Latest international education news

Study Group welcomed more than 1,500 students and 70 UK universities and institutions to its University Fair last month. Study Group said the fair had given its Bellerby’s students and others a chance to review their options.

The University of Nottingham has become the first UK university to publish commission rates it pays to appointed student recruitment representatives and agents on its website as well as enforcing a new policy of paying a flat fee for all agents.

The Chinese government is considering tightening regulations regarding overseas agencies that could lead to a ban altogether on foreign-owned operations and greater expectations of other operations, according to China Daily. A draft of the possible new regulation has been published, soliciting opinion from provincial-level education authorities.

China will fund 18,000 students to study abroad in 2013 through the government funded China Scholarship Council (CSC), an increase of 2,000 students from the 2012 offering. The scholarships will cover 6,000 students for graduate study and 12,000 for undergraduate degrees or to take roles as senior researchers or visiting scholars.

The ICEF Berlin Workshop took place earlier this week and cemented its reputation as the powerhouse of events for the international language teaching industry. But as well as many of the world's language teaching operations, the event also drew many universities, vocational training institutes and secondary and boarding schools too - 39% of the total providers.

A poll commissioned by the British Council has found that one in three people surveyed living in the UK believe that they would have a better job if they had spent time studying or living abroad. Seventy-nine per cent of Britons had not lived or studied abroad for six months or more, and more men had had an international experience.

Canada is the latest country to mandate a training programme for education agencies interested in gaining certification relating to their Canadian counselling skills. The Canadian embassy in Germany officially launched the Canada course for Education Agents at the weekend on the fringes of ICEF Berlin.

We are in the the countries who are providing more students than others in the region. But we are also doing the fairs in a Turkish way. We do really good business yet we are fun and foreign schools really enjoy attending our events.

Austrade, the Australian government’s trade and development arm, has highlighted growing recruitment opportunities in Sri Lankan schools for Australian providers, after organising a visit to Colombo. About 4,500 Sri Lankan students are currently enrolled at Australian universities, while a number of Australian HEIs operate offshore in Sri Lanka.

Durham University, one of the UK's best higher education institutions, has opened a £50 million student services centre to enhance the student experience. The university said the centre would help it attract the brightest and best students from the UK and abroad.

New Zealand is to take all student visa applications online from late 2013 in a bid to speed up processing and improve customer service. It will be the first service to be delivered through the country's Immigration Global Management System (IGMS) – a new "fit for purpose" IT system aimed at modernising the immigration system by 2015.

US firm peerTransfer says it has become the first money transfer service to allow Chinese students to make direct educational payments overseas in their home currency. The system is open to those studying in the US, Europe, Australia and Canada, who peerTransfer claims could save $100m per year.

The UK Border Agency has warned Indian students against using unscrupulous education agents to book courses in the UK, saying that agents and students involved in fraud will face action from the Indian authorities. In a statement on the British High Commission website in India, UKBA also said students should avoid using agents for visa purposes altogether.

The state of NSW, Australia, will finally grant overseas students discounts on the cost of travel in a bid to boost its economy. The concessions – available in every other state bar Victoria – provide up to 35% off travel, creating more equity with Australian students, improving student safety and cutting living costs.