More than 400 foreign schools to attend education expo in China

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- More than 400 overseas universities and educational organizations will join this year's China International Education Exhibition Tour scheduled from Feb. 28 to March 15.

Schools from nine countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Singapore and Britain, will showcase a wide range of majors for overseas students including art, science and technology, medicine and tourism.

"Overseas study will continue to play a significant role in cultivating elites as China is promoting innovation for science and technology," said Bai Zhangde, director of the China Service Center for Scholarly Exchange under the Ministry of Education.

Founded twenty years ago, the center for scholarly exchange has expanded its services to more than 100 countries and regions.

Statistics showed that from 1978 to 2007, more than 1.2 million Chinese people went abroad to study. Since 2002, more than 100,000Chinese studied aboard every year.

The 14th education exhibition tour will be held in Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou cities.

Private universities in Singapore attracting more locals

Singaporeans are turning to private universities to save costs. They can obtain degrees from foreign universities with campuses in Singapore, or those that offer programmes through local institutions, at a fraction of the cost of studying overseas.

22-year-old Willard Tan, an undergraduate at East Asia Institute of Management, saves over S$50,000 a year by not choosing to study abroad.

"For me, I'm saving about five times the amount of money studying here, which can be utilised in this current economy," he said.

"We have seen an increase in local students' applications by more than 50 per cent over the past two years," said Lee Beng Choo, chief operating officer of PSB Academy.

Another advantage is that private universities offer a faster route to obtaining a degree. This is because these institutions give extra credits for previous study or work experience.

Some schools also said there is growing awareness of the value and options they offer and many students are keen to upgrade themselves during the economic downturn.

Andrew Chua, president, Association of Private Schools and Colleges Singapore, said: "Local students also see the advantage of continuing to be able to stay in Singapore. There are obviously some increases as working adults who have been retrenched take private education as an option for now, especially with all the government subsidies."

The TMC Education Group said it has seen a spike in the enrolment of local students from 2006 and most of the students are upgrading to a diploma or higher diploma course.

The upgrading trend is echoed by others such as James Cook University, which offers undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

At the same time, the number of students going overseas for tertiary education appears to be largely unaffected. Student recruitment agencies that Channel NewsAsia spoke to said there is still a strong demand.

The current downturn is one possible reason as the stronger Singapore dollar has made it cheaper for students to study in countries like Australia.

According to data from the US Embassy, student visa applications to the country have been steadily rising over the years. A constant demand is expected as students pursue courses which are not available in Singapore, such as Veterinary Science.

Industry players said they are keeping a close watch on the numbers as they believe the private education sector will only feel the full impact of the downturn in the second or third quarter of the year.

Engineers encouraged to study abroad

A major concern for students considering participation in a study abroad program is how to coordinate time away from Vanderbilt into their course schedule. For students in the School of Engineering, this can be especially difficult due to the rigidly prescribed curriculum they must follow.

The School of Engineering has added new programs and information sessions in an effort to increase the number of its students studying abroad. Demanding major hours and a rigid course load full of prerequisites are common study abroad obstacles that engineering administrators believe can be combated by careful, early planning.

"It is such a global economy, engineers need to be aware of working with other cultures. They need to know what engineering is like in another country because they are likely to interact with foreign engineers," said Stacy Klein, associate dean for outreach, who has been working for the past year and half to increase abroad opportunities for engineers. Klein said the school is offering information sessions to help students begin planning early on.

"We are trying to provide some early and good advice," Klein said. "We offer an info session for engineers only, at the beginning of each semester to let them know when they can study abroad and where ... and then we sit down with students individually and in advance work out a four-year plan."

Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Gene LeBoeuf said planning is essential for engineers who want to study abroad because of the heavy course load that is based on prerequisites.

LeBoeuf said one of the biggest challenges civil engineers face when studying abroad is completing the required design course, usually taken spring of junior year, a popular time for students to go abroad.

"Our design class follows U.S. building codes, design practices are often different when students study abroad," said LeBoeuf.

Despite these differences, the School of Engineering has been able to find a number of universities abroad with comparable engineering classes.

"In New Zealand and Australia, we have identified a number of courses that are transferable to Vanderbilt if not equivalent," LeBoeuf said. Other countries where engineers are encouraged to study abroad because of similar programs and classes include Canada, China, England, North Ireland, Scotland and South Africa. Recently, the School of Engineering has added new study abroad options in Germany and France.

"We are just starting to see the fruits or our labor. A lot more kids are applying," Klein said. Over the 2007-2008 academic year, a total of 44 engineers studied abroad either during the fall or spring semester, over the summer or through a Maymester program, an increase from the previous year when 29 engineers went abroad.

