Category: Blog

UK: Lords Committee calls for UK-EU mobility reset

The House of Lords European Affairs Committee has called for a UK-EU relations “reset”, including a shake up of the current student mobility landscape.

In its new report, The future UK-EU relationship, the committee uses evidence from stakeholders to examine the overarching state of the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and EU, delving into themes including mobility of people and the overall political, diplomatic and institutional relationship between the UK and the EU.

“The UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU has regrettably come under significant strain over the period since the Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into force, characterised by tension and mistrust,” said Lord Kinnoull, chair of the committee.

“A particular theme running through our Future UK-EU Relationship report evidence was the significant impact of post-Brexit barriers to mobility young workers and professionals in the early stages of their careers, emerging artists, as well as students across different educational levels,” added Kinnoull.

“Making progress here will benefit all in the short term but especially in the long term.”

The report outlined recommendations, focused on priority actions in a bid to reset the UK-EU relations following the recent agreement of the Windsor Framework.

Such recommendations include the reintroduction of a youth group travel scheme that would not require students travelling on school visits from EU countries to carry individual passports.

The UK’s decision to withdraw from the ‘List of Travellers’ scheme for EU group travel was partly down to border security, with the report including comments from Olaf Henricson-Bell, EU director of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, who said that “almost half” of the false documents detected at the border in 2020 were ID cards.

However, Joss Croft, CEO, UKinbound, argued “it is not hugely credible to imagine that these children, whose parents are waiting for them to return home, will abscond”.

Research from the Tourism Alliance showed the number of students sent to the UK by European operators that organise school trips and other educational, cultural or sport-related group travel was 83% lower in 2022 compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year before the TCA was introduced.

Meanwhile, destinations such as Malta and Ireland have “done very well” compared to the UK, said Stephen Lowy, chair of the British Educational Travel Association, signalling that the pandemic alone is not to blame for the UK’s decline.

The committee said it “deeply regrets” the substantial decrease in school visits from the EU since 2019 and highlighted its concern on the considerable long-term cultural impact of this, as well as significant economic impact.

UKinbound highlighted further research suggesting that the decline in school group visits is forecast to result in a whopping £875 million loss of revenue and the loss of 14,500 jobs.

English UK recently made a similar call to action on this point, included in its nine asks of the UK government, with the youth group travel scheme reintroduction being a top priority for the association.

Lowry described the situation as a “huge loss of soft power”.

“It upsets me that a lot of young European kids will miss out on experiencing that joy of travel at that age here, in the formative part of life when you get those experiences and fall in love with a country,” he added.

“We talk about creating global Britain but British kids will not have that in Europe”

“We talk about creating global Britain but British kids will not have that in Europe. That is very sad for the UK, both inbound and outbound.”

Lowy recommended a new youth group travel scheme should be reciprocated to allow young British students to be able to travel easily on school trips to Europe.

The report also calls on the government to “explore the addition of a reciprocal element to the Turing scheme, drawing on the experience of the Taith scheme introduced by the Welsh government”.

Since its launch, stakeholders have voiced concerns over the Turing scheme’s lack of reciprocity, amongst other aspects.

“Although we generated quite a lot of mobilities from Turing, that lack of reciprocity when there was an exponential budget increase had an impact on EU mobility,” said Anne-Marie Graham, chief executive at UKCISA during a European Affairs Committee formal meeting on the future UK-EU relationship in December 2022.

“There are models across the UK that we can learn from,” she added.

“I do not think there was any significant reason to pull out of Erasmus in the first place,” said Ellie Gomersall, president at National Union of Students Scotland.

“In replacing it with the Turing scheme, we tried to reinvent the wheel and did not necessarily succeed. A UK-wide program like Erasmus+ or the Taith program would bring significant opportunities, with students around the world able to come here and students here able to go and study internationally.”

The post UK: Lords Committee calls for UK-EU mobility reset appeared first on The PIE News.


