Syllabus offered by these institutes yet to be recognised in India

They call themselves 'international' schools, but some of these international courses are yet to get recognition in India. Most of these schools just follow the international syllabus, but are not affiliated to any board of education in India or abroad. In addition, these schools do not come under the scanner of either the central or state school education departments. With building approvals from local bodies, it is relatively easier to start an international school without going through the bureaucratic maze.

Of them, only the Chinmaya International School can be termed international. It has students from across the country as well as from abroad. Starting in 1968 on a sprawling 100 acre green campus, it currently has 500 students from 23 Indian states and 19 countries. The school follows the CBSE syllabus and students have the option of appearing for the IB examination at the Plus Two level. The IB, headquartered in Geneva, conducts the examination, based on a broader spectrum of subjects. The Ratna International Public School (RIPS) follows the ICSE .But almost all other international schools in Coimbatore follow the IGCSE syllabus, the most popular international curriculum drafted by Cambridge University. Offered by Good Shepherd Public School in Udhagamandalam, IGCSE is globally recognised. But there are apprehensions about the validity of IGCSE in the Indian context. Content wise IGCSE and IB are more advanced and student friendly than CBSE and ICSE. Getting affiliation from international boards is also relatively easy as compared to CBSE and ICSE.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Global Production Engineering,Economics and Management and Internet MBA.

However, Indian universities seldom entertain students from schools that offer IGCSE and IB curriculums, points out Madan A Senthil, chairman of RIPS.These students can avail only the NRI quota to get admission for professional courses. Most parents are unaware of this aspect," he says. Though there is no official ban on international school students from joining Indian universities and colleges, the fact is that the admission procedures are tougher for them. Babitha Sharma, principal of Monarch International School, is hopeful that these issues will be sorted out sooner than later.

"The Union Human Resources Development Minister has now allowed the entry of foreign universities in a big way and that would give a distinct advantage to our students. In the days to come, there will be more IGCSE and IB students in Indian universities too," she said. But not all are convinced. Child rights activist and campaigner for neighbourhood schools, C.Nambi says, An international school is an institution that educates students from different parts of the country and the world. Thus such schools are culturally diverse.Unfortunately, the newly started schools in Coimbatore are not as yet ready to accommodate foreign students.Eminent educationist S Rajagopal makes a forceful point against the international syllabus. In Europe too, different countries adopt different curriculum. Education should reflect the cultural values and needs of the local community.

unique opportunity for our students

The world is a big place. Washburn students are getting ready to learn that first hand.More than 120 Washburn students are set to embark on trips to locations across the globe. Host universities will be in nations all over Europe, Central America, South America, Africa and Asia.
You will have a lifetime of memories from the experiences that you had while you were abroad, said Washburn University President Jerry Farley.It is a unique opportunity and a time for you to really do something different, maybe a little out of your comfort zone and do something that is going to impact you forever. Once you have experienced the international flavor of the world, it will change you.

An awards ceremony April 15 honored university students and faculty participating in Washburn's study abroad program. Students preparing to leave this summer and fall were recognized and given a taste of what to expect.While on their trips, students will be engaging in intensive studies in a variety of disciplines including business, foreign language,Economics and Management Science, law, medicine, Engineering,the arts, cultural studies and others. The programs will also vary in length, from eight days to a full academic year.These programs will take our students to all different corners of the world, said Tina Williams, Washburn study abroad coordinator.Each of the locations offers a unique opportunity for our students.Washburn University has a proportionally large international study abroad program compared to neighboring schools. At an overall enrollment of 7, 230, according to the Washburn official website, it has a program that rivals schools that have enrollment near 30,000.

What really sets this International program apart is the leadership, in my opinion,said Bassima Schbley, assistant professor of the social work department.President Farley is extremely involved with the international happenings… On top of that we have wonderful international faculty here at Washburn. A lot of people don't know that we have faculty from China, Japan,Germany Lebanon, Kenya all over.Faculty members have played an instrumental role in encouraging the growth of the program, as has the readily available scholarships and funding for the program, according to Schbley.Immediately following the student awards ceremony was another event honoring faculty members who have made a difference internationally. Phi Beta Delta, a national honor society for international scholars, held a new member induction ceremony in the International House. The faculty members were recognized for their scholarly work, as well as real world contributions to the international community.The new inductees were faculty members Lori Walton, Sheldong Pen, Liviu Florea, Thomas Romig, Sangyoub Park, Azyz Sharafy, and Sophie Delahaye.

Applications for 2011 summer semester scholarships for study abroad rise by 34%; IES Abroad focuses summer term financial aid awards on most needy app

For the past ten years, IES Abroad, a leading U.S. study abroad provider, has seen enormous increases in both applications and awards for financial aid.Between the 2000-2001 and 2010-2011 academic years, the number of students receiving aid from IES Abroad has increased 87%, from 885 students in 2000-2001 to 1,659 students in 2010-2011. With this increase in numbers of awards has come an 82% increase in total dollars given, from $1,285,127 in 2000-2001 to $2,323,886 in 2010-2011.For the 2010-2011 academic year, IES Abroad awarded $2.3 million in financial aid and scholarships to students studying abroad, an increase of 14% over financial aid awarded in 2009-2010. The total included $49,000 for the summer 2010 term, $864,185 for the fall 2010 term, and $1,397,550 for the spring 2011 term.

Year-over-year, a comparison between spring terms in 2010 and 2011 demonstrates the growing financial need of students interested in studying abroad. For the spring 2011 term, IES Abroad saw a 46% increase in applications. For the spring 2010 term, 212 eligible students applied for need-based aid, compared to 310 eligible students for the spring 2011 term. For the spring 2010 term, 189 awards were given, compared to 223 awards for the spring 2011 term, a 41% increase. Finally, the average award for the spring 2010 terms was $1,024, compared to an average award of $1,213 for the spring 2011 term, an 18% increase.The fall 2009 term saw a total of 186 eligible applications, compared to 222 eligible applications for the fall 2010 term, an increase of 19%. [Final award information for fall 2011 is not yet available.] The average award for fall 2009 was $807, compared to an average award of $1,278 for the fall 2010 term, a 58% increase.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Economics and Management Science and European Studies.


For the upcoming 2011 summer semester, the leading not-for-profit study abroad provider has seen scholarship applications rise by 34% over 2010 summer term applications. In response to this increased number of applications, IES Abroad has awarded a record amount of summer term scholarships totaling $60,000, awarding financial aid to 52% of the need-based scholarship applications it received.The economy continues to take its toll on higher education and we have experienced increasing numbers of students applying for study abroad financial aid over the past several years. We decided to meet that need with a significant increase in our scholarship awards,said Joseph Sevigny, IES Abroad Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management.We increased our scholarship budget for summer semester and also increased our average award to $882, a 17% increase over 2010 summer semester awards. This year we continued to focus our awards on need-based applicants and awarded $1,000 and $750 scholarships in order to better meet their financial needs,said Sevigny.

