We just talk about the good stuff

Navitas will acquire Study Group’s interests in Taylors College Sydney, Taylors College Auckland, and the University of Waikato College under a new agreement announced by the international education providers.

The sale – subject to conditions, including the satisfaction of competition and regulatory bodies – will see students continue to be taught by existing college staff under Navitas ownership.

The pathway programs will continue to be recognised as qualification for admission to degree level study by each university, the company noted.

Taylors College Sydney provides a pathway to the University of Sydney, Taylors College Auckland to University of Auckland and the final school to University of Waikato.

“We are very excited about today’s announcement which consolidates our position as the region’s largest pathway provider,” Scott Jones, group CEO, Navitas said in a statement.

“Today’s announcement consolidates our position as the region’s largest pathway provider”

Navitas has 11 partnerships with universities in Australasia, including with University of Canterbury in New Zealand, as well as 15 in Europe and seven in North America.

“We very much look forward to welcoming these three colleges to the Navitas global community and working with these highly respected university partners to support their internationalisation strategies and ultimately increase access to higher education for international students.

“Our priority now is ensuring that the transition of ownership is as seamless as possible for the staff and students at the colleges.”

Study Group and Navitas added that their teams are working closely with university partners and other stakeholders to facilitate a “seamless transition” for current and future students.

Study Group partners with more than 50 universities worldwide. Private investment house Ardian acquired a majority stake in the education provider from asset manager Providence Equity Partners in 2019.

Study Group’s accounts up to December 31, 2021, show that total annual turnover in Australia stood at £1.6 million (down from £2.6m in 2020) and in New Zealand £179,000 (down from £229,000 in 2020). This is compared to £20.5m in the UK for 2021, a fall from £22.3m the year before.

Companies House also shows that previous CEO Emma Lancaster stepped down in 2022, but she remains a member of the Study Group board.

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The Canadian government is seeking input from universities and colleges into the country’s immigration system. 

Sean Fraser, Canada’s immigration minister, announced the launch of a new initiative, “An Immigration System for Canada’s Future”, which will gather feedback to inform the country’s future migration policies.  

Today Minister Fraser announced that we are looking for feedback to help create the next generation of Canada’s Immigration system. We are exploring how immigration policies and programs can better support Canada’s future: https://t.co/3bMxexDqkD

— IRCC (@CitImmCanada) February 23, 2023

Post-secondary institutions and academia are on the list of those involved in the consultation, as well as businesses and settlement organisations. 

The review aims to explore how immigration policies can support Canada’s future economy and create “the best experience for newcomers”. 

“Immigration is critical to Canada’s long-term success, and we need to ensure our policies and programs are aligned with the needs of our communities,” Fraser said. 

“That’s why the government of Canada is launching this large-scale engagement initiative, which will provide an opportunity for a wide range of stakeholders and Canadians to share their ideas and perspectives on how we can build a stronger, more adaptive immigration system for Canada’s future.”

IRCC predicts that immigrants will soon represent 100% of the growth of the country’s labour force and that they could make up half of Canada’s total population within the next decade. The country accepted a record 437,000 new permanent residents in 2022. 

When asked which policy areas the discussions will focus on, a spokesperson from IRCC said the initiative will touch upon “a full range of policies, programs and pathways”.

Will Tao, Canadian immigration lawyer at Heron Law, predicted that when it comes to policy related to international education, the consultations are likely to include conversations around international student wellbeing. 

“The politicians are now very invested and they have large populations of international students”

“We are seeing, I would say, an unprecedented level of interest in the welfare of international students,” said Tao, pointing to recent reports by media including CBC’s Fifth Estate as drivers of this. 

“The politicians are now very invested and they have large populations of international students and families living in their constituencies and they’re starting to speak out and voice their concerns too”. 

Shamira Madhany, managing director for World Education Services in Canada, said the country needs “frameworks and tools in place to continue to attract international students while addressing very real challenges present for these students”.

WES will recommend that the consultations explore ethical recruitment and transparency in provision of upfront information and ongoing support to international students, among other topics. 

Tao predicts that the processing of applications from francophone Africa will also be part of the discussions, along with pathways to permanent residency.

He pointed to conversations within the sector about the need to change the application process to tackle high application refusal rates, after IRCC refusal rates for study permits peaked at 49% in 2020. 

