1 August 2011
Prepared by AEI China
This information summarises recent Chinese media reports relating to education. It does not represent the views of the Australian Government.
Fortnightly news snapshot
Late July saw significant positive media coverage surrounding the establishment of the Overseas Students Ombudsman in Australia, and the recent visit to China by Mr Barry O'Farrell, Premier of NSW. Late July also saw negative coverage commenting on the NSW Government policy of withholding traffic concessions from international students, which was triggered by a recent letter between NSW politicians.
Chinese media outlets reported on recent education developments and policy updates within China. Chinese commentators noted concerns relating to the recent international education exhibition in Beijing, in particular the organisation of the exhibition and the behaviour of some education agents.
Relevant coverage relating to the UK included the introduction of a new joint-scholarship between the Agriculture Bank of China and the Cambridge Overseas Trust, and reports on the growing number of burglaries in the UK which have impacted on Chinese students.
Relevant coverage on Canadian education engagement with China included reports of the weibo-based interview with officials of the Canadian Embassy, and the visit to China by Mr John Baird, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister.
From 18 July 2011, AEI China has enabled comments on the AEI weibo. A summary of the weibo comments received has been included in this report.
Australian Related Coverage
Overseas Students Ombudsman
Australia actively lobbying major student source countries to encourage monitoring of education agents
Australia establishes Overseas Students Ombudsman
Media coverage regarding Australian education reported on the establishment of the Overseas Students Ombudsman (OSO). The coverage provided an informative introduction to the new OSO, including an overview of the responsibilities and obligations of the OSO. Some of the articles utilised information from the AEI weibo OSO posts and information from the Australian Embassy’s website.
Chinese media outlets widely republished an article from the Australian reporting the lobbying role the OSO has been undertaking with overseas countries. The article stated that the OSO was lobbying major source countries to more closely monitor the activities of education agents in order to protect students offshore from misleading information. The article reported that the OSO had already held talks with authorities in India and Malaysia, and is planning to talk with authorities in China, Korea, Brazil, Thailand and Vietnam.
NSW Premier’s visit to China
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell’s visits Jiao Tong University.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell’s visited China
Mr Barry O’Farrell, Premier of NSW visited China during July and this visit received positive media coverage. Chinese media reported that selecting China as the destination for his first overseas visit as Premier showed that the NSW government placed great importance on the relationship with China. Some of the coverage was generated by the education institutions Mr. O’Farrell visited, such as Jiao Tong University. Other reports mentioned that a number of memoranda of understanding between NSW and People’s Government of Guangdong Province were signed and other deals, such as a promotion campaign for NSW with Hainan Airlines were signed with Chinese partners.
Criticism of withholding travel concessions from international students
NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian has been criticised for saying that international students were rich so they did not need traffic concessions
‘International students were rich so they did not need traffic concessions’ State government only takes but does not give.
Chinese media outlets have reported heavily on the NSW Government’s policy relating to transport concessions for international students, as a result of a letter between NSW politicians.
As widely reported in both Chinese and Australian media outlets, Ms Gladys Berejiklian, NSW Transport Minister wrote to Ms Clover Moore, NSW member for Sydney on 17 June 2011 regarding transport concessions for international students. Ms Berejklian wrote that : "Full-fee paying overseas tertiary students are not eligible for half-fare concessions because, in order to obtain the relevant visa for Australia, they [international students] have indicated they have enough money to cover living expenses for the duration of their stay''.
This comment has again brought the issue of traffic concessions for international students into the spotlight and has drawn heavy media attention. Media attention has been quite negative, with many Chinese reports titled: Australian official said International students were rich, so they do not need traffic concessions. The Chinese articles, which included quotes from stakeholders such as the University of Sydney education deputy vice-chancellor Derrick Armstrong, mainly made the following comments:
Quoting an article in the Australian, Chinese media outlets also reported that the policy of withholding travel concessions from international students also received criticism from within Australia.
