Higher Edge: Institutions: Publications: Not-So-Foreign©, Volume 7, Issue 18

Not-So-Foreign^©
A Bulletin for International Education Professionals
Volume 7, Issue 18; May 7, 2008

The PDF version of this week's issue can be found here.

1) THE PLAYING FIELD – Canadian colleges become universities
2) ABROAD PERSPECTIVE - Monash study highlights students' language barrier
3) OVER THE COUNTER - Saudi Ministry Skips Final Exams for High School Seniors
4) GLOBE TIPPING – Using ATMs abroad

1) THE PLAYING FIELD – Canadian colleges become universities

The government of Canada's British Columbia province has granted full university degree granting status to five colleges - Malaspina, Kwantlen, Fraser Valley and Capilano colleges and Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. The group officially become five new B.C. universities by September.

While as colleges, Malaspina, Kwantlen and Fraser Valley, have been three of the most active and successful Canadian institutions attracting foreign students. Receiving university status will significantly enhance their positioning among families overseas who can not understand nor appreciate Canada's college system which mostly grants diplomas (BC also has a well developed university-college transfer system, which only added to market confusion). Combining further advantages of their west coast presence and proximity to Asia, B.C's "new" universities will add even more domestic competition for the foreign student market among Canada's established universities which are largely lethargic in terms of effective recruiting of international students.

2) ABROAD PERSPECTIVE - Monash study highlights students' language barrier

According to a new study by Dr Bob Birrell from Monash University, many foreign students who study in Australia cannot speak English well enough to get jobs under skilled migrant visas after they graduate. The report analyzes how many skilled migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds manage to get jobs relevant to their qualifications. Dr Birrell found the greatest failure rate was among overseas students from non-English speaking countries who studied in Australia and went on to be accepted as skilled migrants.

Source: "Study highlights students' language barrier,"
ABC News, April 29, 2008

3) OVER THE COUNTER - Saudi Ministry Skips Final Exams for High School Seniors

Starting this academic year, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education has allowed public and private boys and girls schools to prepare their own examinations. Previously, the year-end examinations were organized by the government. According to Abdulaziz Al-Jarallah, director of media at the Ministry of Education, education officials would still engage in "regular monitoring throughout the year."

"Previously, schools used to control 70 percent of the students' evaluation and only 30 percent depends on the ministry's unified exams," he said. Now that the high school senior GPA combines results of the 11th and 12th grades, examinations of the final semester make only 15 percent of the total evaluation.

Source: "Ministry Skips Final Exams for High School Seniors,"Arab News, March 4, 2008

4) GLOBE TIPPING – Using ATMs abroad

Whether you need euros, shekels, pesos or pounds, making a withdrawal from an ATM is generally the easiest and cheapest way to get cash abroad. The biggest advantage of exchanging money with your ATM card is that all cash withdrawals, regardless of size, are exchanged based on the wholesale exchange rate, which is usually reserved only for very large interbank exchanges.

This rate is often 2 - 5 percent better than what you can get from exchanging traveler's checks at a local exchange counter. In addition, local banks or money change bureaus will add on transaction fees, which can easily eat up another 2 percent of your money.
That's not to say there aren't any fees associated with international ATM withdrawals -- see below -- but if you need cash, you will still almost always get the best exchange rate at the lowest possible cost by using your ATM card.

Source: "Using ATM's abroad,"