English Language Feeds

Starting Off

• Bowdoin College has started a campaign to raise $500 million by 2024. The college has already raised $300 million. Financial aid is a major focus.

Raising the Goal

• Youngstown State University has upped the goal for its campaign, announced two years ago at $100 million, to $125 million. The university has already raised $100 million.

Finishing Up

• Saint Mary's College has finished a campaign, raising $136 million. When the campaign started, the goal was $125 million.

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Binghamton University hopes to spearhead a new era of high-profile collegiate baseball in the Northeastern U.S. with a new $60 million stadium complex fully funded by an anonymous donor family.

The university, which is part of the State University of New York system, is well-known in the Northeast for its academic rigor but does not have much of a national profile, said Barry Jones, an economics professor and chair of the Faculty Senate’s Executive Committee. The baseball stadium, which will have the capacity to host National Collegiate Athletic Association postseason championships, will likely raise the university's profile, said Pat Elliot, Binghamton’s athletic director.

“It's a world-class academic institution. We strive in every area of this university to be the best that we can be,” Elliot said. “For us to be able to get into the postseason, and win championships, and into the national tournament, that raises the profile of all of our teams, of all of our programs” and also gets “the Binghamton University name out there nationally.”

The donation announced Feb. 11 is the largest in Binghamton’s 74-year history and comes in the midst of the quiet phase of a seven-year fundraising campaign, university president Harvey Stenger said.

He noted that alumni are now beginning to make substantial donations to the university. In the last two years, the university has received more than 14 million-dollar gifts, compared to five such gifts between its founding in 1946 and 2018, Stenger said.

The $60 million donation marks the second-largest gift to a SUNY campus, said Kristina Johnson, chancellor of the SUNY system. She said the system did not raise money from private sources when it was first founded. But when she became chancellor in 2017, she made it one of her goals to encourage more philanthropy in order to fund the building of new facilities and compete with the donor support flagship universities across the country receive.

“Philanthropy is another revenue stream and allows us to do things that we wouldn’t really be contemplating without that support,” Johnson said. “It is the opportunity to show that there’s excellence across the State University of New York, that donors and alumni are getting excited about giving and seeing what SUNY can do with those incremental dollars.”

Some commenters on Binghamton’s Facebook announcement about the stadium questioned the planned use of the gift and noted that a donor put $2.2 million toward an upgrade to the university’s current baseball field in 2016, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reported. Though reactions on social media were generally positive, some people mentioned more investment in mental health resources for students, tuition discounts and scholarships as alternatives or better uses for the $60 million.

Amir Pasic, dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said it's uncommon for a gift of $50 million or more to go toward athletics and that such large donations tend to be spent on facilities, major research or financial aid. He said in some instances university officials may be able to convince a donor who wants a gift used for a specific purpose to allow the institution to redirect the money to a different priority of the university.

Still, Pasic said, donations that go toward athletics can also serve an institution's larger and more long-term priorities well.

“Athletics also has an impact on the visibility of the university’s capacity to attract students,” he said. “It’s clearly something that makes a big difference to the branding of the place and its ability to attract students, alumni, members of the community to the games … Whenever you get an infusion of funds like this, it’s usually of dramatic consequence.”

Athletics also “raise serious money” and “have big followings,” said James Finkelstein, professor emeritus at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and an expert on university presidents. But donors making demands as to how their money is spent is becoming a widespread issue for leaders across higher education, said Judith Wilde, a professor at and COO of the Schar School. Wilde referenced a 2019 Inside Higher Ed survey of college presidents, where one-third said they rejected gifts because of requirements on how the funds could be used.

“Whenever a donor starts setting requirements for a gift, besides naming requirements, there might be a problem there,” Wilde said.

When universities maintain good relationships with donors, they will generally give to “a multitude of programs” over time, said Johnson, the SUNY system's chancellor. She said she does not know the identity of the $60 million donor family but is hopeful their philanthropy will inspire others to give to SUNY.

“This was definitely the family’s desire. Baseball was why they were coming to us with this gift,” Stenger said. “In development 101, that’s the message that you have to follow through on. It’s best to go on their direction, assuming that it’s beneficial to your university … rather than trying to steer a gift in a direction that may not be what their interests are.”

Binghamton’s baseball team is the most successful of the university's various Division I athletics programs. It has won 10 America East conference regular and postseason titles in the last 13 years, according to the university's online announcement of the donation. The Bearcats have advanced to the NCAA regional competition three times since 2013, and nine Binghamton baseball alumni have gone on to the major leagues in the last eight years.

The baseball team deserves a good field to play on, said Matthew McConn, chair of the teaching, learning and educational leadership department. McConn is a member of the university's Intercollegiate Athletics Board, a group of faculty members, students and staff that advises Stenger about twice a year and provides feedback on the academic performance of team athletes. The board was not involved in discussions about the donation or the plans for a new baseball stadium, but senior members of the university's faculty governing bodies were, Stenger said.

McConn, who is the new chair of his department, said increasing enrollment is a top priority and investment in athletics can bring some positive attention to Binghamton.

“A new baseball stadium, I think he’d be crazy to pass that up, because that’s the type of thing that brings new students,” McConn said of Stenger. “Any time that you can get more national recognition, it helps all around. We’re always looking for more nationally recognized scholars, and anytime you can get the BU name out there, that helps.”

The 84,000-square-foot stadium complex will be built on an aggressively fast timeline -- the first phase, with seating, press boxes, entertainment space and the baseball team’s clubhouse, is scheduled to be complete in spring 2021, said Ryan Yarosh, Binghamton's senior director of media and public relations. Construction for the second phase, the team’s new indoor practice facility, does not yet have dates, he said.

Johnson said the construction portion of the stadium itself will create 670 jobs over the next year or so in the area of Binghamton and Vestal, N.Y., where the team’s current facilities are located. Jones, the economics professor, said the area is “a baseball town” and predicted the stadium will benefit the local economy.

“Hopefully people from the surrounding community will come in and watch baseball games,” Jones said. “Athletics also has the potential to excite the alumni when they leave campus.”

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First-time enrollments of international students at U.S. graduate schools increased by 4 percent in fall 2019 compared to the previous fall, according to new survey results from the Council of Graduate Schools. Applications from prospective international graduate students also increased by 3 percent.

While trends varied across institution types and fields of study, the overall results are good news for U.S. graduate schools, which reported declining international applications and stagnating new international enrollments over the prior two admission cycles.

But the release of the data comes against a context of big changes in the climate for international recruiting, including a U.S. government ban on travel of foreign nationals from China in response to the global spread of the coronavirus.

Another factor is a recently expanded travel ban that restricts immigration-related travel to the U.S. from six additional countries, including Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, a continent that has been a big source of growth for U.S. graduate schools over the past three years. (The newly expanded travel ban -- which also includes nationals of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania, does not directly affect individuals on student visas and other forms of nonimmigrant visas, but advocates for international education say it sends an unwelcoming message.)