IES Abroad, which sends more than 5,500 students a year to study abroad at its 32 locations worldwide, has annually committed $2 million in student financial aid for the last three years. The not-for-profit is one of the largest awarders of scholarships for overseas study, both in terms of total dollars and numbers of students assisted.Scholarship recipients will attend study abroad programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand and South America. The IES Abroad students bring outstanding academic credentials to their study abroad programs and attend top-tier schools around the country.IES Abroad, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2010, is a global, not-for-profit academic consortium offering study abroad programs to more than 5,500 U.S. college students each year who participate in 100 programs at 32 international locations. IES Abroad offers programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Austria Europe, New Zealand and South America. In October of 2010, IES Abroad received the prestigious Quality Improvement Program (QUIP) designation from The Forum on Education Abroad for meeting the highest standards for study abroad programming and evaluation in the nation.

Japan Study Abroad Program Canceled

Japan Study Abroad Program Canceled Due to March Earthquake.When word got out about the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on March 11 of this year, most people were looking at footage of a place they would never see first-hand. But for junior English major Joe Bisciotti, Japan was a place in which he'd planned on studying even before he came to Messiah College. Bisciotti and two other students, Lindsay Prior and Emily Murphy, were scheduled to leave for Japan just two weeks after the earthquake and resulting tsunami occurred.

While watching the news the morning of the earthquake,my heart just sunk,said Bisciotti, "I just kept thinking about how many people had died and how I was most likely no longer going there.The earthquake resulted in a tsunami that claimed thousands of lives. To add to the crisis, the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant flooded and the cooling system designed to keep the reactors from overheating stopped working. The six reactors began to heat up, radiation levels quickly rose, and over 200,000 people within 20 km of the site were evacuated from the area. All others were told to stay indoors to avoid harmful radiation.

The program was still set to go in the few days following the disaster,said Bisciotti.After about a week though, when nuclear issues became a concern, Messiah finally canceled it.At that point, the death toll from the earthquake had climbed into the thousands, and many more people were being reported as missing.Although the program's cancellation was quite a blow, Biscotti is thankful that he wasn't there for the earthquake.I'm still kind of in disbelief,he said.The fact that this happened less than two weeks before we were going to leave is kind of surreal.I knew that God was definitely looking out for us.Since the program was planned to start so late into the semester, Joe was concerned he wouldn't graduate in time since he had essentially skipped one whole semester of classes. But by working closely with the EpiCenter, Joe and the two others who planned on studying with him in Japan were able to get into a summer program at Oxford University.

Small business study courses

The Urban Districts Alliance has partnered with the city of Springfield to offer a series of small business education courses geared toward helping Center City businesses succeed.The Urban Districts Alliance will offer five free sessions based on topics important to the success of small businesses.The first session is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Ozark Technical Community College's main campus.

The topics covered in the first session will focus on Introduction to Business Plans.This course will be led by Isabel Eisenhauer, business consultant with the Missouri State Small Business & Technology Development CenterParticipants will be able to engage in a question and answer segment, offer feedback on future course offerings, and receive information on additional available resources. The sessions are free and available to all who are interested as a service provided by the Urban Districts Alliance.Advanced registration is requested to guarantee availability and space is still available for all sessions. Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Internet MBA and International Economics.
These sessions are an important step in becoming eligible for the Business Incentive Loan Program and the new Home-based Business Incentive Loan Program offered by the Urban Districts Alliance and City of Springfield.The purpose of these sessions is to give small business owners the tools and knowledge necessary to succeed,said Donnie Rodgers, community development coordinator,The Urban Districts Alliance is committed to assisting small business owners to thrive within Center City.

Following sessions are planned as follows:

Tuesday Introduction to Business Plans with Isabel Eisenhauer of the Missouri State Small Business &Technology Development Center
Tuesday, May 17- Web Strategies for Small Businesses with Nick Altrup of 417 Marketing
Tuesday, May 24- Small Business Employment Resources with the Missouri Career Center
Tuesday, June 14- Financing Resources and Information
Tuesday, June 21- Small Business Roundtable Discussion with Center City Business Owners

Funding for these sessions has been provided by the city of Springfield through the Community Development Block Grant program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.The Urban Districts Alliance is an umbrella organization designed to provide leadership, programs and services to its downtown Springfield, Walnut Street, and the Commercial Street historic business districts.

Students choose to study abroad

While millions of her peers are revising intensively for this year's national college entrance exam, which falls on June 7 and 8, Su Zixuan is able to feel rather more relaxed.After getting an offer from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in March, the 17-year-old is one of thousands of Chinese students heading overseas for her higher education.The number of Chinese students studying abroad has rapidly increased in recent years. For the 2009 to 2010 academic year, a total of 229,300 Chinese students were being educated abroad, up 30 percent from the previous year, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Education.

"Since 2000, the number of Chinese students abroad increased at an average annual rate of 20 percent. By 2014, the number is expected to hit 550,000 to 600,000, said Sang Peng, director of the Beijing Overseas-Study Service Association.Industry experts pointed out that there is a prevailing trend of Chinese students studying overseas at a younger age.Not long ago, the majority of Chinese students went abroad to pursue a master's degree or PhD. Undergraduates only accounted for 30 percent of the total,said Richard Yang, director of Aoji Enrolment Center of International Education Ltd, part of the Aoji Education Group.It is likely this will change over the next three years. Those in high school or undertaking undergraduate studies are expected to make up 70 percent of those being educated abroad. Of them, students in higher education will make up 30 percent, Yang said.

Chen Hua, business director of Beijing-based intermediary agency Wiseway International Co Ltd, believes high school graduates will become the main component of students studying abroad from 2011.This trend is also reflected in the fact that the number of Chinese students sitting the college entrance exam is in a downward trend.Some 9.57 million high school students across China registered to take the college entrance exam in 2010, approximately 650,000 fewer than the previous year, and 930,000 fewer than 2008, figures from the Ministry of Education showed.In Beijing, it is the fifth year in a row that the numbers have fallen. About 76,000 students signed up to take the exam this year, down 6 percent from a year earlier, marking the lowest ever application level, according to Beijing Education Examination Authority.

So, what is behind the lowering age of overseas Chinese students?First, going abroad is an alternative to the national college entrance exam, which has long been described as a stampede of "thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of horses across a single log bridge.I decided to send my 14-year-old son to Australia for his high school education this autumn because there is too much pressure on him to prepare for the college entrance exam,said Zhang Ran, a manager of a pharmaceutical company in Beijing.The enormous pressure will definitely harm a child's physical and mental health, and I don't think it's worthwhile that all the hard work goes into a one-time exam,he added.

Lu Jun, a senior consultant at Chivast Education International Co, which is the first approved intermediary agency by the Ministry of Education, said most Chinese parents firmly believe that the younger their children go abroad, the sooner they get accustomed to the local cultural and social environment.Studying abroad can cultivate young students to be more independent and more adaptable to new environments. These abilities will help them in job-hunting in the future, said Lu.Generally speaking, overseas schools provide a more flexible learning environment and pay more attention to students' soft skills such as decision-making, initiative, leadership, teamwork and sociability, which are often lacking in a Chinese school's curriculum, he said.Last but not least, the demand of Chinese students to study abroad has also been driven by rising incomes of Chinese families.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering
Business Administration and Industrial Engineering.

In the next decade, the population of China's middle class will reach some 400 million from its current 150 million, according to the Boston Consulting Group forecast.Currently, total costs, including tuition fees and living expenses, of studying in a high school in the United States range between 200,000 yuan and 250,000 yuan a year, according to Yan Tingting, director of the US and Canada business division at Aoji Education GroupStudying in other countries, such as Canada and Australia, would cost 150,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan annually, said Yan.Intermediary agencies, such as Aoji and Wiseway, provide services that assist students through their entire application process, including language test preparation, application documentation and visa interview training. The average cost is 10,000 to 30,000 yuan for one student.

