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IT IS ECUADORÔÇÖS trial of the century. On February 10th the countryÔÇÖs top court is expected to open criminal proceedings against Rafael Correa, president from 2007 to 2017, and 20 other people. They are charged with taking and giving bribes, which they deny. Mr Correa, who moved to Belgium shortly after leaving office, hopes to play a big role in the presidential and legislative elections due in February next year. His trial may determine whether he can.

EcuadorÔÇÖs current president, Len├¡n Moreno, has spent nearly three years trying to undo Mr CorreaÔÇÖs legacy. He had been Mr CorreaÔÇÖs vice-president and was seen as his heir. Once in office, Mr Moreno turned on his patron. He went after corrupt members of Mr CorreaÔÇÖs administration and took steps to restore independence to the judiciary and the press, which Mr Correa had curbed. The new president replaced his predecessorÔÇÖs incontinent spending with a programme of austerity, backed with a $4.2bn loan from the IMF. He expelled Julian Assange, a co-founder of WikiLeaks, from EcuadorÔÇÖs embassy in London, where Mr Correa had offered refuge.

But the undoing project has run into trouble. Mr MorenoÔÇÖs attempt to end fuel subsidies provoked massive protests in October, which forced him to retreat. His approval rating is less than 20%. Mr Moreno says that he does not plan to run for re-...

SOME WONDERED if the bosses of VenezuelaÔÇÖs oldest rum company had been sampling too much of their product. In January, with Venezuela in one of the deepest recessions in modern world history, Ron Santa Teresa launched the countryÔÇÖs first public share issue in more than a decade. The new equity was priced in bol├¡vares, the worldÔÇÖs worst performing currency. Others speculated that the rum-maker, which cheekily notes on its website that its distillery in the Aragua valley near Caracas has survived ÔÇ£wars, revolutions, invasions, even dictatorsÔÇØ, had decided that change was afoot.

Evidence of the latter interpretation is that the latest dictator, Nicol├ís Maduro, has recently become a capitalist, sort of. The disciple of Hugo Ch├ívez (whose ÔÇ£21st-century socialismÔÇØ set Venezuela on its road to ruin) has quietly lifted price controls and restrictions on dollar transactions. He now says firms can issue securities in hard currencies. He is thought to be contemplating a sale to foreign investors of a stake in PDVSA, the decrepit state oil company.

Ron Santa TeresaÔÇÖs president, Alberto Vollmer, a fifth-generation rum-maker, says the company, whose shares were already listed, needs the money to buy barrels and build warehouses. It signed an international-distribution deal with Bacardi in 2016. Mr MaduroÔÇÖs tentative...

COLOMBIANS PAY more for wine than most Latin Americans. The price shoots up as soon as a case reaches shore. Each time a shipment arrives, importers must submit at least eight forms to as many agencies. Officials can take up to 15 days to clear it. In the meantime, importers store their bottles in climate-controlled warehouses. When a permit finally comes, bad roads and high trucking charges mean that merchants pay among the highest freight bills in the world to ship the wine to Bogotá, the capital, where most customers are. By the time it reaches a dinner table a bottle of wine costs eight times more than in its country of origin. Its costly journey is the rule, not the exception, for products imported by Colombia.

It used to be easier. The government liberalised the economy in the early 1990s after decades of protectionism. At that time Colombia depended on exports of coffee, the price of which was plummeting. In an effort to diversify the economy and make it more productive, the government reduced tariffs and eliminated lists of items whose import was prohibited.

That openness lasted just a few years. Owners of factories and sugar mills, dairy farmers, rice growers and regional governments, which own distillers of aguardiente, a local tipple, were hurt by competition. They lobbied to restore...

UNDER THE banner of ÔÇ£religion and traditional (ecclesiastical) privilegesÔÇØ, in 1858 Mexican Conservatives rose in arms against a Liberal constitution which declared freedom of worship and ended a rule preventing Catholic church property from being transferred to anyone else. After a three-year war, the liberal principles of religious toleration and the separation of church and state triumphed. In the following decades they spread across Latin America. Now, it seems, this 19th-century political battle has to be fought all over again.

The new blurring of the divide between spiritual and temporal realms owes much to the rise of evangelical Protestantism. Although 69% of Latin Americans were still Catholics in 2014, 19% were Protestants (26% in Brazil and more than 40% in three Central American countries), says a Pew poll. The number of Protestants is likely to have risen since then. Most are Pentecostals.

They emphasise a literal reading of the Bible and a direct personal relationship with God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. Many want their beliefs to shape public policy. Their concern is mainly, but not solely, to oppose gay rights and abortion. In some cases they dismiss science and have intervened in foreign policy. Some question the separation of church and state.

Jair Bolsonaro, BrazilÔÇÖs populist...

