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The UK government has confirmed that all international students in the UK who are unable to return to their home country because of the coronavirus outbreak will benefit from a visa extension until May 31.

The announcement, dated 24 March, explains that the rule will apply to anyone impacted because of self-isolation or due to travel bans preventing them from returning home who has been unable to leave since January 24.

Despite the well documented sudden travel of international students as many prefer to be at home during the most severe period of the pandemic ÔÇô learning online ÔÇô many others have decided to stay in the UK because of the cost of returning home at short notice, travel bans or self-isolation.

The news also means students can apply to switch routes, such as from Tier 4 to Tier 2

A dedicated COVID-19 immigration team has been set up within UKVI to make the process as straightforward as possible. Anyone in this situation just needs to contact the UKVI team, via an email address, to let them know their visa has expired and they will be issued with an extension.

Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said, “The UK continues to put the health and wellbeing of people first and nobody will be punished for circumstances outside of their control.

“By extending peopleÔÇÖs visas, we are giving people peace of mind and also ensuring that those in vital services can continue their work.”

Threads on student social media forums reveal a lot of concern in the student community – many are worried about what to do with their belongings if they return home.

Professor Steve Smith,  vice-chancellor and chief executive of the University of Exeter, confirmed in a webinar organised by UniversitiesUK International that this was keeping staff at his institution busy at present.

The news also means students can apply to switch routes, such as from Tier 4 (student) to Tier 2 (General Worker), whilst remaining in the UK.

UKVI will continue to process applications as quickly as possible, however some applications may take longer than usual due to COVID-19 related operational pressures, stated the government.

Those who contact the Home Office for these visa extensions will be expected to return to their home countries as soon as possible once flight and border restrictions are lifted. No immigration enforcement action will be undertaken during this time for those who email the Home Office as outlined above.

In light of the current advice on self-isolation and social distancing, the Home Office is also waiving a number of requirements on visa sponsors, such as allowing non-EU nationals here under work or study routes to undertake their work or study from home.

The post Visa extension for students in UK confirmed appeared first on The PIE News.

Bombarded by offers of ├ó┬Ç┬£help├ó┬Ç┬Ø amid the pandemic, college officials are skeptical of vendors and products they have never worked with before. And they remain grateful to the good guys.

Bombarded by offers of ├ó┬Ç┬£help├ó┬Ç┬Ø amid the pandemic, college officials are skeptical of vendors and products they have never worked with before. And they remain grateful to the good guys.

The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation. Its new president, Joybrato Mukherjee, was vice president of the organisation until December 2019. The transition into the new role has been a smooth one despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he told The PIE News, as he detailed what he hopes to achieve next.

 

The PIE: As president of DAAD, what are you hoping to focus on? 

Joybrato Mukherjee: In this new decade, we will have to focus on technological innovations ÔÇô all the digital technologies, virtual environments, augmented reality options that will dramatically affect our understanding of intercultural experience and international collaboration. This is certainly a topic that we have to delve into much more deeply than we have.

“In this new decade, we will have to focus on technological innovations”

To what extent can we use digital options to also perhaps replace some physical mobility, given the carbon footprint of our organisation? I mean, we are an agency that funds individual mobility ÔÇô we have to take the climate political debate into account for our strategy for the future.

Europe will be a major focus of ours too. What can we contribute in order to stabilise the common European research and teaching space?

The third area has to do with the worldwide tendency of an increasing number of countries becoming challenging or even difficult partners. How do we defend our European values when negotiating with countries or with partner institutions that have other political systems that disagree with the values that we operate on?

The PIE: What projects has DAAD either started or planned to start with universities in more ‘difficult’ countries?

JM: China, for obvious reasons at the moment, is a challenging partner. We do have various transnational projects with Chinese universities as well as partnerships on collaborative projects, e.g. between German Universities of Applied Sciences (traditionally labelled ┬á‘Fachhochschule’) and Chinese partner institutions ÔÇô the Sino-German University of Applied Sciences.

Another challenging and important partner at the moment is Turkey. In Istanbul, a new campus of the Turkish German University was inaugurated by [German] chancellor Merkel and [Turkish] president Erdogan in January.

It’s a project funded by DAAD ÔÇô a German university with a German strategy and structure but on Turkish soil, co-funded and co-financed by Turkey and Germany.

In Germany, we are currently discussing a lot to what extent the collaborations between Turkey and Germany can be upheld given the political situation in Turkey. But this project shows that a scientific academic platform for research and teaching is an important transnational project.

The PIE: How does DAAD decide which projects are important and which ones it wants to fund?

JM: That depends. Proposals may come from individual universities that approach DAAD with an idea for a transnational project. The idea may come from inside DAAD as well. Suggestions can also come from the political sphere. The German-Turkish University was created as an idea by considerations of politicians in Turkey and Germany. Our job is to turn an individual or political idea into a solid, substantial roadmap for setting up a viable academic project.

