International students who were victims in a fraud involving fake post-secondary education letters of acceptance will not face deportation, Canadian Immigration minister Sean Fraser announced on June 15.

“Many of these international students sincerely came to Canada to pursue their studies at some of our world-class institutions and were duped by bad actors who claimed to be helping them in their immigration application process,” he said in a statement.

But individuals will need to prove their intent to come to Canada was “genuine and they were not complicit in fraud”.

“I want to make it clear that international students who are not found to be involved in fraud will not face deportation,” Fraser said.

“International students who are not found to be involved in fraud will not face deportation”

As many as 700 international students from India were given fake admission letters by an unscrupulous agent in that country. However, the minister said the number of cases the government is aware of is in the “dozens” but acknowledged that more affected students could be found as investigations continue.

A total of 82 were referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada process and 25 are still going through the process, he detailed. Some 57 individuals have been subjected to a removal order, with eight having already been deported.

The students used the letters to obtain a Canadian study permit. However, when they arrived in Canada the rogue agent told them their program was full and directed them to an alternate school.

Fraser says his department has struck a task force with the Canada Border Services Agency to identify the victims of fraud.

“If the facts of an individual case are clear that an international student came to Canada with a genuine intent to study, and without knowledge of the use of fraudulent documentation, I have provided instructions for officers to issue a Temporary Resident Permit to that individual,” he said.

He warned that any students who were aware that the documents were fraudulent will face deportation. “Those who were complicit in a fraudulent scheme will be held accountable for their actions and will bear the full consequences of Canadian law,” Fraser said.

The government announced that those international students facing imminent deportation will see those orders halted pending review. At least one student was expected to have been deported on June 13.

The Immigration and Refugee Board, a government agency with a mandate to resolve immigration cases, had previously ruled that students could be deported – even if a student had no knowledge of the fraud.

Karamjeet Kaur, of Edmonton, Alberta, was one such student. Her agent provided her with a letter of acceptance to Seneca College in Toronto; she only found out years later that it was fake. The board accepted her testimony that she believed the letter was authentic, but ordered her deported nonetheless.

It is not clear whether she remains in Canada.

IRCC officials will be working with educational institutions, known as Designated Learning Institutions, to better detect and combat fraud, the minister stated. “We are taking every opportunity to crack down on dishonest and fraudulent consultants who seek to abuse Canada’s immigration system and take advantage of those seeking to visit, work, study or settle in Canada.”

The announcement came as opposition MPs in parliament pressured the Liberal government to take action to protect the fraud victims.

Fraser stated that not all of the international students were victims.

“Those who were complicit in a fraudulent scheme will be held accountable for their actions”

“Other foreign nationals had no intent of pursuing higher education and used fraudulent acceptance letters to take advantage of Canada’s immigration system. Within this cohort of individuals, some have been involved in organised crime,” he said.

Conservative MP Tim Uppal highlighted that affected students have had to hire immigration lawyers to fight to stay in Canada “when they were victims of this scheme” and the government was “treating them as criminals”, during a committee meeting on June 14.

“It’s really important that when we are dealing with something as serious as a person’s ability to remain in Canada that we know the facts that we are dealing with. We undertook work to understand what was going on,” Fraser responded.

The eight people that have been deported, the minister said, will be able to come back “if they demonstrate that their intent to come to Canada was genuine and they were not complicit in fraud”.

“When we are dealing with a widespread, potentially criminal element, to people who are seeking to abuse Canada’s immigration system, I start to think about the reputational risk to the international student program more broadly,” he said.

“This is an extraordinary program that brings people to our country who make an incredible difference. We need to do what we can to protect the mental health and wellbeing of people who are going through this process, but we can’t cut corners when it comes to developing a process that will ensure we are protecting the integrity of the system.”

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Nine in 10 UK universities in a recent survey have indicated they are diversifying international student recruitment, a new research paper has found.

The UUK Diversification and strengthening international recruitment practices report, which saw responses from 60 of the organisation’s members, found the US, India and Malaysia as the countries most commonly mentioned by respondents when asked where they were diversifying their recruitment.

It noted “a very wide range of markets” were listed by respondents, including 40 different countries, while institutions are making changes to application processes in a bid to “ensure that their recruitment practices keep pace with the changing global market and applicant behaviour”.

The report highlights “the important work being done by university professionals to share and learn from best practice”, Jamie Arrowsmith, director of UUKi, said.

“This is key to diversifying recruitment and creating new opportunities for international talent to study in the UK, while maintaining confidence in the student immigration system.”

Some 49% of respondents said their university had “reformed application processes to reflect different application cycles and ‘late’ markets”, while a further 20% indicated they were considering do so.