Chinese students' enthusiasm for studying abroad at a younger age has prompted not only more and more intermediary agencies to enter the market, but also many top high schools to change.Many students, including Su Zixuan, decided not to sit the rigid exam long before they graduated from middle schools and chose to study in specialized classes rather than at ordinary public high schools.Three years ago, Su enrolled in a Cambridge International Examinations A-Level Course at the high school affiliated to Renmin University of China in Beijing.The course has about 120 students every year and the tuition fee is 80,000 yuan annually. After graduation, students can get a high school diploma recognized by universities in more than 160 countries and regions, according to the school.About 60 percent of our teachers are foreigners and all of our text books are in English. What we are learning here is very similar to high school students in the UK or US,said Su.

I believe these kinds of international courses can help students to overcome the language barrier and to better adapt to foreign teaching methods. Students can also improve their ability to take care of themselves before leaving home during this three-year high school period,said Huang Ping, Su's mother.Moreover, this saves a large amount of money compared with going straight to an overseas high school, she added.Other cities across the country, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, have also introduced special classes for students who intend to study overseas.However, some experts warned that studying abroad at younger ages could be a double-edged sword for Chinese students.

The psychological fragility of many young students is a big concern,said Bai Zhangde, director general of the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange under the Ministry of Education.Those who leave their homes and their parents at a young age will suffer from loneliness and homesickness and they can easily feel isolated in a strange environment, he added.Those who are too young to tell right from wrong may indulge in improper or even illegal activities without the guidance of their parents, he said.

Traditional courses and special courses

If your 60th birthday cake is eaten and if residing in Virginia for at least one year, you can attend courses at any state institution of higher education without paying tuition and fees, such as parking. However, you must pay fees covering course materials.Any course the senior applicant qualifies to attend on a paying basis may be attended on the non-paying basis. Traditional courses and special courses (such as adult education and continuing education) are included.Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), George Mason University (GMU) and all other state institutions of higher education conduct this free tuition program for senior citizens. Graduate and professional schools are not excluded.

A couple of general restrictions apply. The non-tuition senior can take no more than three courses each term. Tuition-paying students must be accommodated before the non-paying senior is admitted to the course; in other words, there must be space in class for the senior citizen.In some cases, academic credit toward a degree can be earned. One of those situations is where the senior had $15,000 or less in Virginia taxable income during the preceding year. The Social Security Administration reports the average monthly retirement benefit currently is $1,178. Factor in the personal exemption and deductions to reach taxable income and the potential pool of eligible seniors is sizeable.

Participating seniors often do not seek a degree. They audit courses on a part-time basis for personal reasons. These include the pure enjoyment of studying a subject of interest such as art or history, the challenge of learning to converse in a foreign language, and improvement in self-skills. The attraction for those re-entering the job market might be a course titled Preparation for Employment.According to Jessica M. Baxter, NVCC’s public affairs officer, available data for recent years show total student headcounts at about 70,000. Yet, the numbers of free-tuition senior citizens in the current year's fall and spring semesters are 514 and 612, respectively, says Michael A. Blackwell, the NVCC business manager responsible for such filings.

Senior citizen attendees at GMU present a similar picture. Current student enrollment is 32,562, according to Daniel Walsch, press officer. Of the 418 students age 60 or older, he notes that only 185 claim tuition-free attendance.Although the law has been on the books for more than 35 years, these figures suggest that benefits of the Senior Citizens Higher Education Act of 1974 are underused. The law itself requires that the program be displayed prominently in every college and university catalogue; yet, school staff admit to being unfamiliar with the statute.This general lack of awareness could explain why so few take advantage of the opportunities offered at Virginia's colleges and universities.

13 students awarded scholarships and opportunity to travel abroad

The Center for Academic Programs Abroad recently awarded 13 Marshall University students with scholarships and the opportunity to travel abroad.One of the students chosen was Briana Blankenship, junior music education major from Grantsville, W.Va.When I first told my family about this opportunity, they were shocked,Blankenship said.But they also know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I just cannot pass up.

This scholarship will allow Blankenship to visit Florence, Italy, Germany, where she will study art, music and theater. The students will stay in Florence for three weeks and can earn up to six hours of credit.It's a wonderful opportunity for those students who are afforded it,said Donald Van Horn, dean of the College of Fine Arts.More importantly, it's about helping to contribute to a more mature and rounded individual.Van Horn said the CAPA program can be extremely selective so it's a testament to Blankenship's skill as a musician that she was chosen for the scholarship.

I'm familiar with her performance as a trumpet major and I have had the opportunity to hear Briana play on numerous occasions,Van Horn said.She is really a gifted musician, one of the finest we have.The study abroad course will be organized by Byron Clercx, chairman of the art department, Jeffery Pappas, chairman of music, and Nicole Perrone, theater faculty member. The students will be accompanied on the trip by Clercx, who will teach the course.This will not be Blankenship's first travel overseas, however. In 2009, she traveled to Switzerland and France with the Marshall University 12.0 Jazz Ensemble.During the course of that trip, I learned so much more than I had ever imagined,Blankenship said.Due to that wonderful experience, when I heard about the opportunity to take a summer course in Florence, Italy, I immediately applied.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Intercultural Anglophone Studies and Master of Landscape Architecture.

The scholarship application is based on students' GPA and submission of an essay. Blankenship said the essay discussed the benefits of studying abroad and how it would help her grow personally and academically. She said while she's nervous about it, she's also excited to learn.While in Italy,I want to experience as many things as possible that are unique to the Italian culture,Blakenship said.I plan on taking a few trips outside of Florence to places such as Venice, Rome and Naples.Van Horn spoke on the past success of CAPA's study abroad program and praised the impact it can have on students.Traveling abroad certainly broadens a student's appreciation for the arts from other countries,Van Horn said.It can also contribute to making those students stronger artists and performers.

Students overlook study options abroad

Steve Duran, a senior business major, said studying abroad was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that enriched his college experience.I think from the moment I arrived in Beijing, I realized that my life would never be the same when I left the country,said Duran, who is studying entertainment tourism and management.Duran studied abroad during the 2009-10 academic year. He said that studying abroad allows you to apply life skills you might not use here in the states and said if the opportunity presents itself, students should take advantage of studying abroad.However, Cal State Fullerton students seem to overlook the study abroad programs entirely. According to communications Professor Dean Kazoleas, who runs a study abroad program, the percentage of students sent by private universities to study abroad is about 30 to 40 percent, compared to CSUF where the total number is 0.3 percent of students.Study abroad adviser Kathryn Morrissey said last year the university sent only 150 students to study abroad. However, this year the projected numbers appear to be 250, which is a big increase, but she would still like to see more.

Morrissey also said these numbers tend to align with national figures. According to the Institute for International Education Open Doors survey, 260,000 students from the United States study abroad in other countries.CSUF allows students to participate in any study abroad program that is accredited, which means the courses students take need to be accredited by some organization, usually the ministry of education for that country.There are approximately 9,000 study abroad programs and the study abroad website breaks them down into four distinct categories.The first category is exchange programs. CSUF has agreements with 10 different universities. CSUF sends a student to study at one those universities and they send somebody over here. These run for either a semester or a full year.

