By JULIE CRESWELL. The sales pitch for the fund was simple: a chance for individual investors to get in on the same high-octane private equity and hedge funds that have fueled successful returns for large university endowments for years. But now investors in the fund, the nine-year-old, $3.3 billion Endowment Fund, are finding it was much easier to get in than it is to get out.
The fund, run by Mark Yusko, the charismatic former chief of the endowment for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sent letters on Friday to investors saying it was limiting the amount of money that could be taken out each quarter. Investors withdrew more than $1 billion, or about a quarter of the fund’s assets, this year through September, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investors generally have been disappointed with hedge fund returns for the last couple of years because many have lagged the gains made in the stock market. Investors have pulled about $13.2 billion, or 2 percent of total assets, from hedge funds for the year through August, according to estimates by BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research. The firms estimate that in the 3,000 hedge funds that they track, assets have fallen 28.7 percent from their peak of $2.4 trillion in 2008 through a combination of weak performance and withdrawals.
But hedge fund investors and lawyers said the move by the Endowment Fund was one of the first forms of gating, or reducing the ability of investors to take out their money, since the financial crisis. Then, several large hedge funds gated, angering their investors who could not get access to their money.
The troubles at the Endowment Fund are a black eye for Mr. Yusko, a frequent speaker at investment conferences who, after leaving the University of North Carolina in 2004, built a substantial hedge fund empire that at its peak in 2008 controlled $22 billion in assets. Today, he oversees $14 billion.
Mr. Yusko declined to comment on Monday.
He started the Endowment Fund in 2003 with Salient Partners, a Houston firm that managed money for wealthy individuals. It is a fund that invests in dozens of other funds, including some run by prominent managers who have stumbled in recent years, like John A. Paulson, Philip A. Falcone and Eric Mindich.
Several experts were quick to say they saw the gating at the Endowment Fund as a reflection of what that fund had invested in, not as a general trend among funds. About 35 percent of the fund’s assets are invested in real estate, energy and private equity assets — investments that the fund simply could not exit quickly if investors were to demand their cash.
The substantial redemptions in the Endowment Fund follow several years of weak returns. For the 12 months ending late August, the fund was down 2.5 percent, compared with an 18 percent gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and a 0.9 percent decline in the average hedge fund. Over the last five years, the Endowment Fund returned 5.7 percent annually, lagging the 7.7 percent gain by the S.&. P. 500 and the 7.3 percent annual gain by the average hedge fund.
“Hedge funds, as an asset class, have underperformed the stock market and there are definitely some investors out there who feel like they haven’t been invited to the party,” said Stewart Massey, a partner at Massey Quick in Morristown, N.J., which invests money for individuals and institutions.
But the fees investors have paid the Endowment Fund for its lukewarm performance have been considerable, up to about 3.5 percent a year. Additionally, the underlying funds can receive as much as 25 percent of any profits they make.
On top of that, some of the fund’s investors who came in through Merrill Lynch financial advisers may have paid as much as a 2.5 percent upfront fee, similar to what is charged for other funds, according to internal Merrill Lynch documents. More...

By Michelle Zilio. A government program aimed at attracting international students to Canada is failing to do so, according to a recent report from Ipsos Reid.
The report, presented to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in March and recently made public, surveyed prospective students, parents and university educational advisors in Brazil, China and India to gather feedback for the development of Edu-Canada’s “Imagine Education in Canada” brand. The report found that, aside from Brazilian participants interested in language studies and one Brazilian education advisor, “Canada is not a top-of-mind destination for foreign study for participants of any of the three countries.”
“Imagine Education in Canada”, launched by DFAIT and the Council of Ministers of Education Canada in 2008, aims to brand Canada as a top study destination for international students. The program, in its fourth year, was allocated $1 million a year for five years.
The report found that participants were unaware of Canada’s “world-class educational establishments,” apart from a few mentions of the University of Toronto.
“While participants believe that Canada as a developed country must have an adequate level of education, there is no perception of a Canadian education advantage compared to others,” the report read.
Participants expressed a preference for educational institutions in the U.K. and the U.S., citing their prestigious reputations and high placement in world university rankings.
“Given that the presence of world-class educational establishments is the leading factor that drives the choice of a foreign destination for education, this lack of prominence is a serious obstacle,” the report states.
A number of top Canadian universities took a hit to their reputation at the beginning of October when the annual Times Higher Education World University Ranking was released. The University of Toronto dropped out of the top 20 this year, from number 19 to 21, while the University of British Columbia plummeted from number 22 to 30, and McGill fell out of the top 30 to 34th place worldwide. Four years after its launch, says the report, the “Imagine Education in/au Canada” still lacks a specific national brand — unlike Canada’s competitors. Participants said the Canadian brand lacked details about university rankings, top programs, famous or successful people with Canadian credentials, and Canadian institutions in scientific publications or the media.
“The absence of a clear national brand, which is present among Canada’s competitors, leaves participants wondering who the sponsor of the communications is,” the report read.
Statistics Canada data examining the number of international students attending university in Canada show international interest in Canadian institutions has flatlined in recent years. From 1992 to 2003, the overall percentage of international students at Canadian universities jumped nearly three percentage points, from 4.2 to 7.1 per cent. But from 2003 to 2008, that number levelled off, growing by less than half of a percentage point over six years. Canada’s international reputation as a leading study destination can be improved, according to the report.
The report called for a number of improvements in the marketing and advertising of Canada as a study destination: increased advertising for Canada’s advanced scientific research, adding English and French support for international students who wish to learn either language, using successful Canadian personalities in marketing, and pursuing a more aggressive outreach to prospective students through social media networks.
The report also said practical information such as the availability of cultural activities, quality of living and Canada’s natural beauty should be made available to prospective international students.
twitter.com/michellezilio, michellezilio@ipolitics.ca