UK: £9bn in tuition from non-EU in 2021/22

The amount of tuition UK universities made from non-EU students reached close to £9 billion in the 2021/22 academic year, a 90% increase on 2016/17 figures.

UK institutions hosted 312,795 non-EU students in 2016/17, who paid a total of £4.6bn. This is compared with 559,825 non-EU students contributing £8.9bn in 2021/22, according to HESA data.

Total fees from EU students has increased from £1.02bn in 2016/17 when 138,040 students enrolled to £1.06bn in 2021/22 when 120,140 EU students joined classes.

The latest figure is an unsurprising drop from the £1.39bn EU students paid in fees in 2020/21.

A number of institutions saw higher levels of income from non-EU students than domestic UK students, the new statistics showed.

Of the £712m University College London raised in tuition fees, £501m came from non-EU international students.

The University of Manchester’s non-EU students contributed £374m in fees, compared with the £242m from UK and EU students.

King’s College London, The University of Leeds, The University of Edinburgh, The University of Warwick, Imperial and Glasgow all had more fees paid by non-EU students than EU and domestic students.

Among the top 10 universities with the most income from tuition fees, The Open University University of Nottingham and The University of Birmingham were the only three to have more tuition from UK and EU students than from non-EU students.

Of the 24 Russell Group universities, 14 received more in course fees from non-EU students than from UK and EU students, including Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and UCL.

Durham University made £126.9m from non-EU, £126.5m from UK and £7m from EU students.

Over the five years from 2016/17 to 2021/22, the data suggests that the average fees paid by non-EU students rose to £15,946 from £14,895.

The UK famously hit its 600,000 target 10 years ahead of schedule, and latest data shows that there were 679,970 non-UK students in 2021/22.

If the average fee for non-EU students continues to rise at the same rate for the next decade, the average tuition will cost £18,256. By 2030, the UK’s target is to host 600,000 international students but also increase education exports to a value of £35bn – which tuition income will be only a part of.

Higher Education Policy Institute and Kaplan modelling in 2017 suggested that while higher fees for EU students would likely reduce demand, tuition fee income could increase with the raised tuition for EU-students in the UK.

A previous target to hit £30bn by 2020 was not met. TNE exports and edtech options are hoped to help the UK reach its new target.

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India trip to ‘hone’ student experience

The University of Essex recently sent a delegation of its professional services staff to India for a unique immersion trip designed to develop a deeper understanding, knowledge and empathy of the challenges students face from the country.

During a week of activities, staff met with their counterparts at OP Jindal Global University and Bennett University, alongside representatives from The British Council and UK India Business Council.

Staff who travelled to India included the deputy registrar, faculty managers, international marketing and communications staff, student support services managers, accommodation engagement managers and skills for success tutors.

The wide-ranging team were tasked with immersing themselves in the Indian educational experience and culture to gain valuable insights to help improve and enhance the living and learning experience for Indian students joining Essex.

Upon their return, staff will be required to share their learnings with colleagues in professional and academic services in order embed improvements and increase student satisfaction.

We think we might be the first UK university to undertake such an in-depth visit”

Trip leader and University of Essex deputy registrar, Fraser Keir, said, “We think we might be the first UK university to undertake such an in-depth visit involving such a broad range of professional service staff.”

The University of Essex has longstanding research and education links with India and in recent years has seen exponential growth in applications from Indian students in line with the UK sector as a whole.

“With so many Indian students now joining us at Essex, we felt it was incredibly important for our professional services teams to get a feel for where our new students have come from,” Keir added.

“At Essex we are a family, and we pride ourselves in offering students a home away from home. Things like food, accommodation, learning styles and cultural opportunities are all things that we see as incredibly important parts of the student experience.

“The learning we have gained from this immersion trip will be instrumental in how we hone the student experience for our Indian students.”

Sandeep Sharma, head of operations for the university’s international regional office network, was a driving force behind the trip and spoke about the importance of the trip, saying “India is a continent masquerading as a country, with diverse languages, cultural differences and education systems prevalent across the region.