The second category is the international programs. These are a part of the whole CSU. Some of them are exchange programs where they send a student and the other university receives a student. But some are traditional exchange programs where they just send a student and don’t receive. Duran participated in one of these types of programs.The third category is department programs. These are programs that are offered by the different colleges at CSUF. The colleges that do these the most are the College of Business, College of Communications and College of Humanities and Social Sciences.The last category is non-CSUF programs. This is where the majority of the 9,000 options come into play. It’s essentially any program that is not affiliated with CSUF.Pretty much as long as you are going to get transcripts from an accredited college, we are going to let you go,said Morrisey.There is no way to give a precise estimate for an overall cost of a study abroad program. There are different factors such as the location, the university, the length of time and the spending habits of each person.Kazolea’s study abroad program to Korea is $3,800 and that includes room and board for four-and-a-half months as well as airfare to and from Korea. That is on top of tuition to CSUF.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Global Production Engineering,Cultural Encounters and Bioinformatics.

In his program, Kazoleas takes students to study at the Dong-Ah Institute for Media and Arts in Korea. He started the program back in 2002 when he was teaching at Illinois State, and he brought back the program in 2009.Kazoleas believes there are three criteria for a good study abroad program: it has to be useful for a student’s degree, it has to be affordable for students and there needs to be a fun factor for the students as well. He said if programs build on those three, they tend to work.I would never recommend a student go abroad if they are not making progress toward their degree.Rather what I suggest is that they go abroad and take classes that are going to help them grow both professionally in their major and both developmentally as a person,Kazoleas said.

The students that have gone, according to Kazoleas, seemed to have really enjoyed the program. Many of them have actually gone back to Korea.Kazolea’s program is open to students of any major, although at the moment it is mainly communications students. Examples of classes students can take include media ethics, video production, post production, public relations writing, international public relations, research methods, photography and there are also two 40-hour internships. There are also performing arts classes and graphic design.It’s eye-opening in terms of a global perspective.When you see how other people live, you see how other cultures vary, you see how things work differently in different countries. It really changes your perspective of the world,Kazoleas said.For Duran, his experience in China was certainly an eye-opening experience. He said that while Bejing is a lot like many modern cities, he wasn’t prepared for the large amounts of people and said it was a bit intimidating. He also noticed there was a big emphasis on group ties and family in China.

He recalls that the heater was centralized, with fixed dates set by the government. He also remembers having a dryer in his dorm room, but that it didn’t do much and he still had to hang up his clothes to dry.During his time, he said some of the sights he saw included the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. There was also plenty of travel within and outside of China.The study abroad class Duran took was Mandarin, so he said afterward he came back with a better understanding of the language.Personally, it made me a more mature person. I had to make my own decisions and handle my finances better than how I did here. Also, I feel like I learned a lot about the culture and gained a respect and admiration for the people I interacted with,Duran said.

According to Duran, the whole experience cost him about $25,000. This included air travel to and from Beijing, tuition fees, living expenses like food and cell phone minutes, and travel both within and outside China. He did receive a scholarship from the international programs that helped supplement his financial aid.When asked why students don’t participate in study abroad programs, Morrissey said there are five main reasons, which she called the five F’s, and those are family, friends, fear, faculty and finances.However she said the benefits outweigh the cons. There are personal, professional and academic benefits to studying abroad, and the main things students get from studying abroad are independence and confidence.I think it’s a great opportunity and for the most part if you plan early enough, there are ways we can cover any of the questions you may have,Morrissey said.

How do you go about applying for a scholarship?

An international education could launch your career and put you on the road to success.But how do you get started? Which programmes are best for you?Do you want to pursue an MBA degree in the US but can't figure out the application process?How do you decide which college and which courses to pick?How do you go about applying for a scholarship?Do you want to study abroad?Are you ready for a new culture, new academics and a new lifestyle?And most importantly, how much will all of this cost?Chat with international education counsellor Karan Gupta on Monday, April 18 between 2 pm and 3 pm IST and get the answers to all your questions.

Top Five Study Abroad Destinations

All college students enjoy life on campus—but for some, going off on their own to experience a new country and culture can be equally, if not more, rewarding. Studying abroad is the perfect way to pursue academic research, learn a new language, and have a life-changing time. For travelers or students considering studying abroad, Let’s Go is naming their top study abroad destinations for 2011.

India
Students who like variety are flocking to India. From religions to spices, and landscapes to lifestyles, no two things in India are alike. Studying in India is relevant for anyone interested in medicine, business, religion, international politics, computer sciences,Electrical Engineering, or environmental sustainability. As an added bonus, students will find almost every aspect of their experience to be budget-friendly.

China
Once the jetlag wears off, students studying abroad in China can expect an energetic semester filled with endless new experiences. China is an up-and-coming study abroad destination for students interested in international relations, the global economy, and East Asian culture. The American dollar goes a long way, which will make trying the various nuances of Chinese fare easier than saying ni hao ma, or How are you doing?

Chile
A semester spent studying in Chile allows students to ski in the Andes Mountains and visit some of the biggest, most open beaches on the Pacific coast in one day. Even if you don’t speak Spanish and let’s be real, Chilean Spanish is nothing like the Spanish learned in traditional classrooms, there are many English-speaking job opportunities for students interested in working abroad after graduation.

South Africa
The scenes and stories from South Africa are the stuff of legends (think The Lion King meets World Cup 2010). South Africa has many colleges and universities par excellence, with classes taught in any of the 11 official languages. The cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town are very affordable, functional, and modern there will be no problem tweeting from here.

New Zealand
New Zealand is a cheaper alternative to the UK or Australia for students looking to study in an English-speaking country. It’s also a great place for students seeking outdoor adventure. In their time off students can backpack, sail, and see achingly beautiful landscapes, as well as whale watch, scuba dive, and bungee jump. New Zealand has several top-caliber universities in specialized fields, but students can also pursue broad academic interests like psychology, anthropology, and sociology.

About Let’s Go, Inc.
Let's Go publishes the world's favorite student travel guides written entirely by college undergraduates. With pen and notebook in hand, and a few changes of underwear stuffed in their backpacks, Let's Go student researchers go across continents, through time zones, and above expectations to seek out the best travel experiences. Let’s Go has been on the road for 50 years and counting; and on a mission to provide readers with sharp, fresh coverage and socially responsible opportunities to go beyond tourism.

International experience

The Semester Abroad Programme at INTI allows its students who have completed a year of study to study for a semester at any institution in the Laureate network, with the advantage of paying fees they would normally pay at INTI.Student Lee Tian Xin, who completed a semester at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University said,The programme exposed me to more than just China’s economic environment, but has allowed me to assimilate in the local culture through community work and extra curricular activities.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Materials Science and Mathematics, Physics.

