By Sandasen Marasinghe and Disna Mudalige. A document tabled by Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake in Parliament yesterday, stated there were opportunities for nearly 1,292 foreign students to study in local universities.
If further stated that a quota of 0.5 percent had been allocated for foreign students in local universities. However, qualified foreign students or migrated Sri Lankan students, have not applied for other subject streams except for medical science.
The document further stated that there were vacancies for 41 foreign students in the Medical Science faculty, 3 for Dental Surgury, 62 for Engineering, 57 for Bio Science and 11 for Computer Science.
The Minister tabled the documents in response to a question raised by DNA MP Anura Dissanayake.

By Mitch Smith. WASHINGTON -- The extent to which money does and should dictate the global exchange of college students was a touchy topic at a meeting of 16 nations held in conjunction with the G8 Summit.
Most agree that studying abroad brings qualitative benefits for the students who go, the universities that receive them and the nations on both ends of the exchange. But it’s hard to monetize the value of increased mutual understanding, and considerably easier to calculate tuition and housing expenses. Delegations from 15 nations and the European Union -- which included every G8 country and representatives from every inhabited continent except Africa -- found common ground on the big-picture issues during the two-day conference convened by the Institute of International Education.
Everyone stands to benefit from a multilingual, globally aware, well-educated citizenry, delegates generally agreed. But variations, both ideological and logistical, emerged when discussing each nation’s goals with international education and the ways they finance those goals.
“The issue of mobility is becoming more of a challenge for universities and countries because funds are short and at the same students are becoming more and more demanding,” said Xavier Prats Monné, a delegate from the European Union.
The United States, for example, is a significant sender of students abroad and an even more significant recipient of foreign students. A few Americans who go abroad receive government assistance in the form of Fulbright or Gilman Scholarships, but most do so on their own dime with perhaps some help from a university. And while the U.S. government also gives Fulbrights to exceptional students coming into the country, many colleges count on foreigners to pay full sticker price and reinforce the institutions' coffers. Inside Higher Ed's 2011 survey of admissions officers revealed that international students are increasingly a target for colleges trying to balance their budgets.
Money is widely cited as the biggest barrier to students of all nationalities studying overseas, and also as a reason some countries and universities are eager to expand their international footprint. For a developing nation such as Malaysia, partnering with foreign colleges provides a means to improve the work force and strengthen the economy. Wealthier nations receive some of those same benefits when their students enroll abroad, but are also positioned to profit monetarily.
“Economic impact is different when you come from an emerging economy,” said Malaysia’s Siti Hamisah Tapsir, deputy director general of her nation’s ministry of higher education. Hamisah’s country is home to five branch campuses of universities in Britain and Australia, while some Malaysian universities have set up their own branch campuses in Africa or elsewhere in Asia. “International education helps us improve our education system,” she said.
But some bristle at the notion of international education being a moneymaker, while others just can’t afford a semester in London or Los Angeles. Speaking about both the high cost of college in other countries and the proliferation of English as the primary language of international learning, a member of the French delegation was critical.
“It’s one vision of the world and we are against this vision of the world,” said Béatrice Khaiat, deputy director of CampusFrance, an organization that promotes foreign study in France.
International students studying in France receive government-subsidized tuition along with housing benefits and social security.  Public higher education in Brazil is free for anyone regardless of nationality. Germany doesn’t charge fees to its overseas students.
“The goal we have is to win friends for Germany,” said Sebastian Fohrbeck, director of the New York arm of the German Academic Exchange Service.
All three countries remain committed to attracting international students, saying there’s more to be gained from inviting foreigners than just a tuition check. That’s made those destinations more attractive to foreign students, one member of the Indonesian delegation said.

The poll of 500 people, the majority of whom were undergraduates, found that 24 per cent had plans to study abroad while 73 per cent were either strongly interested in it or were considering doing so, according to Graduate Prospects, which provides information to students and graduates. The US and Canada were the most popular countries, with 34 per cent of respondents citing North America as their preferred destination. Twenty-eight per cent listed elsewhere in Europe as their top choice.
