Tag Archives: study abroad

August 6, 2020 · 11:31 am

Reflections of COVID and Lessons Learned in International Education

Written by: Tara L. Braun

Image source: NY Magazine

The world of international higher education is normally a changing canvas but throw a worldwide pandemic on top of it and you have a mosaic of concerns. Internationalization has been interrupted on many U.S. campuses in the form of study abroad program cancellations and international students needing to consider returning home and forfeiting internships or Optional Practical Training opportunities. While this crisis has caused many shifts in thinking (and stress), it also promotes a whole new range of opportunities for higher education leaders.

Regulatory Changes

Executive orders filed by many state governors sealed the fate of learning face to face and forced the decision to go to virtual learning and presented challenges within the international classroom. Even more recent presidential proclamations have presented further challenges for U.S. international education with the suspension entry of immigrants who present a risk to U.S. labor markets. On top of concerns around the shift to online learning, choosing to stay in the United States or return home, and ongoing support services, international students also had to be concerned about their visa status. The recent and now reversed modifications from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) deeply confused the focus of international students returning to campus. This ruling would have deeply affected the ability of students being on campus and taking online courses. The aftermath of this proclamation, and decision to reverse it, caused much grief to both institutions and students but also made the United States appear to be unwelcoming.

 Lessons Learned

Changes and executive orders due to COVID have caused a rapid review of current campus policies.  Institutions plan for crisis differently, but there are common international student concerns that have arisen from the COVID pandemic that I am sure some schools wish they would have began changing before the world stopped. With some international students deciding to stay on campus, navigating housing logistics was a concern. Most campuses established methods to assist students in identifying housing or made arrangements for them to stay closer to support offices. International students experienced financial anxiety with unexpected expenses for housing or temporary layoffs from on campus jobs. Many campuses, including Michigan State University, created an international student emergency fund to help in times of distress. Campuses who were not strong with online education, had to quickly transition to a virtual classroom. This posed issues with time zones, internet access, and quality of instruction that caused additional stress for students and professors. A leader in online education, Southern New Hampshire University, was committed to providing an engaged online learning experience by addressing equity in instruction with asynchronous classes.

 Looking Forward

Looking forward to the fall, how could institutions use some of these practices to improve the student experience? Topics of importance will be fostering community, addressing the digital student divide, supporting faculty, providing institutional support, managing expenses, and encouraging ongoing communication. At a time in which U.S higher education has shifted its focus from the dropping domestic enrollment to the international student population, recruiting these students will also become a concern. Planning for a time of no international travel will become essential to campuses who have large incoming international populations. Institutions will need to review maximizing existing collaborations, boost virtual recruitment efforts, and rally alumni and current student to recruit. Campuses will also need to plan for continued concerns around immigration regulations and how they can adjust their own campus policies to accommodate student needs. Institutional flexibility will be extremely important in the next coming months.

 Embrace the New Normal

As the global fight against COVID continues, it is a time for institutions to review their own policies and determine if it may be time for a new international education strategy. Adopting to a new normal could mean improvements in general messaging, branding and marketing, reviewing immigration campus processes and policies, international student recruitment goals, and reviewing international student scholarships methods. Now is the time to look at partnerships in a more comprehensive way of global engagement and be able to change and adapt to the changing world around us.

 

Tara Braun has fifteen years-experience in international higher education ranging from study abroad, international partnerships, recruiting, immigration, and student programming. She is an active member of NAFSA, has served in leadership roles at the NAFSA state level, advocacy groups, and presents at numerous conferences. Mrs. Braun holds a Master’s in Career and Technical Education, is a doctoral candidate at Central Michigan University, and serves as the PDSO and Associate Director of International Admissions and Immigration at Calvin University. Her dissertation work focuses on the re-acculturation experiences of Ghanaian students who studied in the United States. Tara can be reached at braun1t@cmich.edu.

 

The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under COVID-19, Education, evaluation, History, Human Interest, international education, international students, study abroad, Travel

Tagged as , , , ,

August 9, 2019 · 7:00 am

14 Quick Facts on UK as a Higher Education Destination for International Students

August 8th, 2019

uk_aug19

The UK continues to be a popular destination for international students pursuing their higher education.