A "flash survey" conducted from mid-January to early February by CGS that garnered 174 responses found that 123 member institutions reported an increased number of incoming and returning international visitors, including graduate students, who experienced delays in U.S. visa processes over the past two years. Twenty-one institutions reported that they’d had students who were denied admission to the U.S. at ports of entry "due to former employment, social media posts, electronic device searches, or no reason given." The institutions described cases of students from China, Iran, Libya and Saudi Arabia being turned back.

“It is gratifying to see an increase in applications, which is a real reflection, I think, of the appeal of U.S. graduate programs, and the continued appeal for first-time students. Once offers are made, students are accepting and coming,” said Suzanne Ortega, the president of CGS. “But we continue to remain worried about ensuring that the U.S. is seen as a welcoming place and that students once admitted can actually get their visas and come to the U.S.”

The CGS survey found that the number of applications and first-time graduate enrollments from China both increased by 3 percent in fall 2019 compared to the previous year. The number of applications from India did not change, while first-time graduate enrollments of Indian students increased by a modest 1 percent.

China and India are the two leading source countries for international graduate students coming to the U.S., together accounting for 63 percent of all first-time international graduate students, according to CGS's data. Asia accounts for 78 percent of all international first-time graduate students, followed by Europe (6 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (5 percent), the Middle East and North Africa (4 percent), sub-Saharan Africa (also 4 percent), and Canada (2 percent).

The number of new students from the Middle East and North Africa stayed the same despite a 7 percent drop in the number of first-time students from Iran. Iranians, in general, are barred from coming to the U.S. under President Trump’s original travel ban, which also affects citizens of Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. There is an exception to the ban for Iranians coming on student and exchange visitor visas, but there have been about two dozen documented cases of Iranians being turned back at ports of entry despite holding valid student visas this academic year.

Meanwhile, graduate schools reported a 22 percent increase in new students coming from sub-Saharan Africa, following increases of 19 and 27 percent in the prior two years.

And the number of first-time graduate students from Mexico rebounded, increasing by 10 percent, following two consecutive years of declines.

The academic fields reporting the biggest increase in first-time international students were mathematics and computer science (11 percent), social and behavioral sciences (11 percent), and biological and agricultural sciences (10 percent), according to the survey.

First-time international graduate enrollment in engineering programs increased by 1 percent despite a 2 percent decline in international applications. Business programs reported declines in both international applications and first-time international enrollments of 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

The most research-intensive doctoral universities (known as R-1 institutions) reported increases both in new international master’s (5 percent) and doctoral (3 percent) students, and master's-level universities reported a 7 percent increase in new international master’s students. But for less research-intensive doctoral universities -- R-2 and R-3 institutions -- first-time international graduate enrollment declined by 1 percent at the master’s level and by 6 percent at the doctoral level.

CGS sent the survey to 775 American graduate schools, of which 403, or 52 percent, responded.

The data below show changes in first-time international enrollments by country and field of study over the past five admission cycles.

Change in First-Time Graduate Enrollment by Region/Country of Origin

  Fall 2014-15 Fall 2015-16 Fall 2016-17 Fall 2017-18 Fall 2018-19 Worldwide Total +5% +5% -1% +1% +4% Asia +7% +8% -2% +1% +6% China +12% 0% +5% +1% +3% India +12% -7% -13% 0% +1% Japan -- -- +3% -17% +8% South Korea +5% +10% -12% -4% +1% Taiwan +2% +14% +10% +1% +5% Europe -4% +8% +1% -3% -3% Latin America & Caribbean -6% +5% -10% +4% 0% Brazil -30% -9% +18% -2% -7% Mexico +6% +12% -10% -5% +10% Middle East and North Africa +1% -11% -5% -12% 0% Iran -- -- -16% -10% -7% Saudi Arabia +5% -13% -2% -18% +1% North America (Canada only) +1% -3% -7% +3% +6% Oceania -9% +7% -6% -9% +7% Sub-Saharan Africa +9% +3% +27% +19% +22%

Change in First-Time Graduate Enrollment by Field of Study

  Fall 2014-15 Fall 2015-16 Fall 2016-17 Fall 2017-18 Fall 2018-19 All Fields +5% +5% -1% +1% +4% Arts & Humanities +5% +6% -12% -7% 0% Agricultural and Biological Sciences +1% +2% -1% -4% +10% Business +2% +7% -11% -7% -2% Education 0% +7% -16% -31% +9% Engineering +1% -3% -10% -17% +1% Health Sciences -5% -14% +3% -16% +8% Mathematics and Computer Sciences +11% +4% +2% +1% +11% Physical and Earth Sciences +6% -3% -1% -15% +6% Public Administration and Services +4% +7% +4% -49% +8% Social and Behavioral Sciences +1% +9% 0% -6% +11% Other Fields +7% +11% +4% -2% +9% GlobalEditorial Tags: Graduate educationInternational higher educationForeign Students in U.S.Is this diversity newsletter?: Newsletter Order: 0Disable left side advertisement?: Is this Career Advice newsletter?: Magazine treatment: Trending: Display Promo Box: 

Large endowments often make headlines in higher education, but it's rare to see a community college in the mix.

That doesn't mean two-year colleges avoid fundraising, though.

"Within the last couple of decades, [community colleges] have by and large started to come into their own by recognizing the power of fundraising," said Marc Westenburg, director of the Center for Community College Advancement at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

According to the council's data, which was adjusted for inflation, between 1998 and 2018 the average community college endowment grew by 76 percent.

Westenburg said the colleges are realizing "the incredible case they have" for donors. At the same time, he said, the traditional model of funding for these colleges -- with a third of the money coming from state appropriations -- is becoming more of a challenge, as funding in most states has failed to keep pace with enrollment growth, meaning community colleges have to diversify their revenue sources.

At Northwest College in Wyoming, for example, the foundation has an endowment of $42 million, which is larger than the endowments of some small private four-year colleges.

The regional two-year college of 1,500 students got a jump start on its endowment funds in 2004, when the state provided matching gifts for fundraising, said Shelby Wetzel, executive director of the college's foundation. That program alone raised $16 million.

While the state no longer matches donations, Wetzel said the college has built a consistent fundraising program on their own because "donors have fallen in love with helping students."

"A large gift to a large institution is a drop in the bucket so many times," she said. "A large gift to our institution has huge value."

About 80 percent of the endowment is allocated to scholarships. It produces about $1.3 million annually in income to dole out to 1,500 students, Wetzel said.

Most of the money comes from nonalumni in the community, she said. Because the college is in a rural area, it provides a residential experience, which trickles out to the community through sporting events and cultural enrichment. The foundation uses those attributes to build the case for the college's value to the community.

The college is also the fifth-largest employer in the county, according to Wetzel. An economic modeling study found that it has an $88 million annual impact on the region.

Donors "can see their dollar goes further here," she said.

For the college, the endowment gives breathing room for dealing with budget cuts. For example, when state budget slashing hit during the recession, the foundation absorbed all of the scholarship funds normally taken out of the college's general fund. This freed up money for the college to use to counteract the cuts.

Northwest College makes a case against what Westenburg refers to as myths surrounding community college endowments.

