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Earl Blaney, The Canada Network, Canada

Canada’s international education sector has been one of the most fast-growing in the last decade, and lucrative. Despite this success, it’s also had its fair share of difficulties – one man who aims to keep the sector in check, and make sure that all those involved are working to help the international students who come to Canada, is Earl Blaney.

 

Notorious on LinkedIn for his provocative posts, Earl Blaney is a tireless campaigner for considerate student recruitment. Who is he and what motivates him? The PIE met with him in London, Ontario to find out.

It turns out that Blaney began his international education career in international education in the Philippines, working to recruit international students to Canada.

He returned to work in his home country – he grew up in various places in Canada including the remote town of Hornepayne, ONT (population 980) – and began recruiting for Western University in 2015.

His own business, The Canada Network, continued operations from Canada and since 2015, Blaney has been full-time in his own counselling business as a registered immigration consultant.

Working closely with international students – both in the Philippines and then by employing Filipino students in Canada – Blaney has spent years counselling and advising students.

Perhaps it was his experience of being an outsider moving to remote Hornepayne, but he displays a burning concern about sub-standard international student experience, and he was a contributor to the Fifth Estate documentary that aired last year.

“The bottom line is this,” he says. “In Canada our entire USP, and our entire international selling [proposition] at the community college level, is built on permanent residency transition based on skilled employment in Canada.

“Most people for this scheme are studying in the wrong place. Labour market demand is very regional in Canada in certain fields. So the college programs that they’re offering in Canada, may not necessarily get them a job in London – they’d be better off in Saskatchewan or Alberta. We see that all the time,” Blaney explains.

This issue, he tells The PIE, ends up stalling the whole process, and creates a worrying bottleneck of international graduates vying for a permanent residency permit that simply will not be achievable for most of them.

“Sean Fraser himself, the minister of immigration, has said in recent months, that we’re getting way too many international students who intend on doing this. We just do not have the capacity for them. So the government is aware of this issue,” he says.

Blaney has been lobbying for a long time that something is off in Canada’s international education strategy and rampant recruitment is not consistent with maintaining a strong quality of experience.

He suggests a far more shady world lurks beneath the surface of a seemingly successful international student recruitment program.

“This is not good for the immigrant, or Canada”

According to Blaney, international graduates who are not on track to receive permanent residency attempt to stay as long as they can.

Their options, he says, are to either marry someone, or to pay a less-than-legal immigration consultant upwards of $60,000 to “create” a permanent residency job – in essence, a job that keeps them on the track to PR – something Blaney has previously told The PIE.

“Fake jobs are being created. Jobs that are not even skilled jobs, with titles like ‘food service supervisor’ and ‘retail supervisor’ – and the job is not skilled in any way. A false economy is being created.

“This is not good for the immigrant, or Canada,” he comments.

Eventually the reality is many of these people get deported, and then, Blaney asks, how many international students get their dues?

“We are on the verge of a million international graduates being deported in the next three years,” he warns.

Canada’s moves with immigration and work permits in the last few months have not been tightening rules, but loosening – including extending former international students’ post-graduate work permits last year.

Blaney isn’t only cheerleading for a supportive – or realistic – policy environment for students. He continues with his work collaboration with four agents in the Philippines, one of Canada’s fastest growing international student markets.

And he has recently launched Study2Stay, a platform which evaluates an applicant’s likelihood of achieving PR based on their skills background and whichever program their agent is selecting for them.

“The evaluation handles not only eligibility for various immigration streams, but [assesses] real world likelihood of success beyond mere ‘eligibility’,” he explains.

Offered to education agents at first, the platform will also be able to be used by students in the future.

His work with Filipino agents has included helping them upscale their business, and onboarding them on certain market strategies necessary to succeed in the sector.

“[A lot of] growth for bigger companies is from new agents, so agent competency is extremely important,” he notes.

Blaney also feels it’s important to point out a glaring reality that plagues not just the Canadian system, but other countries too – the difference in student treatment depending on the source market.

“If you’re an elite class, you’ll stay in Canada, for example, if the tax rate is right and the policies are beneficial. But for people coming from somewhere like the Philippines, which is my main market, the idea is that it’s immediately better [quality of life],” he points out.

