Jon Aizlewood

A new immigration "matchmaking service" in Canada will connect foreign job seekers and employers in a bid to boost skilled migration – a move that could benefit international graduates of Canadian universities. CIC believes the system will eliminate application backlogs. It is one of a raft of new measures designed to attract more foreign students to the country.

Visa processing delays are hampering international recruitment efforts across the tertiary, language and schools sectors in Canada, with one institution even claiming that visa barriers forced her to close her business temporarily. Immigration and Citizenship Canada blames a surge in demand for Canadian education, but others say spending cuts are at fault.

Ending months of speculation, education partnering organisation INTO University Partnerships has sold a 25% stake to the US private equity firm Leeds Equity Partners for £66 million. INTO will use the investment to provide university partners with capital to fund “innovation and capacity building” projects.

Sweden-based Educatius International has bought the for-profit arm of the education travel provider Council for Education Travel (CET) Group, moving into English language provision. The deal means Educatius, best known for placement in the US, can now offer English language training in Vancouver and London.

Syrian students at UK universities say they are facing an “impossible situation” as funding for their studies dries up and some institutions are unable to cover the shortfall. Many fear that they will be unable to complete their studies and even sent home, where they could face torture or assassination.

Scottish students studying in mainland Europe will now be eligible for the same financial support as if they were studying at home. Under a new pilot scheme, £750,000 will be available for bursaries and loans to UG students.

The University of the West of England, UK, has launched the first specialist careers website for Chinese students at UK universities. UK/China GradLink will help students access the competitive Chinese job market and offset pressures to find work in the UK.

Australia's English language sector could be on the road to recovery after three years of decline. According to the latest AEI stats, ELICOS enrolments in the first 10 months of 2012 were down just 2% compared with the same period of 2011.

All the future is in developing markets so there has to be joined up enlightened thinking about the whole area of international education and visas and that’s how we’re lobbying. We’re going to continue our efforts from last year in Turkey, China and Russia.

BOSSA, China’s largest association for small study abroad agencies, has launched the COSSA alliance, which it hopes will become the first ever national agency association in China. Vice president Xuewen E said national coordination was needed as smaller agencies faced growing competition from bigger agency chains and new regulation.