One is that community college alumni don't have the same strong ties or pride for their past colleges as do graduates of four-year colleges.

"It's simply not true," Westenburg said. "For most community colleges, between 60 and 80 percent of their students remain in their service districts."

Because alumni are still active in these communities, they are more likely to give. A study by Lisa Skari, president of Mt. Hood Community College in Oregon, found that alumni who gave to the four-year college they transferred to were also four times more likely to give to their community college.

Linnie Carter, executive director of the Harrisburg Area Community College Foundation in Pennsylvania, said that statistic also helps encourage donors to give to community colleges.

"Donors’ charitable investments have a direct impact on their own communities, because the beneficiaries of their generosity are productive members of society," Carter said. "A donor who contributes to a scholarship fund is investing in a nurse who might save their life one day."

While Carter said it's more difficult for community colleges to fundraise simply because they have fewer resources than four-year institutions, and they are typically younger institutions and thus have smaller alumni pools, it can still be done. Her college's foundation has about $43 million in assets, she said.

One donor, Gloria Paxton, left 70 percent of her estate -- $1.3 million -- to the college last year. She wasn't an alumna, Carter said, but she still understood the importance of the college.

Carter also emphasizes the economic impacts of the college. A study found that the college generates $1 billion annually through its operations, construction projects, student spending and alumni. It also supports more than 14,000 jobs in the area.

"We ask donors to imagine life without HACC, and it’s impossible," Carter said. "There’s no mission in higher education that's more important than the community college mission, in my opinion."

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University presidents have come under fire for a variety of race-related comments in recent years. Some college leaders say it’s time to make cultural competency a top priority.

How retail tactics are reshaping student recruitment.

Michael Bloomberg topped The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s just-released rankings of the donors who gave the most in 2019, in part because of his gift to aid students at the Johns Hopkins University,

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The pioneering work of Don Finlay, international dean of Coventry University’s business school, in helping to push Coventry into a leading position for global engagement will be commemorated at a memorial service for him in the university this Friday 14 February.

Finlay died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 63 on arrival in Chongqing to further develop the highly regarded partnership he established with South West University of Politics and Law.

Coventry University and the city council will pay their respects to his 30 years of commitment and recognise the lasting legacy he leaves. In a rare honour, an Illuminated Address signed by the Lord Mayor of the City on behalf of the Council leadership will be presented to his wife, Judy Finlay, who also works for the university.

Finlay was a leader in developing academic relationships in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam along with France, Poland and Denmark but his greatest contribution was in China, where he helped set up a number of partnerships for Coventry.

A memorial service was held in Hangzhou in October, with members of the higher education from across Asia and some coming from as far afield as the US to pay respects.

Coventry’s vice chancellor John Latham spoke, as well as leaders of Chinese universities and other partners including the British Council, who remarked on his creativity and commitment, energy and enthusiasm, and kindness to young staff whom he mentored and supported.

Don Finlay

David Pilsbury, deputy vice chancellor international, commented, “Don’s legacy is not just based on achievement but also in the way he developed partnerships – his depth of understanding of the academic process, his innovativeness and his respect for the contribution of international partnerships all came together to establish a way of working that is now embedded in the university.”

Other achievements included the development of CoventryÔÇÖs summer schools, outward mobility programmes, links with industry and the introduction of ÔÇ£international championsÔÇØ in his faculty.

Judy Finlay, DonÔÇÖs wife, said she had been overwhelmed by the outpouring of respect and support. ÔÇ£I do not think Don would believe it,ÔÇØ she told┬áThe PIE News.

Don originally met when Judy was an international student in the UK. As she put it, his drive and vision were what attracted her.

ÔÇ£Not many people would have the same vision, and the skills and tenacity to turn that vision into reality,ÔÇØ she told The PIE. She added that she felt compelled to ÔÇ£continue his workÔÇØ in China as Coventry seeks to further deepen its already strong links in the country.

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Australia’s Monash University has announced it will establish the┬áfirst overseas university campus in Indonesia ÔÇô Monash Indonesia ÔÇô following a 2019 agreement┬ábetween Indonesia and Australia signalling offshore branch campuses to be given the go-ahead.

Monash Indonesia will be a postgraduate campus in the country’s capital Jakarta, offering masters, PhD degrees, executive programs and micro-credentials.

“The physical establishment serves as a symbol of MonashÔÇÖs commitment to Indonesia”

“Monash has a long history of engagement in Indonesia and a desire to build deeper links with a thriving and innovative community with great ambitions for education and research,” said Margaret Gardner AC, president and vice-chancellor of Monash University.

The “research-intensive and industry engaged” campus will join Monash’s global network, with its┬ábranch campus in Malaysia, as well as┬ápartnered campuses in Suzhou with SouthEast University and Mumbai with Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

“The opening of Monash Indonesia, the first Australian university based in Indonesia, will enable us to work in and with Indonesian people and their organisations to realise their future opportunities,”┬áGardner added.

“The physical establishment also serves as a symbol of MonashÔÇÖs commitment to Indonesia and the wider Asian region, as well as stronger research and education links between Indonesia and Australia.”

Monash Indonesia represents a deepening of the bilateral relationship between┬áAustralia and Indonesia, according to the institution ÔÇô a sentiment echoed by Indonesia’s┬áminister for Education and Culture.

The institution would “help┬áaccelerate the strengthening of our education system and deepen the social, economic and technological links between Australia and Indonesia”,┬áIndonesian education minister Nadiem Makarim said in a statement.

“This partnership will be the first out of many other partnerships to come,” he added.

In addition to the long-term education, research and industry collaboration benefits, it will facilitate the two-way flow of students and scholars, and innovative ideas and technology, according to the institution.

Short executive programs will begin on the campus later in 2020, while Monash plans to welcome the first intake of master’s students for quarter four 2021.

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UK-based ELT schools are bracing themselves for serious financial problems because of coronavirus, with providers already reporting lost business from both China and other countries around the world. 

The main concerns centre around timing issues with group bookings and nervous parents not wanting to send their children abroad. ELT schools have expressed concern that summer programs will be cancelled as a result. 

ÔÇ£Coronavirus could have a massive impact, not just through missed bookings from China or East AsiaÔÇØ

It is just one of the fallouts of the deadly virus that has killed as many as 1000 people in mainland China to date. 

During English UK’s Marketing Conference 2020, an ELT school executive told The PIE that ELT businesses will be seriously affected if the situation doesnÔÇÖt improve by March.┬á

ÔÇ£I think the coronavirus could have a massive impact, not just through missed bookings from China or East Asia, where it seems to be developing, but also from markets that arenÔÇÖt affected but that may well become affected.┬á

ÔÇ£There are lots of markets that are zero risk tolerant, Italy and Japan in particular. Groups are paying deposits over the next two months, for most people, some people go as late as May 1, and those groups will be struggling to recruit those students, the parents of those students will be hesitating to put down money.ÔÇØ

The executive said that if coronavirus is still top of the news agenda going into March, then companies will have to tighten their belts and exercise force majeure clauses with partners.  