By HEATHER MUNROE-BLUM. Let me explode the myths about international students. They enrich Quebec, and we have to get better at attracting them.
The great historian Marcel Trudel liked to talk about the myths and realities of Quebec's history. On my side, I'll talk about the myths and realities of the international role of Quebec's universities - a key role for the success of Quebec.
I'm going to use a question-and-answer format. And, because I'm a professor, I'm going to ask the questions and give the answers!
Myth or reality? International students are a drain on Quebec.
Myth. International students are essential contributors to Quebec's success. We cannot succeed without more well-educated, highly skilled, multilingual people. People who have knowledge and experience of the major cultures of the world; people who are comfortable with managing complexity, and who are welcoming of change.
International students are exactly what Quebec needs. They spend years in our institutions, they speak or are motivated to learn French, they know Quebec's values, and they are already integrating into our society. Collectively, we Quebecers have supported a portion of their education with our taxes, and, collectively, we Quebecers benefit from the investment made elsewhere in their early training and from who they are today. More...

El Espacio Común de Educación Superior Tecnológica es el medio por el cual los subsistemas de los  Institutos Tecnológicos, las Universidades Politécnicas y las Universidades Tecnológicas, bajo la dirección de la Subsecretaria de Educación Superior de la SEP, se asocian estratégicamente para desarrollar y consolidar actividades académicas y administrativas, de cooperación y acción conjunta, en temas y experiencias de interés común, con la finalidad de crear un ambiente educativo flexible y de libre tránsito.
Objetivo
Establecer un espacio integrado por los Institutos Tecnológicos, las Universidades Tecnológicas y las Universidades Politécnicas, que permita el intercambio y la cooperación,  para elevar la calidad de la educación en beneficio de la comunidad estudiantil y académica, así como establecer una plataforma que promueva su internacionalización.
Alcances
Los procesos de colaboración entre las IES participantes permitirá desarrollar y fortalecer la calidad educativa, a través del reconocimiento mutuo de la competitividad, comparabilidad y compatibilidad de sus programas educativos de nivel licenciatura y posgrado.
Las estrategias y acciones pactadas en el seno de esta alianza, están orientadas esencialmente a elevar la competitividad económica y social de México, a través de una educación superior tecnológica basada en el desarrollo de competencias profesionales  y en el aseguramiento de la calidad y la empleabilidad de los egresados de las instituciones  participantes.
Articulación de esfuerzos en materia de docencia, investigación, vinculación y gestión social del conocimiento, que posibilitará el diálogo y la cooperación entre las instituciones de educación superior tecnológica de México y del extranjero.

By Doug Lederman. It's official: Higher education is shrinking, for the first time in at least 15 years.
Total enrollment at American colleges and universities eligible for federal financial aid fell slightly in the fall of 2011 from the year before, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by the U.S. Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics.
The data from the department's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System show that 21,554,004 students were enrolled in fall 2011, down from 21,588,124 in fall 2010. While that drop is smaller than two-tenths of one percent, it is the first such dip since at least 1996, according to officials at NCES.
In many ways the result is not surprising; college enrollments boomed in the late 2000s, as they often do during recessions, as workers lost jobs and sought to retool or opted to continue their educations because they didn't like their prospects for employment.
So it's possible that enrollments are leveling off (and shrinking slightly) now because the economy had begun rebounding enough by fall 2011 that some of those who had flocked to higher education during the recession began finding jobs. It's also possible that college tuition levels -- which have continued to rise in recent years, driven in part by cutbacks in state support and other traditional sources of colleges' revenue -- are pricing more students out of higher education.
Whatever the reasons, the data -- if they persist -- could pose a problem for the many policy makers and advocates seeking to increase higher education attainment. While many of those promoting the "completion agenda" are focusing on improving the performance of students who are already in college, they also strive to increase the level of college-going, particularly for those historically underrepresented in higher education.
Who Is Going, and Where Are They Going?
The most recent data offer some early clues about which students are enrolling (and choosing not to), and which institutions are likely to benefit (and not). Over all, the statistics favor part-time and minority students over full-time and white students, and four-year and private nonprofit over two-year and public and for-profit colleges and universities.
As seen in the table below, the biggest swings in institutional enrollments were for private nonprofit colleges (up nearly 2 percent) and for-profit institutions (down 3 percent). Declines in two-year enrollments drove most of the decrease for the for-profit sector and kept public college enrollments from growing, more than offsetting an increase of more than 120,000 in enrollment at four-year public colleges. California's community colleges have restricted their enrollment because of budget cuts in the last two to three years, which could account for much of the two-year-college decline nationally (and could suggest that community colleges elsewhere have fared all right).
In addition to the demographic and economic changes that might have driven the enrollment patterns, the federal government's crackdown on for-profit colleges -- and changes that individual colleges have made in response -- may have driven at least some of the enrollment losses for the institutions.
Students enrolled part time edged upward, while the number of students enrolled full time dipped. Reasonable speculation is that more students shifted from full-time to part-time status because of their ability or need (or both) to work.
The number of Latino students enrolled rose particularly sharply in 2011.