“I do see Canada looking very carefully at what Australia is doing, and I think there is an interest in higher approval rates, fewer applicants,” he said. 

“It’s still a little bit early to tell, but I know there’s many advocates for a weighted system or one that has different category subcategories of international students so we aren’t leaving the humanitarian students at the door.” 

An IRCC spokesperson told The PIE News that the body is approaching the review “with open minds and a genuine desire to hear what our partners and stakeholders, experts, clients and the public have to say about the immigration system of the future”. 

Kicked off the first of many coast to coast dialogue sessions in Halifax today. The feedback received throughout the spring will inform Canada’s future immigration policies & programs. https://t.co/UrV4ZqlsVJ

— Sean Fraser (@SeanFraserMP) February 23, 2023

The government will hold engagement events throughout spring including in-person “dialogue sessions”, workshops and a public survey. Fraser held the first of these events in Halifax on 23 February.

The government will also launch an online public survey in March 2023, with the consultation period set to conclude in April 2023.  

Tao called on the government to ensure the roundtables are inclusive of people affected by immigration policies, rather than only organisations and business leaders. 

Canada follows Australia in inviting public feedback into immigration policies. Australia’s Home Affairs department is currently conducting a review of the country’s migration system. 

Given recent policy announcements related to Turkey and Iran, Tao said he is “curious” as to how much this consultation process will input on future change compared to how far it will be used to disseminate information about new policies already planned. 

The post Wellbeing, PR and inspiration from Aus – Canada’s immigration shake-up appeared first on The PIE News.

An agreement between the UK and EU on trading arrangements in Northern Ireland will allow the UK to take steps to realign with the continent’s research funding program Horizon Europe.

As soon as the Windsor Framework is implemented, EU president Ursula von der Leyen said work on the UK’s association to Horizon will start “immediately”.

The EU chief met UK prime minister Rishi Sunak in the UK on February 27 to agree a new Brexit deal on Northern Ireland. The agreement in principle will see new trading operations between the UK, Northern Ireland and mainland Europe.

Von der Leyen said that the deal was “good news for scientists and researchers in the EU and in the UK”.

“The moment [the agreement] is implemented I’m happy to start immediately right now the work on an association agreement which is the pre-condition to join Horizon Europe,” she said during her trip to the UK.

In a statement, UUK chief executive, Vivienne Stern, said the organisation was “relieved to hear that the Windsor Framework has been agreed”.

“The removal of this political roadblock must now lead to the rapid confirmation of UK association to Horizon Europe, Copernicus and Euratom, as set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement,” she said.

“Full association with Horizon continues to be best outcome for both the UK, and for our research partners across Europe and beyond. We urge all sides to start the necessary talks now so that association can take effect as soon as the Framework is implemented.”

The FT reported that final negotiations are likely to take between six and nine months. Financial arrangements are yet to be clarified as well as the scale and areas the UK will participate in.

UUK has led the #SticktoScience campaign – together with Swiss partners who still remain outside the EU program – calling for an “open and barrier-free collaboration among Europe’s research and innovation actors”.

The German U15, The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, Udice in France, as well as the UK’s Russell Group are just some of the organisations that have warned that “failure to move forward with UK association would be bad news for research and a second best outcome”.

Speaking with BBC Radio 4’s World at One program, former president of the Royal Society and chief executive and director of the Francis Crick Institute, Paul Nurse, said the move was “fantastic news for science”.

“We’ve been on tenterhooks for many months,” he said. “The only thing standing in the way of association was the Northern Ireland protocol. [UK] government policy is to associate and now they are able to do so, and now the EU wishes to see that happen too.”

“We’ve been on tenterhooks for many months”

The UK had set out contingency plans if association to the program did fail, which Nurse said should now “fall by the wayside”.

“The ones that had been put in place were with small countries or countries a long way away,” he said. “They were in no sense a substitute for the connection with Europe.”

However, Nurse noted that the Windsor Framework still need to be implemented.

“If this finally doesn’t get through [UK parliament]… what we should be doing in this country [UK] is actually replicating what is done in Europe through their various initiatives as much as we can, so that when eventually we are be able to associate, it will be easy to do that,” he said.

“Honestly, it’s better to have a halfway step than no step at all. We were in danger of floating off, frankly, into the cold northeast Atlantic, where the only company we might have had is Greenland. And I like Greenland, but this wasn’t good for our science. What we see here are the first steps in getting back into that European science fold. It’s really, really important for the entire UK science endeavour.”