Here are a few facts on the UK and its role in international education:

  1. Number of international students studying in the UK higher education in 2017-2018: 458,490
  2. Percentage of international students that account for the UKs total student population: 19.6%
  3. Percentage of international undergraduate students: 14%
  4. Percentage international graduate students: 35.8%
  5. The top 5 sending countries for international students to the UK in 2017-2018: China, India, USA, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
  6. Percentage of Chinese students at UK higher education institution that make up all international students: 23.2%
  7. Top sending countries within the EU to the UK for higher education: Italy, France and German.
  8. UK’s growth rate dropped from 0.5% in 2015 to 0.3% in 2016.
  9. Destination countries posing as competitors to UK for international students: Australia, Canada, USA, and Germany.
  10. Percentage of international students satisfied with their experience studying at UK universities: 90% (per UUKi research)
  11. Percentage of international students satisfied or very satisfied with the support they received while studying in the UK: 80%
  12. Percentage of international student who considered their UK degree a valuable investment: 82%
  13. Popular fields of study at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in 2017-2018: Biological Sciences, Business and Administrative Studies, Creative Arts and Design, Engineering and Technology, Social Studies.
  14. Percentage of international staff from the EU at UK institutions of higher education: 60%

For additional information, click here

ACEI Logo with Slogan - FINAL

The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.

Leave a comment

Filed under Credentials, Education, Travel

Tagged as , , ,

October 12, 2017 · 7:00 pm

The Importance of Institutional Accreditation

October 12th, 2017

check

The first step in evaluating non-U.S. academic documents is to determine whether the institution where the studies were completed is recognized and approved by the education authorities in the country, which in most instances is the Ministry of Education.

In the U.S. there is no central government body that establishes, maintains and sets standards to oversee academic institutions. Instead, there are accrediting groups which themselves have met or exceed recognition standards in order to review and accredit academic institutions. Accreditation as defined by the United States Department of Education is “the process whereby an agency or association grants public recognition to a school, institute, college, university, or specialized program of study which meets certain established qualifications and educational standards, as determined through initial period evaluation. The essential purpose of the accreditation process is to provide a professional judgment as to the quality of the educational institution or programs (s) offered, and to encourage continual improvement thereof.”

There are some institutions that are “unaccredited” but have formal legal authorization to operate and enroll students or issue degrees. But being incorporated as a For-Profit entity or have a business license to operate does not mean that the institution is also accredited by the nationally recognized accreditation bodies. If you’re planning to study at a college or university in the United States, it is important that you first check on the “accreditation” status of the institution.

Why is institutional accreditation important?

pencil_check

3 reasons why institutional accreditation is important:

  1. helps determine if an institution meets or exceeds minimum standards of quality
  2. helps students determine is an institutional is acceptable for enrollment
  3. assists institutions in determining acceptability of transfer credits.

A student who attends an accredited institution in the U.S. is able to move freely from one accredited institution to another and receive recognition of his/her studies. Before you enroll in a school, institute, college or universities, check on its accreditation status first. One thing you don’t want to happen is graduating from at an unaccredited institution in the U.S. that will not be recognized by employers, the government or other schools, colleges or universities.

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation provides a list of recognized accreditation boards which is available on its website www.chea.org. You’ll be able to check on the accreditation status of a particular school, college or university or access a complete list of accredited institutions of postsecondary education in the United States.

For further information on the world education systems and credential evaluations, visit our website at www.acei-global.org or contact ACEI at acei@acei-global.org. 

ACEI Logo with Slogan - FINAL

The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.

Leave a comment

Filed under Credentials, Education

Tagged as , ,

July 27, 2017 · 6:03 pm

7 Reasons why International Students are good for the U.S.?

July 27th, 2017

world

According to the latest analysis from NAFSA, during the 2015-2016 academic year, 1,043,839 international students were studying at U.S. colleges and universities. In January 2017, President Donald Trump issued an executive order temporarily blocking entry to the U.S. by visa holders from seven countries in the Middle East and North Africa and indefinitely suspending the entry of Syrian refugees. In his article “Beyond Justification,” for NAFSA’s International Educator July/August 2017 edition, David Tobenkin provides a strong case on the importance of international education and the contributions of international students to the U.S. He also lays out a road map for international education professionals to use in order to convey and deliver the importance of this message.