India is a continent masquerading as a country”

“It is crucial for professional services and administrative colleagues at Essex get an in-depth understanding of the motivation and background of the students who we’ve recruited over the last few years.

“This trip was the first step in that direction, and it will help in building a real understanding of student motivations and we will use the insights gathered through interactions with stakeholders on the ground to enhance existing student support provision.”

The British Council team in Delhi welcomed the delegation and provided contextual insights into the development of the Indian National Education Policy, India’s economic development and population growth.

The PIE recently reported on rogue agents in India damaging the industry reputation and student experience, and delegates were able to meet with contracted agents and better understand the counselling process and where vulnerable students are susceptible to malpractice.

Vice chancellor of Bennett University’s Noida Campus, Prabhu Kumar, welcomed Essex staff and encouraged them to participate with a question and answers session with his team and share best practice. While international academic exchange is common, the value of immersion activities for professional staff was clearly benefitial.

Vanya Campbell, engagement manager at Accommodation Essex, said, “The expectations of Indian students are quite different to UK students when it comes to accommodation and this trip has been an invaluable chance to learn more about Indian student requirements.

“We’re keen to offer our Indian students a place they can call home and I will be sharing my learning with my team to help us enhance our offer. We are all buzzing with ideas and actions to take back to our teams.”

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Students in Sudan facing gunfire and bomb explosions

International students trapped at a university campus in Sudan say they have no water, electricity or food, and have spoken of their terror after they saw jets dropping bombs under a kilometre away from them.

Students from Egypt, Nigeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Chad, South Sudan and Somalia have been left trapped in the county after fighting began on 15 April, between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

“Since earlier in the morning we have been hearing gunshots and bomb explosions”

Imran, a student from Nigeria studying medicine and surgery at the International University of Africa, is currently at its Khartoum campus.

“It’s very crazy. We have been hearing some kind of explosions of bombs. We are very scared because of the current situation. We are stranded here in the International University of Africa,” he said.

“We have been here for almost five days. There is no water, no electricity and no food. We have been waiting for buses to arrive that will take us from here in Khartoum, to the Egyptian border.

“Since earlier in the morning we have been hearing gunshots and bomb explosions… A lot of students are very scared, some are hungry, some are sick… The shops are closed, the situation is very sad,” Imran added.

Abubakar Sadiq, another student from the International University of Africa, is currently sheltering with five other students in an apartment away from his university campus.

“We went to the camp earlier in the morning around 5.30am, but until now there’s no presence of the embassy officials and not any update from them.

“As we were waiting for them, we witnessed the worst experience of our lives, fighter jets flying above our heads, dropping bombs near our camp, not more than a kilometre away… students are hopeless and helpless.”

Sadiq said that the International University of Africa is surrounded with camps of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, currently being fought by the Sudanese army.

The students’ reports of gunfire and explosions come despite a three-day ceasefire due to expire on Thursday night. The ceasefire has now been extended by 72 hours.

“[On Wednesday] night a Nigerian student went outside and was attacked by some people, some strangers in the area. He has received treatment earlier in the morning today,” Imran told The PIE.

“We are devastated by the current situation, we are all scared honestly because we have never experienced such a terrible situation,” he added.

“We are devastated by the current situation”

It is thought at least 5,000 of the international students trying to leave Sudan are Nigerian, as previously reported by The PIE.

The Nigerian government has made plans to evacuate an initial batch of 3,500 students stranded beginning on April 25.

The country’s National Emergency Management Agency said that the group would be driven to the Cairo by bus and then will be flown home.

“In an attempt to evacuate, we should be mindful of the fact that we do not want to lose any life to it. But now that there’s a window, the government is exploring that window to get these people back to safety,” an official of the agency Onimode Bandele said.

Imran told The PIE News that around 10 buses arrived on Wednesday – but estimates suggest around 2,000 students remain.