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Australian education exports in 2022 increased to AUS$25.5 billion (USD$17.15bn), new statistics have revealed – a pandemic rebound which the country’s peak body for higher education describes as an “economic winner”.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that international students contributed $25.5bn over 2022, level with the 2016 total. Despite not returning to 2019’s record $40bn, the economic contribution is up from 2021 when international students brought in $22bn.

Although Australia has faced significant Covid-19 disruption from 2020, the economic contribution has grown from $16.7bn in the decade since 2012, to $25.5bn last year.

If the economic contribution continues to grow year-by-year by 16% – which it saw in 2022 – the total will hit $39.8bn by 2025.

Universities Australia calculated that, together with $3.5bn international students enrolling on courses online from their home countries, international students added $29bn to the economy in 2022.

“International education’s strong rebound is an economic winner for Australia,” said Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson.

“Covid-19 halved the value of education as an export, but we are well on our way back to reaching, and hopefully surpassing, the $40 billion mark we recorded in 2019.”

The Australian reported that education export revenue is expected to continue to rise strongly, especially after China’s announcement on online studies in January which requires Chinese students to be back on campus this year.

Sector stakeholders have also suggested that extended post-study work visas for courses in skill shortage areas will increase the attraction of Australian education opportunities.

Analysts at ABS pointed to international students, together with the country’s mining sector, helping Australia’s national current account surplus increase to $14.1bn for 2020.

“Education is our largest services export and the biggest product we don’t source from the ground,” Jackson reminded.

“International education not only supports the economy, but it also helps Australia make important friends.

“In the last month alone, nearly 80,000 students have come to Australia”

“In the last month alone, nearly 80,000 students have come to Australia. We have work to do, but the progress to date is good for universities, Australia and the economy more broadly.

“Like many parts of our economy, international education has faced a challenging couple of years – with travel restrictions and border closures plunging students and universities into periods of real uncertainty,” Jackson added.

Federal education minister Jason Clare is travelling to India this week, together with 11 Australian university vice-chancellors, in a bid to “promote our institutional partnerships and boost collaboration”.

Clare will be signing a mutual recognition of qualifications agreement with his Indian counterpart, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, who visited Australia last year.

Vice-chancellor and president of University of Wollongong, Patricia Davidson, will also be joining the delegation.

In 2022, Wollongong signed an agreement to establish a location for teaching, research and industry engagement in GIFT City in Gujarat.

“The visit provides an important opportunity for Australian universities to showcase new partnerships and plans which they can deliver in India, including opportunities for joint degrees and campuses,” Clare added.

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Canada recently released news that it had smashed its 2014 target of hosting 450,000 international students by 2022 – over 800,000 are now on its shores.

One emerging demographic that has crept up in the student population is from the countries of Latin America.

While over 55,000 in 2022 come from the region and only make up just under 7% of all international students in the country, demand for Canadian study has shot up in the last 10 years.

Skyrocketing numbers

All but two countries have seen over 100% increase in the amount of students being sent to study – Mexico has over 200% more, with 14,440 students in 2022 compared to the 2012 figure of 4,955.

Another huge jump, putting it in line as an emerging source country, is Colombia. In 2012, just 1,540 students from the country were in Canada for their studies. In 2022, that figure has exploded – 12,440 are currently in Canada – and it only seems to be continuing on that trajectory.

“Application trends for Fall 2023 indicate an increased interest from some new markets in the region… such as Colombia,” noted Isaac Garcia-Sitton, executive director of international student enrolment at Toronto Metropolitan University, speaking to The PIE News.

The founder of Study Union International in Colombia, Ana Maria Betancur, also told the PIE that as the founder of an agency that’s been reviewing the market for 25 years, she can tell the interest in the country in not dying down any time soon. We have all “seen the evolution” of Canada as a destination, she says.

Colombia was listed as one of the priority countries in Canada’s updated international education strategy in 2019 – along with other Latin American countries Brazil and Mexico, as part of its aim to diversify the student nationalities coming to Canada to study.

After only having 350 students in 2012, Ecuador now has over 2,500 in Canada. While in absolute terms, the numbers are not large, Representaciones Académicas – one of the country’s largest education agencies – talked about how Ecuadorians see Canada as a viable destination, not only for study but beyond.