Having multiple, staged application rounds throughout the year instead of one round was the most frequently mentioned change, with others including adapting CAS issuance deadlines; setting earlier deadlines for high demand courses and deadlines for students’ deposit payments; and introducing the ability to close programs by applications by domicile.

Half of all respondents say they had introduced new scholarships to support diversified international recruitment, with an additional 22% saying it was a move they are considering.

The report proposed “strengthened application processing and credibility and scrutiny protocols” through increased use of pre-CAS interviews as one example of how providers can maintain high levels of compliance with UKVI.

Expanding in-country presence and establishing strategic groups tasked with intervening with challenges were proposed as other examples of good practice.

Close to all respondents (96%) said that they require deposits from at least some international students. The report suggests institutions may wish to review their deposit requirements alongside their diversification plans to “help ensure applicants are genuine students and intent on studying”.

Former UK universities minister, Lord Jo Johnson, recently touted a Canada-style guaranteed investment certificate model as something that would “help address related problems of fraud and the lack of diversification in our system”.

“The diversity of provision in the sector means that universities will take different approaches to requiring deposits, but they can be a helpful way of managing risk,” the report reads.

Deposits also reduce the amount of tuition fees still to pay post-arrival, which the report says could “ease pressure on funding living costs and help ensure that students have access to the funds needed to undertake their studies”.

It will also mean that students are less likely to transfer out of the degree programs due to higher upfront costs, it added.

Pre-CAS checks and interviews can also be useful for institutions. Some 57% of respondents said their institution carried out pre-CAS interviews. A total of 42% said they carried out the interviews only for select domiciles, while 12% says the do so only for select programs and select domiciles.

Some 39% of respondents said they do not carry out pre-CAS interviews.

It also surveyed the institutions on the use of agents, finding a “wide variety” of activity with them.

Agents are being utilised in new or target markets, and some respondents acknowledged they were capping numbers for some specific programs or domiciles.

Of the 60 institutional respondents, 55% said they were using the voluntary UK Agent Quality Framework, including incorporating it into agent contracts, using it to review policies and processes and in agent training.

“Universities using aggregators may wish to consider how they can increase transparency and maintain quality”

The same proportion said they were working with agent aggregators or agents using subagent models.

“Universities who do use agent aggregators or a subagent model may wish to consider how they can increase transparency and maintain quality,” the report added.

Examples of emerging practice the report identified included agent contracts featuring clauses to say main agents are responsible for training subagents and ensuring they are “compliant with local laws and terms under the contract”.

One university said it is holding monthly check-in meetings to look at conversion rates and any application issues and review quality and conversion rates, while another has recently recruited a dedicated agent compliance manager.

Respondents pointed to ongoing monitoring of application quality and volume, enrolment ratios, non-compliance post-enrolment and visa refusals and annual agent reviews as means to maintain quality.

“It is important that, as a sector, we are committed to continuously improving our recruitment practices to ensure that we sustain our exceptionally high levels of compliance with visa and immigration requirements,” Arrowsmith concluded.

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When Harri Suominen started his company AsiaExchange, he had one goal – to provide study abroad programs for a truly worldwide community. Not only that, his other entity Edunation also helps students find study programs in Finland. With such a drive to make students’ lives better, we wanted to find out more about what makes Suominen tick.

What do you like most about your job?

I like the impact that it has for young people’s lives. It’s life changing – period.

If you had a magic wand, what would you change?

I’d eliminate barriers to students being able to study abroad. If more people study abroad, we would have fewer wars, we would have fewer conflicts in our world; more people would be able to achieve their dreams and get a new direction for their lives. More mobility, more getting to know other cultures for yourself when you are abroad is paramount.

Your proudest career moment?

A student was about to give up studying with us in Bali, Indonesia. The first week she was having a major culture shock and that she wanted to get back home. We were able to convince her to stay. At the end of the semester, in the closing ceremony, she was giving a speech in Bahasa international language and saying how this changed her life. She is a new person. She is so much more self-confident now.

What keeps you awake at night?

Well, when the pandemic hit, that kept me awake for a while. But really, it’s not about problems or issues. It’s more about opportunities. Our business has grown out of opportunities. So basically, if I’m awake at night it might be that I’m just brainstorming something that I should be brainstorming during work time!

Worst work trip?

Well, I don’t have a specific answer, but we have a love-hate relationship with Sweden – so going there is always interesting!

“[This student was] saying how this changed her life”

Biggest challenge to your profession?

There are always outside problems – big ones like the pandemic, and conflicts, of course. But in any organisation, it’s if the team doesn’t work well together, if we don’t feel that we are scoring in the same goal. We all have different roles on the field. It takes so much more effort if the team doesn’t work well – but luckily, in my team, everybody understands the meaningfulness of our work.

