Jon Aizlewood

Canada has been chosen as the country with the best reputation in the world for the second year, according to a major online poll from the Reputation Institute. It also knocked the UK off the top spot in the education category.

Promoting themselves - and their country - as a high quality English language learning option, members of English UK recently went on tour to Jordan to take their message to the Middle East. The three-day event welcomed education agencies throughout the region.

Education New Zealand has developed a promotional campaign in China that will include a factual TV series broadcast in Mandarin featuring interviews with real students and stories of alumni success. The shows will be broadcast next year and followed up with social media campaigns aimed at students.

In most of Asia the agency industry is highly fragmented and so when you go to international events like agent workshops you’re seeing maybe 1% of the agencies out there. There’s no way a school is actually capturing the whole market...

Ireland has signed an agreement with Brazil that will bring 4,000 undergraduate students to Irish universities over the next four years under the Science Without Borders programme. Around 5,600 Brazilian students will be studying in Ireland by 2016.

All public school teachers in Abu Dhabi will be expected to be proficient in English by 2016 under a new programme to promote bi-literate education. "Literacy in both languages is essential to the personal success of Abu Dhabi’s students in both higher education and their future careers," the Abu Dhabi Education Council said.

International Education in the Asian Century was the theme for the AIEC conference in Australia, but the event also clearly focused on understanding what international students want and what influences their purchase patterns. The recurring theme was graduate opportunity, or "Return on Investment" for international students.

International students have ranked the UK as the safest place to study because of its multicultural society, the perception that people don't carry guns and its good medical care, according to new data from the British Council. Elizabeth Shepherd, research director for the Council's Education Intelligence, said a good safety strategy was "imperative for the reputation of a study destination.”

From 2016 non-EU nationals will have to earn at least £35,000 per annum to apply for permanent residency in the UK, it was confirmed this week. The measure, which is part of new immigration rules announced in February, is designed to “break the link between coming to the UK to work and staying forever”, but could further damage the UK’s appeal as a study destination.

A faculty head at the University of Southern California, one of America’s most internationalised universities, has told the PIE News that student mobility will play an important role in helping the global economy recover from crisis.