"The programs are growing, but not as fast as I would like," Klein said.

This year the Australia Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship and Global Engagement site, which had a focus on sustainability and water conservation and was geared toward engineers, was cancelled due to a lack of interest. The site, which requires at least 10 participants to be financially viable, had only four applicants. LeBoeuf, faculty director of the Australia site, said he was disappointed.

"We marketed pretty well ... (but) this year there just wasn't a general interest in sustainability in Australia," LeBoeuf said. "We are exploring other opportunities in terms of VISAGE and the school of engineering. ... It's a matter of how we make this best fit for the students in the school of engineering."

Jessica Newton, a senior in the school of engineering and participant in the Australia VISAGE program last year, said she thought there was a lot of enthusiasm for the program and hope for improvements this year.

"I know there was so much talk in improving the program," said Newton, who also said she understands the lack of interest in the program this year. "The subject (of VISAGE Australia) is civil engineering, which is a very packed curriculum. Maybe students can't afford to put in the extra hours."

Whichever type of program students want to pursue, LeBoeuf stressed that students need to plan ahead.

"Students need to be proactive early on so they can identify courses they need and can look at courses coming up to help facilitate their schedule," he said.

Pakistan Finally Pays Tuition for Its Students Abroad

To the relief of thousands of Pakistani students enrolled on government scholarships at universities abroad, the Pakistan government has released 2.819 billion Pakistan rupees, or about $35.4-million, to pay their tuition, The Nation reported. The government had not paid the scholarships for the last academic term.

Many Pakistanis studying abroad under the country’s ambitious foreign-scholarship program found themselves in tuition trouble last November, as Pakistan’s cash-strapped Higher Education Commission did not have the money to pay the foreign universities.

A senior official at the commission said then that more than 2,500 students were enrolled at universities in Australia, Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Romania, and the United States, among others. Other reports stated that as many as 6,500 students were abroad under the program.

The official said Pakistan’s financial crisis was to blame for the late payments. Another senior official told The Nation earlier that the foreign-scholarship program would continue as long as money was available for it, while another newspaper reported that the commission had already shelved all of its scholarship programs

Education the main driver for closer Indonesia-Australia ties

As the Indonesian and Australian governments try to give more substance to their relations, their foreign ministers have agreed that education could be the main driver to building what they termed stronger people-to-people contacts.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, addressing the Australia-Indonesia conference Friday, pledged that Canberra would seek ways to promote the teaching of the Indonesian language at Australian schools and reinvigorate Indonesian studies at Australian colleges.

His Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirajuda, noted the declining number of Australians who were experts on Indonesia, down from a decade or so ago.

The three-day conference, opened by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday, seeks ways to promote greater people-to-people links between the two countries as part of government efforts to broaden and deepen bilateral relations.

Rudd, in his keynote address, and Smith both observed that relations with Indonesia had reached an unusual stage, where government-to-government links were ahead of the other sectors, including even the trade and investment sectors.

The warmth in relations at the government level is reflected in the frequency of official contacts at the top level: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Rudd have met on 11 occasions in the past year, and Smith and Wirajuda seven times. Trade ministers Mari Pangestu and Simon Crean have the most contact, meeting 12 times in as many months as they negotiate trade deals between the two countries.

Besides building stronger bi-lateral ties, the two govern-ments also work together on many international and regional issues, including in climate change, counterterrorism and at the World Trade Organization.

But more work is needed to promote ties at the grassroots level, both governments recognized, hence the need for the Sydney meeting this weekend.

Indonesia is the largest recipient of Australian development aid, with some of the money going into financing education projects in Indonesia.

Australia is currently involved in helping Indonesia build, repair and expand 2,000 schools across 20 provinces.

"Education is a key element of our development assistant work in Indonesia, as well as a driver of sustained people-to-people ties between our two countries," Smith said.

The Australia-Indonesia Institute, marking its 20th anniversary this year, has been at the forefront of promoting greater exchanges of people between the two countries, including youths, journalists, religious leaders and scholars.

The Australian government awards 300 scholarships each year for Indonesians to study at Australian universities.

In total, some 19,000 Indonesians are estimated to be studying in Australia. By contrast, there are only an estimated 150 Australians studying in Indonesia each year.

The Australian government has also allocated $60 million to boost the study of Asian languages, including Indonesian, in Australia.

Australia is also investing in Asian studies at its universities, as well as funding programs at Indonesian universities.

"Academic links are particularly important as we look to build a new generation of Australian-Indonesian specialists," Smith said.