The PIE: Bringing it back to what you mentioned about DAAD’s role within Europe and stabilising that research space. Why is that so important now?

JM: We want to see that the common European research and teaching area we have created through Bologna, Erasmus+ and other projects doesn’t fall apart. Brexit is probably the most substantial manifestation of those centrifugal forces that we can see all over Europe.

“We hope that Britain will continue to take part in Erasmus in the long term”

We hope that Britain will continue to take part in Erasmus in the long term. It’s a wonderful platform to provide young students with an intercultural experience in another European country. This, at the end of the day, will help create a kind of a European identity in young citizens all over Europe. And creating this identity is key to keeping Europe and the European Union together.

This is not only for altruistic reasons. I mean, if we want to stay competitive in the world and on a global scale, then we also have to bring together the academic forces of all European countries.

The PIE: Do you see Germany’s universities identifying themselves as European or German in the first instance?

JM: The DAAD is a German organisation, but in our mission statement, we say we are a German organisation in Europe. What we have to do constantly, continuously, is to think about our strategy at both levels. Of course, we are a national organisation, we are funded as a national funding agency by national ministries. But major funding comes also from the European Union, as we are the national agency in Germany in charge of the entire Erasmus program.

What I meant when I talked about the global scale of competition was that if we want to compete with the strongest universities worldwide and with rising academic powers like China, then we have to accept the fact that we can only stay competitive if the best German and European institutions join forces in transnational projects.

Of course, European funding for these joint projects and mobility is key. That’s the reason why we want, in the post-Brexit phase, to find a solution to keep Britain as one of the strongest academic nations in Europe when it comes to European funding and European programs.

The PIE: In terms of working with those institutions that you’re competing against, say, if it’s American universities or Chinese universities, do you see that benefit in working together more closely with partners in those sorts of countries?

JM: Competition doesn’t mean that we don’t want to cooperate or collaborate. Despite the increasingly challenging situation in China, and despite the disagreements that we have with the current federal administration in Washington, we are and will in the future be strongly interested in collaborating with the best universities worldwide.

We want our best scholars to spend time at the best universities worldwide, to invite people from over there to our universities, and we also want to see student mobility increase, especially with partners in the US and China. But that doesn’t mean that we are not fully aware of the fact that at the global scale, we are also in a competition for the best talent worldwide.

“I think universities in Germany have learned a lot from American institutions and others”

China has increased funding for higher education dramatically from a European perspective. And of course, it’s all about getting the best talent, students, researchers from all over the world. America has been for many years the best example for that.

The PIE: Can German universities learn from the US in terms of attracting the best talent?

JM: I think universities in Germany have learned a lot from American institutions and others, for example, by providing English medium study programs. Today there is a vastly different situation than, let’s say, 20 or 30 years ago.

The PIE: One thing I would propose that the rest of the world could learn from Germany is refugee integration at universities. Could you tell me a bit about your work at that level?

JM:┬áWe do believe that we have been very successful at integrating refugees into our high education system.┬áIn the autumn of 2015, DAAD created two new programs. The first ÔÇô ‘Welcome’ ÔÇô was intended to fund students who would support refugee students when they began to study at German universities. The focus was not so much on providing money to the universities or to administrative structures, but to student bodies.

‘Integra’ is the second program that we created. That one was intended to provide funding for institutions to provide language courses and support structures for refugee students so that they would learn more about the German system.

Four years down the road, we see that 25,000ÔÇô30,000 of those refugee students that came to Germany from 2015-18 are now enrolled at German universities. And we will have to monitor that closely over the next couple of years. But so far, we would say we have been quite successful at integrating refugee students into our higher education system.

The PIE: You mentioned the carbon footprint of international mobility earlier. What sort of projects is DAAD working on to counteract that?

JM: There are various options here, and I guess we are at the beginning of a long road. But we have to accept the fact that funding more and more individual physical mobility can’t be the only option for our future strategy.

We have to ask ourselves which mobilities can be replaced by virtual or augmented reality scenarios. Is it necessary to provide funding for this or that conference? Is it necessary to have all the interviews of the applicants in face-to-face situations?

“So far, we would say we have been quite successful at integrating refugee students into our higher education system”

At the extreme end of that line of options is a science fiction scenario perhaps, but let’s see where technological innovations will head over the next 10, 20 or 30 years. The question arises whether a semester abroad can be conducted partially or fully in an augmented reality scenario.

Also, intercultural experience can also be gained on our international campuses of German universities, for example. Each German university has an international campus. How can this potential be used more strategically for providing German students with an intercultural experience? For us at DAAD, generally speaking, the intellectual challenge is how to dissociate intercultural experience and physical mobility.

We could think about scenarios where students from other countries would not study at a German university by moving physically to Germany, but in a virtual environment.

Long-distance learning platforms are also an option. My aim is to think more strategically about dissociating these topics, which so far, have always been seen as belonging together.