Reputation of Australian international education
Australian international education had an image problem, and called for attention on students’ welfare.
Chinese media outlets have translated articles from the Australian Media relating to a speech delivered by Mr Graeme Innes, Australian Human Rights Commissioner during the Building an International Education Strategy conference. According to the report Innes claimed that recent negative coverage regarding safety issues and racism has resulted in an image problem for Australia’s international education sector which has damaged Australia’s ability to recruit international students. Innes called for the Australian community to face this problem and rebuild Australia’s reputation. The article also mentioned that the minimum standards for international students’ welfare in Australia were scheduled to be released at the end of this year.
Students rushed to cheaper private institutions in Australia, the number of students increased but the VET quality might not be guaranteed
Quoting a report in the Australian media, the Chinese article reported that education reform in Victoria has increased the enrolment rate. However the report also claimed that reform resulted in many students choosing to attend cheaper private schools, which has impacted on the education quality. The article reported that more than half of the 500 TAFE teachers interviewed said that they were pressured to award qualifications to students even though they did not meet the academic requirements. The TAFEs were reported trying to cut costs in order to compete with the private institutions in the open market. The Chinese articles did not add further comments.
Australia-China education relationship
Education and training relationship strengthened between Australia and China
During July the NSW Department of Education and Communities (DEC) International hosted the TAFE NSW Australian vocational education and training forum. Conducted in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the forum aimed at affirming and strengthening the ties between Chinese education institutions and DEC in the schools and vocational education sectors.
China Related Coverage
Chinese Government reforms to VET schools
RMB 1.37 billion the central government funds for model secondary VET schools
The Chinese central government has invested RMB 1.37 billion (approximately AUD 196 million) for 276 model secondary VET schools to carry out curriculum reform, increase education collaboration with enterprises and build the teacher workforce.
From 2010 to 2013, RMB 10 billion (equivalent to AUD 1.44 billion) will be allocated from the central government to 1000 secondary VET schools for improving the education quality and for implementing education reforms, which include promoting the cooperation between factories and education institutions and integrating internship component into the curriculum.
Greater links between China’s education institutions
Signing ceremony for establishing sister-college relationships takes place in Beijing.
On Wednesday 20 July 2011, the signing ceremony for establishing sister-college relationships between the education institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Education and the education institutions affiliated to the China's State Ethnic Affairs Commission took place in Beijing. Mr Du Yubo, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Education attended the ceremony and delivered a speech.
Agreements were signed between the following institutions:
Establishment of Renmin University research centre
Establishment of joint education and public policy research centre between the Ministry of Education and Renmin University
Five research centres for educational planning and strategy development have been jointly established by the Ministry of Education and universities. These research centres have been established in order to implement the Outline of Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2011). These research centres include:
The Ministry of Education Vice-Minister LU Xin said that these five centres are the think tanks for the MoE’s Leading Party Group and will assist the MoE’s Leading Party Group to serve the government departments and commissions, especially national macroeconomic divisions.
Additional TOEFL exam
An additional TOEFL exam date added on August 28th by the ETS
In the year 2011, the ETS together with Chinese Ministry of Education Examination Centre will hold 36 internet-based TOEFL tests in China, offering nearly 260,000 seats. Due to high demand during summer, an additional examination date was announced on 28 August 2011, providing another 5600 seats across China.
International education exhibition
Education agents ruined the education exhibitions
Which kind of education exhibitions are needed
Late July saw negative media coverage relating to recent education exhibitions. The international education exhibition in Beijing was described as chaos, with education agents and language school representatives significantly outnumbering those from high quality education institutions. Media commentators also reported that apart from students and parents, many of the visitors were seeking business cooperation opportunities or promotional activities.
Media reports questioned the effectiveness of the exhibitions, claiming that students and their parents walked out of the exhibitions with piles of flyers, without being provided with authentic and useful information. Some commentators also claimed that some education agents’ behaved deceptively, for example promising the students university offers regardless their academic levels, which degraded the exhibitions.