“They printed off 26,000 letters of acceptance – they’re handing them out like candy”

Essentially, Blaney explains that this whole scenario is what leads to the problem of over-enrolment, with some colleges happy to cram in the students.

This was an issue raised in the documentary revealing students protesting at being told they had to defer their start dates.

“Around 7,000 students are the capacity at one particular campus,” he relates. “3,000 at their main campus, and around 3,500 at their other: they printed off 26,000 letters of acceptance – they’re handing them out like candy,” he claims.

“I cannot imagine the immigration volume from that one college. It is alarming because not only does it impact schools that are not partaking in this method, but it stops universities looking for highly talented people.

In Blaney’s mind, nothing will change unless the government – especially immigration minister Sean Fraser – acknowledges the problem in greater detail. Recent data from the CIC confirms Blaney’s suspicions that PR is not attainable for everyone and could create the aforementioned bottleneck.

“Colleges here will never change unless [the government] do something about capping the number of letters of acceptance.

“This is a huge problem… and I think that it is really important that this information is out there,” he says.

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Mixed growth for UK priority regions

Two of the five countries named as priority regions in the UK’s international education strategy showed declines in student numbers in the 21/22 academic year.

Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Nigeria and India were all named as priority regions in the UK’s 2019 international education strategy as they had “significant potential for growth”.

International education champion Steve Smith’s work focuses on these regions, including attempting to increase education exports, diversify recruitment and address market access barriers.

According to new data from HESA, fewer Vietnamese and Saudi Arabian students were studying in the UK in 21/22 than in the previous academic year.

Smith has facilitated higher education missions to both Indonesia and Saudi Arabia over the past two years. The number of Indonesians increased by 555 students, equivalent to approximately 18% growth.

 

The data shows a different story for the UK’s other two priority regions, India and Nigeria. The number of Indian students coming to the UK jumped from 84,555 to 126,535, while students from Nigeria more than doubled, reaching 44,195 in 21/22 compared to 21,305 the previous year. The University of Hertfordshire was the top recruiter of both Nigerian and Indian students, enrolling almost 1,000 more Indian students (5,825) than the previous year.

The number of students enrolled in transnational education courses grew in most of the priority regions, as over half a million students globally took transnational courses outside of the UK. The highest numbers of transnational students were based in China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, making up 31% of all students. 

The data also shows that international students make up a growing proportion of postgraduates in the UK. Some 45% of postgraduate students in 21/22 were from outside the UK, increasing from 35% in 17/18. At undergraduate level, 15% were non-UK domiciled.

The number of Chinese students taking postgraduate courses in the UK increased by approximately 5,000 to 88,755, while Indian students at the same level jumped by almost 40,000 to 101,765, outnumbering Chinese students for the first time.

HESA data

Enrolments from the EU continued to decline following Brexit, with 33,715 postgraduate students in 21/22 from EU countries, down from 43,765 in 2020/21. More first year students came from Nigeria (32,945) than from the whole of the EU (31,400) for the first time. Despite the overall decline, some EU countries showed small growth over the five year period since 2017, including Portugal, Spain, Romania and Poland.

“Last year, the UK had a fairly balanced geographical diversity of the international student population, with only 16 HEIs relying on one country for at least half of their international students,” said Janet Ilieva, director of Education Insight.

“This year’s dip of 67% in the entry of EU students to first-degree programmes will significantly increase the institutional reliance on 1-2 countries.”

This has “huge implications for student diversity in the classroom and highlights the importance of continually monitoring students’ academic experience,” Ilieva said.

Charley Robinson, head of global mobility policy at Universities UK International, said that growth is “complex” but that the government’s policies and diversification work have “reduced the UK’s reliance on a single country”.

Robinson added that the increase in postgraduate students is “very good news” but “in light of the losses from Europe, it’s ever more important that we maintain stable and competitive immigration policies”.

The UK government is reportedly discussing plans to scrap dependant visas for family members of international students, among other connected potential policy changes. Last week, UUKi warned that “blunt bans” have “the potential to adversely affect the UK’s reputation, our economy, and our relationships with key partners such as India and Nigeria”.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.