US president Donald Trump has added six more countries to his administration’s visa and travel ban ÔÇô including Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria ÔÇô to the dismay of international education professionals in the US.

Citizens from Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, and Nigeria will no longer be issued immigrant visa, while “certain nationals” of Sudan and Tanzania will be unable to participate in the ‘Visa Lottery’.

“As international educators…we are deeply disturbed by this latest travel ban expansion”

Although the extension of the ban will reportedly not restrict┬áinternational students from entering the US, members of the country’s international education sector are concerned it will mar the USA’s reputation.

“As international educators committed to fostering a peaceful, more welcoming US, we are deeply disturbed by this latest travel ban expansion and the message it sends: that the US is not a place that welcomes or respects people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives,” said NAFSA’s executive director and CEO, Esther D. Brimmer.

The latest iteration of the ban will “undoubtedly accelerate the alarming decline of international students in the US”, she added.

The Trump administration claims the┬ásecurity and travel proclamations have “immeasurably improved” national security and “dramatically strengthened” the integrity of the US immigration system.

The number of international students in the US has shrunk by more than 10% over the last three years, Brimmer continued.

“Policies like these and the unwelcoming rhetoric from some of our nationÔÇÖs leaders continue to hinder our ability to succeed in todayÔÇÖs global competition for talent,”┬áshe said.

According to NAFSA, more than 17,000 international students and scholars from the six countries generated around US$619 million in economic activity in 2019.

“While some may claim that by preventing legitimate travel from these countries is a necessary precaution… foreign policy leaders for decades have agreed that true security lies in understanding the nature of specific threats and focusing on individuals who mean to cause us harmÔÇönot in preventing entire nationalities from entering the US,” Brimmer added.

Speaking with┬áThe PIE News, professor of Educational Policy Studies & Practice┬áat the University of Arizona, Jenny Lee, warned that the extended travel ban is “an extended Muslim ban as well as the beginnings of an African ban”.

The effect would be a narrowing of diversity on US campuses, she added.

“International students from these countries may continue to enter the US, but they are nevertheless directly impacted by the expanded travel ban,” Lee noted.

“The effect would be a narrowing of diversity on US campuses”

“International graduate students especially travel with their families and oftentimes with intentions to stay and apply their advanced degrees. These individuals contribute greatly as an integral part of the USÔÇÖ highly skilled workforce.”

A “sweeping ban” based on nationality sends a xenophobic message that students are not welcome in the US,┬áLee added.

“Students from other countries, particularly from these same regions, may also feel uncertain about their future prospects in the US. It is doubtful that this is the last travel ban to come,” she said.

The post Trump travel ban extension raises concern appeared first on The PIE News.

Less than 12 months after announcing that Chinese would be introduced into all levels of education in Saudi Arabia, eight schools across the Kingdom have now officially started teaching the language.

The announcement in February 2019 came after Saudi crown prince, Mohammad bin SalmanÔÇÖs visit to Beijing during his five-day tour of Asia.

ÔÇ£China will be a close partner of the Kingdom in the process, which strengthens the strong relationship between usÔÇØ

During the ÔÇ£Teaching Chinese language in EducationÔÇØ workshop in March last year, Saudi minister of Education, Hamad Al-Sheikh, called for a one year intensive program for teachers to be qualified to teach the language.

Having so far graduated 35 students, King Saud University has been teaching Chinese since 2010 and discussed the experience at the workshop.

The list of schools now teaching the language currently include four in Riyadh, two in Jeddah and two in the eastern province.

In a tweet, Saudi education ministry spokesperson Ibtisam Al-Shehri said that ÔÇ£[the introduction] represents the first stage of the ministryÔÇÖs plan to teach the Chinese language on a larger scale that includes female studentsÔÇØ and also made a note that it is not a compulsory subject.

The introduction of the Chinese language comes as an effort to strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the two countries and to also increase the diversity within the Kingdom as part of Saudi ArabiaÔÇÖs Vision 2030.

In his message for Vision 2030, Saudi crown prince said, ÔÇ£we are determined to reinforce and diversify the capabilities of our economy, turning our key strengths into enabling tools for a fully diverse futureÔÇØ.

Chinese ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Chen Weiqing, wrote to the crown prince in a tweet and said that ÔÇ£[he hopes] the younger generation in the Kingdom will be fluent in Chinese, love Chinese culture, and embrace an honourable future for the two friendly countriesÔÇØ.

He further thanked the MoE and stated that ÔÇ£China will be a close partner of the Kingdom in the process, which strengthens the strong relations between [them].ÔÇØ

The post Saudi introduces Chinese in schools to boost diversity appeared first on The PIE News.

At Oakton Community College, professors play a key role in keeping students enrolled.

