By Reyna Gobel. Prepare for healthcare costs and work on a budget for the second year early, students recommend. Research tuition hikes, family living, and healthcare costs before coming to the U.S. to limit financial surprises. Master's degree programs offer international students more campus-based work options, grants, and scholarships than undergraduate degrees. No matter how much aid is offered, however, there are extra expenses every student should consider when budgeting. Read more...

The International Association of Universities (IAU) has just launched a new information service: IAU Highlights from the Press. It provides an overview of articles (in French or English) on higher education topics as they have appeared in the press worldwide. Aiming to assist leaders of IAU Member institutions and organizations keep track of trends in higher education worldwide, and also to note subjects of high interest to the press, it is sent by e-mail to IAU Members nine times/year and made available to all on the IAU Website at a later date.
The first issue is available here.
For further information, please contact: Information Centre.

By Jean-François Venne. The faculty of medicine has already completed over 30 training missions in the country.
Université de Sherbrooke’s faculty of medicine and health sciences is set to launch three new medical training projects in Haiti, to be carried out in conjunction with Université Quisqueya located in Port-au-Prince. The faculty, which also has initiatives underway in Mali and Uruguay, has already completed 30 training missions in Haiti. “Promoting international cooperation is one of the faculty’s guiding principles,” notes Paul Grand’Maison, director of the faculty’s International Relations Office. “We see it as a matter of social responsibility. It is unthinkable that we should go about our business here at home without any regard for others elsewhere.” Read more...

Conference announcement: First Arab-Euro University Conference on Higher Education, Barcelona, Spain 30-31 May 2013
The University of Barcelona (UB), in collaboration with the Association of Arab Universities (AARU) and EUA, will organise the First Arab-Euro University Conference on Higher Education from 30 to 31 May 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. The conference, hosted by UB, will consider specific themes in Arab-European collaboration and compare recent higher education developments in both regions, including internationalisation.
The main topics to be discussed are the following:
    * Higher education development trends in Europe and the Arab World including:
    - comparability and equivalence of higher education systems: Bologna as an example;
    - employability: cultural, social and economic perspectives;
    - research and doctoral education;
    - internationalisation of higher education.
    * Towards enhanced higher education collaboration between Europe and the Arab World.
Participation in the conference is open to rectors, vice-chancellors and presidents of universities or to their delegates from both regions and will allow for networking as well as bilateral and multilateral meetings and the signature of collaboration agreements.
Please note that registration will commence in March 2013. Please direct any further enquiries or expressions of interest to participate to Carmen García (carmengarciam@ub.edu); or Zeineb Mazouz (zmazouz@ub.edu).

By Jiang Yabin. The number of students who went to study abroad through government-sanctioned agencies last year fell 20 percent year-on-year to 10,442, even as the total number of students studying overseas continued to rise, local media reported Thursday.
The 15 local agencies with Ministry of Education approval attracted fewer clients last year as more resources to help students win admission to overseas universities have emerged and a greater number of unauthorized agencies have crowded into the market.
The agencies help students choose a suitable university to attend and then help guide them through the application process, said Cai Jun, a teacher from Shinyway Education, one of the government-approved agencies.
The agencies charge anywhere from 20,000 yuan ($3,216) to 100,000 yuan per client, according to a report in the Shanghai Evening Post. Read more...