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UK invests emotionally and financially into Ukraine Twinning scheme

From distributing winter clothes and sending an ambulance to Ukraine to providing record-breaking recruitment strategies and proffering trauma support services, the nature, nuance and impact of the UK-Ukraine twinning initiative is wide-ranging.

Speaking to The PIE News, Charles Cormack, director of one of the organising partners, Cormack Consultancy, said he was overwhelmed by the time and investment, both financial and emotional, that universities were choosing to invest, as well as the creativity and flexibility institutions have shown to meet the needs of their Ukrainian counterparts.

Over 100 UK universities are now involved in the Ukraine-UK twinning program which was established in April last year by Cormack Consultancy and UUKi. Partnerships comprise of very different activities and impacts, as well the signing of 55 Memorandums of Understanding.

The University of Liverpool is twinned with Sumy State University and, like many of the partnerships, efforts include supporting teaching at the university in the north east of Ukraine including by creating online resources and learning materials for 13 different subject areas that overlap with those offered at SSU.

Recorded lectures, reading lists and databases for a wide variety of subjects including medicine and economics have been particularly helpful due to teaching gaps caused by the war, with the school of medicine providing resources for the entirety of a five year medical program.

“It’s part of the unique selling point of the relationship that SSU students can see a direct benefit of the twinning with Liverpool as they can see it as part of the curriculum” said Gavin Brown, pro-vice chancellor for education at UoL.

SSU student, Kateryna, in Liverpool

The university now runs an annual summer school program for both staff and students from SSU with a cohort of around 80 taking part in last year’s virtual summer school program. In addition to this, a “handful” travelled to Liverpool to complete the course in-person, said Brown.

Both virtual and on-campus summer schools are planned again for 2023, and accommodation has been allocated in the hope that some participants can attend in-person, despite difficulties in travel as a result of the conflict.

The summer schools have expanded into more traditional study abroad programs, with some students from SSU currently enrolled at the UoL for a semester.

“Obviously when we can Liverpool students will go to SSU. It’s just not possible at the moment” said Brown.

“It’s about what SSU needs because they’re the ones that are facing the immediate difficulties and the partnership will then evolve later on when hopefully the country is out of the war and starts to rebuild and is more stable.”

SSU and University of Liverpool’s online summer school cohort

Another tangible benefit of the partnership between SSU and the UoL has been a joint effort to build upon recruitment at SSU, with the recruitment and marketing teams working closely to develop a campaign, resulting in the best recruitment year on record.

“That worked really well, they have had a bumper year for both undergraduate and postgraduate recruitment, far exceeding their expectations so of course that helps then to put them on a more secure financial footing as well,” said Brown.

Rachel Sandison, deputy vice chancellor of external engagement at the University of Glasgow, spoke to The PIE about the university’s partnership with three Ukrainian institutions – Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Poltava State Medical University and Lviv National Medical University.

Ukrainian students at a Burns Supper event held in Glasgow

The UoG has welcomed 121 students on semester-long opportunities, waiving tuition fees, providing free accommodation and additional stipends for travel and living.

The Ukrainian students studying at the university were recently invited to immerse themselves in Scottish culture at the university’s Burns Night supper event, with one Ukrainian student describing it as a dream come true in an emotional tweet.

Sandison said the inititiative has been “completely transformational” for all sides of the partnerships, adding that she is completely “blown away” by the resilience of Ukrainian students and colleagues.

“This is not something we are doing for today. This is something we are doing for tomorrow and beyond,” said Sandison.

Ukrainian students at the University of Glasgow

Elsewhere in the city of Glasgow, Scottish students have been getting involved too, with one student at Glasgow Caledonian University going above and beyond to support the initiative. Umran Ali Javaid purchased and donated an ambulance, delivering it to a professor from twin university State Tax University, who then drove it Ukraine.

Although most of the universities involved are paired with just one other, a handful have chosen to be paired with more, including the University of Leicester twinned with two – Kremenchuk Mykhailo Otrohradskyi National University and Poltava State Agrarian Academy University.