Tian Xin, who studies International Management and e-Business systems at INTI International College Subang, said her stay in China was a memorable experience. One of her extra-curricular activities was to raise awareness on environmental issues among primary schoolchilren.I was also a part of the university’s Student Career Development Association. My responsibility to arrange for career talks, internship opportunities and visits brought me into contact with businesses in Suzhou and Shanghai.Tian Xin said her experience in China had helped her become more aware of international issues.I’ve built friendships with people from different cultures and backgrounds. As a result, I’ve become more aware of issues and am now able to appreciate lifestyles and cultures that differ from mine,she said

Study abroad short courses

PUNE: D Preeti's wish to study abroad was realised when she enrolled for a three-week course in politics and Middle Eastern studies at the prestigious Oxford University, UK, in 2008.Unable to take a full-time course, she was nevertheless eager to undergo the cultural experience. She spent time on campus learning from top-of-the-line faculty and mingling with an international crowd of students.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Internet MBA,Materials Science and Software Engineering.

The summer course added weight to my resume and, more importantly, it allowed me to live and study abroad, even though it was for a short while. The lectures were often interactive and aided intellectual discussions as we were given the syllabus well in advance,says Preeti, a journalism major. The same year, her friend Zakia Kazi did a summer course in communications at Harvard University, USA.Like my experience, her educational stint abroad provided for selfenrichment in the form of greater exposure and interactions within and outside the classroom,says Preeti. An increasing number of students and working professionals are now opting for summer courses, spanning three weeks to a month, at various educational hubs abroad.Students and professionals are eager to learn about summer courses, because they want to brush up their knowledge in a short period. It's a faster and cheaper option for those not able to devote several months to a full-time course.

New study abroad program in Israel

While most UF students go to the International Center in the Hub to learn about study abroad programs, the UF Hillel staff has flown overseas to learn more about a new study abroad opportunity.The staff members departed Sunday for Israel to learn about the new joint studying abroad program for the fall semester with the University of Haifa.The staff includes the executive director, executive assistant, program director, Jewish student life coordinator and Israel fellow.They are spending eight days in Israel engaging in different aspects of the University of Haifa study abroad program.

University of Haifa recently coordinated with UF to develop a study abroad program for students. This program counts for direct UF credit hours and can be funded through Bright Futures and Florida Prepaid scholarships.MASA Israel enables thousands of students to spend a semester or year in Israel in any of their more than 160 programs through grants and will also fund an additional $1,000 to $4,000 for interested students.After this trip to Israel we will have experienced first-hand the unique experience of studying at the University of Haifa,UF Israel fellow Josh Kahn said.We will be able to promote the program to UF students with complete confidence because we have been there.MASA Israel has been a catalyst in the developing of new, exciting and quality programs that express the many different sides to Israel, Kahn said.

Susanne Hill, executive director of UF’s International Center, said she visited the University of Haifa in March and was very impressed with the student services, academics and extracurricular activities.Students will have the option of participating on weekend tours, trips and excursions, cultural evenings and lectures throughout the country, according to Hill.The UF in Haifa program is multidisciplinary and interactive opportunity that allows students to receive up to 15 credits. Students are expected to have a background in humanities and social sciences and to have completed at least one year of university study at the undergraduate level.Hill said she expects 10 students to participate in fall.

Study abroad courses in England

For 33 years, UMD has been sending students and faculty to Birmingham, England for study abroad courses. But with time comes change, and UMD is moving out of the bustling city of Birmingham to Worcester.Worcester is located in the central-western part of England and is about a two hour train ride from London. Its population size is similar to Duluth and may be more appealing to students that don't want to be overwhelmed by a large city. The university is built around an 11th century cathedral and is situated next to the Severn River. Its quaint ancient feel is mixed with the characteristics of modernity.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Intercultural Anglophone Studies and Master of Architecture.

The biggest and most exciting change that comes with the new venue is that UMD students are allowed to take classes within the University of Worcester system and English students can join in the UMD classes. Before, UMD faculty would take a group of students to Birmingham University and teach UMD classes. They would use university grounds and classrooms but were separate from the Birmingham system. Now, 24 classes in the fall and 18 classes in the spring will be open to UMD students in the Worcester system. The International Education Office (IEO) wanted a place where there was more interaction between the British students and faculty and UMD students and faculty. Worcester has unearthed a perfect opportunity to mix the different cultures and get the students from different parts of the world interacting with each other.

UMD students will board on-campus at Worcester, which has been rated a five out of five by the "University Push" guide, an independent guide in the UK that rates universities in many different categories. Each student will have their own bedroom and a gym membership is included in the tuition. The price for all of this is the same as Birmingham with adjustments made for inflation.All majors are welcome to join the program and there is a course list online. Twelve students have already opted in for fall semester. Although the deadline for that application was due April 1, there is still an opportunity to join in the spring semester or to look ahead for next year. You can always stop by the IEO office for more information in 138 Kirby Plaza.

Will the hike in university fees destroy British talent?

There are many things that make me proud to be British. Our heritage, our world-class universities and our internationally renowned entrepreneurs. What doesn’t make me proud, though, is how tough we’re making it for British students to get an education in this country.
Britain has some of the best universities in the world but, unfortunately, we are putting ourselves in a position where we can no longer afford to train our future titans of industry, science, medicine and technology.

It wasn’t that long ago that I was studying for my master’s at Cardiff University. Could I have been able to afford it if the fees were tripled? Certainly not. Would I have looked at universities in Europe, China, America,Austria and Australia? Absolutely. And it’s more than likely that I would have stayed to find work in that country after finishing my education. Next year’s students will have it tough. The dramatic hike in fees may well force many of Britain’s most talented and gifted minds into further education abroad and indeed employment abroad while British companies miss out.I understand there is no disputing the fact that the deficit needs to be cut – we need to see pro-growth measures from the Coalition. But austerity measures are already starting to bite. Many families up and down the country will be having to think whether the potential tripling in tuition fees will mean that they have to choose which child to send to university or if they can afford to put any of their children through higher education in this country.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Global Production Engineering,Business Administration and International Economics.

UCAS intake statistics for 2010 show that nearly 8,400 Chinese students opted to study at UK universities, as well as nearly 2,000 Indian students. In contrast, some 22,000 UK students chose to study full-time courses internationally at that same time. That number will surely sharply rise in the coming years because you can opt to go to a English-speaking university overseas, take the same course you wanted to take in the UK, and save yourself around £20,000. In Italy, for example, tuition fees are between €5,000 and €9,000 on average. Looking at Harvard, the fees come in around £20,000 – but if the parental income is less than £60,000, the university awards a full scholarship.If having a rise in tuition fees of up to £27,000 wasn’t bad enough, the government is threatening universities with massive fines and cuts to tuition fees if they fail to admit enough disadvantaged students. This is ludicrous; forcing universities to work to quotas, rather than letting them choose the best applicants based on academic abilities.

Institutions failing to meet their target for recruiting poorer students could be fined up to £500,000, and be banned from charging fees above £6,000 a year. What’s a university to do? Do they commit to being an institution of excellence by charging the higher rate, or do they put a lower value on their degree and send out a message that, at their university, a degree comes with less prestige and is worth less overall?If I were applying to university now, I would want to be assessed as an individual. I hardly think it appropriate to treat one applicant less favourably because of their school or college background if both had the same grade. I would want to be at the best university because my results meant that I deserved to be there, not because I was a tick-box exercise to fill a university quota set out by the government. Who will really will be able to afford to study at the likes of Oxford and Cambridge and other top London universities? Imperial has already confirmed that they will be charging the maximum fees for the coming academic year.