The nervousness of parents in certain key markets like Italy has already had an effect on businesses like the Twin Group. Global Sales director at the Twin Group, Simon Baker, told The PIE that a group from Italy had decided not to come because of the virus. 

ÔÇ£The parents wanted them [students] to come to the UK but they decided that they were worried about coronavirus in general,ÔÇØ he said.┬á

ÔÇ£So weÔÇÖve had an Italian group decide not to come based on coronavirus. Which I was surprised at. The agent had a meeting with the school and the parents decided that they were just generally anxious.ÔÇØ

Lawrence Jackson, head of sales at International House London, said that a key point is if and how the Chinese holiday period is rescheduled. 

ÔÇ£So there is talk about a shift in the pattern of when it would be that Chinese schools would have their summer holidays.

ÔÇ£If the virus continues to grow and there is no immediate vaccine or solution, then the knock on effect could be that the dates of delivery are simply not compatible with the dates of travel.ÔÇØ

Jackson explained that if the situation is not contained by mid-March then the majority of the UK schools can look at having a huge drop off in terms of their summer business from China. 

ÔÇ£That might be in some cases a good 40% of some peoplesÔÇÖ businesses. Broadly speaking itÔÇÖs a dominant part of the UK summer business at many schools.┬á

ÔÇ£This year could be a ÔÇ£white-washÔÇØ for a lot of UK providers if the situation does not improve very quickly.ÔÇØ┬á

The British Council has published a blog post on the likely scenarios facing UK higher education as a result of the coronavirus. 

Likely scenarios for UK HE in face of coronavirus. Photo: British Council

The best case scenario outlined by the British Council would involve normal business activity resuming by the end of February. 

This in turn would result in minimal near-term exchanges being disrupted, flights altered regionally as excess capacity spills onto alternate hubs, delays to UK applications and the cancellation of some summer programs. 

The worst case scenario (if normal business activity resumes by the end of August or later) would see ÔÇ£all activities disrupted with significant impact on mobility to the UK.ÔÇØ┬á

Fraser Deas, head of education services (China) at British Council, said during a talk at the English UK conference that the chances of the best case scenario are very low. 

ÔÇ£I think we can pretty confidently say that that is not going to be the case, which means there is going to be some disruptions.┬á

ÔÇ£We really thought that the baseline is the end of March, and to be honest if it gets to the end of March we will see a lot of cancellations for summer programs. IÔÇÖm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.┬á

ÔÇ£And obviously if it goes on to the end of April, May and even stretches out to the end of June, that will be a real challenge.”

Deas said that the British Council is advising ELT schools to trust and listen to their agents as much as possible. 

ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs a very challenging and to be frank, distressing time in China, and whilst if it does mean losses (and course thatÔÇÖs challenging and stressful for you) I think the healthier you can keep your agent relations the better it will be in the long term.ÔÇØ

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More than three-quarters of global business school leaders believe the fundamentals of the MBA will change within the next five years, and more than two-thirds think the content could be improved, research from the Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association has revealed.

The AMBA & BGA business school leaders survey, which polled 358 decision-makers at business schools across the world, showed that a quarter of survey participants do not think their campus is being run as efficiently as it could be.

“These findings demonstrate that… there is scope for improvement in MBA delivery”

As part of the survey, business school leaders were asked how likely or unlikely it is that the fundamentals of the MBA are likely to change within the next 10 years.

Some 77% said they think that it is likely, including two in five (40%) who think that it is ÔÇÿvery likelyÔÇÖ.

Two thirds (67%) agreed that the delivery or content of their MBA program could be improved, although more than half (53%) stated ÔÇÿtend to agreeÔÇÖ, suggesting that most leaders recognise some scope for improvement.

Slightly more than half (54%) agreed that ÔÇÿmy business schoolÔÇÖs campus is being run as efficiently as it could beÔÇÖ. Conversely, a quarter (25%) disagreed.

ÔÇÿThese findings demonstrate that most leaders believe that MBA delivery methods are likely to evolve over time and that there is scope for improvement in MBA delivery,”┬ásaid Research and Insight manager at AMBA & BGA,┬áWill Dawes.

Leaders were also asked how important various pieces of technologies would be in running business schools in the next 10 years.

Big data is perceived to be the most important of these technologies, with 95% of business school leaders stating that it is important, followed by experiential learning (94%), digitalisation (93%) and AI (86%).

When asked about the introduction of automation almost half (47%) said their school is prepared, while the same proportion (47%) said they are not prepared.

When asked about some technologies, most leaders said that their institutions are not prepared to embrace the technology: three in five said that their school is unprepared for the introduction of augmented reality (63%) and virtual reality (60%).

Leaders in India said they are particularly confident that their schools are successful in delivering technological change, and were more likely to strongly agree that their business school has developed new and innovative ways of delivering programmes (63% versus 25% of leaders worldwide).

They are also more likely to agree that their business school is fully prepared for opportunities that the fourth industrial revolution will offer (63% vs. 35% overall).

Other regions where leaders are more likely to agree that their business school is fully prepared for opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution include China (71%) and Africa (50%).

“Some schools do not necessarily believe that they are as advanced in their journey to introduce new technology”

It is important to note that leaders from no single region held significantly negative perceptions of technology delivery, the research paper explained.

However, leaders from North America and the Caribbean and Europe (excluding the UK) are more likely to think that their business school is not doing well at ÔÇÿusing new technology to deliver teaching and learningÔÇÖ (50% and 37% respectively versus 32% overall.)

“These results are further evidence of mixed levels of confidence in whether MBA curricula meet the needs of the biggest tech employers,” said Dawes.

“Leaders are broadly optimistic about the future of the sector… [but] some schools do not necessarily believe that they are as advanced in their journey to introduce new technology into their institutions as they could be.

“Yet it is also clear that schools are gearing themselves up to introduce new technological concepts and see the opportunities that this presents,” he added.

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WASHINGTON -- President Trump on Monday called for a $5.6 billion, or 7.8 percent, cut in Department of Education funding and reductions for most core funders of academic research, but also proposed a nearly $900 million increase in career and technical education funding that U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called “perhaps the largest increase in CTE ever.”

In proposing education cuts, as he has every year of his presidency, Trump reproposed several ideas that have been rejected by Congress, including eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant programs, and giving campus financial aid administrators greater latitude to limit loan borrowing by individual students.

The proposal, however, did offer some new ideas, including capping graduate student and Parent PLUS loans.

However, the proposal is just that, a proposal, U.S. Education Department officials acknowledged during a briefing on the budget.

Congress each year has passed a budget spending far more than Trump proposed, including last year when Congress spent $72.7 billion on education, compared to the administration’s $64 billion proposal, said Jim Blew, the department’s assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development.

Democrats who control the House didn't seem inclined to go along with Trump's proposals. Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat who chairs the House education committee, said in a statement the proposal "makes college more expensive for students by eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and cutting vital sources of financial aid for students from low-income families."

In blasting the proposal, James Kvaal, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, noted the near certainty the proposal will not be approved by House Democrats, who are proposing to increase the size of the maximum Pell Grant and make community college free.