He explained that there were disputes among drivers of the buses and the Nigerian authorities around pay, that resulted in international students being left stranded in the Sahara.

This situation has now reportedly been resolved.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has agreed to support a further 72-hour ceasefire in a statement, according to Reuters. This ceasefire was due to expire at midnight on Thursday.

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The positive impact of learning English with Cambridge

Cambridge University Press & Assessment carries out in-depth studies all over the world to measure the educational impact of its exams and learning resources.

The Impact Team I lead is made up of experts in education research, evaluation, teaching, learning and assessment. Our objective is to understand the impact our English exams and learning materials have on people’s lives.

This allows us to maximise the positive outcomes of our products, which in turn helps our students fulfil their real-world goals such as furthering their studies or getting a good job. We do this through a global impact evaluation program for which we gather data on our products from key stakeholders in a range of contexts.

It’s part of our wider mission in Cambridge

This work is part of our commitment to Cambridge University’s mission, which is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. The results from our impact evaluation studies are generally very positive, while also highlighting areas that we can still improve.

Growth mindset

I worked on a study in Latin America which looked at the importance of learners’ attitude and mindset when learning English. The study found that the students preparing to take a Cambridge English exam were motivated to learn and that they regularly engaged in activities outside the classroom to practise their English.

In fact, an impressive 94% of students believed they could improve their language through hard work. This positive attitude, known as a growth mindset, is found in many high-performing school systems around the world.

Designing tests for impact

Another great example of how an English test can be successfully designed to have a positive impact on learning is IELTS. Cambridge’s Dr Tony Clark recently carried out some research in this area. He looked at how IELTS can help students at English-medium universities develop a key academic skill: the ability to organise their ideas and opinions in essays and term papers.

“Students preparing to take a Cambridge exam regularly engaged in activities outside the classroom to practise their English”

This is something that new students can find difficult because often they are not used to thinking in this way. However, Clark’s research found that the IELTS Academic Writing test helps students to develop not just their language skills, but also the ability to organise their ideas in the way that English-medium universities expect.

What goes into an impact study?

We achieve this by developing English products with their intended impact in mind from the very start of the process and then, as the products are used by teachers and learners, carrying out impact monitoring and evaluation.

This is all underpinned by the English Impact Framework, which has been developed in Cambridge to provide a clear, systematic foundation for this work.

Unlocking potential

I find the work that we do in the Impact Team incredibly rewarding because it serves as a reminder that every year at Cambridge we help millions of learners and teachers achieve their goals with English exams and learning resources.

This places a big responsibility on our experts in Cambridge to ensure everything we do delivers real benefits for learners, teachers and more widely in society, which is something I’m very proud of.

About the author: This is a sponsored post from Graeme Harrison. Graeme has worked for many years in English teaching, assessment and education reform in various countries. At Cambridge English, he has been involved in implementing national English exams in Colombia and Chile, and teacher education and curriculum reform in Malaysia. In his current role as Head of Impact Operations, he carries out impact research on Cambridge English products

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Brazil’s STB consultants merges into BeFly

One of Brazil’s largest education consultants, Student Travel Bureau, has merged with tourism conglomerate BeFly, The PIE has been told.

As part of a “strategic move” to increase market share and business volume, the 50-year-old consultancy hopes to gain a valuable expansion from the acquisition by BeFly.

“By the end of 2024, the goal is to expand to 30 new offices,” noted José Carlos Hauer Santos Júnior, head of Student Travel Bureau.

It has not yet been made clear whether office expansions would be through organic growth, or proposed “acquisition of competitors in Brazil and Latin America”.

Student Travel Bureau specialises in educational and language exchange programs, with other facets being high school and higher education abroad.

Santos Júnior also expects the business’ market share to grow 15% by 2024.

José Carlos Hauer Santos Júnior (left) with Marcelo Cohen, BeFly CEO. Photo: STB

The merger, he said, is expected to be fully implemented in just 30 days.