We should expect to see an influx of international students who can afford to pay the fees and living costs. After all, they contribute £5bn to the UK economy annually. Britain will educate those who can afford the privilege students from rapidly expanding economies such as India and China. Once they finish their degrees, under the proposed new plans on student visas, they won’t be able to use their expertise to further businesses based in the UK. Britain is no longer portraying itself as a place for nurturing the best and the brightest talent in the world, but as a place that is inhospitable and hostile.As a business owner, I wouldn’t want to price myself out of the market, so why are we forcing our best educational institutions to do so? Without a doubt, Britain’s reputation is one of our biggest and best assets but will this still be the case in years to come? I, for one, am not so sure.

Is the growing trend in K-12 education best for students or just cheaper?

Jack London was the subject in Daterrius Hamilton’s online English 3 course. In a high school classroom packed with computers, he read a brief biography of London with single-paragraph excerpts from the author’s works. But the curriculum did not require him, as it had generations of English students, to wade through a tattered copy of Call of the Wild or To Build a Fire.
Hamilton, who had failed English 3 in a conventional classroom and was hoping to earn credit online to graduate, was asked a question about the meaning of social Darwinism. He pasted the question into Google and read a summary of a Wikipedia entry. He copied the language, spell-checked it and e-mailed it to his teacher.

Hamilton, 18, is among the expanding ranks of students in kindergarten through grade 12 — more than 1 million in the United States, by one estimate taking online courses.Advocates of such courses say they allow schools to offer not only makeup courses, the fastest-growing area, but also a richer menu of electives and Advanced Placement classes when there are not enough students to fill a classroom.But critics say online education is really driven by a desire to spend less on teachers and buildings, especially as state and local budget crises force deep cuts to education. They note that there is no sound research showing that online courses at the K-12 level are comparable to face-to-face learning.

In Memphis, in one of the most ambitious online programs of its kind, every student must take an online course to graduate, beginning with current sophomores. Some study online versions of courses taught in classrooms in the same building. Officials for Memphis City Schools say they want to give students skills they will need in college, where online courses are increasingly common, and in the 21st-century workplace.But it is also true that Memphis is spending only $164 for each student in an online course. Administrators say they have never calculated an apples-to-apples comparison for the cost of online vs. in-person education, but around the country skeptics say online courses are a stealthy way to cut corners.

It’s a cheap education, not because it benefits the students,said Karen Aronowitz, president of the teachers union in Miami, where 7,000 high school students were assigned to study online in computer labs this year because there were not enough teachers to comply with state class-size caps.This is being proposed for even your youngest students,Aronowitz said.Because it’s good for the kids? No. This is all about cheap.In Idaho, the state superintendent of education plans to push a requirement that high school students take four or more online courses, following a bill that passed the Legislature last week to provide every student with a laptop, paid for from a state fund for educators’ salaries.Chicago and New York City have introduced pilot online learning programs. In New York, Innovation Zone, or iZone, includes online makeup and Advanced Placement courses at 30 high schools, as well as personalized after-school computer drills in math and English for elementary students.

Increasing interest

Reza Namin, superintendent of schools in Westbrook, Maine, which faces a $6.5 million budget deficit, said he could not justify continuing to pay a Chinese language teacher for only 10 interested students. But he was able to offer Chinese online through the Virtual High School Global Consortium, a nonprofit school based in Massachusetts.The virtual high school says its list of client schools has grown to 770, up 34 percent in two years, because of local budget cuts.
Nationwide, an estimated 1.03 million students at the K-12 level took an online course in 2007-08, up 47 percent from two years earlier, according to the Sloan Consortium, an advocacy group for online education. About 200,000 students attend online schools full-time, often charter schools that appeal to home-schooling families, according to another report.The growth has come despite a cautionary review of research by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009. It found benefits in online courses for college students but concluded that few rigorous studies had been done at the K-12 level, and policymakers lack scientific evidence of the effectiveness of online classes.

The fastest growth has been in makeup courses for students who failed a regular class. Advocates say the courses let students who were bored or left behind learn at their own pace.But even some proponents of online classes are dubious about makeup courses, also known as credit recovery or, derisively, click-click credits which high schools, especially those in high-poverty districts, use to increase graduation rates and avoid federal sanctions.I think many people see online courses as being a way of being able to remove a pain point, and that is, how are they going to increase their graduation rate? said Liz Pape, president of the Virtual High School Global Consortium.If credit recovery were working, she said, the need for remedial classes in college would be declining but the opposite is true.In Memphis, Hamilton’s school, Sheffield High, once qualified as a dropout factory with a graduation rate below 60 percent.
Now the class of 2011 is on target to graduate 86 percent of its students, said Elvin Bell, the school’s “graduation coach, an increase attributable in part to a longer school day and online makeup courses for students who failed a regular class.Sixty-one students are in the courses this semester, including Hamilton, whose average in English 3 is below passing. Melony Smith, his online teacher, said she had not immediately recognized that his answer on the Jack London assignment was copied from the Web, but she said plagiarism was a problem with many students.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Cultural Encounters and Mathematical Modelling and Simulation.

Memphis supplies its own teachers, mostly classroom teachers who supplement their incomes by contracting to work 10 hours a week with 150 students online. That is one-fourth of the time they would devote to teaching the same students face-to-face.But administrators insisted that their chief motive was to enhance student learning, not save money in a year when the 108,000-student district is braced for cuts of $100 million and hundreds of jobs.What the online environment does is continue to provide rich offerings and delivery systems to our students with these resource challenges,” said Irving Hamer, the deputy superintendent.Like other education debates, this one divides along ideological lines. K-12 online learning is championed by conservative-leaning policy groups that favor broadening school choice, including Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, which has called on states to provide all students with Internet access devices and remove bans on for-profit virtual schools.Teachers unions and others say much of the push for online courses, like vouchers and charter schools, is intended to channel taxpayers’ money into the private sector.

What they want is to substitute technology for teachers,said Alex Molnar, professor of education policy at Arizona State University.In Idaho, Gov. C.L. Otter and the elected superintendent of public instruction, Tom Luna, both Republicans, promoted giving students laptops and requiring online courses.The State Legislature, pressed by critics who said the online mandate would cost teachers jobs, rejected it, but Luna said in an interview that he would propose it this summer through the state board of education, which supports him.

I have no doubt we’ll get a robust rule through them, he said. Four online courses is “going to be the starting number.Online courses are part of a package of sweeping changes, including merit pay and ending tenure, which Idaho lawmakers approved, that Luna said would improve education.We can educate more students at a higher level with limited resources, and online technology and courses play a big part in that, he said.Sherri Wood, president of the Idaho Education Association, the teachers union, strongly disagreed. She said Luna’s 2010 re-election campaign had received more than $50,000 in contributions from online education companies like K-12 Inc., a Virginia-based operator of online charter schools that received $12.8 million from Idaho last year.It’s about getting a piece of the money that goes to public schools,Wood said.The big corporations want to make money off the backs of our children.Luna replied that political contributors have never had an inside track in winning education contracts.

This summer Study Abroad 101 will feature its second trip in Budapest

Last summer several incoming freshmen and new transfer students participated in a study abroad program before ever stepping foot on the University's campus.The program, Study Abroad 101, launched last summer.Kathryn Wilson, freshman from Murray, along with other Murray State freshmen and new transfer students traveled to Costa Rica July 10 through 17.