"Students can console themselves that this budget is here today, gone tomorrow," he said. "In fact, Congress is now considering substantial increases in student aid. The deep cuts proposed in this budget should be quickly forgotten."

According to an analysis by the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, the administration would cut more than $2 billion next year in federal student financial support, mostly by bringing back proposals to eliminate programs like subsidized Stafford Loans, freeze the maximum Pell Grant for the next decade and cut $630 million from the federal work-study program.

Among the new ideas were two intended to set “sensible annual and lifetime loan limits for graduate and parent borrowers,” a budget document said. It would limit Parent PLUS loans for undergraduate students to $26,500. Dependent undergraduate students would be eligible to borrow an additional amount, up to $57,500, depending on the parents' eligibility for additional borrowing.

In 1992, Congress removed caps on lending, allowing parents to borrow up to the full cost of attendance after passing a minimum credit check. A report last April by the Urban Institute and New America found the loan program frequently issues debt to parents with little chance of successful repayment, and functions as a “no-strings-attached” revenue source for many colleges.

Graduate students, under the proposed budget, would also not be allowed to borrow more than $50,000 annually, or $100,000 in aggregate. The proposal would also consolidate graduate student borrowing under one loan program with the same terms as Graduate PLUS loans.

In addition, the budget proposal would make incarcerated prisoners eligible for Pell Grants. But Monique Ositelu, senior policy analyst for higher education at New America, said only prisoners due to be released within five years would be eligible. She said in a Twitter post that the five-year limit would disproportionately exclude younger men of color.

The Outlook for Science Research

The Trump administration, in budget documents, touted increases in some types of federally funded research, including an additional $830 million, or 70 percent, in National Science Foundation funding for artificial intelligence-related grants and interdisciplinary research institutes. But associations representing public and private research universities and medical colleges criticized proposed cuts in other research areas.

“The administration’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget request falls far short of the investment needed to secure the U.S.’s position as the world’s preeminent economic power,” Association of Public and Land-grant Universities president Peter McPherson said in a statement. “At a time when our global competitors are doubling down in investments in education and research, we can’t afford to fall behind,” he said.

The proposal would cut overall research funding to the NSF by 7 percent, 17 percent from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and 7 percent from the National Institutes of Health.

“While the president’s proposed FY21 budget prioritizes some areas of research -- such as artificial intelligence -- it also contains deep funding cuts and policy proposals that could harm America’s position as the world’s leader in research, science, and higher education,” echoed Association of American Universities president Mary Sue Coleman in a statement.

In proposing the increase in funding for technical and career education, the administration said in a budget document it would support a "commitment to preparing students to succeed in today’s competitive, rapidly changing economy, and answer the ever increasing needs of a booming economy." Touting it at the briefing, Scott Stump, the Education Department’s assistant secretary for career, technical and adult education, said CTE funds have only increased by an average of 1.6 percent annually over the past four decades.

Kermit Kaleba, managing director of policy at the National Skills Coalition, though, called the budget proposal “a mixed bag for our nation’s workforce.” The increase in CTE funding “will go a long way towards helping more students, including adult learners, get the skills and credentials they need to succeed in a 21st century economy,” Kaleba said in a statement. He also praised a proposal to expand Pell Grants to short-term programs.

But he criticized proposed cuts to food stamps and welfare funding, as well as the imposition of a work requirement to receive Medicaid.

Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate education committee, in a release, praised aspects of the budget proposal, including the increase in CTE funding.

But he called them "budget suggestions," and noted that “under the Constitution, it is Congress’s job to set spending priorities and pass appropriations bills.”

Advocates for the humanities and the arts were almost certainly finding relief in that constitutional power-sharing arrangement Monday. The administration's budget proposed giving the National Endowments of the Humanities and of the Arts just enough money ($33 million and $30 million, respectively) to begin winding the agencies down.

Congress has ignored those requests in recent years and actually gave the agencies increases last year.

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Graduate student workers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, escalated their ongoing grade strike to a general strike Monday, saying they can’t afford to live where they’ve been recruited to work and study.

Hundreds of students gathered on campus throughout the day for rallies, talks and solidarity. Faculty members and undergraduates visited to offer support. Graduate students don’t know how long they’ll keep agitating, but they’re prepared for a fight.

“We organized for a local rent control measure that failed, and we’ve worked very hard to support the university, but now it’s time for the administration to work hard to support us,” said Yulia Gilichinskaya, a graduate assistant in film and digital media studies at Santa Cruz.

Graduate student instructors, readers and graders across the university system -- from inland Merced down to San Diego -- all get about $2,400, pre-tax, per month for nine months out of the year, based on their United Auto Workers-affiliated union contract. While the deal passed statewide last summer, Santa Cruz students voted down it down by 83 percent and have been looking for ways to address their specific cost-of-living concerns since. Now they are protesting for $1,400 more per month.

California is an expensive place to live in general, but Santa Cruz residents face one of the tightest, most expensive housing markets in the country. Many graduate students have a horror story about trying to find a place to rent and a worse one about trying to pay for what space they eventually find. 

To change that, Santa Cruz graduate assistants are now seeking a campus-based increase in pay -- what they call a cost-of-living adjustment. Their calculations suggest that the extra $1,400 would enable many of them to spend a relatively reasonable 30 percent of their pay on rent, instead of the 50 percent or more many spend now. 

“It’s my fourth year in Santa Cruz, and I’ve had to move four times -- this is the first time I feel safe in my housing situation,” said Gilichinskaya, 31. Prior experiences with older, live-in male landlords and other concerns forced her to seek out a more secure, quiet space. And now that she’s living alone, she can’t really afford it: she says 79 percent of her pay goes toward rent.

Jane Komori, a third-year Ph.D. student studying in the interdisciplinary history of consciousness program, said she shares a room with someone, in a house with three other roommates, for $600 per month. Utilities and other fixed expenses add up to another $150, she said, making her own squeeze of a situation barely affordable.

“And I have it really good compared to a lot of people on campus,” added Komori, 25.

Seeking to force Santa Cruz’s administration to discuss a COLA, graduate student instructors launched a grade strike in December, even though their UAW contracts have a no-strike clause. Some 12,000 undergraduate grades were withheld, and many of the assistants who withheld them received letters of reprimand this month. Those who went a step further and deleted their grades from the university network received student conduct summonses.

The statewide union has said it will assist graduate students who face disciplinary action. It also told the university that withholding grades is an employment-related issue, and that concerns should be addressed through the union, not as student conduct violations.

Yet as the statewide union offers its support, Santa Cruz’s administration says that its hands are tied due to the statewide contract.

“UC Santa Cruz is in no position and has no authority to separately change an already agreed-upon, system-wide labor contract with the UAW,” the university said in a statement. Graduate students “play an important role in the educational mission of UCSC and this escalation of their wildcat strike will only impact our undergraduate students further.”

Of the ongoing grade strike, in particular, the university said that it is “extremely disappointed some graduate students are planning to continue to withhold grades” and that such actions “can have a profound, and perhaps unexpected, impact on our undergraduate students, including loss of financial aid, ability to graduate, declare a major, or apply to other programs including graduate school.”