“This expansion reflects positively on the business of our partners, composed of educational institutions from all over the world,” Santos Júnior told The PIE.

BeFly is an ecosystem of 34 companies who, Santos Júnior stressed, navigate independently under a centralised finance and utilities system.

Other brands under the BeFly banner include Insta Travel, Guide 121 and Õner Travel.

Santos Júnior also stressed that despite the merger with the much larger BeFly, STB will “still be STB”.

“All companies in the ecosystem work under their own brand,” he said.

“The essence of the business will not change”

The strategic plan going forward, Santos Júnior said, will be subject to the approval of the board – on which he will have a seat.

“The essence of the business will not change and the board will support and advise on proposed strategies,” he noted.

When asked about the other facet of the business – higher education – which seems to have taken a back seat with the merger as BeFly’s expertise lies in tourism and exchange, he said, “higher education is very much in our basket of products that will be further developed.”

“Befly is very capitalised and will allow STB to further invest in technology, marketing and expansion,” he insisted.

The company will also move its head office to BeFly’s building off São Paulo’s iconic Avenida Paulista – the “headquarters of the future”, Santos Júnior said.

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Dishonest players in India are ‘damaging’ industry reputation

Education counsellors across India say duplicitous players in the international education market are having a seriously negative impact on the sector, with one senior counsellor describing the situation as “supremely unethical”.

There is consensus among competing agents and advisors that more needs to be done to control and protect the sector from dishonest operating which they say largely exists in the sub-agent network.

The PIE has previously reported on concerns around international education – particularly in private colleges in Canada “sold primarily” as a way to immigrate. More recently, Indian authorities arrested a travel agent accused of forging visa documents. Stakeholders warn that the problems are more widespread.

For many smaller, mom-and-pop, pop-up agencies – who veteran players say are often untrained and operate as immigration agents as well as education agents – are taking advantage of prospective international students.

Naveen Chopra, founder and chairman of the Board at TC Global, warned that the current situation is an “absolute mess”.

“It’s a serious mess, from document fraud to misleading students to financial fraud,” he said.

Some dishonest players cheating the system can charge 25-30 Lakhs (approx. US$30-36k) for British visas, 20-25 Lakhs (US$25-30k) for Australian visas and anywhere between 30-40 Lakhs (US$36-48k) for US visas.

“The people [offering these services] are more interested in the money that they earn from students, they are not really interested in the money they can earn from the universities, the commissions,” Chopra said.

Others The PIE spoke with told of packages on offer being sold like holiday packages where agents will provide all documents for a fee.

“The fraud needs to stop”

Is it fair that some kids have paid 20 lakhs or something to somebody who has taken his money and then their visa is rejected because it’s all fake whether it’s the documentation, their addresses, their loans. Obviously that is not correct, so therefore, they are going to suffer, and that’s very sad,” Natasha Chopra, director at TC Global, added.

Many spoke of the need to root out unscrupulous players that are causing reputational damage and are a threat to students.

Diwakar Chandiok, vice president for recruitment in South Asia for INTO University Partnerships, noted that regulation “is good for any industry”.

“This is proving the easiest job to start, you don’t need any training,” he said. INTO works significantly B2B with agents in the region, he explained.

The Indian states of Punjab and Haryana have been under scrutiny in recent months after Australian institutions suspended recruitment due to increased visa refusals.

“Like every state, Punjab has a share of very good students, but you have a lot of students focusing on immigration and looking for opportunities to settle down. It’s important to agents and students personally,” Chandiok said.

“The fraud needs to stop.

“If you reach out to the right agency, they can be a lifeline for the industry. One has to be careful with whom one works with. INTO really empowers us to work with the right agents that will best support students.”

Aggregator platform ApplyBoard has blacklisted a “good” number of agents who had been operating suspiciously. A spokesperson also suggested that the rise in the tech can detect fraud effectively.

Lakshmi Iyer from SI-UK told The PIE of an increase in fraud in academic documents, with duplicitous players becoming more savvy and finding new ways to cheat the system.