The post Joybrato Mukherjee, DAAD president, Germany appeared first on The PIE News.

Students in Brazil intending to study abroad have been cheated out of their money by an unscrupulous agency operating in the country, according to authorities who are continuing investigations to identify those responsible.

According to local media, Ag├¬ncia Mundi has closed its offices in S├úo Paulo and its website asks that “no further payment be sent” to the agency.

Procon ÔÇô Procuradoria de Prote├º├úo e Defesa do Consumidor ÔÇô a government agency that is designed to protect, guide and defend consumers in Brazil, said Ag├¬ncia Mundi has scammed students in excess of R $1 million (approximately ┬ú165,000).

“If you multiply by the amount that each person has paid, the loss actually amounts to R $1 million”

“If you multiply by the amount that each person has paid, the loss actually amounts to R $1 million. Procon will apply fines proportional to this billing,” Procon executive director, Fernando Capez said.

“At the same time, in parallel, [we are] seeking a police investigation to pressure the owners of the companies [to] be criminally prosecuted and thus have to appear to defend themselves,” he added.

While Agência Mundi kept money students paid for trips, school enrolments, and accommodation, the agency is also known to owe English language schools money.

Agência Mundi is the third agency to close in Brazil in recent years.

Time2 Travel, an agency specialising in travel to Ireland announced it would close due to financial difficulties in June 2019.

In December, owners of another agency ÔÇô 4U Interc├ómbio, which also had offices in Ireland ÔÇô allegedly disappeared with money from the packages purchased for┬áEnglish courses and accommodation for European countries.

“What is odd is that all of them happened very similarly,” one agent in Brazil told The PIE News. “The way they closed it, doesn’t [seem] like the company was trying to honour debts.”

Students should ensure they request an invoice from the school, as well as set out a payment deadline with the agency, the agent explained.

“Also, the agency always should give the possibility that the student can pay by himself directly to the school, otherwise it’s a questionable attitude from the service provider,” they added.

According to other sources, Agência Mundi primarily offered budget courses.

Speaking with The PIE, one agency said they had been approached by some students who had been in contact with Mundi.

“Since we work closely with colleges and university programs, and most of our partners are not budget, as Mundi offered, the little we could do to help them was to offer another program in one of our school partners,” they said.

Agência Mundi may have suffered due to sudden exchange rate changes, another added.

The agency focused on English language and Work & Study programs and was “selling promotional packages at lower prices than the schools with high quality, with long payment instalments”, they explained.

“When a sudden rise in our exchange rates came, sales probably dropped this year and it became impossible to keep up the business,” they explained.

“It brings a bad reputation for the whole market because people become worried about putting their money into any agency”

For Alexandre Argenta, CEO of Brazilian agency TravelMate, the situation has two dimensions for the market.

“It brings a bad reputation for the whole market because people become worried about putting their money into any agency.

“But on the other hand, it is positive because it cleans the market of companies that are not well organised or established, showing people that they should trust on the more traditional agencies that have been in the market for decades,” Argenta said.

It’s important that those traditional agencies hold the BELTA seal and membership, he added. Agencies must offer a variety of international education programs to stay healthy, Argenta contended.

“Due to the sales seasons of each program ÔÇô teen programs, high school, languages course, work & study, work & travel, au pair, higher education and so forth ÔÇô this is the only way a company can have business throughout the whole year, having consistent financial flow non-stop,” he said.

“Selling multiple countries is also important because when unexpected immigration changes happen, shutting down some programs, the agency will always have an alternative to continue in the business.”

The post Brazil: students cheated as agency closes appeared first on The PIE News.

Many students are rethinking their intentions to enroll at a four-year college this fall, according to a new survey. Most still planning to do so aren’t expecting to end up at their first choice.

Most colleges and universities across the country have pivoted to remote learning in an effort to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe.

While the sudden change is necessary, some privacy experts worry about the unintended consequences.

Ensuring the software colleges are now using doesn't violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, is one key issue, according to Amelia Vance, director of youth and education privacy at the Future of Privacy Forum. Another issue is the potential for increased surveillance of students as colleges switch from in-person classes to virtual ones.

Data Collection

FERPA is technology neutral, according to Leroy Rooker, a senior fellow at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Colleges are allowed to use contractors and consultants for services -- including for online instruction -- but the contracts need to include stipulations to protect student privacy under the law.

Most importantly, if the vendor collects any data on its users, the college has to be the owner of that information. This means that the data can only be used or redisclosed at the college's direction.

Colleges should be thinking about whether any FERPA-protected information will be revealed in their pivots to remote learning, said Joanna Lyn Grama, associate vice president at Vantage Technology Consulting Group.

"Is there FERPA-protected information that the online provider is potentially creating or storing that's distinct from the school's?" Grama said.

Metadata could be another area of concern, she said. While that data might not be personal information under FERPA, it could be a tool for someone to get personal information.