Syracuse University saw a spate of racist incidents last semester -- some 16 over a few weeks in November alone. Students reported hearing ethnic slurs shouted from dorm windows and otherwise being harassed, along with seeing hateful graffiti and a swastika drawn in the snow. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also looked into a white supremacist manifesto that was posted to an online Greek life forum.

Students protested, including by occupying a campus building for a week, as faculty members pushed for change. In response, Syracuse announced a list of new diversity, inclusion and security initiatives. The university also promised to rethink its one-credit first-year seminar, SEM 100, and to work toward building a complementary, three-credit requirement for more advanced students.

Many professors believe Syracuse's response should go further, however. They believe the moment demands a deeper rethinking of the curriculum, universitywide.

Seeking an 'Extensive Liberal Arts Core'

Their idea is that a liberal arts education steeped in discussions of human differences is the best defense against ignorance. But at the very least, said Biko Gray, assistant professor of religion, “if we’re doing this, no one can feign ignorance about these issues. ‘That was a joke’ is no longer a defense.”

Gray, along with his department colleague Virginia Burrus, the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion, co-wrote a faculty statement to this effect. It has since been signed by 146 other professors.

The statement, sent to Syracuse’s central administration for consideration, says that the university is caught up in a moment of “great anguish” but also “unusual clarity and possibility.” That moment “clarified that this institution struggles with -- and therefore suffers from -- a woeful lack of attention to, if not outright neglect of, the critical, conceptual, and ethical importance of the humanities, arts and social sciences.”

The “obligation to teach our students to think critically and constructively about the complexities of human difference can be best addressed through an extensive liberal arts core curriculum attuned to issues of difference and diversity and required university-wide for all undergraduates,” the statement asserts. “Anything less, such as the single-course solution represented by SEM 100 in whatever guise, will be inadequate as other than a transitional measure and ultimately ineffective in shifting the campus climate of discrimination.”

Currently, arts and sciences students must take two courses from a list of approved classes to satisfy a requirement in critical reflections on ethical and social issues. This is not standardized across campus programs and colleges, however, and what the faculty statement proposes -- though not in any detail -- is a larger core curriculum.

Crucially, the faculty statement says, “Support for such a liberal arts core curriculum requires nurturing, strengthening and expanding the faculty in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.” It requires “actively cultivating a diverse and inclusive faculty across the university, since the bodies and identities of teachers are a crucial part of any curriculum,” and it requires overcoming barriers to this kind of change.

In particular, the statement expresses concern that the university’s cluster hiring initiative favors the natural sciences and steers “resources away from the humanities, arts, and social sciences, as well as from efforts to build faculty diversity.” Further, Syracuse’s responsibility-centered funding model, “which encourages the various schools to compete with one another for students, impedes a university-wide commitment to a liberal arts core curriculum.”

Finally, the statement reads, “we believe that opening up lines of communication between the faculty and the Board of Trustees is crucial to the success of the university in effecting needed change.”

While “no group can claim to represent the voices of all faculty members,” there are “some of us who feel an urgent need to think, speak and act collectively.”

Although the statement ends with an invitation for all faculty colleagues, “across schools, divisions, departments and disciplines” to “join us in our efforts,” almost all the statement’s signers work in the arts, humanities, social sciences and communications.

Gray said the statement was shared network-style, not formally sent to every professor on the faculty. This likely explains, in part, the lack of signatures from faculty members in the sciences, technology, engineering and math. Still, for a letter calling for universitywide engagement in discussions about the liberal arts and diversity, the resulting gap in signatures is hard to ignore.

Discussions about diversity and inclusion with respect to the curriculum are, on so many campuses, taken up by humanities and social sciences faculties. The STEM fields have clearly stepped up in terms of valuing diversity in terms of representation, or who is doing the math and science, with hiring initiatives that aim to increase the share of underrepresented minority faculty members. But this kind of diversity is one part of the bigger puzzle, and one that is complicated by the concern -- expressed in the faculty statement -- that STEM hiring is diverting institutional resources away from the fields most obviously equipped to teach students about human difference.

Another question is whether the STEM fields should be doing more to directly engage students in these issues.

Two Cultures?

“The assumption is that the sciences are value-neutral set of disciplines,” Gray said. And yet the histories of so many fields, from technology to medicine -- think Henrietta Lacks, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and nuclear testing in the Pacific -- are rife with discrimination. While Gray said he didn’t expect his STEM colleagues to fundamentally alter the way they run their programs, he said students might benefit from being asked to “wrestle” with some of these issues, as they do in other disciplines.

Steven Diaz, a professor of math and a member of Syracuse’s University Senate curriculum committee, said he was familiar with the statement but didn’t sign it. He also said it wasn’t the first time that a universitywide liberal arts core had been proposed, but that it would be very hard to fit more requirements into certain pre-professional programs. This, of course, is a common problem for curricular revision committees, as students in engineering and other fields that are accredited by outside disciplinary bodies typically have little room for additional requirements.