About 33 per cent of the students, who were surveyed in March, said that they wanted to study abroad for adventure, while 26 per cent were focused on building an international career. With 2012 the first year of higher tuition fees, 18 per cent said that they thought being educated overseas would be cheaper. Sixteen per cent cited a foreign university’s reputation, and 8 per cent said that they were unsatisfied with study in the UK. According to Mike Hill, chief executive of Graduate Prospects, “wanderlust is the biggest motivator” for students setting their sights on higher education outside the UK.
“Only a small number of people are looking overseas because they have become discontented with what’s on offer in the UK,” he said.
“Perception of the financial implications of study abroad is mixed. In fact, there are more people who are concerned about the cost of going abroad to study than there are those who see it as a route to a cheaper education,” he continued.
Earlier this week, David Willetts, the universities and science minister, said that students at English universities would continue to be able to study in other countries of Europe for free for a year under the Erasmus programme, up to and including the academic year 2013-14. After that year, universities will receive up to 40 per cent of the full tuition fees if a student chooses to go abroad anywhere in the world. The student will pay up to 15 per cent of their tuition fees, while the Higher Education Funding Council for England will grant the university 25 per cent.

By Alan Osborn. Europe’s students cited funding of student mobility as “the most contentious issue on the agenda” as ministers met to discuss the Bologna Process on 26-27 April.
They put a demand for more cash and a new special mobility treaty to achieve movement of students and academics, on the ministerial agenda. The 2012 report on Bologna with Student Eyes from the European Students’ Union (ESU) finds much wrong with the state of higher education in Europe but focuses on the lack of proper and adequate funding as “the most significant obstacle to mobility”, especially for students from less well-off backgrounds.
In its annual report on the Bologna Process, which was launched in 1999 to create a European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the ESU says student mobility has been the action line gaining most attention since being embraced as the hallmark of the EHEA in 2009. But while attention is being paid to balancing mobility flows within Europe and externally with other regions, “the key issue that remains to be solved is funding of mobility”.
Unfortunately, the ESU says, “the clear commitment to full portability of grants and loans articulated in 2009 has been quietly ignored, perhaps even withdrawn in the last three years, continuing to limit the accessibility of mobility to a great extent".
The students call on member countries to “pick up more speed” if the benchmark for student mobility is to be reached. Issues to be considered include “fundamental challenges with insufficient financial support, lack of basic rights for mobile students and recognition of needs to be addressed at a trustworthy level”.
The EU's expressed commitment to full portability of loans and grants “is worthless, unless tied to a deadline and defined clearly”, says the report. Mobility must be opened up as a possibility for all students, regardless of socio-economic background, it demands. While accepting that student mobility continues to grow, “the imbalances in mobility flows within Europe, as well as with other continents, must be addressed [and] financing and students’ rights in movement within the EHEA post-2020 should be explored".
The report calls for development of a 'mobility treaty' in order to achieve truly free movement of students and academics. Such a treaty “should seek to guarantee equal and fair rights for mobile students, entail a common mobility financing policy ensuring balanced mobility streams, and overcome remaining recognition and information obstacles”.
The ESU notes that today’s young generation is the most highly educated ever but “the gap between expectations and what our societies can deliver seems only to be growing wider”.
Given the increasing levels of graduate debt and the unpromising labour market situation for young people, “it should then be no wonder that protest is the preferred means of influencing policy”.
Social movements, often centred on students and young people “in an extremely precarious situation regarding their study and job prospects”, are gaining momentum. More generally, fundamental issues such as the funding and governance of higher education should be at the forefront of discussions held by ministers of education, the ESU says.
“Whether public investment based on the long-term growth generated on one hand, or on the type and magnitude of social costs prevented on the other hand, the same conclusion is reached: public investment towards education is not only the smartest but also the necessary thing to do.”
The ESU report says that imbalances in the flow of mobile students are increasingly provoking political debates regarding national education budgets.