Best international education conference and why?

The most recent one! Always. It’s good to get the hype of what happened, all the feedback, the good meetings – the best conference is the previous conference. And of course, the most important one is the one upcoming – whatever it may be.

Worst conference food or drink experience?

Unfortunately, I have to say that was here in Finland – we have these spring days for professionals in international education, and they brought out some Finnish wine. We are not really known for being a wine country, so…

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The diverse backgrounds and perspectives on university and college campuses around the world allow them a “unique potential to facilitate civil discourse and find common ground across ideological lines”, a leading higher education leader from the US has said at the UPP Foundation 2023 Lecture.

Michael A. Fitts, president of Tulane University in New Orleans, is the third speaker to deliver the UPP Foundation annual lecture, where he laid out the importance of higher education’s “social impact”.

This year’s event was held at London’s iconic Lord’s cricket ground, the evolvement of which he compared with how institutions can “stay relevant”.

“There are very few types of institutions that manage to survive and thrive over decades, let alone centuries,” he stated.

The oldest universities in the UK and the US are older than the countries they are in, he continued.

Founded originally as a medical school to fight a yellow fever pandemic in 1834, Tulane’s outlook has “always been more outward looking, pragmatic, interdisciplinary and socially impactful” when compared to some other universities.

Over a number of crises, particularly hurricane Katrina – where 80% of the city flooded – and the Covid-19 pandemic, Tulane has “refined and extended its model as an outward looking academic institution”, he detailed.

With “significant debates today about the value and importance of higher education”, the president pointed to the need to pursue “true academic excellence with social impact”.

Crises have led the institution to place academic knowledge to meet “genuine community needs” at its core.

In recent years, Tulane has embedded an interdisciplinary approach into it curriculum, placed civic mindedness in focus and launched a series of new research institutes and initiatives.

The institution is also “engaging in a holistic and revolutionary revitalisation of downtown New Orleans”, he continued, where it is developing a 14-block campus.

“We plan to generate over $300 million in research funding, host five Tulane schools and create scores of start-up businesses,” he detailed.

“Similar efforts at other universities have seen incredible success. The Idea Center at Notre Dame University has launched 145 start-ups since its founding in 2017.

“In the US, we have seen time and again the power of start-up culture to create or transform communities paired with a major research university.”

Silicon Valley was anchored by Stanford University and investments by Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center saw start-up raise $534m in 2022.

“The recent push toward censorship represents an opportunity for our sector to demonstrate our value”

While acknowledging that New Orleans has a long way to go before joining those ranks, the Innovation Institute has the resources “in place to make it happen”, Fitts suggested.

“We have come a long way from the old university model,” he continued, “a finishing school for the elite, where professors and pupils retreated from society into libraries and labs behind ivy-covered walls.”

Fitts paid a tribute to the late Bob Zimmer, the former president of the University of Chicago who had previously given a UPP lecture, as a “tireless and fearless advocate for freedom of expression”.

“The recent push toward censorship represents a crisis of free expression and an opportunity for our sector to demonstrate our value.

“Universities are one of the few institutions in society that bring together individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives to live, learn and work together in an intensely relational atmosphere.”

As overseers of “decentralised, dispersed communities” that allow “creativity and challenges to bubble up”, higher education leaders are afforded a “unique potential to facilitate civil discourse and find common ground across ideological lines”.

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As public-private partnerships increase, The PIE has been taking a closer look at the types of investment, strategic acquisition and subsidiaries in the global education ecosystem.

In this series, we will be signposting some interesting investment groups to our readers and following the money to see who invests in who.

First we need to understand the types of investment that are happening in the sector and then we can analyse how that influence extends through to public institutions.

Investment is driving innovation in digital marketplaces, application portals, student loans, payment platforms, outsourced admissions, pathway providers and online learning.

The under-the-radar force of private equity reaches into every part of our society including healthcare, high street shops, pharmaceuticals, supermarkets, sports franchises and education.

But as interest rates rise, should we be concerned about the role of private equity debt and ownership in many pillars of our public-private partnerships?

How does a profit-driven investment culture impact on both education provision and essential ancillary services and does it increase the vulnerability of students to be used as commodities?

First, we point out different types of funding operators active in our sector.

Sometimes companies raising finance can work with a variety of investors or investment sources including private equity funds, venture capital funds and banks or pension funds.

Companies typically go from pre-seed to seed funding to series A, B, C and D, etc. For example, by the time ApplyBoard raised its series D, it had 25 investors over 10 funding rounds.

Private equity

Private equity describes investment firms that buy and manage companies in order to make an operating profit or through re-sale at a later date.