“Some regulation has to be there, but not too much,” she said, adding that it is not an issue that is unique only to India – the duty of care for students should be the same worldwide.

“We put checks and balances on ourselves and we choke our pipeline before [fraudsters] even start… We are not looking for short-term gains and our entire thing is based on reputation. We have a 98% visa acceptance rate. Hanging on to that requires us to make certain sacrifices knowingly, but for the right reasons…

“India is a net exporter of students. We have to be mindful of our reputation. We could aim to be exporter of good students.”

TC Global has identified scams in the use of fake CAS numbers and has been approached by prospective students that have been victims of loan sharks.

While typically regions such as Punjab and Haryana have been hotspots for people wanting to leave the country, fraud is happening across the country.

For IDP Education, which employs some 3,000 individuals across India with 73 offices in 64 cities, its reputation means that it does not attract non-genuine students, according to Piyush Kumar, the company’s regional director for South Asia and Mauritius.

“Typically you see that most of these small time mom and pop stores also double up as immigration agents,” he told The PIE.

“This is where the problem starts because these people even go to the extent of faking documents, manufacturing documents, and they obviously charge their customers a lot in assisting them in doing all this stuff. So I would definitely not deny that there is a problem here.”

Kumar, with IDP boasting high visa approvals such as SI-UK and TC Global, suggested that wider transparency around visa approval rates could help students to choose reliable agents.

A proposal from the Department of Home Affairs in Australia previously indicated that agents’ visa performance would be published online.

“The moment you make this information public, the students can access that information and then they will not go to those agents who have poor performance, who don’t have a good track record. At least you will prevent genuine students from getting misguided,” he said.

“The students will have authenticated data which they can rely upon to choose who do they want to go with.

“Somehow, the proposal got shunted.”

“It is not possible to actually go and validate or verify the processes of so many agents”

Additionally, universities need to be able to verify both their agents and students.

“There are many universities who work with hundreds of agents. It is not possible to actually go and validate or verify the processes of so many agents… how is that university ensuring that hundreds of these agents with whom they work, they have very stringent processes, checks and balances in place?” he asked.

Institutions and agents should also be following the know your customer guideline, he continued.

“For the Indian banking sector, the regulators very clearly say if you’re going to open a bank account of a particular person, you need to know the customer well so there are certain documentations, there is certain meetings which are required,” he explained.

“So as a university, if I am accepting applications from a particular agent, I should insist that the agent has met that student, knows that student, has verified their documents.”

 

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Study Plans to launch first AI for global admissions

Study Plans has launched the industry’s first AI-powered tool for global admissions, which it says will answer students’ questions concerning a wide range of study abroad topics.

The innovative mechanism will cover topics including studying abroad, scholarships and visa requirements as if it were an admission advisor. It is designed to be able to cope with any demand, request and inquiry coming from future students.

It is capable of providing answers in layman’s terms, easy to understand for inexperienced prospective students.

Furthermore, the AI Advisor tool is able to engage in conversation in over 50 different languages.

“International students who want to study abroad have a sincere desire but sometimes have limited English skills,” Jason Hall, the founder of Study Plans, said.

“Being able to communicate with students and parents in their local language helps assure they are comfortable asking questions and will understand answers to the fullest,” he continued.

“The school-age generation demands instant information”

Engaging with the AI Advisor is just the first step for the potential student, who can then subsequently register their interest in up to three universities. They will then be contacted by the three schools in due course in order to continue the enrolment procedure.

Meanwhile, Study Plans will utilise students’ feedback in a bid to further improve their experience.

Initially, the AI device has interacted with more than 500 students in over 20 different languages in a two-day trial.

“The school-age generation demands instant information, and prefers messaging over a phone call or lengthy email. Our AI gives students exactly what they want – instant answers to their questions through chat in their local language,” Hall concluded.

