Wildfires burning in and and around Kelowna in Canada caused the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus to be evacuated over the weekend, with funds now being raised for impacted students.

In total, more than 35,000 residents are under evacuation orders across province. Around 400 people were evacuated from the campus on August 18 and scheduled exams were cancelled.

As of August 20, UBC’s Okanagan campus was downgraded from an evacuation order to an alert. Only crucial trips to campus are recommended and anyone who must visit the campus has been advised to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

“These are unquestionably challenging and unsettling times for our students, faculty and staff and residents of Kelowna and surrounding communities,” read a joint statement by Lesley Cormack, principal and deputy vice-chancellor of the university and Deborah Buszard, interim president and vice-chancellor.

“We are also aware that many in our community, both on and off campus, have been evacuated and wait anxiously for news as the situation unfolds. Others have already suffered significant loss,” said Cormack in a statement on August 20.

“We are working through this together,” she added.

Cormack confirmed that the campus has not suffered from any structural damage. “For that, we are grateful,” she said.

However, she added that “undoubtedly” the impact of the wildfires will leave a scar on the community.

“I have hope that our resilience, which has been tested all too recently, will prevail once more.”

Interested in supporting the @ubcokanagan student community impacted by the wildfires in the Okanagan? I wanted to share some information about the UBCO Student Emergency Fund. We use this fund to support accommodation and food support for our students. https://t.co/j7rfI6jlW0

— Brad Wuetherick (@bwuetherick) August 21, 2023

Donations to help displaced students are being welcomed via the Okanagan Student Emergency Assistance Fund.

“We will rebuild. We will learn. Our community will continue to strengthen and support one another in the face of this adversity,” said Cormack.

“I have hope that our resilience, which has been tested all too recently, will prevail once more”

The university was also forced to cancel its multi-day program, JumpStart, designed to help students transition from high school student to university scholar.

“From the serene chirps in the morning breeze, to the raging burning of the nature that surrounds our homes, the past four days have been a test of resilience and perseverance with homes being lost in engulfing flames,” said Ruwaida Rashid, senior orientation leader in a LinkedIn post.

“We went from preparing to welcome over 3,000+ first year students with our carefully curated #JumpStart orientation program, to the SEO’s months of hard work being shadowed by uncertainty of its delivery within a matter of an evacuation order.”

The city’s Okanagan College also issued alerts to students and employees, but remained open.

“We understand the wildfire situation in B.C. is causing people stress, including students who are planning to attend OC this fall.  We want you to know we take the safety of our students and staff very seriously,” the institution said in a statement.

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A comprehensive new plan aimed at helping students across Chile look after their mental health has been lauded by the country’s undersecretary for higher education.

The plan, which was launched at the University of Chile, will aim to tackle “alarming rises” in students being affected by their mental health amid a return to in-person education after the Covid pandemic.

While aimed at both domestic and international students alike, Undersecretary for Higher Education Victor Orellana assured the plan will “contemplate unique matters pertaining to international students and also migrant students”.

In 2021, Chile hosted a total of 33,156 international students, 31,995 who came from Latin America and the Caribbean, government statistics show. In 2017, there were 20,150 international students in the country.

“The council has the mandate to review, with a wide spectrum, the policies, mechanisms and actions that favour the integral wellbeing of the student body, welcoming its diversity,” a representative for the undersecretary told The PIE.

“In this sense, the recommendations that will eventually be made from the Advisory Council will benefit all students who undertake undergraduate or postgraduate studies in Chilean institutions – regardless of their nationality,” the office said.

Multiple government entities, including the ministry of education, the ministry of public health, and the University of Chile were involved in the launch. The university’s vice-rector of student affairs said that institutional-governmental collaboration was “fundamental” to the plan’s success.

“It is important to understand that wellbeing and mental health is a condition for the guaranteed right to education – from primary education to higher education, with separate areas of support,” said Maria Teresa Ramirez, a specialist included on a discussion panel at the launch.

The University of Chile reported in the last year that requests for mental health support from students, both domestic and international, had risen by 167% year-on-year.

During the meeting, it was also revealed that just shy of 70% of Chilean universities have provisions in place for mental health needs, and only 44% of technical education colleges have them.

“It was a concern and commitment made by president Gabriel Boric to emphasise the mental health of the students of higher education institutions in Chile,” said the undersecretary’s representative.