Using Tobenkin’s report, here are 7 reasons why international students are important for the U.S.:

  1. Amount contributed to U.S. economic 2015-2016: nearly $33 billion
  2. Number of jobs created and supported: more than 400,000 U.S. jobs (this means that for every 7 internationals students, 3 jobs were created)
  3. They help drive scientific innovation which help advance technological improvement maintaining U.S. productivity and its competitive edge in the global economy
  4. ¼ of the founders of the $1billion U.S. startup companies first came to the U.S. as international students
  5. 40% of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in medicine, physics, and chemistry since 2000 were awarded to immigrants.
  6. Out of the 6 American winners of the Nobel Prizes in economics and scientific files in 2016, all were immigrants.
  7. International students make significant contributions to our communities both economically and culturally.

It the travel ban becomes permanent, it will perpetuate the anti-immigrant sentiment that will drive international students away from the U.S. and to other more immigrant friendly countries, such as Canada and Australia. The ban is also a deterrent to students who are not from the list of countries blacklisted but may still see it as unwelcoming. A report from College Factual, a higher education research firm, which Tobenkin cites in this article, states that a permanent travel ban means “the loss of nearly 16,000 students annually from the seven countries” which “translate into U.S. colleges and universities losing as much as $700 million in revenue per year.” This is a significant loss and it will not only impact the institutions with a historic track record of receiving international students, hurt the communities benefiting from them but tarnish the reputation of the U.S. as a leading force in scientific and technological innovation.

At ACEI, we see the importance of international students as the hallmark of America’s greatness and we strive to maintain this reputation by assisting U.S. colleges and universities with our research and credential evaluation services that help enhance their reputation and competitive recruiting effectiveness. To learn more about ACEI and its services such as Credential Evaluation, Translation, Webinars and Training, and how we can assist you with your credential evaluation and recruitment needs, please visit www.acei-global.org or call us at 310.275.3530.

Sources:

NAFSA International Student Economic Value

NAFSA International Educator “Beyond Justification, How to Convey the Importance of International Higher Education” 

ACEI Logo with Slogan - FINAL

The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.

2 Comments

Filed under Credentials, Education, Travel

Tagged as , ,

July 20, 2017 · 9:37 pm

Confused by SEVIS regulations?

July 20th, 2017

breakingnews

Are you up-to-date on new SEVIS Regulations?

Are you confused by new regulations or changes? We can help!

ACEI expert webinar will provide updates and information about these changes in regulations as we have immigration experts on hand to answer your questions. Join us Friday, July 28, 10am PDT for ACEI SEVIS Regulations Webinar.

pen

The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is a web-based system used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  SEVIS maintains information on Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified schools, international F-1 and M-1 students to attending those schools, U.S. Department of State-designated Exchange Visitor Program sponsors, and J-1 visa Exchange Visitor Program participants.

Because SEVIS is a tool used to protect national security, and it supports the legal entry of more than one million F, M and J nonimmigrants to the United States for education and cultural exchange, SEVIS can also be very confusing. The ever-changing regulations for student statuses in the current administration can make it very difficult to stay up-to-date with the changes.

Do you know what to do if a student status changes? According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), schools use SEVIS to petition SEVP for certification, which allows the school to offer programs of study to nonimmigrant students.

SEVIS also provides a mechanism for student and exchange visitor status violators to be identified so that appropriate enforcement is taken regarding deportation or university admission. Designated school officials of SEVP-certified schools use SEVIS to:

  • Update school information and to apply for recertification of the school for continued ability to issue Forms I-20, “Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status,” to nonimmigrant students and their dependents, the status of the student is very crucial to their admission to the university and the U.S.
  • Issue Forms I-20 to specific nonimmigrants to obtain F or M status while enrolled at the school
  • Fulfill the school’s legal reporting responsibility regarding student addresses, courses of study, enrollment, employment and compliance with the terms of the student status
  • Transfer the student SEVIS records to other institutions

Exchange Visitor programs use SEVIS to petition the Department of State for designation that allows the sponsor to offer educational and cultural exchange programs to exchange visitors. Responsible officers of designated Exchange Visitor programs use SEVIS to:

  • Update sponsor information and apply for re-designation every two years
  • Issue Forms DS-2019, “Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor (J-1) Status,” to specific individuals to obtain J status
  • Fulfill the sponsor’s legal reporting responsibility regarding exchange visitor addresses, sites of activity, program participation, employment and compliance with the terms of the J status

Transfer exchange visitor SEVIS records to other institutions.Records of nonimmigrant admissions and continued participation in educational programs are maintained in SEVIS. Are you staying up-to-date on the kind of information and data needs to be included in SEVIS?

binded

As it is in ICE’s mission for accurate record keeping, SEVIS tracks and monitors nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors, however, it can be confusing. If accepted by an SEVP-certified school, foreign students may be admitted to the United States with the appropriate F or M nonimmigrant status. F-1 nonimmigrants are foreign students coming to the United States to pursue a full course of academic study in SEVP-approved schools. An F-2 nonimmigrant is a foreign national who is the spouse or qualifying child of an F-1 student. M-1 nonimmigrants are foreign nationals pursuing a full course of study at an SEVP-approved vocational or other recognized nonacademic institution (other than in language training programs) in the United States. An M-2 nonimmigrant is a foreign national who is the spouse or qualifying child of an M-1 student.

Are you aware of new regulations? Department of Homeland Security published a new rule for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Optional Practical Training (OPT) Extension in 2016.

SEVIS also ensures universities to provide proper reporting, data currency, integrity, and record keeping by schools and exchange visitor programs.  Our webinar helps make sense of the new regulations and rules.

We are honored to introduce our esteemed presenters:

scott_cooper

Scott F. Cooper, an immigration attorney, serving clients including higher education, academic health centers and associated research and service institutions. Scott is an expert on US immigration practice, compliance and complex case matters to present and answer your questions about the new administration challenges surrounding OPT and H1 regulations.

brooke_stokdyk

Also joining us is Brooke H.M. Stokdyk, Assistant Director at Michigan State University. Brooke is an international education professional with over sixteen years of experience with F-1 and J-1 program administration at academic institutions sponsoring some of the largest international student and scholar populations in the U.S. Brooke has served as an F-1 and J-1 compliance consultant for more than six years.

Join us July 28, 2017 https://madmimi.com/s/0c224a for this important webinar!

Resource: https://www.ice.gov/sevis/factsheets

ACEI Logo with Slogan - FINAL

The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.

Leave a comment

Filed under Credentials, Education

Tagged as , , , ,

June 1, 2017 · 5:57 pm

Dispatches from the NAFSA 2017 Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA: A photo journal

June 1st, 2017

Untitled

This week, NAFSA, the world’s largest association dedicated to international education and exchange, brought together a diverse and vibrant community of nearly 10,000 global leaders and colleagues at its Annual Conference & Expo right here in ACEI’s backyard, Los Angeles.

More than 107 countries have been represented in a setting that emphasized the message, “We build bridges, not walls.”

NAFSA_2
Marina Maligana of NOKUT (Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education)
with ACEI Marketing Director, Laura Sippel

NAFSA_3
Marina Maligana of NOKUT (Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education)
with ACEI President, Jasmin Saidi-Kuehnert

NAFSA_4
NAFSA Exhibition Hall

NAFSA_5
NAFSA Exhibition Hall

NAFSA_6
NAFSA Exhibition Hall

NAFSA_7
NAFSA President Ester Brimmer

NAFSA President Ester Brimmer at the opening plenary spoke on how as international educator, we are part of the solution. “We need to stay calm and stay woke,” she said in light of the current political climate. “We need to building bridges, not walls,” she added. Question she posed to the conference attendees was whether the “U.S. will see itself as part of the global community or pursue the path of isolationism.” She stressed the importance of “keeping the U.S. an open and welcoming place.”

NAFSA_8
NAFSA Opening Plenary Speaker Isabel Wilkerson

NAFSA Opening Plenary  Speaker Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of New York Times bestseller, “The Warmth of Other Suns.” Ms. Wilkerson gave a moving and inspiring speech and shared excerpts of the presonal stories she had gathered for her book from the African American communities who had migrated from the American south during the Jim Crow era to the North, Northeast, and as far as the West, Hawaii and Alaska. Ms. Wilkerson message was that “we are one species and we in this together, we are not the social constructs that are forced on us.”

At ACEI, we agree with NAFSA’s message of diversity and inclusion and we want to stay globally engaged and educated.

