An ancient Chinese saying states that Meng mu san qian, the mother of Mencius, a sage, “moved three times” to find him the right study environment. Tiger mums worldover know the feeling, but few push harder than the Chinese. The game of cat and mouse the Communist Party plays […]
For many decades, Germany has been famous for its political stability, having had just nine chancellors in the post-war era. But the country’s memories of its Nazi past have not rendered it immune to the global rise of right-wing populism, with politicians exploiting economic malaise and terrorist incidents […]
More South Korean students are opting for medical studies over science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses, threatening the country’s position as a science superpower. The number of applicants to Korea’s science and technology institutes — which include the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, one of […]
With restrictive immigration policies increasingly being adopted in rival destinations, researchers of the British Council believe that the UK may well reap rewards after Republican Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Overseas enrolment declined during Trump’s first term, as he tightened visa issuance, attempted to remove international students on online courses from the US during […]
Donald Trump’s widely anticipated order to close the Department of Education is part of his “shock and awe” doctrine in his second term in the White House, say education experts in the US.
Prior to his inauguration, observers had struggled to predict what President Trump’s plans for higher education would […]
The first British university campus in India, set to open next year (2025) will offer a “comprehensive” programme of courses in a bid to admit thousands of students over the next decade. The University of Southampton received approval last August to establish a branch in the world’s most populous country, with a new campus planned […]
Spain could soon have more private universities than public ones if current trends continue. However experts are raising concerns about quality, equity and an adverse impact on public institutions.
Currently, there are 91 active universities in Spain, of which 50 are public and 41 are private. Five more private institutions […]
Foreign students in Malaysia: high-income nations preference
Malaysia is maintaining a toe-in-the-water approach to post-study work rights, despite indications that it could help achieve a longstanding goal of 250,000 international student enrolments by 2025.
The South-east Asian nation’s flirtation with post-study work rights has so far been restricted to citizens of high-income nations with […]
An Australian university hopes to inaugurate a new campus on the outskirts of New Delhi as part of a partnership with the state government, subject to approval from regulators. Western Sydney University (WSU) announced its intention to establish a branch campus in Greater Noida, a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, around an […]
Private school children: diminishing inflow forecast
In mid-December Tim Jonas’ daughter said goodbye to friends and teachers at her private school in Wakefield, in Yorkshire. Jonas, a web developer, says his family can no longer afford the nine-year-old’s fees, now that Britain’s Labour government is adding 20 percent in value-added tax (VAT).
Yonsei University, Seoul: country’s most expensive
Tuition fee increases at South Korea’s universities are “unavoidable”, according to academics, despite last-ditch negotiation attempts by a government already grappling with a constitutional crisis.
Deputy prime minister and education minister Lee Ju-ho reportedly sent a letter to all universities end December urging them to freeze tuition fees […]
As director of a first-year writing course at a midsize public university, Melanie Gagich doesn’t know a lot about computer science. But when her institution invited faculty to propose new programmes combining two existing majors, she and another writing instructor felt that English and computer science would be a perfect fit. “A lot of students […]
America’s higher education institutions are at risk of being caught in the crossfire as divisions are revealed in the Trump administration over visas. Opposition to the H-1B work visa has come from influential right-wing commentator Steve Bannon and left-wing Democratic senator Bernie Sanders, who have criticised […]
When Times Higher Education launched the Arab University Rankings three years ago, universities in the prosperous Gulf states were the leading lights. But this year, institutions outside that region are showing strong signs of progress, proving that they can shine just as brightly as their Saudi and Emirati counterparts, despite facing tough economic, social […]
US universities may be more cautious about establishing branch campuses in India than their British and Australian counterparts. A delegation from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) met with Indian education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in November to talk about academic and research collaboration opportunities, including setting up a campus.
In a statement, the Indian ministry of education said […]
English learning class in China: waning enthusiasm
In preparation for the summer Olympics of 2008, the authorities in Beijing, the host city and China’s capital, launched a campaign to teach English to residents likely to come in contact with foreign visitors. Police, transit workers and hotel staff were among those targeted. One aim […]
US universities are bracing themselves for four years of “playing defence” on international students against the anti-immigration policies expected in president-elect Donald Trump’s second term.
His first four years in power offer some clues as to what might be in store: he tightened visa issuance, attempted to block […]
American varsity students: “target on their backs”
There are high stakes for universities in the upcoming US presidential election, even if neither candidate has set out an extensive higher education policy agenda — and students’ votes could play a key role in the result.
In the run-up to the November 5 poll, Kamala Harris […]
Oxford University has retained the number one spot in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for a ninth year in a row. But the reputation of the wider UK sector is rapidly eroding, with a similar trend seen in the US.
Oxford’s reign is now the longest in the history of the league table, beating […]
American varsity students: “target on their backs”
There are high stakes for universities in the upcoming US presidential election, even if neither candidate has set out an extensive higher education policy agenda — and students’ votes could play a key role in the result.
In the run-up to the November 5 poll, Kamala Harris […]
Oxford University has retained the number one spot in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for a ninth year in a row. But the reputation of the wider UK sector is rapidly eroding, with a similar trend seen in the US.