“This conflicts with a more European outlook where, for example in the European Union, freedom of movement for citizens and the workforce is seen as a fundamental right.”
The current social and economic crisis has propelled unemployment to soaring levels in most European countries, especially among young people.
“Now more than ever, higher education systems are placed under enormous pressure to reinforce the relevance of education and contribute to equipping European citizens with the knowledge and skills required to counter the current crisis, while at the same time to lay the foundation for long-term sustainability,” says the ESU.
“Arguably, the Bologna Process has not been properly employed to address this policy necessity in the last three years, and has not kept pace with the rapid developments regarding national-level discussions on financing of higher education, employability and the social dimension.
“This renders Europe’s potential underexploited as attention is scattered, leading to vastly different responses, while the Bologna Process platform can and should be used to punch above one’s weight.”
The ESU says that despite the reforms and the changes in higher education for students in Europe since 1999, it is “unfortunately again forced to report that progress has not yet caught up with the expectations propagated by the commitment and targets set by ministers".
Development over the three years since the Leuven-Louvain-la-Neuve Conference in 2009 has not been satisfactory in a number of areas, even deplorably sliding backwards on some of the key action lines, it says. The cracks that have become visible in the current economic and political context continent-wide are pointing to the necessity of using the vision for a common EHEA to pave a new path for Europe.
“We should not allow it to simply become an idyllic moment of nostalgia of once great thoughts,” the ESU concludes.
European education ministers are meeting in Bucharest, Romania, for the eighth ministerial conference in the Bologna cycle.

Par Olivier Rollot. Un peu moins de 8000 étudiants français partent chaque année suivre un cursus aux Etats-Unis. Mais avant de passer la douane US il leur faut prendre le temps de comprendre ce qui les attend... «Les étudiants français n’ont généralement aucune idée de ce qu’est le système universitaire américain. Ils sont par exemple persuadés que le LMD (licence-master-doctorat) s’applique comme en Europe», commente Céline Ouziel qui reçoit plusieurs centaines d’étudiants chaque année à la Commission franco-américaine, l’organisme paritaire franco-américain qui assure la promotion des échanges transatlantiques.
1. Les diplômes sont-ils les mêmes qu’en Europe ?
Eh non, les Américains n’ont pas adopté le LMD. Tout au contraire les universités délivrent d’abord un diplôme qui dure 4 ans après la fin des études secondaires: le Bachelor’s Degree (diplôme de bachelor), le plus souvent en Sciences ou en Arts. Il est ensuite possible de s’inscrire dans des Master’s Degree qui durent 1, 2 et même parfois 3 ans selon la spécialité et l’université choisies.
Comme en France, ces Masters peuvent être axés sur la recherche (Research Master’s Degree, qui comprennent le plus souvent la rédaction d’un mémoire) ou plus professionnels (Professional Master’s Degree dont les plus connus sont le Master of Science et le Master of Arts). On parle de cycles Undergraduate (avant la licence) et Graduate (le master).
Vu le coût des études, la plupart des étudiants américains inscrits en masters ont déjà commencé à travailler avant de revenir à l’université pour s’y spécialiser.
Enfin, les élèves peuvent s’inscrire en PhD, un doctorat qui dure au moins 5 ans et peut démarrer dès l’obtention du Bachelor, le Master en faisant alors intégralement partie, ou démarrer après l’obtention d’un Master. Dans certaines matières, comme le droit, il existe des doctorats moins longs menant à la pratique juridique.
2. A quel niveau partir?
Les étudiants français présents sur le sol américain se répartissent à peu près équitablement entre ceux qui partent en cycles Undergraduate et Graduate. Partir dès le bac est donc possible au bémol près que les universités américaines, uniquement publiques, favorisent plus les étudiants de leur Etat en premier cycle. Elles sont nettement plus motivées par la réception d’étudiants internationaux en master.
