Month: March 2015

A change for the better: learning outside the classroom

“More students are being offered the opportunity of school expeditions to actually learn what it means to be a global citizen in a hyper-globalised world”

Tom Waugh, Foundation Co-ordinator at African Adventures, extols the virtues of volunteering abroad, and the benefits it can bring to both students and the communities in which they work.

The geography classroom has come a long way since I left school over a decade ago (which really was not that long ago!). More students are being offered the opportunity of school expeditions to not only travel and understand the world we live in, or meet people from different cultures, or even get involved in projects abroad, but actually learn what it means to be a global citizen in a hyper-globalised world.

More students than ever before are also gaining real employable skills from group volunteering trips in Africa; from running their own fundraising campaigns, raising awareness of their travels or fundraising for charitable causes, which is something that we see here at African Adventures all the time. If anything, the rise in social media over the past decade, the numerous charity fundraising websites that are now available and the fact that young adults are becoming ‘cleverer’ with modern technology/communication portals all helps with fundraising and putting the word out there. This is also exactly what a lot of employers look for today. Young workers who use their initiative and find ways to meet objectives and targets.

“More students than ever before are gaining real employable skills from group volunteering trips in Africa”

During the past two years of my working in this sector and volunteering in Ghana, Kenya and Zanzibar with school groups, I have seen students bag-pack in supermarkets, jump out of airplanes, abseil off buildings, and hold disco, quiz and curry nights, to name just a few.

These invaluable skills are not only accessible for the rich or middle-class kids that it seemed to be when I was at school. More students from perceived ‘less well-off’ areas or backgrounds are seizing the opportunity to volunteer now. Not at twenty when I could first afford to travel abroad without my parents and volunteer for long periods of time!

The knock-on effects from students travelling and volunteering abroad also have a massive impact on the children that we work with in project schools in Africa. Aside from the obvious physical work that these student volunteers carry out on building new classrooms, renovating structures or teaching mathematics and English, our student volunteers are also choosing to continue their support of our charitable causes. In essence, student volunteers are seeing the support process all the way through. From meeting the children that are directly benefited through our work to actually propping up and supporting that process by volunteering, fundraising and donating towards the further development of these communities. In some cases, our volunteers even come back for family volunteering trips in Africa. We’re witnesses to a paradigm shift, the concept of the traditional ‘family package holiday’ is also changing and, in my mind, for the better!

“One of the things I love seeing is this breaking down of barriers, the understanding students obtain that despite the different way of life, the different cultures, tastes, sights and smells”

If more of our young adults took up this calling, or were presented with this opportunity, our country’s young adults would be even more fit to live in a constantly globalised world where it is not uncommon to talk to someone across the other side of the world on a daily basis or live next door to someone who fifty years ago would be described as ‘foreign’.
One of the biggest things I love seeing is this breaking down of barriers, the understanding students obtain that despite the different way of life, the different cultures, tastes, sights and smells. We are all the same in this world and we all should continue to promote this way of life, for cultural discoveries at a young age and for the act of giving a helping hand to those in need.

Is South Asia’s student mobility market set for growth?

“The state of student mobility from South Asia to the UK has been a nearly endless series of bad news since 2011, but green shoots in Bangladesh suggest that the region be set for growth again”

The following is an extract from the British Council’s Education in East Asia – By the Numbers report, ‘Is South Asia’s student mobility market set for growth?’, written by Jeremy Chan, Regional Head of Research and Consultancy, East Asia at the British Council. The British Council’s Services for International Education Marketing (SIEM) team helps UK institutions refine their internationalisation strategies to succeed in East Asia and around the globe. The full report is available to registered members of the British Council website here.

The state of student mobility from South Asia to the UK has been a nearly endless series of bad news since 2011, but green shoots in Bangladesh suggest that the region may have bottomed out and be set for growth again. This rebound comes not a moment too soon – and perhaps two years too late – as South Asia will be the most important growth market for international student mobility for the foreseeable future and has already recorded rapid rises in enrolments in Australia, the US and Canada since 2013. The UK cannot afford to fall any further behind.