“Canada is very interesting for both its quality of life and its studies; in many cases today, they want to have the opportunity to have a bachelors or masters degree as well as the possibility of staying in the country, they are attracted by the quality of life and security,” marketing director Carmen Jaramillo explained to the PIE.

Garcia-Sitton’s assessment of the pull also hinged on the quality of life that can be found studying in Canada – an affordable currency and “overarching values of multiculturalism, tolerance and inclusivity” also help its case.

While recent months have seen some controversy at smaller colleges oversubscribing students, and some even seeming to need full time jobs to afford their lives there, the general consensus among students is that it’s largely practicing what it preaches – a useful, safe and interesting experience.

Visa processing rears its ugly head

Like countries across the world, Canada’s visa processing speeds became extremely slow in the last three years. It was one of the destinations that failed to catch up like others did – and in Latin America, where embassies and consulates are few and far between, the impact was heavily felt.

“Ecuadorians are very interested in Canada, but the visas are taking longer than normal”

“Ecuadorians are very interested in Canada, but the visas are taking longer than normal, so we request to students that they apply as soon as possible so they can arrive on time,” Jaramillo said.

Ecuador is far from the only country affected. Speaking to The PIE, Shannon O’Brien, a born-and-raised Canadian working as an education agent in Bolivia for Minerva Consultos Académicos, also said the problem affected them greatly.

“The huge limiting factor for Canada is the visa processing time. As a proud Canadian I hate to admit when the US has anything which is considered better than its Canadian counterpart but when it comes to visas, the US wins hands down.

“I can guide a student through the US student visa process in a month whereas the Canadian Study Permit process takes upwards of four months. We often hear that they will be streamlining the process and should this actually occur then the applications for Canadian universities and colleges will surely increase,” she explained.

As late as September 2022 there were reports of students indeed waiting up to four months for a visa to process, and some students are losing out completely – even financially – because of disconnects between universities, provincial officials and the IRCC.

Pandemic-driving interest

While the pandemic hit Ecuador hard, it only mustered more interest for overseas study, according to Jaramillo: “It is unfortunate, but the pandemic has caused many people and families to leave their country of origin and seek better opportunities.”

This is quite true of Ecuador – not only are they sending good numbers to Canada and the US, but they sent the second most international students to Spain in the latest figures from Study in Spain.

Sarah O’Sullivan, based in Brazil and the Latin American consultant for SOS Education Consultancy, told The PIE what she’d seen in terms of landscape – and that the biggest countries weren’t necessarily the biggest recruitment drivers.

“While student numbers from Brazil to Canada grew by more than 180% in 10 years, pre- and post-pandemic numbers are relatively static, from 10,230 in 2019 to 10,405 in 2022,” she explained.

“Meanwhile, student numbers from Peru grew exponentially since pre-pandemic days, from 685 students in 2019 to 3,200 in 2022 – growth of nearly 370%.”

Peru is clearly seeing the benefits of being listed as one of the three countries in Latin America to be put on the Student Direct Stream in 2021 alongside Brazil and Colombia, with interest continuing to shoot up in the Andean country.

She also mentioned that from 2019 to 2022, there was 200% growth in Bolivia, 128% in Colombia, 124% in Argentina and 113% in Ecuador – which, despite a pandemic, bodes well.

While growth in 2021 wasn’t as stark for Toronto Met, emerging from the pandemic has given the institution a boost, according to Garcia-Sitton. Compared with an 8% increase in fall 2021 – the middle of a pandemic – 2022 saw over a 40% increase in applications.

“[Universities] are quite interested in adding the Latin Culture to the mix”

“Many colleges and universities are also trying to diversify their student population and have accepted large numbers of students from India and China in the past therefore they are quite interested in adding the Latin Culture to the mix,” O’Brien noted, from her own experience liaising with universities.

Job shortages which have largely materialised as a result of the pandemic could also provide an opportunity for these students – O’Brien highlighted that the smallest towns need skilled workers. 

“I believe as long as Canada has a labour shortage that the population of international students will continue to increase.”

Onward trajectory – up and up?

Canada has seen explosive growth from countries like India in recent years, to the point that there has been worry that it might bring the system to its knees.

