Jon Aizlewood

Education officials in Malaysia say that an agreement signed with China in 2011 to promote educational ties has resulted in a significant increase in student mobility between the two countries. There are about 10,000 Chinese students in Malaysia which officials hope could grow by 50% to 100%.

The British government is to establish a new unit to help realise the "untapped" potential of the UK education exports industry. Education UK will coordinate efforts to win bids for all education sectors. The British Council underlined that BIS and UKTI would work alongside their significant work under their own Education UK brand.

The younger you get students in a high school programme, the more bi-cultural they'll be, the better English they are obviously going to have and also the more choices they will have for college or university.

Spanish courses offered by Asociación de Escuelas de Enseñanza de Español de Castilla y León (AEECYL) members are to be accredited by the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca (UPSA), under a deal signed last month to boost internationalisation.

Koreans and Chinese who study at Australian universities have a strong chance of finding work when they return home and are highly valued by their employers. However, employers from both countries say Australian universities should provide more practical work experience.

The King Abdullah Scholarship Programme is one of the largest national scholarship schemes in history: Saudi Arabia has invested US$5 billion sending hundreds of thousands of students to study a language and targeted degree programmes overseas. The programme is not without its trials, but its benefits – both social and cultural, as well as to the bottom line of institutions – are evident. Dan Thomas reports.

Spanish could be Spain's most "valuable asset" in building ties with Asian emerging markets, Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel García-Margallo has claimed. His comments were made at the launch of new research from Instituto Cervantes, which shows fast-growing interest in the language across Asia, leading García-Margallo to say the region could be Spain's "new El Dorado of the 21st century".

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education hopes to classify English language centres based on the quality of services they provide, in a bid to raise standards. According to the Saudi Gazette schools will not face closure but be awarded stars based on the quality of service they provide.

The government of New South Wales – one of Australia’s most popular student destinations – hopes to establish a body to promote international education in the state. But at least one education body has complained that there will be little new funding for it.

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.