Most of the new data point to continued enrolment declines with the exception of one sector: ELICOS (the English-language training sector), which in recent years has been particularly hard hit. (Please note that we have used Australian government data up to December 2012 to report on international student enrolment and commencement trends; other sources linked to in this article are based on year-to-date figures from earlier in 2012.)

This is the Australian government’s latest summary of current international education trends:

“In 2012, there were 515,853 enrolments by full-fee paying international students in Australia on a student visa. This represents a 6.9% decline on 2011 and contrasts with the average annual growth rate for enrolments since 2002 of 6.5% per year. There were 279,335 commencements in 2012, representing a 5.6% decrease over 2011 compared with an average annual growth rate for commencements since 2002 of 5.7% per year.”

Source: Australian Education International

Regarding specific sectors, here are the details (please note that “commencements” refers to new enrolments – those students entering the system for the first time):

• HE (Higher Education): Enrolments declined by 4.3% and commencements declined by 6.4% (looking at 2012 vs. 2011 figures). China (40.8%) was the largest market contributing to enrolment volume in this sector, followed by Malaysia (7.1%).
• VET (Vocational Education): Enrolments declined by 14.2% and commencements declined by 12.4%. India was the largest market contributing to enrolments (27.5%) and commencements (23.0%), followed by China (10.9% of enrolments), Thailand (6.5% of enrolments), and Korea (6.3% of enrolments).
• ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students): Enrolments grew by 0.2% and commencements grew by 4.2%. China was the largest ELICOS market in 2012 with a 26.4% share of enrolments and a 25.9% share of commencements, followed by Brazil (9.0% of enrolments), Korea (7.8% of enrolments), and Colombia (7.3% of enrolments).
• Schools: Enrolments fell by 10.3% and commencements declined by 7.4%. China was the largest market for schools with 45% of enrolments, but commencements from China fell by 7.4%.

The largest sources of international students for Australia are Asian countries, China and India in particular. The proportion of Chinese students in the overall Australian international education sector is now 29%, while Indian students make up 10.5%. There were declines in the contributions of Chinese and Indian students to the sector, however: -6.2% and -24.5%, respectively, year-over-year.

The top five international student markets (by volume of enrolments) for Australia are China, India, Korea, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Next are Nepal, Pakistan, Colombia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Germany – noteworthy is the fact that enrolments from Pakistan, Colombia, and the Philippines grew year-over-year from 2011 to 2012 (by 18.1%, 13.8%, and 20.6%, respectively).

The Australian Council for Private Education (ACPET) commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to do an analysis of the downward enrolment trend. Deloitte Access Economics found that the new statistics “reflect a continuing decline in the international education sector’s export income of almost AUS $2 billion per annum, with financial year activity reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics at AUS $14.7 billion in 2011–2012, compared to the peak of AUS $18.1 billion in 2009–2010.”

Further background on the Australian education sector in recent years can be found in last year’s ICEF Monitor article “Australian international education sector braces for a long hard recovery“.

Looking at the ELICOS growth

The fact that ELICOS registered a small gain in enrolments (0.2%) and a more substantial one in commencements (4.2%) may be a first positive sign for the overall Australian international education sector – despite the declines other sectors registered in 2012 compared to 2011. This is because of the role and nature of the ELICOS sector: it has been described as a “pipeline” and as a “canary in the coalmine” in relation to the rest of the system, since it is very often the first – but not the only – stop for international students studying in Australia.

This means that growth in ELICOS (which just last year received very good grades from students in it) may translate to growth in other sectors such as higher education in future years, since a portion of the international students who have begin ELICOS studies (i.e., commencements) will go on to pursue degrees or other certification in Australia.

We published an article in 2012 that explains the importance of the ELICOS sector in Australia, noting of an Australia Education International study published that year that:

“The AEI study shows that three out of five international students commencing higher education studies in Australia in 2011 first began their studies in an Australian English-language programme, vocational or technical college, or other school … Roughly 40% of students completing ELICOS studies in 2010 went on to higher education studies in Australia and a further 21% progressed to vocational or technical (VET) training.”

Of the new data showing the growth of the Australian ELICOS sector amidst declines in others, Sue Blundell, CEO of English Australia, commented to The PIE News:

“As the ‘pipeline sector’ we were the first to see decline and now may be the first to see the beginning of a recovery.”

But she added that the growth should be interpreted cautiously: “Whilst positive when compared to recent trends, I wouldn’t get too excited.”

What else will it take for Australia to recover?

While the news of the ELICOS stabilisation is a bright spot amid a fairly bleak overall picture, everyone knows that the recovery of the Australian international education market is dependent to a large degree on the visa and immigration climate within the country.

While governmental reforms introduced in 2012 positively affected university-bound international students’ visa, work, and immigration prospects in Australia, many question whether they have done enough for the ELICOS and VET sectors.

Because of the reforms, all international student graduates can now stay in the country for at least two years to work. In addition, all bachelor-level students are now classified as “low-risk” when it comes to how their study visa applications are assessed, regardless of what country they come from, which speeds up the application process for them.

There were other reforms passed as well, on the basis of 41 recommendations in the 2011 Knight Review, but most of them are considered to be targeting the university sector rather than the ELICOS and VET sectors.

Clare Field, the CEO of ACPET, which represents more than 1,000 VET, English and HE providers, has said the Australian government needs to extend visa and immigration reform to the VET and ELICOS sectors in order to protect this sector and the health of the overall system:

“A key recommendation of the 2011 Knight Review is that streamlined visa processing measures be introduced beyond the university sector. This delay is compounding uncertainty for providers and prospective students, with negative effects for the sector and the economy.”

For more on ACPET’s position regarding the importance of extending the Knight Review recommendations to the ELICOS and VET sectors, please follow this link.

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ICEF Monitor takes a closer look at the crackdown and offers clarity on which programmes are still approved by the Ministry, at least for the time being.

Initiating the ban

In late November 2012, the South Korean MEST appeared to dash the aspirations of over 1,000 students when it ordered an immediate end to 1+3 programmes – pathway programmes that involve one year of study at a domestic institution and three years of study at a university abroad, usually in the US.

The programmes gained popularity among Koreans because they allowed participants to enter US institutions without having to take the TOEFL exam or the SAT reasoning test (formerly known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test), which is usually required of prospective undergraduates in the US. According to The Korea Herald, students could gain admission through high school grades and an interview alone.

During the first year of study, Korean students completed English language courses and liberal arts courses in Korea – as opposed to traditional foundation courses, which are completed at an institution abroad. The participating students then went on to enter foreign institutions as second-year or sophomore students.

