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By Atle Hetland. When I, in the late 1970s, carried out research about foreign students at the University of Oslo, Norway, there were only a few hundred students from the developing countries among the 1,100 foreign students in a total student population of close to 20,000 at Norway’s largest university. In all, there were less than 2,000 foreign students among the 70,000 students in the country, and about 6,000 Norwegians studied abroad.
Internationalisation was not yet a priority. I had to look at Sweden and borrow policies and plans from Norway’s neighbouring country, which was ahead in this field as in many other fields that time. In Sweden, they had already begun seeing the advantages of having foreign students, while many in Norway were still hesitant; a typical evasive argument would be that we should rather provide aid to the developing countries to help improve and expand education opportunities there so that students didn’t have to go abroad.
Although that would be good, it wouldn’t replace overseas training. And it should also be noted that foreign students would in general be an asset to a university community, but they would also need special assistance while studying in Norway, such as language courses, introduction to the land’s culture and society, and counselling and guidance related to their studies.
My research a generation ago focused on all these issues because it had become a worry at the university that many foreign students, and especially students from developing countries, did not complete their studies successfully on time or at all. It was a larger problem in the social and philosophical subjects where students need to have a certain degree of understanding of the country where they study. That time, literally all lecture series and seminars were conducted in Norwegian, and only some guest lectures in English; for most students, it would take more than the compulsory year-long language and culture courses to master the language at a good enough level to read scientific books.
The largest sending countries of foreign students were Iceland, Denmark and Sweden, who have the advantage of not needing any language courses to follow ordinary studies in Norwegian. Many students came from USA, UK, Germany, France and other European countries, but they needed language courses in Norwegian, or today, attend courses offered in English. There were also large numbers of students from the subcontinent and today also from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and other refugee sending countries.
I had the pleasure of knowing several foreign students at Oslo because I was an instructor at orientation courses for a few semesters. Those students who could afford it and had the self-confidence to take longer than the stipulated study time would eventually receive solid academic and professional degrees. Among those was Professor M. Daud Awan from Mansehra. We studied education at the same time at the University of Oslo. Farooq Khan from Faisalabad did his advanced degree in sociology, with academic and professional components. Daud and Farooq came back to Pakistan and have held top posts in the society.
Interestingly, they both speak highly of their studies in Norway. Because they also worked in Norway upon completion of their studies, one spent 12 and the other 15 years there. Still, they talk about the simplicity in research methods and teacher-student relations that were so common in Norway, and the way students became committed to their studies and the paradigms that existed. It was expected that students and teachers took a stand and could be advocates for their opinions and work. In fields like development studies, gender studies and environmental studies, we were supposed to take political and moral stands and justify our opinions in academic papers.
Today, 35 years on, Norway has about 20,000 foreign students in a total student population of about 220,000, three times as many as when I carried out my research. The University of Oslo has about 35,000 students, up from 20,000. Today, all Norwegian universities (eight full-fledged and nine specialised institutions) have large groups of foreign students, and some of the 24 regional university colleges for applied sciences and some private universities have sizeable numbers too. Whereas Norway a generation ago had about 6,000 students abroad that figure is now 21,000, about three times as many as when I did my research.
Exchange of students is, perhaps, the most important component of internationalisation of universities. Staff exchange is also important with collaborative research between local and foreign staff members. The importance of foreign and international content in curricula cannot be overemphasised. That also includes simple examples and comparative data from other countries, where students have to relate and understand issues in a local context. After all, we should not just be impressed by all that is foreign; we have to relate it to our local conditions and sometimes we will realise that we do well locally too.
In Europe, the internationalisation efforts in higher education in the last generation has been “steered efforts”, i.e. the national politicians and the university leaders have agreed to set goals, develop plans and been serious in their implementation. If it had been left to individual institutions and departments, it is likely that achievements would not have been as impressive as they are and we would also have seen great differences between institutions and subject areas.
