Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Shoaib Saleem. Pakistan-China Institute in Islamabad with the collaboration of University of Karachi’s Latif Ebrahim Jamal National Science Information Center is launching courses on “Basic Chinese Language” under the supervision of Professor Attaur Rahman, Professor Iqbal Choudhary and Senator Mushahid Hussain in all public sector universities of Pakistan through video-conferencing. The main objective of the programme is to impart basic Chinese language to Pakistani students which will help them in their future lives, particularly in view of the key role that China is now playing in the world economy and in science and engineering. This course has been designed to help undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students across Pakistan in basic sciences, applied sciences and social sciences to develop their language skills. More...

By Tomoko Yamashita. The government of South Korea wants to shut down universities that cannot attract enough students. As a result, universities and colleges in South Korea are now merging and reorganizing as they fight for survival.
The birthrate in South Korea is declining even faster than in rapidly aging Japan. The number of new graduates from high school may soon not be enough to meet annual enrollment targets set up by each university.
Drastic measures are under way as the country grapples with the question of how to maintain the number and quality of its institutes of higher education. More...

By Stephanie March. The number of students from India applying to study at Australian universities has more than doubled over the past year, largely because they want a quality education not just a pathway to permanently migrate to Australia, industry representatives say.
The number of higher education visa applications lodged by students in India to study in Australia rose from 1,987 to 4,148 in the year to September 2013.
Student visa applications from India fell sharply in 2009 after the closure of bogus colleges, tightening of visa rules for vocational courses and a number violent attacks on Indians in Melbourne. More...

By Mai Thanh. Universities complain that the requirement by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) on having one PhD and three masters for every training major is unfeasible in the Vietnamese conditions. MOET has forced universities to stop 207 training majors because the schools do not satisfy the requirements on teaching staff.
The schools, while admitting the lack of lecturers, have replied that there is no way to obtain enough lecturers as requested. According to Nguyen Dinh Luan, President of the Hanoi University, MOET has told the school to stop training students majoring in Portuguese, Italian languages, accountancy and Vietnamese culture. More...

The spectre of higher college fees is looming again as universities prepare to put pressure on the Government to tackle the issue of who will foot the growing bill for third-level education. Universities are to launch a new campaign warning the Education Minister that he faces a stark choice: give more Exchequer money to third-level colleges or raise fees substantially from 2016.
Under Ruairi Quinn, the charge for students has been rising by €250 a year, to a maximum of €3,000 in September 2015. At the same time, Exchequer funding for third-level institutions has been falling. More...

By Sarah Robson. The Government's decided to go ahead with plans to make university councils smaller and remove the requirement to have staff and student representatives on them. Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce says the changes will modernise councils and allow them to react quickly and more strategically. The current limit of between 12 and 20 members will be reduced to between 12 and eight, and specific representative requirements will be removed, making council membership more flexible. Mr Joyce says it'll be up to universities to decide whether they include student representatives on their councils. Read more...

By Richard Watson. The Home Office has suspended English language tests run by a major firm after BBC Panorama uncovered systematic fraud in the student visa system.
Secret filming of government-approved exams needed for a visa shows candidates having tests faked for them.
ETS, which sets the exams but does not appoint the invigilators, told Panorama it "does everything it can to detect and prevent" cheating.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the BBC's evidence was "very shocking".
Panorama saw candidates for tests set by ETS, one of the largest language testing firms in the world, being replaced by "fake sitters" and having answers read out to them. More...

Belarusian universities are getting ready to joint the Bologna Process, First Prorector of the Belarusian State University (BSU) Mikhail Zhuravkov told reporters before the opening of the international seminar Erasmus Mundus as a catalyst for internationalisation: sharing best practices and exploring future perspectives. The seminar is taking place in the BSU on 10-12 February, BelTA has learnt.
“I am convinced that Belarus will join the Bologna Process in 2015. The country has been getting ready for it for a long time already. No doubt, all our students are looking forward to it. In order to join the Bologna Process, our universities have to comply with certain requirements, like teaching disciplines in English, new courses for foreign students, etc. Now we have plans to introduce new inter-discipline courses in English,” Mikhail Zhuravkov said. More...

A commentary by Andrei Lankov. Private education began booming in North Korea some 10 years ago and has led the country’s elite, foreign currency earners, and even jangmadang (local market) merchants to pay to educate their children. Music, computers, and foreign languages such as English have been the most popular courses, but other private courses are offered as well.
Over this period, private tutors have earned good money helping their students earn good grades, but it is unclear whether such private education can continue. The North Korean authorities are reportedly conducting heavy crackdowns against providers and receivers of private education. More...