The IAU monitors a wide range of worldwide media and news sources to keep IAU Members up-to-date on higher education news and trends worldwide and also to note subjects of high interest to the press.

IAU Highlights from the Press is the result of this monitoring. This issue includes 73 articles, in English and French, from 36 different countries. The articles have been selected and analysed on the basis of the frequency of occurrence of the subject they tackle, their geographical coverage and relevance to IAU priority themes.

The Highlights are released monthly.

Contact: Amanda Sudic, IAU Librarian/ Documentalist. More...

During the first stage, in 2014-15, HEFCE has provided £25 million for pilot projects testing different ways of stimulating progression to taught postgraduate level. Early findings from this work show that there is significant frustrated demand for taught postgraduate study, but that financial contributions – which do not necessarily need to cover all of the costs – are successful in addressing this. More...

Over a third of all international entrants to first degree studies are recruited from transnational courses delivered overseas by UK higher education (HE) providers, or partners working on their behalf. China and Malaysia account for the majority of such students. More than half of all first degree students from these two countries start their first degree directly from UK higher education delivered overseas [Note 2].
Transnational students have mitigated the decline experienced by some institutions in the direct entry of international students to first degree programmes in 2012-13 [Note 3]. Without these students, it is likely that the decline would have been greater.
Higher education institutions with mid-range and lower entry requirements are most reliant on transnational students, who make up more than half of the international entrants to first degree programmes at these institutions[Note 4].
Courses with a duration of one year or less were the main driver of growth in the numbers of international students arriving through transnational pathways from 2009 to 12. This shift towards shorter courses requires harder work from higher education institutions to maintain recruitment levels.
A high proportion of transnational students on first degree programmes go on to postgraduate study in England. China emerges as a key driving force behind this trend.
More than half of the Chinese transnational students continue their studies at postgraduate level. About 45 per cent of the growth in international students from China starting taught masters courses in 2012-13 (1,100 students) can be attributed to transnational entrants. It appears that potential postgraduate progression is a key motivation for students from China undertaking first degrees. More...

We welcome the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee's endorsement of the importance of HEFCE’s support for higher education knowledge exchange through Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF).
HEFCE has always recognised the importance of putting in place methods to measure the success of its funding, particularly in times of pressures on public funding. More...