Geoff Green, registrar and secretary at the University of Leicester told The PIE that many students at Kremenchuk Mykhailo Otrohradskyi National University have lost family members and in some cases entire support networks have been killed in the war.

As a result, staff at the University of Leicester are helping to design an underground shelter where vulnerable students can take refuge with access to trauma support facilities alongside teaching facilities. The university plans to equip the facility with teaching equipment, as well as furniture.

The university is doing further work with WACIT – a social enterprise set up by a former University of Leicester staff member – to deliver specialist training in Kremenchuk to those who need to provide critical support to young people who have been affected by trauma and conflict.

Green added that the university is also in the process of providing winter clothing for around 30 vulnerable students.

Cormack Consultancy has too invested heavily in the initiative – with three full-time roles dedicated to the efforts, including partnership bootcamps for participating institutions, with six hour-long structured meetings.

According to Cormack, the whole process involves buy-in from a whole host of departments within the institutions from IT staff, library staff, student unions and councils and student support.

If you don’t get it sticky, it will fail

“The way we’ve made it work, we know that if you don’t get it sticky, it will fail” said Cormack.

Cormack told The PIE there is potential to further layer some twinning partnerships, allowing them to become ‘triplets’ with global universities, since universities in the US, Australia and Ireland have shown interest in the initiative.

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15.7% Swiss outbound mobility ‘too low’

The 15.7% of Swiss university graduates that have studied abroad is below the national target of 20%, according to a report by the national agency Movetia.

The findings from the agency for exchange and mobility found that “only one in nine higher education institutions meets Switzerland’s international and national mobility targets”.

Many Swiss institutions show a “significant lower rate” than the 20% Higher Education Area mobility target, the body warned.

Mobility rates range widely from 1% to 50%, with only four of the 36 universities surveyed meeting the target of 20%.

The University of St.Gallen, EPF Lausanne, HEP St.Gallen, Università della Svizzera italiana and the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland make up the top five.

The average mobility rate is 15.7%, which was “only achieved thanks to the exceptional performance of the institutions placed among the top three”.

The data used pre-pandemic information, and – as one stakeholder highlighted to The PIE – does not include masters students going abroad to write their thesis, semester project or to do an internship outside formal exchange programs.

“The ones that invest intensively in one or more internationalisation factors show a higher mobility rate”

Swiss institutions would expect to show higher rates of mobility if the report had featured the same definition of mobility as the European HEA, insiders suggested.

Martina Weiss, Generalsekretärin for swissuniversities, told The PIE that not being fully associated with Erasmus+ programs was an obstacle for Switzerland.

“The mobility of students depends, among other things, on the different interests in the various subjects,” she added.

Movetia noted that “three factors stand out as important catalysts for outgoing mobility”. These include study programs with an international orientation, an international study environment, and attractive conditions for incoming students, it said.

The agency’s new internationalisation index shows a “significant correlation” between the mobility rate and the degree of internationalisation of higher education institutions.

“The ones that invest intensively in one or more internationalisation factors show a higher mobility rate,” the agency said.

Movetia’s director, Olivier Tschopp, said the “significant” mobility rate differences mean initiatives are need to “ensure that all students have similar mobility opportunities”.

“This publication points out that the decision to go on a mobility or not does not lie exclusively with the students,” he said in a statement.

“Swiss higher education institutions and the national educational framework have an important role to play in achieving the mobility objectives that have been set, in order to allow Switzerland to remain an attractive country for education and innovation.”

As the data was based on 53,000 master and bachelor graduates in 2020, it does not take into account the impact of the pandemic.

 

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Peru students beaten by police in raid

Students in Peru say they were violently beaten by police officers during a raid at a university in Lima on January 21.

Police reportedly smashed through the gates of the National University of San Marcos and forced a group of around 90 students out of their dormitories, hitting and kicking some.

The police entered the university to evict protesters who they believed had taken shelter at the university, after a demonstration in Lima turned violent. Protests have been ongoing in Peru since the imprisonment of former president Pedro Castillo in December.

Some female students say they were arrested and strip-searched by male officers after being detained, despite not having taken part in the protests.

