By Anders Melin. One Sunday in late August 2007, my college swim coach sat down with me and six of my teammates. Our American peers had been dismissed and we were left, a group of international students representing Sweden, South Africa, Croatia and France.
"This first week of classes, you have a special assignment," he said. "After each class you must introduce yourself to your professors. Then you must come up with a question, go to their office hours and ask it. It can be a question you already know the answer to; it doesn't matter, just go anyway." Read more...

The Report profiles IAU work and achievements over the past year, carried out under each of the priority themes and special projects. It includes details of the new IAU Administrative Board (2012 – 2016) as well as details on IAU membership and finances.
Le rapport annuel 2012 décrit le travail de l’Association et fait état des résultats obtenus pour chacune de ses thématiques prioritaires et chacun de ses projets menés durant l’année passée. Il présente également en détail le nouveau Conseil d’Administration de l'AIU (2012-2016) ainsi que des données sur les membres et les finances de l’Association.

Two “sub-regional” Latin American workshops were held in Mendoza, Argentina and in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in the first two weeks of March, examining mobility strategies and qualifications frameworks respectively.Part of the ALFA PUENTES project, these two events contributed to the sub-regional projects of the university associations of Central America and Mercosur, and also welcomed a selected number of European experts to share experiences.
In Mendoza, Argentina, on 5-6 March, the University of Cuyo and the Argentinian University Council (CIN) welcomed vice-rectors, heads of international offices and several representatives of national education ministries of Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay to discuss three themes of research interest to the region: the relationship of mobility to employability of graduates, quality of programmes and regional integration. The workshop was also an occasion to present current research on mobility that has been done in the region and compare it to current European mobility debates. Representatives of the national rectors’ conferences of Portugal (CRUP), Spain (CRUE) and Poland (CRASP), all EUA members and project partners, each contributed institutional case studies to the debate. The outcomes of this event will feed into the development of a “white paper” for the Mercosur countries and stimulating and improving mobility within the region.
Following this event, on 11-12 March, vice-rectors from Central American universities were welcomed by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras (UNAH) in Tegucigalpa to debate and shape a proposed regional qualification framework (QF) for higher education. The draft framework is the result of research and consultation of academics in five Central American countries, led by the CSUCA (Central American University Council). EUA and various European experts have been supporting this endeavour by sharing current European developments with regards to QFs and their implementation. To prepare this meeting, EUA met with the Costa Rican Rectors’ Conference (CONARE), the project researchers and a Mexican and German institutional expert in San José two weeks prior to the Honduras workshop to synthesise research results and brainstorm descriptors for three education cycles in Central America (first, second and third cycle). The QF will be further consulted in the institutions of the region in the upcoming year and will also be tabled to accreditation agencies and relevant national ministries in Central America.
ALFA PUENTES is a European Commission co-funded project coordinated by EUA in conjunction with 23 national and regional university associations in Latin America and Europe. For more information, please see: http://alfapuentes.org/portal.

The Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research has signed an agreement with the Cambridge Assessment Group, with the aim of promoting the Italian University System on the global platform.
With the agreement, it is now possible for foreign students wishing to enroll in Italy for courses in Medicine in the English language, to take up admissions.
The International Medical Admission Test (IMAT) for admission to the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery for the 2013-2014 academic year will be held in English on April 15, a statement signed by Mubarak Abdallah, Director of Information and Public Affairs Bureau of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in Accra, yesterday and copied to the Ghana News Agency said.
The statement said information on the venue and timetable may be obtained from http:/attiministeriali.miur.it/anno-2013/febraio/dm-14022013.aspx.
It said the IMAT admissions for courses in English apply only to the University of Bari, University of Milan, Second University of Naples, University of Pavia, University of Rome, La Sapienza and the University of Rome Tor Vargata.
The statement said registration for the admissions test could be done exclusively online on the Ministry of Education’s portal on www.university.it/index.php/students/imatregration within the deadline published on the portal.

By Emily Burt. You land in a new country for a semester, a year, perhaps a full degree's worth of study. Not only are you suddenly immersed in a strange environment, an unfamiliar culture and a different time zone, but you're faced with a style of learning that may be completely unlike the one you're used to. It's a lot to take in. When I arrived at the University of California—Berkeley, my class hours doubled and I pitched head first into a sinkhole of homework. It was a huge jump, and during my first semester I often found myself totally overwhelmed. Read more...

By Jason Chow and Te-Ping Chen. HONG KONG—Harvard University is expanding its reach in Asia through its online program and by reaching out to students with lesser means, university President Drew Faust said.
EdX, the nonprofit joint venture started last year by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offers university-level classes free online and already has attracted more than 700,000 people. Most of those enrolled are from outside the U.S., and 44,000 are from East Asia, which includes China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, Dr. Faust said in an interview.
The history scholar said edX is well-received in the region, citing a biostatistics and epidemiology course that had 8,000 students from India. Read more...

By Clifford Coonan. Irish colleges establish series of links with Chinese institutions on trade mission.
Chinese parents prize education probably above all other gifts they can hand on to their children, and are keen for their kids to study abroad at the best universities.
Australia and the US have been wooing Chinese students, with strong degrees of national identity helping sell the product.
Ireland has a way to go. Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn was in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai last week with an Enterprise Ireland trade delegation of more than 15 educational institutions, including University College Cork. Read more...

Beijing: China's top universities have dropped English as a compulsory subject from their annual independent recruitment exams which began on 16 March 2013.
In most of these universities, those who have applied for science and engineering majors will only be required to take maths and physics exams, while art students will be required to take Chinese and maths exams, reported Xinhua.
Yu Han, an enrolment officer at Tsinghua University, said the subject was eliminated in order to reduce students' workload and attract talented students who excel in the subjects. Independent college entrance exams are held three months before the national exams, a process that allows universities to recruit more talented students.
This year, 27 Chinese universities are joining three leagues represented by Tsinghua University, Peking University and Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), with all three leagues holding recruitment exams simultaneously. The Peking University league consists of 11 universities, including Hong Kong University and Beijing Normal University.
The Tsinghua league is composed of seven universities, including the University of Science and Technology of China, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Renmin University and Zhejiang University. The BIT league is made up of nine schools, including the Harbin Institute of Technology and Tongji University.