IELTS, the International English Language Testing System and the world’s most popular English language test for higher education, has introduced biometric measures – including finger scans – to verify the identity of test takers.
Worldwide, more than 8,000 education institutions, governments, professional registration bodies and employers use IELTS to provide measurement of English language proficiency. Read more...

By Justin Doubleday, The Chronicle of Higher Education. The earnings gap in the United States between young college graduates and their peers with only high school diplomas has narrowed slightly in recent years. But adults with bachelor degrees still make significantly more over their careers, according to a report released last Monday by the College Board. The expansive triennial report, Education Pays 2013: The benefits of higher education for individuals and society, examines the value of higher education in both financial and non-financial terms. Read more...

By Wagdy Sawahel. Member states of the 5+5 Dialogue initiative, a sub-regional forum for dialogue including five countries of the Arab Maghreb Union and five countries of the Western Mediterranean, have agreed to set up a ‘space’ for research and innovation to promote cooperation in science, technology and higher education.
The Maghreb countries involved are Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, and the Western Mediterranean nations are France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.
The new initiative was outlined in a ‘Rabat Declaration’, which was endorsed at the first conference of ministers of higher education and research of the 5+5 Dialogue states, held in Rabat, Morocco, from 20 to 21 September. The conference was organised by Morocco’s Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Training. Read more...

By Karen MacGregor. A new scholar exchange initiative offering 100 fellowships to African-born academics living in North America, to work in and forge research partnerships with African universities, has been launched by Carnegie Corporation of New York. The ambitious aim is “to turn the continent’s ‘brain drain’ into ‘brain gain’”...
The two-year Carnegie African Diaspora Fellows Program will be managed and administered by the New York-based Institute of International Education. Read more...

By Eugene Vorotnikov. The Russian government is hoping to attract the country’s major industrial companies to invest in establishing higher education institutions and chairs in top universities, to prepare highly skilled employees and produce research for their sectors.
The initiative targeting companies such as Rusal, Rosneft, Gazprom and LUKOIL was proposed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who promised that the government would provide companies with all the support they needed to implement such projects, including partial tax exemptions. Read more...

By David Jobbins. Students attending universities at greater risk of institutional failure in the post-White Paper higher education market in the United Kingdom need an insurance scheme to protect them from the consequences, the Higher Education Commission said last week.
In a report on the inadequacy of the current regulatory framework in England, the commission, an independent body drawn from the higher education sector and the three main political parties, warned that lack of legislation to enhance regulation of higher education in England “is putting students at risk from failing universities and threatening the UK’s global reputation for higher education excellence”. Read more...

By Mimi Leung. With ‘surplus’ universities and schools being encouraged to shut down or merge due to Taiwan’s demographic downturn, the government has said that private institutions should not be allowed to profiteer from selling land designated for educational use.
As a way of enabling universities that cannot recruit enough students to cover the cost of closing down – costs can include payoffs for staff – Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior recently proposed allowing private institutions to sell their land for business use. Read more...

By Geoff Maslen. Four of the world’s major research university groups released a joint statement in China on 10 October outlining the characteristics of contemporary research universities as the next step towards establishing an international network of the four associations.
This latest move follows discussions among the four groups over the past 18 months about creating a parallel organisation to the Global Research Council, a virtual organisation launched in Arlington in Virginia in May last year and comprising the heads of about 50 science and engineering funding agencies from around the world. Read more...

By Alan Osborn. A major international survey of education standards has found serious skills weaknesses in European Union countries when compared to levels in other parts of the developed world.
In spite of heavy investment in higher education in recent years in the European Union, or EU, the study suggests that a fifth of the working age population has worrying low literacy and numeracy skills and a quarter of adults lack the digital skills needed to effectively use information and communication technologies.
The report, OECD Skills Outlook 2013, is the first to assess literacy, numeracy and computer-based problem-solving in the 16 to 65-year-old age group in 24 countries. Read more...

By Karen MacGregor. A new British Council report has predicted that there will be 3.8 million mobile higher education students globally by 2024, up from just over three million two years ago. India and China will contribute 35% of the global growth in international students.
The most popular destination countries for students – the United States, United Kingdom and Australia – will continue to attract the largest numbers of students, but there will be more competition from emerging host countries such as China and Malaysia. Also, new major sending countries are arising such as Nigeria, Saudia Arabia and Indonesia. Read more...