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College Fair in Zimbabwe Encourages Students to Join International Institutions

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Drilling of a hole by students

Last week in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, eighteen representatives from universities in the US, Canada, and Spain set up a college fair to encourage students to apply to international institutions. The representatives claimed that internationally educated Zimbabweans were essential to developing the country. By studying abroad, students could return to their country to bring meaningful change to the region. Over 2,500 Zimbabweans are currently enrolled as students in US universities.

US ambassador Bruce Wharton said, “Fundamentally, we view education as an absolutely essential part of Zimbabwe’s development and progress, and we will support it in any way we can.” He later said, “If you look around even in Zimbabwe’s cabinet, business and social circles you will see that there are people who have done their PHDs with US institutions.”

The representatives are expected to tour several African countries to recruit students. The trip will include visits to Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Ghana. The journey is sponsored by the Council of International Schools (CIS).

Canadian ambassador Lisa Stadelbauer stressed that her country would offer scholarships and funds to bright Zimbabwean students, adding, “Zimbabweans are known as hardworking people and our universities are very fond of students from this country. We are committed to helping these children as well as other Zimbabweans as we have done in the past.”

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Spotlight on Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Scholarship Program

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A Saudi view of Canada Day | Amer

Established in 2005, the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) is a scholarship program for Saudi Arabians to study abroad at the undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral level. Since 2005, the program has cost US $5 billion, which makes it one of the most well-funded scholarships in the world. The scholarship pays for a three years of study, English language training, and health insurance.

The program has a hand in securing Saudi Arabia‘s economic future and its global competitiveness. According to Claude Scaldi, the Assistant Director of ESL at the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, “The scheme has been established and tailored to suit Saudi society’s needs in labour, employment, and infrastructure.” The scholarship was also public relations move following 9/11. Following 9/11, the drop in Saudi enrollment in US schools cost Saudi Arabia about $40 million.

The scholarship funds 90% of all Saudis who are studying abroad. In the 2010-2011 academic year,there were approximately 130,000 students funded across 22 countries. Originally, the program was intended to be short – only a couple of years – but it was extended in both 2007 and 2009. At this point, the program is expected to continue until 2020.

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Chinese Parents Spare No Expense for Children’s Education

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Henan_OrphanChinese parents don’t hold back when it comes to their children’s education. This is especially true of low-income, rural families who practically use every penny to provide higher education for their children. Despite the fact that there is no guarantee of employment after graduation, parents are still pushing their children.

No expense is held back when it comes to education. The school tuition cost for each year of higher education can be equivalent to six to fifteen months of labor. Additionally, there are extra costs such as housing, food, textbooks, etc. Finally, there is the cost of hiring a private instructor on subjects such as English, math, and science. These expenses can amount to over half of a family’s annual income. In the rural parts of China, it is difficult for children to get scholarships or financial aid from the government, which can force parents to pay for everything out of pocket.

Still, rural parents are willing to pay for the extra expenses to ensure that their children do not fall behind in their education in comparison to children living in big cities. The main reason most parents strain their pockets for their children’s education is to ensure they find employment, especially if such a job could allow their child to support their parents in return.

One parent, Cao Weiping, described to The New York Times the struggles that her daughter, Wu Caoying, goes through at school and at home. “Every time my daughter calls home, she says, ‘I don’t want to continue this.’ And I say, ‘You’ve got to keep studying to take care of us when we get old’, and she says, ‘That’s too much pressure, I don’t want to think about all that responsibility,’” she said.

Despite the fact that China is moving ahead in number of college graduates compared to the United States, this number is growing too fast for their economy, such that there is a difficulty in finding employment for many recent young graduates. Even if jobs are found, there is still the hardship of finding a job that will pay one enough to support a comfortable lifestyle, while also supporting parents.

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Gifted Children in Malaysia Benefit from New, Targeted Program

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Students

The PERMATApintar Centre has provided new opportunities for gifted students in Malaysia. Beginning in 2008, a camp for eight to 15-year-old children has taken place every summer. Last year, 15 and 16-year-olds were invited to a new gifted school, which was created in collaboration with Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youths.