If colleges are operating under existing contracts with these companies, Grama said, they're likely safe because they took the time for review before the pandemic hit. If they're creating new contracts, those agreements likely are short term, which will give colleges a chance to go back and review them to ensure they're compliant once things settle down.

Some have concern over Zoom Video Communications Inc., a web-conferencing platform that many faculty members are now using to connect with students virtually.

Zoom does not sell its data to anyone and is compliant with FERPA, according to emailed responses the company sent to Inside Higher Ed.

"We take our users’ privacy incredibly seriously. Zoom only collects user data to the extent it is absolutely necessary to provide technical and operational support, and to improve our services. Zoom must collect technical information like users’ IP address, OS details and device details in order for our service to function properly. When user data is used for service improvement, it is completely anonymized and aggregated immediately upon collection in order to protect users’ identities and privacy," said Jay Clarke, senior privacy program manager at Zoom.

‘Coronavirus Is a Selling Opportunity’

The pandemic also raises broader questions about privacy.

"In some ways, you're inevitably going to have more monitoring of students in order to verify attendance," Vance said. If institutions choose to track how much work students are doing to ensure they're meeting credit hours, or are verifying identification of students for attendance and using tools like facial recognition, it would greatly affect surveillance of students.

But institutions don't have to go that route, according to Bill Fitzgerald, a privacy researcher at Consumer Reports.

"When you don't trust your students, surveillance is what you fall back on," Fitzgerald said.

Instead of testing students in ways that require surveillance to prevent cheating, colleges could instead encourage faculty to use project-based learning and portfolio-based assessments, which require students to truly engage with the work and are more difficult to cheat, he said.

Colleges should be wary of companies that might take advantage of the situation right now to increase surveillance through potentially unnecessary software to monitor students' online work.

"There are people who, right now, are thinking about ways that the coronavirus is a selling opportunity," Fitzgerald said.

Now is not the time to hastily adopt new technology, Fitzgerald said. Rather, it's the time to return to the basics, figure out what works the best for the most people and ensure students are getting the basics they need in order to learn.

"I don't think that anything is etched in stone, but I think we need to embed good practices now," he said.

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To give a glimpse into the virtual meeting rooms of college leaders responding to the new coronavirus, Larry Ladd, a senior consultant at AGB, laid out a hypothetical.

“Let’s say you’re a president,” he said. “You have to keep the urgent and the important both balanced in your head -- and that’s not easy to do.”

“Urgent” matters, according to Ladd, are decisions leadership teams have to make within hours or days, such as determining where students will ride out the remainder of the semester, migrating classes online or canceling them outright, managing staff and payroll, and monitoring liquidity.

“Important” decisions, relegated to tomorrow or coming weeks, include refunding room and board costs, planning for summer terms, nailing down fall enrollments and hiring for open faculty and administrative positions. Very little can be tabled indefinitely.

“There isn’t much that goes on at a college or university that isn’t related to the financial condition of a place,” Ladd said. In other words, if any thread comes loose, the entire institutional fabric threatens to unravel.

It’s been about two months since the first cases of coronavirus were detected in the United States. Since then, most colleges have either suspended classes or moved entirely online. Some have shut down campuses entirely, while others are operating essential services only. Questions about room and board and tuition refunds are beginning to be answered, and job security for college employees, particularly hourly workers, is up in the air at many institutions.

In the past months and still today, college leadership teams have been working long hours to tackle the next most important thing.

Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, broke down leadership’s priorities into three groups: student and personnel safety, systems resilience, and continuing the work of the college.

“This is the Maslow’s hierarchy of disaster recovery,” he said.

Student and personnel safety drove the decision for many colleges to close or move to remote teaching. Systems resilience includes bringing large-scale communications software online and making sure students, staff and faculty members are equipped with phones, computers and internet access. Now, many leadership teams are tying up loose ends in step two and moving into step three to determine how to keep the college operational through the duration of the outbreak.

At the University of San Francisco, “The president's cabinet has been meeting by Zoom every day,” said Donald Heller, vice president for operations and former provost at the university.

Prioritizing issues is like “trying to juggle all of the balls [at once],” he said. “You can’t just put a bunch of things aside and focus on just one thing.”

‘A League of Its Own’

Scott Cowen, former president of Tulane University and senior adviser for Boston Consulting Group, saw Tulane through the storm and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The new coronavirus is nothing like a natural disaster, he said.

“This is in a league of its own,” he said. “A natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, for example, is localized in one part of the country. [In this case] everybody is going through the same thing, so no one is going to have a competitive advantage because everyone is suffering.”

The University of San Francisco pulled together a COVID-19 response team from already existing infectious disease and emergency management teams.

For most colleges, planning for outcomes is difficult because there is no precedent, according to Ladd.

“There are no models, there’s no historical experience,” he said. “You compare this to a traditional recession like we had in 2008, Hurricane Katrina like we had in 2005 … but in all of those cases, you knew when things were going to get better.”