“The plan contemplates unique matters pertaining to international students and also migrant students”

“Together, the students, through their leaders, had also asked the Ministry of Education for the need to prepare a plan, which has already begun with [the meeting at the University of Chile],” it said.

The advisory council, which includes the undersecretary, as well as rectors and specialists from across Chilean institutions and government departments, has been tasked with putting together an action plan by December 2023.

“The new mission for the council will be to deliver proposals for public policies to address the issue,” the office noted.

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The UK is closing its gap with the US in the latest Soft-Power Index, with the latter retaining top spot having educated 65 world leaders.

Since 2017, the last year when the UK boasted having the most serving world leaders as alumni of any country in the world, the US has extended its lead every year after overtaking the UK in 2018.

The latest analysis compiled by the Higher Education Policy Institute shows that in 2023, 65 world leaders are graduates of US higher education institutions, a decline of two on last year’s figures. The UK increased its count by two, including 58 leaders among its alumni.

France is in third place, being the study destination for 30 leaders, and Russia fourth, with 10.

“The number of world leaders educated in other countries reflects the standing of different educational systems and is a good proxy for the amount of soft power held by different countries,” HEPI director, Nick Hillman, said.

“It is no accident that the countries that top the global university league tables are the same ones that educate the most people who go on to head up their own countries.”

There is still a difference of seven monarchs, presidents and prime ministers educated in the US, including UK prime minister Rishi Sunak who earned an MBA from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar, as well as a degree at Oxford in the UK.

Still, Hillman described the fact that over one-quarter of the world’s countries having a head of state or prime minister educated in the UK as a “phenomenal achievement”.

HEPI noted that a handful of leaders – including Sunak – have been educated in both the UK and the US. A total of 84 countries have a very senior leader who has been educated at a higher level in the US and / or the UK, the think tank added.

“We now have seven years of data, which confirm beyond all doubt that the US and the UK have a lead over the rest of the world that remains very difficult to beat,” Hillman added.

The two countries lead above competitors due to their strong university systems, their international connections as well as having English as the most common language, the think tank emphasised.

Other countries that have educated more than five serving world leaders are Switzerland (seven), Australia (six), Italy (six) and Spain (six).

Among world leader’s that have studied in Australia are Bhutanese prime minister, Lotay Tshering, who graduated from University of Canberra with a masters in 2014 (in addition holding qualifications earned in the US), as well as president of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, who earned a master’s of Economic Studies from The University of Queensland in 2002.

Notable alumni of UK institutions include: Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II; King Harald V of Norway; Japan’s Emperor Naruhito; prime minister of Cameroon Joseph Ngute; president of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo; and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.

Syria’s notorious leader Bashar al-Assad, who has been accused of war crimes in the country, also studied postgraduate courses in Ophthalmology at Western Eye Hospital in London.

The list of world leaders who studied in the US features: Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel; Latvian prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš; president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud; and Ariel Henry, prime minister of Haiti.

Irish president Michael D Higgins, president of the Philippines Bongbong Marcos, Belgium’s King Philippe, president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and prime minister of Guyana Mark Phillips are just some of the leaders that have been educated in both the UK and the US.

Many current world leaders have not had international education experiences.

Xi Jinping of China studied at Tsinghua University, Germany’s Olaf Scholz read law at the University of Hamburg, India’s Narendra Modi earned degree in his home country, US president Joe Biden studied at the University of Delaware and Syracuse University and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman studied at King Saud University in Riyadh. Australian leader Anthony Albanese is a graduate of the University of Sydney.

Former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull and former US president Bill Clinton are both alumni of Oxford University’s Rhodes scholarship, while former Germany chancellor Angela Merkal joined an exchange program to the Soviet Union in 1974.

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Over half of Arab youth in the Levant and North Africa want to emigrate, including to pursue higher education abroad, according to new research.

The median age in the Middle East and North Africa is 22 and youth make up 28% of the population. But among this generation, there is widespread dissatisfaction. 

The 2023 Arab Youth Survey found that the majority of young people aged 18-24 in North Africa and the Levant hope to leave their country to pursue better opportunities abroad. 

In contrast, only 27% of their peers in Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, said they have considered emigration, with most saying they never want to leave their country long-term.

The stark divide is down to economic downturn and political instability in the Levant (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Syria and Yemen) and North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, South Sudan and Tunisia).

Across these regions, young people have been some of the hardest hit by global inflation and economic recession, which have compounded the development issues the region was already experiencing. 

