The UK Home Office’s decision to suspend the licences of 57 private colleges and circumvent international recruitment at three universities has sent shockwaves through the industry. Universities Minister, David Willetts, underlined this is “reputation-reinforcing” action as many impacted colleges are contesting the suspension.
New players to the USA’s English language sector will find themselves in a catch-22 under new accreditation regulations, finding it hard to get accredited without exhibiting prior teaching history, but unable to issue I-20 visas for international students without being accredited. Meanwhile, regulation bodies have revealed just how large the accredited IEP community now is.
The Portuguese government has begun a project to accredit private portuguese langauge schools through Instituto Camões. It will give accredited Portuguese as a foreign language (PLE) permission to use its logo on promotional material, promote them on its website and provide best practices guides for teachers.
Ireland’s Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn has informed The PIE News of his plans for an “approved list” of ELT schools following the closure of a number of language schools in recent weeks. He added that he hopes to see the launch of a new ELT accreditation scheme from January 2015.
Ireland’s English language sector has been hit once again by the closure of a further two schools bringing total school closures to five in recent weeks and leaving hundreds of students displaced. Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn has set a joint task force to meet on Friday to answer concerns from student protests held this week.
Delegates at last week’s annual EAQUALS conference were the first to see a new logo that reflects the association’s ambitions to broaden its horizons and influence in the sphere of language education. It also updated its accreditation process to suit multi-moded delivery.
This week the Australian government will attempt to slash a number of federal laws in its first planned “repeal day” that will save AUD$1 billion a year in red tape. A number of “heavy handed” regulations affecting the university sector are set to be abolished in the process, a move that has been welcomed by international educators in the country.
New regulations have been published in Canada confirming language teaching institutions will no longer be able to offer “co-op” programmes. Other key changes are more positive, including automatic work rights for many international students.
TOEFL and TOEIC exam testing in the UK has been temporarily suspended after a BBC Panorama investigation that was aired on Monday 10 Feb has revealed systemic cheating by candidates taking a TOEIC exam. Meanwhile QAA has confirmed it is opening investigations into the two colleges named in the programme and accredited by the organisation.
The Institute of International Education (IIE) has announced the winners of the 2014 Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education. The awards showcase the most groundbreaking models for internationalising universities, study abroad, and international partnership programmes.
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