Firms pool investment funds on behalf of other investors to acquire public or private companies. Private equity is a direct alternative to investing in the stock exchange and often avoids the scrutiny of public shareholders.

The capital for acquisitions comes from private investors and is supplemented by debt.

Reasons for investment vary: this can include ‘distress’ investing with the aim of turning around a struggling company to ‘carve outs’ where assets, teams and technology are stripped from a company and sold as separate business units.

The private equity industry has grown rapidly over the pandemic due to low interest rates on that debt compared to high prices and moderate returns on the stock market.

After the high water mark of 2021, the amount of funding available for edtech is slightly tailing off, according to investment news platform Crunchbase. But there remain a lot of companies with investment levels that mean they need to significantly scale and prove the hockey stick growth curve that may have justified the original investments.

Examples of private equity firms investing in education brands you may have heard of include Leeds Equity Partners which invested in INTO University Partnerships and Ross University; Inflexion which owns Times Higher Education; University Ventures investors in MPower Financing, Examity, CollegeVine and MissionU; Temasek Holdings which has invested in Flywire and UpGrad; Averna Capital which has backed agent SI-UK.

Venture capital

While venture capital is often grouped in with private equity, it has some distinct differences.

Private equity firms tend to acquire mature, established companies where there is potential to increase value.

Venture capital tends to invest in start-ups and disruptors at an early stage, with the hope they will become highly profitable in the future. It is common for multiple firms to invest in the same start-up business in rounds of series funding. This spreads the risk and enables rapid growth.

Venture capital investment does not even have to include finance. Part of the value offered by venture capitalists is to lend their expertise, contacts and influence to the governance of a company to try and ensure success.

Examples of venture capital firms include ETS Strategic Capital which has invested in ApplyBoard, MPower Financing and UpGrad; Emerge Education, an early stage venture capital fund which has invested in Enroly, Unibuddy and AULA; Owl Ventures which has backed Leap Finance; and OIF Ventures which invested in student recruitment marketplace Adventus.io

Debt funded capital

It is also possible for companies to raise similar levels of capital investment through long-term fixed-maturity borrowings.

Like any loan, this debt is accompanied by interest payments and will need to be repaid over an agreed timeframe.

However it allows a company to raise funds to make its own acquisitions, investments or new product lines to facilitate growth without giving away equity in a company.

Times Higher Education’s own acquisitions of BMI Global, Inside Higher Ed and Poets and Quants all came after debt funding an additional £5m in capital from ThinCats.

Pension fund investments

The pool of funds that are accumulated through pension plans is invested to ensure that companies can pay their employer contributions and meet their workers’ retirement plans.

This has traditionally meant safer investments in very stable industries such as government bonds and blue chip companies.

However as the pressure grows from aging populations, pension funds have been forced to invest in a wide range of assets including private equity funds, real estate and education.

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board provided C$375m investment in ApplyBoard, while the Canada Pension Plan has invested in companies such as Navitas and Prodigy Finance.

In the next few articles we will be taking a closer snapshot look at some of the examples above and their links through investment.

Much of this information is publicly available through investment directories like Crunchbase.

Are you aware of the reach of private equity and venture capital in international education? Are you an edtech entrepreneur who is concerned about rising interest rates and unaffordable debt? Have your say in the comments below or email us at editorial@thepienews.com

The post Who invests in who? The role of funding in international education appeared first on The PIE News.

Support for international students threatened with deportation from Canada is mounting, as opposition politicians press the government for immediate solutions to the crisis.

The government has promised that fraudulent acceptance letters used to gain entry to the Canadian institutions would be investigated. Affected students have been leading protests against the prospect of deportations beginning at the end of May.

The Canada Border Services Agency has been looking into “ghost” agents providing students with fake college acceptance letters to obtain study permits, which opposition politicians says was due to an “incompetent” Liberal government.

The government has insisted that affected students will have the opportunity to prove they were taken advantage of.

While it remains unclear how many students have been impacted, some reports suggest that up to 700 students are threatened with deportation.

On June 12, New Democratic Party MP Jenny Kwan stated that international students “who have been defrauded by crooked consultants should not be punished with deportation and inadmissibility based on misrepresentation”.

“They have invested everything they have for a better future… Their lives are in limbo. The Liberals can eliminate this uncertainty by allowing them to stay in Canada and build the lives they dream of,” she said.

Immigration minister Sean Fraser responded that his government is “working to develop a process” for fraud victims and innocent students will be able to remain in Canada. He had already announced on May 26 an investigation into the issue.