“This is a generation who has lived their whole lives facing challenging job prospects, with an unemployment rate broadly unchanged since the Arab Uprisings,” said Jihad Azour, director of the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East and Central Asia Department. 

“The post Covid-19 conjuncture has made these challenges worse, with a persistently high inflation, adding to cost of living pressures.”

According to a 2022 report from the International Labour Organisation, Arab states face the highest and the fastest-growing unemployment rate among young people.  

Almost half of those who wanted to leave the region said their primary reason for emigrating would be to find work, while 12% wanted to pursue higher education. 

“They’re much more educated than ever before,” said George Naufal, researcher at the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University. “The job market does not match what they learned.”

Young people have little confidence that anything will change, as the economic outlook continues to worsen in countries like Lebanon and Egypt, while in parts of the Levant including Syria, Yemen and Iraq, political stability seems far away. 

“Over the last five years, trust that government policies will enable youth to fulfill their dreams has been consistently high in the GCC and low in the rest of the Arab world, much of which has witnessed social unrest over the past decade,” said James Dorsey, senior fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute. 

And although most young people are looking for work opportunities abroad, economic downturn and political instability is also fuelling demand for international education. 

“The more there are challenges, surprisingly, the more there is a higher demand for studying abroad,” said Youssef Medhat, student recruitment manager for the Middle East and North Africa at Cambridge Education Group’s ONCAMPUS. 

While young people may be suffering financially, he explained, they are keen to study in countries that have post-study work routes. 

In Syria, where the economy has been ravaged by ongoing conflict, Medhat said there is increasing demand for programs like medicine which offer a direct route into a steady career. 

“They want to leave the country and, not just that, they want to secure a job,” he said. 

Similarly in post-war Iraq, “recruitment is growing bigger and bigger”, according to Medhat. 

“At some point, when the country started to become more stable, the demand went down.

“Now, there are a lot of conflicts, uprising and there is a lot of instability again and this is why we’ve seen a lot of demand,” he said. 

“That’s also reflected by the amount of agents that we’re working with in-country, so we have more requests for people to become agents to the universities.”

“It’s becoming harder to leave”

The same factors that make young people want to leave can also be barriers to studying abroad. 

“It’s becoming harder to leave,” said Naufal. “Most of those who are able to leave tend to be on the wealthier side from the region because migration is expensive.”

Foreign currency shortages in countries like Egypt and Lebanon make paying tuition fees difficult, while visa refusal rates for Syrian students pose another obstacle. 

Growth in student numbers heading to major destinations is mixed.

Canada has seen a surge from the region, with almost 10,000 more students granted visas in 2022 compared to 2019. The largest cohorts are from Algeria (7,510 vs 3,620) and Morocco (7,220 vs 4,510), in part driven by Canada’s francophone immigration strategies.

UK numbers have remained steady, with 8,025 higher education students from North Africa and the Levant in 2021/22, compared to 7,080 in 2019/20, according to data from HESA. The largest groups are from Jordan (1,880 vs 1,850), Lebanon (1,540 vs 1,395) and Morocco (1,460 vs 975).

In the US, numbers have dropped slightly since before the pandemic, with 9,439 students from the region in 2021/22 vs 9,919 in 2019/20, according to the Institute of International Education. Students from some Muslim countries were banned from entering the US during some of this period under former president Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Medhat believes institutions can do more to tap into these markets, rather than focusing on Gulf countries.

“I don’t think all universities realise the demand or how big these markets are,” he said. 

Despite the challenge, many young Arabs see emigration as the only way they can build a better life. 

“It’s brain drain, but it’s only brain drain because the support system at the destination country allowed those brains to actually flourish and become very successful,” said Naufal. “Those same individuals back home are just wasted talent.”

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The US state department has confirmed that this year it is issuing more student visas to applicants from African countries than any time in the previous six years.

The news comes after stakeholders in the world’s most popular study destination met with government officials after releasing research that indicated that an estimated 92,051 “potentially qualified” African students were denied US visas between 2018-2022.

Meeting with Julie Stufft, deputy assistant secretary of State for Visa Services, the Presidents’ Alliance and Shorelight – who compiled the research – briefed the officials on “inconsistencies with visa issuance” in the Global South, especially in Africa.

NAFSA’s senior director for public policy and legislative strategy Rachel Banks and CEO Fanta Aw also joined.

Just last week, The PIE reported that US student visa approvals are expected to hit a post-pandemic high in 2023. Of the 393,000+ F-1 visas issued this year to the beginning of August, 7% are for African applicants.