When I carried out my research and published my book “Studenter fra U-land” about the students from developing countries in 1981, I recall that the Vice Chancellor and the University Director were very keen on the internationalisation issues, but staff members were generally quite lukewarm, and at best, arguing for more resources to help foreign students in their studies in order to welcome them. And there was not much interest for including global and comparative materials in reading lists, and very little from the developing countries.
When we began establishing formal linkages with more foreign universities, in addition to with the existing ones with large countries (USA, UK, Germany and France), interest grew. But many were sceptical about Norway’s benefit of having such linkages with less developed countries. This has changed today! But still there is hesitance among students in choosing to spend time in a developing country, unless they study development issues in the country in question and must carry out fieldwork there. As a general goal, Norwegian university students are advised to spend one of the six undergraduate semesters at a foreign university, usually at a university with which the home university has a cooperation linkage.
The reason for the success of European universities having managed to become more international over the last generation, to a major extent, goes to the “steered efforts” I referred to above. The European Union (EU) has played a key role and those handful of countries that are not its members (like Norway) have special agreements and are included in the main programme called “Erasmus”, named after a 16th century Dutch scholar. Erasmus celebrates its 25 years this year. It has been hailed by educationists, noting that about 10 percent of the European students now take some of their university studies abroad as compared to American students, for example, where only one percent of the students get this experience.
Internationalisation of higher education is not just important from an educational and research point of view, although we would also emphasise those aspects. But it is important in creating further cooperation and lifelong friendship across national borders within Europe and beyond. Put simply, people learn to live together by living together. The importance of this aspect cannot be overemphasised. Exchange of students is, therefore, an important contribution towards peaceful cooperation, reducing the risks of wars and other conflicts.
When I carried out my research and taught foreign students at Oslo, I was lucky to receive funding for my work because the head of research at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) was Ingrid Eide, who had herself carried out research in the field, with her then husband, Johan Galtung, the renowned Norwegian peace researcher. She had carried out a study for Unesco entitled “Students as links between cultures”. That title depicts the essence of the importance of international student exchange and other internationalisation efforts.
Through the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan for the last decade had major programmes in this field, sending university staff members overseas for advanced degrees. A number of universities have linkages with overseas institutions, and I hope that they don’t forget neighbouring universities either.
The University of Gujrat - one of the ambitious universities in social sciences - has recently established links with two Norwegian universities, one American and one British, adding to the more than half a dozen existing linkages. I only hope that funding will come forth and that procedures will be simple because the product of cooperation is important. If the process takes too much time, then it may not always be worth the while.
We must realise that most activities related to internationalisation cost money, especially since travels are often included. Yet, it is an investment that will prove fruitful in the near future. If developing countries don’t invest in it, they will be lagging further behind in future - not only in education and research, but also in trade and other fields.
The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist based in Islamabad. He has served as United Nations specialist in the United States, as well as various countries in Africa and Asia. He has also spent a decade dealing with the Afghan refugee crisis and university education in Pakistan. Email: atlehetland@yahoo.com

(MENAFN - Arab News) Experts have said that private higher education in Saudi Arabia lacks competitiveness, harming the national economy.
While the Saudi government dedicates the lion's share of its budget to human resource development (50.6 percent), which includes government education and training, economists and university teachers have criticized private higher education and called for allowing foreign educational investment projects. Economists told Arab News that the budget for scholarships could be used to create a knowledge-based economy and boost the Kingdom's gross domestic product (GDP).
"Saudi Arabia's education does not meet the standards of countries at similar income levels. However, some progress is visible in terms of the assessment of the quality of education, but only in some private universities like King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)," said Habibullah Turkestani, professor of marketing and business management at King Abdulaziz University.
The latest edition of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report ranks Saudi Arabia as the 21st most competitive economy overall, but 51st in higher education and training.
Turkestani attributed the absence of competition in private higher education to several reasons, such as monopoly and tough investment requirements.
"The Ministry of Higher Education has to facilitate investment in higher education by allowing foreign investors to participate. The problem we currently have is that a number of private universities are lacking quality. At the same time, these universities insist only on financial profits rather than quality," he said.
"I consider private higher education as a corporate social responsibility that needs awareness from businessmen, the government and society."