Mitchell says there’s little across-the-board guidance because every institution will approach their responses differently.

“As much as we and other people would love to be able to put out a kind of checklist … you can't do that,” he said.

All Hands on Deck

As campus operations slow or close, some colleges are reassigning employees to areas with greater need at the college.

“Admissions people don’t have anything urgent in respect to current students and faculty, so you can have them planning” for different contingencies, Ladd said. The CFO may be tasked with worrying about liquidity and revenue, while budget teams are building out financial models for a variety of scenarios in the coming months.

Libraries at the University of San Francisco are closed, Heller said, and the university is looking at how librarians can help out in other areas.

Some colleges, particularly large universities with research hospitals and other services, may be staffing up to sanitize dorms and campus buildings.

“For some institutions there have been hiring accelerations,” Mitchell said. “We’re seeing a lot of institutions spending more money keeping people safe and sound.”

Financial Aid Needs Ratchet Up

A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour poll shows that 18 percent of adult respondents -- excluding those who were not employed or retired prior to the outbreak -- said that they or someone in their household has been laid off or had work hours reduced as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Twenty-five percent of respondents making less than $50,000 a year said the same.

“Family incomes are going to plummet for a large number of families,” Ladd said. “Suddenly, students or parents are going to the financial aid office right now and saying … ‘I need help.’”

Colleges could recover some financial aid costs that will no longer be applicable after room and board refunds, but likely more students will need additional aid.

“We are absolutely concerned about that,” Heller said. “And we’re concerned at what impact this will have on our fall enrollments, particularly because we’re so dependent on international students … We don’t know if they’ll be able to come, if they will be able to get visas to get on a plane.”

The University of San Francisco is tuition-dependent, and 13 percent of undergraduates are international students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Room and board refunds will leave a multimillion-dollar hole in its operating budget, according to Heller, and an increased need for student aid will pile on financial pressure.

What’s Being Set Aside?

It’s likely more and more colleges will implement hiring freezes in the coming weeks. Brown University announced Tuesday that it would suspend faculty and staff hiring for the current year and the fiscal year beginning July 1, effective immediately.

Heller said USF has introduced a hiring “slowdown.” Mitchell said he’s seen searches for senior-level positions, including presidencies, put on hold.

When asked whether colleges would kick capital improvement down the road, Ladd, Heller, Mitchell and Cowen each chuckled and said, “Yes.”

“Cash is king,” Cowen said. “You want to stockpile as much cash as you need in reserves because you don’t know how long this will last.”

New development on campuses is a low priority at the moment. It may be one of the few areas of campus operations that can be set aside.

“When you get into the big-ticket items that were on the drawing board … they may gather dust for a while,” Mitchell said.

Presidents and other college leaders are not immune to the human impact of the coronavirus.

“Our presidents are running on adrenaline,” Mitchell said. Their commitments to their institutions are “driving people, keeping them up for the 24-hour cycles that they need to be up. But everybody’s tired, everybody’s fatigued.”

On Tuesday, Harvard president Lawrence Bacow, 68, announced that he and his wife tested positive for the virus and are continuing to isolate themselves at home. John Garvey, 71, president of Catholic University of America, said he tested positive on March 19, and he is quarantined at home with no symptoms.

The University of Texas at Austin's president, Greg Fenves, 63, said his wife, Carmel, tested positive on March 13. He also announced last week that Brent Iverson, dean of UT Austin’s school of undergraduate studies, tested positive for coronavirus.

When asked how the University of San Francisco leadership team is holding up, Heller said that “morale is pretty good.”

“Certainly people are stressed out, and it’s challenging to work remotely and not be able to see each other face-to-face,” he said. “Everybody realizes … that this is the opportunity to step up and do everything we can to protect our students and protect our staff.”

Cowen hopes college leaders will learn from the outbreak and therefore be better prepared for the next one.

"Out of every great tragedy, everyone has an obligation to somehow get lessons learned," he said, "and to respond to those in such a way to make the institution, the United States and the globe better."

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When it started to become clear that institutions would have to end in-person instruction and begin teaching students remotely because of the coronavirus crisis, whom did presidents call first? Probably their institution's chief online officer, the highest-ranking official responsible for whatever they do in terms of distance or digital learning.

A new survey of those officials, released this week by Quality Matters and Eduventures -- respectively, a nonprofit group focused on ensuring quality in online education and a research and advisory group -- was conducted in spring 2019, well before COVID-19 was on any of our radar screens. As is true for most surveys being released these days, the data for this one, "The Changing Landscape of Online Education, 2020" (CHLOE for short), must be read in light of the fact that the coronavirus has dramatically changed the environment for online learning like so many others.

But the data still provide some potentially useful insights into the current situation by giving a sense of how well prepared campuses were, on various fronts, to respond to the current imperative that they conduct most of their instruction virtually.

The answer, not surprisingly, is a mixed bag.