Wilson, an English education major, said she enjoyed the program because of the chance to meet fellow University students before classes began.It helped me meet a lot of new faces that I have seen frequently on campus these past semesters,Wilson said.I am able to think in a more mature and independent manner knowing I am on my own in an unfamiliar setting, kind of like in another country.Before the students departed they spent two days on campus learning about various aspects of Costa Rica like the culture, weather and wildlife, Wilson said.The 2010 program students traveled to San Jose and Puerto Vijo, Costa Rica. The program was led by Murray State students and directors Amanda Carter and Melanie McCallon.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Materials Science,MathematicsPhysics and Astronomy and Sociology.

Adjusting to the cultural differences of Costa Rica took some time, Wilson said, though she enjoyed experiencing a culture different than her own.It was definitely overwhelming at first, especially not knowing the language well at all,Wilson said.It was interesting to see the different foods that were popular there. They got up a lot earlier and went to bed earlier. They also used a lot of public transportation, walked or rode bikes. There were a lot of farmers because the soil is so rich near the volcanoes, and there wasn't so much of a wealthy class, majority of the people are poor or middle class.During the trip, students participated in zip lining and white water rafting. They also spent time visiting a local banana farm and exploring nearby volcanoes, Wilson said. However, her favorite activity was surfing with one of her trip advisers, Adam Prescott, and another student.

Experiencing another culture helped Wilson learn grow as an individual and learn what the future holds for her, she said.I learned that I am capable of ‘cloaking myself with flexibility', a phrase we used multiple times on the trip, and that different cultures is something that is very interesting to me and that I may want to study abroad more in my future,Wilson said. "It let me see how my culture is so different from others but to also see the similarities as well. It helped me appreciate things I take for granted that are in my daily life, knowing that for others it is a luxury.

Advisors noticed an increase in students studying abroad because of family ancestry

Senior business major Jon Li’s entire family is from China, but as a U.S. born citizen, he felt no connection with Chinese culture until he studied abroad last year.Li said he walked into the WSU Education Abroad Office with his mind made up: he was going to China in order to finally connect with the heritage he knew almost nothing about.Li is one of the increasing number of WSU students who choose to study abroad for heritage-seeking reasons. While it is likely many second- and third-generation students went abroad to seek a connection with family ancestry in the past, more students are now actively voicing it, said Kate Wray Chettri, an Education Abroad adviser and outreach and assessment coordinator.

I’ve worked at WSU for the last five years and our conferences always focus on trends in education abroad or issues in education abroad,she said.Heritage seeking is definitely something that comes up on the list of popular topics, which is a reflection on what’s going on among students who study abroad.Wray Chettri said it has become more common for students whose majors do not easily accommodate for studying abroad to legitimize going if they have family or heritage overseas. She said students probably have more setbacks financially and academically than they did 10 or 20 years ago when education was less expensive and there were not as many academic restrictions. Li said in addition to choosing to study in China to gain a better understanding of his Chinese background, he went to create an experience that would set him apart from other business students. He said the economic downturn of the economy in 2008 willed him to delay graduation in favor of studying abroad.I feel like if I didn’t have family there, it would have been more difficult to justify studying abroad,Li said.It would be a shame to carry out your life not knowing all the members of your family.Data taken from Education Abroad Office files shows five students identified an interest in studying abroad in a country where they had family ties in 2009, but only three students actually followed through with the trip. Data from 2010 shows an increase to nine students initially showing an interest in studying abroad for heritage-seeking reasons, and five sticking to their plan. Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course European Studies ,Intercultural Anglophone and Engineering.Many more students likely studied abroad in countries where they had family ancestry, but did not state it outright, Wray Chettri said. She said students who want to go abroad for heritage-seeking reasons may be steered away from studying in a country of their family’s origin due to cost, especially in European countries. For senior zoology major Blair Hamacher, the trip was worth the expense.

Hamacher studied in northern Germany because she wanted to gain a better understanding of the country where much of her family came from. Having additional family to visit in Ireland added to her desire to study in Europe in general, she said.Hamacher said she felt a strong sense of pride in having a more personal experience abroad than the average American student. “My major doesn’t have anything to do with foreign language, so I think that really drove me to learn more about my family,she said.I also came back with a strong sense of what it’s like to be an American. It was a really valuable perspective that is hard to gain if you don’t remove yourself and go abroad.Li echoed Hamacher’s insight on uncovering family roots and discovering new perspectives abroad.I think I definitely have an increased appreciation for China because I saw family that I’d never seen before,he said.But beyond China itself, I think I have an appreciation for the world. I realized that the people beyond our borders are friendly and nice and just like you and me. In the end, we’re all people.

High school course fees changed

Despite a tight budget situation, the Nordonia Hills Board of Education has voted to cut student fees for most classes at Nordonia High School next year.The Board of Education on March 21 unanimously approved a new schedule of consumable fees, which pay for a variety of materials, such as work books, and art and science lab supplies.Almost all high school course fees, with the exception of advanced placement courses, will be lower next year, school officials said.

What we have done in the past at the high school is charge a $75 fee across the board,said Superintendent Wayne Blankenship, adding that the new fee schedule bases fees on the district's actual cost to provide each course.Next year we will charge students what they should be charged for a course,he said.Under the new fee structure, students taking advanced placement courses will see increases, with the fee set at $87 for the administering of an exam required for each course. AP students will also pay additional fees, ranging between $17.35 for supplemental reading and review materials in a U.S. history course and $42.70 in chemistry lab materials.
Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Master Course and Cultural Encounters.

However, fees for all other courses are significantly lower, ranging between $1 to pay for a classroom edition of the Wall Street Journal in an economics class, to $31.75 for chemistry and honors chemistry classes.For most kids, it will be a reduction in costs,said Assistant Superintendent Joe Clark.The changes followed a similar assessment of fees paid by students in lower grades, which resulted in the Board approving revised fees last may for this year. Fees were changed from $40 for all grades to costs ranging between $8.60 for kindergarteners to $38.90 for first graders.

Study abroad program to Egypt is canceled

As revolutions have incited political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, study-abroad programs in the region have been called into question over safety concerns—resulting in the cancellation of a program to Alexandria, Egypt.In an email to Alexandria program applicants, study abroad adviser Casey Poe said,Ongoing instability and the indefinite extension of the State Department Travel Warning to Egypt is the reason for the cancellation.Nine students completed their applications for the program and 16 were in the process of completing their forms, said Abby Howell-Dinger, a junior in anthropology and environmental studies, and a study-abroad intern. Students who had made the initial $500 deposit may transfer to other study-abroad programs or opt for a full refund, Howell-Dinger said.

Many universities have canceled their study-abroad programs in the Middle East, but students are still encouraged to study in stable countries, said Cynthia Douglass, director of outreach and community affairs for the Middle East Center. There are a variety of language institutions in the region, including great options in Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco,Germany,Douglass said.The revolution in Egypt has also affected the Tanner Humanities Center's April World Leaders Lecture. Speaker Mohammed ElBaradei, an Egyptian law scholar and diplomat, was set to speak at the forum but canceled. ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate and former director general of International Atomic Energy Agency, announced in March he will run for the Egyptian presidency, according to Al Jazeera.

Study Abroad Programs at MSU

Montana State University's Office of International Programs will host its annual Spring Study Abroad Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in the Strand Union Building Ballroom A.
Students will have the opportunity to learn about the options for study abroad at MSU, including summer, semester and year-long study abroad programs, volunteer opportunities and internships.