Diaz said that he isn’t personally a fan of large core curricula. As for incorporating questions of diversity and inclusion into math, Diaz said he often teaches a history of math course that demonstrates how math emerged in many world cultures. Unfortunately, he said, there isn’t typically time in the course to grapple in any depth with how the field came to be dominated by white men in the modern era.

There’s another problem with asking nonexperts on diversity and inclusion to embrace discussions of it, Diaz said: they might not know how, or even be afraid, to do it. That goes for students, too, he added, in that those who don’t want to take liberal arts courses might resent having to do so under any new framework, and thus not absorb the point.

“I don’t really know how to cure the problems we have, but I’m not sure taking more courses would help,” Diaz said. “It’s also easy to develop an attitude that if everyone would just study more of this, then the world would be a better place. There’s a lot of that going on with humanities. I think the world be a better place if everybody did a lot more math, but I don’t think that’s the way to go.”

A Diversity Requirement

As was noted in Syracuse’s announcement about the new initiatives, the university is currently revising the one-credit freshman seminar that has been required since 2018. Jeffrey Mangram, an associate professor of education who is leading that effort, said the focus now is “trying to make the material more developmentally appropriate for students.” Earlier iterations of the seminar used books such as Trevor Noah’s memoir on growing up interracial in South Africa, Mangram said, but future versions will be based more on podcasts, TED talks and articles, “trying to think about diversity, inclusion, equity and excellence in different ways.”

Starting in 2021, students beyond their freshman year will be required to choose a three-credit diversity requirement from a list of preapproved courses within departments.

As for diversity and inclusion in STEM, Mangram said it’s important to think about how equitable pedagogical practices round out other goals. Even in those fields that don’t automatically lend themselves to learning about diversity, he said, it’s important that all students feel included, able to participate and that there is room for diverse perspectives.

Gareth Fisher, an associate professor of religion who signed the faculty statement, said he understood SEM 100 to be something of a “stopgap” answer to the university’s ongoing diversity concerns, but that any real answer “has to be built in the curriculum more.”

Already, he said, SEM 100 has seen staffing shortages, and some Chinese students have reported experiencing discrimination by instructors within these very courses. So instead of a “force-fed” take on diversity, students need the kind of depth and nuance that is embedded in a universitywide liberal arts core. That true for arts and sciences students and pre-professional students alike.

“What they come away with is knowledge about the world and how to cope, and the important questions about diversity that anyone who is a professional in our society is going to be forced deal with,” he said.

Syracuse did not comment directly on the faculty statement.

Beyond Syracuse

While things at that campus took an especially dark turn earlier this academic year, most institutions are dealing with questions of diversity and inclusion and how they relate to the curriculum.

Yale University, for instance, recently announced that it was ending a longtime survey course in art history, HSAR 115, which covers Western art from the Renaissance onward. 

Some commentators have criticized the decision, suggesting that Yale cowed to a deconstructionist mob. This fits in with larger critiques of changes to the curriculum as students demand diversity, equity and inclusion.

The National Association of Scholars recently published a report, written by Stanley Kurtz, asserting that both Western civilization and American exceptionalism are very real things, not constructs. It makes a case for reading the great books and restoring our “lost history.”

David Randall, director of research at the national association, said that losing a Western art history survey means the loss of “knowledge of the tradition itself, the continuous conversation of Western artists with their predecessors, and their assimilation of and influence upon rival artistic traditions.” Enjoying art for art’s sake also loses out to the political and issues of identity, he said.

Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor of Art at Yale, in a brief email pushed back against what he called “inflammatory” framing of the survey issue in other news coverage. He also shared a department statement about the survey course, explaining that the program is now committed to offering four different introductory courses each year.

“All of these courses, current or future, are designed to introduce the undergraduate with no prior experience of the history of art to art historical looking and thinking,” the statement says. “They also range broadly in terms of geography and chronology. Essential to this decision is the department’s belief that no one survey course taught in the space of a semester could ever be comprehensive, and that no one survey course can be taken as the definitive survey of our discipline.”

What’s interesting about the Syracuse proposal is that it suggests decentralizing the Western perspective, while at the same time exposing many students to the liberal arts who wouldn’t otherwise take these course. The question for the critics, then, becomes whether it’s a win to have more students studying the great books -- or at least some of them -- even if they’re doing so from a critical perspective.

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Donations to institutions of higher education grew for the 10th consecutive year, but the gifts were not evenly distributed among the types of institutions, and totals were inflated by some large gifts from mega-donors like Michael Bloomberg.