Gilichinskaya said she’s all too aware of the consequences of the strike, as her participation puts her own legal status as a student at risk. But students are fighting for survival.

While the university hasn’t responded to the COLA request, it announced two new graduate student programs in January. The first is guaranteed five-year funding at half-time appointments, at minimum, for all new and continuing teaching and research assistants in good standing. The second is a need-based annual housing supplement of $2,500 until more campus living space becomes available.

Graduate students say these responses are inadequate, however, as need-based supplements aren’t available to international students. It's also unclear to them as of now who will otherwise qualify for housing assistance. Santa Cruz says that only students with "sufficient need" will get help. It defines need as the gap between the cost of attendance and students' expected contribution, based on their federal financial aid applications.

Students also say that the university continues to frame the problem as one of mere supply, and that building more rentals won’t necessarily prevent students from getting priced out of the local market.

As for the university’s position that it cannot negotiate with students on one campus during an ongoing contract, students take a different view. Agreement letters can be added to current contracts, they say. Fellowships could be announced. There are ways to get creative.

“We don't have to reinvent the wheel,” Gilichinskaya said.

Komori suggested that going forward, the university could fund students based on the local rental market, mirroring the way some federal agencies compensate their employees.

Gilichinskaya said that if the university doesn’t do it that way, then everyone in the system needs to be paid a living wage based on the most expensive campuses -- not the most affordable.

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Eight universities in California are embarking on an experiment to help students pay for college through public service.

The Civic Action Fellowship, announced Monday, will award students up to $10,000 to put toward their college costs in exchange for one semester working with a local nonprofit or government office.

Students will tackle a range of regional and local community challenges, such as reducing homelessness. The challenges each institution will address will be selected by the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and form part of a statewide initiative to encourage more citizens to give back to their communities.

Rather than making students work on weekends or over the summer, the public service commitment will take the place of classes for one semester. Staff members at each institution will work with local partners to ensure the student placements tie into the academic curriculum and are substantive.

The participating institutions are a mixture of public and private nonprofit universities. California Lutheran University, Dominican University of California and University of the Pacific are the independent institutions; California State University's campuses at Los Angeles and Stanislaus and San José State University and the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Merced are the public universities in the pilot.

California Volunteers, a California state agency, will lead coordination of the program and distribute $3.2 million to the eight institutions to cover administrative costs. An additional $677,000 in scholarship funds will be allocated to participating students following completion of their fellowship. The nearly $4 million in funding, a mixture of federal and state funds, will cover the pilot from March 2020 through June 30, 2021.

Representatives of institutions participating in the pilot, described as a “first-in-the-nation” program in a California Volunteers news release, said the program would help them to graduate students with real-world job experience and an engrained commitment to civic engagement. Approximately 250 students will participate in the program starting in fall 2020. The fellowship is supported by an AmeriCorps grant, and students will be required to sign up as AmeriCorps Fellows to participate.

“We hope this new partnership with universities will become a model for calling on young people to serve, while helping them pay for college,” said California chief service officer Josh Fryday in a statement.

The Civic Action Fellowship was inspired by a program at Dominican University called Reimagining Citizenship. In this scholarship program, students work with the government of the city of Novato over two sequential summers while earning credit toward Dominican’s minor in community action and social change.

Mary Marcy, Dominican's president, said Fryday -- then mayor of the city of Novato -- was instrumental in creating the Reimagining Citizenship program in 2018. The new Civic Action Fellowship will be modeled on Dominican’s program, but with some important changes. For example, students will no longer work over their summer vacation, as some need to work full-time during that period to make ends meet, said Marcy. Dominican will continue to offer its Reimagining Citizenship program in addition to the new Civic Action Fellowship, she said.

Each of the eight institutions participating in the fellowship already encourages students to give back to their community through public service, said Marcy. “I was really heartened by the number of campuses that said yes. Conceptually this makes a lot of sense. We have a natural cohort of institutions that already engage with their communities.”

Navigating the different governance structures in state government, community partners and public and private institutions of varying sizes makes the fellowship program “very complex” to organize, said Marcy. “But there’s a collegiality and interest shared by everyone involved to make it work,” she said.

Given the administrative challenges involved, it isn’t clear how much the fellowship can scale, acknowledged Marcy.

Dominican plans to start with 33 students this fall and see how things progress from there, she said. Both Marcy and Ana Bertha Gutiérrez, a senior director at Jobs for the Future, said Newsom would like to see the fellowship become truly statewide, with potentially thousands of students participating each year.

“It makes sense to connect these systems and create these pathways into state service,” said Gutiérrez. “California is seizing on upon the opportunity and the convening power of the current administration to try this out and set something up.”

While she fully supports the idea behind the fellowship, Gutiérrez said there are a “lot of institutional and administrative challenges that will come up. Higher education institutions aren’t designed to offer internships at scale. They aren’t used to partnering in this nuanced way. They’re going to have to adapt and change, and that is going to be where the real work is going to take place.” She added, “We know all these systems are connected and interdependent, but how do we get them to talk with each other?”

Participants hope the fellowship won’t just improve communication between universities and community partners, but also between participating institutions. Mojgan Behmand, associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of the Dominican Experience, said she anticipates that sharing results between institutions may be one of the more challenging aspects of the fellowship, but it will be essential to helping it scale.

“Aligning with each other, sharing best practices will be challenging but valuable. We want to connect students across institutions, share syllabi, use our planning grants to train each other and share what we are doing with our colleagues. It’s that alignment between different institutions that will be really valuable and make the initiative pervasive throughout the state. But it’s going to be hard to organize,” said Behmand.

At the institutional level, Behmand said Dominican is focused on creating meaningful work placements that benefit not only students, but also the institution’s community partners. “It has to be reciprocal,” she said.

Dominican has developed a two-semester academic sequence to prepare students for their fellowship. Fellows will take two courses in their first semester to learn how to identify community need and understand key theories in community engagement and social advocacy. In the second semester, fellows will complete 450 hours of on-site service for 10 units of credit. Dominican’s pilot will focus on three key areas: education, economic opportunity and healthy futures. Depending on where they are placed, students will provide services including health and nutrition education, financial literacy, and housing advocacy and support.

A spokeswoman for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that manages AmeriCorps, said the Civic Action Fellowship is an innovative use of AmeriCorps funding. “We don’t have anything that looks like this. The scale and scope are quite unique,” she said. Though AmeriCorps already works with higher education in many ways, there are opportunities for that bond to be strengthened, the spokeswoman said. “Connecting higher education and public service is a natural partnership. Programs like this have the potential to have a tremendous impact on students’ lives, their community and beyond.”

“The new Civic Action Fellowship is an encouraging step toward maximizing federal funding to help California students afford college and find meaningful employment upon graduation,” said Audrey Dow, senior vice president of the Campaign for College Opportunity. “Ensuring college affordability more broadly, however, requires a larger statewide strategy that ensures all high school students complete the FAFSA, take up federal work-study, when available, and of course, a redesign of our current Cal Grant program so that all low-income students can afford tuition and cost of living.”