Universities, however, need more support in their efforts to recruit and retain those students, says Principal Munroe-Blum.
Quebec must develop a clear strategy to make it a destination of choice for international students, if it wants to increase its capacity for productivity and innovation. That is the message Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University, delivered at a lunchtime conference of the Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal (CORIM).
“Quebec needs all the talented, educated people it can get,” said Prof. Munroe-Blum, who stressed that Quebec is in serious competition with both emerging countries and other Canadian provinces. “Quebec’s share of Canada’s international student population has decreased from 33 percent in 2001 to 25 percent in 2010. In contrast, British Columbia’s share increased from 10 percent to nearly 20 percent.”
There are numerous benefits to recruiting international students, she said, not the least of which is their impact on our economy. For example, international students in Canada have an economic impact of eight billion dollars annually. And according to the Conférence régionale des élus, one third of international students who study in Quebec choose to stay here after their studies.
“A great example is Aldo Bensadoun,” she noted, referring to the founder of Aldo Shoes. After graduating from McGill, the Morocco-born Bensadoun “stayed in Quebec and from here created a large Quebec multinational that today has 1,000 shoe stores in 66 countries around the world.”
However, she added, there is an unfortunate lack of recognition of the costs behind recruiting and supporting students who come from outside Quebec. Although these students pay higher tuition than their Quebec peers, the universities only keep the equivalent of in-province tuition. The difference – $55 million each year, in the case of McGill – is turned over to the Quebec government, which redistributes the money across the entire Quebec university system.
“Universities, and the students they’re attracting, are being deprived of significant resources that should be returned to them,” she added. “That’s not an invitation for universities to do more.”
Prof. Munroe-Blum concluded by asking the Quebec government to include the quality of programs, research and international recruitment to the agenda of the forthcoming higher education summit, saying that “Quebec is positioned to win the race for global talent if we move quickly, competitively and with confidence.”
Contact Information
Contact: Julie Fortier
Organization: Media Relations, McGill University
Email: julie.c.fortier@mcgill.ca
Office Phone: 514-398-6751
Mobile Phone: 514-884-1587

New report: Latin American perspectives and drivers for tertiary education development - A PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social and Technological)
This analysis, by Angel Calderon of RMIT University, focuses on the political, economic, social and technological environments of all countries that comprise the Latin American region. This kind of analysis is often referred to as PEST; it involves analysing various dimensions of the conditions prevailing in a given country under that framework. The analysis focuses on the dimensions of each of the categories of the PEST framework and draws data from publicly available international sources to add credibility to its conclusions. This paper is intended to guide education analysts and decision-makers in the opportunities and challenges for international higher education in Latin America.
The analysis provides a short overview of some major trends and underlying developments of recent years. It is meant neither to present a comprehensive discussion about all facets of activity nor to cover all countries of the region, but rather to focus on key aspects of the economy, society and education. A summary of the analysis is shown under each PEST category and results are highlighted for five countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. These are the countries that are most worthy of note for transnational education and international mobility.
Members of the Observatory can download the report here.

El día jueves 04 de Octubre se llevó a cabo el Taller correspondiente al Proyecto VINCULAENTORNO en el cual participa RECLA como adscrito a este proyecto ALFA IIILa Dra Ana Velazco, Presidenta de la Red y Directora del Centro de Educación Continua de la PUCP,  presentó el contexto de la "EDUCACION CONTINUA EN EL PERU y RECLA".
El taller conto con la presencia de la Rectora de la Universidad Cayetano Heredia y representantes del Ministerio de la Producción y las autoridades de Proyecto, Marian Iriarte Universidad del País Vasco, España.
La Dra Ana Velazco, Presidenta de la Red y Directora del Centro de Educación Continua de la PUCP,  presentó el contexto de la "EDUCACION CONTINUA EN EL PERU y RECLA". El taller conto con la presencia de la Rectora de la Universidad Cayetano Heredia y representantes del Ministerio de la Producción y las autoridades de Proyecto, Marian Iriarte Universidad del País Vasco, España.