Qatari students impress with their language skills

The Japanese Embassy has announced its intention to offer Qatari students scholarships to study in Japan. The grants, which include scholarships for undergraduate degrees and postgraduate research studies will be available from April 2010. Meanwhile, students at the Language Teaching Institute in Doha, Qatar, impressed Japanese dignitaries at a recent speech contest. Most of the contestants – comprising university students and working professionals – had completed a Japanese language course at the school.

US international tertiary sector challenged

According to new figures released by the British Council, over half a million international students studied at a UK university last year. New analysis showed that there were 513,570 international students studying at a British university in 2007-2008, 124,240 more than was originally forecast and closer to the USA's 623,805 figure. The survey – carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) – previously focused on domicile or the country from which the application was made. However, the new figure includes those that have lived in the UK for several years and that hold a foriegn passport.

Maltese schools could face closure

According to a recent industry survey conducted by the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations in Malta (Feltom), Maltese schools face closure should student numbers fail to pick up. Almost 57 per cent of the 23 English language schools that took part in the poll reported a drop in student numbers in the first quarter of 2009, with just 21.7 per cent reporting an increase in student enrolments. “Schools faced with a substantial fall in student numbers will find it difficult to operate in the long term,” said Executive Officer of Feltom, Isabelle Pace Warrington. “Should the crisis escalate or be prolonged then the possibility of school closures becomes very real,” she added. Particular markets that have suffered so far this year include South Korea, Germany, Russia, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Austria, Japan and Poland with the global recession thought to be the cause as well as the competitve value of the UK pound.