Nitya Rajan

Ninety-four per cent of Pakistan’s primary and middle school teachers lack the necessary English language skills needed for providing a quality education in English, due to what a report from the British Council’s Punjab Education and English Language Initiative (PEELI) calls a lack of "buy-in" to the government's policy to expand and improve English medium education.

New South Wales (NSW) is asking international students to avoid dealings with Overseas Student Association (OSA) – a subsidiary of the National Liaison Committee (NLC) – after ongoing complaints from universities and student bodies detailing how the group has been harassing students for visa and passport information.

Hotcourses – the UK-based online publisher of global and national education opportunities – could be sold to a digital specialist investment buyer in a deal that will aim to double Hotcourses’ business over the next five years, co-founder and CEO Mike Elms has revealed to The PIE News. Any investment will fuel further expansion plans, with China a strategic focus.

India and Nigeria – two of the six so called "high risk" countries – have welcomed the UK government's plans to scrap the visa bond scheme that may have forced visitors to forfeit a £3,000 cash payment if they overstayed their short-term visa. The Home Office has told The PIE News that it has decided not to proceed with the controversial plan, which had caused concern overseas given that it would only have applied to certain nationalities.

The 19-year old 1994 Group – currently formed of 11 active UK university members –has announced its decision to disband, citing that the need for the Group no longer exists. Today's statement from the board said "this was not an easy decision to make, but we feel sure it is the right one for the future."

Former international students in the UK have developed a new free proofreading software offering non-native English speakers a package deal including a dictionary, translation and vocabulary enrichment. They will begin to explore potential collaborations with overseas language schools or companies working in the education sector this month.

Over 50% of the 60 countries studied have improved their English proficiency over the past six years with Scandinavian countries maintaining the lead and Asia overtaking Latin American and the Middle East. Turkey saw the largest improvement in language ability while Sweden has the highest English proficiency score and Iraq the lowest.

The US State Department has partnered with online education provider Coursera to create learning hubs at select embassies around the world. The hubs will provide a blended learning environment around courses available on the MOOC platform with the aim to promote the US as a study destination.

Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai has signed two agreements with the British Council to ensure training for 16,500 of the country's estimated 45,000 English teachers and to support the Ministry of Higher Education's goal to move Kabul’s public universities towards an English curriculum.

International English language provider Embassy English has redesigned its website – accessible via desktop and mobile platforms– with a strong student focus allowing for a more colourful insight into Embassy English's schools, facilities and overall study experience, all of which will be translated into multiples languages in the coming weeks.