The latest report on voluntary giving to higher education, from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, or CASE, found that donations in the 2019 fiscal year reached $49.6 billion, an all-time high since the numbers have been reported. The total is up 6.1 percent from $46.7 billion in 2018. Donations grew by 7.2 percent between 2017 and 2018. The report covered information from 914 institutions. Of those, 872 institutions also reported information in fiscal year 2018.

However, a single gift of $1.2 billion from Michael Bloomberg's foundation to Johns Hopkins University skewed the results somewhat, said Ann Kaplan, senior director of the study. Other Bloomberg entities beyond his foundation brought his total contribution to $1.8 billion. Without those gifts, overall giving slowed down and just kept pace with inflation.

This slowdown "doesn't necessarily mean anything in the long term," Kaplan said.

Research and doctoral institutions saw the largest increase in gifts of all major categories the survey tracked, with a 10-percentage-point increase from last year. Baccalaureate institutions saw a decrease in giving. But public baccalaureate institutions saw a 29.5-percentage-point increase, meaning private baccalaureate institutions -- which receive the majority of the donations in this category -- experienced a 5.4 percent decrease. Specialized, master's and associate institutions also saw decreases.

One anomaly was the institution that raised one of the largest gifts: Emory University in Georgia. While Kaplan said Emory is usually far up the list, it's not often quite so close to the top as it was this year. In contrast, several normally top-raising institutions saw almost no increases, and even declines.

Across institutions, alumni and nonalumni individual giving decreased, while giving from foundations and other organizations increased.

Giving this past financial year was likely greatly affected by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the tax reform legislation Congress passed at the end of 2017, Kaplan said. Historically, tax reform has initially repressed giving, only for it to rebound, she said.

"Philanthropic impulse isn't governed by tax law," she said.

Those whose giving is most likely to be affected by the new tax law include donors who no longer qualify for certain deductions, like the interest deductions on home mortgages. Those people may now "bundle" the amounts they give each year into larger lump sums to give every few years, as large charitable gifts could qualify them for itemization, according to the report.

These households gave relatively more in fiscal year 2018, the report states, which is reflected in how much individual giving rose that year. This past fiscal year could be the start of a break before they again give a large bundle farther down the road.

Another strategy would be to contribute to donor-advised funds in bulk and then direct that fund to pay out the donations on an ongoing basis, Kaplan said.

Other trends noted in the report include an increase in giving for capital purposes at twice the rate of growth in giving to current operations. Capital-purpose gifts go mostly toward restricted endowments, as well as property, buildings, equipment and loan funds. Kaplan said they tend to increase when the economy is strong.

Capital-purpose gifts tend to fund basic education at institutions more so than current operations, as 37 percent of what goes toward endowments gets passed to financial aid, 19 percent goes toward academic departments and 15 percent contributes to faculty and staff compensation. Current-operations gifts tend to go toward research.

"If it weren't for endowments, basic operating expenditures would struggle," Kaplan said.

Bloomberg's gift to Johns Hopkins wasn't the only big-dollar donation in 2018. Seven institutions reported eight single donors who each gave $100 million or more, according to the report, which is similar to last year's number of big-spending donors. Kaplan said higher education doesn't usually see many nine-digit gifts each year.

Over all, Kaplan said this was another "good year with some mixed results," though these data don't give away much on the future.

"Each year is in its own microeconomic climate," she said.

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• University of Massachusetts at Amherst is starting a bachelor of science in veterinary technology.
• University of Pittsburgh has started a major in digital narrative and interactive design.
• University of Southern California is starting a working professionals master's in social work.

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Amid the disease outbreak, professors are finding ways to monitor bias against Asian-American and international students.

Travel restrictions imposed by three major international study destinations, the US, Australia and New Zealand, are sending tremors throughout the sector as institutions heavily reliant on Chinese student fee income grapple with how to deliver an education to students who cannot travel as expected.

Australia and New Zealand are significantly impacted with the start of a new academic year coinciding with the travel restrictions imposed.

“We are working around the clock to consult with clients”

While Australian regulators have touted online study as one possible short-term solution, Adrian Mutton, CEO of Sannam S4 which runs a large operation in India, told The PIE News that in the US, some of his clients are also considering more recruitment resources elsewhere as they look ahead.

“We are working around the clock to consult with clients as they deal with an unprecedented risk to usual migration patterns out of China, and no one knows when business as usual will resume,” he said.

The US travel ban, which came into effect on February 2, curtails anyone except immediate family members of US citizens and permanent residents from entering the country.

Esther D Brimmer, CEO of NAFSA, commented, “What is clear is that this public health crisis and any future response will have wide-reaching and dramatic effects on international education immediately and in the long-term.”

There are close to 370,000 Chinese students studying in the US, bringing in a value of US$14 billion.

Ravi Ammigan, associate deputy provost at UD Global, part of the University of Delaware, told The PIE that 300 of their Chinese students had experienced delays in their return to campus – and that online study was a solution being explored here too.

