foreign students

United States: California sues Trump over rules to deport foreign students home if colleges offer online-only classes

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North America/United States/12-05-2020/Author and Source: www.rt.com

California has joined several Ivy League schools in challenging immigration rules that would send foreign students back if they can’t attend classes in person, claiming such a requirement would only spread Covid-19.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced on Thursday that the state will file a legal challenge against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), over their recent clarification of the rule that foreign exchange students would have to leave the US if their schools operate online-only classes.

“Today’s lawsuit rests on America’s enduring principle that everyone who works hard and plays by the rules can earn a chance to get ahead,” said Becerra, flanked by California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, and California State University Chancellor Timothy White.

Becerra’s move comes after Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) filed their own lawsuit in a federal court in Boston on Wednesday. Both petitions seek injunctions barring the federal government from enforcing the rule, in a tactic previously used to block the implementation of travel bans and visa restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, the DHS and ICE published new guidance on foreign students’ status, clarifying that their visas will not be valid if the institutions they attend offer only virtual courses. Though the Trump administration ultimately prevailed, the cases went all the way up to the US Supreme Court and took years to resolve.

Asked about the rule, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany pointed out that visas weren’t being issued for online classes such as offered by the University of Phoenix, and that online-only classes from Harvard would be no different.

International students are a major cash cow for US universities, however, as they tend to pay full tuition rather than the discounted or loan-subsidized price most American students end up paying. California’s interest in maintaining this pipeline is understandable, since there were around 162,000 international students in the state last year.

This profit motive was pointed out by some advocates for “undocumented” students – illegal immigrants whom California treats like legal residents for the purpose of tuition – who say that it’s notable the colleges are protesting “xenophobia” only when it hits their affluent foreign students as opposed to “undocs.”

Source and Image: https://www.rt.com/usa/494325-california-lawsuit-international-students/

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Japan to toughen eligibility standards for Japanese-language schools

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Asia/ Japan/ 06.07.2019/ Source: www.japantimes.co.jp.

The Immigration Services Agency said Thursday it will toughen eligibility standards for Japanese-language schools that can accept foreign students, effective Sept. 1.

The stricter standards will require 70 percent or more of the students who complete the courses to proceed to universities, get jobs in Japan or certify through outside testing that their Japanese ability is above daily conversation levels.

Schools that fail to meet the requirement for three straight years will not be allowed to accept new foreign students.

The tougher standards are aimed at preventing foreign people from coming into the country with a study visa for the purpose of making money, as well as to improve the quality of Japanese-language education in the country.

The move comes as the number of foreign workers in the country is expected to continue increasing following the introduction of a new visa program in April.

Under the new standards, the minimum requirement for the average student’s attendance rate will be revised from 50 percent or more in a month to 70 percent or more over a six-month period. Schools failing to meet this threshold will not be able to accept new students.

Foreign students will be asked to inform schools about their part-time jobs, and information about students who miss more than half of classes in a month must be reported to the agency.

Japanese-language schools used to have to undergo eligibility checks only when they are established. But under the new standards, they will be checked every year.

The number of Japanese-language schools in the country recognized by the government rose 1.6 times over the past five years to 747 as of Thursday.

Source of the notice: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/08/01/national/japan-tighten-japanese-language-school-standards/#.XUi17OgzbIU

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Foreign students up 4,5 % in french tertiary institutions

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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/

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Reino Unido: There are 95% fewer illegal student migrants than Britain thought

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Europa/Inglaterra/ economist.com

Resumen: En 2015, Sir James Dyson, inventor y empresario, atacó a Theresa May, entonces secretaria de familia, sobre sus planes de hacer más difícil que los estudiantes extranjeros permanezcan en Gran Bretaña después de terminar sus estudios. Después de todo, las «últimas encuestas» mostraban que decenas de miles estudiantes llegaban más en comparación de los que salían cada año. La implicación: Gran Bretaña tenía ya bastantes graduados extranjeros que se mantienen alrededor. Ahora está claro que el argumento de la Sra. May era absurdo. Sus números provienen de la encuesta internacional de pasajeros, una encuesta realizada hace medio siglo para medir el turismo. El 24 de agosto surgió que el número de estudiantes que excedían ilegalmente sus visas era una pequeña fracción de las estimaciones anteriores. Las cifras de la Oficina de Estadísticas Nacionales han sugerido que podría haber habido más de 90.000 excedentes por año. Los nuevos datos mostraron que había un máximo de 4.617 en 2016-17.

That error led to a needless, costly crackdown on universities 

IN 2015 Sir James Dyson, an inventor and businessman, attacked Theresa May, then home secretary, over her plans to make it harder for foreign students to stay in Britain after finishing their studies. “Train ’em up. Kick ’em out. It’s a bit shortsighted, isn’t it?” he wrote. Not so, replied Mrs May. After all, the “latest surveys” showed that tens of thousands more students arrived than left each year. The implication: Britain already had more than enough foreign graduates hanging around.

It is now clear that Mrs May’s argument was nonsense. Her numbers came from the International Passenger Survey, a poll introduced half a century ago to measure tourism. On August 24th it emerged that the number of students illegally overstaying their visas was a small fraction of previous estimates. Figures from the Office for National Statistics had suggested there could have been more than 90,000 overstayers per year. New data showed that there were at most 4,617 in 2016-17.

Some have questioned why it took so long for the information to come out. One former Downing Street official admits to having been briefed on an earlier version of the data in autumn 2015. Universities have nevertheless welcomed the release, grateful for a new way to make the case for international students. They have not had much luck in recent years. During Mrs May’s time at the Home Office she introduced a range of policies to deter foreign students, often justified by the number overstaying their visas.

Perhaps most damagingly, in 2012 the government scrapped a visa that allowed graduates to remain in the country for two years without a job offer. Other changes include stricter limits on bringing over family members, making it harder to move from one type of study to another, tougher language requirements and uncompromising “credibility interviews”.

While Britain was making life harder for foreign students, other countries wooed them. As a result, British institutions now have a smaller share of a larger market. International student numbers have continued to rise at Britain’s top universities, but the rest have found recruitment difficult. The number coming from India and Pakistan has more than halved since 2011, and although a big rise in Chinese students has made up the difference, growth has been slower than in America.

The economy has suffered as a result. The Department for Education found that higher-education exports were worth £12.4bn ($20.6bn) in 2014. In 2000-10 the number of foreign students at British universities almost doubled, helping to finance a big expansion in education for home students. Whereas students from Britain and other EU countries have their fees limited to £9,250 a year, no such cap exists for the rest.

Other benefits are harder to measure. According to the Higher Education Policy Institute, more heads of state and government have been educated in Britain than anywhere else. Benazir Bhutto, a future prime minister of Pakistan, introduced Mrs May to her husband at Oxford.

Liberals in the cabinet may now be gaining the upper hand. The government has dropped plans to link visa conditions to the quality of education provided by universities. Amber Rudd, the home secretary, has commissioned the official Migration Advisory Committee to analyse the economic impact of foreign students and is expected to push for softer rules.

One change would be to remove students from the government’s target to limit net migration to under 100,000 a year. Another would be to extend the time graduates are allowed to spend hunting for a job in Britain. Either would be welcome. But a more sensible government would look at how to recruit more foreign students, not just refrain from turning them away.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline «A costly mistake»
Fuente: https://www.economist.com/news/britain/21727938-error-led-needless-costly-crackdown-universities-there-are-95-fewer-illegal
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