While Latin America is not sending students as such a high rate, will the upward trajectory continue and see it begin to take a larger share of the student population?

“With regular geopolitical unrest in the region, Latin American students will increasingly opt for destinations that illustrate this return and that carry through on long-term promises,” O’Sullivan pointed out.

“Canada’s recruitment success in Latin America is dependent on several factors. To retain and increase market share it is vital that long term immigration options remain available and attainable.”

“To sustain the region’s growth in Canada, it is important that we work on federal policies”

Noting the popularity of Spain and Portugal with Latin American students – as demonstrated by Ecuador’s high ranking at Spanish universities – Canada is constantly competing with the US and UK, Garcia-Sitton warned.

“To sustain the region’s growth in Canada, it is important that we intentionally work on both federal policies and institutional practices to develop our capacity to attract, retain, and support international students from the region.”

For agents on the ground in Latin America – as well as the increasing number of in-country offices universities are opening – it’s about what will be available in Canada when students arrive.

“In the future there will surely be more students, but one of the problems we are having is the lack of housing and high costs,” Jaramillo said.

“We are trying to get students to apply to the centre of Canada [the Prairie Provinces] where they can maintain the same quality of life and find better housing and job costs,” she explained.

“I see the huge potential for growth in this sector and benefits for both students and the country of Canada. Latin students are incredibly sociable, caring and hard working. The students solve problems easily and are able to adapt quickly to new situations,” noted O’Brien.

While Latin America’s student population in Canada is still in its early growth stages, it’s clear that it’s time to make way – the students will come, and Canada will need to be ready for them.

The post Canada – the Latin American dream appeared first on The PIE News.

Nigerians spent a massive US$1.38 billion on international education funding students to acquire degrees and diplomas in universities and colleges abroad in the first nine months of 2022.

The amount was however lower by more than half a million US dollars compared to the amount spent over the same period in 2021, when the country paid $1.88bn for international education, according to the country’s financial analysis website Nairametrics.

Quoting Central Bank of Nigeria figures, it reported that despite “negatively” impacting the country’s balance of payments and despite being likely the largest expenditure on foreign education in Africa, the total in 2022 represents the country’s lowest spending on study abroad by Nigerians since 2016.

The scenario is worsened by the fact that the country in return did not receive any significant “form of cash inflow from foreign students”, the trends website laments, noting that the data was in tandem with the high mobility of Nigerians moving to foreign countries using “the education route”, it noted.

This one-sided trend is also a result of the fact that “education has become the easiest way for Nigerians to get a visa into European countries, especially the United Kingdom”, where Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation sends its biggest share of students.

In the 2021/22 academic year, some 44,195 Nigerian students were enrolled at UK universities, HESA statistics show.

“Nigerians who want to relocate abroad now apply for admission to foreign universities”

“Nigerians who want to relocate abroad now apply for admission to foreign universities, and upon admission apply for study visas, which allow them to work and school in the host country during the course of their studies,” Nairametrics added.

The data comes at a time when the country’s importance as a source market continues to grow, for example sending 21,660 to Canadian universities in 2022, the fifth highest in the list of nationalities issued with the most Canadian study permits. This represented a growth of 17.8% when compared to the previous year.

The figures also seem to agree with previous ones by the CBN which indicate that that Nigerians spent about $221 million on foreign education between December 2021 and February 2022.

The CBN analysis further showed that in December 2021 alone, a whopping $90.67m was spent on foreign education while in January 2022, a total of $60.2m went to the same, an amount that rose to nearly $70m in February of the same year.

Nigeria is the biggest source market for international students in Africa, with thousands studying in North America, Europe, Asia and South Africa.

A total of 71,133 of them were enrolled in universities abroad in 2022 according to the US Department of Commerce. Some 14,438 joined classes in the US, according to 2022 Open Doors data.

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Universities Canada has expressed concern over news that international students are dying of overdoses in British Columbia and has called for funding to provide improvements to mental health care on campus for students.

The comments come after local faith leaders and community workers said Punjabi international students in Surrey are dying at high rates from drug overdose.

Press Progress spoke with Giani Narinder Singh of the Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran in Surrey, who claimed the Gurdwara has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars helping return the bodies of students back home to India to their families.

Singh explained that many students are unaware of the toxic drug supply and that substances like fentanyl may be found in drugs they may be using.