“Our Office for International Students and Scholars has been working closely with Student Health Services, the Dean of Students Office, and representatives from various academic departments to provide guidance to these students on how they can continue to make progress towards their academic goals while they wait to return to campus,” he said. “This includes the option of completing courses digitally when appropriate.”

“They could be looking at reappraising marketing and recruitment activities planned”

Another college commentator told The PIE that while anticipating how this could play out was difficult, they expected they ÔÇô like many institutions ÔÇô could be looking at reappraising marketing and recruitment activities planned, especially if trips to China will not be possible.

The decision from the US to temporarily ban Chinese visitors provoked a comparison being made with its neighbour, Canada, from┬áChinaÔÇÖs Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A ministry spokesperson praised Canada for not following the USA’s example, claiming the country had “inappropriately overreacted”.

However, the US isn’t the only top student destination to ban travellers from China, with New Zealand and┬áAustralian governments having imposed similar bans.

The NZ International Students’ Association said the sudden ban, which┬ácame into force┬áon February 2 ÔÇô just eight hours after it was announced ÔÇô will “destroy New Zealand’s image as an international education destination”.

And in Australia’s University of Sydney, more than 4,000 international students have signed a petition to delay the start of the university semester due to the governmentÔÇÖs announcement that foreign nationals who have travelled through China since the beginning of February will be barred from entering the country for 14 days.

President of the student representative council, Liam Donohoe, said the ban would unfairly disadvantage international students returning for the start of the year.

ÔÇ£This travel ban will significantly disrupt the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, who are central to student communities at the University of Sydney and beyond,ÔÇØ Donohoe said in a statement.

ÔÇ£Many of these students are losing out on learning, work, relationships, and communities, and may never return.”

Globally, institutions have also been making plans to discourage travel to China for study abroad experiences.

At Princeton University, over 100 students and staff reportedly┬áself-quarantined as a precaution following recent visits to the country, while a statement explaining that outbound university-sponsored travel to mainland China would “not be approved for faculty, staff, and students until further notice” was posted on the university website.

Meanwhile, Boston University has┬áreportedly┬ápostponed┬áits study abroad program at┬áFudan University in Shanghai that was due to begin on February 12, “indefinitely”.

“Many Chinese agents may not open their offices to students for at least another two weeks”

BU vice president and associate provost for Global Programs, Willis Wang, explained that of the 21 undergraduate students enrolled on the program, almost all had made alternative plans, “with several students already back on campus in Boston and attending classes, some heading to our Dublin program, and a few seeking opportunities among our many direct exchange programs”.

Gavin Newton-Tanzer, president of Sunrise International based in China, shared a newsletter sent to partners with details of a webinar the company is holding on February 12.

“The fluid situation has made formulating an official response challenging for many universities,” he acknowledged.

“Travel restrictions have limited standardised testing for students and curtailed recruitment travel to China. Meanwhile, many Chinese agents may not open their offices to students for at least another two weeks, requiring a hasty migration to online counselling or missing a crucial period in the enrolment cycle.”

The post Global risk to revenue as coronavirus crisis closes borders appeared first on The PIE News.

Gifts from foundations grew 21.3 percent, to $17 billion.

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Gifts from foundations grew 21.3 percent, to $17 billion.

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Suzanne Rivera will become the first Latina president of Macalester, in Minnesota.

Having started out as a high school teacher of English, history and computer science, Johan Asplund has been working in the study abroad industry since 2002. He started his business┬áDreamStudies┬áas a means of combining his knowledge of the industry with his understanding of the web and modern technology ÔÇô and to provide information for students interested in study abroad.┬áAsplund spoke to The PIE about trends in the Scandinavian market and the changes he’s witnessed in student recruitment.

 

The PIE:┬áJohan you’re an agent from Sweden. Tell me a bit more about what you do.

Johan Asplund:┬áFor 15 years I was with Blueberry Worldwide, a Swedish agency which I co-founded together with Stefan Engstr├Âm back in 2002. I left in 2016. When I started DreamStudies, I didn’t just want to do a blueprint of what I’d been doing for the past 15 years.

“That’s one of the things that I like most ÔÇô creating good content that helps students”

I don’t only recruit students from Sweden, but from all over the world. I actually had requests from 170 different nationalities last year. But of course, 50% of them are from Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries ÔÇô Finland, Norway primarilyÔÇô are also some of my┬ábigger nationalities.

The PIE: In terms of the difference between recruiting Scandinavian students and the rest of the world: I understand that the rest of the world is recruited online, mainly. How have you been promoting that?

JA:┬áI have eight or nine websites, but DreamStudies┬áis my main website in English ÔÇô Utlandstudier.se┬áin Swedish. They rank quite well. I worked a lot with SEO for many years.

