Around the world in five: News round-up 3 March 2016

THAILAND 

The Bangkok Post reports on the pace of progress to reform the education system in Thailand, the impact of this on Thai people and the Thai economy, and the flow on effects of intense competition for international schools in Bangkok. The article states Thailand may now be ready to increasingly look to foreign partners to make progress; the Education Ministry is reported to be working with Cambridge University to reform English language teaching and assessment and talking to education officials in Finland. 

GLOBAL

Research in to the regional differences in motivations, goals and behaviours of students seeking to study internationally culminated in FPP Edu Media producing a report that provides insights in to which messages and education offerings resonate in which markets. Download the report here.

JAPAN 

This month the Japan Business Federation, Keidanren, has brought forward the national start date for its companies’ rigorous graduate hiring processes, with mixed views to date on the impact for Japanese students studying abroad. From this year the association has advised members to begin interviewing students from June for job offers in October. Encouragingly, Keidanren’s guidelines have suggested companies make allowances for students abroad when hiring. The PIE News provides more detail.

SAUDI ARABIA 

The recently appointed Minister Mohammed Al Isa has signaled that the Ministry [link in Arabic] will review a long-standing ban on foreign universities being established in Saudi, and commented that private education will ‘drive the future of the education sector’.

MALAYSIA

The Malaysian government has reported that it is on track to meet its goal of attracting 200,000 international students annually by 2020. Earlier this month it announced that all university students will be required to pass English language, currently taught as a second language, in order to graduate from university. The government expects a focus on English languages skills at all levels of its education system will make Malaysia a more attractive international education destination. Read more in The PIE News.