16 March 2016 at 9:00 am
Around the World in Five
Five international education news stories from around the world.
USA
Recognising the need for Americans to improve their international awareness, this article views study abroad as a “solution” to American foreign policy isolation. The article discusses the imbalance between the number of international students who study in the US (975,000) and the number of US students who study overseas (304,000), the Generation Study Abroad initiative that aims to double the number of US students who study abroad (and which ENZ is a signatory to), current US government support of study abroad and ideas around potential policy changes to further support study abroad.
China
During the National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) annual sessions in March 2016 (called the “Lianghui”, or “Two Meetings”), it was identified that skills in the high-end manufacturing industry, the science and technology service industry, IT, the cultural products and creative industries and the finance industry will likely become the most sought-after over the “13th Five-Year Plan” period (2016 – 2020).
Taiwan
The number of Taiwanese people with a college, university or other type of higher education degree has increased to 5 million (42.68 of the population) in 2015, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on Saturday. This is higher than the OECD average.
Brazil
Jose Celso Freire, head of the international office of Sao Paulo State University (UNESP) and also president of the international education association of Brazil, FAUBAI, is optimistic about the future of the Science without Borders scholarship programme. Mr Freire said, “I don’t believe they will just cut the programme, but there’s a huge push that scholarships will be more focused on postgraduate studies.”
Vietnam
Transnational education, study abroad and opportunities for collaboration were all on the agenda at an international education conference on integration in education jointly held last week by the Association of Vietnam Universities and Colleges (AVUC) and the Vietnam International Education Consultants Association (VIECA). Held at the Government Guest House Hanoi, the one-day conference welcomed international education experts from both provider and agent sides of the industry and was attended by more than 200 AVUC members, foreign embassy officials and representatives from several government ministries.