3. Comment faire reconnaître son diplôme?
Si votre bac français est facile à faire valider par les universités américaines, tout se complique si vous avez commencé des études supérieures. Notamment si vous êtes titulaires d’un BTS ou d’un DUT. Les élèves de prépas risquent eux de souffrir de la faiblesse des notes que leur accordent chichement leurs professeurs. Les démarches seront nettement plus faciles dès l’ordre que vous aurez obtenu un premier diplôme de niveau licence et plus. Si un master 1, voire un master 2 à UCLA par exemple, sont normalement demandés pour intégrer un Master’s Degree, un tiers des universités - pas forcément les moins prestigieuses - acceptent des titulaires de licence. Dans tous les cas, vous devrez faire traduire vos bulletins en anglais afin de faire valider vos crédits. Lorsque vous partez après le bac, l’université susceptible de vous accueillir regardera jusqu’à vos notes de 3ème.
4. Quand se préparer?
Si la mobilité européenne est très bien organisée, il est en revanche plus compliqué – et plus coûteux – d’aller outre-Atlantique. Alors que les grandes écoles de commerce ou Sciences Po ont rendu obligatoire une expatriation allant de six mois à un an et possèdent des systèmes bien rodés, c’est loin d’être le cas dans les écoles d’ingénieurs et à fortiori dans les universités. Vous devrez donc vous préparer longtemps à l’avance, 1 an et demi avant votre départ au moins, et même dès la seconde si vous voulez partir après le bac. Ce n’est en effet pas en terminale que vous aurez le temps de résoudre tous les problèmes de choix d’université, visas, logement, etc.
5. Y a-t-il des examens à passer ?
Il n’existe pas de bac aux Etats-Unis et, pour être quand même sélectives, les universités ont missionné des organismes privés afin d’organiser des examens qui en tiennent lieu: le SAT et l’ACT. Vous aurez à les passer si vous voulez partir après le bac. La quasi-totalité des universités examinent à la loupe les résultats des candidats qui bachotent pendant des années pour être reçus dans les meilleures universités. Pensez à regarder le niveau moyen des étudiants reçus sur les sites des universités.
Des sessions écrites sont organisées six fois par an dans le monde et dans une dizaine de villes en France. Vous pouvez passer indifféremment le SAT ou l’ACT. Ces tests sont bien évidemment payants et le passage de l’ACT en France coûte par exemple 73$ (53 euros).
6. Comment prouver son niveau en anglais ?
Quel que soit votre niveau de départ, il vous faudra prouver votre niveau minimum en anglais déterminé par des tests payants dont les plus courants sont le TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language ) et l’IELTS (International English Language Testing System). Les étudiants en économie-gestion pourront être amenés à passer un test spécifique: le GMAT. Même si les étudiants n’ayant pas le niveau peuvent bénéficier de courts d’anglais intensifs, ayez de toute façon conscience que vous n’allez pas aux Etats-Unis pour y apprendre l’anglais mais pour y suivre des cours comme n’importe quel étudiant.
7. Cela coûte vraiment si cher ?
Eh oui. Comptez de l’ordre de 40 000$ (28 000 euros) par an pour aller à Harvard et 108000$ (79000 euros) pour suivre un MBA (master of business administration) à Harvard. Résultat, si 72% des étudiants américains reçoivent des bourses, ils n’en sont pas moins de plus en plus obligés de s’endetter pour suivre leur cursus. La moyenne des universités américaines estimée par l’organisme College Board (http://about.collegeboard.org/what) est de:
    2700 $ par an (2000 euros) dans les Community Colleges;
    19600$ par an (14350 euros) dans les universités publiques;
    27200$ par an (20000 euros) dans les universités privées;
Si on y ajoute, les frais de logement, de nourriture, d’assurances santé ou encore de transports sur place, on arrive à une moyenne de:
    28100$ par an (20500 euros) dans les universités publiques;
    37000$ par an (27000 euros) dans les universités privées.
