Access tertiary education

Foreign students up 4,5 % in french tertiary institutions

Noticias

Europe/ Francia/ 08.10.2018/ Source: thepienews.com.

There were 343,400 foreign students in the French higher education system, signalling a growth of 4.5% since 2016 according to figures released by the Ministry of Education.

The number of foreign students in tertiary education in France has grown 18% since 2012 and almost doubled between 2000 and 2017, the ministry document states.

“France presents an alternative to the [Anglophone] model of higher education”

“We are thrilled to see that French universities continue to attract many students coming from abroad and we hope that the trend will continue to grow,” Campus France’s director of communications Florent Bonaventure told The PIE News.

There are many factors behind the growth, Bonaventure explained. Beyond the quality of French higher education and its growing international reputation – and increased visibility in university rankings –  France has seen a rapid growth of English-taught programs and offers a cost-effective alternative to other destination countries, he said.

International students, Bonaventure explained, are treated the same as French or EU students, with the same fees, the same social security, and the same insurance regulations.

“France presents an alternative to the [Anglophone] model of higher education,” Bonaventure said.

“Education is of high quality, its research is known worldwide – see the Make our Planet Great Again program in natural science and climate change, for instance – and it is cheap for students as it is highly subsidised by the French state. France is also famous for its quality of life,”

According to the ministry figures, about half international students are from an African country, while 22% are from Europe ( 18% from the EU), 21% from the Asia-Pacific and 9% from the Americas.

All students who declared a nationality other than French are included in these figures, which include all foreign students already living in France, and also excludeS? exchange students.

Universities are by far the most popular institutions – that’s where over 70% of international students are enrolled, making up 14.6% of the student population.

The proportion of international students was shown to be varied across educational levels, though it was growing at postgraduate and doctorate level.

International students represent 11.6% of undergrad enrolments, 17% of master’s and 41% of doctorate level students.

The proportion of students who haven’t completed secondary education in France also grew: they make up 65.7% of international students at undergraduate level, 83% at postgraduate and 92% at doctorate level.

“[Along with EMI courses] Students have the opportunity to learn French while in France”

At university, the percentages of students from various countries vary only slightly: almost one international student in every five is from the EU (18.6%) and one from Asia (18.6%), while half are from Africa (49.9%).

Again, the proportion of students from a specific nationality varies across the study level. Asian students are overrepresented at PhD level, where they make up the 29.8% of all international students, and 55.3% of international students at master’s level are from Africa.

The most numerous nationality is Algeria, followed by Morocco and China – but while Algeria and Morocco register a strong growth from 2016, numbers from China are stagnating. There are slightly fewer students from Morocco and China in universities than in other tertiary education institutions.

Among European students, Italy is the most represented nationality, followed by Germany, Spain and Portugal.

In general, international students prefer literary disciplines (31.3%), followed by the sciences (29.1%) and economics (17.8%). Students from Africa show a slightly different trend, with most oriented towards the sciences (35.5%).

As for the future, Bonaventure said Campus France is planning on welcoming more students coming from Francophone countries, especially in Africa, and further promoting France as a study destination in non-Francophone countries, such as China, Vietnam, India, Brazil and African and Middle Eastern countries.

  1. “Universities have developed many English taught programs tailored for them and students have the opportunity to learn French while in France,” he said.

Source of the notice: https://thepienews.com/news/foreign-students-up-4-5-in-french-tertiary-institutions-figures-reveal/

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

EEUU:I Disapprove of School Vouchers. Can I Still Apply for Them?

Noticias

Por: nytimes.com/Kwame Anthony Appiah/ 11-04-2018

My son attends preschool part time at a private Montessori school, which goes up to middle school. I like the school, and he is very happy there, but I can’t afford to keep him there when he starts kindergarten full time.

I believe that free public education is an important aspect of our society. Our local public elementary school is generally considered a decent option, but I worry about how standardized testing has changed the public-school landscape in recent decades. My son is thriving in his current environment, and the approach of traditional public schools is significantly different from Montessori’s. If money were no object, I would strongly consider keeping him at his current school.