“We will put a process in place to allow them to prove that they were taken advantage of”

“However, to the extent that people committed fraud, or were complicit in a fraudulent scheme, they will bear the consequences of choosing not to follow Canada’s laws,” he said, adding students are dealing with serious mental health concerns due to uncertainty.

“We will put a process in place to allow them to prove that they were taken advantage of and provide an appropriate remedy for them.”

A week earlier, on June 7, prime minister Justin Trudeau told parliament that the government was “deeply aware of cases of international students facing removal orders over fraudulent college acceptance letters”.

Identifying culprits rather than penalising victims would be the focus, he said, reiterating comments made by the immigration minister.

PM Trudeau was responding to a question from NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who asked whether he would stay the deportation of all students impacted and provide a pathway to permanent residency for them.

Singh’s unanimous consent proposal, that would have provided a means for the house to immediately “stay the deportation of all affected students, waive inadmissibility on the basis of misrepresentation and provide a pathway to permanent residency”, was not agreed in the house.

The following day, Conservative MP from Calgary in Alberta, Tom Kmiec, noted that the immigration committee had been called on four times by members of his party for action to help victims of the scam.

“Four times the Liberal and NDP MPs on the committee voted against it,” he said. The committee is scheduled to meet on June 14 to discuss the issue further.

The immigration department “did not catch” the fake college admission letters that “malicious consultants” were responsible for, Kmiec said.

“Hundreds of international students are now protesting at CBSA offices… How could this incompetent Liberal government allow hundreds of international students to be defrauded?”

Parliamentary secretary to the minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marie-France Lalonde, thanked the member for the question, adding, “I think we collectively agree that this is unacceptable and we are seized with this situation that these international students are facing.”

She repeated that identifying perpetrators was the focus to “prevent them from abusing anyone again”.

“At the same time, we recognise that there may be students in this cohort who are vulnerable and who were taken advantage of. There is an opportunity for them to present their case, and we will be there with them.”

Kmiec’s question echoed statements from the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, who is also using the crisis to attack his political opponents.

“Several years ago, a group of shady consultants gave fake admission letters to mostly Punjabi students who came here in good faith to study and be part of the Canadian family,” Poilievre said in parliament on June 6.

The “incompetent Liberal government had accepted the letters in the first place”, he claimed. “Now this government is kicking them out the country, sending them home to poverty and bankruptcies for their families.

“Why won’t this government reverse its incompetence, show a little bit of common sense and compassion and let those that came here in good faith and are contributing to our economy halt the deportation and let them apply for permanent residence.”

“We are actively looking at these reports on a case-by-case basis”

Lalonde replied again that innocent victims will “have an opportunity to demonstrate their situation and present evidence to support their case”.

“At the same time, the integrity of our immigration system remains of utmost importance. We are actively looking at these reports on a case-by-case basis, and we will make good on our commitment to helping international students,” Lalonde added.

The Ontario Federation of Labour has also backed affected students and supported protests at the Canada Border Services Agency in Mississauga

In a letter dated June 9, Ontario Federation of Labour president Patty Coates also urged authorities to end the deportations of affected students, halt further revocations of work or study permits and ensure PR status for all those impacted.

“These students, through no fault of their own, have been targeted by unregulated recruiters who prey on young people with aspirations for a better life and educational opportunities in Canada,” Coates wrote.

The role of agents is set to be reviewed in Canada’s new international education strategy.

The post Canada’s deportation latest: opposition MPs call for PR for affected students appeared first on The PIE News.

Norway’s student organisation leader has called the parliament’s overwhelming vote to introduce tuition fees for non-EU students a “betrayal”.

After months of debate and opposition from many universities in the country, the Labour Party-run government will introduce fees for non-EU students. Some 97 votes were cast by the Storting regarding the “personal payment for citizens from outside the EEA and Switzerland”. An overwhelming 86 were for the introduction, and just 11 were against.

“The free principle is hereby buried. It is a sad day for students and for equal opportunities,” said the National Union of Students in Norway leader Maika Marie Godal Dam.

“When it really mattered, neither the Socialist Left Party, the Labour Party nor the Center Party was willing to stand up for free higher education,” she continued.

The move will reportedly free up some 2,600 study places, but the Ministry of Education also estimates that there will be a 70% drop in the number of international students going to Norway.

The vote took place on June 9, but officials in the education committee in the Storting on June 6 made the recommendation officially to parliament, only two parties opposed it – the communist Rødt party and the centrist Venstre.

Rødt’s Hege Bae Nyholt, who is currently the head of the education and research committee at the Storting, said it was a day of “mourning and solidarity” when the recommendation was filed.

Speaking to The PIE News, Godal Dam outlined several concerns about the long term effects the decision could have on the education system.