One education agent questioned the effectiveness of the international education exhibition, stating that they recruited most of their students from their own education exhibitions.
International study destinations of Chinese students
For the first half year: Studying in the US was popular. Changes seen for Japan and UK international education
Chinese media provided a review of student applications for the first half of 2011 to three major destinations (not including Australia).
The first half year of 2011 saw a sharp rise by approximately 40% in the number of student applications to the US.
The number of students going to the UK grew at a lower rate of 10%, which seems to be due to the new student immigration policies.
The number of student applications to the Japan has fallen sharply because of the earth quake and Nuclear Power Plant Crisis. Sources from the education agent provided an optimistic forecast, saying that Japan is still an attractive destination in the long term, and foreign students began returning to Japan within 3 months of the incident.
UK Related Coverage
Joint Scholarship between Chinese and UK institutions
Agriculture Bank of China and the Cambridge Overseas Trust scholarship launched
In July a new joint-scholarship between the Agriculture Bank of China (ABC) and Cambridge Overseas Trust received a considerable amount of media attention. Mr Sebastian Wood, UK Ambassador to China and Mr Patrick Horgan, Counsellor (Education) of the British Embassy attended the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding for the ABC-Cambridge Scholarship.
During the ceremony, Mr Wood provided an overview of the scholarship, and explained that the scholarships had been created to provide outstanding students from all over the world the opportunity to study in Cambridge, regardless their socio-economic backgrounds.
Each year the scholarship will support ten Chinese students from low-income families to Cambridge for master degree programs.
Chinese student concerns
Increasing burglaries in the UK, overseas students often lost their laptops and cell phones
Chinese media has reported on burglaries and robberies in the UK that have affected Chinese students. According to the report although during the last year there were no serious attacks such as murders or kidnaps targeting Chinese students in the UK, the students were worried about the increase in robberies, which was reportly attributed to the high unemployment rate. It’s said that many students have been robbed on the streets or their houses have been burgled. The students’ cell phones, bicycles and laptops were often targeted in robberies.
Canada related coverage
China’s Minister of Education, Yuan Guiren meets with Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird
Minister John Baird Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister met with Minister Yuan Guiren, China’s Minister of Education, 19 July 2011 in Beijing. Minister Yuan said education cooperation is an integral part of China-Canada relationship, and provided an overview of Chinese education reform and development. Minister Baird said Canada placed great importance on the education exchange and cooperation with China, and wished his visit would further expand such education cooperation.
Canadian universities admission and course selection
Education officials of the Canadian Embassy reveal the courses with the most promising future for students studying in Canada
Officials from the Canadian Embassy, including Ms. Ivy Lerner-Frank, Counsellor (Education), participated in a one hour weibo-based interview. The interview transcript was widely reprinted by the media outlets as official advice on study in Canada. Topics covered in the interview included university admission and English language requirements, scholarships, college major choices, life and the cost of living in Canada.
Decreased approval rates for Canadian student visas
Approval rate of Canada student visa decreased
Among the positive coverage reporting the current Canada visa policies, there were articles reporting that visa approval rates decreased due to an increase in the number of applications. The article also mentioned a decrease in Australian visa approval rates, and said this was due to false documents being detected during the telephone checks.
Summary of the comments on the AEI China weibo
AEI China enabled comments on the weibo on 18 July 2011, and a total of 71 comments have been received. The most popular topics occurred in the comments were visa policies, new initiatives (eg. OSO and updated SIA website). AEI also received enquiries regarding the scholarships and choice of course and providers. Majority of the comments were positive and welcomed the new initiatives.
There has been no offensive comments, although some comments were posted claiming that the strong Australian dollar and some unreasonable immigration policies pushed away many students. While reposting or commenting on our weibo posts, some education agents and education institutions occasionally added words to promote their service.