8. Y a-t-il d’autres établissements que les universités ?
20% des étudiants français qui partent en cycles Undergraduate optent aujourd'hui pour les Community Colleges. Un peu comme en France en BTS ou en DUT, on y suit en deux ans après l’équivalent du bac un cursus à finalité professionnelle qui débouche sur des Certificates (diplômes professionnels) ou des Associate’s Degree. Passer par un Community College peut permettre, sous réserve d’avoir validé des cours de culture générale, de poursuivre ensuite ses études dans des universités. Avantage : ils sont beaucoup moins chers que les universités avec des frais de scolarité annuels qui oscillent aux alentours de 5000$ pour les étrangers. Ils sont d’ailleurs aujourd'hui pris d’assaut par des Américains qui ont de moins en moins les moyens de payer pendant 4 ans les frais de scolarité exorbitants des universités.
Seul bémol, tous les Community Colleges n’ont pas encore l’habitude de recevoir des étudiants étrangers. Choisissez donc plutôt un dans une des régions où cela se pratique plus comme la Californie ou la Floride. Il existe également des Colleges indépendants des universités qui délivrent uniquement des Bachelors.
9. Comment savoir si une université est de bonne valeur?
Sur un peu plus de 8000 universités seulement 4937 sont accréditées par les organismes d’accréditation – privés – mandatés par le gouvernement américain. D’abord accrédités régionalement, les universités et facultés peuvent ensuite l’être par des organismes nationaux. C’est par exemple le cas des meilleures facultés d’économie gestion qui sont auscultées par l’AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business).
Pour retrouver toutes les universités accréditées, allez sur le site du Council for Higher Education Accreditation où vous trouverez quantité d’informations utiles. Le tout étant de ne pas vous faire embringuer dans ce qu’on appelle des «diploma mills», des «usines à diplômes» qui délivrent de beaux parchemins sans aucune valeur.
10. Comment se déroulent les cursus?
Pas question ici de s’engouffrer dès le bac en médecine ou en droit! Les deux premières années de bachelor universitaire sont très libres. Loin de se spécialiser tout de suite comme en France, les étudiants américains piochent dans les cours parmi toutes les matières dont seulement quelques unes sont obligatoires. Sciences, littérature, arts, ils se construisent un parcours à la carte avant d’opter pour des spécialisations en troisième année. Même un non scientifique doit avoir validé des cours de sciences qui leur sont d’ailleurs spécifiquement destinés.
La Commission franco-américaine
La Commission franco-américaine facilite les échanges entre la France et les Etats-Unis grâce à un budget qu’elle reçoit principalement des gouvernements français et américain mais aussi de certains conseils régionaux et de partenaires privés. Elle organise cette année trois journées de rencontre avec les étudiants – les 5 avril, 11 mai et 5 juin de 10h à 16h - dans ses murs à Paris. Les frais d’inscription sont de 5 euros. Plus d’infos sur son site.

Around 80 representatives from national university associations, quality agencies and regional organisations in Latin America (LA) and Europe gathered in Santiago, Chile, from 5 to 7 March to discuss the interdependency between academic mobility and academic quality, and their respective roles in the regional integration of higher education.
Hosted by the the Chilean Rectors’ Conference (CRUCH) and organised by EUA, ASCUN and OBREAL, the event was the continuation of the first ALFA PUENTES regional integration seminar in Lima (Peru) in November 2011, which presented the state of play in quality assurance approaches at both national and regional level in Europe and LA. Drawing upon case studies from both regions, the event illustrated current European political and institutional investments to increase student and staff mobility.
This stimulated dialogue on developments in Latin America, where internationalisation and student/ staff mobility have become a greater priority, but where only few programmes exist at present to promote internal regional mobility. The university associations of the Mercosur region (Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay), in the context of ALFA PUENTES, are presently researching the current situation regarding mobility policies and approaches in the region.
This covers both short-term mobility, of which there is little, staff mobility, and larger degree-mobility schemes, such as the Brazilian ‘Ciencias sin fronteras’, which will provide 75,000 scholarships over four years to send Brazilian graduate students abroad. The event drew parallels with quality assurance trends, and participants agreed that mobility, internationalisation, and quality enhancement of teaching and learning should be inherently linked.
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. It is currently starting its second phase, which will consist of three sub-regional projects in the Andean Community, Mercosur and Central America, and focus on a regional QA framework, mobility enhancement and qualification frameworks respectively. This will culminate in a large bi-regional university association/university leadership conference from 12 to 14 November 2012 in São Paulo, Brazil.
See also The ALFA PUENTES project, Latin America forges Bologna-style links at home and in Europe.

By Judith Burns. London has come second, beaten only by Paris, in a ranking of the world's 50 best cities for students. Researchers considered cities with populations of more than 250,000 and home to two or more top universities. They looked at affordability and quality of life as well as the number and reputation of universities.
Ben Sowter, lead researcher on QS Best Student Cities, said that though London had more world class universities than Paris it was more expensive.
London scored well on the quality and reputation of its universities, including Imperial College, University College London and King's College London. The two cities did similarly well on quality of life, student mix and how well employers rated their universities as a source of good recruits. But fees - calculated in this survey as £20,000 a year for international students from outside the European Union - meant that London lost out against Paris, where they are just £1,000 a year.
Mr Sowter said: "While high tuition fees make London a far more expensive proposition than Paris, London's array of world-class universities means it is worth the investment for many student."
Burger prices
The ranking is primarily aimed at international students who are considering where to study. The research team considered nearly 500 cities, shortlisted just under 100 and are publishing the top 50. They looked at indicators such as "quality of life", which included measures of crime and the cost of living. They also looked at student mix which includes both the overall number of students and proportion from overseas. Measures of affordability included the cost of a burger and the amount charged for tuition.
Mr Sowter explained; "Neither Paris nor London are cheap cities but it was the cost of tuition fees in London that pushed London's rating down by 13 points."
Liam Burns, president of the National Union of Students, said the ranking was a testament to the hard work of London's universities and students' unions to attract students from around the globe. But he warned: "If London is to continue to be such an attractive place to study we need to see urgent action to address the spiralling cost of student living.
"It poses a real threat to the affordability of studying in the capital and therefore to the future sustainability of this world renowned status."
"We should remember that studying in a big city is the right choice for some, but it's not for everyone.
"We are proud of our campuses across the UK in offering a range of learning and living environments for those not lured in by the bright lights."
The fact that the ranking only looked at large centres of population meant that some of the UK's best known university cities were left out. But other UK cities scored well, with Manchester coming 35th, Birmingham 47th and Glasgow 50th.

By Kerry Soper. As an academic trained in American studies, I've always dreaded the thought of being perceived as an Ugly American when traveling overseas. Eager to distance myself from images of the idiot abroad, I've learned French, dabbled in Spanish and Italian, and occasionally put in some serious effort, when preparing for a conference trip or a study-abroad excursion, to learn about other nations' artistic traditions, sports manias, and food fetishes.
My motives, alas, are not always a sincere interest in other peoples and places—I just want to be liked and not judged provincial. In most cases, however, I don't succeed in impressing my foreign hosts and acquaintances; instead, I just seem to irritate or amuse them. Some examples:
What's good for the goose. About eight years ago, on a conference trip to southern France, I got myself into an awkward situation while visiting Sarlat, a medieval village famous for its goose-liver paté. Looking for an excuse to display my language ability, and to prove to my American companions—as well as the French locals—that I was savvier than the typical American traveler, I approached a woman at the visitor's bureau with a question that I felt was simple enough: "Where could one purchase some fresh foie gras?" More...

By Murtaza Haider. For a nation of 180-million people, a very small fraction of Pakistanis pursue higher education. Compared to Canada, where one in every 33 people is enrolled in a university, only one in 180 persons is enrolled in a University in Pakistan. Despite the expansion of the higher education sector in the past few years, the demand for higher education far exceeds the supply in Pakistan resulting in hundreds of thousands of Pakistani youth searching for higher education opportunities abroad.
With almost $30 billion in revenue collected as tuition fees from an estimated two-million students studying abroad, higher education is a large global enterprise where both public and private sectors universities in the West cater to the demand for higher education generated by foreign students. A very small number of the global population of two million students studying abroad are Pakistanis. Given that the demand for higher education in Pakistan cannot be met locally, the private sector, students, and their parents must work together to find innovative solutions for securing higher education opportunities for Pakistani students.
The Higher Education Commission under General Musharraf received generous funding from domestic and foreign sources that led to the expansion of the higher education sector in Pakistan. Most of these funds arrived after September 2001 when Americans and Europeans channelled huge sums of money to Pakistani universities to stem the tide of religious extremism.  Speaking to the Chronicle of Higher Education in January 2007, renowned researcher Hasan Askari Rizvi explained that some in the West naively believed that higher education “can change the mind-set of Pakistanis so they will become moderate and pro-America.” Irrespective of the motives, the huge sums received for higher education resulted in a dramatic expansion in the higher education sector in Pakistan where university enrolment jumped from under 100,000 in 1998-99 to an estimated 1.1 million in 2011.
This dramatic increase resulted from increasing the capacity of existing universities, but more importantly from granting charter to a large number of private sector universities. While the expansion of universities in the federal capital, Islamabad, occurred primarily in the public sector, the expansion in Sindh and Punjab was largely driven by the private sector. In the academic year 2009-10 alone, the Higher Education Commission granted license (recognition) to three new universities. The rapid expansion of the university system met with strong criticism. “The slapdash methods of the government’s reform efforts have done more to widen the cracks in an already weak infrastructure than to lay the foundation for an educational renaissance,” argued some skeptics while speaking to the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2007.
While the demand for quality higher education will force many aspiring youth to seek education opportunities abroad, they will face an uphill battle trying to obtain quality advice on how to prepare for higher education in foreign universities. Most students’ parents, family members, and friends have no prior experience of higher education in foreign countries. At the same time their instructors are also largely trained in Pakistan and cannot offer advice. The private sector higher education consultants in Pakistan are mostly quacks who charge exorbitant amounts for inadequate advice.
In the following paragraphs, I will explain some important considerations for those who would like to pursue graduate degrees in Europe or North America. While the list could be longer, however, the following key considerations are likely to have the biggest influence on one’s ability to succeed in obtaining higher education abroad.
Remember, Bachelors is 16 years of Education
In North America, Europe, and Australia, a Bachelors degree is awarded after 16-years of formal education. In Pakistan, a BA is awarded after 14 years of formal education. Therefore those who have completed a Bachelors from Pakistan are not eligible to be enrolled in a graduate degree abroad. Pakistani students are better off completing a post-graduate degree in Pakistan (16 years of formal education) before applying for a graduate degree abroad.
Several private sector universities have implemented semester system based undergraduate curriculum, which is similar to the one implemented abroad. Graduates from such universities may apply directly to graduate programs abroad.
Know the Deadlines
Most graduate programs abroad begin in September. Often admission deadlines for foreign students are in March or April. Applicants should ensure that complete applications with reference letters, transcripts, and other supporting materials reach the university well before the deadline. Applying sooner always increases one’s chances for admissions.
Search for the University that wants You
While you as an aspiring student are nervously applying to universities abroad, administrators at many universities are also nervously waiting for applications to arrive. Remember not every department in every foreign university is fortunate to have thousands of applications. Sometimes some departments in very well-known universities are struggling to attract graduate students and hence are keen to greet all applicants with interest. The challenge for the applicant is to try to determine what departments or universities are eager to have additional students.
A rule of thumb, especially if you are not the top innovator who has already published his or her research in Nature,  is to avoid applying to Ivy League universities, such as Stanford, Harvard, and other similar universities, which attract applications from the top talent in not just the United States, but from all over the world. There is no shortage of decent, not necessarily top-quality, universities in the Western world. In the United States alone there are roughly 5,500 universities or institutes of higher learning where approximately 14 million students are currently enrolled. As a smart aspiring student, you should be able to use the Internet effectively to develop a list of second-tier universities that offer specializations in your interest. From that list of prospects, you should initiate a dialogue with admission officers to determine information about acceptance rates. If the department of your interest accepts only 5% of the applicants, you may want to expand your search to other institutions where your odds have to be much higher than mere 5%.
Know who to contact at the University
Never send the same letter of interest to every professor in the same department. If you send an email to every listed faculty member on the department’s website expressing your keenness to join their research team, you are most likely not to get a response at all. You should do research to determine who is the right person to receive your inquiry instead of sending mass emails.
Take all required tests
Often Pakistani applicants are wrong-footed by default at the start of the application process when they start requesting for exemptions from the university’s stated admission policy. This hurts applicant’s prospects big time. If the university wants foreign applicants to demonstrate proficiency in English language by taking some test, such as TOEFL, comply with the conditions. Instead most Pakistani students start negotiating with the university to exempt them from TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, or LSAT tests.
These tests are an excellent opportunity for students to get a taste of the pedagogy in foreign universities. By demonstrating proficiency in these tests applicants can have their candidacy established more firmly because the university will have more confidence in your abilities after learning about your good scores in these tests. You have to realize that most admission committees have not heard of the university from where you have graduated. Even if one is the top student in one’s graduating class, the admission committees have no way of finding an equivalence of your performance abroad.
Learn Writing in English
A few years ago an eager student from Pakistan sent his inquiry to me in an email exploring the possibility of doing research in my lab. However, what the student really wrote in his email was quite different than what he intended to say. He wrote: “I am interested in transport planning and would like to explore myself with you!” I obviously could not share his stated interest but realized that lack of English proficiency will be a huge deterrent for the student.
The undergraduate curriculum in Pakistan seldom requires students to write essays in any language, let alone English. Thus critical thinking and writing skills fail to develop in Pakistan in most undergraduate and graduate programs. The graduate curriculum abroad is based on extensive academic writing in English. Instead of arguing with others about your proficiency in writing, try instead of proving it by writing an op-ed article for Dawn or any other English language paper. In fact try publishing an article in Urdu in a newspaper in Pakistan. If you fail to do so, know then that you need help with writing. You better learn it before you board the plane.
Learn Statistics
If you are not pursuing a degree in humanities, you will most likely be asked to take a course in statistics. That’s where the trouble begins for most Pakistani students who often have no prior training in statistical analysis. I have seen one of the highest failure rates in statistics for Pakistani students. Even those who have taken graduate level statistics or econometric courses in Pakistan arrive with no proficiency in any statistical software. From psychology to geography, from engineering to epidemiology, statistical analysis is the workhorse of the western research establishment. My advice is to take an online course in applied statistical analysis from foreign institutes, such as http://www.statistics.com/, before you embark on your journey for higher education.
Have $35,000 handy
While you may qualify for scholarships or bursaries in the second year of your graduate program, you are most likely to receive almost no, or very little, funding in the first year of your studies.  For this reason you must have at least $35,000 with you of which approximately $15,000 will be the tuition fee and the rest will be living expenses.
Given that most Pakistani students are not familiar with the western education system, they should avoid working on or off-campus to allow them sufficient opportunity to familiarise with the new pedagogy. This will only happen if one has access to sufficient funds to bear expenses for at least a year.
Don’t get engaged or married the week before your departure
The moment it becomes obvious to parents that their son or daughter may soon be departing for higher education, they try to have the soon-to-be-leaving offspring at least engaged, if not married, just in time before they embark for higher education abroad. This results in unnecessary emotional baggage that many Pakistani students end up travelling with. Leaving a fiancé or a newly-wed spouse behind takes its toll and more often than not, their grades and research suffer.
Parents engineer such moves to pre-empt their child from finding a spouse abroad. My advice is to avoid last-minute nuptials. This results in serious emotional hardship for the student who is often without friends and family for the first semester abroad. Instead of being a source of emotional support, often families become the source of emotional hardship for young scholars in foreign lands.
Murtaza Haider, Ph.D. is the Associate Dean of research and graduate programs at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. He can be reached by email at murtaza.haider@ryerson.ca. The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.