“I don’t think Norway is introducing tuition fees to make money”

“We’re greatly concerned that Norwegian HEIs will become less international and diverse with the introduction of tuition fees.

“The quality of higher education is enhanced when students can be part of international communities where they are exposed to other cultures, perspectives and ideas.

“Furthermore, we’re concerned that this is the first step in a process where more and more people will have to pay for higher education in Norway – it’s a domino effect,” she explained.

Speaking to Khrono, the Center Party’s Marit Knutsdatter Strand said that the management of the new law will be “followed closely”, especially in regards to the national budget.

“[This is] not least [about] how the law plays out, both with regard to student groups and various programs and institutions,” Strand said. “We take all feedback seriously and will keep a close eye on what happens.”

The European Students Union, representing the wider student community on the continent, even went as far as to say it “mourned the death” of free education in the country.

“The continuing trend of abolishing free access to education in Europe is deeply concerning. ESU reiterates that education is a fundamental human right irrespective of one’s origin.

“It furthermore creates great uncertainty for the international students that have already applied for this academic year, adding even another layer of irresponsibility to what is already a bad political choice,” Matteo Vespa, ESU’s president, said.

A current student, Miguel Rosas – who is enrolled on an urban ecological planning course where 80-90% of students have been international since 1993 – sat down with the paper to talk about the impending law.

“I don’t think Norway is introducing tuition fees to make money. I think that it is a way to prevent non-EU students from coming here,” the Venezuelan student claimed.

Rosas told Khronos that he would “never be able to study this international master’s program if they were to start” in this year’s intake with fees – it would have been unaffordable.

“The government and a majority in the Parliament have refused to listen to what consequences this will have for the students and higher education in Norway. We expected far more from our top elected officials,” Godal Dam added.

This is the second time that a Norwegian government has tried to introduce tuition fees for students outside of the EEA and Switzerland – a withdrawn attempt took place in 2014 under then PM Erna Solberg, the leader of the Conservative Party and current leader of the opposition.

Many had previously warned of the consequences this would have on Norway’s system. Study.eu, which in November 2022 predicted the proposed legislation would deter 80% of prospective international students.

Jerome Rickmann, who has extensively researched the topic of tuition fees in Nordic countries, said previous examples of this introduction show it’s not just about the legislation.

“The government and a majority in the Parliament have refused to listen to what consequences this will have”

“The [initial] drop in numbers was quite massive in Sweden [when fees were introduced in 2011], but when you look a bit behind the numbers and examine over time, it does come down to the individual institution and to the specific school and programs, etc.

“Of course, the larger policy affects the opportunity to recruit, but there is the second side of, ‘how much are universities actually leaning into the change?’” Rickmann told The PIE.

Protests from universities have been ongoing, some have already started to pre-empt the move and have released preliminary fee figures – despite the institution’s stance on the matter.

Studyportals also released a report on Europe as a study destination in June, which indicated that Norway had seen a 19.1% drop in interest for both bachelor’s and master’s degrees – something it said was likely due to the tuition fee introduction.

The post Norway confirms end of free non-EU tuition to dismay of student groups appeared first on The PIE News.

Enrolment in UK transnational education programs is stagnating in three key East Asian markets, but Chinese enrolment growth is continuing, analysis from British Council has suggested.

Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia have seen a levelling off in student numbers after enrolment across East Asia surged during the pandemic, the organisation’s TNE in East Asia report indicated.

It also noted that overall demand for UK TNE “continued to surge in 2021/21 even as mobility to the UK rebounded”.

TNE is a central pillar to the UK’s international education strategy. The 2023 update noted that the departments for education and international trade is continuing to work with higher education and the British Council to identify the overall value of TNE to the UK economy “more accurately”.

A London School of Economics report, commissioned by the UK government, evaluated the scope of TNE and identified lags in the availability of HE data, as well as challenges in collecting reliable data for the FE, ELT, schools and early years sectors.

DIT is also working to resolve regulatory barriers through international agreements and ensure they include the recognition of UK degrees, including online and blended learning programs, the update noted.

It pointed to the mutual recognition of academic qualifications agreement with India as one success.

The British Council report concluded that “far from remaking TNE in East Asia, the pandemic turbocharged many of the pre-existing trends in the region”. It named the region as one that is “ripe for new partnership opportunities for UK HEIs that are willing to make continued investments in the region, especially institutions looking at deeper partnerships beyond merely teaching transactions”.

It added that the pandemic “may have permanently altered attitudes” toward the UK offer in smaller markets with high-growth potential.

Vietnam, the Philippines and Myanmar have all recorded growth, but coming from a very small base, British Council said.

The analysis found that most students in East Asia continued to prefer in-person instruction even during the pandemic.

