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By Chris Parr. The number of international students in US higher education has reached an all-time high according to an authoritative report. Some 819,644 foreign students were enrolled in US colleges and universities in the 2012-13 academic year, an increase of 7 per cent on the previous 12 months, figures from the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange show. It is the seventh consecutive year that the report has recorded an expansion in the number of US-based international students, and there are now 40 per cent more than in 2003. International students’ spending contributed approximately $24 billion (£15 billion) to the US economy, the report says. More...

By John Morgan. The immigration minister has accused universities of creating “a self-fulfilling prophecy for bad news” on student visas. Appearing before peers yesterday, Mark Harper also admitted the government had failed to get its messaging right on changes to post-study work for overseas students – but repeated his opposition to taking students out of the net migration figures.
Mr Harper appeared to suggest that public criticism of the Home Office’s policies by universities had alarmed potential overseas students about coming to study in the UK. More...

By David Matthews. Major philanthropists are more generous to higher education in the US and UK than they are in other regions, according to a new report. 
The Million Dollar Donors Report 2013, compiled by the bank Coutts, looked at 1,249 gifts of over $1 million (£629,922) made last year across the six regions. Of the $19 billion in donations it analysed, $7.05 billion went to higher education, 37 per cent of the total. Around $14 billion of this was accounted for by gifts in the US, where 40 per cent of the total donated went to higher education. In the UK, 42 per cent of philanthropy also went to universities. More...

By Didier Schmitt. Crowdfunding has energised public and private sectors, says Didier Schmitt – could it reconnect science and society too? In its infancy, science was sponsored by rich benefactors who favoured areas of their own liking. Today, despite being more equitably financed by public intervention, science seems to evolve in parallel to, rather than in sync with, society. In the future, should citizens have a direct say in priority setting for science and technology developments to rebalance the supply and the demand? More...

By Libby Page. You could study for a degree from a beach in Thailand, or while juggling work and looking after children – thanks to the flexibility of online learning. "Studying online means I can fit my studies to my life, rather than fitting my life around my studies," says Anna Enos, who studied online for an MSc in information and library studies with Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. Online learning, whether for a degree or as a short course, offers a flexible study option for people who can't commit to fulltime study, or don't have access to a nearby university. More...

By Liz Lightfoot. Many creative and media postgraduate courses are open to all graduates, regardless of their first degree. Creative industries – from advertising and fashion to film and video games – employ 2 million people in the UK, according to the Confederation of British Industry, which says it is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country. Career opportunities in media and the arts have never been better, and universities have been quick to seize the moment, adding hundreds of new courses. The good news is you don't have to have studied a creative subject for your first degree to be accepted on a postgraduate course. The National Film and Television School (NFTS) actively seeks graduates from different academic backgrounds for its range of two-year master's degrees, which includes cinematography, directing animation, sound design and screenwriting. More...

By Helena Pozniak. Students who choose to go a private university may find fees compare well to the alternative. When David Farley chose to study for a master's at a private institution, he was more worried about reputation than cost, though the fees were a nice surprise. He enrolled on the IFS School of Finance's flagship programme – an MSc in banking practice and management – which, like many courses, can be delivered online or as a blended programme, with fees ranging from nearly £9,000 to £10,500. More...

Indian student population in the United States has dropped for the second year running, going down to less than 100,000 even as the American education business continued to expand on the strength of growing interest from China, which now has 235,000 students in the US.
The 2013 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange released on Monday shows a 3.5 per cent decrease in student enrollment from India in 2012/2013 (on top a four per cent decline the previous year), bringing the Indian student count in the US to 96,754 after more than 15 years of growth that began reversing in 2011. More...

State governments have not shown enough commitment for strengthening higher education, UGC chairman Ved Prakash said on Tuesday, stressing that the challenge before the Centre was to take them on board.
Batting for public-private partnership in higher education, he said that the UGC is going to support private initiatives in this sector in a big way and added that a suitable model of collaboration needs to be evolved in which public resources can be synergised with the private philanthropy.
"This is a huge challenge. We regulators want to say that we are not adversaries, we are companions as the goals remain the same. While they should make the most out of the regulations that we are coming out with, they should not consider them as infringement on their autonomy," Prakash said at an event today. More...

By Severin Carrell. Science minister warns Scotland's universities that their generous share of UK research grants would end if country separates. Scientists and academics in Scotland would lose access to billions of pounds in grants and the UK's world-leading research programmes if it became independent, the Westminster government has warned. David Willetts, the UK science minister, said Scottish universities were "thriving" because of the UK's generous and highly integrated system for funding scientific research, winning far more funding per head than the UK average. Unveiling a new UK government paper on the impact of independence on scientific research, Willetts said that despite its size the UK was second only to the United States for the quality of its research. More...