Oxford’s reign is now the longest in the history of the league table, beating […]
(Dr. Larry Arnn is President, Hillsdale College, USA. [email protected])
I write this a few days before an important election in America. It has implications for education and for every area of American policy. Should government continue to become more centralised, more controlled by complex bureaucratic rules in the hundreds of thousands?
Visa delays and refusals are playing havoc with Australian universities’ course and financial planning, weeks ahead of the new semester starting July/August.
Median visa processing time frames for higher education students have more than tripled in the past few months, according to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Fifty percent of applicants […]
Canada seems to be losing the attention of international students so quickly that its institutions might not recruit enough students this year to hit the sharply lower visa caps imposed recently by the Trudeau administration.
After watching overseas student enrolments surge to more than 400,000, the federal government this year announced the imposition of study visa […]
As Jakarta (pop.10.6 million) rapidly sinks into the ocean — 40 percent of the greater metropolitan area of the country’s admin capital (pop.30 million) is now below sea level — Indonesia’s behind-schedule, controversy-ridden new capital city on the jungle-clad island of Borneo could spell a new era for […]
The route to Sunway University is far from your typical campus approach. To reach this Malaysian institution, you must first navigate to Sunway City on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, past various Sunway hotels and Sunway shopping malls, away from the Sunway medical centre, until you reach the […]
Ideally, Marianne Korkalainen’s high school in Rautavaara, a tiny town in eastern Finland, would enrol at least 20 new pupils each year. This autumn, her shrinking municipality will send her only about 12. But Ms Korkalainen, the head teacher, has a plan: she intends to invite half a dozen youngsters from poorer countries to help […]
With cannons on campus, its own Qing-dynasty wall and the first Dutch fort in Taiwan nearby, National Cheng Kung University seems an appealing place for a budding historian. However, after a first round of applications, no students had accepted places in the history department for next year. It is a shock for the university, […]
President Claudia Pardo (left): academic background
A climate scientist has become the first female leader of Mexico after winning a record-breaking majority on the back of promises to transform the country into a “scientific and innovation power”. But questions remain over how far she will break from the populist policies of her predecessor.
(Dr. Larry Arnn is President, Hillsdale College, USA. [email protected])
As in India and much of the world, politics has been turbulent in America for years. Perhaps it is worse here. President Trump has been impeached twice by our House of Representatives, but both times acquitted by the Senate. After all that, he is still front runner […]
(Dr. Larry Arnn is President, Hillsdale College, USA. [email protected])
Do you ever watch dog trials? I find them fascinating. Dogs herd sheep, run over obstacles, catch frisbees, and seek by scent and sight. They exhaust themselves in these contests. They do it joyfully. It is a fulfillment of their nature.
“It’s like they don’t trust us,” says Eva King, a 14-year-old pupil at Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, DC. Deal’s administration has banned mobile phones during the entire school day. Pupils must store their devices inside Yondr pouches — grey padded cases that supposedly can be […]
Bombed Al-Azhar University, Gaza: perceived Hamas ties
Two hundred days into the invasion of Gaza by Israel, not a single university is left standing. At least 95 university professors and 5,000 students are reported to have been killed, while more than 500,000 children have been out of school for over seven months.
Education leaders have described Finnish government plans to charge full-cost tuition fees to students from outside the European Union as “paradoxical”, as the country hopes to significantly increase its international student intake.
At present, Helsinki subsidises the higher education of students from outside the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA), although […]
On June 7, millions of young people wrote the world’s largest academic test. China’s university-entrance exam, known as the gaokao, is punishingly difficult. Students spend endless hours cramming for it. But it is also widely accepted as meritocratic. Work hard, score well and, no matter what your social […]
Dr Larry Arnn, President, Hillsdale College, USA
America is beset with bureaucracy. Several million people work in public education and most of them aren’t teachers. The effect of charter laws is to decentralise the management of schools, a major advantage
In my last Letter from America (March), I wrote that Hillsdale College is sponsoring over 100 “charter […]
Dr Larry Arnn, President, Hillsdale College, USA – [email protected]
In America as in India, the academic year has ended for most colleges/universities, and students have dispersed for the summer. Those who just graduated will be coming back to visit, but never again to live and study on campus. For them, this is a time of joy […]
The perceived fairness of punishments handed to student protest leaders will be crucial for whether US universities can heal after police were invited to break up pro-Palestine sit-ins, according to a former college president.
Many staff and students have condemned leaders’ decisions to invite police to campus, notably at Columbia […]
“You can point to brawling in the streets of Paris in the 13th century over rivalling theology professors, you can point to town-and-gown brawls in England in the 16th century, never mind the 1968 generation’s anti-war protests…”
To Randy Boyagoda, the University of Toronto’s new adviser on civil discourse, campuses have always […]
UK universities are staging a last-ditch battle to resist further changes in the rules governing international students, and stave off more financial damage to the sector, ahead of the release of a keenly anticipated report into the graduate visa route.
With the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) set to conclude its investigation into “abuses” in post-study rights […]
Even as crimes against girls and women are rising, galloping internet connectivity and adolescents becoming addicted to social media have unleashed a new wave of .....Read More
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