USA

Cambridge Education Group (CEG) has acquired US English language teaching operation Boston Academy of English, rounding out its portfolio of education institutions in the American city and marking another first in its campaign to expand internationally.

A feature-length documentary film showing the cultural experiences of four American and four Chinese students as they travel together around Hong Kong and southwest China for two weeks has been produced by Michigan State University in collaboration with UK-based Crossing Borders Education.

US-based Shorelight Education has closed agreements with the US's second largest university, University of Central Florida, as well as Fordham University in Manhatten and Bath Spa University in the UK. Shorelight says it has the capital to make universities' international dreams a reality.

IIE used its prestigious annual gala dinner in Manhattan, New York, to help bond Brazil and the US over their tertiary education ties. And Brazil's Education Minister, Aloizio Mercadante, confirmed a long-term plan to commit significant revenue from the oil industry towards empowering Brazilians through education.

The two girls who died in Sunday's plane crash in San Francisco were Chinese students travelling to the USA for an English language summer programme, it has been revealed. 16 year-olds Wang Linjia and Ye Mengyaun were part of a group of 30 students and four teachers from the Zhejian region scheduled to attend a three-week summer camp at West Valley Christian School outside LA.

An immigration bill has been dramatically passed by the US Senate that could expand permanent visas for many foreign graduates from universities in the sciences and related fields, increase over time the number of temporary high-skilled visas based on demand, and expand opportunities for entrepreneurs.

The USA and UK have announced a first-ever partnership to fund collaborations between HE institutions in the two countries and valuable projects within higher education in emerging economies. Sec of State John Kerry said the scheme would foster important collaborations in science, technology and engineering.

US schools have been given a cautious go-ahead to use commission-based agents to recruit international students, after a report commissioned by the National Association of College Admissions Counsellors (NACAC) proposed that its members could, but should not use them. However, it also calls for new rules to ensure agents are used ethically.

More than 20,000 voters helped decide this year's GoAbroad.com's People's Choice Awards last month, which recognise excellence and innovation in the US study abroad sector. Winners included US-based International Studies Abroad and the University of South Carolina among others.

US intensive English programmes (IEPs) are to raise concerns about new policy proposals from the US Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) for university pathway programmes, warning that they will complicate the admissions process and impact programme delivery. They are particularly worried by proposals affecting I20 issuance and conditional admission.

EducationUSA – the government body tasked with promoting US education abroad – has launched a new mobile app allowing international students who want to study in the US to access information about the opportunities available to them.

From 2014, Chileans could be able to travel to the USA without having to request a visa, prompting not only more tourism for America but study abroad traffic as well. The two countries are close to signing an agreement over the US Visa Waiver Program, which allows visa-free travel to the US for up to 90 days.

A new consortium of 12 US and Indonesian universities was launched this week at the NAFSA conference in St. Louis to promote educational exchange. The initiative is a continuation of the institutions' partnership through the US-Indonesia Partnership Program for Study Abroad Capacity, which stemmed a decline in Indonesian student traffic to the US after it formed in 2010.

If NACAC ruled in favour of agents you’d see many more US schools at workshops such as ICEF. There would be much more focus on that new opportunity to recruit, and it would increase the profile of all US schools.

Increasing student exchange between Mexico and the USA trumped drug trafficking and immigration on US President Barack Obama's agenda during his visit to Mexico last week. Mexico ranks 9th in places of origin of international students to the US, considerably lower than other big trade partners such as China and Canada.