We will pledge to protect our core values, as Americans, which include freedom, opportunity, and welcome.

ACEI Logo with Slogan - FINAL

The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.

Leave a comment

Filed under Credentials, Education

Tagged as , , , , ,

May 11, 2017 · 6:13 pm

International Student Mobility: 2017 Trends in International Student Recruitment

May 11th, 2017

portal

ACEI is pleased to share the 2017 report prepared by Study Portals in this week’s blog.  The following is an excerpt from the report. To read the full report, please click here

These days, there is a widespread and wide-ranging conversation about globalization; but only by visiting classrooms in every corner of the world can you see it in action. International students around the world are part of a movement bigger than themselves – a movement involving millions of people at thousands of campuses.

At the moment there are more than 5 million students pursuing their education outside of their home countries – a number three times that of international student enrolments in 1990l. By 2022, the number of internationally mobile students is expected to reach 7 million. The most significant growth in international education comes from Asian students, who are looking to study abroad in English.

International education is now open to the masses, and no longer only available the world’s elite. This expansion is particularly driven by a rising middle class that now exists on every continent.

Student mobility, like many other economic and social principles, follows the laws of supply and demand: The popularity of study destinations correspond to the number of globally-appealing programs that different countries offer, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. These are, unsurprisingly, also the countries with the highest number of English-taught programs around the world.

China’s and India’s rise to the word’s top 10 most powerful economies (and South Korea currently holding the 15th place) has given rise to an increased demand for higher education. These three countries are also leading sources of globally mobile students. One in every six international students now comes from China, while Asian students make up more than a half of the world mobile students.

International education is on a static phenomenon; it is influenced by international politics, changing demographics and economic factors.

What do we expect to see in the cooing year, based on our expert insights and the mountain of data we have gathered on international study choice? Here are our top predictions for the year!

Please click here to read the full report and learn more about Study Portal’s top predictions for 2017.

__________________

Study Portals  is the international Study Choice Platform. StudyPortals’ Mission is “Empowering the world to choose education.” How? By making study choice transparent globally. StudyPortals help universities with easier and more effective international marketing and recruitment solutions.

ACEI Logo with Slogan - FINAL

The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.

1 Comment

Filed under Credentials, Education, Politics, Travel

Tagged as , , , ,

April 7, 2017 · 8:57 am

Dispatches from Minneapolis, MN

April 7th, 2017

AICE

The Annual AACRAO Conference this year was held in Minneapolis, MN which marked the third and final stop on my Midwest tour of international education-related conferences. Representing both the Association of International Credential Evaluators and the Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc., speaking at three sessions, hosting and moderating the 2017 AICE Symposium meant I had a full plate with little time to catch my breath or sightsee. Nicolette Mall, where the Convention Center and the Millennium Hotel I was staying at was under heavy construction leaving the Downtown deserted with little or no evidence of life other than the two thousand AACRAO attendees milling about the Skywalk. Apparently, the construction has been underway for four years and still in progress in preparation for the Super Bowl.

Joined by fellow AICE Endorsed Members Beth Cotter and Aleks Morawski and ACEI’s Marketing Director, Laura Sippel, the early days of the AACRAO Conference kept us occupied with booth duty at the Exhibit Hall and reception hopping in the evenings.

AICE_1
L-R: Drew Carlisle (AACRAO), Melanie Gottlieb (AACRAO, Deputy Director),
Jasmin Saidi-Kuehnert (ACEI President & CEO and AICE President)

Attending the International Educators Luncheon stressed the gravity of the new administration’s anti-immigration policies in DC and its negative impact on the flow of students to U.S. institutions of higher education. At the International Educators Reception, an annual event sponsored by the Paver Family Foundation, it was an honor to be recognized by Dr. William Paver, as the incoming Chair of the AACRAO IESC (International Education Standards Council) for EDGE (Electronic Database on Global Education).

