Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says she is pleased with the development, saying that close ties between the ASEAN members make it logical that Australian students study at universities in Southeast Asia rather than in countrites like the United States.
"Given the long history of cooperation and close ties between ASEAN members, it is appropriate that young Australians will now have greater opportunities to learn from our Southeast Asian neighbours," she said in a statement.
A pilot of the New Colombo plan began earlier this year in January, with more than 1300 Australian undergraduate students supported by the government to study in the region. More...

By Eldho Mathews. Russia has been an all-weather partner of India. Unlike, India’s relationship with Russia, India-China relations in the past was marred by strategic mistrust. However, for the past two decades both the countries have been more politically and economically engaged than at any time since the India-China War of 1962. More...

By M Saraswathy. The New Colombo Plan, an initiative of Australian Govt, aims to lift knowledge of the Indo Pacific in Australia. Undergraduate students in Australian universities may soon have an opportunity to pursue internship programmes in India under a new initiative. The New Colombo Plan which offers Australian undergraduates new opportunities for prestigious scholarships and grants for study and internships/ mentor programmes in the Indo Pacific region will include India too in the near future. More...

By Sarah Kim. In a move to lure more international students to the country, the government has proposed easing education regulations to enable foreign academic bodies to jointly establish schools in Korea with institutes here.
It also proposed enabling private academies and institutes to issue visas to foreign students wishing to study here. More...

The current university entrance system is not liked by some young people who want to become students, but want to be able to select major subjects they prefer, observers say.
The system allows universities to choose an eligible candidate by assessing his or her prior subject and pass marks from the matriculation examination.
Plans are underway to change the system, because it upsets candidates who want to pick major subjects that they like. The entrance method will be changed in accord with a law the Union parliament will enact, but this is unlikely to be done in the 2014-15 academic year. More...

CAUGHT amid a glut of job applicants fresh out of college, many of China’s newly minted graduates are choosing a time-worn path the world over: relying on their parents for hand-outs.
According to a new survey conducted by Peking University, more than one-third of recent Chinese graduates continue to live off their parents. A still greater number are failing to save any money with 40 per cent reporting that they live pay cheque to pay cheque. More...