“This rebound comes not a moment too soon – and perhaps two years too late – as South Asia will be the most important growth market for international student mobility for the foreseeable future”

For the UK, the South Asia region has made for a wild ride since 2009, when issuance of long-term UK study visas began to surge, only to collapse again two years later. Today, the region issues some 40 per cent fewer visas than it did in 2005, and more than 80 per cent fewer visas than it did at its peak in the middle of 2010. Demand for UK education continues to decline in four of the five countries in the region – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal – albeit at a slowing rate. More encouragingly, strong growth in demand for UK education from Bangladesh in 2014 points to glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel for the region as a whole.

Reasons for (cautious) optimism

It goes without saying that today’s visa applicants are tomorrow’s students, which means that new enrolments from South Asia at UK institutions have almost certainly continued to decline in 2014/15 on the back of falling numbers of applications for UK study visas. However, growth could rebound in time for the 2015/16 cohort, although even in this slightly optimistic scenario, mobility to the UK will return to growth more than two years after the South Asia market began to recover in other major English speaking host destination countries. This suggests that UK market share will not necessarily improve even with a rebound in enrolments – a function of both the severe decline in South Asia’s outbound student mobility market to the UK from 2011-14, as well as the more rapid increase in enrolments from the region in Australia, the US and Canada in recent years.

Indeed, Australia has reported especially strong growth in enrolments from all of South Asia in 2014, while the U.S. and Canada have seen overall increases from the region in 2013/14 – and Bangladesh in particular. The strong growth in enrolments from Bangladesh across all major markets suggests that its outbound student market is indeed growing faster than other countries in South Asia, with the ‘push’ factors for students from Bangladesh perhaps outweighing the ‘pull’ factors in any given host destination country.

“For the UK, in other words, a rebound in Bangladesh may only be a function of a rising tide lifting all boats”

For the UK, in other words, a rebound in Bangladesh may only be a function of a rising tide lifting all boats; UK market share will tell the full story of how the UK education offer stacks up against the competition. On this front, the latest visa application data suggests that the UK continued to lose ground in 2013/14 but may have recovered a bit in 2014/15 – after more than three years of consecutive decline in issuance of new long-term UK study visas to students in Bangladesh, its outbound student market returned to growth in 2014 and has increased at an annual rate of nearly 25 per cent through the first three quarters of 2014, according to data from the Home Office.

Continue reading here.

Children of the STEM Revolution

“Giving STEM subjects the focus, care, and respect they deserve yields results: a lesson which other schools – always having to divide their attentions – would do well to heed”

Nick Waite, Principal of Bellerbys College Cambridge, writes about investing in STEM and specialisation in higher education.

In the 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion laid the groundwork for classical mechanics; in 2014, a British scientist helped land a spacecraft on a comet by following these principles. Over hundreds of years, STEM graduates have changed the course of human history – and the scope of what we believe to be possible. In the last few decades alone, it’s led to major advances in cancer treatment, sanitation and sustainable energy research – to say nothing of its impact on technology, which is an essential part of our everyday lives and a major contributor to the economy.

“Over hundreds of years, STEM graduates have changed the course of human history – and the scope of what we believe to be possible”

The reality is that there’s no good argument against investing in STEM subjects: they contribute to the sum of human understanding, they’re in high demand among prospective employers, and they’re big business. So why is there a distinct lack of funding and focus in this area? The consequences are all too clear to see – a report from The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) found that over 40% of its members had trouble recruiting students from STEM backgrounds, and most don’t expect the situation to improve.

It’s easy to blame this on the academic sector, where pupils are able to choose from a smorgasbord of courses – the majority of which do not fall under the STEM umbrella. Easy, perhaps, but unfair. 98,000 students enrolled on STEM courses last year (an 18% improvement on the figures from 2002/03), and 27 universities got £5m worth of funding from the UK government.