“In 2021/22, for example, students in East Asia enrolled in distance-learning TNE programmes at half the rate of the rest of the world, with only 15.9% of UK TNE delivered remotely in the region, compared with 30.6% in all other locations,” it said. “In other words, far from changing the enrolment behaviour of TNE students in East Asia, the pandemic accentuated [the higher demand for in-person instruction].”

Offering in-person programs remains a requirement for most UK HEIs to achieve scale in the region, the paper concluded.

The “lion’s share” of UK enrolments in the region are still recorded by a few institutions, it continued.

The University of Liverpool, accounting for 10.5% of all UK TNE enrolments in the region in 2021/22, saw 99% of enrolments at its China campus, while the University of Nottingham saw 63% of its students at its China campus and a further 34% at its location in Malaysia.

“The region holds great promise for UK HEIs”

Among enrolments at the University of London, which delivers TNE programs remotely, 41% were in Singapore, 23% in Malaysia and close to 15% in Hong Kong. Only 6.1% were in China.

The region is still the top provider of UK TNE globally and remains home to four of the seven largest TNE locations in the world, British Council added.

“Overall, enrolments in the region are up nearly 18% from before the pandemic struck, after having risen only 4% over the five years before the arrival of Covid-19 (2014-19),” it said.

“Despite East Asia’s declining share of global TNE enrolments, the region holds great promise for UK HEIs.

“No other region can rival East Asia’s combination of size and high-quality local higher education provision.

“Improving local HEIs mean there are stronger partners to deliver UK TNE and maintain world-class standards.”

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Manil is a student from Sri Lanka in Brampton, Ontario, a city adjacent to Toronto, Canada’s largest metropolis. Since arriving in the country last year, he has struggled to find a part-time job to cover his $17,000 tuition fee and living expenses.

After months of searching, he finally secured employment as a cook at a golf club. However, to get there he has to travel two hours by bus each way. “There are a lot of students suffering but people don’t talk about it,” he tells The PIE News.

In most communities across Canada, post-secondary institutions only focus on delivering classes to international students. These newcomers are offered little support in looking for housing, finding employment and adapting to a new culture.

“There are a lot of students suffering but people don’t talk about it”

However, in Brampton a group of educators, city councillors, settlement and community service agencies and other supporters are working to change that.

More than 600,000 people live in Brampton. The city is part of Peel Region, which is home to 80 post-secondary educational institutions. Sheridan College, which is publicly funded, is one of the leading providers of international education. Algoma University, a public university based in northern Ontario, has established a campus in the city to tap into both the international market and the huge pool of domestic students in the Toronto area. In addition, Toronto Metropolitan University has a campus there.

In total, more than 20,000 international students live in Brampton, with the majority coming from just one country – India.

Many of Brampton’s post-secondary institutions are private career colleges, catering to international students and immigrants who are looking for a short course to give them Canadian credentials in the competitive job market. As for-profit schools, these institutions don’t focus on the additional services that international students may need.

And those needs are extensive. In 2021, several social services agencies in the community issued a report called Invited and Forgotten. It pointed to housing as a key issue facing students, with soaring rents and poor quality of accommodations. Students are vulnerable to being exploited by landlords and don’t know where to turn, the study found.

In addition, it raised the issues of a shortage of employment opportunities, mental and physical health, food security, racism and trouble adjusting to a new culture.

To its credit, Sheridan College is leading the way in helping international students in Brampton – even if they don’t attend Sheridan. In 2022, Sheridan and the City of Brampton co-hosted a two-day summit to address the challenges facing students.

The summit brought together educational institutions, social service agencies, city officials, the police and fire departments, religious groups and more. It also included local funeral homes, which have sadly had to deal with the deaths of international students through suicides and accidents. More than 250 people attended the event, with a further 600 online.

As a result of the summit, the group created the Brampton Charter to enhance the lives of international students. It includes a statement of principles that reflect the fact that international students face challenges that may be different from their domestic counterparts. It calls for everyone to recognise that the international student experience encompasses physical, mental, social, financial and cultural wellbeing.

The charter sets out goals that post-secondary institutions should work to achieve, sometimes in conjunction with other organisations.

These include: upholding ethical recruitment standards and practices; creating academic and wrap-around supports for learners; promoting safe and affordable housing and financial stability; providing opportunities for legal and reliable work; and championing well-defined and transparent pathways to citizenship for international students.

Sheridan has moved forward with several initiatives, including hiring a sexual health nurse and a housing coordinator. For students who are short on money, the college has organised food hampers and provides winter clothes and boots.

Getting Brampton’s private career colleges on board will be tougher. Many are too small to be able to offer comprehensive services to their international students. And for-profit institutions may be reluctant to spend on expanded supports.