He added: "We have about 20 private universities and colleges in the Kingdom that offer education in a limited number of fields. The absence of competition among these universities has led to the decrease in education level."
More technical and practical fields are required to fit the needs of the Saudi market, he said.
Private higher education should be developed to contribute to the country's GDP, said Salem Baajaja, professor of accountancy at Taif University. "As the Saudi population is growing annually, government universities cannot cope with the large number of students every year. Some students don't want to go to private universities due to the low education level and high fees exceeding SR 70,000 per year," he said.
Statistics show that enrollment in private higher education in Saudi Arabia grows at 33 percent annually. Half of all private higher education revenues come from medical courses, where enrollment is growing at 45 percent per annum.
"The budget that has been dedicated for scholarships should be kept and invested inside the Kingdom to build private universities with international standards," said Baajaja.
Statistics confirm that over 80 percent of enrollments in private universities and colleges are in courses like medicine, management and commerce, IT, and engineering. By contrast, over 50 percent of students in public universities are enrolled in disciplines like humanities and sciences.
Arab News visited the private higher education webpage of the Ministry of Higher Education and found that the ministry had instructed some colleges of medicine to stop receiving new students.
"The currently available colleges and universities are not enough. We need to boost higher education institutes that offer better English language courses, hire foreign teachers, and are based on international standards," the accountancy professor said.
Habib Shams, an economist, said that private companies lose huge amounts of money by sending their work force to receive training abroad due to the low education level and unprofessional English language courses inside the Kingdom.
"I would prefer if the government held agreements with international universities, like Harvard, Cambridge, Texas University and London School of Economics, to establish branches of these universities in the Kingdom. Such step would boost the Saudi knowledge-based economy. However, the government allocated a large budget for scholarships programs abroad, because Saudi universities cannot receive the large number of students," he said.
The central department of statistics and information at the Ministry of Economy and Planning issued a report in 2012 saying that the total number of students abroad reached over 120,000.
Essam Khalifa, member of the Saudi Economic Association, said the development of private sector education is crucial, as the public universities can only receive 5 million students a year. "The rate of undergraduate students is increasing by 30 percent a year.
Saudi government universities cannot receive this large number of students, which is why we support qualified private universities. I wonder why the government does not open investment opportunities for foreign investors," he said.
The establishment of foreign private universities would raise standards, as it would bring in professional educational institutes with international experience, he concluded.

29 October - 1 November 2012 - Ningbo, China. This year's event will mark the third anniversary of the International Leadership Conference, which will take place at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. The conference, which takes place annually, has previously welcomed delegates from the UK, Denmark, China, Colombia, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the US and Belgium. The event is designed for senior leaders to discuss and share best practice on important topics around the internationalisation of higher education.
"Attending the first 'International Leadership Conference: Managing Global Universities' in 2010 was of considerable value in developing the internationalisation strategy for the University of Reading. The week was a valuable mix of high-level strategic discussion and knowledge-sharing to gain practical insights from university leaders with experience of building and running campuses overseas.
I would recommend the opportunity to attend to anyone involved in planning and developing their institution's worldwide reach." Professor Steven Mithen, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for International and External Engagement at the University of Reading
"...it was a pleasure to join such a stimulating event." Phil Baty, Deputy Editor, Times Higher Education.
"...it was one of the better conferences I have ever been to." Professor Kristiaan Versluys, Director of Education, Ghent University Belgium.
The intensive four day programme is designed for senior managers and leaders from higher education institutions from across the world. It will take place at The University of Nottingham’s campus in Ningbo China, an extremely successful research-led UK university with an excellent reputation for global leadership and management.
Programme overview
During the four day programme a selection of the following will be covered in workshop and seminar sessions:
    * developing university strategy
    * different approaches to internationalisation
    * enterprise
    * effective financial management
    * development and fundraising
    * capital planning
    * building research capacity
    * leadership in an international context
    * quality, ratings and rankings
    * international partnership
    * leading innovation in teaching and learning
    * marketing on the global stage
    * global governance
To register your interest in the conference or for further details, please contact Ilze Skujina at ilze.skujina@nottingham.ac.uk.