About 70 percent of respondents to the CHLOE survey said that they did not require students to take training or orientation in studying online before they took a virtual course. That varied significantly by sector, as the graph below shows, with regional private institutions being most likely to require such training and public institutions of various kinds (flagships, regional publics and community colleges, which collectively enroll most of the nation's students) being among the least likely to require it. Four-year institutions with low online enrollments and what the study calls enterprise institutions, which tend to have large online operations, were in between.

"Given the known difficulties of students adjusting to online study, we considered the figures for required online student orientation … as surprisingly low," the report's authors write.

With dropout rates for online education being higher than for face-to-face courses, the findings were surprising, wrote one of the authors, Ronald Legon, executive director emeritus of Quality Matters. He wondered why institutions wouldn't take the extra step of requiring students to prepare for online study.

Much talk and a fair number of horror stories circulating on social media in recent weeks focused on whether college faculty members are prepared for the sudden, required move to virtual classrooms. The CHLOE survey suggests that a majority of them have at least had some training, unlike their students, as noted above.

About 60 percent of chief online officers said their college or university required faculty members to engage in some formal training before teaching online. Such training is most common at community colleges and four-year colleges with low online enrollments. It is less so at flagship universities and at enterprise institutions.

The survey also asked the online learning leaders whether their institutions had teaching and learning centers that provide support to faculty members for using technology or innovative practices in their classrooms. More than three-quarters did, with some reporting multiple such centers, as seen below.

Those data collectively show that most institutions aren't prepared to flip a switch and move all their learning into truly online settings, said Legon. That perhaps explains why most colleges -- for this spring semester, at least -- are generally embracing a very low-technology form of remote learning, involving Zoom or other video platforms and various tools for communicating about assignments and assessments.

"That seems to me the only thing sensible that can happen right now, to use our online tools for communication, to put out material and assignments, to accept back results and perhaps give exams online," Legon said. But as the weeks pass, if colleges remain shut down physically, the pressure on institutions will grow to "actually design and build structured online courses that use the online tools as effectively as they can," he said.

It will be important for colleges to signal clearly to students and professors that the brand of virtual education most of them are seeing right now isn't the sort of high-quality online education that is possible when it is designed thoughtfully with help from professionals and well-trained professors.

The brand of virtual instruction that most professors and students are doing on the fly right now could damage perceptions of online education, Legon said. Based on it, "those who have only a limited understanding of online learning, or have avoided it all together, are likely to be disappointed, frustrated and perhaps confirmed in their belief that this is not a viable alternative to traditional classroom education."

If the current situation lingers, and colleges are forced to continue to offer most or all of their instruction at a distance into the fall, how well prepared will most institutions be to produce truly high-quality online courses across the board?

This year's CHLOE survey finds that a majority of instructors at most colleges produce their online courses either by themselves or with optional support from professional instructional designers at their institutions. Legon noted that previous iterations of the survey have shown that most colleges have relatively small numbers of instructional designers, with the typical community college having no more than one or two such positions.

What would happen if colleges tried to hire instructional designers in large numbers to try to ramp up high-quality online offerings in a hurry for the fall? "I don’t think there’s a pipeline that could respond," Legon said. "That's a real problem if you're trying to do this at scale."

Other Findings

Nearly one in four chief online officers (24 percent) said their institution had at least one contract with a company that provides assistance on creating and managing online programs, called online program managers, or OPMs, up from 12 percent in 2017. Officials cited student marketing and recruitment as the most common areas for which they sought outside help, but about half of those that used online program management companies said they were involved in online course and program development, too.

Online and Blended LearningTeaching and LearningTechnologyTransforming Teaching & LearningEditorial Tags: Online learningImage Source: Istockphoto.com/michaeljungIs this diversity newsletter?: Newsletter Order: 0Disable left side advertisement?: Is this Career Advice newsletter?: Email Teaser: The State of Online Education, BC (Before Coronavirus)Magazine treatment: Trending: Display Promo Box: Live Updates: liveupdates0

Covid-19 began as a concern of doctors and scientists. Its fallout has worsened because of sociological, economic, and political concerns. 

The Virginia college says nearly 2,000 students have returned and faculty members are expected to have office hours on campus. The mayor called the decision ├ó┬Ç┬£reckless.├ó┬Ç┬Ø ├é┬á

Online lectures mean conservative critics of higher ed could have more content to mine for ammunition.

A group of ‘exceptional’ international students have been selected to take part in the UK Council for International Student Affairs’ #WeAreInternational Student Ambassadors program.

Launched in 2019, the program aims to connect international students to an “exciting network” of emerging global talents and future leaders through their experience studying in the UK.

“It was a very competitive process, so huge congratulations to all those who have been selected”

The first cohort of 10 students come from countries spanning the globe, including India, Botswana, Germany, US, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Nigeria and China.

The scheme is part of UKCISA’s wider #WeAreInternational campaign which aims to promote the value of international students on UK campuses.