In a statement, the university described the raid as an “abuse of authority” and said it had caused “physical and psychological injury”.

“We urge the state to build bridges to solve the political crisis that is putting the stability of all our public institutions at risk,” the university said.

The Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas has condemned the incident, calling it a “violation of university autonomy” .

“We call for peace and respect for human rights”

The human rights group wrote in a statement that the police’s actions “severely undermine one of the premises on which academic freedom functions: that the university campus must be a safe place for the open expression of ideas”.

Under the Inter-American principles, university campuses can only be occupied by third parties in exceptional circumstances.

“If they did this in Lima, in one of the largest universities in Latin America, with all international and national media looking at them, what will they do if they were to take a similar measure on a rural university or a smaller town university?” asked Salvador Herencia-Carrasco, director of the Human Rights Clinic of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre in Canada.

CAFA called on the Peruvian government to investigate this “breach of university autonomy” and to “commit to protecting the autonomy of all higher education institutions in Peru”.

“In Peru, unlike other countries in the region, international pressure does impact and shape policy,” added Herencia-Carrasco, explaining that international statements may help to prevent further human rights violations.

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LSE launches new podcast for African youth

The London School of Economics and Political Science has launched a new youth-centred podcast called ‘The Climb Podcast’ through The Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa.

The mission of The Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa is to focus on engagement with Africa through research, teaching and public events, strengthening LSE’s long-term commitment to placing Africa at the heart of understanding and debates on global issues.

It also home to the Program for African Leadership, established at LSE to empower a new generation of African leaders who will promote best practices of economic and social development in their organisations and countries.

The Climb Podcast will create a platform to tell the extraordinary stories of youths across Africa and in the diaspora, in a bid to celebrate their achievements and encourage greater youth participation in the growth and development of the African continent.

Produced in collaboration with Channels Media Group, each episode is 20-30 minutes long and published fortnightly across all major podcast sharing platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

John Momoh, chairman of Channels Media Group, commented on the production saying, “We as change makers in the broadcast industry are delighted to team up with LSE to birth this project, and we are confident that its impact will reverberate around the world.”

“LSE is proud to embark on this pioneering co-production”

Channels Media Group is an umbrella organisation made up of Channels Television, IDS Africa, Channels Academy and other subsidiaries. The multiple award-winning television station is known for producing and broadcasting quality television programs, transmitted to over 40 million viewers in Africa and around the world.

The group will leverage their expertise and huge social media audiences in Africa to support the success of the podcast project.

“Building on our Programme for African Leadership, LSE is proud to embark on this pioneering co-production with Channels TV to tell the stories of some extraordinary young Africans to inspire a generation of future leaders,” founder of the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at LSE, Firoz Lalji, said.

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‘Welcome Corps’ a potential lifeline for refugees

“Providing a safe haven and a new home for people fleeing war, violence, and persecution is one of America’s noblest traditions, dating back to the founding of our nation,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said last week, announcing the creation of the Welcome Corps.

The initiative is a private sponsorship program supporting the resettlement and integration of refugees as they begin a new chapter in their lives in the US. “Throughout our history, our country has benefitted from the energy, the ingenuity, and the hard work of refugees,” proffered Blinken.

A statement from the US Department of State, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, referenced the willingness of Americans to help displaced people, many of whom come from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

The Welcome Corps will enhance the initial DOS resettlement support and allow individual Americans to privately sponsor refugees.

“The launch of Welcome Corps is a transformative moment for the US, and as secretary Blinken stated, it’s the most significant innovation in US refugee resettlement in the past 40 years,” Miriam Feldblum, co-founder and executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, told The PIE News.

The state department will match refugees approved for resettlement with private sponsors, and is seeking 10,000 Americans to support 5,000 refugees in the program’s first iteration.

Sponsors can assist these efforts through financial contributions, as well as by connecting refugees to essential services such as housing, employment, and education.

“Expanding access to U.S. higher education with resettlement for refugee students is not only a life-changing opportunity for refugee students, but will unleash [their] talent and potential which will benefit and transform campuses and communities, as greater diversity drives excellence and innovation,” Feldblum said.