Courses offered in Worldwide

Aboriginal Studies, Accountancy Agriculture, Alternative Medicine Anatomy, Aquaculture, Archaeology, Architecture, Art & Design, Arts and Humanities, Audio Engineering, Australian Studies, Automotive Dealership MGT, Aviation Studies, Banking and Finance Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology, Built Environment, Business and Management, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Computing, Communication/Media Studies, Dance, Design, Drama, E-Commerce Economics, Education, Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Engineering English, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Studies, Fashion/Textile Design Film/Video/Television, Fine Art, Food Science & Technology, French Geography, Geology, Health Sciences, History, Hotel and Hospitality, Horticulture, Human Movement, Human Resources, Industrial Relations, Information Technology, International Business, International Health Care Management, Interior Design, Journalism, Languages and Linguistics, Law, Life Sciences, Manufacturing Management, Maritime Studies, Marine Biology, Marketing, Materials Science, MBA, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Metallurgy, Minerals/Mineral Engineering, Multimedia, Music, Nursing, Performing Arts, Pharmacy, Philosophy, Photography, Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Physics, Politics, Property, Psychology, Public Health, Public Relations, Pure Mathematics, Social Work, Sociology, Sports Science, Technical and Further Education, Telecommunications, Theology, Tourism, Town and Country Planning, Veterinary Science, Web Design, Zoology

Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Baltic States, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi , Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Caribbean Other, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, CoteD'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic , Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Ethiopia Falkland Islands, Fiji, Finland, Former Soviet States, France ,Galapagos Islands, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Hawaii, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy Jamaica, Japan, Jordan , Kenya, Kuwait ,Laos, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Multi-Country Programs Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Norway , Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Polynesia, Portugal, Programs at Sea, Puerto Rico , Qatar , Romania, Russia , Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia-Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia), Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria , Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Tunisia, Turkey ,Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam , Wales, Yemen, Yugoslavia (now Serbia-Montenegro) Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Why Study Work Abroad ?

No two applicants have the same reason for Studying Abroad. For one it could be as simple as not getting into the right College/University in India and for the other it could be lack of job opportunities in his/her field of study and for many, an easy way of a secured future. Whatever your reason for deciding to Study Overseas you will find that higher education abroad adds considerable value to your professional development. A good degree is a stamp of excellence that marks you for life. It can enhance your career and prepare you for leadership in your country or anywhere in the world. It can broaden your horizons and expose you to a variety of perspectives, the latest technology, and state-of-the-art research and training. You can make contacts with colleagues abroad which may lead to collaborations with leading international researchers after you return to your home country. With the large number and variety of colleges and universities outside India, you are certain to find one that matches your needs and interests, no matter what your criteria. And what's more, with the right kind of planning and guidance, you can study abroad at very low costs and even Free on a Scholarship. Application process makes the vital difference and is the most important google criteria.

Canada to admit more Indian students

Canada to admit more Indian students

Canada will admit more foreign students but fewer foreign workers this year, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said here Friday.

Kenney, who was in India last month, dropped hints that there will be substantial increase in the number of students from India.

Currently, only about 3,000 Indian students are admitted to Canadian institutions each year, as against about 40,000 in Australia and about 80,000 in the US.

Compared to Canada, the minister said, Australia admitted 10 times more students from India each year.

>Canada is looking to Asia as well as India for potential students. Universities are happy to get them,'' he said while addressing a gathering of about 1,500 qualified new immigrants who have failed to find jobs in their respective fields.

According to government figures for 2007, 176,116 foreign students enrolled in Canadian institutions during the year.

Last year, the Canadian government announced that foreign students could seek work permit and later permanent residence upon completion of their graduation.

Though the immigration minister didn't pinpoint how many more foreign students will be admitted this year, he said, We are not receiving enough foreign students.''

Because of higher fee structure for international students, foreign students are a huge source of income for Canadian universities.

Apart from bringing revenue to Canada, as the immigration minister pointed out, they can easily be given permanent residence and later citizenship because of their Canadian experience and their understanding of the Canadian market.

Despite the economic downturn, the minister said, Canada admitted >an unprecedented number'' of permanent and temporary residents in 2008.

While other countries are talking about taking fewer immigrants, today, I am pleased to announce that in 2008, we increased the number of new permanent residents to Canada,'' he said.

He said 247,202 permanent residents were admitted in 2008 - well within the government's planned yearly quota of 240,000 to 265,000.

Apart from this, 193,061 temporary foreign workers and 79,459 foreign students were also admitted, he said.

However, the minister said he expected a >significant reduction'' in the number of temporary foreign workers admitted into Canada this year because of the on-going economic crisis.