Higher-Edge: Institutions: Publications: Overseas, Overwhelmed©, Volume 8, Issue 41

Overseas, Overwhelmed^©
A Bulletin for Canadian International Education Professionals
Volume 8, Issue 41; December 16, 2009

1) LET’S GO CANADA – Canadian universities go hunting for grads in China
2) ABROAD PERSPECTIVE - As the Gulf gulps, NYU opens Abu Dhabi campus
3) OVER THE COUNTER - Irish ire. Dublin's Mayor wants more student visas
4) GLOBE TIPPING – Being nice takes you the extra mile

1) LET'S GO CANADA – Canadian universities go hunting for grads in China

Fourteen Canadian universities along with dozens of institutions from the U.S., U.K., Australia, German and France were in Beijing last weekend to promote doctoral programs to Chinese PhD candidates.

Canada's presence amidst intense global competition is to put up a fight to claim the best academic and research minds. Canada has struggled to keep up with the international student growth of other nations, and it's even more pronounced at the graduate and post graduate levels. Proponents of such initiatives argue that quality Canadian research will suffer unless Canadian universities can attract the brightest from around the world.

Canada recruits a miniscule portion of the world's graduate students. That's a factor of Canada's quality Masters/PhD programs which accept mostly top students (who are fewer in number), the lack of awareness of Canada as a destination, an uncertainty in the marketplace as to whether Canada has high-end quality education and opportunities, and the inertia of most Canadian universities to recruit international students to graduate and post-graduate programs.

While more than a dozen Canadian universities went to China, a similar promotional tour to an equally and perhaps better market - India - was cancelled. The Canadian government which was trying to organize such a tour said there was simply not enough interest and insufficient resources to pull it off.

For more on Canada's opportunity to recruit graduate students, read the Higher-Edge report, New World: Internationalizing Graduate Professional Education in Canada, which is available for download at: http://higher-edge.com/register-ono.php

Source: “University recruiters at PhD fair in China to attract students to Canada” Macleans, December 10, 2009

2) ABROAD PERSPECTIVE - As the Gulf gulps, NYU opens Abu Dhabi campus

It may seem like poor timing, given the front page headlines on every newspaper in the world about billion dollar debts in the UAE, but Abu Dhabi is not Dubai.

So when New York University officially opened its Abu Dhabi campus on December 7th and targeted the start of classes for September 2010, it's not a questionable commitment.

The capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi may be less glitz than Dubai, but in reality, it's much more rich. Abu Dhabi does not suffer from big debts and even bigger insecurities. It has socked away as savings, more than ten times Dubai's current massive debt. And as an education destination, Abu Dhabi went after a big brand such as NYU, while Dubai settled for whomever would come in at the early stages a few years ago, which was primarily Australian, British, Indian, Pakistani institutions, looking to make a good profit in then trendy Dubai.

Even the choice of NYU, an institution more known for liberal arts, is dramatically different from Dubai's focus on business and engineering, which are more appealing in the international marketplace to quickly attract a student body.

NYU and Abu Dhabi plan to cooperate on building a leading liberal arts university in the Arab world, and connect New York to Abu Dhabi as an axis of culture and education.

One of the richest men in the world, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi- opened the campus alongside the President of NYU, Dr. John Sexton. NYU Abu Dhabi is funded entirely by the Abu Dhabi Government.

Sources: “NYU opens its Abu Dhabi campus”, December 7, 2009, The National

“Abu Dhabi campus of NYU establishes Manhattan base”, December 5, 2009, The National

3) OVER THE COUNTER - Irish ire. Dublin's Mayor wants more student visas.

The Mayor of Dublin, says the Irish government is squeezing out academic institutions who need international students and their revenues.

Emer Costello, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, said 40 per cent of Chinese students and almost half of Turkish students who have received admission offers from Irish universities are denied student visas. Costello compares his country to England, and claims that 95 per cent of Chinese students and 90 per cent of Turkish students are granted student visas in Britain.

The economic and political pressure is heating up, as Ireland businesses and higher education institutions benefit from the contribution of its international students. This is not a new story for Ireland. Six years ago, there was so much student visa fraud to Ireland, that the country had its Justice Ministry posted to its visa office in Beijing.

"I remember the stacks of boxes of fraud applications in the Visa office," says Higher-Edge's Mel Broitman, who visited the Irish visa office in Beijing in March 2003. "I'm not surprised the problem is still significant. Many more Chinese and Turks want to work in Ireland than study, and for visa officers it's an enormous challenge to know an applicant's true intentions."

You can read more about what Ireland's visa challenge then and now in our Overseas, Overwhelmed issue 3.12, dated April 2nd, 2003.

Source: “Border controls 'hit flow of students to Dublin colleges'”, December 14, 2009, The Irish Times

4) GLOBE TIPPING - Being nice takes you the extra mile

Is politeness a form of currency in today’s world of travel? Could an act of kindness be more effective in getting preferential treatment than the amount of money you’ve paid for your airline ticket, rental car or hotel room?

So how exactly do you get what you want by being nice? To answer this question the Kansas City Star interviewed travelers and the folks behind the counter. Check out what tips they had to share: http://www.kansascity.com/270/story/1605054.html

Overseas, Overwhelmed takes a holiday break, and will be back with our next issue on January 13.

Happy New Year 2010 to all !