See also International Leadership Conference: Managing Global Universities 2011 and International Leadership Conference: Managing Global Universities 2010.

By Reyna Gobel. For anyone outside of the United States considering studying here, start saving early, experts say.
International students wanting to study in the United States have a unique challenge compared to their American counterparts: They have to prove they have the funds to attend college before starting the school year. The fear is that if international students don't have the money to complete their education, says Peggy Blumenthal, the Institute of International Education's (IIE) senior counselor, they won't be able to afford to complete their degree and accomplish their goals.
Since the vast majority of international undergraduate students, according to Blumenthal, pay for their education out of personal and family funds, it's important for families considering a U.S. education to estimate costs and start saving for college as soon as possible.
Here are three tips for estimating college costs and beginning the process of saving for college:
1. Estimate costs to attend U.S. schools: EducationUSA, the U.S. Department of State-supported advising network of advising centers in 170 countries, offers free help to international students to find the school that's the best fit, academically and financially. Students wishing to study in the United States should start by going to the EducationUSA website to find contact information for their local advising center. During their appointment they can get help estimating costs to attend U.S. schools and get information on scholarships and other financial assistance. [See sources of scholarships for international students.]
Students can also find a variety of resources online. They can go directly to university websites to find international student information. CollegeWeekLive offers free online college fairs, collegeboard.org offers information on college pricing, and students can come to usnews.com to read articles on paying for college.
2. Coordinate savings efforts among family members: Students and parents should have a family meeting to discuss what they can afford to save as soon as possible, Blumenthal says. It's important that other relatives that may want to contribute also attend. In India and China, it's not uncommon for grandparents and parents to pool resources, Blumenthal says. No matter how much families can afford to save, says Blumenthal, the most important action is setting a regularly scheduled savings amount as early as possible. For example, $100 per month saved for 10 years adds up to $12,000, not counting any interest earned. Although exact fees vary by country, saving less than $21 per month for one year could pay for TOEFL test fees, a common test for international students seeking admission to U.S. schools. [Get tips on studying for the TOEFL.]
3. Check on availability of tax-advantaged accounts: If a savings or investments account offers a tax benefit such as tax-free earnings on college savings, experts say, that's more money for students to use toward their education. For instance, the U.K. offers Junior ISAs, accounts that parents can open for kids under 16. Junior ISAs can be cash Junior ISAs or contain stocks and shares. Any growth from these savings accounts or investments isn't taxed. According to a spokesperson from Her Majesty's Treasury, the deposit limit is up to £3,600 British pounds (approximately $5,600 as calculated on Aug. 1) per tax year. The funds can be withdrawn tax free for anything, including studying in the United States, starting when the child is 18. All parents are eligible, regardless of income, says Mark Hoban, financial secretary to the Treasury.
Canada's tax-advantaged accounts, known as Registered Education Savings Plans, are specifically for education and can be used at approved U.S. universities. Canadians wanting to find out if a U.S. school qualifies for tax-free distributions can call the Canada Revenue Agency at 800-959-2221. If you don't live in the U.K. or Canada, IIE's Blumenthal suggests asking your EducationUSA adviser if a special savings account option exists in your country. [Read what students should know about studying abroad.]
Reyna Gobel, frequently quoted as an expert on student loans and college costs, is the author of "Graduation Debt: How To Manage Student Loans And Live Your Life" and "How Smart Students Pay for School: The Best Way to Save for College, Get the Right Loans, and Repay Debt." She has appeared on PBS's Nightly Business Report and speaks regularly at CollegeWeekLive.

By Robert Morse. These rankings show how American institutions compare with other institutions of higher learning. U.S.News & World Report is proud to publish its fourth annual version of the World's Best Universities rankings. These new 2011 rankings are based on data from the QS World University Rankings, which were produced in association with QS Quacquarelli Symonds. QS Quacquarelli Symonds, one of the world's leading networks for careers and education, has been publishing international rankings since 2004.