The Center hopes to cater to the diverse range of gifted learners. Classes will be balanced between left- and right-brain stimulation, while also keeping in mind that students can be gifted in a few areas or several.

Scholarship and citizenship have been offered as a means of allowing gifted children to enroll in the school. The school screens each student with two online tests and one face-to-face test to ensure that their potential will be met and that all gifted children receive an invitation to attend the school.

The creator of the program said, “It is our duty to provide the right environment for children to grow to their optimum potential…It is imperative that we do so because gifted and talented individuals are valuable assets of any country.”

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Taiwan Offering Scholarships to Attract International Students

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Taiwan - The Heart of Asia

Taiwan’s National Science Council (NSC) and Academia Sinica, as part of the Overseas Technology Talent Recruitment Program, have launched a public-private scholarship program worth USD $5 million in order to boost the falling number of Taiwanese students studying abroad. The $5 million will benefit 116 doctoral and postdoctoral students from 2013 to 2016, helping them study at the world’s top 30 universities.
In 2010, 33,900 Taiwanese students studied abroad. This year, that number has decreased to 24,000, the lowest it’s been in ten years. This is a problem because as fewer students study abroad at top universities, Taiwan has fewer highly skilled professionals. Fewer skilled professionals negatively affects the economy. On the flip side, Taiwan is also looking to attract more international students to its schools. The goal is to have 95,000 international students in Taiwan by 2014.

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Higher Ed Officials Face Big Challenges in Southern Africa

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South Africa, Soshanguve: EducationIn southern Africa, universities face various challenges to the development and maintenance of schools, leading to a need for policies revolving around the institutions. Universities in the Southern African Development Community hope to improve and expand throughout southern Africa to benefit more students.

“It is apparent that our higher education system in the region is not growing sufficiently in either size or capacity to meet the demand of a growing population of youth,” said the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training.

With a lack of diversity in academics and less than adequate training, the programs and universities will receive recommendations for change from the committee. Recommendations already discussed are the necessity to expand indigenous languages research and scholarship.

Greater funding is needed for aiding the universities, who may face a call for collaborative projects in the future. The hope also remains to increase internet access for the universities.

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50 Ghanaian Women Receive Scholarships For Stellar BECE Scores

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Young women and students in front of a map of Ghana50 young women who earned excellent marks on their 2011 BECEs (Basic Education Certificate Examinations) have received scholarships from the World Food Program and the Ghana Education Service. The scholarships will help them continue their studies in Senior High School.

The scholarship program was created to offset an educational gender disparity: young women are far more likely to drop out so their numbers are fewer at higher levels of education. The program aims to encourage young women to stay in school by rewarding their hard work. This year, the recipients were chosen primarily from the Northern Region, as both the Upper East and Upper West regions have higher gender representation than national averages.

The scholarship program began in 2001 and, at that time, could only benefit three students. Since then, it has benefitted 269 young women, allowing them to continue their educations and help their communities.

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In China, Israel Launches Scholarships for Science

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Shaking Hands Representatives of the Israeli Council for Higher Education (CHE) announced the creation of a scholarship program that will encourage Chinese students to study abroad in Israel.  The announcement came at a meeting in the Israeli Embassy in Beijing.

The new program will provide 120 grants totaling USD $10.5 million and is part of a five-year plan that will strengthen the relationship between China and Israel and promote joint research projects between the two nations, something that began with a 2007 research agreement.

Director-General of the CHE Professor Manuel Trajtenberg said, “Within that context, the context of increasing our strategic links with China in this area, we have essentially drawn a plan, an initial plan that consists of three elements. One is bringing to Israel and giving scholarships to post-doctorate young researchers; the second is [to] bring to Israel Chinese students to study undergraduate programs and master’s programs; and the third is a collaboration in research.”

For now, the program is primarily for those students studying sciences, but there is room for future growth. According to Professor Trajtenberg, “Essentially we want to open our universities to Chinese students for all fields according to their interests.”

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