Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Karen MacGregor. A complex picture of the policies and strategies of European countries and universities to attract international students is painted by a new report from the European Commission. It reveals, for instance, “great interest” in growing ties with emerging economies through their students, and that 75% of international courses in The Netherlands are now taught in English. The study on Immigration of International Students to the EU, published by the European Migration Network run by the commission, provides an analytical overview and statistics on the immigration and mobility policies of states. Read more...

By Geoff Maslen. As more and more universities around the world graduate ever-increasing numbers of students with PhDs, governments are beginning to ask if it is time to slow the production line. A new study notes that China is the world leader in producing PhDs, having outnumbered the United States on a per year basis for the first time in 2008. By then, the Asian giant had awarded more than 240,000 doctorates over only the previous 30 years after its PhD programmes were stopped during the Cultural Revolution. These did not restart until 1978 when a mere 18 students were undertaking doctorates – but since then PhD enrolment has expanded by 24% a year. Read more...

Zambia’s Minister of Education John Phiri has tabled a higher education bill that seeks to establish a Higher Education Authority, which will set standards for the sector and ensure continual improvements in the quality of learning and qualifications. The minister said that since the mid-1990s there had been a proliferation of local and foreign higher education institutions. Education provision had become fragmented and uncoordinated in the absence of an integrated national regulatory framework, and the sector had reached a crossroads.
Benefits of the Higher Education Authority, or HEA, would be providers operating according to standards applicable to all public and private institutions, and accreditation processes that would provide incentives for quality improvements and protect students from unregistered providers. Also, there would be a system for establishing equivalences with higher education systems in other African countries and beyond, enabling Zambia’s higher education system to operate in a globalised learning environment. Recognition of qualifications and credits would enable students to transfer to and from other higher education systems internationally. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Danish taxpayers will face a bill of DKK200 million (US$35 million) a year following a European Court of Justice ruling on the eligibility of foreigners to receive student loan and grant support. And Danish universities face fines totalling DKK97.5 million for enrolling more foreign exchange students than they send local students abroad.
The Ministry of Education said in a statement that as a consequence of the Court of Justice ruling, citizens of European Union (EU) countries who have status as a worker – that is, if they start working before embarking on studies or work part-time while studying – could not be refused social welfare and were eligible for Danish student loan and grant support. Read more...