AICE_2
L-R: Aleks Morawski (Director of Evaluations at FC, Endorsed AICE Member), Zepur Solakian (President of CGACC), Bill Paver (President of FCSA &Past AACRAO President), Beth Cotter (President of FCA, Endorsed AICE Member), Jim Bouse (AACRAO President), Jasmin Saidi-Kuehnert (President & CEO of ACEI & President of AICE) at the AACRAO Board Reception

AICE_3
Photo: AACRAO Staff, Board, Sponsors and Special Guests at the International Educators Dinner, Mercy Restaurant in Minneapolis, MN

Though I didn’t attend the Opening Plenary with Garrison Keillor as the featured speaker, I made sure not to miss the Closing Plenary with Danny Glover and Felix Justice as featured speakers, and was not disappointed. Mr. Glover and Mr. Justice spoke of their experiences during the Vietnam Era, the struggles of Civil Rights movement, and ultimately Mr. Glover’s advice that what truly matters, is the connections we make with others and the lives we impact.

AICE_4
AACRAO Closing Plenary: Danny Glover and Felix Justice

The AICE Symposium “Setting the Standard for Graduate Admissions: Three-year Degrees and Other Admissions Challenges” was kicked off with a wonderful reception at the Mission American Kitchen Bar and Grill. Invited guests, including AACRAO President, Jim Bouse, AACRAO Deputy Director, Melanie Gottlieb and representatives from U.S. universities, AACRAO staff, and AICE Endorsed Members and Affiliates were all in attendance. To say the reception was a smashing success, is an understatement!

The AICE Symposium, a full-day event, was also a success with thirty-one attendees participating in a lively and collegial discussion on topics covering the Bologna three-year bachelor degrees, the three-year bachelor degrees from India, and the three-year bachelor degrees from Australia, South Africa and Israel. Panelists and attendees collaborated in defining guidelines that will help AICE continue refining the Standard document. A full report of the Symposium’s talking points will be available shortly and posted on the AICE website.

AICE_5

This ends my Midwest tour! My next adventure takes me to the Southern Hemisphere, where I will be attending the Gronningen Declaration Network in Melbourne, Australia, to be one of its invited signatories. Stay tuned!

jasmin_2015
Jasmin Saidi-Kuehnert is the President and CEO of the Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute (ACEI).

ACEI Logo with Slogan - FINAL

Leave a comment

Filed under Credentials, Education, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

December 9, 2016 · 12:14 am

A New Internationalization Strategy

December 8th, 2016

global

Continuing with our thread on the impact of a Trump Presidency on international education and internationalization as a whole, I found the blog recently posted by EAIE to be spot on. In the words of one of the authors of the blog, “… the task of regularly scanning the external environment to identify both opportunities and threats is now more critical than ever.”  This was most evident at the recent AIRC conference in Miami, FL and I’m certain that the discussion will only escalate in urgency in the months to come.

We can choose to look at the ramification of what a Trump Presidency may have on the future of international education in a negative light or its exact opposite. This new chapter in U.S. history may be just the wakeup call needed to reevaluate the way we have been operating. In fact, by shifting the focus to providing quality education (at the institutional level), and establishing standards (AICE is poised to be at the helm as far as credential evaluations are concerned with AIRC enforcing its certifications of agents/recruiters) we just maybe able to steer the ship into less turbulent waters. We can already see the negative effects of rapid unmonitored internationalization, where rules are broken, subpar or under qualified students are recruited, fraudulent documents are processed without vetting/verification/evaluation, and university reps compete for warm bodies overlooking principles/policies in order to meet the bottom line and generate tuition revenue.  Just look at the recent article in Reuters on how top U.S. colleges hooked up with controversial Chinese companies helped along by a former U.S. school board president and a former administrator from a liberal arts college in Vermont. The U.S. colleges indicate they were unaware of fraud accusations brought against the Chinese companies. According to the Reuters piece the companies “have engaged in college application fraud, including writing application essays and teacher recommendations, and falsifying high school transcripts.” Earlier this year, we read about the scandal facing fraudulent practices surrounding students recruited from China and India to several key U.S. institutions. The fraud covered all facets of the admissions process, from creating bogus financial statements, ghost writers preparing college admissions essays, to falsified academic documents. 