The Presidents’ Alliance said it is heartened that the Biden administration’s February 2021 Executive Order is coming to fruition. “We are very excited for the opportunities for college and university sponsorship for refugee students to be announced in the coming months,” Feldblum added.

“It’s our responsibility to support refugees through scholarships and sharing resources and expertise”

Leaders in international education at US HEIs spoke with The PIE about the Welcome Corps initiative. “This is an ultimate human rights act that lends a helping hand to our fellow human beings in time of dire need and upholds their dignity,” said Reza Fakhari, vice president for internationalisation at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York.

Fakhari’s career is deeply rooted in human rights. He said the SFC human rights program has been focusing on scholars and journalists at-risk and have recently accepted a Moroccan journalist at-risk.

“As increasing numbers of refugees are bused or voluntarily arrive in New York City, SFC is exploring how best to outreach to refugee students and assist them with admission into St. Francis as a Welcome Corps partner,” he said.

New York University associate vice president for global services Sherif Barsoum also shared his sentiments, stating, “We are well aware that having refugees as part of our university community provides great benefits and opportunities to both refugees and the university community as a whole.”

Barsoum emphasised the importance of “thriving beyond borders”.

“It’s our responsibility to support refugees through scholarships and sharing resources and expertise to give incoming refugees and their families support in their transition to the US through academic, wellness, co-curricular, and social opportunities for cross-cultural learning,” he added.

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Geopolitics keeping leaders awake in outlook for 2023

Financial performance, geopolitics and managing growth were among the three biggest concerns for leaders in international education at the beginning of 2023.

Factors such as market instability and political tension are making long-term planning difficult for sector managers and signal a challenging year ahead for many operations.

These insights came from a group of senior contacts who took part in our snapshot survey on leadership.

More than 60 leaders, including CEOs, pro-vice chancellors, directors, provosts and edtech entrepreneurs from across 16 countries, all gave their views on current industry trends and what attributes make for good leadership in the higher education sector.


The results revealed that over 92% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that immigration is currently being used as a political leaver worldwide, with 44% of respondents saying that geopolitics and macro factors are a major concern.

In recent weeks, Universities UK International has been repeatedly forced to respond to media speculation about potential changes to student immigration rules, and sector leaders have been reminded how vulnerable enrolment flows are in relation to government policy.

Responses such as “geopolitical instability and economic recession” and “political interference” were seen as common threats, with one respondent saying “institutions and governments cannot react fast enough to address the demand” when predicting the biggest challenges for international education in 2023.


Artificial intelligence also emerged high on the agenda, appearing in both lists of concerns and opportunities. One respondent explained “the recent rise of AI has the potential for very concerning consequences around both the quality of [university] applications and student performance on courses”.

While AI was mooted as having the potential to ‘undermine’ quality in many parts of educational delivery, others saw the benefits of AI to “support marketing automation” and manage increased levels of demand.

Some 87% of respondents felt that education is being disrupted and will evolve either through technology or new modes of delivery. “Adoption of appropriate technology” and “better hybrid delivery” were given as examples of opportunities to pursue to improve access for students globally.

The highly anticipated “return of China” and the “reopening” of borders was cited as a major opportunity for 2023. In the past few days, China has told students studying remotely in the country that they should now travel to their respective study destinations “as soon as possible”.

Post-pandemic demand and increased global student mobility are being seen as a crucial moment in history that should be acted upon in the survey.

One respondent explained “the world and people have changed” and that there are many “new conversations and connections” to build on for those organisations that want to grow. Indeed, 80% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that public-private partnerships were set to increase this year.

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Challenges and opportunities for new pathway programs in China

The study abroad industry in China saw accelerated growth in the past 20 years, along with the expansion of China’s higher education and the growth of average household income, self-sponsored studying abroad has become increasingly popular for many Chinese families.

Even with the drastic decline in 2020 primarily attributed to the pandemic, China remains the primary sending country of international students to traditional study abroad destinations like the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

The demand for overseas education has continued, if not strengthened, as we return to pre-pandemic life, but those demands have changed. Our experience and follow-up research with Chinese agents and students show great challenges for conventional pathway programs but also present opportunities for reinvention.

