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Remarkable” enrolment figures were noted across universities in Australia for the March 09 period, indicating a 21.7 per cent hike in new enrolments on the previous year’s comparable figures.
This backed up annual growth of 20.7 per cent in international enrolments in the 2008 calendar year in Australia, across all sectors, with overseas enrolments standing at 534,898 and showing the biggest rise since 2002.
China posted the largest rise in numbers in 2008, with Asia as a region up by 21.5 per cent. In the latest March data, both India and China were driving demand, up by 40 per cent and 19.6 per cent respectively. Intake was also up by 31 per cent in the vocational sector and nine per cent across English language schools, while secondary school intake was, however, down by one per cent. Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, said the figures were “encouraging…and show the strength of the sector”.
She added, “International students contribute to our economic, social and educational development, bringing new ideas and greater cross-cultural understanding to Australia. [We] are working closely with Australia’s international education industry to ensure this interest is maintained in 2010 and beyond.”
Gillard is also calling for a greater uptake of Asian languages in Australian schools and has invited schools to apply for funding available to increase uptake of Mandarin, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean primarily. This is part of the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Programme (Nalssp), for which AUS$9.36 million (US$7.19 million) is available over three years.
She said, “All [regional] governments have committed to Nalssp and an aspirational target that at least 12 per cent of students exit year 12 with a fluency in one of the target Asian languages sufficient for engaging in trade and commerce in Asia and/or university study by 2020.”
Bologna Process in Europe evaluated
European Ministers of Education assembled in Belgium earlier this year to discuss the ongoing harmonisation project that is the Bologna Process. The aim is to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010 within which higher education is equitable, flexible and competitive internationally.
The European Students’ Union claimed that the Bologna Process had failed to improve student opportunties and warned of a “superficial redesign” of higher education failing to substantially achieve results. Despite this, the meeting in Belgium reported on the progress that has been made, which includes 30 European countries now operating a three-year and four-year degree model that offers equivalent European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) points.
Similarly, 29 countries now operate two-year ECTS model Masters programmes, with doctoral programmes next to be harmonised. Eurydice, the EU education network, noted, “While much progress has been made in structural reform, the focus of attention and cooperation must now seek to combine national policy-making and system development with the content and reality of implementation in higher education systems.”
British Council honours International Student of the Year
American, Matthew Morton, has been honoured as the British Council’s International Student of the Year, taking over the title from Malaysia’s Stephenie Siew Jean Tiew. He was selected out of 12 finalists for his letter home, which described his achievements working with underprivileged youth in Oxford while studying for his DPhil in Youth Development in the Middle East at Oxford University.
Morton said he had entered the competition to gain exposure for his youth projects, which also include a partnership with an Albanian youth group. “I’ve enjoyed connecting with the other finalists, all of them are astonishing, and it’s been great to hear about their many achievements,” he said.
Meanwhile, a report conducted by Universities UK has revealed how important international students are to the postgraduate study sector in the UK – outnumbering their UK peers in 11 subject areas, including business studies, where 83 per cent of postgraduates are from outside the UK. Pat Killingley, the Council’s Director of Higher Education, said, “This is not a case of international students taking away places from British students. For the most part they are taking up full-time places that would otherwise not be filled, since British students tend to prefer to study part-time on these kinds of courses.”
News in brief
Malaysia quality vetting its higher education
In line with Malaysia’s vision to become a world class education hub, 20 public universities and 29 private higher learning institutions have signed up to be assessed for a higher education benchmarking programme. The Malaysian Qualifications Agency will audit the education institutions as part of the Setara programme.
Malta and Kuwait’s special relationship
The Kuwaiti government has agreed to sponsor 65 students every year for the next five years for studies at the University of Malta, continuing the eight-year long tradition that previously saw eight Kuwaitis per year arriving on the Kuwaiti Ministry of Higher Education scholarship programme. Sixty Kuwaiti students are still studying in Malta, with the first scholarship students graduating this year – many were reported to repeat some years of study while others enrolled for English language study at the university’s International School of Languages primarily. Meanwhile, in April this year, Lord Kinnock of the British Council in the UK and Iraqi Prime Minister Noori Al-Maliki announced a scholarship programme for Iraqi students.
Almost three million study overseas
According to a new book published by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in the USA, there are currently over 2.9 million students seeking an education outside their home country; a 57 per cent increase since 1999. The report, Higher Education on the Move: New Developments in Global Mobility, explores the effects of variables such as the world economy and government policy on global student migration. Growing higher education demand everywhere is one factor for the growth in transnational study pathways, with India cited as a country with more demand than capacity in the tertiary sector.
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