At the time of the Ministry’s order, such programmes were operated by 19 universities across Korea. Of these institutions, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) and Chung-Ang University ran the largest 1+3s, each admitting several hundred students per year. In total, participating Korean institutions selected over 1,200 students to begin these programmes in 2013.

Korea’s Higher Education Law

The MEST explains that the programmes in question had been found to violate the Higher Education Law, which stipulates that Korean post-secondary institutions may only offer a foreign degree as part of a dual degree programme. Dual degree programmes are also known as “2+2” programmes, because usually half of the programme is completed at a domestic institution while the other half is completed abroad. These double-degree programmes are entirely unaffected by the ban; they lead to a Korean as well as a foreign degree, and involve curricula taught by Korean institutions, meaning that they adhere to Korean regulations.

In contrast, graduates from the banned 1+3 programmes did not receive a Korean degree; in fact, they weren’t formally registered at the Korean institution at which they received their first year of instruction.

Commenting to The Korea Times, a ministry official explained why this practice is illegal:

“Students registered with domestic schools can obtain foreign schools’ diplomas through double degree programmes. But the students are not registered with the domestic ones and the programmes are irrelevant to domestic degrees, so the programmes are illegal.”

Another factor which placed such programmes into question is that many – if not all – of the institutions were found to have run or cooperated with private companies that taught the students in their first year.

In some cases, universities would allow private study abroad agencies or private institutes to use their brand to attract students, and some agencies rented university facilities to teach the undergraduates.

This teaching model violated regulations for two reasons: the agencies were not licensed to teach the students, and the universities misappropriated the continuing education centres, which are intended to promote lifelong learning.

A lack of transparency

Investigators from the Ministry were also concerned that Korean institutions involved showed a lack of transparency in their admission and administrative procedures.

As mentioned previously, students never registered with the Korean institutions. Students were given the impression that admission into the programme guaranteed admission to a foreign institution, and that the curriculum taught during the first year was affiliated with the programme of study they would complete abroad.

However, the Ministry found that the curriculum taught in Korea was not overseen by foreign partner institutions, and completion of this first year did not necessarily secure admission to a university abroad:

“…during the first year they don’t belong to the foreign colleges because the schools sometimes don’t allow admission for students with insufficient English skills for their second year. We’ve received petitions from students about such admission rejections and high tuition,” commented an official from the Ministry.

Although the Korean part of the programme was entirely separate from the programme of study that students completed abroad, parents were charged tuition equivalent to the amount which they would pay the foreign institution.

Speaking to The Korea Herald, the Ministry added that “the agencies have no right to teach students, but they made students pay between 10 million and 20 million WON (US $9,400 – US $18,800) for a one year course here, misrepresenting [the course] as part of the foreign degree course.”

Not all programmes are affected

Some 1+3 programmes continue to be offered legally at some Korean universities if they meet certain requirements, such as:

• the students pass entrance exams for the universities and are enrolled at the universities;
• the universities run the curriculum by themselves;
• the students receive a dual degree from a Korean university;
• the fees are not extraordinarily high.

Examples of institutions that appear to have escaped the censure of the Ministry include:

• Meta offers 1+3 via the University of Wollongong and Australian Maritime College.
• Kyongbuk University of Foreign Studies and Kennesaw State University have offered a 1+3 programme since 2010.

Certain private education providers are also offering 1+3 programmes which are still considered legal under certain conditions:

• First, they are not affiliated with universities, so the laws that govern higher education institutions do not appear to apply to them.
• Second, they seem to have permission from the Ministry to run the programme, in contrast to the agencies that offered the programme in cooperation with universities.

Examples of legal 1+3 programmes offered by private providers include:

• NCUK-IEN, a company that provides preparatory education for study in the UK.
• GAC Korea, an accredited representative of ACT (American College Testing) in Korea, which provides a one year prep course recognised by US institutions.

Responses from institutions and parents

At first, several Korean institutions appeared willing to challenge the ministry’s decision. Both Chung-Ang and HUFS posted messages on their websites stressing that the programme was entirely legal. But within a week, both institutions had agreed to shut down the programme.

However, a well-organised parent movement struck back, shutting down the Ministry’s order in the courts, and occupying the office of Chung-Ang University’s president with a 50-person strong sit-in protest, calling on the university administration to support their cause.

Eventually, the Ministry agreed to allow the students who had already enrolled for 2013 to complete the programme. However, the Ministry maintains that the programme is illegal, and that it can no longer be offered after 2013.

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By contrast, the new higher education hubs emerging in other parts of the world have had to act quickly, assertively, and without precedent in building their educational infrastructures and brands.

Much is at stake, so the hope for these new markets – such as Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – is to balance speed with an emphasis on quality and focus. Today, we look at what is currently going on in the United Arab Emirates as it relates to these issues.

Quick facts

Capital: Abu Dhabi

Population: 8.3 million

Language: Arabic

Ethnic groups: Indians, Pakistani, Western, Arabs. Emirati compose only 16% of the total population. Most residents are expatriates, who are not eligible for state-run schools, which is a main factor in the boom in private schools in the UAE.

Notable fact: Of more than 200 international branch campuses in the world in 2012, 39 were located in the UAE, making the UAE home to more branch campuses than any other country worldwide.

Education sector

Elementary and secondary: More than 2,000 schools operate in the UAE, with the private sector growing by leaps and bounds. Dubai’s private education sector alone spans 148 schools offering 13 different curricula to more than 210,000 students.

Private schools are reported to have generated US $1 billion (Dh 3.52 billion) in tuition fees last year, and tuition fees are increasing rapidly (average increase of 4.5% last year). Of the 148 private schools in Dubai, only 32 operate on a not-for-profit or non-commercial basis.

Almost a quarter (24%) of Dubai’s total private school students are enrolled in 19 schools operated by GEMS Education, the largest private school operator in Dubai. For an absolutely fascinating look at the private school boom in the UAE, please see this video produced by the BBC.

Higher education: Three public higher education institutions serve the seven Emirates through several campuses. There are many private institutions, and technically, they are required to have licensure and accreditation from the federal accrediting body, The Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA).

But several Emirates have developed “free zones”- “free” because they allow the organisations operating within them to run without federal regulation. The free zones were originally developed in the early 2000s to attract foreign educational institutions, part of the ambition of two Emirates in particular – Abu Dhabi and Dubai – to become educational hubs.

Market size: According to a recent report by Alpen Capital, the total number of students in the region is expected to grow from 9.5 million in 2010 to 11.3 million in 2020 at a compounded annual growth rate of 1.8%.

The education sector is now a serious priority for the government.