Our state has a school-voucher program, which uses public money to help low-income families pay for private-school tuition. My family would probably qualify. But I believe that taxpayer dollars would be better spent to fortify public-school systems and should not be funneled to private schools. Given my beliefs, may I apply for a school voucher? Name Withheld

Looking after your son’s interests is a special obligation you have as a parent. “Special obligation” is a philosopher’s term, but it simply means that you have duties to him, arising out of your relationship, that you don’t have to other children. You’re not merely entitled to put his education first; you’re obliged to do so. You should feel free to use whatever legal means there are to get him a great education, including vouchers — unless you think they are so wicked that your participation in them would amount to condoning evil. If you just think the voucher program is bad policy, then join the campaign against it. That’s the right way to voice your judgments about the merits of educational policy. You don’t want to sacrifice your son’s education to abstract principle, especially given that you’re not going to end the voucher program by failing to make use of it. Our roles as parents, friends, employees and citizens can make conflicting calls on us.

But be sure you’re right about what’s in your child’s best interests. You should take a closer look at your local public elementary school, and not content yourself with the general skepticism you express about the “public-school landscape” and the effects of “standardized testing.” If it turns out that the private option isn’t obviously better, you can bring your beliefs as a citizen into a more natural alignment with your duties as a parent.

My children are currently in private school, although both were in public school for many years, and my younger one may switch back to public school for high school. I’m a big supporter of public education, so I was already feeling guilty about my choice — and then the federal tax bill passed in December. New tax rules allow pretax 529 savings accounts to be used not just for higher education but also for private precollege education. What should I do, if I want to do all I can to be a public-school ally? It seems there are three options: 1) Not take the tax deduction; 2) Take the deduction and give the money I save to the P.T.A. of a local underresourced public school or an organization working to improve public education; or 3) Take the deduction, figuring that as an N.Y.C. resident it will help offset the huge increase I expect to see in my taxes.Name Withheld

 Under the new federal tax act, you can withdraw up to $10,000 a year from a 529 savings account to pay for a student’s private precollege education. Vouchers lite! Previously, these accounts could be used only for higher education. But the way that the relevant “deduction” works hasn’t changed. When you pay into these accounts in New York State, your state income-tax liability is reduced up to a limit of $5,000 for a single person or $10,000 for a couple. Once in the fund, your money grows federal- and state-tax-deferred; but you don’t have to pay taxes when you take the money out, if it’s for a qualified educational expense. (The details here, as with much tax law, get complicated, but this is the basic picture.) You may well be paying into one of these funds already for your child’s college education and getting the maximum state-tax deduction. If so, this particular change in the tax law should not affect your income taxes very much.

Of course, any money you take out in the next few years won’t be available later for college expenses and won’t have compounded for long. Still, the new federal law does encourage you to save for private school as well as college in one of these funds. If things remain as they are, the federal provision that increases the use of these funds threatens to reduce state income-tax revenue. Then again, a “preliminary report” from New York’s tax department suggests that K-12 payments may not be considered qualified educational expenses and that the state could recapture any associated tax benefits. And, as you’re aware, this new use for 529 funds may do little to offset the loss to you that comes from no longer being able to deduct more than $10,000 in state property and income taxes from your federally taxable income.

None of that is ethics, though. My ethical view is you should take all the tax deductions you’re legally entitled to. Many features of our tax system are ridiculous; many are the product of lobbying without much regard for the public good. But you don’t have a duty to pay more than you are required to by law just because you and people like you are benefiting from bad policies, any more than you have the right to pay less than you’re required to when you take a hit from bad policies. The right thing to aim for is tax reform that makes the system fairer. (We will all have our own views about whether the recent tax reforms did that. Count me a skeptic.)

You’re already helping to pay for New York’s public schools through your taxes. Your choice to give your children a private education doesn’t lessen your financial support for public schools. If you want to lend additional assistance to public schools without sending your kids to them, you can, as you say, support the local P.T.A. You can also pay attention when voting for candidates for public office and vote for those who will do their best for those schools. And you could lobby your state to make sure that it excludes deductions related to 529 funds used for K-12 expenses — deductions that encourage people with your sort of income to leave the public schools. With more people like you as parents, those schools might provide better education for all our children.

*Fuente: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/magazine/i-disapprove-of-school-vouchers-can-i-still-apply-for-them.html

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Making education meaningful and relevant in African countries

Noticias

African/October 24, 2017/Source: http://www.iran-daily.com

In Africa, achieving a meaningful and relevant education means addressing a web of challenges in society in order to attain a transformative outcome.

