Rules for foreigners to be tightened

….. With the incident of Iranian students assaulting a watchman and few other violations by foreign nationals, the Mysore police wants to tighten the rules for international students.The police who feel foreigners in India have more freedom than any other nation in the world, wants outside students to respect the law of the land. …………Even as the number of foreign enrolments in the University of Mysore and colleges under it increases every year, the Special Branch on Immigration and foreigners at Police Commissioner’s office has initiated strict measures. Recently, two African students were deported for flouting the passport rule.“Foreigners who violate passport and visa rules and stay without providing Residence Certificate or indulge in illegal acts will immediately be deported………“A few are involved in illegal activities like drugs, driving without licence, drunken driving and assault and abuse on locals. “When in a foreign land, they are expected to behave properly, respect the law and observe discipline,” he said. [View Full Article]

More International Graduate Admissions

A new report shows business schools are increasing numbers of international students as well as expanding their own programs overseas
Come fall, U.S. business schools will reach even more international students. According to a study released Aug. 28 by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), a jump in overseas applications and admission offers will increase international student populations at U.S. schools—particularly business programs. It also predicts the significant expansion of U.S. programs abroad.
According to the group's interim findings, admission offers for international business students rose 10% for the upcoming school year, while applications were up by 15% from last year. It's the second straight year of sharp increases in applications and offers of admission to international students.
Equally Competitive
How many of these international students will actually make it to campus is another matter, ………. After September 11, stricter visa requirements decreased the number of international students coming into the U.S. Some of the restrictions that were put in place have been eased………. "We're hoping to see that the changes made by the State Dept. will alleviate some of the barriers for student visas and will be reflected in our enrollment numbers, but there seems to be a backlog of complaints from our consulates." [View Full Article]

China Caps Graduate Enrollments in Response to Rising Unemployment

Beijing — China will limit the growth of graduate enrollments to 5 percent in the coming years as unemployment rises among holders of master’s degrees around the country, the state-run news media reported today.….. China’s graduate students, who number 1.5 million, second only to the United States, had become less competitive in the country’s job market.……. the rapid expansion of enrollments had led to a lower-quality education. Ms. Wu advised universities to pay more attention to educational quality than quantity.Many university officials said they opposed an expansion in graduate enrollments ordered in 1999 by the ministry, citing growing demand. The officials said they lacked the faculties and facilities needed to handle the increases.[View Full Article]

Record of Hong Kong, Macao students apply for study

The number of students from Hong Kong and Macao who have applied to study at universities in Taiwan during the 2007-2008 school year marks a record high, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said yesterday. ……….. the council organized two short tours inviting students from the two areas to Taiwan as part of its efforts to enhance the students' understanding of the island. A total of 220 young students from Hong Kong and Macao joined the tours which took them to several local universities………. the visiting students attended several seminars which helped them gain a better understanding of Taiwan's education policies……..Citing past figures, Lo said that about 90 percent of students who join the tours end up enrolling in universities in Taiwan. [View Full Article]

Localizing the workforce starts right at the top

China is widely expected to become the world's largest employment market in the future.
Yet although China's working population looks set to grow through 2020, 72 percent of workers are currently employed in the agricultural sector. More critically, only 4 percent of the current working population holds a university qualification.………The good news is that there are 65 million overseas Chinese worldwide. Their roots lie in the mainland and they are keen to bring their own ideas, capital and skills physically into the country. This will alleviate China's executive talent shortage issue to a certain degree.

Chinese mainland returnees: born and raised in China, studied or worked in the US or Europe and then returned to China. They offer international experience, plus language and cultural skills but are in short supply. [View Full Article]

China's charm offensive

China's honing of its soft power strategy transforms the world as its gains influence on the international stage.
……… The Chinese government had done a great deal of preparatory work for this visit. They had invested a lot of money in language schools and cultural programs in Cambodia, built a kind of Peace Corps program there, gave out scholarships for children who would go on to study in China, and created a huge aid program. ……… Now you have 110,000-140,000 overseas students in China. (Some, of course, are students who probably would have liked to study in the US but visas have become more difficult to obtain since 9/11.)[View Full Article]