“IÔÇÖm delighted to announce that our #WeAreInternational Student Ambassadors program is now underway,” said UKCISA chief executive, Anne-Marie Graham.

“It was a very competitive process, so huge congratulations to all those who have been selected for the program.

“UKCISA is leading the development of a new chapter for the award-winning #WeAreInternational campaign, broadening the campaignÔÇÖs reach and celebrating international students from schools, colleges, universities and study abroad programs.”

Graham explained that the program aims to empower international students to be key partners in shaping a quality student experience so that they can use their knowledge of studying in the UK to influence policy and lead the #WeAreInternational campaign.

Student ambassadors include Abdullah Umar Zulaidi who is currently a second-year student at Newcastle University pursuing an undergraduate degree in Politics and Economics and Yunyan Li, a second-year PhD student in Social Policy at the University of Bristol.

“IÔÇÖm thrilled to introduce you to our first cohort of #WeAreInternational Student Ambassadors,” she said.

“These inspirational students have demonstrated great determination and drive to develop their own skills by representing their peers, and are passionate about ensuring that the lived experience of international students is understood by policymakers at national and institutional level.”

A full list of student profiles can be seen here.

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The US State Department suspended visa application services ÔÇô including those for student visas ÔÇô at its embassies in most countries last week, with services for citizens remaining open and emergency visa services available “as resources allow”.

A total of 8,742,068 immigrant and non-immigrant visas were issued by US foreign posts in 2019, of which 398,357 were F (student) or M (vocational student) visas.

“Depending on the situation, this [closure] can be adjusted to an even later date”

On its online visa application service portal, the US lists the first available appointment to apply for a student visa in Beijing as “November 29, 2020”, although stakeholders told The PIE News they are hopeful this will be adjusted in the future.

Despite the World Health Organisation continuing to “advise against the application of travel or trade restrictions”, many countries around the world have issued travel restrictions, including major study destinations such as the US, Canada, China and Australia.

However, this has now extended to multiple countries halting visa services, which could lead to a backlog that impacts students wishing to study abroad later in the year.

According to VFS Global, the visa processing company that operates visa services for 64 governments around the world, services have shut down for visa for many EU countries including popular study destinations such as Ireland, Denmark, France, Finland, Switzerland and Belgium.

Embassies and visa services are so far unable to give a date as to when normal visa services will resume.

“Our consular desks are closed until at least April 6,” explained a spokesperson from The Embassy of the Netherlands in China.┬á

“Depending on the situation, this can be adjusted to an even later date.”

But not everyone is shutting down. The Ukrainian Embassy in China told The PIE students can continue to apply for visas “without any restrictions” and some countries are still offering reduced services. Ukraine is currently home to over 75,000 international students.

“INZÔÇÖs Beijing, Mumbai and Manila offices are temporarily closed. INZ remains committed to minimising the impact on visa processing times. The Palmerston North Office in New Zealand remains open for student visa processing,” explained Immigration New Zealand.

“Their priority is to process applications from students already in New Zealand who may have visas expiring soon. They will process other applications as resources allow.”

Canada and the UK have closed visa centres in many places, including cities in China and India, but remain open in other areas.

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COVID-19 is “decimating” Australia’s English language teaching sector and without immediate government support, many high quality colleges in the country will be forced to close, the CEO of English Australia has warned.

Posting on the English Australia website, Brett Blacker explained that the association of English language schools had written directly to Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison on March 22, requesting the provision of a rescue package totalling AUD$87 million.

“As a sector 100% reliant on foreign nationals the impact is clear. We need support and we need it now”

He said the package consists of eight points including concessional loans for eligible ELICOS businesses; grants for businesses to provide courses online; payroll assistance grants; and a sector support payment to help English Australia support members, business owners and students.

It also includes a request for a waiver of student visa fees and the removal of Austrade service fees to access data and marketing assistance.

Blacker said he has also held discussions with senior officials for the Department of Education, Skills and Employment related to the requests.

“As a sector 100% reliant on foreign nationals the impact is clear. Our message is clear. We need support and we need it now,” explained Blacker.

Ian Pratt, the managing director of Lexis English which has six centres in Australia and employs 330 people, told The Australian the business had suffered ÔÇ£massive cancellationsÔÇØ.

Pratt would not estimate how long the business could hold out, but he said the private part of the English tuition sector was facing extinction in a matter of weeks.

ÔÇ£Industry-wide, IÔÇÖm hearing people saying two weeks, IÔÇÖm hearing people say six weeks,ÔÇØ he said, adding that it would not be easy to restore the industry after a collapse.

ÔÇ£We have very highly trained staff and, when we lose them, itÔÇÖs going to be spectacularly difficult getting them back,ÔÇØ he said.

Despite many countries introducing school closures as a means of slowing the spread of coronavirus, schools in Australia are not currently required to close.

“I spoke with senior officials at DESE, who confirmed that education is considered an essential service and therefore colleges may remain open,” Blacker said, adding that all colleges need to comply with requirements for closing if a case of COVID-19 is identified.