These rankings have obtained increasing influence among academics worldwide and have a growing effect on prospective students and government policymakers. The rankings themselves are the same as QS publishes on its website. The new 2011 rankings once again include the top 400 universities worldwide. New this year are the top 100 Latin American universities and the top 100 Asian university rankings. Also, for the first time, there are global rankings in 24 subject areas:
• Arts and humanities: English language and literature; geography and area studies; history; linguistics; modern languages; and philosophy.
• Engineering and technology: chemical engineering; civil engineering; computer science; electrical engineering; and mechanical, aeronautical, and manufacturing engineering.
• Life sciences: biological sciences; psychology
• Natural sciences: chemistry; earth and marine sciences; environmental sciences; mathematics; metallurgy and materials; and physics and astronomy.
• Social sciences: accounting and finance; economics and econometrics; politics and international studies; sociology; and statistics and operational research. [See the methodologies used in the World's Best rankings.]
The 2011 U.S. News World's Best Universities rankings enable our readers to more fully understand how American institutions are performing when compared with other institutions of higher learning. The bottom line is that U.S.-based universities perform very well: Eighty-five of the Top 400 universities worldwide, or 21 percent, are in the United States. The United Kingdom comes in second place with 43 universities, or 11 percent of the worldwide total. Germany was third with 36 universities, or 9 percent; Australia was fourth with 21 universities, or 5 percent; and France was fifth with 18 schools, or 5 percent.
Canada was in sixth place with 17 universities or 4 percent; Japan came in seventh with 16 universities, or 4 percent; Netherlands finished eighth with 12 universities, or 3 percent; South Korea was in ninth place with 10 schools, or 3 percent; and China and Italy were tied at 10th place with 9 schools, at 2 percent each. These top 11 countries accounted for 69 percent of the top 400, or 276 schools. In total, there are schools from 45 different countries represented in the top 400. [See which U.S. universities performed the best in the World's Best rankings.]
The world is rapidly changing. More students and faculty are eager to explore the higher education options that exist outside their countries. Universities worldwide are competing for the best and brightest students, the most highly recognized research faculty, and coveted research dollars. Countries at all levels of economic development are trying to build world-class universities to serve as economic and academic catalysts. And more universities are seeking world-class status to become players on the global academic stage. In other words, the world of higher education is becoming increasingly "flat."
The major research universities in the United States are aware of these global trends and have been expanding and competing internationally for several years. In fact, American higher education's large research-doctoral-granting university model is now being copied by universities and higher education systems in many other countries. The new World's Best Universities top 400 rankings help put these global trends in context. When U.S. News started publishing Best Colleges rankings more than 25 years ago, no one predicted the influence these lists would acquire as both a consumer tool and a force for accountability in American higher education. What began with little fanfare has spawned college rankings in countries around the world. Global institutional ranking systems like the one we are publishing here are variations on the original idea of our national rankings.
With these variations come differences in methodology. First, none of the data used in the Best Colleges and Best Graduate Schools rankings are used to compute any of the World's Best Universities rankings. As noted earlier, the international rankings are based on the QS World University Rankings, which are produced in association with QS, who does all the data collection and calculations for the rankings. We publish the same World's Best Universities rankings that QS does. Additionally, the methodology used to compute the World's Best Universities rankings is different in most key areas from what we use in the U.S. News Best Colleges and U.S. News Best Graduate Schools. It's true that both the Best Colleges and the World's Best Universities rankings use peer surveys. However, the survey process used to calculate peer assessment and recruiter reviews in the World's Best Universities rankings are conducted very differently.
Because of the limitations and the availability of cross-country comparative data, the world ranking system relies heavily on research performance measured through citations per faculty member. The U.S. News rankings do not use citation analysis. The U.S. News Best Colleges and Best Graduate Schools rankings rely heavily on student and school-specific data—such as scores on admission tests, graduation rates, retention rates, and financial resources—that are not part of World's Best Universities because such student and school-specific data can't be compared internationally.