In the budget for the fiscal year 2010, the education sector was given top priority – about 22.5% of the total national budget of Dh 43.6 billion has been allocated to the education sector, according to Mr Ahmed Mohammed Al Midfa, Chairman of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Educational hubs: According to Global Higher Education, these are the main distinctions of Abu Dhabi and Dubai:

• Abu Dhabi: “… not as aggressive as Dubai in seeking to attract foreign institutions, choosing a more targeted approach of attracting and investing in institutions with recognisable names. At present, both the Sorbonne (France) and New York University (USA) operate campuses in UAE’s capital city. NYU accepted its first class of students in fall, 2010. Abu Dhabi seeks to capitalise on the presence of these elite education institutions to develop itself into a hub of ideas.” Recently, various agreements between government and semi-government agencies in Abu Dhabi and Japan have been signed in the fields of education, research and studies, among other areas.

• Dubai: “… has garnered a great deal of international attention for the aggressive pursuit of international branch campuses (IBCs)…. Rather than solely investing in their own system, various sub-hubs within Dubai have targeted the development of IBCs to provide a diverse set of educational opportunities to the local expatriate population, as well as attract foreign students to study in Dubai. Presently, more than 25 IBCs (representing 13 different national curriculums, e.g., American, Australian, British, Russian) provide undergraduate and graduate degrees in Dubai. The IBCs are spread across four different free zones.”

New developments

The growth of the higher education market in Dubai, especially, is astounding. The number of students enrolled in higher education institutions in Dubai increased by 10% in 2011–2012, according to a recent Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) report, “The Higher Education Landscape in Dubai 2011.”

The report put the total number of students enrolled in Dubai’s tertiary education sector at 43,212, compared to 39,127 the previous year.

Opportunities abound in three education areas in particular:

• Vocational training: Long considered to be a weak and under-prioritised part of the UAE’s educational offerings, vocational training may be on the up and up in the country thanks in part to new demand. Recently, one of the three federal universities (Higher Colleges of Technology) raised its entrance standards to match those of the other two, resulting in a larger number of overall applicants for university being turned down. Those rejected are turning to the Abu Dhabi Vocational Education and Training Institute (Adveti), which has been busily expanding for months to new locations.

• Activity in the “free zones”: In 2011, the majority of students in Dubai attended institutions outside the free zones, despite the free zones accounting for 60% of Dubai’s 52 institutions. It seems that less legislation did not in fact drive demand, as students were turned off by the possibility that their credentials would not be accepted in the rest of the world after graduation. But new government legislation, Resolution 21, now grants KHDA authority to certify academic degrees from private institutions in the free zones. This means qualifications obtained by students at Dubai’s free zone institutions will now be recognised by employers in both the private and public sectors.

• Private provision: To meet enrolment targets and to continue its mission of becoming a global education hub, the UAE will require more and more schools and capacity, and much of these will be privately funded and run. Follow this link to see demand for new private schools in Abu Dhabi and here for more on the global trend of increased private provision of education.

As lucrative and interesting as the UAE appears to the rest of the world as an education hub intent on attracting branch campuses and international students, it seems the country is also being cautious about quality control as it expands its educational capacity.

For example, in Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), only 17 new universities have been accepted out of more than 178 applications since 2006. And, as Science Guide reports, not one university was accepted into DIAC in 2011. They quote Ayoub Kazim, of the Investments’ Education Cluster in Dubai, explaining:

“Newly established branch campuses must ensure they have the backing of solid market research and in-depth regional knowledge in order to put well-defined objectives in place. Coupled with support from the parent university, branch campuses must ideally start operations in an incubation setting, with a focus on specific areas of expertise such as the most reputable programmes. This will enable the institution to establish itself and ensure measured and consistent growth.”

As we reported in the article, “International branch campuses: this is the year to hit pause before go,” slow and steady – with an emphasis on quality – seems to be the motto of the year even in the most ambitious of the new global education hubs.

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Growing numbers of students across the world are relying on international education agents to help them with their study abroad ambitions, but government and university policy on agents is variable in leading destination countries.

In the UK, Australia, and Canada, governments are cautiously supportive of the use of international agents – provided agents pass recognised courses and/or observe official regulations.

In the US, opinion is more divided and NACAC, the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, is currently deliberating what its policy will be on how its members engage with international agents.

Central to any question how to work with international agents – or any international partners, for that matter – are issues of ethics and professionalism. Those concerned with the sustainable and responsible growth of international education sectors within a country need to ensure that:

• Foreign students coming into their country are coming as genuine students and are adequately qualified for the courses or programmes they enrol in.
• Agents put students’ needs first and foremost and do not compromise students’ or institutions’ interests due to monetary incentives.

The most serious and successful international agents working today are well aware of the need to distinguish themselves as reliable, effective, and student-focused professionals in their sector, and there is an increasing range of ways in which agents demonstrate their credentials and qualifications today.

At one end of the scale are codes of conduct or standards of practice established by industry associations (or even governments as in the case of the London Statement).

At the other end of the continuum are robust accreditation or certification schemes, such as the process established by the American International Recruitment Council (AIRC).

Increasingly, however, professional development and/or certification courses also play an important part in reinforcing or establishing an agency’s credibility in the marketplace.

The following summary profiles some of the more established or successful training courses in order to illustrate the increasing field of professional development options available to international education agents.

The ICEF Agent Training Course (IATC)

The IATC is a professional training course open to agents operating anywhere in the world focusing on any destination market. It provides:

• An understanding of the overall international education market and the main destination countries for international students;
• The skills and research parameters to analyse destination countries and their education products and processes;
• The functional dynamics of dealing with students, education institutions, and governments.

The course covers three areas:

• The Context of International Education: Destination countries, education systems, legal requirements, and visas.
• The People in International Education: Students, education institutions’ personnel, and immigration authorities.
• Promoting International Education: Working effectively, marketing, and ethics.

The IATC is delivered online free of charge. Related testing and assessment sessions take place at ICEF Workshops and in conjunction with selected industry events and locations around the world.

Participants who complete the IATC assessment successfully are issued with a certificate, certifying them as ICEF Trained Agent Counsellors (ITAC).

The Australian Education Agent Training Course (EATC)

This course is designed to:

• Provide education agents with information about the Australian education system and Australia as a study destination, education quality assurance issues, and the Australian visa regulation system;
• Keep agents abreast of changes and developments in international education services;
• Encourage and support excellence in business service delivery, study and career pathways, and professional development.

Registration is free of charge and the course is delivered online. Those wishing to become Qualified Education Agent Counsellors need to undertake the Formal Assessment of the Education Agent Training Course.

Agents can currently take the formal assessment test in Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney) and several locations around the globe: Dubai, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Sri Lanka, South America, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The exam is also offered in conjunction with selected ICEF Workshops around the world.

Education agents who have successfully completed the EATC formal assessment are listed as Qualified Education Agent Counsellors.