At Sheridan, one of the key initiatives is to manage expectations, with agents in India often promoting Canada as a land of milk and honey. In fact, many students struggle to cope with school, work and family challenges.

Sheridan has organised pre-departure sessions online to give students realistic expectations about what Canada is like. When students arrive at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, Sheridan has a welcome booth to greet them and assist them in transitioning to a new country.

These supports continue all the way through graduation to cover employment and immigration, if the student chooses to remain in Canada.

Sheridan has also partnered with the fire department to go door-to-door to talk to international students about fire safety and offer free smoke detectors. Again, this service is for everyone, not just those who attend Sheridan.

“The city was concerned that landlords were charging $900 for a student who got a mattress on the floor”

Rowena Santos is a city councillor who represented the municipality at the summit and serves on an international student task force.

“The city was concerned that landlords were charging $900 for a student who got a mattress on the floor and had to share a small apartment with several other students,” Santos tells The PIE News.

After some strong debate, Brampton city council passed a motion to take action to offer greater protection for international students. It endorsed the Brampton Charter and plans to implement a licensing system for landlords starting in 2024. It would include random inspections of properties to ensure that landlords are following the rules – or their license will be revoked.

In addition, Santos wants action from both the federal and provincial governments. Ottawa controls the issuance of study permits and she would like the government to consider a cap based on the number of international students based on what cities across the country can handle.

Ontario is responsible for education and Santos says the province must do more.

“While the public post-secondary institutions are doing a good job, the private colleges are completely unregulated. There is a need for regulation and accountability. Some offer students support but there are others that leave international students high and dry,” she explains.

The Brampton Charter is just the beginning of a much-needed effort to provide the supports international students need to thrive in Canada. A lot more work must be done. But it’s a great start and post-secondary institutions across Canada – and their local communities – would be wise to have a look and see how they can adapt these principles and goals.

As for Manil, he is still hoping that his Canadian journey will work out. He has three children and a spouse back in Sri Lanka and would like to bring them to Canada to be with him and start a new life. However, he will need a job in his field to gain the necessary work experience to apply for status as a permanent resident.

It’s difficult to find employment related to his studies. “I don’t recommend anyone coming to Canada because of the job situation,” he says. He plans to tough it out for the next year and then see what happens to his Canadian dream.

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A study has explored how international PhD students construct a sense of home in Britain – finding that students have different selves in “diverse social locations” rather than assimilating in an “expected sense”.

Researchers focused on the experience of a small number of PhD students, sponsored by the Algerian government, as they “learnt to be themselves” in their everyday lives in the UK.

The research, published in UCL Press, used data from a larger study carried out by one of the authors, Yasmine Sadoudi, back in 2022.

In that study, Sadoudi selected 13 PhD students on the basis of all having recently been through the Algerian educational system and visiting Britain, and in some cases travelling abroad, for the first time.

They were aged between 25 and 28 years and had been enrolled on the program for about one to three years, having undertaken a six-month British university PhD preparation program.

The data presented in the most recent piece of research concerned only seven of the students, but was informed by the context of all the data in the wider study.

It found that students draw resources from their “personal cultural trajectories within which their lives in Britain form another stage in a lifelong journey of identity construction”.

Researchers said the international students did not ‘assimilate’ in the expected sense and that their friends are not mainly ‘British’.

“Their brought multilingualism is characteristic of a natural hybridity that prepares them to be different selves in diverse social locations and with people of diverse origin on and off campus through an ongoing negotiation process of small culture formation on the go,” researchers said.

As part of the study, Sadoudi “immersed herself in the diversity of the circumstances that governed the particularities of how each of the students engaged in the activities of their daily life”.

She reported each student’s different personal experiences, lifestyles, hobbies and friendship patterns, all of which blended with the fabric of the broader society in which they found themselves.

“Feeling home is a more complex and multidimensional concept that can simultaneously refer to a place, a feeling and an experience in which the individual feels familiarity, safety and belongingness,” Sadoudi said.

“Home-making can be enabled through many processes”

“According to what I have observed, home-making can be enabled through many processes such as settling routines, negotiating, communicating and more importantly defying prejudices.”

The report said that this insight into the way the students experience life in British environments, and the way in which they negotiate their multiple identities and manage their lives as PhD researchers, is to do with their “hybrid identity”.

“We position and reposition ourselves in different ways at different times depending on multiple circumstances,” the report said.

“This means that ‘the intercultural’ has always been with us as we move through diverse settings in everyday life, from family, friends, school or work, through finding ways to be ourselves, and to feel or create familiarity wherever we go and whenever we interact, by negotiating our upbringings in the process of small culture formation on the go, wherever it is located.”

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