According to The Chosun Ilbo newspaper,
199 four-year universities and 156 junior colleges have set new records
in their failure to fill entrance quotas, to the tune of 85,000 openings
for the 2004 academic year. Close to 30 schools have failed to fill even
half the places available and face the prospect of permanent closure.
The problem
dates back to 1996, when the Education Ministry chose to allow the creation
of new schools that could choose their own enrollment quotas. Unfortunately,
student numbers were already decreasing at the time, and at least one
report warned against the decision.
The solution,
according to the article, lies in mergers and specialization. The ministry
recently told Korean press agencies that some institutions would soon
be facing closure.
—
The
Chosun Ilbo
April 23, 2003
Ohio
College to Offer IT Course Online
Owens Community College (OCC) is expanding
its distance-learning curriculum, creating a pilot program that will offer
online courses throughout South Korea, marking the first international
partnership between Owens and another country.
OCC will
offer its information technology (IT) course to South Koreans beginning
this summer. The college is also developing additional courses. Registration
for the IT course will be made online, while representatives from South
Korea will facilitate entrance requirement coursework through an in-country
portal service. Owens will collaborate with a third-party service provider
based in Australia.
The northwest
Ohio institution chose South Korea to launch its pilot program because
of the advanced Web technology that exists on the peninsula.
—
Community
College Times
April 15, 2003
THAILAND
Mahidol
University Offers New IT Degree
Mahidol University is offering
a new bachelor’s degree in information and communication technology.
The program offers four majors: database management, intelligent systems
management, multimedia systems and computer science.
—
Bangkok
Post
March 17, 2003
VIETNAM
Guidelines
Issued for Foreign Schools
The Ministry of Education and
Training has issued guidelines allowing foreign-owned, for-profit cultural
and educational establishments in Vietnam.
An application
for a license must be made to the ministry, and the institution must register
with the local People’s Committee and advertise its license details
in five consecutive issues of a local newspaper. If the establishment
does not start operations within 12 months, the ministry may make a submission
to the prime minister to have its license revoked.
—
Education
Intelligence Asia
April 2003
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