This week's top #socialmedia and #intled news include stories on ChatGPT in admissions and the classroom, an in-depth look at recent test-optional changes, STEM reports, H1B filing fees, Canada's rethink on its cap, and doom and gloom for UK higher ed.
- If you’re not already subscribed to The PIE’s Tales from the Departure Lounge podcast series, do so now. The often humorous, always relatable topics, and guests speak to our shared experience. A recent batch of five current international students sharing their journeys is worth your time.
- The ed-tech revolution has stormed through higher education for years, but it’s also impacting the international school sector as well. This upcoming ISC Research webinar explores those impacts.
- To be honest, having a little FOMO after reading this Intead blog on some of the key takeaways from the AIEA conference last month. Worth a read if for no other reason to understand the key issues facing SIOs these days.
- The folks at ICEF are having a webinar this Thursday on a very timely topic: ChatGPT for education marketing: opportunities, strategies, and outcomes. We should all explore ways to leverage this tool to free up staff time.
- This Insider Higher Ed piece shares the experiences of some major R1 institutions that have taken the bull by the horns to create their own institutional versions of ChatGPT, free for all students.
- Are you up to speed on the latest do’s and don't’s in higher ed social media usage? If you need a refresher, check out this Wednesday's webinar from Keystone featuring all you need to know on various social topics.
- The test-optional movement took some hits recently, with some elite institutions reinstating SAT/ACT requirements. But the arguments used as to why the switch doesn’t hold up to muster according to this opinion piece. I agree 100%.
- Veteran college admissions expert Jim Jump takes a deep dive into the rationales given by the colleges that reinstated test scores. All is not what it seems. It's worth reading, as Jump asks some very important questions.
- We’ve seen international students begin to enroll in US universities in near-record numbers in the last year. However, this has come as student visa denial numbers and global rejection rates have reached new highs.
- While this article on the potential impact (unintended consequences) of the Supreme Court decision repealing affirmative action raises some interesting questions, it’s hard to imagine that future foreign service officers would be deterred from serving as a result.
- This kind of story on international students being scammed for post-study work employment help is sad to see. It reminds all ISSS offices to proactively work with graduating internationals about the potential dangers at this critical stage.
- This NSF report shares the huge impact international students have on this country’s science and engineering output and competitiveness. “The United States is distinguished by the strength of U.S. universities as destinations for international students, its highly cited and collaborative S&E research, and its leadership in high-technology services.”
- Are US companies put off hiring international students due to the significant increases in filing fees for H1Bs? Thankfully, a significant majority are not. “Further, 80% of respondents who recruit F-1 students reported that the?fees won’t affect their recruiting of foreign students.”
- The good news is that the US is forging closer people-to-people with the fifth leading sending country to our country’s colleges and universities: Vietnam. A new agreement “promotes further two-way academic exchange and education cooperation, including expanding educational partnerships between higher education institutions in both countries.”
- It is interesting to hear this from the Chinese education vice-minister: China wants closer ties with the US on scientific research. I believe US academia would agree; however, our government, regardless of party, resists re-engagement.
- Australia - This is not a good look for higher ed Down Under: “International student numbers in Australia will continue to plummet as the new migration strategy is implemented in an attempt to curb migration levels amid a housing shortage.”
- Australia - While this Erudera piece is mainly positive on rebounding to pre-pandemic levels, one data nugget that jumped out for me is that nearly half of all new international students entering Australia in January came for vocational and English.
- Canada - Are financial realities forcing the Canadian government to rethink their 35% reduction in study permits to be issued in the next two years? Maybe so, according to this PIE News article.
- Canada - So why is Canada reconsidering its cap on new study permits? “Canada’s plans for big reductions in international student numbers may be growing less ominous for some major institutions as the details take shape, including indications that the limits could be flexible and favorable to campuses with sufficient housing resources.”
- China - China had been pushing the top 2 or 3 receiving countries for international students pre-pandemic. Since then, numbers from developed countries coming behind the Great Wall have cratered. This article examines the reasons why.
- China - This South China Morning Post piece is equally pessimistic about the return of international students to China: “prospective students…along with present and former students in the country, say geopolitical tensions, campus interactions, red tape and gloomy employment prospects have dampened their enthusiasm for studying in the country.”
- Denmark - One country has woken from poor political decision-making slumber on international education. Denmark is reversing policies. “The reversal is being driven by local labour market demands and a looming, and substantial, need to attract new talent and skilled workers to the Danish economy.”
- Germany - Another European nation dependent on immigration to bolster its flagging domestic populations, Germany is actively wooing Indian students. “It is important to make the German labour market attractive for Indian students after they get their educational degrees to address the increasing gap in skilled workers in the German labour market.”
- Japan - Japan actively seeks to attract children of foreign workers already in the country using a raft of government scholarship opportunities. It’s a low-hanging fruit strategy that will impact up to 1000 students.
- New Zealand - Add Kiwi Nation to the growing list of countries heavily dependent on India for its students. New Zealand’s deputy prime minister shared “The Indian diaspora in New Zealand numbers 300,000, and India?is our second largest source of international students and largest source of skilled migrants.”
- UK - The review has begun: “We want to understand whether [the Graduate Route] is meeting its wider objectives, including those of attracting and retaining the best and brightest students to the UK and supporting excellence in UK higher education."
- UK - Will the UK Graduate Route go away? Not likely, but … “The ‘absolutely worst case scenario and probably not the likeliest’ would be?suspending the route.”
- UK - After last week’s rather rosy IIE report on the future of global student mobility through 2030, the British Council’s report is less so, and points to “the most significant slowdown in growth rate terms is anticipated in China, with noteworthy slowdowns also expected in other key outbound markets including India, Vietnam, Nigeria and Indonesia. Only Brazil and Pakistan are projected to see an increase in the pace of growth in the 2019-30 period, researchers found.”
- UK - If you hear your Home Secretary say this about international students, you cannot help but be dispirited. “James Cleverly has said international students may be ‘undermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system.’”
- UK - TNE for the UK has been an important part of expanding brand Britain globally, but financially is less than 10% of overall revenue coming from international education. “TNE is being promoted as a way for the sector to meet students closer to home and to raise exports without relying on visa issuance and costs of student mobility.”
If you’d like a more in-depth analysis of the main news stories each week, check out our?#MidweekRoundup?#intled?#livechat?on Wednesday at 1pm ET on the SMIE Consulting?Facebook?page,?YouTube?channel,?Twitter feed, and?LinkedIn. A podcast version is available as well on all major podcast provider platforms.