Technical and vocational education is inferior

In short, the British grammar-style education that we adopted was for the elite, and not workforce development. We have a largely untrained and unskilled labour force because we did not see the need to train and certify everyone.We were quite comfortable, it seems, to continue with our plantation economy as primary producers and cater to the traditional professions of law and medicine. We did not do very well at industrialisation or economic growth. In fact, those who graduated from this British system are largely to be blamed for our bad economic and tribal political polices over the last 48 years. This is the real cause of Jamaica's poor economic performance.

I further submit that the Task Force Report of Education 2004 was not radical enough. We need to revamp the current syllabus-driven CXC examination system. If we can't get consensus with our other CARICOM partners, Jamaica may well leave CXC and go it on our own.The OECD countries do no follow the British grammar-style education system. In fact, the K-12 is the most popular type, and technical and vocational education is mainstreamed. The success of the economies of US, Singapore, Germany, France, Australia,Austria Japan and China, among others, was facilitated by workforce development led by technical education. Employers really want workers with knowledge and skills. Not just knowledge. Indeed, the new age requires adaptable workers and workers who can multitask.

So the establishment of the Tertiary Commission should be applauded because it will level the playing field and give better value and recognition for technical and vocational education. The national qualifications framework will allow for credits to be given for practical experience, competency, as well as establish equivalency standards and transferability of credits among institutions.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Global Production Engineering,Business Administration and Process Energy Environmental Systems Engineering.

It will also mean that we will have to rationalise the qualifications offered at CXC for secondary certification. This must be led by the expansion of secondary education to age 18. That is adopting the K-12 or K-13 system. That is why I fully support the concept of a senior school to age 18 called the Career Advancement Programme (CAP).So I wish to propose the integration of Basic Proficiency, CCSLC, CVQ and NVQ with CSEC General Proficiency. We would have one exam called CSEC and retain the two options of Technical Proficiency and General Proficiency. Grades four and five would represent foundational qualification, and then grades 1-3 would remain as acceptable grades for further education. But we must also reform the high-school curriculum to ensure we have a curriculum that will produce the ideal Jamaican and ideal Caribbean worker and citizen, and through these different subjects, we will have the Caribbean Secondary Diploma, based on a minimum cluster of subjects.

Secondary-level graduates should be well rounded, with the basic knowledge and skills necessary for further education or to function effectively in the workforce based on further training.Post-secondary institutions would offer higher-level training in technical and vocational education, or the normal tertiary universities or colleges. It is worthy of note that many universities, including UTech and UWI, are already seeking the transition into this new global imperative.The purpose of career and technical education is to provide a foundation of skills that enable high-school students to be gainfully employed after graduation either full time, or while continuing their education or training. Nearly two-thirds of all graduates of career and technical programmes enter some form of post-secondary programme.

Across the United States, career and technical education programmes are offered in about 11,000 comprehensive high schools, several hundred vocational-technical high schools, and about 1,400 area vocational-technical centres. Public middle schools typically offer some career and technical education courses such as family and consumer sciences and technology education. About 9,400 post-secondary institutions offer technical programmes, including community colleges, technical institutes, skill centres, and other public and private two- and four-year colleges. In 2001, there were 11 million secondary and post-secondary career and technical education students in the United States, according to the US Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

To reverse declining enrolments, career and technical education faces a twofold challenge: to restructure its programmes, and to rebuild its image. Traditional vocational programmes provided students with job-specific skills that many parents viewed as too narrow for their children.The trend is for career and technical education programmes to rethink their mission by asking how they can prepare students with high-level academic skills and the broad-based transferable skills and technical skills required for participation in the 'new economy' where adaptability is key. Programmes adopt this dual approach in an effort to make career and technical education a realistic option for large numbers of students to achieve academic success, which will translate into employment for them.

These programmes teach broad skills that are applicable to many occupations. This preparation for the world of work is anchored in strong academic skills, which students learn how to apply to real-world situations. These academic skills include the competencies needed in the contemporary workplace as well as the knowledge and skills valued by academic education and measured by state examinations.

The reality is that the academic skills needed for the workplace are often more rigorous than the academic skills required for college. The multidisciplinary approach of most work tasks and the amount of technology and information in the workplace contribute to the heightened expectations of all workers, including entry-level.For career and technical education programmes to flourish in today's test-driven school environment, they must find ways to continue to prepare students with the skills and knowledge needed in the increasingly sophisticated workplace; embed, develop, and reinforce the academic standards/benchmarks that are tested on the state-mandated assessments; and teach the essential skills that all students need for success in life.As career and technical education programmes redesign curricula to embed academic standards, their students have an advantage over other students because career and technical education students also learn how to apply these skills.

Corporate Giving to Education Abroad Needs More Coordination

American companies give roughly half a billion dollars each year to improve education in developing countries, but their efforts often lack coordination and a sustained commitment, according to a new study.The study, by the Brookings Institution, in Washington, recommends that companies work more closely with the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and education ministries in countries outside the United States. It also urges them to spend more money to help countries’ education systems recover after natural disasters and develop better ways to measure what they are trying to accomplish with their giving.The study was based on a survey of more than 500 businesses, interviews with corporate executives, and other analyses.

It found that U.S. corporate giving is the seventh largest source of money for education in developing countries, after the World Bank International Development Association and the governments of France, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan. However, big businesses’ giving to education in poorer countries is much smaller than the estimated $7-billion they spend on global health.

Among the study's other findings:

Energy and technology companies give the most to education in developing nations.
Companies tend to give relatively small grants over short periods of time.
Countries with fast-improving economies, like China and India, get the most attention, while some of the poorest countries, like those in sub-Saharan Africa, get no support at all.
Science, technology, engineering and math get more support than other types of education programs, followed by entrepreneurship and youth enterprise education, job-readiness programs, and efforts focused on women and girls.

The grand international ceremony of educational tourism awarded First Prize to the ESL organisation, specialised in the learning of languages abroad

The British publisher Hothouse Media, at the initiative of this prestigious election, the equivalent of the Oscars of the industry, has renewed its international ranking of language travel agencies, in this way proclaiming ESL Language studies abroad best agency in Europe.The fruit of a survey based on evaluations handed over by thousands of accredited language schools throughout the world, this distinction honours the work accomplished by the network of ESL agencies over the past 15 years.

This reward reflects the commitment of our employees in ensuring quality tailor-made services to those who wish to follow a language learning programme abroad. Individually prepared for their trip and followed during their course, in this way, the students take full advantage of their language study stay in the best specialised schools commented Patrick Siegenthaler, co-founder of ESL, during the announcement of the results.Created in Montreux in 1996, ESL Language studies abroad today counts 28 regional offices, guaranteeing a real proximity as well as a personalised follow-up to thousands of international students. With more than twenty foreign languages to learn in active immersion and this on the five continents, unquestionably, the organisation offers the most diversified portfolio of the industry.

Besides language study stays for students and adults, which may also be combined with professional experiences or volunteer work, ESL also proposes junior camps for children from 8 years and teenagers, language courses for executives and professionals or programmes for the over 50s. In addition, ESL proposes language courses destined for teachers initial training or continuing education courses as well as language study stays for all the members of a same family wishing to carry out active holidays.