The Canada Course for Education Agents

Newly produced by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, in cooperation with CCIEM, ICEF and PIER, the Canada Course equips international agents with accurate and current information about the Canadian education system and how to choose a study programme in Canada.

The course is available online and is delivered free of charge in a self-paced format. Agents can then take the Canada Course examination that will be available soon at ICEF conferences or related international education events.

If they complete the examination successfully, they will be identified by ICEF in an online listing of agents who have successfully completed the course and examination.

The Canadian government notes, “Completing the Canada Course is an important component of agents being viewed in a positive light by Canadian institutions and international students.”

The Canada Course provides agents with:

• An understanding of why Canada is one of the top study destinations in the world;
• An overview of the study options available in Canada, including examples of flexibility within the higher education system between programmes and institutions;
• Information about how to apply to study, as well as costs and scholarships;
• Tips about how to best prepare for living and studying in Canada.

New Zealand Specialist Agent Accreditation (NZSA)

To be accredited as a New Zealand Specialist Agent, agents undertake training by Education New Zealand and are then tested accordingly.

Specialist agents are then required to follow Education New Zealand’s Code of Conduct for specialist agents and adhere to the policies and procedures of Education New Zealand and the New Zealand Ministry of Education Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students.

New Zealand Specialist Education Agents are recognised by Education New Zealand, New Zealand government agencies, and education institutions, which take the designation as a credible demonstration of knowledge about New Zealand education and commitment to an ethical agent code of conduct.

Please see this link for what it takes to become a New Zealand Specialist Education Agent, and see the course content areas here.

Education UK Agent Training

The British Council has designed a certificated online course for agents by the British Council. This global training programme is delivered and managed in-country. The purpose of the course is to:

• Develop agents’ capacity to work effectively with UK institutions;
• Improve knowledge and understanding of the UK as a study destination;
• Increase knowledge of UK study programmes;
• Enable agents/representatives to provide high quality information, resources, and services to students seeking an international education;
• Provide agents/representatives with the skills and resources needed to provide relevant, accurate and trustworthy information.

The course is delivered online over a period of eight weeks. Candidates complete online assessment following each unit and the course culminates in a final (written) formal assessment conducted under exam conditions at the local British Council office.

Please contact the British Council for further details.

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There has been plenty of reporting on new or increased tuition fees and the results of those fee hikes. Several European countries have seen a sharp decline in non-EU applicants after the imposition of fees. In Britain, tuition increases are believed responsible for a 7.7% drop in 2012 university applications, as well as a sharp rise in the national inflation rate. In Canada, tuition hikes in Quebec triggered massive public protests.

Meanwhile, in the US high tuition costs have caused a significant percentage of the public to question whether a college education is worth the investment. Significantly for recruiters, research from the Lawlor Group shows that 80% of American adults think the education that students receive at many colleges is not worth what they pay for it. President Barack Obama even called upon universities to rein in costs during his 2012 campaign.

Something similar occurred in South Korea, where tuition costs rose on average by about 10% every year until 2012, when universities bowed to public pressure and cut fees by about 4.5%. But on the campaign trail, presidential candidate Park Geun-hye promised young voters much more – she said that her conservative party would slash college tuition by half. Geun-hye won the election.

Tuition hikes and tuition discounts

Tuition costs are strongly affected not just by the prices set by institutions and by government policy, but the relative standing of international currencies.

Euro weakness against the Chinese Renminbi, the country’s official currency, has created a potential 20% savings for Chinese students who study in the EU. Meanwhile, last year’s declining value of the Rupee caused Indian students to carefully evaluate the affordability of their study options. Last summer, Swiss universities reported receiving significantly fewer applications from abroad due to the strength of the Swiss Franc, and Australia’s high exchange rate has been one of the key factors in their recent loss of international students.

Though the direction of tuition fees has been inexorably upward, in the Unites States at least that trend is losing steam. Best College Online said in a January 2013 article that:

“Thanks to a growing shift in public opinion, new marketing strategies, and changes to the financial management of institutions of higher education, the rise of costs is slowing at many schools in the US.”

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) agrees, and the same conclusion was drawn in an October 2012 L.A. Times story citing a College Board study.

In Europe, tuition trends vary by nation. Fees have been introduced in the last few years in countries such as the Czech Republic and Sweden, and Finland is expected to introduce tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students. Switzerland’s top two schools, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and ETH Zurich, plan to double fees for 2015-16. State support for students has recently been reduced in Hungary.

Germany, in contrast, enacted fees for its public universities in 2007, but many states abolished them and returned to a tuition-free model for both locals and internationals. Bavaria just announced they would scrap fees, leaving Lower Saxony as the last of sixteen German states to charge tuition, but likely, not for long.

In Britain fees are set to climb slightly in 2013, following the implementation of sharp tuition hikes in 2012 in which 75% of the schools that imposed fees elected to charge the maximum allowable for some or all of their courses. However, Sir Martin Harris, director of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), hints at possible fee cuts in the future. He told BBC News in July 2012:

“It may be that some universities and colleges may have to revisit the relatively high fees that they currently feel able to charge.”

Some universities are already doing exactly that, offering across-the-board fee reductions, while others have targeted subsets of students.

Examples of the latter category include the universities of Portsmouth, Gloucestershire, Swansea and Southampton Solent, which are offering discounts of between 2% and 5% to students who are able to pay an entire year’s tuition upfront. At the University of Birmingham, in another targeted reduction, a £5,000-a-year reduction is available for academically gifted applicants in maths, chemistry, or computing courses.

In the US, more instances of targeted discounts can be found. Bluefield College, located in Virginia, offers a 25% discount for working adults who return to school to complete a degree. Union College in Kentucky offers a free final semester for those who earned good grades and got involved in college life, and the University of Rochester offers selected students a free fifth year of study.

While such discounts are eye-catching, whether they are effective is another question. As previously discussed on ICEF Monitor, the most recent tuition discount survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), conducted at the end of 2011, found that more than half of US schools offering discounted tuition (53.2%) saw a decline or no change in freshmen enrolment numbers.

Creative discount schemes

While some schools have opted for straightforward fee reductions to boost enrolment, others have focused on attracting students with clever pricing variances – schemes that are not discounts per se, but rather mutually beneficial arrangements in which schools earn revenue or cut costs while students are rewarded for their participation.

At the University of Malta, for instance, a full time fee-paying international student who recruits a second student can receive a €400 discount on his/her tuition for the year in which the recruited student applies to the school.

Johnson and Wales University in the US has a programme in which siblings each receive a US $2,000 tuition break for as long as they are enroled together. Western New England University in Massachusetts and Otterbein University in Ohio have similar programmes.