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Digital English tests “key” to diversity

It would be easy to assume that the pandemic had advanced the acceptance of digital language tests for university admission in the UK. However, many in the higher education sector have yet to update their policy on digital English testing, it was said on a panel at a recent stakeholder event in Leeds.

While universities are able to decide which English language tests they will accept for undergraduate level study or higher, many still defer to the UKVI’s list of secure English language tests known as SELTs.

The list is only fully audited every four to five years and isn’t necessarily keeping pace with the full range of digital testing options.

Stakeholders from admissions, recruitment and assessment discussed the issue in consultation with The PIE and Duolingo at the event on April 17.

Tamsin Thomas, senior strategic engagement manager at Duolingo is familiar with this scenario and the irony that while the majority of UK universities accepted digital tests during Covid, many have since reverted back to their pre-Covid policies for ‘normal’ times.

“A lot of UK universities put tons of investment into digitising their practices to survive,” explained Thomas.

“You’ve [also] got the ones who are rushing to get back to how things were and the ones who have seen this as an opportunity to progress.

“If you work in international student education, you’re working in an incredibly volatile industry, it always has been and it’s getting worse [through global geo-political events]. I think a crisis like Covid was a real hallmark that universities have to manage that volatility as if it were normal in their processes,” continued Thomas.

Further validity studies of digital test takers’ academic performance are being requested by the sector, but a recent Sage study by UCL into Duolingo acknowledged that wider factors like student nationality, academic subject and mode of learning will have also impacted on performance.

“People are more digitally literate now”

Stakeholders at the event pointed out that students, particularly from emerging markets who are attracted by affordable fees, are in fact being disadvantaged through lack of accessible testing.

“In-person testing comes with a range of disadvantages that can harm universities’ attempts to recruit diversity”, explained Ben Naismith, an assessment scientist for the Duolingo English Test.

“People are more digitally literate now.

“It’s useful to have tasks that reflect the modern target language use domain and the way they’re going to be studying at university or digitally working in the future. I think it’s sort of inevitable that we’re moving in that direction, even if there is some resistance,” Naismith added.

Digital English exam acceptance also varies by study destination, with the majority of US universities and colleges accepting the Duolingo English Test.

A rise in multi-destination applications from international schools and agents means that universally accepted tests will increasingly be favoured by students.

The post Digital English tests “key” to diversity appeared first on The PIE News.


Kaplan “hits ground running” with 35+ school

Kaplan International Languages opened its 30+ school at its London Bridge location earlier this year.

The school, specialising in professional or academic courses, focuses on business and general English, as well as semi-intensive and intensive, academic year and IELTS preparation programs.

Principal for the school, Joanna Chung, said that, since opening earlier in 2023, the school has “hit the ground running”.

“The students are really loving the environment, because we tailor our classes, topics and the social program to 30+ students,” she told The PIE.

“We tailor our classes, topics and the social program to 30+ students”

A Global Connect network also links the 30+ students with those at other Kaplan schools around the globe. “One month it’ll be a session hosted at London Bridge, the next it will be New York, the month after it will be Liverpool,” Chung explained.

“The teachers get to teach in a digital environment and they actually really enjoy giving that class. At our first session earlier this year, students came out of the class giving us really good feedback, saying, ‘Oh, it was so great to meet other students from different countries studying at Kaplan’.”

Additionally, intensive one-to-one classes are available on subjects including English for engineering, medicine and law, as well as lectures from guest speakers. Chung was appointed principal for the school earlier in 2023.

Kaplan International Languages also operates schools in eight cities in the UK, as well as another London school in Covent Garden, in addition to schools in Canada, Ireland and the US.

It also runs Alpadia Languages Schools in France, Germany and Switzerland, offering year-round French and German courses and summer camps in English, French and German.

Competitors also offer specialist 30+ schools. EC English Language Centres for example offers the programs at its locations in Vancouver, NY, Toronto, Malta after initially offering the course at its London school.

Spanish-language provider Expanish also announced a 30+ school in Barcelona in 2022.

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