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Concordia University in Portland, Ore., will close at the end of the spring 2020 semester, yet another in a string of private nonprofit colleges in the Portland area to close.

The private, nonprofit Lutheran institution's Board of Regents voted last Friday to cease operations at the 115-year-old institution, according to a Monday announcement.

Students who have not completed degree requirements will get "extensive information outlining pathways" at partnering institutions, said a section of the college's website devoted to information on the closure. Students' credits "may be considered for transfer" to another regionally accredited university, but accepting transfer credits is "always at the discretion of the receiving institution," the website said. Concordia is regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The university is also working to create transition plans for faculty and staff in each department. It will work with the office of Oregon's attorney general as it closes to determine a plan for its assets.

A spokesperson for the university said the announcement was "certainly a surprise to many."

"The Board’s decision came after years of mounting financial challenges, and a challenging and changing educational landscape," the university said in a statement to Inside Higher Ed.

A statement from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod cited the "difficult environment confronting small private universities, not least religiously affiliated ones," as a reason for the closure.

"Colleges and universities nationwide continue to face challenges, even those whose contributions to their communities and the world are laudable," it said.

The university's strategic plan, called Vision 2024, stressed core themes of being Lutheran, rigor and creating servant leaders. It planned to "expand its physical campuses," "develop, expand and diversify strategic partnerships," and "ensure good stewardship of its resources."

Concordia follows in the footsteps of Marylhurst University and the Oregon College of Art and Craft, both small institutions in the Portland area that shut down within the last few years. Small religious colleges across the nation have been closing and consolidating at a steady clip as demographics change and students seeking affordability look elsewhere.

While enrollment over all has been up at Concordia since 2010, it peaked in 2014, according to federal data. And that growth was largely due to graduate students. Total undergraduate enrollment increased from 1,244 students in fall 2010 to 1,501 students in 2018. Graduate enrollment jumped from 870 in 2010 to 6,178 in 2014 before dropping back down to 3,841 in 2018. The current sticker price of tuition and fees for full-time undergraduates is about $31,000, up nearly 3 percent from last year.

Revenue was down. Concordia's 2018 annual report shows the university had about $113.2 million in revenue in 2018, down from $116.5 million in 2017. More than 80 percent of its revenue was coming from tuition and fees. Expenditures outpaced revenue in 2017 by about $8 million, then expenses came in just below revenue in 2018 due largely to nearly $12 million in expense cuts.

"The university’s current and projected enrollment and finances make it impossible to continue its educational mission," a university spokesperson said.

The six-year graduation rate for a bachelor's degree at Concordia was 47 percent for the cohort that started in fall 2012. Nationwide, the average six-year graduation was 60 percent for those who started in 2011.

Juliana Smith, an associate professor at the university and chair of the Executive Faculty Committee, Concordia's version of a Faculty Senate, deferred a request for comment to the university's spokeswoman.

The university employs 63 full-time and 172 part-time faculty members, according to federal data.

The university also ran into trouble with the federal government in 2015. The U.S. Department of Education alleged the university illegally outsourced some of its online programs to a private contractor, HotChalk Inc., according to The Oregonian. Online education led to Concordia becoming one of the nation's largest providers of education master's degrees. The university paid out a $1 million agreement to settle the claim while denying wrongdoing.

Monday's news comes after the university held its ninth annual Victor Atiyeh Leadership in Education Awards event last week, according to The Oregonian. It raised $355,000 for student scholarships for the 3toPhD program, a collaboration between the university, local public schools and health institutions to provide support for children from "the first three trimesters of life" to earning a Ph.D. -- from prenatal care services to early childhood education to college academics.

"At that point the Board had not voted to close the college, therefore it was business as usual," the university said in a statement when asked why the fundraiser was held. "The donations made through this event go to support scholarships for students in the 2019-2020 academic year and the 3toPhD program."

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• Muhlenberg College is starting master's programs in applied analytics and organizational leadership.
• New School is starting a master's degree in music for performers and composers.
• Ohio Wesleyan University is starting a major in quantitative economics.
• Sacred Heart University is launching an accelerated nursing program for students who already have a bachelor's degree.
• Trident University International is starting an online doctor of health administration program.

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The university was battered by fierce competition in the online-education market, its interim president said.

A heartwarming tale about a US host family which offered to take in a Chinese student from Wuhan as he underwent a period of self-isolation has been a welcome antidote to general concerns being documented in the industry about Chinese student anxiety in the wake of the coronavirus fallout.

Yidi arrived in the US at the end of January, just as authorities were realising the true global threat posed by the airborne virus.

He was a student enrolling with UTP High Schools and Beth Drake, chief operating officer at UTP, explained to The PIE News that she made the decision to restrict Yidi – along with Bo, his Chinese roommate – to a period of isolation before joining classes with the rest of their group.

“I had the uncomfortable phone call with the host to ask if she would consider hosting this student when he did come from Wuhan, and she would be technically┬áliving with him during an incubation period,” Drake explained.

“She embraced the challenge and has been exceptional.”

The students now have the all clear and have rejoined their group in classes at Saint Anthony’s, where 300 international students are within the school as part of their UTP program.

Drake acknowledged that UTP had worked with Saint Anthony’s and their student body of nearly 3,000 high schools students and their parents.

“We have worked in lockstep with our faculty and administrators to make sure our Chinese students feel welcome and safe,” she related. “Across the entire student body we have worked to inform as best as possible during this rapidly evolving situation.”

The story is set against a backdrop of growing concerns over Asian students fearing they may be victims of negative profiling on school campuses.

As concerns over the novel coronavirus continue to mount, education providers have implemented a range of contingency measures to help discourage such instances of racism and xenophobia.

His Asian Canadian friends had been told to move away or cover their mouths

In the UK, UKCISA’s chief executive, Anne Marie Graham, confirmed that there had been cases of abuse against Chinese students, with the organisation directing students to use their student advice phone line.

At Arizona State University, which counts more than 3,000 people from Chinese among its student body, ASU president┬áMichael Crow told local media┬áthere are concerns about students feeling racially profiled as a result of “uninformed behaviour” after one confirmed case of the virus was confirmed there last month.

In Canada,┬áa Chinese-Canadian student at the University of Toronto┬átold the CBC his Asian Canadian friends had been told to move away or cover their mouths. “[It’s] this idea of ‘yellow peril,’ of this Chinese horde coming to destroy Western civilisation,” the student explained.

Universities Canada has asked its members to “remain mindful” that┬áthe risk of infection remains relatively low.

“Universities across the country are collaborating with public health agencies and communicating widely with students, staff and faculty to share the most up-to-date information and health advice… while remaining mindful that┬áthe risk associated with the virus remains┬álow for Canada and Canadian travellers,” it said in a statement.

In Ireland, Douglas Proctor, director of UCD Global at University College Dublin, told The PIE that with 1,200 students in China via their TNE activity, there is “significant engagement” in the country and they had been working with government agencies and partners.