Another example of a creative discount scheme comes from Ireland, where Griffith College offers to waive tuition fees for families that provide accommodation and board to international students. According to The Irish Times, the plan was launched in direct response to student concerns about the high cost of tuition.

Some universities have gone the more straightforward route of offering gifts or incentives to students. According to a Sunday Times study, at least 60 British universities have introduced incentive schemes in order to attract candidates. Newcastle University offers £2,000 a year plus a free laptop to high-achieving applicants who enrol in its electrical or electronic engineering degrees. Another university was offering membership in a local sports club.

The practice has not been without controversy. The Daily Mail referred to incentives as bribes, and a Telegraph write-up labeled the participating schools as “outside the academic elite,” and said they were thus pulling bright students away from better schools. However, that last assessment was strictly anecdotal. While the NACUBO survey looked at discounts, to date no study has been made public concerning the effectiveness of incentives.

In the absence of such data, the use of discounts and incentives is often a function of the increasingly competitive environment in which educational institutions find themselves, as well as the overarching recruitment and pricing strategies of individual institutions.

For additional insight on changes in tuition fees compared to student affordability in 40 study abroad markets around the world, see our article “Changing affordability of markets adds to volatile global education landscape.”

The post International tuition trends reflect competitive nature of today’s recruitment environment appeared first on ICEF Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

STA Travel offer flights, accommodation, tours and expeditions in over 60 countries, and sends over 2 million passengers away each year. We recently caught up with their director of business development and ISIC, Mr Adam Cooper, to discuss the synergies between leisure travel and educational travel, as well as current market trends and what factors influence future travel trends.

We also reveal the latest hiring trends at institutions to meet new student demands, and what educators can do to work with travel agencies. Listen to our interview and continue reading below for more information on the latest travel statistics.

Mr Cooper kicks off by explaining where STA’s latest business growth is coming from:

“The work abroad and learning abroad sectors are by far our biggest growing pieces of business… We’re [also] seeing a bigger propensity for volunteer abroad trips.”

STA has seen double digit growth for the last ten years from students in the US who are travelling abroad. Mr Cooper reveals their preferences on a global scale, such as:

• Latin America and Asia are seeing the biggest increase in interest now;
• There is a continuing interest in China as a travel destination;
• Lately, there is a leveling of interest in travelling to the UK;
• Continental Europe is still growing;
• Australia is taking a dip, mainly due to currency fluctuations.

Mr Cooper also comments on the latest hiring trends in universities and colleges now, in order to fill the demand for the volunteer abroad sector.

“Schools are now hiring service learning coordinators to source volunteer projects for their students.”

More and more, students are requesting to volunteer abroad either before or after their trip overseas – adding what Mr Cooper calls “bookends” to a study abroad experience.

Global travel trends

Youth travel is known to be a resilient sector of the global travel industry, and 2012 proved to be no exception. Last year, 207 million trips were taken by youth travellers, making up 20% of all global tourism.

The youth travel industry is predicted to double from US $185 billion to US $320 billion by 2020.

And despite lingering economic instability due to the global financial crisis, international tourism as a whole increased robustly over the last year with continuing growth expected throughout 2013, the United Nations recently announced.

According to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international tourist arrivals surpassed 1 billion for the first time in history in 2012 – reaching 1.035 billion – up from 996 million in 2011, with demand holding well throughout the year and concluding with a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter.

Emerging economies (+4.1%) regained the lead over advanced economies (+3.6%), with Asia and the Pacific showing the strongest results. Growth is expected to continue in 2013 only slightly below the 2012 level (+3% to +4%) and in line with UNWTO long term forecast.

Mirroring STA Travel’s results, by region, Asia and the Pacific (+7%) was the best performer, while South-East Asia, North Africa (both at +9%) and Central and Eastern Europe (+8%) topped the ranking.

Looking for more trends? Travel intelligence media company, Skift, released a report of their 13 travel trends for 2013:

1. Everyone wants a Chinese tourist
2. Ancillary fees are the new normal
3. Last-minute mobile hotel booking
4. The rise of price transparency
5. Travelers are hungry for food tourism
6. Airports as destinations
7. Destination branding through movies
8. Digital maps are one of travel’s key battlegrounds
9. Personal in-flight entertainment through mobile devices
10. Affordable design at hotels
11. Blurring of business and leisure travel
12. Cementing of the Gulf as the next great global aviation hub
13. Lure of the last unknown: The rise of Myanmar

And meanwhile, the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index revealed the top 20 destinations in 2012:

1. London (16.9 million visitors)
2. Paris (16 million visitors)
3. Bangkok (12.2 million visitors)
4. Singapore (11.8 million visitors)
5. Istanbul (11.6 million visitors)
6. Hong Kong (11.1 million)
7. Madrid (9.7 million)
8. Dubai (8.8 million)
9. Frankfurt (8.1 million)
10. Kuala Lumpur (8.1 million)
11. Seoul (8 million)
12. Rome (7.8 million)
13. New York (7.6 million)
14. Shanghai (7.5 million)
15. Barcelona (7.3 million)
16. Milan (7.1 million)
17. Amsterdam (6.9 million)
18. Vienna (6.7 million)
19. Beijing (6.2 million)
20. Taipei (5.4 million)

The post Trend alert: Optimistic outlook for educational travel in 2013 appeared first on ICEF Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

If Facebook and Twitter were kids in a classroom, they might be feeling a little crowded and less dominant these days given the new popularity of some of their classmates: Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr.

These newer sites are captivating students the world over because of their highly visual interfaces – they are telling stories in seconds via photos and videos, and very compelling ones at that.

In this article, we’ll look at the rapid ascent of Tumblr, and see how education institutions might best use it to connect with students.

Effortless sharing

This is what Tumblr does, according to Tumblr:

“Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos from your browser, phone, desktop, email or wherever you happen to be. You can customise everything, from colours to your theme’s HTML.”

As far as we can see, Tumblr is a powerful hybrid of Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, and Pinterest – it combines the best features of these and actually acts as an aggregator of their content (e.g., Tumblr users can easily bring in posts from the other sites).

Noelle Visani, on Higher Education Marketing, provides an excellent summary of what one can do on Tumblr (so excellent we are quoting liberally from her in this article – please check it out to see why). She says: “Just like Twitter, Tumblr works as a social media platform that allows you to:

• Update your status without being in your account, which means you can post from any other site or profile;
• Text your blog updates from any mobile phone;
• Use cross-blog tagging to curate content by tags, which is a great help in content discovery;
• Use a bookmarklet to share anything you come across while browsing the web.”

She notes that it’s free to start and just like WordPress (the popular blogging platform), “Tumblr enables you to:

• Customise your Tumblr site by creating your own custom theme;
• Be followed by other users;
• Tag your posts to make it easy for followers to see all your previous related posts;
• Easily add analytics tracking code to better understand your performance on the site;
• Allow users to comment (feature only available through Disqus).”