However, only 43 percent of young people have access to secondary education and only eight percent can access tertiary education, according to UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report, 2016, newtimes.co.rw wrote.

Thus, in order to achieve a more educated population, a higher retention of more girls and young women in schools, especially those pursuing the sciences, will contribute to social transformation.

Given the huge education gap between the number of boys and girls studying sciences, a disruption in traditional mindsets must occur. Young women need to be at the forefront alongside young men when it comes to making change.

Linah Divine Icyezumutima is a Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM) student at FAWE School and one of the secondary school scholars that The MasterCard Foundation supports through FAWE Rwanda. She chose to study science subjects because she wants to become a pilot.

“When I was still young, I remember, I saw it fly in the skies. I was told that it was an animal. So I used to run and hide because I was terrified! But after I knew what it was, I loved watching it fly in the sky as a child. I always thought to myself, why can’t I be the one to fly that thing,” Icyezumutima narrated her childhood experience with airplanes.

Nevertheless, it has not been a smooth road for the seventeen-year-old Icyezumutima. Three years ago, Icyezumutima was an O’Level candidate when her mother passed away. This was a huge blow to her studies as her hopes for tuition were dashed.

“It was really difficult when my mother died. Even though my father is alive, he doesn’t care that much because he has another wife and he doesn’t know such kinds of stories about us. So I went to live with my grandmother in Byumba,” she said.

Together with her older brother and younger sister, they were taken in by their grandmother who cultivates land to take care of them. She appeared to be the end of her education. And, despite doing her national exams while carrying the grief of her mother’s death, she excelled. She was located by FAWE Rwanda for the Scholars program and is an A’Level candidate today.

Speaking about the challenges that girls face with pursuing education in the science field, Icyezumutima said it was a matter of perspective and determination.

“Rwanda is developing and I just feel comfortable with my country and this is what motivates me to inspire other girls to reach for their goals. Your past does not determine your destiny, you have to be focused and know what you want to achieve. Give your best effort and reach your goals,” she said.

Ivy Mwai is the Senior Program Manager, Education and Learning at The MasterCard Foundation that works to make education relevant and meaningful by investing $800 million to support 35,000 scholars globally. The bulk of these students are African in both secondary and Tertiary institutions, with a few in Lebanon and Costa Rica.

“Historically, girls have not been encouraged to pursue sciences but have always been told that science subjects are for boys and difficult, and that girls should stick to simple subjects. Yet there are many young women who have a lot of potential and interest in science subjects,” Mwai said.

“We have been very intentional about supporting young women overall, particularly those in sciences so that they can pursue their studies without any distractions. This way, they can join some of the finest schools both at secondary and tertiary levels,” she said.

Emphasising girls’ education comes with greater returns because when girls are educated, families benefit more. Girls are more likely than their counterparts to raise their family’s income, stay healthy and participate in uplifting their community once they are educated. This is why two-thirds of all the MasterCard Scholars are women — at 66 percent.

“We believe that women are a living science everyday and once they are able to practice and especially do it in school they are able to contribute even greater in their economies, communities and ideas that will change the world,” Mwai said.

“If you look at AIMS (Africa Institute of Mathematics and Sciences), their catch-phrase is, ‘The next Einstein will be African’; but we like to add, ‘An African woman’ to it”, she said.

The challenge for the Foundation has been finding the right kind of scholars, those who are most vulnerable and yet with so much potential. They facilitate the ability for some partners to hire more people to go to the grassroots and connect with organizations there to go beyond the limited context within which they operate. This means expanding their inclusivity and equity within the program to reach the populations by cutting across geographic limitations, marginalized people, those with disabilities, gender and bringing in those who would traditionally not be able to access education in sciences.

Through supporting the existing programs of their partners the Foundation’s scholars program enables young women to pursue their education dreams. In Rwanda, they partner with CMU-A (Carnergie Melon University-Africa), AIMS (Africa Institute of Mathematics and Sciences), ALU (Africa Leadership University) and FAWE Rwanda through whom they support over 1200 high school students.

Source:

http://www.iran-daily.com/News/202853.html

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »