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Volume 12, Issue 5   REGIONAL NEWS PRACTICAL INFORMATION RESEARCH
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Regional News
The largest contingent of foreign students receiving visas to attend Australian institutions of higher education came from Indonesia, according to Australian immigration statistics. Most of these students are believed to be ethnic Chinese. A total of 15,000 visas were issued to Indonesian students, which is double the number granted to Japanese and Korean students, and more than half the number granted to students from Hong Kong.
The next largest contingent came from India (6,150 visas) followed by Malaysia (5,938), China (4,926), Britain (4,500), Thailand (4,400), Singapore (4,274) and Taiwan (3,916).
Visa applications from many countries are still down due to the aftershocks of the economic crisis that wreaked havoc on parts of Asia two years ago. The number of students coming from Korea, for example, fell by 35 percent this year, while student numbers from Malaysia and Singapore were both down by 10 percent.
But the sharp drop in visas issued to students from those three countries — Korea especially — has been offset by big gains in the number of offshore visas granted to students from China (up 75 percent in the past year) and from India and Indonesia (both up 10 percent).
Visa applications from American students are also increasing. Between July 1998 and April 1999, close to 3,700 offshore and onshore visas were granted to students from the United States, compared with less than 2,500 two years ago. At present, the United States is among the top 12 countries from which students apply for visas to study in Australia.
Higher education in Australia attracts students from more than 100 different countries around the world. South America and the Pacific Islands provide the smallest number of students, while the top 20 nations provide 86 percent of all international students who study in Australia.
— Campus Review
The vice-secretary of the Guangdong provincial government stated recently that the recent recruitment drive is designed to help foster domestic consumption and encourage more students to pursue their studies at home rather than abroad.
Rapid economic development in the province has spurred an exodus of students who go overseas to study. According to the Guangdong Bureau of Higher Education, there are currently 6,000 students studying in other countries, a number that triples each year.
Many of these students are not even in college yet. About half of the 6,000 are teenagers enrolled in primary and secondary schools located primarily in Guangdong’s prosperous cities. Younger students used to account for less than 30 percent of the total number going abroad to study. In 1997-98, for example, only 50 students from Shenzhen High School applied to overseas programs; there were 90 applicants last fall.
On average, each of these teenagers spends about 150,000 yuan (US$18,000) per year studying in the United States, Britain and other countries. The local bureau of education estimates that with 2,500 teenagers going abroad each year, Guangdong is losing close to 1 billion yuan (US$120.5 million) in educational revenues annually.
— China Daily
Edexcel is one of the largest degree-awarding bodies in the United Kingdom and is affiliated with BTEC (formerly Business & Technology Education Council) and the University of London Examination and Assessment Council.
On successful completion of the ninth trimester, students are awarded a BIT degree and are eligible to enter the second year of the university’s Master’s in Computer Applications program.
The only requirement for admission into the BIT program is a valid high school diploma.
— University News
There are currently 16,800 lawyers in Japan, or one lawyer for every 6,600 people, according to a recent survey. Compare this with one lawyer for every 300 people in the United States, and one for every 650 British citizens in the United Kingdom.
Many blame tough entrance and bar exams as the main obstacles to increasing the number of lawyers in the country. According to one source, most of the 1,100 students who passed the Japanese bar last year had taken the exam at least five times before achieving an acceptable score.
Many students applying to law school hire tutors to help them pass the entrance exams. Needless to say, a disproportionate number of students who make it into law school are from high-income families that can afford after-school tutors and the high cost of tuition.
In an effort to turn out more lawyers for the country, the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations has agreed to slightly increase the bar exam pass rate, although not enough to satisfy the national demand for lawyers.
— Times Higher Educational Supplement
Of the 600,000 or so children enrolled in Chinese schools, 60,000 — or 10 percent of the total — are Malay children.
Many Malay parents have lost confidence in their national schools and are looking for alternatives.
They have embraced the Chinese schools for a number of reasons: their children can learn a third language (students are taught Mandarin, Bahasa Melaya and English) while in school; science and math are taught better at Chinese schools; children come out of Chinese schools better prepared for college; parents are also given greater flexibility in deciding which particular school is best for their children.
— The Star Online
Last year 7,683 students left the country, up from 4,713 in 1997-98. These so-called “nonresident borrowers” currently owe more than $6 million in overdue student loan repayments, a figure that accounts for almost half the $13.7 million in student loan arrears.
Canterbury University Student Association President Darel Hall was not at all surprised by the IRD statistics. The exodus of graduates and post graduates for greener pastures overseas, he says, has become commonplace on campuses all over the country.
But while students have always taken time off to travel abroad after graduation, Hall claims there has been a “qualitative shift in what’s pushing them to go, and what’s making them think twice about coming back.”
The lack of job opportunities at home and the burden of paying back student loans are the two factors most responsible for the exodus of college graduates, he says.
— The Press Online
An estimated 60,000 to 75,000 street children are sexually exploited or prostituted in the Philippines, according to the DSWD. Many others fall victim to drug abuse, street violence and health hazards.
The certificate program, which was launched about a year ago, offers courses in guidance, counseling, non-formal education, values education, recreational education, health and physical education, and evaluation and assessment techniques.
— Manila Bulletin
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Between July 1998 and April 1999, the Australian government granted visas to 95,000 international students.