I also have a different approach to ordinary agencies. Most of them are really good at helping students with the limited number of schools that they offer, which could be, 50, 60, 70 schools. And I think at least on the Swedish market, many agencies promote the same schools. I turned that concept on its head a bit.

So instead of only helping students who ask for my particular schools, I start out by giving students a lot of free information online about studying abroad, regardless of where they want to study.

The PIE: So how does your face-to-face consulting work?

JA: That’s mostly through student fairs ÔÇô all the big student fairs in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Then we go out to visit high schools primarily in Sweden. We also do information evenings; we have Study in Korea evenings coming up in Stockholm, for example, together with a Korean University. Otherwise, it’s mostly online.

“I have a different approach to ordinary agencies”

I don’t take student visits to my office as an ordinary agency would do. We hand over students to the schools at an earlier stage because I feel many schools are used to direct students. So they have people in place to help students. They are the best ones to answer questions like, “what’s included in this course? Do I have a refrigerator in my accommodation?” But it’s very hard for a school to know which fairs to attend in Scandinavia, or how to actually find the students here.

The PIE: Since you entered the business in 2002, how has the sector changed in terms of recruitment online?

JA: Everything has changed. SEO was basically being born about the time we started out. And that’s actually one of our early success factors with Blueberry. We were a small company but online, we could compete.

Since then, of course, it’s been much more mobile-focused and you had the big algorithm changes in Google back in 2012. Before it was more about links with people buying and selling links. It was easier to manipulate back then.

Now, for me, I like the current system. Of course, you can still do a lot of things to rank in Google. But it’s not about buying links anymore, it’s more content-focused. I like that because that’s one of the things that I like most ÔÇô creating good content that helps students and at the same time, I also help myself rank. So it’s kind of a win-win.

I tell my schools that if students don’t find the prices, the start dates, where you can study etc on their website, then they’re gone. To really sell, you also need to capture their heart. But if you don’t do step one, then you’ve already lost.

What I find is a bit more troublesome as an agency these days is that Generation Z doesn’t commit to much. Say I have an info evening about Korea, and I get 40 people signing up and I think, “oh, great, I should get this big venue”. But then on the day, only 20 people actually show up.

That’s been a very big change because go back 10 years, if I had 40 people signed up, 35 people would come. And I can see even when students contact you these days, they can be reaching out to many schools and many agencies at the same time.

“The [language school market] has gone down a lot with the exception of Japan, Korea”

The PIE: In terms of Scandinavian students, can you tell me about trends?

JA: One very clear trend which makes many schools sad is that the language school market’s gone down longterm. In Norway, it’s never been big. But in Sweden, it used to be big. Now, there’s like 2,500 Swedish students per year going with government CSN funding on language courses abroad.

When I started in this industry, maybe three times that. Back then you could only get CSN for courses that were 13 weeks or longer. Now within the EU, you can get it from three weeks. So actually there should be more CSN-students now than before, and not the opposite. The [language school market] has gone down a lot with the exception of Japan, Korea ÔÇô which are really hot markets.

One big trend in higher education is Scandinavian students studying medicine abroad. And other subjects that are hard to get in Sweden and Norway like design. Now it’s also quite common that universities and colleges take study abroad students for one or two semesters, which is a great thing.

You graduate from high school and think, “I want to get the American college experience. I don’t know what I want to do”. Just go take a dance course, a programming class, a marketing class and a psychology course, and see what you like. So many students do that instead of taking a language course. And then, of course, nowadays there’s also more ÔÇô work and travel, volunteering, all these different options.

“One big trend in higher education is Scandinavian students studying medicine abroad”

Higher education is really the big thing in Scandinavia. And for Sweden, I would say it’s studying abroad, primarily short term 1-2 semester programs, not so much master’s or even undergrad.

The PIE: What are your biggest difficulties? 

JA: The market is very price sensitive. Education is free in Sweden and the Swedish CSN system is good. I get a lot of questions about scholarships and free education. And of course, I want to help students in different ways.

DreamStudies even has a small scholarship for students. But on the other hand, we also often live on commissions. Schools pay us to help them to get fee-paying students. So that’s a catch 22. The school really has to offer something attractive, location-wise and program wise; both preferably.

With my concept in DreamStudies, I want to help everyone. I have this FAQ section on my website where students can ask a question about almost everything. But I don’t take that kind of question by e-mail because then I would drown!

I don’t aim to become a big agency with a lot of employees. I prefer to keep it smaller, do smart solutions and work with outsourcing, even cooperate more with other agencies, schools, companies, and look at different opportunities.

If I and my partner schools don’t offer a requested program, then maybe another agency does, then I can partner with them and get some kickback, and we help the student. That’s the core of what we do, we still want to help the student.