Foreign student numbers rise in US

The number of foreign students accepted by US graduate schools has risen for a third consecutive year, according to a survey to be released on Tuesday. Many in academia say the 8 per cent rise is a clear sign that US government efforts to improve the tedious student visa process are working.But even after three years of growth, 78 per cent of US graduate schools reported fewer international applicants this year than in 2003, according to the survey by the Council of Graduate Schools.……….The US State Department responded by revamping its policy, extending visas for science and engineering students and increasing staff levels to shorten visa processing times.The survey found that nearly a third of US graduate schools have established joint or dual-degree programmes with international universities – an indication of the growing globalisation of higher education.[View Full Article]

Graduate Schools Again Admit More International Students, but Total Still Lags From 2003

The number of foreign students who received admissions offers from American graduate schools rose in 2007 for the third straight year, according to survey results scheduled for release today by the Council of Graduate Schools. This year's 8-percent increase is less than last year's 12-percent gain (The Chronicle, September 1, 2006), but is still expected to contribute to the gradual recovery in the number of international students at American colleges and universities, which dropped sharply in 2004. [View Full Article - By Subscription - The Chronicle]

Foreign-crazy Ludhiana attracts foreign students

………. Ludhiana is witnessing a reverse trend these days. Know for having craze to study abroad, the city has enrolled 18 foreign students in Punjab College of Technical Education this year taking the total number of foreign students to 32.
……… This year, at least, 18 new foreign students joined the college. Students from Zimbabwem Mozambique and Tanzania joined the college in various management and computer courses, like BBA and BCA. At present, students ………….. “This is the fifth year in a row that we have enrolled students from South African countries. In addition, we now have three faculty members from three countries Kenya, Cameroon and Tanzania to facilitate the process.”
…………“India is the best place to study computer technology...." [View Full Article]

Indian Students Flock To The U.S.

Sixty years after gaining independence from Britain, India's students are flocking abroad for higher education. Today, India is the leader in sending its students overseas for international educational exchange, with over 123,000 students studying outside the country in 2006. More than 76,000 of them have chosen the United States as their academic destination.
The U.S. receives more international students from India than from any other country, a trend that continues to shape and impact the cultural, economic and diplomatic dialogue between the two countries. Vigorous efforts have been undertaken by such U.S. government leaders as Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes to persuade Indian students to study in the U.S. This past …………… India surpassed China as the international community's leading exporter of students to America, and it seems likely to remain so for years to come.
With 10 times more college campuses than any other country in the world, the United States easily lends itself to the burgeoning international student population, which brought over $13 billion to the U.S. in 2006. [View Full Article]

Taiwan behind in English proficiency, paper reports

LOW SCORES: Taiwan's English-learning environment faces five main obstacles to effective English learning, including proper facilities and standardized teaching materials Taiwan is performing badly on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), a recent report said.
In a report which listed the 20 countries that had the most people taking the language-proficiency test, Taiwan was only 17th, after Japan (12) and South Korea (14), and worse than Vietnam (13) and Pakistan (15), ………….
The results are accepted in many countries, including England, Australia, New Zealand and some European countries, and more than 100 colleges in the US accept IELTS in addition to the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). [View Full Article]

HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEPAL; TRUTH AND CHALLENGES

Modem higher education in Nepal does not have a long history. It started with the establishment of Trichandra College in 1918 during the Rana regime. ………….. Later community colleges also came into existence in the Kathmandu valley as well as outside the valley. ………..
It was only in 1959 that Tribhuvan University was established in Kathmandu and Nepalese were proud of having a university of their own which designed the courses of study, conducted examinations and published their results. ……. the New Educational System plan was introduced and all the community colleges were nationalized and brought directly under T.U. The government adopted the policy that education was the responsibility of the state and this policy had a tremendous impact on the nation. Some educationists, teachers and students were against the New Education System Plan but the government was fully determined to introduce the new plan and it did. [View Full Article]

U.S. Education Secretary wooing students from Brazil, Chile to reverse post 9/11 decline

SAO PAULO, Brazil — U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings looks more like a college recruiter this week, traveling through South America with American university leaders to woo back international students spooked by lengthy visa delays linked to post-9/11 security."American higher education is open for business to students from our neighbors,………The number of foreign students enrolling in American universities is rebounding following a drop due to extra visa security precautions after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the number of visas are granted to students seeking to study for a year or more is still less than before the terrorist attacks.…………..And competition for students is growing fast from nations like Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Even South Africa is in the race to attract South America's best and brightest.…………American universities depend on foreign students for teaching and research help, and policymakers consider them essential so that future foreign leaders will be familiar with the United States. It also has an economic effect: Foreign students provide of billions of dollars annually to the U.S. economy.[View Full Article]

Fears over foreign flight of top students 2007-8-20 Change font size:

ABOUT 40 percent of Chinese undergraduates who score the highest marks at college entrance examinations chose to study abroad, according to a latest survey. Most of them settle down in foreign countries after they finish studies there, said the survey, which tracked 130 top scorers at college entrance exams from 1977 to 1998.
……..many of the top-notch students do not stay in China for advanced studies despite the country's rapid development in the past decades.……the government should find better ways to attract talented students to stay. Statistics from UNESCO show that Chinese students make up 14 percent of global international students, ranking the top in the world. The US, Britain and Japan are their most popular destination.[View Full Article]

The Ministry of Education plans steps to elbow out some colleges

The Ministry of Education (MOE) plans to work out a set of measures to speed up the process of forcing colleges and universities out of the market if they cannot recruit enough incoming first-year students.
Although nearly all senior high school graduates in Taiwan were given admission this year, 16,705 chose not to attend a college or university when the new academic year begins in September. MOE officials said the public higher learning institutions that are funded by the government and charge lower tuitions had planned to recruit 43,346 students.……..The mushrooming number of colleges and universities now guarantees admission to all senior high school graduates who are interested in advanced learning, and whose parents are willing to pay the tuition.……….. more people are questioning the quality of Taiwan's higher learning institutions.…….. the number of high school students or graduates who want to spend extra time on studying in order to gain admission to college or university has dropped as much as 40 percent or more this summer.[View Full Article]

Better graduates needed

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) yesterday urged educational institutions to help cope with the predicted population decline in the next 20 years by producing graduates strong in language, vocation and ethics. HEC deputy secretary-general Suchart Muangkaew said he had spoken about the role of higher education and its impact on Thailand's future at a recent seminar in Illinois in the United States. Representatives from eight other countries, including Japan, China, South Korea, Indonesia and the US, were at the seminar. [View Full Article]

Why High-Achieving Hispanic Students Go to Hispanic U.: Report Sheds Light on Their Choice of Colleges

High-achieving Hispanic students often focus on location, cost, and campus atmosphere, not prestige, in selecting their colleges, according to a report due out today.
"The level of pragmatism these college students had in making decisions was impressive," said Deborah A. Santiago, the report's author and vice president for policy and research at Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit policy group.
The report, "Choosing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A Closer Look at Latino Students' College Choices," is based on interviews with about 100 students and is not nationally representative. But it provides a window on why Hispanic undergraduates are heavily concentrated in the country's small cohort of Hispanic-serving institutions. [View Full Article - By Subscription - The Chronicle]

Indian Prime Minister Describes Plan to Create 40 New Universities

India's university system, which the government has largely neglected in recent years, is now the focus of a reform and development agenda, the country's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said on Wednesday, as he announced plans for several new higher-education institutions.
To ensure that at least a fifth of Indians age 18 to 24 go to college, up from around a tenth, Mr. Singh announced that the government would set up five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, seven new Indian Institutes of Management, and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology. [View Full Article - Subscription - The Chronicle]

Foreign students put India on the global education map

In the years from 5th-13th century AD, eastern India's ancient university of Nalanda was home to foreign students from as far away as China. Thousands of years later, history spills over to the modern-day Indian nation that continues the tradition of being a centre of educational excellence and a lodestone for students from all over the world.Sixty years after it attained independence, India boasts of 310 universities and 16,000 colleges offering the widest spectrum of courses. Its centres of higher learning like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are global brandnames.Adding to the quality of education is the fact that English is the generally accepted mode of teaching and living standards are economical - attracting thousands of students from at least 100 countries.A large number of students come to India from countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Fiji, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Ghana, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Syria and even the US."They (the global populace) look at the Indian education system with trust," said Educational Consultants India Limited (Ed. CIL), a body under the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry."India is today recognised as a world centre for education. Indian entrepreneurs are making waves throughout the world.[View Full Article]

U.S. universities go global to keep edge

An increasing number of U.S. universities have opened branch campuses overseas to tap new markets, enhance their reputations, collaborate on research and make the world a better place.
University officials say the globalization of higher education benefits the United States. Scientific breakthroughs are occurring all over the world, and participating in this research will help the United States maintain its edge in innovation, they contend. Plus, studying abroad makes American students more prepared for the global economy.
…………..Foreign students have long been a fixture on U.S. college campuses, especially in graduate-level science and engineering programs. [View Full Article]

US Promotes Higher Education In Chile And Brazil

U.S. Government Officials and University and College Presidents Promote U.S. Higher Education in Chile and Brazil
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Farrell will lead a delegation of U.S. college and university presidents to Chile and Brazil, August 18-24.
Meeting with students and leaders in higher education, government, and business, the delegation will promote the quality, dynamism, and diversity of U.S. higher education, as well as the desire to expand educational partnerships in the hemisphere.
The delegation will carry the message that the U.S. welcomes and values international students in the United States, and will highlight the importance of international education to strengthening our ties and preparing globally competitive American students.
This pairing of U.S. government and higher education leaders is the third in a series of delegations growing out of a commitment to greater partnership in the national interest made at the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education co-hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in January 2006. [View Full Article]

Why do Africans love studying abroad?

Increasingly, Africans are choosing to study abroad. The British Council has just announced a dramatic increase in the number of Nigerians applying for student visas in the UK but these days, African students are going further for their degrees to Eastern Europe and Asian countries such as India and China. So what does this students’ exodus say about African universities? Is there a perception that degrees at home are worthless? Will overseas degrees lead to better job prospects?
I studied in UK three years ago. It helped me to interact and appreciate other cultures and people from different parts of the world such as China, Indonesia, etc. Studying in a foreign country broadens your scope and outlook. That is education on its own. It is not about the quality of African degrees because university staffing is international everywhere. Some organizations are actually uncomfortable employing foreign academics because they know that most of what they learnt in their universities are not applicable to them. …………………the stability in the education abroad especially Europe and America while others want a world-recognised certificate……
………….. Those who got their degrees abroad are promoted above those who got theirs locally. The managers think that a foreign degree has quality and it is affecting the mentality of the youth towards getting qualified abroad.[View Full Article]

Matching Up to the Group of 8

………….The federal study compared the United States with the other members of the Group of Eight on a range of indicators related to educational attainment by citizens and educational investment by the countries themselves.
On several fronts the United States still leads the pack. It remains the most attractive destination for the world’s students, at a time when the number of people seeking higher education outside their own borders has swelled to 2.7 million in 2004, the year examined in the NCES study. Of those 2.7 million, about two-thirds were enrolled in the Group of Eight countries, and nearly a quarter of those, 22 percent, were enrolled in the United States. The United Kingdom followed with 11 percent, Germany with 10 percent, and France 9 percent. Canada, Japan, the Russian Federation and Italy lagged.
While the United States enrolled far more foreign students than its peers, the U.S. had among the smallest proportions of foreigners in its mix of students, given the large enrollment of American colleges and universities over all. Foreign students made up 16 percent of all students at colleges in the United Kingdom and 11 percent in Canada, France and Germany, for instance, but just 3 percent in the United States.
The U.S. also continues to spend more money per capita on higher education (and education generally) than its European peers and Japan, spending a total of $24,100 per person on higher education and a total of $37,500 on education over all in 2003. [View Full Article]

Matching Up to the Group of 8

……….The federal study compared the United States with the other members of the Group of Eight on a range of indicators related to educational attainment by citizens and educational investment by the countries themselves.
On several fronts the United States still leads the pack. It remains the most attractive destination for the world’s students, at a time when the number of people seeking higher education outside their own borders has swelled to 2.7 million in 2004, the year examined in the NCES study. Of those 2.7 million, about two-thirds were enrolled in the Group of Eight countries, and nearly a quarter of those, 22 percent, were enrolled in the United States. The United Kingdom followed with 11 percent, Germany with 10 percent, and France 9 percent. Canada, Japan, the Russian Federation and Italy lagged.
While the United States enrolled far more foreign students than its peers, the U.S. had among the smallest proportions of foreigners in its mix of students, given the large enrollment of American colleges and universities over all. Foreign students made up 16 percent of all students at colleges in the United Kingdom and 11 percent in Canada, France and Germany, for instance, but just 3 percent in the United States.
The U.S. also continues to spend more money per capita on higher education (and education generally) than its European peers and Japan, spending a total of $24,100 per person on higher education and a total of $37,500 on education over all in 2003. [View Full Article]

Reform needed in higher education

The fact that students who only had an average of three points in every subject in this year's university entrance exam were eligible for admission to university has become a hot topic in education. But the Ministry of Education's measures to remedy this problem, such as closing down universities and setting minimum enrollment requirements, only address the symptoms and not the fundamental problems in higher education in Taiwan. First, there are too many universities and too few students, so even without the ministry's measures, some universities will have to close. …To avoid wasting university resources, the only solution seems to be to expand the potential pool of students. There are two possibilities for this -- one is recruiting students from China, the other is recruiting students from other countries. …… there are three problems………first……Unless university courses are taught in English, it will be hard to attract foreign students. Therefore, universities need to gradually increase the number of courses taught in English. ….second…….foreign students who now come to Taiwan are from countries that aren't doing very well economically. They depend on scholarships given out by the Taiwanese government and are provide no substantial economic benefit to the universities. … the government has to stabilize the situation across the Taiwan Strait, as foreign students will not study in what is considered a dangerous place.……..the present enrollment system at universities is outdated. [View Full Article]

India ranks first in source of overseas students to US

India is currently the number one source of international students to the …. and leads the world in the number of students it sends overseas.
More than 123,000 Indian students studied outside of their home country in 2006, with approximately 80,000 studying in educational institutions in the U.S…..In 2006, almost 74 percent of Indian students were enrolled at the graduate level, with 16.6 percent enrolled as undergraduates and 9.6 percent enrolled in such programs as English language training.China used to be the leading source of foreign students to the United States until six years ago, when India surpassed them -- indicating that India's population is in overdrive.……The U.S. has ten times as many universities and colleges than any other country in the world, making it a popular destination for students from all over the world.[View Full Article]

India ranks first in source of overseas students to US

India is currently the number one source of international students to the …. and leads the world in the number of students it sends overseas.
More than 123,000 Indian students studied outside of their home country in 2006, with approximately 80,000 studying in educational institutions in the U.S…..In 2006, almost 74 percent of Indian students were enrolled at the graduate level, with 16.6 percent enrolled as undergraduates and 9.6 percent enrolled in such programs as English language training.China used to be the leading source of foreign students to the United States until six years ago, when India surpassed them -- indicating that India's population is in overdrive.……The U.S. has ten times as many universities and colleges than any other country in the world, making it a popular destination for students from all over the world.[View Full Article]

Colleges Defend the Costs of Study-Abroad Programs

Not many people outside of college study-abroad offices understand the complex cost and pricing structures involved in sending a student overseas, experts say. In response to an article Monday in The New York Times that scrutinized the relationships between study-abroad providers and colleges, experts in the field are defending their practices and explaining that factors like foreign-exchange rates, inflation, and financial-aid considerations are the main elements in study-abroad pricing -- not perks or discounts offered to colleges by organizations that provide overseas programs. [View full article - Subscription - The Chronicle]

A glance at the current issue of the International Economic Review: The power of name recognition

Lax study habits during high school may actually be one reason why the performance of American college students "is so excellent," according to a study by Sanghoon Lee, an assistant professor of business at the University of British Columbia.

"The mediocre performance" of high-school students in the United States is no secret, writes Mr. Lee. Research has found that the average American student spends just 4.6 hours per week studying outside of the classroom, he says. During college, however, the amount of time spent studying more than doubles, to 9.4 hours per week. [View Full Article - Subscription - The Chronicle]

International students coming to the U.S. have resources—online and off—to help them find financial aid for business school

Perhaps you attended university in Australia, New Zealand, or Britain and seek a different career and educational experience among Yanks? Or maybe your education in India or China piqued your interest in obtaining an MBA in the U.S.? Regardless of your motives as a globe-trotting, full-time business student, you have to get here somehow, and that journey can be expensive—anywhere from $20,000 to $47,000 a year for tuition alone. But worry not, traveling student. A few key financial aid Web sites and resources are like markers on a treasure map for those who wish to head to the U.S. for B-school.

Financial aid is often complicated, and for international students in the U.S., it can be even more trying. [View Full Article]

Have a fall ball

……... The Open Doors report on international educational exchange for 2006 had put the number of Indian students going to study in the US at 76,503 - and this year that figure could go up further, according to experts.

Last year, India also remained the country sending the largest number of students to the US by a large margin.
“While we don’t have the exact figures yet, there has been an increase in the number of students going for undergraduate courses to the US. Availability of funding options has also become easier for this segment with many students getting scholarships and fee waivers from various US universities this year…….
“The availability of funds have greatly increased at the undergrad and PhD levels. In fact, there are about 600 American colleges that are now providing funding options for foreign students at the undegrad level,” she adds. ……….. there’s a big rush of students joining MBA courses this season and with the quality of Indian students getting better. [View Full Article]

College readiness mixed among Asian-Americans

Asian-American students are often viewed as brainy, affluent and overachieving. But a new government report concludes that several Asian groups are not well-prepared — either academically or financially — to succeed in college.

Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian students typically do well in school, fulfilling the "model minority" stereotype, according to the report by the Government Accountability Office, the research and investigative arm of Congress. Many of their families have saved money for college and do not depend on their children's help at home. …For instance, 68 percent of Chinese college students reported that they could afford college without working, compared with only 36 percent of Vietnamese students. [View Full Article]

Indian Students Flock To The U.S.

Sixty years after gaining independence from Britain, India's students are flocking abroad for higher education. Today, India is the leader in sending its students overseas for international educational exchange, with over 123,000 students studying outside the country in 2006. More than 76,000 of them have chosen the United States as their academic destination.

The U.S. receives more international students from India than from any other country, a trend that continues to shape and impact the cultural, economic and diplomatic dialogue between the two countries. Vigorous efforts have been undertaken by such U.S. government leaders as Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes to persuade Indian students to study in the U.S. This past March, Hughes carried her campaign to Mumbai and New Delhi. [ View Full Article]

40% top Chinese students choose to study abroad

About 40 percent of the top students in college entrance examinations have chosen overseas universities for their postgraduate studies, according to a survey. Most of them have stayed overseas after finishing their intended courses, showed a survey that tracked 130 top performers in college entrance exams from 1977 to 1998.……….The survey, released on the China Alumni Association website, found it worrying that many of the top students would not stay in China for higher studies despite the country's rapid development in the past few decades.……..UNESCO figures show Chinese students comprise 14 percent of international students, the highest in the world. Their favorite destinations for higher studies are the US, Britain and Japan. Some experts said handsome scholarships, better job prospects and more opportunities to pursue further studies are the main attractions of foreign universities. [View Full Article]

What Asia can learn from the US

As US Democratic presidential candidates and senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton broach the topic of education reform in the US and rail about the ills plaguing the country's public education system, living in Asia has taught me what the US is doing right.…… In the US, school isn't just an institution for higher learning; it is a place for personal growth. The US teaches her minors the method of not just obtaining data, but acquiring knowledge. It's a wonderful thing that students in the US question their instructors and refuse to treat their textbooks as sacred text. [View Full Article]

U.S. Government Officials and University and College Presidents Promote U.S. Higher Education in Chile and Brazil

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Farrell will lead a delegation of U.S. college and university presidents to Chile and Brazil, August 18-24.

Meeting with students and leaders in higher education, government, and business, the delegation will promote the quality, dynamism, and diversity of U.S. higher education, as well as the desire to expand educational partnerships in the hemisphere. The delegation will carry the message that the U.S. welcomes and values international students in the United States, and will highlight the importance of international education to strengthening our ties and preparing globally competitive American students. [View Full Article]

American Colleges Can Further International Development by Forging Ties to Foreign Counterparts

Washington
American universities should lobby for increased federal support for development projects abroad but also look for ways to create such projects on their own. That was the message delivered by M. Peter McPherson, chairman of the Governing Board of Higher Education for Development, at the opening session of the group's annual meeting here on Wednesday.
HED, as the organization is commonly known, brings together American and foreign universities to work on social- and economic-development projects financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development. It is governed by six major higher education associations and awards project grants on behalf of USAID. More than 170 institutions from 40 countries are represented at the three-day meeting, which focuses on the role of higher education in national development. [View Full Article - Subscription - The Chronicle]

Mental Health Program Needs of South Asian Students in US

…….. education programs that incorporate mental health and psychological well being are necessary for South Asian students who study in the US.
"There are several compelling issues which make health education interventions geared toward the mental health needs and concerns of migrant student populations from the South Asian region so very important," the authors wrote. …….. "should be executed in the initial stages of the migration process when the impinging stressors and consequently, the possibility of psychological distress much higher." The authors observe that there is hardly any research on the adjustment and optimal mental functioning of South Asian students in America. ……….migration predisposes international students to problems related to mental health, because students from Asia are exposed to a totally different culture when they move to the United States. Therefore the researchers have come up with recommendations for a health education intervention for this population. Accordingly, they say, "efforts must be made to build skills as opposed to mere cognitive development and the health education interventions must be culturally competent." [View Full Article]

How India Sees America

……….., I visit AIIMS to see if students are still leaving for America in droves. ……………… I take a minute of his time to ask if his students are leaving India for America in the numbers his classmates once did. “No,” he says, “many more are staying put.”…………..Over the past month traveling across India, I’ve heard many variations on this point: America isn’t the only “land of opportunity” anymore; India is one too, but often for different reasons.America is still a wellspring of creative and entrepreneurial ideas………….. America has perfected business models that can be grafted to fit India. And for bright students, America can be an important pit stop to educate themselves further, develop skills, and save up cash before making a more fruitful return home.
………. Indians complain, America bows to no one, and cannot be trusted. The U.S. government has long been viewed by Indians as an unreliable international partner, willing to side instead with Pakistan or China in past decades. [View Full Article]

Companies and Business Students Differ on What Skills M.B.A. Programs Should Teach

A serious disconnect exists between what corporate recruiters want in their new M.B.A. hires and what business schools are teaching them, and students may be largely to blame, according to a report that will be released this week at a meeting of management scholars in Philadelphia.
The report, by two assistant professors of management at DePaul University, concludes that recruiters want business schools to pay more attention to people-oriented skills like leadership and communication. Students, however, frequently complain that those "soft skills" won't get them jobs, and they're pressuring their business schools to focus instead on functional or technical content, the researchers say. [View Full Article - Subscription - The Chronicle]

Creating a global classroom

August 2007
…………..The world indeed has changed. For one thing, thinking only in U.S. terms is out of the question. “The world has become very interconnected globally. It’s no longer an option to do business globally—it’s a requirement in order to remain competitive,” says Kelli Kilpatrick, director of the Mays MBA Program.
Starting this fall, a new international business policy course will be offered as part of the core curriculum for MBA students. An international business policy class was offered a few years ago, but now has been updated with a twist.……………Two of Mays’ own faculty also will teach the course. Michael A. Hitt, Distinguished Professor in Management, will teach one week on China, incorporating his own experience from strategy work in China. And Venkatesh Shankar, Coleman Chair Professor in Marketing, will teach one week about India, his country of origin. [View Full Article]

GMAT-prep specialist Jamboree says GMAT is getting tougher

There are many management students across the country keen to join international B-schools like Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg or Stanford.
The way to get into these institutes is the Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT), the computer based online test conducted by Educational Testing Service (ETS) under the aegis of global nodal body Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). ………..GMAT is attracting a large number of students from India and they are doing well. “According to our estimate, there should be 20,000 Indian students taking GMAT exam every year,” said Mr Gupta. “Indian students perform quite well. Although we do not have data for the whole country, the average GMAT score in Jamboree is close to 640 which is way above the overall average of the test.” [View Full Article]

Nigeria: The Servant Leader

To my mind it is an over indulgence and self-serving skepticism to dismiss "Servant Leader" as a cynical ploy, flaky gimmick, vacuous slogan or outright hoax. What would be far more patriotic is to be sufficiently gracious and constructive to accept that our chosen leaders do have the right to present us with the template of their thinking and their vision………. To expect "ready made" or "ready to serve" is an exercise in puerile futility and grandiose illusion.………. the leader has to be the leader and be seen to lead from the front ! Perhaps, in the Western world and other developed continents where prosperity, stability and democracy are taken for granted there is tolerance for the "Servant" who merely wants to serve while wearing the toga of the leader - or vice versa.For our continent, the menu is not so appetizing. To start with, let us take a cursory look at the state of education in our continent………………….
"Africa's best universities, the grand institutions that educated a revolutionary generation of nation builders and statesmen, doctors, and engineers, writers and intellectuals are collapsing. It is partly a self-inflicted crisis of mismanagement and neglect, but it is also the result of international development policies that for decades have favoured basic education over higher learning even as a population explosion propels more young people than ever towards the already strained institutions. The decrepitude is forcing the best and brightest from countries across Africa to seek their education and fortunes abroad and depriving dozens of nations of the homegrown expertise that could lift millions out of poverty."………..It is instructive that none of the Asian "tigers" has ever been ruled by a Servant Leader !! On the contrary, their leaders were generally pretty much authoritarian - and that is putting matters mildly.….."African universities are in a state of crisis and are failing to produce the professionals desperately needed to develop the poorest continent. [View Full Article]

Institutes use SEM to create niche presence

Education institutes are using a new technique—search engine marketing (SEM)—to spread awareness about their programmes and to create a niche for themselves in the students’ minds.
SEM is the technique of placing any website in the first few pages of an Internet search engine after a strategically defined set of keywords are typed-in. ............In India, of the top 50 education institutes, 10 spend on using SEM. Abroad, virtually every university uses this technique. ...............“A lot of international universities are targeting Indian students. U21 Global is a huge player in this area for which we do work in 11 countries. Career Launcher is also one of the major advertisers through the web,” says Pinstorm founder Mahesh Murthy. ..........So, with the Internet enabling marketeers reach a wider range of students, online presence has become a must for the institutes. “Today, the entire decision making process on where and what to study, starts online. Not only students, but parents also search on the net for higher education options,” says Murthy. [View Full Article]

The journey ahead

Beyond the excitement of shopping, packing and boarding that airplane, make sure you leave for college in the right frame of mind. BT points out how international students can experience a weakened sense of identity once the exhilaration settles in. Excitement , ambition, eagerness and hope - pretty much what you except a young adult to feel as he or she is preparing to study at a much sought- after foreign destination such as the United States, England or France. Tell someone you feel sorry for your friend preparing to study abroad and get ready to face a round of bewildered stares. The fact is, the euphoria of studying abroad can be so consuming for both, the student preparing to leave and the friends and family that they leave behind, that the deeper, psychological effects of moving away from home, and finding one's place in an alien environment are commonly overlooked. Once the initial euphoria of a new life settles in, international students are faced with quite literally, a sea of new adjustments. Strange faces, and fresh course work taught by a new set of professors is a normal experience for any new student. But add to that the exposure to an entirely different culture, by way of a different cuisine, language, way of dressing or even a different thought process, and even the most adventurous of international students can feel overwhelmed. ……………... Food is just one example of the many other factors that can make international students feel like they do not belong and eventually develop the sense that they belong to two distinctly different worlds, one in which they are comfortable but no longer exist and the other which they are a part of, but do not necessarily belong. [View Full Article]