Toxic-drug supply claimed nearly 2,300 lives in 2022 according to the BC Coroners Service. The number of deaths being investigated by the BC Coroners Service in 2022 is the second-largest total ever in a calendar year, and only 34 fewer than the 2,306 deaths reported to the agency in 2021.

And toxic drugs were responsible for an average of 189 deaths per month in 2022, or 6.2 lost lives each and every day. The final number for 2022 will almost certainly increase as investigations are completed and final causes of death are established.

“Universities Canada and its members are deeply saddened and concerned by the news of deaths by overdose in B.C. We encourage students to reach out to their universities and avail themselves of the resources available on campus,” Graham Barber, assistant director, international relations for Universities Canada, told The PIE News.

“Universities are committed to working with students, government, and the community to ensure that our campuses are safe environments, and that students have access to effective support.

“Direct funding is needed urgently to provide essential improvements to mental health care on campus for students. Canadian universities have been urging the federal government to follow through on their election commitment in 2021 to establish a student mental health fund of $500 million over four years.”

Currently, B.C. does not currently collect data based on race or ethnicity related to toxic drug death. However, the province’s government said it knows how important it is to collect intersectional demographic data.

“The health and welfare of all students in the province is a top priority for government, especially as the toxic drug crisis continues,” a spokesperson for B.C.’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions told The PIE News.

“B.C. is one of the most popular destinations for international students in Canada, hosting 22% of all international students on study permits in the country. The number of international students studying in B.C. with a study permit increased from approximately 100,000 in 2013 to more than 184,000 in 2021.

“Language should never be a barrier to getting help. That’s why government is providing more culturally competent and language-specific services, a key pillar of A Pathway to Hope – the province’s roadmap to improving mental health and addictions care in B.C. by improving access to and quality of care.”

The spokesperson said that across the province, psychiatrists, counsellors and psychologists offer mental health and substance use support in many languages to meet the diverse needs of people in their communities.

“Whenever possible, regional health authorities connect language-specific service providers with people who may have language barriers. The province also works with numerous community partners to deliver services in multiple languages.”

In 2022, community leaders in Brampton, Ontario, also warned of suicides among the Indian student population citing mental health issues and loneliness as problems some students face. Previously, stakeholders have also said that visa delays have risked the mental health of international students.

Universities Canada said that in addition to resources on campus, students have access to the government’s Here2Talk program, which provides free mental health counselling and referral 24/7 by app, phone or online chat for post-secondary students, including international students.

Support in languages other than English and French may be available upon request.

“The program is free to students registered in a B.C. post-secondary institution and provides province-wide, confidential, mental health support services and is accessible to both part-time and full-time domestic, Indigenous and international students at both the undergraduate and graduate level,” Barber added.

Since April 2020 when the program launched, Here2Talk has supported 6583 unique students from 176 institutions.

Here2Talk services have been accessed more than 23,600 times and counsellors have provided more than 13,696 mental health interventions in that time and more than 14,000 hours of clinical care.

If you need support, help is available.

Australia
Lifeline: 131 114
Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636

New Zealand
Lifeline: 0800 543 354

UK
Samaritans: 116 123

US
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988

Canada:
TalkSuicide: 1 833 456 4566

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The American International Recruitment Council has announced the 2023 recipients of the Sir Cyril Taylor Memorial Scholarship for Study in the US.

Nine US HEIs will receive up to $10,000 to award scholarships to disadvantaged or underrepresented students from the UK to enrol at their institution during the 2023/24 academic year. Students can opt to pursue variety of degree or non-degree programs.

“This program is a wonderful example of how a partnership between a charitable foundation and a membership association can make a positive impact on students’ lives through high quality educational opportunities,” AIRC executive director Brian Whalen said.

The initiative was launched in 2022 together with AIFS with a $100,000 backing.

The nine institutions included in the first iteration include: California State University Long Beach; Elgin Community College; Middle Tennessee State University; Nazareth College; San Mateo County Community College District; State University of New York at Plattsburgh; University of Louisville; University of Maryland Baltimore County; and University of Tennessee Knoxville.

“We trust the institutions will do a really good job of finding the students who fit Sir Cyril Taylor’s vision of increasing diversity and inclusion in study abroad,” said current chairperson of AIFS and trustee of the Cyril Taylor Charitable Foundation, William Gertz.

