Jon Aizlewood

Norway wants to increase international recruitment at tertiary level by establishing more joint degrees with foreign universities. It has set aside US$71 million to support these efforts. The move could also encourage immigration of highly qualified people to the country, addressing a skills shortage.

New Zealand announced yesterday that it is scrapping the requirement for international students to have full medicals from July. They will only need to be screened for tuberculosis. Immigration Minister Nathan Guy says it will save potential migrants NZ$17 million a year and help attract low-risk, high-value students.

The Australian state of Victoria is lobbying the federal government for more shares of flights out of Asia to counter-balance the amount of connecting flights landing in Sydney. It is also calling for vocational education providers to be able to leverage the new visa rules that apply to universities.

The Scottish Education Secretary announced that the Saltire Scholarship scheme, offering up to UK£2,000 to Chinese, American, Indian and Canadian students to study at Scottish universities, will be extended into 2015. The scholarships are part of a wider strategy to promote Scotland as a study destination.

In New Zealand, the Joint Council of Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec) and Whitireia Community Polytechnic, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Whitireia NZ Ltd., has agreed to take over all students and courses of Computer Power NZ Ltd. The three-campus IT training provider is in liquidation.

This year’s ICEF Moscow Workshop saw almost 500 delegates attending the event. The workshop builds business connections between regional education agencies and educators from around the world...

International student enrollment fell by 37% last year in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, due to the fallout of the earthquakes. However, across the rest of the country, numbers increased by 6%, resulting in a decrease of just 0.5% nationwide for 2011. The government will spend NZ$5 million helping rebuild the industry in Christchurch.

There are 26,000 active agencies worldwide, 5 million arrivals in educational travel and on average less than 200 placements per agent, per annum. The market is fragmented and it is difficult to find quality or the right agent partner.

Study abroad scholarships, language courses and test preparation programmes were all in high demand at a recent education fair in Spain. This is the prognosis of ASEPROCE, the country's agency association which has more than 70 members. It estimates an additional 30,000 will leave home to learn a language this year.

Venezuelan agency giant Globorama is developing an independent network of schools after its partner, international education provider and test preperation company Kaplan, opened an independent sales office in Caracas. However Kaplan says the move helps reinforce its brand.