English UK reminded its member centres to focus on “goodwill” in its business dealings with Chinese study travel businesses

“We are alert but not alarmed, and putting in all of the necessary contingency plans” he said, adding that with no travel ban currently in place in Ireland, or a start to a new academic year, there have not been the same dimensions to contend with as in other countries.

Referencing reports from other countries of Chinese students feeling anxious about being targeted because of their nationality, he said the situation was more muted in Ireland. “We have not needed to remind the UCD community about tolerance and inclusion,” he said.

In the UK, English UK also reminded its member centres to focus on “goodwill” in its business dealings with Chinese study travel businesses, as cancellations would be inevitable as the travel ban in China continued.

A Tourism Industry Emergency Response Group meeting on the coronavirus situation was held, during which traveller-facing organisations have been urged to refund cancelled Chinese trips if possible.

Huan Japes, English UKÔÇÖs membership director, who attended the TIER meeting, said: “We have a very strong message that while small businesses such as language schools may have certain sunk costs which make refunds more difficult, everyone is strongly encouraged to start by offering credit and moving to a refund if necessary.

“ItÔÇÖs important for the members of all tourism associations, including English UK, show compassion, goodwill and understanding and consider everyoneÔÇÖs long-term as well as short-term interests. We should all remember that Chinese business is relationship-based and it has taken a long time and a great deal of hard work to get us to this point.”

He said it was particularly important for English UK members choosing to cancel booked Chinese students to explain the reasoning clearly and with sensitivity and provide a refund.

The post Family in US takes in student from Wuhan; global efforts made to quell wider anxiety appeared first on The PIE News.

The first annual ICEF Secondary Education event which took place from January 20 to 22 has been described as an “overwhelming success” by those in attendance.

Directed at international providers and student recruitment agents of secondary, boarding, high school, academic summer camp, foundation and junior programs, the inaugural event welcomed 417 participants from 313 organisations to Long Beach, California.

“It was great to have a high school agent-focused event for my sector”

Markus Badde, CEO of ICEF, explained that due to the demand for foreign higher education qualifications, the market for secondary studies abroad has grown steadily over the past decade.

“Most major study destinations continue to report strong growth in enrolment for foreign diploma-seeking students,”┬áBadde noted.

“A number of our secondary education customers ÔÇô providers as well as secondary focused agents ÔÇô have been asking us for quite some time now to organise a specific ICEF event catering to this market.”

The seminar program included sessions on the emotional wellbeing of international students and a panel discussion comparing secondary education systems across the world, as well as the education markets in Canada and New Zealand.

The event also facilitated over 4,000 one-to-one business meetings, as well as ample networking opportunities and a formal dinner.

ÔÇ£I really liked the length of the one-to-one meetings, [and] there was time to have a good chat and make notes to follow-up,” commented Rachel Fenton of Auckland Grammar School.

“It was great to have a high school agent-focused event for my sector, lots of new opportunities to explore further.ÔÇØ

Commenting on his experience, Evan Barnhart of Redwood Christian Middle School & High School in San Francisco┬ásaid: ÔÇ£Apparently this was a first-time event for ICEF, but you would never have known it.

“Quality agents, combined with an excellent venue, creates an opportunity for growth.”

In subsequent years, the event will be held around the world to showcase different regions and secondary education destinations, with the 2021 event scheduled for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Over the last three decades, more than 10 million people have participated in a potentially life-changing Erasmus+ experience, with some 470,000 students, trainees and staff spending a period abroad during the 2017/2018 academic year alone, a new European Commission report has revealed.

The┬áErasmus+ Annual Report 2018, which covers the fifth year of┬áthe European Union’s flagship┬áErasmus+┬áprogram, highlighted “yet another record year” in 2018, with┬áa budget of Ôé¼2.8 billion marking a 10% funding increase compared to 2017.

“[Erasmus+] is one of the EU’s most tangible achievements”

According to the report, in 2018 Erasmus+ funded more than 23,500 projects and overall, it supported the mobility of over 850,000 students, apprentices, teachers, and youth workers.

“Nearly 10% of the 470,000 students, trainees, and staff in higher education who received a grant during the 2017/2018 academic year, travelled to and from partner countries across the world,” the report read.

In addition to university students and staff, Erasmus+ “supported 40,000 teachers and school staff, 148,000 vocational education and training learners, 8,400 adult education staff, and 155,000 young people and youth workers”.

The report also noted that work on the digitalisation of administrative processes associated with Erasmus+, in particular regarding higher education, also continued throughout 2018.

The Erasmus+ Mobile App┬á ÔÇô described as a “digital one-stop-shop for students” ÔÇô provides a range of services that eased student’s periods of mobility, such as allowing them to sign learning agreements online and access Erasmus+ Online Linguistic Support, an online language course in 24 EU languages.

“Students and other Erasmus+ participants have downloaded and installed the Erasmus+ mobile app more than 73,000 times since its launch in mid-2017,” the report explained.

“More than 530,000 people have benefitted from online language training since 2014, among them almost 8,000 newly arrived refugees.”

In May 2018, the Commission presented┬áits proposal┬áfor an ambitious new Erasmus program, seeking to double the budget to Ôé¼30 billion in the EU’s next long-term budget for the period 2021-2027.

Speaking at the opening of a stakeholder event on the new Erasmus+ program, commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya┬áGabriel, said it┬áhas become “a gateway to Europe and to the world” for younger generations.

It is “one of the EU’s most tangible achievements: uniting people across the continent, creating a sense of belonging and solidarity, raising qualifications, and improving the prospects of participants,” Gabriel added.

In terms of participating countries, France was the top sending country of higher education students in 2017/18 with 47,811, followed by Germany (42,398), Spain (40,226), Italy (38,682) and Turkey (17, 957) rounding out the top five.

However, Spain was the most popular receiving country with 51,321 higher education students in 2017/18, followed by Germany (34,539), the UK (31,877), France (29,833) and Italy (27,945).

Despite the popularity of the UK as an Erasmus+ destination ÔÇô and the number six HE student sending country in 2017/18 ÔÇô the country’s future participation in the program was called into question earlier this month when members of the UK parliament voted against a clause that would have required the government to seek to negotiate continuing full membership of the program.

But while prime minister Boris Johnson has┬ádownplayed fears, stating that “there is no threat to the Erasmus scheme”, the University Council of Modern Languages has highlighted that┬ásome UK universities have made financial guarantees to reassure worried students and European partners.

“The students who stand to lose the most are those who cannot afford to travel without financial support”

According to a report by The Guardian, Newcastle University has earmarked £1.4 million to underwrite Erasmus+ exchanges for the 400 students who will study abroad during the 2020/21 academic year, and said it will continue to receive European students in that year regardless of what happens politically.

Vivienne Stern, director of Universities UK said that without continued access to the Erasmus+ program, 17,500 students a year could lose out on the opportunity to gain international experience.

“Because Erasmus+ placements are funded, the students who stand to lose the most are those who cannot afford to travel without financial support,ÔÇØ she added.

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