He said that colleges may choose to teach remotely “if this is deemed the most appropriate action in your circumstances”.

“DESE has also confirmed that colleges can deliver courses to students that are not in Australia if circumstances require. Colleges will need to follow the advice that has been previously provided… and [ensure] the learning outcomes can be achieved,” Blacker added.

“When we lose [the staff] itÔÇÖs going to be spectacularly difficult getting them backÔÇØ

He noted that the Department of Home Affairs has not yet advised on visa processing and whether it is still processing visas since the ban was imposed on all foreign traveller from entering Australia as of March 20.

“I have already stressed my view that they must continue to process visas to ensure we are in a position to recover in the future,” Blacker continued.

“We face the greatest challenge that our sector has ever faced, but our sector is incredibly capable and resilient.

“English Australia will do everything in its power to make sure that our sector survives,” he added.

Earlier in 2020, DESE released a snapshot of international students who studied ELICOS as part of a study pathway, with figures showing mixed results for the sector in 2019.

The post English Australia says sector needs rescue package of AU$87m appeared first on The PIE News.

In the midst of a pandemic, their expertise is suddenly in demand.

The list includes arts, sports, and community events, and dozens of lectures and seminars.

As the coronavirus outbreak scatters students far from campus, interaction with faculty members can provide a lifeline.

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Title IX officials say they’ll try to do hearings and investigations remotely. But students worry about the psychological toll of waiting weeks or months for a resolution.

International students will be exempt from Canada’s travel ban as long as they have a valid study permit or had been approved for a study permit prior to March 18, when the travel restrictions took effect.

This is a major concession from Canada for its sizeable international student community – it is also making concessions for its temporary foreign worker program. Full details of the exemption are expected to be detailed early next week, according to the IRCC communique.

ÔÇ£These international students and faculty are valued members of our university communities, and are contributing to Canada,ÔÇØ Universities Canada president Paul Davidson said.

ÔÇ£We are very pleased to see that the government recognises this and is ensuring they will be able to return to Canada.ÔÇØ

Foreign students are now anticipated to travel to Canada as planned for spring-term (May) enrolments, according to Canada-based Gautham Kolluri, who runs global education counselling firm CIP Study Abroad and has many Indian student clients.

“I am hoping that institutions can come up with some support”

But he said that students would need assistance from the colleges they were enrolled with to help them navigate logistics from airport pick-up to organising accommodation, especially for an initial 14-day isolation period.

“I’m looking into booking furnished homes and hotels,” he told The PIE News, explaining that his agency is already an exception in terms of organising interim housing for students as they arrive. “Most students have nobody out here,” he said.

“It’s very difficult logistics that we have to co-ordinate now,” he said. “If the government has advised that students have to stay self-isolated for 14 days…for new students…we have no understanding how to do it. I am hoping that institutions can come up with some support.”

Asked if some students would decide not to enrol, Kolluri said he felt those who had already made the financial investment would decide to travel anyway, despite it being unclear now how they would access the studies they have paid for.

“I donÔÇÖt see any students really saying, sorry, we are not interested, we are going back, especially from India ÔÇô the largest second-largest market for international students,” said Kolluri.

“They will come. I talk to thousands of students every month through our social network. It’s a very big commitment for students and their parents’ financial commitment and also given their interest to study abroad ÔÇô especially given that this would lead to post-study job opportunities and permanent resident pathways. This is a very important decision for the students.”

Lane Clark, president and CEO of the Canadian College of English Language (CCEL) and Canadian College, told The PIE that he and his staff were ÔÇ£relievedÔÇØ by the governmentÔÇÖs decision even though operations have already moved online.

ÔÇ£We are happy to hear that, when it is safe to reopen, students will be able to arrive and attend classes,ÔÇØ he said.

ÔÇ£I have never seen something this impactful on this industry and truly hope we will all come out intact on the other end. There have been many localised issues over the years, however this is a complete standstill, the magnitude of which has the power to shift our entire industry.ÔÇØ

A spokesperson for the University of Alberta added that they were also pleased to see the regulations clarified by the IRCC and will continue to support all its students as the world “adjust[s] to the ever-changing realities of this global pandemic”.

The exemptions also include all temporary foreign workers, with particular mention being made of seasonal agricultural workers, those working in fish/seafood and caregivers.

“I don’t see any students really saying, sorry, we are not interested, we are going back”

Workers in the low-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program will also be able to work for two years, instead of just one.

“Our government will continue to take the measures necessary to protect the health and safety of Canadians, including putting in place social distancing, isolation and travel restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” commented Marco E L Mendicino, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.

“TodayÔÇÖs announcement will ensure both a robust response to addressing the spread of the virus and that our farmers, fishers and other producers have the workers they need, when they need them, to strengthen CanadaÔÇÖs food security and provide other vital services.ÔÇØ

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