Brexit is looming, but there is still much for the higher education sector to be positive about, such as a high prioritisation of research collaboration, according to a panel of industry experts who spoke recently at the Cambridge Assessment English international admissions seminar. Representatives from Universities UK International, UCAS, British Council, QS and some of the UK’s leading HEIs shared the viewpoints on the topic of discussion: ‘Brexit – one year later’. While a full analysis of 2017 EU applicant numbers is not due to be published by UCAS until later this year, UCAS international marketing manager Mark Wilson said initial findings show that some of the anxiety about Brexit has passed. “Students still have access to loans and Brexit is going to be a long and drawn out process, so I think many are just getting on with their studies and the UK remains a choice for a decent number of EU students,” he said. – Kerrie Kennedy, The PIE News. Read more

In what has become a familiar pattern in the US in the past several years, published tuition and fee prices increased at a relatively low, steady rate this year – but financial aid again failed to keep up, resulting in students paying more to attend college. Tuition and fees increased by less than 2 per cent between 2016-17 and 2017-18 after adjusting for inflation, according to new College Board reports. Private non-profit four-year institutions’ average published tuition and fees increased by 1.9 per cent, to $34,740, in 2017-18, after adjusting for inflation. Public four-year institutions’ tuition and fees rose by 1.3 per cent, to $9,970. Public two-year colleges’ tuition and fees increased by 1.1 per cent year over year, to $3,570. Yet the prices students end up paying in tuition and fees still marched upward in 2017-18 as grant aid and tax benefits did not keep pace with rising prices. – Rick Seltzer, Inside Higher Ed. Read more

Concerned by criminal and terror networks, Kenyan authorities are tightening up regulations relating to the entry of foreign students – all of whom will from January 2018 require police clearance before being considered for admission into a Kenyan higher education institution. The move comes in the wake of a deadly attack on a bus carrying students and staff of the Technical University of Mombasa. Gordon Kihalangwa, of the Kenyan Directorate of Immigration and Registration of Persons, said the aim of the new regulations was to crack down on criminal networks dominated by foreigners. He said the police certificate will be a confirmation that foreigners have not been involved in criminal activities such as fraud or terrorism. – Christabel Ligami, University World News. Read more

The most popular EU country for mobility with German students is Austria, according to data released by the German Federal Agency for statistics. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom follow in second and third. Among the 95,000 German students who had a study place in the EU abroad according to the currently available data, nearly 27,000 Germans were enrolled in Austrian universities. The Netherlands (22,000) and Great Britain (17,000) were also popular. In turn, at the beginning of the winter term 2014-2015, there were almost 70,000 students from EU countries at German universities – the largest group also from Austria, followed by French and Italians. – Stefan Vetter, WZ. Read more

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, in 2016-17 the number of university instructors increased by 4.6 per cent to 72,792 lecturers. Despite this increase, Vietnamese universities are struggling to find qualified teachers, especially those holding doctoral degrees. The majority of applicants are masters degree holders, so universities fall short of meeting their quotas for lecturers with PhD degrees. One of the reasons for the shortage is the low pay for lecturers in Vietnam. Holders of advanced degrees often have better employment opportunities in other fields. – World Education News and Reviews. Read more