Australasia

The Australian Human Rights Commission has introduced a set of principles to promote and protect the rights of international students and inform those who work with them. They are designed to make students aware of their rights when studying abroad as well as prevent economic insecurity, threats to safety and social isolation.

New data modelling from the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) predicts that the downturn in Australia's international education industry will get worse before it gets better, taking almost a decade to recover and threatening further jobs.

Despite dominating elite positions in this year's Times Higher Education World University Rankings, US and UK institutions fell in the global top 200 list signifying an emerging power shift to Asia Pacific countries. Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education, said huge investment in top research universities across Asia was starting to pay off.

New Zealand's ERO report on schools' provisions for international students has endorsed the school sector's capabilities – the report found that 90% of assessed schools successfully seek out and respond to aspirations of international students..

Boosting student exchange and mobility in the Pacific Rim region was high on the agenda at the recent APEC summit in Vladivostok, Russia, as Australia and Russia prioritised a deal to open up the region's higher education market. With 21 member nations in APEC, any unilateral student exchange deal could lead to a strong student mobility programme akin to Europe's Erasmus exchange programme.

The number of students enrolled in tertiary education outside of their country of origin reached 4.1 million in 2010, according to new research from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – up from 3.7 million in 2009 and by a staggering 99% since 2000.

In a first-of-its-kind deal, the Chinese government has agreed to train 300 Indian teachers at top Chinese universities in a bid to boost Mandarin learning across India. The teachers will then return to India to help promote the uptake of Mandarin language study. The agreement is between the Confucius Institute and India's Central Board of Secondary Education.

New Zealand has launched a marketing drive to increase the Canterbury region's appeal as a destination for international students, after enrolments were hit by last year's earthquake. The scheme, Christchurch Educated, will also guarantee university entrance to international graduates of Christchurch secondary schools.

Australia’s peak body for private tertiary providers, ACPET, is undertaking a survey of the size and contribution of private tertiary education in a bid to improve government recognition of the sector. CEO Claire Field said the findings would address "considerable gaps" in the data available to policy makers.

The ACPET National Conference (and awards) welcomed Australia’s largest gathering of private tertiary education and training experts to its annual conference, with international education high on the agenda...

The Thai International Education Consultants’ Association (TIECA) has signed a quality assurance agreement with education promotion agencies in the top five English speaking destinations. The declaration solidifies ties with the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

My view is we’re an embryonic industry. It’s akin to those first cotton textile mills in mid-18th century Britain which started the industrial revolution, to use an analogy from economic history! We’re only just beginning.

One of the two new national education regulators in Australia, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), has begun consultation with the Australian National ELT Accreditation Scheme (NEAS) after it was nominated as one of two authorities to oversee ELICOS programmes.

Langports English Language College in Brisbane/Gold Coast in Australia has opened a dedicated exam testing centre for its students – recognising the growing demand for English language testing and its newfound status as a testing centre for...

Australia's English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) sector has reported a 4% drop in numbers for the 2011 calendar year. The number of enrolments fell to 134,440 from 140,102 in 2010 marking the third year in a row that the market has seen a decline in numbers since it peaked in 2008.