Category: Higher education

How Swansea University remains internationally ambitious in challenging times

“Internationalisation via strategic partnerships will allow us to extend our global reach whatever the outcome of Brexit”

Since our foundation in 1920, Swansea University has embraced opportunities to think globally, growing and maintaining partnerships that enhance and support our research, teaching and student recruitment ambitions. But to say that universities are operating in uncertain times is no less true for being a cliché.

The numbers of international students entering the UK have been flatlining since 2012 when the government removed the two- year post-study work visa, followed by further changes in 2015, as the government began cutting immigration targets and tightening up rules in a number of areas, including academic progression and savings. At the same time, competition has got tougher as the market has grown in the USA, Canada and Australia, and HEIs in parts of Europe like the Netherlands and Germany have begun teaching courses through the medium of English.
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Popular UK Universities and the Education Courses They Offer

“Making a choice between universities can be tasking, but easier if you know the courses and benefits that each offer”

The United Kingdom is one of the most popular destinations for education. Over 442,000 international students choose to study in the UK every year, with many looking to study at some of the country’s highly ranked universities.

Making a choice between universities can be tasking, but easier if you know the courses and benefits that each offer. Thus, I bring to you a list of some of the top universities in the UK for international students and the fields in which they offer courses of study.
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Joining new social circles outside your native tongue

“Complications in communication should not in any way deter you from a once in a lifetime opportunity of studying abroad”

 

As we grow older entering new social circles becomes harder to achieve, from fewer opportunities to meet new people to less time to get out socially. Time at university offers a multitude of possibilities to interact with people from all over the country, and indeed, world. But for the students who seek to broaden their mind abroad, there are additional obstacles, not least of all, the language barrier.

So how can students cross-linguistic blocks to enrich their friendship group with culturally diverse inhabitants? Here are a few suggestions based on our experience at William Clarence Education.
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The big IP question: How well do students understand intellectual property?

“Without IP knowledge, it is likely that interns and graduates will miss opportunities to protect valuable ideas”

University students are constantly encouraged to be creative and to come up with new and innovative ideas, but are they being taught the value of their ideas and how to protect them?

Intellectual property (IP) knowledge is important not only for law students learning how to inform others about the value and management of IP but for individuals studying business, engineering and technology.
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How San Mateo CCD Rewrote Its International Education Playbook

“We set out to change that one country as a time and we did just that”

Back in 2012, when we initiated our International Education Program, we quickly realised that those “tried and true efforts” such as fairs, online advertising, joint degrees, satellite campus programs, brochures and web pages, and direct meetings with foreign students were simply not effective.

As a result, we decided to develop our own systematic approach, and in short order, the number of international students went from 80+ to 1,500 today, an increase of over 1,700%. The rate of growth is holding, as we see yearly double digits in growth. In a few short years; we leapt from the bottom and joined the top 30 community colleges in the nation, according to IIE International –a respected source in the world of international education. In 2017, our international students brought in over $40 million to our local economy.
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Brexit and the Strengthening of US Partnerships

“US institutions will do well to pay close attention to the final negotiations of Brexit in early 2019”

The much anticipated  September report of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has largely confirmed everyone’s expectations: yes, foreign students are an unalloyed benefit to the UK, but, no, not all obstacles will be removed to promote their arrival.

It’s a bit of a contradiction, but one that might be explained by the committee being appointed and answerable to the Home Office. With its eyes on the Brexit horizon, the committee admits it sees “no strong arguments for discriminating in favor of EU Students.”
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“Thanks MAC, but we should go further”

“Taking students out of the net migration target is not about fiddling the figures”

In light of the recent and long-awaited MAC report, director of Universities UK International Vivienne Stern says that the UK’s stagnant growth in international student enrolments has been an “active policy choice” and highlights the need for a clear, compelling and competitive post-study work offer.

Last week’s report by the Migration Advisory Committee confirmed what many of us in the university sector have long argued – that the benefits international students bring to the UK are enormous. The MAC team should be congratulated on some excellent analysis. But their conclusions were disappointing.

Now, attention has turned to the government response, and I believe there is a live debate between departments about whether to accept the MAC recommendations or go further.

The government should have the courage to do so.
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The Elevator Pitch: Why every international student (and professional) should craft one

“Your elevator pitch can be your answer when someone asks, “How do you plan on adjusting to a foreign company’s work culture?”

Whether applying to a company for an internship or a first job, an elevator pitch is that company’s first impression of your ability to fill a space in that organisation. This can even happen when visiting representatives at a college’s career fair or when answering the infamous first question, “Tell us about yourself.”

What is an elevator pitch? 

An elevator pitch, also known as an elevator speech, got its name from the amount of time you may spend with another individual in an elevator. On average, elevator rides last about 30 seconds or less. With your elevator pitch, you have that long to persuade someone before one of you walks off the elevator.
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A View on some of the top education destinations for Indian students

“Indian students today prefer to study abroad for greater career opportunities and to experience diversity”

Overseas education has been gaining grounds and Indian students today prefer to study abroad for greater career opportunities and experiencing diversity, among other reasons. Here I will walk you through top international education destinations for the Indian students.

  1. USA

The USA is one of the prime countries for Indian students who are in pursuit of educational courses such as business management, computer sciences, social sciences, physical and life sciences, mathematics, engineering and other courses. With top-tier universities, USA accommodates lakhs of foreign students every year. Institutions such as MIT, Princeton and Stanford, Harvard, are the most preferred.

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Finland: A view on one of the best university systems in the world

“Despite being a small nation, Finnish universities keep topping the world polls. So, what is it that they get so right?”

Finland is well-known for thinking outside the box in education, and its universities are no exception. The region’s focus on innovation appears to yield results, with Finnish universities recently ranked as the highest performing in the world. So, what exactly is it that they do so well? In my opinion, this can be roughly broken down into three broad categories.

  1. Strong support for quality teaching

Teaching is a respected profession in Finland, one that is extremely competitive to break into. Typically, fewer than 10% of applicants are accepted into the teacher training programme, five-year Master’s degree programmes are compulsory, and subject teachers are expected to carry out advanced academic studies in their field.

Finland’s teachers and lecturers are given great flexibility and freedom in their teaching styles too.

Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) embraces state-of-the-art teaching methods, for example, but teachers have autonomy for deciding how they are incorporated.  Mika Pulkkinen, an educational technology designer at LUT, says: “We offer a number of complex courses so we’re always looking for ways to help students cement their knowledge. We don’t want to insist on any single method of teaching, but we do make sure staff feel confident to use technology if they want to.”
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