I believe the problem is more deeply-rooted than that. There’s strong evidence that schools aren’t giving the field the care it deserves. Whilst in the US, there has been significant investment from companies to aid STEM education, the pickup in Europe has been less rapid. There needs to be a global consensus on the importance of this subject area which we are currently lacking.

“Whilst in the US, there has been significant investment from companies to aid STEM education, the pickup in Europe has been less rapid”

There is, however, a solution. I’ve worked in the education sector for several years now, but in my role as principal of Bellerbys College Cambridge, I’ve seen for myself that students thrive when they can focus their efforts into courses that are tailored to their strengths and interests. This will broaden and develop their knowledge, as they share ideas with like-minded people. I am referring here to the concept of specialisation in higher education.

We’ve invested considerably in creating a specialised science and engineering programme, and I believe the results speak for themselves: our curriculum of GCSE, A-Level and Foundation courses has attracted a vibrant community of passionate, highly motivated students. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that we’re located in Cambridge: the famous stomping grounds of scientists like Stephen Hawking and the aforementioned Newton, and home to a robust STEM community – with ample networking opportunities – today.

Higher education holds the key here. Students have developed a deeper understanding of their interests and can now decide which direction to take their education. They also recognise the global issues we currently face and come equipped with the means to help tackle them. STEM subjects can make a vital contribution here. From global technology to enterprise, it will – for better or worse – decide the direction in which humanity will develop. Giving them the focus, care, and respect they deserve yields results: a lesson which other schools – always having to divide their attentions – would do well to heed.

EUK responds to Swiss currency crisis

“While it’s a worrying time for the Swiss agencies, in our business – and, indeed, in any international business – currency fluctuations are an occupational hazard”

Eddie Byers is Chief Executive of English UK, the UK’s ELT organisation with around 470 members, fully-accredited language-teaching centres in the state and private sector.

The news that some Swiss agencies are apparently attempting to renegotiate commission agreements with partner schools elsewhere in Europe as a result of its soaring currency is raising a few eyebrows here in the UK.

The PIE’s story on the consequences of Switzerland’s unpegging of its franc from the Euro supported some of the stories we’re hearing from English UK members.

As your report explained, the rise in the value of the currency – by up to 15% – has given the Swiss consumer more buying power, which could be good news for language schools around Europe. The unexpected development is the reaction of some Swiss agencies, as they discover a drop in the value of their commission when it is paid in other currencies. Apparently, some agencies are “reaching out to partner schools asking for consideration of the new currency situation.”

While it’s a worrying time for the Swiss agencies, in our business – and, indeed, in any international business – currency fluctuations are an occupational hazard. Clearly, our sector thrives on goodwill and firm partnerships, but it’s hard to recall any event which has led to agencies accepting lower commissions en masse to help out international schools on the wrong end of an exchange rate movement.

“It’s hard to recall any event which has led to agencies accepting lower commissions en masse to help out international schools on the wrong end of an exchange rate movement”

It’s not just exchange rates which can harm profit margins: the vast majority of quality UK language schools have found themselves absorbing some significant rises in costs in recent years.

A few which immediately spring to mind are exchange rates at various times during the global financial crisis, increasing regulation and of course the student visa regime. Each year, our members invest in everything from teachers’ professional development, to new technology, course materials and upgrading the student environment.

“Here in the UK, our members genuinely feel the pain of Swiss agents: we’ve felt it ourselves as currencies wax and wane”

It wouldn’t be surprising if one or two agents were quietly asking to renegotiate with their partner centres: it’s part of the cut and thrust of international businesses. What would be surprising was if there was some wider spread to this, as the PIE story suggests.

Here in the UK, our members genuinely feel the pain of Swiss agents: we’ve felt it ourselves as currencies wax and wane. In good business partnerships, each side understands that life isn’t always easy for the other. But we also understand that exchange rates can go down as well as up, and we hope that agencies’ alarm is short-lived and self-resolving.