Show not tell

The adage “Show me, don’t tell me” is often used in fiction writing circles, but it is very appropriate here.

‘Showing’ via photos and video seems to be the way younger generations, including college-aged students, are preferring to communicate, and Tumblr responds beautifully to this.

So rather than tell you more about what Tumblr can do, we’ll show you via these examples Ms Visani provides to three colleges that are using their Tumblr sites to powerful effect (complete with her descriptions of them):

• Florida International University has one of the most complete Tumblr sites, which includes a search bar on the homepage, a featured Twitter feed, campus snapshots, and helpful Q&A between students and the university’s administrators:

• The Department of Admissions at University of Chicago uses Tumblr to reply to questions about admissions or about the school in general:

• Bennington College’s Tumblr account also features a search bar on their homepage and student-faculty Q&A, while also featuring students’ campus experiences:

To our eye, the first two are the better examples, simply because they are so visual. As soon as you look at one picture, you want to check out the next.

They also do a nice job of incorporating humour, which lends a great informal touch to the sites.

Both sites suggest that students are having a fantastic time at the universities even as they also post academic and administrative information.

And most importantly, they are communicating all these things lightning-fast; information is both addictive and digestible.

You could spend an enjoyable minute on each site… or 30.

Who is using Tumblr?

The main target audiences for colleges and universities are current and prospective students, and Tumblr’s demographics skew very young: most are under 30.

If you want to be where your students are, you may want to consider a Tumblr site. Tumblr is growing by leaps and bounds, and it is proving to be very engaging for students. According to Forbes:

“In November [Tumblr] shouldered its way into the top ten online destinations, edging out Microsoft’s Bing and drawing nearly 170 million visitors to its galaxy of user-created pages, according to the measurement firm Quantcast. Tumblr’s tens of millions of registered users create 120,000 new blogs every day, for a total of 86 million and counting, which drive some 18 billion page views per month.”

Here is another compelling stat about Tumblr:

“The amount of time that visitors spend on Tumblr averages around 2.4 hours a month, making it only second to Facebook in terms of user engagement.”

For more facts and figures on Tumblr, see our infographic below.

Should education institutions use Tumblr?

Search Engine Journal points out: “[On good Tumblr sites] content is very visual, eye-catching and quick to consume. If your product can fit into that mold, then Tumblr should be your next social media marketing channel to spread content and bring attention to your brand.”

For more great tips on how to use Tumblr effectively, Social Media Examiner offers advice on using humour, showing off your brand’s personality, and giving users an inside peek into your company or institution.

Therefore, education institutions thinking about a Tumblr site should be guided by four considerations:

• Tumblr is not for long posts;
• It should be very visual, maximising the use of photo and video;
• It should “show rather than tell,” including a principle of letting students’ excitement about your brand tell your story;
• It’s about embracing flexibility and a sense of fun – it gives your brand breathing room.

The post Social networks: students love Tumblr appeared first on ICEF Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

However, this reluctance to admit international educators does not apply to all educational sectors. As India labours to meet its aim of upskilling 500 million workers by the beginning of the next decade, the country has turned to international organisations and institutions for help.

India’s unique dilemma

Compared to many Western nations, India faces a unique dilemma. Although the country boasts one of the greatest labour surpluses in the world, Indian employers are particularly likely to experience difficulty meeting their needs for employees: a recent study by ManpowerGroup found that 67% of Indian employers reported that they struggle to find workers who meet their requirements.

The reason for this apparent contradiction lies in the fact that a large proportion of Indian workers are unskilled. Research performed by the Indian government presented this staggering statistic:

“80% of the workforce in rural and urban areas does not possess any identifiable marketable skills.”

The quality of vocational education has played a central role in the emergence of this issue.

According to a report by FICCI and Ernst & Young, vocational qualifications have a poor reputation in India because standards vary widely across institutions, and because schools are often out of touch with the needs of the industry, producing graduates with skills that are outdated or irrelevant.

This lack of skills among Indian workers is having an increasing impact on the economy of India as it makes the transition from agriculture to manufacturing and service based industries. FICCI and Ernst & Young claim that more than 75% of future job opportunities will be “skill-based.”

The National Policy for Skill Development

Recognising that India’s future growth will depend on a much greater supply of skilled workers than is currently available, the Indian government has adopted a radically ambitious plan to increase the skills of Indian workers: the National Policy for Skill Development, adopted in 2009, aims to create a skilled workforce of 500 million people by 2022.

To accomplish this audacious goal, the Indian government has mobilised forces from across Indian society.

One main thrust is being lead by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, which has conceived of several schemes to provide training to those who have left academic education: these schemes include vocational training at Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) or education at the workplace through apprenticeships.

Another important contribution is being made by the Ministry for Human Resources and Development, whose range of responsibilities include education. In early 2012, they announced the adoption of the National Vocational Education Qualification Framework, which will be introduced to secondary schools, colleges, polytechnics, and universities in 2013-14.

The framework supplies a standardised system of certifications for vocational education that mirrors the levels of certification issued by the academic education system; this system of standards is intended to increase the quality and reputation of vocational education across the country.

The National Skill Development Corporation

To help finance the burden of providing quality education to a massive population, the Indian government decided to turn to the resources of private enterprise.

As part of the National Policy for Skill Development, the Indian government formed the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in order to create high quality for-profit vocational education institutions by forming Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) with private companies.

The NSDC alone is tasked with training 30% of the 500 million workers that the government has set to create by 2022.

So far, it has formed partnerships with 26 organisations, which intend to train 40 million trainees; at this rate, FICCI and Ernst & Young believe that the NSDC will be able to meet its quota of 150 million trained workers two years before the government’s deadline.

The NSDC is also contributing to the development of skilled labour through the formation of Sector Skill Councils: sector-specific organisations that include representatives from labour, industry, and academia. These councils are responsible for aligning the needs of the industry with the training of workers by identifying skill shortages and determining standards for skills.

Challenges…

Although India has already achieved notable success in creating a skilled workforce, there are still several serious challenges that the country has to overcome in order to achieve its goals.

Creating and formally adopting a framework of standards was an important first step; however, in a country as diverse and decentralised as India, it may prove challenging to introduce the framework quickly.

And even if the framework is adopted smoothly, its proponents will have to struggle with common prejudices about the quality of vocational education. FICCI and Ernst & Young warn that extensive advertising and public information campaigns may be necessary to counter the weak reputation of domestic vocational education.

Insufficient funding may also obstruct progress: currently, India devotes a mere 1.12% of GDP to education; and the NSDC has recently had its funding cut by Rs. 1000 crore.

