Katie Duncan

Sheridan College in Ontario has received a donation of CAN$500,000 from international insurance company guard.me to support its growing number of international students. "International students’ services is not keeping up with the demand,” said CEO Keith Segal.

An annual trends report released by Universities UK shows that amid a decline of 6.3% in domestic student enrolments in 2012-13 across all UK institutions after a decade of growth, international student numbers continue to increase.

Global ELT chain, EC English Language Centres, is gathering pace in its US expansion, as two new schools, due to open in January, will bring its total number of schools to 21, spanning five countries. The company has said the US is now its "primary destination country".

As part of its ongoing expansion plans, UK-based education provider, Oxford International Education Group, has acquired co-educational day and boarding school, d’Overbroeck’s, in Oxford.

As its 25th anniversary year draws to a close, NCUK has added two major international collaborations to its portfolio of academic preparation programmes: a £1m scholarship scheme for Nigerian students and an in-country pathway programme in Malta.

While MOOCs and e-learning have increased access to education, problems around completion rates, and quality of learning outcomes are still rife. At the Online Educa Berlin conference this month, stakeholders said more needs to be done to ensure online education produces good academic results.

After 10 years of negotiations, a bilateral trade agreement between China and Australia will extend the number of Australia's private HE institutions featured on the Chinese government’s JSJ (Jiaoyu Shewai Jianguan Xinxi Wang) or "white list" of quasi-approved institutions.

With the general election fast approaching, lively debates from the HE and FE sectors at Study UK's annual conference threw out the choices ahead for 2015, with most speakers agreeing that balanced regulation surrounding immigration and funding would support the longer-term prosperity of the sector.

In more exciting acquisitional activity in the education agency space, Canada's Loyalist Group has reported it is set to acquire Uhak.com (Uhak), South Korea’s largest education agency, for CAN$8.1m, of which $5.3m will be paid in cash. Loyalist's CEO said the deal meant "a new dimension to Loyalist's vertical integration strategy".

As study-work policies fluctuate in key study destinations, internships are becoming an effective and popular way for students to gain valuable on-the-job experience. To varying degrees, countries and private providers are developing strategies to enhance the role of internships within study abroad and as a stand-alone international experience. Katie Duncan reports.