Indian Technology Institutes Open Admissions to Foreign Students

Source: ICEF Monitor

Earlier this year, India’s Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani approved a proposal that will see an initial 10,000 new seats opened for foreign students at the country’s premier engineering institutes. This marks the first time that admission in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has been opened to overseas students.

The proposal is clear that seats for foreign students will not come at the expense of Indian applicants. Rather, the aim is to add thousands of new seats across all IITs and to have overseas students pay a significant differential fee in the range of Rs 400,000-500,000 per year (US$6,000-US$7,500), as opposed to the Rs 90,000 annual tuition (US$1,350) required of Indian students.

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Camosun Signs Multi-year Partnership Agreement with India’s Jain University

Source: Camosun College via Academica

Camosun College has signed an agreement with India’s Jain University committing the two institutions to a multi-year collaboration. A Camosun release states that the agreement will cover three main areas of co-operation: developing a nation-wide sport skills training program; delivery of Camosun’s diploma programs in Sport Management and Exercise & Wellness at Jain University; and transfer agreements to help students complete degrees, diplomas, and post-degree diplomas in Business and Sport disciplines at Camosun’s Victoria campuses. “Our partnership with Jain University signifies Camosun’s growing reputation for excellent curriculum development and education delivery in sport and business sectors,” said Camosun President Sherri Bell.

Ottawa Looks to Ease International Students’ Path to Permanent Residency

Source: The Globe & Mail via Academica

“International students are the best source of immigrants, in the sense that they’re educated, they’re young, they speak English or French, they know something of the country,” says Canada’s Immigration Minister John McCallum, “so we should be doing everything we can do to court them.” McCallum argues that Canada can greatly enhance the opportunities for international students to gain permanent residence by overhauling the current “Express Entry System,” a computerized program that allegedly prioritizes immigrants who are skilled workers and makes it difficult for many to gain permanent residence.

Registrars Look to Enhance Transmission of Student Data Through New International Network

Source: University Affairs via Academica

Registrars are looking to enhance the ways that student transcripts and other data can be transmitted within the country and abroad, reports Becky Rynor for University Affairs. In May 2015, the Association of Registrars of Universities and Colleges of Canada signed on the country’s behalf to join the Groningen Declaration Network on Digital Student Data Portability, an initiative designed to create digital networks between academic institutions to improve the exchange of transcripts, diplomas, and applications. “It’s about making it easier for Canadians to transmit their credentials within Canada and abroad and to have them fairly recognized in a timely fashion,” said McGill University Executive Director of Enrolment Services Kathleen Massey. “We don’t want Canada to be left behind.”

India to create 20 world-class universities

Source: Study International via Academica

The Indian government reportedly plans to turn 20 universities into world-class institutions. Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in February that “enabling regulatory architecture will be provided to 10 public and 10 private institutions to emerge as world-class teaching and research institutions” and that a not-for-profit Higher Education Financing Agency would be created to “leverage funds from the market” to support improvements. While the announcements were “encouraging” to Boston College Center for International Higher Education Director Philip Altbach, he dubbed the plan a “tall order” and expressed wariness due to a historical lack of success in India’s previous efforts to achieve similar goals.

Parliament Introduces Legislation to Ease Citizenship Requirements for International Students

Source: ICEF Monitor via Academica

Canada has introduced legislation that is designed to make it easier for international students to gain citizenship after graduating. The legislation will reportedly repeal a number of changes made by the previous Conservative government under Bill C-24 in June 2015. Some of the new legislation’s most significant changes will be in reducing the period of physical residency required to apply for citizenship, allowing students to count time spent studying in Canada toward their residency requirement, and reviewing the Canadian Experience Class program.

Canada Overhauls International Education Campaign

Source: The PIE News, Study International via Academica

This week, Canada unveiled its new EduCanada branding campaign to represent the country’s global education strategy. The brand was first presented at the annual AIEA conference in Montreal, and features a new logo along with the tagline, “A world of possibilities.” The branding will reportedly appear on all printed education materials from the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, as well as all Canadian universities that operate on an international scale. The new brand comes at the same time as Global Affairs Canada has produced a video promoting the country as one of the world’s top study abroad destinations. Increasing the global influence of Canada’s higher education sector was one of the main goals cited in the 2012 Global Affairs of the federal International Education strategy, which sought to double the number of international students in Canada to 450,000 by 2022.