Pathway programs, including universities’ own programs as well as third-party pathway programs had great success in generating recruitment and admission results for various institutions. However, conventional pathway programs are losing appeals to Chinese families.

To most of the Chinese families looking into studying abroad, pathway programs are essentially language programs that increase costs and time abroad. Circumstances have changed and they have a lot more options now.

Public and private English language education has come a long way in China, more are meeting the language requirements for degree programs. Chinese international students are generally more prepared to study abroad in terms of learning and adapting capability.

At the same time, there are more options and alternatives now than ever before.

“Private tutoring in China would still be cheaper and faster than going through some of the pathway programs”

They can choose other programs which have lower requirements. The continuously growing international programs offered within China is another viable option. And they can always choose to improve their English through private tutoring in China, which would still be cheaper and faster than going through some of the pathway programs.

Our findings suggest the growth opportunity lies with those increasingly pragmatic about their study abroad objectives and experiences. We created a program to resolve three main concerns those students have: lack of academic preparation, save time, save money.

First of all, many Chinese students do not have much control over their undergraduate major and it is almost impossible to change major, so if they wish to study something different at the graduate level, this can help them enhance their academic preparation.

Secondly, being able to take those courses in their senior year means they do not have to waste months or even a year before they can start their graduate degree work. Even if they decide not to change their field of study after the PMBC, they would not have wasted any time.

Last but not least, taking the courses online is significantly cheaper than participating in offline pathway programs.

When we first started the program in 2019, there were few similar programs in the market, but earlier this year, we noticed a few with even more course offerings, mostly STEM courses. We would love to see institutions and corporate players becoming more flexible and humane to help Chinese students achieve their goals through reinventing their programs.

About the author: This is a sponsored post from the team at HYP Global. Founded in 2019 in Shanghai China and Philadelphia, HYP Global specialises in recruitment marketing and collaborating with world-renowned higher education institutions in offering creative pathway programs

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Ireland: students relocated after college closure

Some 200 students have been affected by the sudden closure of an English language college in Ireland. 

International House Galway, which is part of the International House group of 150 schools, shut down on January 26 after going into liquidation. 

All of the students are covered by mandatory insurance that was taken out when they booked their courses and have now been relocated, according to Lorcan O’Connor Lloyd, general manager at Marketing English in Ireland. 

O’Connor Lloyd said the organisation had to “act quickly” to find new places for the students, but that the majority of students are starting classes at a new school today. Insurance payouts will also cover the new schools to hire more staff if needed to accommodate the extra students. 

“The closure of the International House in Galway is a cause for concern”

The Irish Council for International Students said it was “deeply concerned” about the sudden closure. 

“The closure of the International House in Galway is a cause for concern, particularly when the school was still advertising courses on their social media as late as two weeks ago,” said Laura Harmon, executive director of ICOS.  

O’Connor Lloyd told The PIE that the approximately 30 students due to start at IHG over the next few months are all covered by insurance and are now registered with new providers. 

ICOS called on the government to “urgently” implement the International Education Mark and “ensure that all measures are taken to safeguard international students’ investment in their education, including mandatory use of escrow accounts”. 

The long-awaited International Education Mark, a quality assurance scheme for English language schools and higher education providers, is due to be introduced by the Irish government in 2023, following several years of discussions. The IEM was created in part as a response to a series of language college closures in Ireland.

Under the new measures, the government is looking to introduce a bond that providers are obliged to pay into. This will insure students in case of closures, effectively replacing existing insurance schemes put in place by providers, but some language schools say it is still unclear how the proposed learner protection fund will work. 

“We don’t have details yet of how that sinking fund is going to be managed and how much it’s actually going to cost the individual providers,” said O’Connor Lloyd. “That would be very different to the model in place now where we have individual protection of each student.” 

It is also unclear whether the IEM will protect teachers in the event of closures. Staff from International House Galway have been invited to meet with other schools to discuss work opportunities, following the closure of the school. 

At the time of publication, IHWO had not responded to The PIE with comments.

The post Ireland: students relocated after college closure appeared first on The PIE News.

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