“Education is free in Sweden and the Swedish CSN system is good”

The PIE: Do you think the way you have changed the way your company operates will become the norm in the future?

JA: You have to be open-minded to technology and to change in technology, but also changing people. Young people today are not like we were back then. I feel many agencies just put their old brochure online. They still kind of do what they have always been doing.

I’m trying to take the best of both traditional agencies and platforms. It’s definitely still an agency kind of service, but a newer, different, more modern one, but by no means perfect. It’s really been a lot of trial and error, and I keep improving and looking for better solutions all the time.

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As Ireland prepares for a general election on February 8, the Irish Council for International Students has released a pre-election manifesto warning that action must be taken by the incoming government to ensure that the country’s position as a popular study destination is sustained.

International┬ástudents play an important role in Irish higher education and may be worth up to Ôé¼2billion┬áto the economy.

But despite their importance, ICOS points out that international students are a low political priority as they have no vote, except for in the local elections.

“A big part of our success is our reputation for high-quality education”

Speaking at the launch of the manifesto, ICOS executive director Sarah Lennon said it is easy to measure the economic impact of international students, but the benefits go beyond financial ones.

“In today’s globalised world, academic and social interaction with students from around the world can be enormously beneficial to all students on campus and provides not just educational benefits, but also career benefits,” said Lennon.

The country’s current┬áInternational Education Strategy, which expires this year, focuses primarily on the financial impact of international students.

ICOS is now calling for the incoming government to take a range of measures to protect international students, who are often exposed to more hurdles than their domestic counterparts as a result of being in an unfamiliar country and without a natural support network.

Among the requests outlined in the manifesto is financial support for HEIs to improve their mental health services, the introduction of a pathway for highly-skilled international graduates, and for resources to be made available to commence the International Education Mark.

Last week ICOS launched its pre-election manifesto.

In the area of housing, ICOS calls on the next government to significantly increase efforts to provide more affordable and suitable student accommodation for all.

Read full manifesto in the link below.https://t.co/XR33a5geVs pic.twitter.com/MfqRWIy6do

ÔÇö Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) (@ICOSirl) February 4, 2020

“Ireland is one of the most globalised countries in the world, and a big part of our success is our reputation for high-quality education and a warm welcome for international visitors,” Lennon continued.

“Without adequate investment in services such as mental health, accommodation and the long-awaited hate-crime legislation, that reputation is at risk and with it, all of the benefits that international students bring.”

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Pearson and UCL Institute of Education have launched a three-year research project that explores the role of AI in English language assessment. 

The research will focus on test-takersÔÇÖ experience of PTE┬áAcademic, Pearson’s English language test, and will explore how AI might be used to improve assessment methods.┬á┬á┬á

ÔÇ£If you take an English oral exam… you want a system that gives you the marks you deserveÔÇØ

Commissioned by the PTE research team, the project will be led by UCL associate professors Mary Richardson and Sandra Leaton-Gray.

ÔÇ£If you take an English oral exam, for example, you want a system that gives you the marks you deserve, whether you learned English originating from America, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Malta or Hong Kong,ÔÇØ said Richardson.┬á

ÔÇ£All those different, slightly subtle local variations in vocabulary and sentence structure need to be built into the assessment model, so you get a fair mark.

“This is where artificial intelligence can really help us,” she added.

Rose Clesham, director of academic standards, measurement and research for PTE explained that AI provides the potential to ÔÇ£revolutioniseÔÇØ the way people take low and high stakes tests.┬á

ÔÇ£The thing that excites us is that the use of this technology can transform the way we can authenticate all the skills that we need for English language testing, and therefore potentially other areas as well,ÔÇØ she told The PIE.┬á

ÔÇ£The use of AI, particularly on a global level, means that we can both assess the skills that we want to test and we can also keep an extremely high level of reliability and accuracy. Now that is the golden ticket in terms of assessment.ÔÇØ

She explained that the collaboration will also try and raise the understanding of what AI means in the context of educational testing.  

ÔÇ£It clearly has this notion of a black box, but at the same time people use AI in their everyday life all the time and so it is really about delineating how we use AI in terms of educational testing compared to how AI is used in other industries,ÔÇØ she added.

PTE Academic is one of the fastest-growing products in Pearson and is a strategic growth priority for the company, posting 17% growth in test volumes last year. 

The test is accepted by the UK, Australian and New Zealand governments for all visa applications. 

Pearson has recently launched PTE Home, a two-skills language test accepted by the UK government for family, settlement or citizenship applications, which tests speaking and listening skills.

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It’s a recognition of the value of experiential education and an expanding movement of alternative credentials coming from outside the academy that have their own currency in the market.

It’s a recognition of the value of experiential education and an expanding movement of alternative credentials coming from outside the academy that have their own currency in the market.