News

Liam Burns, the president of the UK’s National Union of Students, said last week during a sub-committee hearing at the House of Lords, that too few UK students from underpriviledged backgrounds are benefiting from European Union grants to study abroad.

Fifty-five students and seven academics from the UK and Brazil have taken part in a two-week exchange programme to study at campuses in each other’s countries...

The language school hosting the 2012 workshop for IALC is offering a scholarship each week to education agents...

Bell, the UK-based global language chain, is to launch new summer programmes for young learners at Ardingly College in West Sussex...

Russian language school Liden & Denz has rolled out a new system for students to book tickets to social and cultural events through their website. Students can also be updated via an RSS feed...

Crowds of angry non-EU students have demonstrated in the Cypriot capital over rules they say restrict their right to work outside college hours. They claim foreign students should be recognised as income earners...

As the US ties up its military campaign in Iraq this month, the US Department of State and Iraqi government have pledged to boost the number of Iraqi students studying in the US next year to 2,500 via an expanded scholarship scheme – one of a range of new initiatives to bolster Iraqi study abroad.

The IELTS monopoly of the testing of student visa applicants in Australia ended last month, as the government now accepts scores from a range of other tests for the first time in 10 years. Pearson PTE Academic, Toefl and Cambridge English Advanced are among the tests now accepted.

Education agencies approved under the AIRC accreditation system may no longer be able to take commission on any form of financial aid, or even substantially change their business operational procedure without AIRC approval, under revisions to the scheme being voted upon currently.

Oxford Royale Academy was named best educational product in last week's British Youth Travel Awards, beating Ardmore Language Schools and Bell's "Winter Explorer"...

Languages Canada and Scotiabank this week announced a sponsorship agreement that will offer banking advice to more than 130,000 international language education students studying in Canada each year...

A new online funds verification service has launched in beta-mode in the USA. It could revolutionise the way universities and governments verify the financial standing of international students, side-stepping the need for paper copies of bank documents, speeding up the recruitment process and reducing visa fraud.

BridgeBrazil, a leading supplier of Portugese language courses to foreigners in Brazil, has been awarded a valuable accreditation by the government-backed Study in Brazil programme. According to the company, this means a trusted, quality operator.

Fifty education delegates from British Columbia joined the province’s largest ever trade mission to India and China last month, in an ongoing drive to attract international students. The University of British Columbia also announced the opening of two offices in India which will enable it to build ties with country’s private and public sectors.

A charity has been launched to support the countries from which the UK recruits most international students – a move that could give the country an edge as an "ethical" study destination. It plans to raise funds from UK HE stakeholders to support the development of primary and secondary education in countries such as China, India and Nigeria.