Month: February 2016

Brexit might not deter students, but it could devastate global faculty and research

“The lifting of the cap has inadvertently made international strategies more real – at least when it comes to student diversity. Would a so-called Brexit end all of that? I don’t think so”

The lifting of the cap on student numbers at UK universities led many institutions to rethink their recruitment and internationalisation policies, with many putting greater efforts into recruiting students from within the EU than before, writes Vincenzo Raimo, pro-vice-chancellor (global engagement) at the University of Reading. Here he looks at how this has led to growth in European student numbers, and asks: how would this change if the UK were to leave the EU?

The focus of the majority of UK university international strategies for the past 20 years or so has been fee income growth. Constrained within a highly regulated system with strict limits on domestic students, the only way universities could grow was to recruit (unregulated) international fee paying students. As well as adding to the diversity of our universities and the quality of student experience, these international students brought income which allowed our universities to grow and develop, appoint new faculty and build new and better facilities.
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Vincenzo Raimo
Vincenzo Raimo is pro-vice-chancellor (global engagement) at the University of Reading in the UK.

Significant experience preferred: unpacking hidden meanings in job postings

“Does listing long-term experience abroad as ‘preferred’ in a job description result in the self-rejection or weeding out of otherwise qualified applicants?”

Tiera Greene, secretary of the Higher Education Student Association and internship/co-op coordinator at Batten College of Engineering and Technology, writes about how asking for ‘significant experience abroad’ can be a barrier to students who don’t have the chance or the means to spend long periods overseas.

Increasing numbers of international education job descriptions boast the phrase “Significant experience abroad preferred” or similar wording. While most don’t explicitly distinguish between short-term and long-term programs, the word ‘significant’ seems to imply a preference for the more “traditional,” longer-term study abroad.
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The frustration of international school marketing for schools and parents

Elaine Stallard, Founder and CEO of Winter’s International School Finder, a comprehensive digital directory of English-speaking schools across the world, writes about what international schools should be looking out for when marketing themselves to prospective students and their parents. 

Over the past decade, there has been a 320% increase in the number of international schools across the world. Recent figures from the International School Consultancy reveal there to be more than 8,000 English-medium international schools across the world, teaching a total of 4.26 million students.
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Should we be concerned about the state of English in the Philippines?

“We need to address the gap in qualified ESL teachers and the issues around ensuring the quality of ESL schools”

Mike Cabigon is the manager of English for Education Systems of British Council Philippines. He writes about a roundtable event organised by the British Council, where sector stakeholders weighed in on what needs to be done to ensure the Philippines retains its competitive advantage.

The Philippines is recognized globally as one of the largest English-speaking nations, with the majority of its population having at least some degree of fluency in the language. English has always been one of the country’s official languages, and is spoken by more than 14 million Filipinos. It is the language of commerce and law, as well as the primary medium of instruction in education.
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