International http://chronicle.com/section/International/34/ News :: International International Engineering-Education Group Rejects India's Bid for Membership http://chronicle.com/article/International/49204/ India's bid for full membership in the Washington Accord, an elite international association focused on standardizing engineering education, was turned down this week because of concerns over the quality of faculty members and students in Indian engineering programs.

The group, which includes accrediting agencies from the United States and twelve other countries, agreed to extend India's provisional membership as it works toward alleviating these concerns.

Raman Unnikrishnan,...

...]]> Qatar Stages a Global Education Summit With Flash and Dazzle http://chronicle.com/article/Qatar-Stages-a-Global/49188/ This week, this Persian Gulf country is staging the first World Innovation Summit for Education, a flashy conference that aims to become an annual fixture for the world's education elite.

The lofty idea behind the conference, known as WISE, is that this wealthy emirate will become the place where the world's most powerful and prominent educators will confront the planet's most pressing educational challenges.

But what the discussions taking place in the lavish meeting halls...

...]]> British Council Sets Up Fund for Partnerships With U.S. Colleges http://chronicle.com/article/British-Council-Sets-Up-Fund/49169/ A new project designed to foster greater cooperation between British and American higher-education institutions has received $500,000 in initial financing from the British Council, a government cultural and educational agency. The new UK-US Higher Education New Partnerships Fund was unveiled on Monday in an announcement timed to coincide with International Education Week, a joint project of the U.S. Departments of State and Education that promotes international study...

...]]> Top Destinations Compete for Growing Numbers of Foreign Students http://chronicle.com/article/Top-Destinations-Compete-for/49144/ For the past year or so, educators in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Britain have been worrying over whether the global financial meltdown would shut down the international student market. Would students see both their banks accounts and their job prospects abroad dry up, and simply choose to stay home?

The answer, over all, seems to be no. These top destination countries are all reporting relatively robust international enrollments this fall.

Canadian universities,...

...]]> Study Abroad Diversifies as Its Popularity Grows http://chronicle.com/article/Study-Abroad-Diversifies-as/49143/ Kenneth Wong plans to become a doctor who specializes in tropical diseases that disproportionately affect children in developing countries. At the University of California at San Diego, where he is a senior, he studied malaria under a microscope. But before embarking on medical school, he wanted the opportunity to see the disease's effects on the ground.

It was only natural, he says, that his destination of choice for a semester spent studying abroad should be in...

...]]> Number of Foreign Students in U.S. Hit a New High Last Year http://chronicle.com/article/Number-of-Foreign-Students-in/49142/ The number of foreign students attending American colleges hit an all-time high in 2008, capping three consecutive years of vigorous growth, according to new data from the Institute of International Education.

Some 671,616 international students attended U.S. institutions in 2008-9, an increase of almost 8 percent from a year earlier. First-time-student enrollments grew even more robustly, by nearly 16 percent.

But the rosy data highlighted in the annual "Open Doors" report...

...]]> Watchdog Group in Israel Urges Students to Report 'Subversive' Professors http://chronicle.com/article/Watchdog-Group-in-Israel-Urges/49167/ Left-right tensions are rising on Israeli campuses over the complex legacy of Zionist ideology and the place of Zionism in Israeli society, with a call for students at one university to report on "Thought Police" professors, a campaign that is being likened to "McCarthyite" tactics in the United States.

The tensions pit radical academics, who are being accused of pursuing a political agenda and silencing pro-Zionist views, against Zionist groups, accused of a "witchhunt" against...

...]]> Universities Offer International Resources to Help Economy at Home http://chronicle.com/article/Universities-Offer/49162/ Universities, with their global reach and increasingly international missions, can use their overseas connections and expertise to improve their state and local economies.

That was the argument made by speakers at a panel discussion Sunday on global partnerships and economic development, one of the sessions held on the first day of the annual meeting here of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, formerly the National Association of State Universities...

...]]> Foreign Demand Drops for American M.B.A. Degrees http://chronicle.com/article/Foreign-Demand-Drops-for/49136/ The United States' dominance in graduate business education seems to be slipping as growing numbers of young foreign applicants are opting to study elsewhere, according to an analysis released this week by the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Between 2005 and 2009, the demand for business education grew 75 percent in Asia, compared with 25 percent...

...]]> Canada Will Require Foreign Students to Submit Biometric Data http://chronicle.com/article/Canada-Will-Require-Foreign/49129/ International students applying for study visas to Canada will be required to provide biometric identification details, such as fingerprints, within two years, according to a senior Canadian immigration official who spoke here on Wednesday at the annual conference of the Canadian Bureau for International Education.

"I'm giving you a heads up that starting in late 2011, foreign students will be required to enroll their biometrics each time they apply for a study permit...

...]]> Foreign Students Are Content With Canada, Even if It Wasn't Their First Choice http://chronicle.com/article/Foreign-Students-Are-Content/49104/ Just under half of international students at universities in Canada admit the country wasn't their first choice among study-abroad options, but nine out of 10 of them give their Canadian experience a thumbs -up, according to survey results released here on Tuesday by the Canadian Bureau for International Education.

"We are seen as a great place to study by those who come to Canada, but they tell us they are attracted to other destinations that also have a lot to...

...]]> Foreign Enrollment in U.S. Graduate Schools Remains Flat, Survey Finds http://chronicle.com/article/Foreign-Enrollment-in-US/49099/ The number of international students enrolling for the first time this fall at American graduate schools was unchanged since last year, raising fresh questions about the reliance of U.S. institutions on foreign talent at the graduate level.

Over all, international-student enrollment was up 2 percent, the smallest increase since 2006, according to the results of a survey released on Tuesday by the...

...]]> Canada and China Discuss Growing Opportunities for Education Ties http://chronicle.com/article/CanadaChina-Discuss/49091/ Opportunities abound for greatly expanding educational collaboration between China and Canada, and both nations could benefit from augmenting their partnerships, exchanges, and joint research, according to officials from both nations who gathered at a forum here on Sunday.

"I sense there's a renewed interest from China, a heightened interest in increasing programs," said Karen McBride, president of the Canadian Bureau of International Education, which sponsored the...

...]]> Detentions Leave Palestinian Students in Limbo http://chronicle.com/article/Detentions-Leave-Palestinian/49059/ Ashraf Abuiram should have graduated from college long ago, but his life took an unexpected turn.

In late 2005, when he was a second-year student pursuing a degree in sociology at Birzeit University, 20 jeeps carrying 100 Israeli soldiers showed up at his home in the dead of night. He was arrested, detained without a trial, and spent a year in a prison camp in the south of Israel before being released and allowed to return to college.

Mr. Abuiram was suspected of aiding...

...]]> Men and Women Differ in How They Decide to Study Abroad, Study Finds http://chronicle.com/article/MenWomen-Differ-in-How/49085/ Women appear to be much more likely than men to choose to study abroad because of significant gender-based differences in how students are influenced by their backgrounds, academic environments, and social interactions, according to research results being presented here this week as part of the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

The findings suggest that advocates of study-abroad programs "need to craft targeted marketing strategies that recognize...

...]]> Austrian Protests Reveal Challenges in Europe Over Access to Higher Education http://chronicle.com/article/Austrian-Protests-Reveal/49064/ Thousands of students in Austria took to the streets in protest on Thursday, in their latest show of frustration over conditions at the country's 21 public universities.

For the past two weeks, students have occupied the main lecture halls at universities in Vienna,...

...]]> News Analysis: What the Shakeup in China's Education Ministry Could Mean for Reform http://chronicle.com/article/News-Analysis-What-the/49045/ The abrupt dismissal of Chinese education minister Zhou Ji on Saturday is an attempt to allay growing public frustration with the country's education system, analysts say. But what the shakeup means for higher-education policy is still unclear.

In a routine meeting, the executive committee of China's legislature removed Mr. Zhou, who at 63 was just two years short of retirement, and replaced him with Yuan Guiren, a vice minister whose background positions him as an outsider among...

...]]> Report Challenges 'Negative Propaganda' Around U.S. Competitiveness in Degree Attainment http://chronicle.com/article/Report-Challenges-Negative/49033/ A provocative new report being released on Wednesday by the Institute for Higher Education Policy argues that much of the data that is used to compare higher-education systems in the United States and other countries is poorly understood and analyzed, and that the comparisons themselves therefore end up being misinterpreted and easily manipulated.

In "The Spaces Between Numbers: Getting...

...]]> India's Education Minister Seeks to Engage More With Universities in U.S. http://chronicle.com/article/Indias-Education-Minister/49015/ In an unusually aggressive effort to build alliances with American universities, India's education minister traveled to the United States last week for extensive discussions on how the United States could more deeply engage with India.

Kapil Sibal, who, just a few months into office, has positioned himself as both a blunt critic of India's education system and an ardent advocate of educational reform and global engagement, told American officials that he sees the...

...]]> International Students Play a Big Role in Canadian Economy, Report Says http://chronicle.com/article/International-Students-Play-a/49014/ Foreign students contributed 6.5 billion Canadian dollars to the nation's economy in 2008, or about $6-billion in U.S. dollars, more than did either lumber or coal exports, a government minister told university leaders last week.

That figure, which does not include exports of educational services, illustrates why the government has placed a high priority on promoting Canada as a destination for international students.

The financial information comes from a...

...]]> A Christian University Taps Potential of Those Who Can Afford to Pay http://chronicle.com/article/A-Christian-University-Taps/48970/ Across the road from a dusty, chaotic marketplace in a town just outside of Lagos, a huge billboard at an entrance gate announces "Welcome to Canaanland." Beyond the gate, and past the massive structure of the Living Faith Church, lies Covenant University, a pristine and expansive campus of rolling green lawns and gleaming new buildings.

Here, the squalor and noise that dominate most urban scenes in Nigeria feel very far away.

Established and financed by...

...]]> Degree Mills Proliferate as Nigeria Struggles to Fix a Tattered University System http://chronicle.com/article/Degree-Mills-Proliferate-as/48969/ One morning in October, as dozens of new students mill around the makeshift, half-constructed main building of the fledgling Olympic University, waiting for their student orientation to begin, two police trucks screech up to the university gates, disgorging government officials and gun-toting riot police.

As the students scatter—some with dazed, uncomprehending expressions, others running toward the gates in a futile attempt to escape—Professor Michael Madukwe, an official...

...]]> Israel Deports a Bethlehem U. Student Because She Is From Gaza http://chronicle.com/article/Israel-Deports-a-Bethlehem-U/48965/ A student in her final year of work at Bethlehem University was deported last night to her home in Gaza by Israeli authorities, despite appeals by the university and human-rights groups after she was arrested on Wednesday at a military checkpoint near Bethlehem, in the West Bank.

Berlanty Azzam, who is 21 and has been studying business administration and translation at Bethlehem since 2005, was stopped at a roadside checkpoint in the West Bank and detained because she is a resident of...

...]]> Ontario Begins Crackdown on Rogue Colleges http://chronicle.com/article/Ontario-Begins-Crackdown-on/48976/ Ontario is getting tough on illegal private colleges and other fly-by-night operations that rip off students. The Canadian provincial government, in a news release issued this week, said such colleges would face fines of up to a quarter of a million Canadian dollars "for taking advantage of students."

The fines will also apply to businesses that offer unapproved courses or that misrepresent...

...]]> India's Elite Technology and Management Institutes to Recruit More Abroad http://chronicle.com/article/Indias-Elite-Technology-and/48943/ India's elite, public Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management plan to add extra seats for international students to bolster their global standing and attract top talent to further their research and development efforts.

The seven graduate-level management schools have already received approval from the Indian government to set up campuses abroad and are now planning to reserve 10...

...]]> Enrollment Crisis Threatens Japan's Private Colleges http://chronicle.com/article/Enrollment-Crisis-Threatens/48909/ The first day of the semester should be one of the year's busiest, but it is immediately clear here at St. Thomas University that something is badly wrong. Apart from a sprinkling of students chatting near the entrance, the grounds are eerily quiet—closer to the atmosphere of a retirement home than a bustling city campus. Footsteps echo off the walls of deserted corridors. Students huddle around professors at the front of nearly empty classrooms.

Long before this small private...

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