About our partner: Founded in 1990, today QS Quacquarelli Symonds is the leading information and events company specializing in the higher education sector, worldwide. Through exclusive events, publications, research, and interactive Web tools, QS links undergraduate, graduate, M.B.A., and executive communities around the world with recruiters and education providers. QS's websites include: www.topuniversities.com, www.topgradschool.com, www.topmba.com, and www.qs.com. QS operates globally from offices in London, Paris, New York, Singapore, Stuttgart, Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Johannesburg.
If you are interested in detailed methodologies and frequently asked questions about the U.S. News Education rankings, click on the links below. We have provided many in-depth articles that explain how and why we do each of the rankings.
About the Best Colleges Rankings/Methodologies
About the Best Graduate Schools Rankings/Methodologies
About the Best High Schools Rankings/Methodologies
About the Top Online Education Programs Rankings/Methodologies
About the World's Best Universities Rankings/Methodologies.

By William W. Keep. Recently the Board of Visitors—not a particularly apt name given their actions—at the University of Virginia forced the ouster of President Teresa A. Sullivan after two years in office. Since then we have learned that the rector and vice rector of the board, Helen E. Dragas and Mark J. Kington, who has since resigned, have M.B.A.'s from UVa's Darden School of Business. Peter D. Kiernan, a powerful alumnus who evidently weighed in on the decision, is also a Darden graduate and, before he resigned in the midst of the furor, was chairman of the Darden School Foundation Board.
The trio, having made their chops in real estate, construction, and investing, apparently saw an opportunity to transfer their knowledge to higher education. Though colleges can learn many things from the ways businesses operate, treating a college strictly like a business would be a mistake.

By Eric Kelderman. The U.S. secretary of education, Arne Duncan, took states to task on Thursday for cutting spending on higher education, saying state lawmakers were being "penny-wise and pound-foolish," and were undermining their own economic growth.
In a speech at the annual policy meeting of the State Higher Education Executive Officers, Mr. Duncan noted that during the recent economic downturn, only four states have increased what they spend, per-student, on higher education. "Disinvestment is not the strategy that other countries are choosing," he said, comparing the United States' approach to that of China and Singapore.
The result is that tuition has gone up to replace the state dollars, and middle-class families, especially, are being squeezed by college costs, Mr. Duncan said, citing the association's recent annual report, which noted that in 2011 state and local spending on higher education hit a 25-year low. "Higher education should not be a luxury for those who can afford it," he said.
Mr. Duncan was largely preaching to the choir on the need for more state money. Nearly all the attendees at the annual meeting work for state governments that have been hard hit by the recession and continue to struggle financially during the slow recovery.
And while higher education remains a target of state-budget cutters, pressure to raise college-completion rates is driving significant policy changes at the state level, said another of the day's speakers, Jamie P. Merisotis, president of the Lumina Foundation for Education, which focuses on developing policies to improve graduation rates.
"States really are where the action is," Mr. Merisotis said, noting that more than two-thirds of states have set specific goals for improving completion and graduation rates. Those objectives, he said, are similar to Lumina's goal of having 60 percent of the nation's population earn a college credential by 2025.
'Stackable Credentials'
However, while Mr. Duncan touted the Obama administration's efforts to improve completion rates, particularly with a 50-percent increase in the number of low-income students receiving Pell Grants, Mr. Merisotis called for more substantial changes at both the state and federal levels.
What is needed is a national system for student financial aid, Mr. Merisotis said, a system that would coordinate the efforts of federal and state governments as well as the colleges the students attend.
In addition, he called for overhauling how students are awarded credit, so that it would include more prior learning and other forms of nontraditional learning. "We need stackable credentials that give students credit for learning, no matter where it comes from," he said.
Mr. Merisotis's recommendations present a substantial challenge for state higher-education agencies, which are already struggling to maintain authority, and even relevance, in a fast-changing landscape of higher education.
With the growth in technology, higher education is being democratized, Mr. Merisotis said, and the importance of traditional higher-education institutions is diminishing.
"The capacity for state policy development needs to grow," Mr. Merisotis said. "The onus of responsibility will be on the states."