We see ACEI and the Association of International Credential Evaluators (AICE), the professional association that vets and screens private credential evaluation services and requires adherence to peer approved evaluation standards, to be at the helm of this paradigm shift in thinking. If quality, due diligence, and academic values are an institution’s mission and purpose, then they can only be achieved and fostered when partnered with organizations that share the same vision and adhere to the highest standards in credential evaluations. The benefits of the credential evaluation service we provide at ACEI are many, but the most important is that an unbiased evaluation based on vetted academic documents and peer reviewed placement recommendation guidelines protects the academic institution against risks such as fraud and misrepresentation which affect the institution’s reputation, ranking, and most importantly accreditation.

jasmin_2015
Jasmin Saidi-Kuehnert is the President and CEO of the Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute (ACEI).

ACEI Logo with Slogan - FINAL

The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.

Leave a comment

Filed under Credentials, Education, Politics

Tagged as , , , , ,

June 19, 2014 · 5:51 pm

15 Facts on South Korean Student Flows

June 19th, 2014

skflag

When I first traveled to South Korea in 2001 and visited with officials at the Ministry of Education and at a number of the universities, there were 45,685 South Korean students studying in the U.S. The numbers grew to 75,065 in 2008/09 but began to show a dip to 72,153 in 2009/10.

In this blog, we’ll provide an overview of the flow of students from South Korea and factors that may have an impact on the rise or decline of the numbers of students seeking higher education in the U.S.

Koreans_study_abroad

1. Korea is the third largest source of international students to the U.S. after China and India.

2. More than 70,000 South Koreans studied on U.S. campuses in 2012–2013.

3. Korean parents place their children in U.S.-based private and public schools to have a better chance of being admitted to a U.S. college. (For example, at the University of Illinois, more than 69% of the Korean students admitted came directly from U.S. based high schools. Source: NAFSA International Education Magazine, April 2014)

4. According to the National Association of Independent Schools, Koreans are being quickly replaced by Chinese secondary students as the largest group of international students at independent schools. According to a report from the Association of Boarding Schools, Korean enrollments in member schools plunged 31 percent between 2010–2011 and 2012–2013 (from 3,800 to 2,600).

5. U.S. institutions continue to remain the favorite destination for study by South Korean students but the numbers are dropping as students are also looking at Canada as an alternative.

6. In 2012, 30.7 percent of Koreans studied in the United States, compared with 26.3 percent in China, 8.6 percent in Canada, 8.4 percent in Japan, and 7.2 percent in Australia, according to the Fulbright Commission in Seoul. Australia is aggressively marketing in South Korea to attract students to its institutions.

7. The rising cost of higher education in the U.S. and even Canada, Australia, Japan, is forcing South Korean students to look elsewhere, like Philippines and Malta, where education is affordable and English is the language of instruction. However, the number of students heading to these countries is very low. (According to Ministry of Education data from Fulbright Commission the share of South Koreans studying in the Philippines in 2010 and 2011 went from 1.1 to 1.2 percent, or to 3,238 students.)

8. The three factors that impact decisions made by South Koreans on studying abroad include: cost, value, and prestige. Most consider the cost of living in the UK as too high and consider U.S. universities as more prestigious than others

9. Prospective job applicants find that upon return to South Korea, employers prefer selecting a graduate from a U.S. institution.

10. In light of the weak job market for college graduates, a more popular option for Koreans is vocational schools that will be going through curriculum changes to include more hands-on training.

11. China is proving to be the Korean students’ second favored study abroad destination after the U.S. (According to the Wall Street Journal statistics: the number of Korean students flocking across the Yellow Sea to China grew more than three-fold between 2001 and 2012, from 16,000 to almost 63,000.)

12. More and more Korean companies are looking to hire college graduates who speak both fluent English and Chinese, since China is a key trading partner of South Korea.

13. On the other hand, many South Korean college graduates returning home are finding that the employers prefer hiring local college graduates as they see them to be less expensive and less inclined to change jobs.

14. Despite a weak economy and skyrocketing household debt, in 2012, Korean families spent $20 billion on private education (half of government education spending), or 2 percent of Korea’s GDP which makes education the nation’s largest spending area before defense expenditures.

15. The flow of Korean students to U.S. and abroad is contingent on whether Korean universities commit to reforms that will help their ranking on the list of top schools in the world. If they do not improve their ranking on the global level, South Korean students will continue to seek higher education opportunities in the U.S. and abroad.

Alan

Alan A. Saidi
Senior Vice President & COO, ACEI, Inc.
www.acei1.com

1 Comment

Filed under Credentials, Education

Tagged as , , , , ,