“We’re very proud of the work that the foundation has done in its initial few years and we’re very excited about the future this brings to move the needle so that more students from the UK can study abroad.”

“As an institution firmly committed to inclusive excellence, we are honoured to receive this award”

Speaking with The PIE News, AIRC president Derrick Alex said the collaboration “is one more example of AIRCs commitment to support international students and opening doors for deserving students to pursue their dream of studying in the US”.

The scholarships “will directly benefit our members by assisting institutions and agencies to achieve their international enrolment goals”, added director of Membership and Sponsorship at AIRC, Rachael Lamson.

David Di Maria, associate vice provost for international education at University of Maryland Baltimore County, told The PIE News, “As an institution firmly committed to inclusive excellence, we are honoured to receive this award. We very much look forward to welcoming the future scholarship recipients to our UMBC community.”

Likewise, vice provost of international affairs at Middle Tennessee State University, Robert Summers, said, “The Sir Cyril Taylor Scholarship is a way for MTSU to show its deep commitment to incoming international student mobility”.

“Ensuring that every student has an international experience is one of the pillars of our strategic plan. This scholarship helps us to fulfil this goal,” Summers added.

The award is named after Sir Cyril Taylor, distinguished academic, entrepreneur, public servant in both the UK and US, and founder and chairperson of AIFS, who passed away in 2018. The Cyril Taylor Charitable Foundation has been established to honour Taylor’s legacy, with initiatives that promote US/UK relations and international education opportunities.

The Cyril Taylor Charitable Foundation also offers scholarships for American undergraduates to study in the UK, together with the Fund for Education Abroad.

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“I have been waiting a long time to say this,” began AIEA conference chair David Fleshler in his address to the delegates at the AIEA annual luncheon, “but I’m pleased to report that the state of AIEA is strong.”

Indeed, the organisation’s commitment to supporting international students, faculty and administrators was a common theme woven throughout this week’s conference in Washington DC.

Outgoing president Jewell Green Winn reminded delegates that, as a sector, “we are stronger together”, in urging the attendees to be advocates for international education at the local, state, and national levels.

The importance of advocacy was underscored at ‘A View from the Hill’, a breakout session facilitated by Jill Welch of the President’s Alliance, NYU’s Sherif Barsoum and University of Michigan’s Imara Dawson. The trio discussed how the climate on Capitol Hill impacts the work of international educators on a campus level.

“There are changes that require constituents to build relationships and develop champions”

“There are changes that require constituents to build relationships and develop champions,” said Welch. Barsoum shared key updates on premium processing times for visas and the extension on interview waivers for certain non-immigrant visa applicants.

An overview of the state of the sector entitled, “How are we doing – really?” was the topic of Tuesday’s opening plenary during which panellists discussed new findings and the future of international education.

Winn raised concern about how far the US has come as a nation in addressing the historical inequities faced by students of colour. She urged much more needs to be done to be able to truly consider programs and approaches to equitable international education.

She argued that issues of race and violence in the US are a deterrent for many students seeking to study abroad. And in reviewing the 2022 figures from Project Atlas, the trends are somewhat alarming for US leaders.

While US remains the top destination overall for international students, the percentage of students has decreased over the past 12 years in comparison to other locations. Meanwhile, Canada’s percentages have nearly doubled in the same timeframe.

A major win for US is the number of higher education institutions in the country. With over 4,000 HEIs, the US has significantly more capacity than its top competitors: UK, Canada, and Australia.

Thus, the panellist implored, the efforts and funding of institutions needs to match the language of internationalisation outlined in strategic plans and mission statements.

In considering the shifting landscape of international student mobility trends, Maria Claudia Soler of the American Council on Education asserted, “Technology continues to be a huge access point that allows students to access global education.”

Podium Education’s co-founder and president Chris Parrish discussed the power of technology to support students’ global experiences and to promote their intercultural competence and 21^st century skills.

Collaboration was also highlighted as a critical component to the success of the sector. A popular session during the event was hosted by leaders from the Network of International Education Associations on hot topics in different world regions.

EAIE president Piet Van Hove spoke with The PIE News about key takeaways and commonalities among regions with different issues.

“What we want for our sector is to be more inclusive, diverse, and sustainable,” Van Hove said. “And we do that by strengthening our collaborative dynamic. That’s the basis of it – bringing people together.”

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