The entire policy also suffers from a lack of instructors. FICCI and Ernst & Young note that the Craftsman and Apprenticeship schemes alone will require 70,000 instructors, compared to the current output of 1,600 instructors per year.

… and opportunities

Although the National Policy for Skill Development faces challenges that cannot be overlooked, it also presents tremendous opportunities for educational organisations and businesses. For example, teacher training providers can fill the gap left by domestic providers.

Kotak Institutional Equities, one of India’s largest equity research companies, has made the following predictions:

11-13 million Indians will come onto the job market every year for the next 15 years;

the value of the Indian vocational education sector will reach US $20 billion by 2020.

With statistics like these, it’s no surprise that the potential and value of this sector has attracted the attention of international players in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Education New Zealand takes charge of vocational education for INZEC

In 2011, India and New Zealand agreed to form a council to coordinate cooperation in post-secondary education – the India New Zealand Education Council (INZEC).

Skills and vocational education is one of the two key areas in which INZEC will support cooperation; the other is higher education and research.

At its inaugural meeting in October 2012, the attending representatives discussed several ways in which India and New Zealand could collaborate to strengthen vocational education.

It was agreed that cooperation in the vocational education sector would be lead by Education New Zealand, and that a joint working group would be established to pursue several projects, such as:

• Support for the implementation of India’s new National Vocational Qualification Framework, drawing upon New Zealand’s experience.
• A three year training programme for Indian education leaders, managers, and assessors, aiming to train 100 people in each category.
• Sharing of best practices in specific areas such as agriculture and dairy farming, food processing, and hospitality/tourism.

Australia provides certificates in Maharashtra

Kangan TAFE, a vocational education provider that maintains several campuses in Victoria, Australia, signed an agreement in 2011 to offer its certifications through vocational institutions in the Indian state of Maharashtra, making it the first Australian vocational education provider to establish itself in India.

To fulfil the Indian government’s aim to create a skilled workforce of 500 million people, Maharashtra alone is required to train 50 million workers.

Through its partners in Maharashtra, Kangan offers a diploma in automotive technology and a diploma of aircraft maintenance engineering.

Kangan expects to achieve enrolments of 12,000 students per year – as opposed to the 40,000 students who are enrolled at Kangan’s Victoria campuses.

To support Kangan’s initiative, the Victoria government has contributed AUS $300,000 to train 325 Indian vocational instructors.

According to Kangan CEO Ray Griffiths, students and industry in India view these courses favourably because they did not require students to incur the cost of travelling abroad.

UK colleges to offer vocational education in India

Joining the rush to benefit from India’s drive towards vocational professionalism, the Association of Colleges – an affiliation of over 300 UK colleges – has opened a permanent office in Delhi.

The AoC’s International Director John Mountford explained, “This marks a great opportunity, not only for our member colleges in the UK, but also for a huge variety of education and training providers in India. AoC in India will be a way of sharing educational best practice that has been developed in colleges in the UK over many decades.”

Dilip Chenoy, the CEO and MD of the NSDC, welcomed the AoC to India, and invited the association to participate in the private public partnership model administered by the NSDC: “we would be happy to work closely with AOC India to transform the domestic skills landscape.”

Organisations involved in the development of vocational skills education, such as FICCI and CII, also expressed their support for AoC India – as did several major providers of vocational education, including Centum Learning, the Skills Academy, and Manipal City & Guilds.

Manipal City & Guilds is itself a collaborative venture between Manipal Education, a major Indian education provider, and City & Guilds, a leading international vocational educator founded in the UK.

According to Anju Talwar, CEO of the Skills Academy, “The Indian skills industry will benefit hugely from the quality and experience of UK’s FE colleges via their professional support and solutions in various fields.”

Multi-national corporations join the fray

Educational organisations and institutions are not the only international players contributing to vocational education in India; the FICCI and Ernst & Young report describes how several multinational corporations have taken the creation of skilled workers into their own hands.

For example, Maruti Suzuki India has partnered with dozens of ITIs since November 2010 and has placed hundreds of students with its company.

The hotel giant Hyatt Hotels Corporation, on the other hand, offers in-house training at its School of Hospitality in Mumbai, India.

Vocational education in India: a tempting investment

As India progresses towards its goal of providing skills to 500 million workers, the pressure on the vocational education system is only expected to increase.

This state of affairs has created particularly favourable conditions for international vocational educators, whose capital and experience appeal to Indian authorities, and whose reputation may help them dodge the stigma associated with domestic vocational education providers.

Due to a government that is determined to encourage its population to choose vocational education, an almost limitless supply of potential students, and a rapidly growing economy, those educators who do choose to enter the Indian market appear set to reap significant rewards.

The post To upskill 500 million workers, India goes international appeared first on ICEF Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has just announced that in January 2014, the following changes will take effect for student visas (also known within Canada as “Study Permits”):

• All Study Permit holders will be required to be enrolled and actively pursuing a course or programme of study at a designated education institution after arrival in Canada, in order to maintain legal status;
• Provincial/territorial governments will designate institutions that are eligible to receive international students, and only students admitted to those institutions will be able to secure a Study Permit;
• Designated institutions will have to report to provinces/territories and CIC on international student enrolment and good standing status;
• Only those students attending designated education institutions will be granted access to Work Permit programmes;
• Work Permit programmes will also only be accessible by full-time students who are enrolled in and actively pursuing an academic, professional or vocational programme leading to a degree, diploma, or certificate;
• Full-time international students with valid Study Permits will be allowed to work off-campus for a maximum of 20 hours per week without a Work Permit (that is, Off-Campus Work Permits would no longer be required for such students).

Those institutions that do wish to be designated as eligible to host international students will have to minimally comply with a set of common standards:

• Be recognised by the provincial/territorial government as being in good standing;
• Have adopted policies and put procedures in place that protect international students including a transparent tuition-fee refund policy made available to all incoming students;
• Have clear and well-communicated policies re: language proficiency and credential assessment and recognition for international students;
• Have sufficient administrative capacity to provide services that meet the unique needs of international students;
• Undertake promotional activities authorised by the province/territory and in line with the Education Canada brand;
• Publish a policy that outlines what it takes to be a student in good standing (and this must be consistent with provincial/territorial requirements);
• Maintain enrolment-reporting requirements and have a designated individual responsible for confirming the initial enrolment of a student with a Study Permit and reporting on the ongoing enrolment status of all international students with Study Permits at the institution.

Who is eligible?

There are a number of questions arising from the proposed CIC changes but a key one is which institutions will be designated as eligible to receive international students.

If provinces are designating eligible institutions, it seems likely that most will emphasise institutions that are directly under their jurisdiction — that is, those that are regulated in one way or another by provincial or territorial governments in Canada.