The state department confirmed that student visa issuance across Africa so far this fiscal year is up 90% on the same time period in pre-pandemic 2019.

It also said that in FY 2022, the department issued the most student visas in a year since FY 2016.

Last year, the US issued over 30,000 student visas to applicants from African countries, which it also said was more than in any of the previous six years.

US embassies and consulates in Nigeria and Ghana issued more student visas last year than in any year in the past two decades, the state department said.

Similarly, the US embassy and consulates in India broke the all-time record for most student and exchange visitor visas issued in a year, issuing more than 125,000 visas.

Earlier this year, secretary of state Antony Blinken noted that the US has taken steps to “streamline our visa process and make it easier for students to apply” after applications to study in the US increased following the pandemic.

International student mobility is “central to diplomacy, innovation, economic prosperity and national security”, the department says, and it is “committed to international students and continuously improving student visa processing”.

Government officers highlight that the US has improved administration processing, including extending the window to apply for visas to 365 days earlier this year.

During the meeting, the Bureau of Consular Affairs also reiterated that applicants should have the same opportunities to secure student visa regardless of where they are in the world.

The Presidents’ Alliance added that it is continuing to encourage member to raise issues and concerns related to visa processing to address inconsistencies. Additionally, it has requested the state department for a specific meeting to discuss international mobility for students from Africa.

Jill Welch of the Presidents’ Alliance recently wrote in The PIE News that if the US doesn’t address “missed opportunities” for young Africans – which are expected to constitute close to half of the world’s youth population by 2030 – the US “will fall further behind our competitor countries in recruiting this talent from Africa”.

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The next instalment in our series of articles exploring the investment ecosystem within international education focuses on early stage venture capital funds.

If you have a good idea, or a working prototype for a lucrative business innovation, then there are several investment funds who will be interested in what you have to say.

Structured around communities of individual entrepreneurs, investors and tech enthusiasts, early stage investment funds are looking for opportunities to support disruptors, enablers and UX developers to break through in exchange for equity.

Investment can range from a few thousand pounds into the multi-millions and can make a huge difference for a start-up transitioning to major adoption by the industry.

The opportunity for technology-based solutions to prosper is clear in a sector that is lagging behind in digital transformation.

Emerge Education

This London-based, early-stage investment fund is run by a team of entrepreneurs that include Jan Lynn-Matern, a serial investor in projects like FourthRev and the London Interdisciplinary School and Nic Newman, founder of TigerSpike and member of the Department for Education’s edtech advisory group. Mary Curnock Cook, the former CEO of UCAS is also a non-executive director.

It also works as an insight partner with Jisc, the UK’s digital, data and technology agency for tertiary education, research and innovation.

Emerge has backed well-known businesses in international recruitment including Unibuddy, the peer recruitment tool that connects existing students with prospective students; Enroly the admissions platform that automates visa and compliance processes for universities; and Aula the learning experience platform that was eventually acquired by Coventry University in the UK.

Owl Ventures

Headquartered in San Francisco, Owl Ventures is the largest venture capital firm in the world that focuses exclusively on education technology.

Its investment is backed by a wide range of partners including sovereign wealth funds, college endowments and private investors or family funds. It provides investment at all stages of business growth including early and seed funding.

Owl Ventures has backed many of the leading, high growth edtech firms in recent years that have secured multiple rounds of seed funding with multiple investors. The portfolio includes Degreed, Class, BenchPrep, Labster, Masterclass and Code Academy.

The venture capital firm has also been making headlines by investing US$10 million in the hottest new social media app Fizz that is sweeping across US college campuses. The community app allows enrolled students to discuss any topic, event or campus news anonymously, which is then regulated by their peers giving it a ‘karma’ score by upvoting or engaging with the content.

Investments familiar in international education include Leap which owns and operates GeeBee Education Consultants alongside student finance products and hybrid degrees. Having been early stage investors in Leap, Owl Ventures added to its Series B and C funding rounds with a larger series D funding round in 2022 that raised US$75 million.

Learn Capital

Learn Capital is another US-based venture capital fund based out of California. It focuses specifically on technology that is enabling access and innovation within education delivery.

The bigger picture in international education is beyond student mobility and full fee paying international students seeking a study abroad destination.

Population growth and shifting geopolitical power is creating new opportunities for innovative TNE, skills-based education and digital delivery to meet the global demand for education and the future world of work.

Learn has invested in some key enablers in this space including massive open online course providers such as Coursera and Udemy as well as Nexford University.

Learn was also part of a series A investment round in Podium Education, that raised US$12 million in 2020. Podium delivers tech-focused learning experiences for students with a specific, strategic focus on intercultural activity that mirrors the real life operations of modern multinational companies.

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As part of a multi-campus strategy, upGrad is opening a new medical school in the South Pacific country of Vanuatu.

In February 2024, upGrad Institute of Medical Sciences will welcome its first cohort of approximately 100 students.

The Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery course is aligned with the National Medical Commission guidelines and designed for students from the Indian subcontinent.

After completing 4.5 years on-campus, students qualify for a one-year internship with the institute’s academically-integrated hospital, Vila Central Hospital, where students will gain hands-on experience and exposure to real-world medical practices.

With all courses taught in English, the institute will also offer a Doctor of Medicine program.

Among young Indians, demand for medical education is huge, Gauruav Kumar, president of mergers and acquisitions at upGrad, told The PIE.

Each year, around 1.6 million Indian students take exams to be selected for under-graduate medical courses. However, according to Kumar, less than 100,000 spots are available.

Building a medical school requires a unique skill set, Kumar told The PIE, adding that upGrad is committed to an “absolute focus on quality, in a sector which has paramount impact on our daily lives”.

“You’re not only an educator, you’re also a health care provider,” he added.

The medical school will be the first of its kind for Vanuatu and the institute helps to put the country on the world map for higher education, said Kumar.

The school is part of a multi-campus strategy which will see upGrad build up to seven campuses over the next three to five years in locations such as Fiji, Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and Bangladesh.

Among young Indians, demand for medical education is huge

“In a way it also ties into the larger geopolitical conversation in this part of the world where countries such as India and Australia are trying to reach out to South Pacific countries to, through bilateral efforts, build something together,” said Kumar.

Upon graduating, students will have medical practice in Vanuatu and if individuals wish to practice in other countries, respective exams will need to be taken.

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Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said international graduates of Germany’s higher education system will help to “successfully” develop the country’s economy.

Speaking at Gisma University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam, Scholz said it was “inspiring to see how many students from around the world come to Germany and wish to work here afterwards”.

“We need these young and well-qualified men and women for the successful economic development of our country,” he said.

The visit to the GUS-owned institution allowed the chancellor to discuss challenges international professionals face in Germany with students.

The language barrier deters many international professionals from building a life in Germany, and the EU member state is facing skill and talent shortages.

The Institute for Employment Research found that there were 1.74 million vacant positions throughout Germany in 2022. Earlier this year, Germany’s parliament passed a bill to attract skilled migrant workers despite pressure from conservative groups.

The government says the Skilled Immigration Act will create new opportunities to enter Germany and also emphasises that changes will mean less bureaucracy in the future.

Degree-holders with two years of professional experience and professional qualifications obtained abroad will no longer have to have their certificates recognised in Germany before arriving to become skilled workers, for example.

Scholz previously said in March that the “modern immigration law” is at the forefront among global competition.

The newly-introduced points-based migration system is “a further step towards the modernisation of Germany, a further step towards ensuring economic growth for the future as well, and a further step towards overcoming decades of standstill”, the chancellor noted.

“German language skills should no longer be the top employment criterion”

President of Gisma University of Applied Sciences, Stefan Stein, said “as an international university”, Gisma offers “international solutions”.

“German language skills should no longer be the top employment criterion,” he said.

Under the new law, IT specialists will have German language skills proof waived, the government has said. Stakeholders have previously suggested that more English language courses would help to recruit more international students and help fill labour shortages.

Stein added that in a “modern globalised world, it’s outdated to reject a highly-qualified professional simply because they speak only English”.

The university president pointed to the German start-up scene, where teams are international, the English language used and German “seen as a ‘plus’”.

“On the other hand, traditional German companies, from SMEs to established conglomerates, are yet to acknowledge that labour migration is the only sustainable way to close the skill gap,” he added.

“Especially when German skills are not necessary to deliver exceptional work in areas like AI, software engineering, and data science.”

Stein also noted that surveys suggest “many foreign professionals don’t feel comfortable in Germany”, with many finding it challenging to settle and make friends.

“We must become more international as a society to tackle the skill shortage collectively. We simply can’t afford to lose the talented professionals we train in Germany to other countries,” he concluded.

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