This tendency is reflected in the official CIC release that anticipates eligibility for the following categories of institution:

• Public post-secondary learning institutions recognised by the province (as well as private post-secondary learning institutions in Quebec that operate under the same rules as public ones there);
• Private post-secondary learning institutions recognised by the province but only when students are enrolled in a study programme that leads to a degree as authorised by the province;
• Learning institutions within a public school board or district that are funded by and accountable to the province;
• Independent or private learning institutions that deliver provincial curricula.

Canadian language institutes, which are not commonly regulated at the provincial level, do not appear on this list. This raises the question of how such programmes would be recognised under the new regulations and what the implications may be for students engaged in longer-term studies, or any language programme requiring a Work Permit, in 2014.

Gonzalo Peralta is the executive director of Languages Canada, the Canadian accrediting association for language institutes. In a recent discussion with ICEF Monitor, he noted:

“If all the stakeholders work together — governments, institutions, associations — we should see an outstanding environment for international students in Canada.

At the same time, we don’t want this new policy to have a negative impact on our sector. Language education is not recognised in the proposed regulations — the provinces have been asked to designate eligible institutions but they do not regulate language instruction — and our top priority is to have this recognition established before the regulations are implemented in January 2014.”

To that end, we have established cooperative agreements between Languages Canada and the federal government and also with provincial governments across the country. We are also participating fully in CIC’s consultative process for the new regulations.”

Consultation before implementation

CIC is now entering into a consultation process with all stakeholders who will be affected by the changes, including provincial/territorial governments and education associations. The intent of the consultations will be to fully communicate the extent and intended interpretation of the changes as well as to refine the regulations further as required.

While questions around the implementation of the proposed changes remain, CIC’s goal of increasing the integrity and accountability of Canada’s International Student Program is being supported by most stakeholders.

“Languages Canada is entirely supportive of [the proposed changes] as they pertain to issues of quality assurance, protection of students, and prevention of fraud,” says Peralta. “The devil, as they say, is in the details.”

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A survey, commissioned by computer company Dell, has found that schools across the world are not meeting the educational technology needs of their students.

But even more startling is the finding that China is ahead of the US and Germany when it comes to using technology in learning.

Furthermore, many teachers in the US and Germany say they don’t receive enough technology training, particularly on how to integrate technology into the curriculum.

Dell’s “Innovation in Education” report is the result of 1,575 interviews with students, teachers and parents in the United States, Germany and China. Participants agree that technology is critical to learning, but have differing opinions about how best to use it in the classroom. The infographic below pulls out some of the contrasting trends between China and the US.

Steve Felice, President and Chief Commercial Officer at Dell, commented on the survey findings:

“We heard from secondary school and university students, parents, and teachers that they are familiar and comfortable with technology, but don’t think it’s playing as large a role in the classroom as it should. Adults would like to see technology more integrated into learning. And, perhaps most importantly, many teachers do not feel as comfortable as their students do in using technology.”

Technology in the classroom

The findings show that there is overwhelming support for using technology in the classroom, because it helps students prepare for future careers, but in the more immediate sense, it also helps students learn, gives them more access to teachers, and supports a more personalised learning experience.

That personal touch is particularly noteworthy coming from China, a country which has often been criticised for its over-reliance on rote learning.

And yet, China is the most likely to integrate technology into all curriculum areas – see the graph below for more details.

But despite being the heaviest users of technology in the classroom, most Chinese, like most respondents, still feel their needs are not being met, suggesting they are constantly hungry for more. This echos findings from several other surveys we covered in a previous article, “Students demanding more technology in education.”

Chinese respondents also say they are more positive than their peers in the US and Germany about the use of social media in the classroom. About six in ten US respondents (students, teachers and parents alike) say they disapprove of students using social media in the classroom to share what they are learning, while more than 60% of respondents in China say they approve of social media for this purpose.

Regardless, one in four students say they access social media in the classroom daily.

Finally, most parents – particularly the Chinese – would be willing to pay for the technology their child uses in the classroom. This feedback opens up possibilities for tiered pricing models.

Opportunities to enhance teacher tech training

Many teachers in the US and Germany say they don’t receive enough technology training, for instance:

• The majority of teachers in all three countries say their students know how to use technology better than they do
• Students agree, with only 40% in the US and 26% in Germany saying their teacher knows how to use technology better than they do
• Teachers say core training focuses more on teaching practices (77%) and technology (55%) than on integration of technology in curriculum (55%) where it can make a greater impact

With regards to teacher training, we came across two interesting examples of how schools are empowering teachers to embrace technology and integrate devices into their day-to-day curriculum.

The Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education at the University of Oklahoma has rolled out a pilot programme for the spring 2013 term that trains 575 students enrolled in the university’s undergraduate teacher education courses on how to use iPads for classroom work and for developing lesson plans.

In the K-12 sector, the Fort Sam Houston Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas turned to the students themselves. By creating a team of student interns to instruct teachers on how to use technology effectively, they were able to give teachers face-to-face help from the students – who say it “makes them feel important” – as well as 24-7 access to online assistance. Not only has this created a supportive community environment, it also enabled them to train faculty on new technology tools while on a limited budget.

Technology at school vs. at home

When looking at how technology devices are used when not in school, interestingly, home devices are used primarily for school work. Globally, students say they use devices for school work more than any other activity (73%) – compared to entertainment games (65%), social media (63%), reading books (46%), and educational games (38%).

But only half of all students say they interact with their school online. Given the rising popularity of MOOCs, which exist entirely online, this could suggest that in order to remain a competitive option, traditional schools must incorporate more blended learning techniques.

The school day may have ended, but the learners – especially today’s “always on” young learners – still seem keen to interact with the teacher. What will this mean for staffing in the brave new world of education?

Actions to meet technology needs

Some of the suggestions Dell offers in order to stay on track with the demands of both students and parents include:

• Eliminate access and skill barriers
• Innovate from the inside out by seeking feedback and ideas from current and prospective students, parents, alumni and teachers
• Adopt flexible, blended and personalised learning models that optimise teacher- and technology-delivered instruction in group and individual work
• Explore a role for social media in learning
• Support teachers with the skills, information and tools they need to enable students to manage their own learning at their own pace
• Invest in technical infrastructure that will adapt and scale as emerging technology-enabled models evolve and enrolment increases
• Use student and learning model performance data to modify learning approaches as necessary

Knowing students’ and parents’ desires for integrating more technology into the learning environment, we wonder, how are schools promoting their use of technology – both in terms of devices as well as in pedagogy? Feel free to share your examples in the Comments tab below, or tweet it to @icefmonitor.

Infographic

Brain Track’s infographic compares and contrasts technology trends in China and the US, based on Dell’s survey:

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