Agility remains the key for Asia's universities

The overwhelming trend in news from the higher education sector right across the Asia Pacific region this last month has been about the continual need for managing complexity and dealing with ambiguity.

Whilst there is starting to be a return to on-campus teaching in some countries, there is little international student mobility, with most countries either remaining closed completely, or just starting to discuss limited re-opening. This impacts hundreds of thousands of students who are continuing to learn online from their home countries, as well as university revenue as international student numbers plunge - an impact that will last for a full student cycle of the next three to four years. And in some countries, fees are being reduced or waived entirely for students, as pressure continues to build on higher education finances.

But I'm going to lead with a focus on India, and a story that's a reminder that underlying change is part of the higher education market across Asia Pacific. New data from India shows that they've been creating new institutions at the rate of 1 new university every week for the last 6 years. At the same time, there's continuing focus on internationalising India's university system - inbound and outbound - and reporting of the friction in India over international university league tables, where India has historically been underrepresented.

Focus on India

India creates one new university every week

With an aim of making education accessible to the large and increasing population, the number of higher education institutes have gone up in India at a record high speed. The government data claims that the number of universities in India has increased over the past seven years so much so that it is equivalent to “one university having been set up every week since 2014" while the number of new colleges can be said to be equivalent to “two colleges being set-up every day since 2014". The number of universities has grown from 723 in 2013/14 to 1,043 in 2019/20 - an increase of 44%. Private universities increased 47%, while the top tier IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) have grown by 44% Source: News18

World University Rankings: Seven of India’s IITs continue boycott, no Indian institute in top 300

With seven IITs continuing to boycott the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, the latest edition of the global league table released did not have a single Indian institution in the top 300. Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is the country’s top performing institute, but is ranked in the 301-350 bracket. It is followed by IIT Ropar and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research. Both are in the 351-400 bracket. This is the second consecutive year that the IITs in Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Guwahati, Madras, Roorkee and Kharagpur have not participated in the THE global rankings. They had announced their boycott in April last year, citing concerns over transparency after none of them found a place among the world’s best 300 universities. The interesting sidenote is that, despite not being in the THE World University Rankings, notable alumni from these IITs include the CEO’s of Google, Infosys, IBM, and the founders of Sun Microsystems and Zomato Source: The Indian Express

India’s top universities can soon have foreign campuses

As part of the Narendra Modi government’s plan of internationalising Indian colleges, top Indian universities will soon have foreign campuses. In the first section only selected institutes will be allowed to open offshore campuses. This will be shortlisted based on the category of institutes,  academic history, batch size and course. The offshore campuses will not only attract foreign students and build a brand for Indian institutes abroad. They will also expand the exposure of Indian students with international courses and collaborations. Indian students will have an option to pursue a part of their degree programmes at these international locations. Twinning programmes would be a precursor to this offshore campus expansion. The strategy also includes the introduction of credit recognition under the twinning arrangement, offer courses in link with foreign institutes, outreach to international diaspora and attract foreign students and build a good reputation. Source: News18

India’s universities start to re-open on-campus teaching

State governments including Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry reopened colleges on September 1 with COVID-19 guidelines in place. Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Odisha also recently decided to resume offline classes as active COVID-19 cases have started to decline. In some states, the universities are opening only to students who have had COVID vaccinations, although that’s a decision made by individual universities Source: Careers360 

International Students

China and Japan keep borders shut as new term starts; whilst talk of (future) opening up starts in Taiwan, South Korea and Australia

International students have been left hanging once again as summer vacations end and yet another new term starts in China and Japan without them.  The students had high hopes for a return in September, as vaccination levels have risen globally. However, there is still no news from the two Asian giants, which had collectively enrolled 800,000 international students in 2019 but have mostly kept borders closed since early 2020. 

• In China, the academic year will begin in September without most foreign students, many of whom recently received notices from universities asking them to defer another year. Exceptions were made for only a few groups, including South Koreans and those at some foreign joint-venture programmes. The presumption now is that the border will be shut through the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
• In Japan, foreign students continue to be blocked, this time from universities’ second term, which begins in September or October.
• Taiwan has started accepting visa applications for up to 13,000 international students, but it’s expected that travel will be limited, and will include a mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival. The visas are to be granted to those studying for a degree and people enrolled in Chinese-language scholarship programs, but not exchange students or those in short-term language classes.
• South Korea too has started discussing opening for international arrivals once it reaches 70% vaccination, which will be after the new semester starts at the end of September. Both domestic and international students will be starting the semester learning remotely, with the chance for international students to travel later on.
• Australia closed its international borders to everybody last year, except limited numbers of returning Australian citizens, and every few months there has been an optimistic story of providing a mechanism for international students to be able to travel to the country to start their courses in-person. The latest situation is that the country is planning to open the borders once the country reaches 80% vaccination (probably very late 2021), but that it will only for travellers vaccinated by Australian approved vaccines - and that would exclude the two largest international student markets (Australia has not approved China’s Sinovac or Indian manufactured Astra Zeneca). Meanwhile all campuses remain closed in Australia’s two largest states, due to local COVID outbreaks.

Sources: Times Higher Education (THE), ICEF Monitor,University World News, Taipei Times and Study International

Students receiving tuition refunds and waivers

India’s University of Calcutta waives tuition fees

The University of Calcutta, which is ranked as India’s second university by ARWU, has decided to waive all kinds of fees for its students for the year 2021-22. The decision, taken in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, will ensure practically a free education for thousands of students, at a time when many of them are experiencing online-only learning. “In view of the present pandemic situation, the University has waived off all fees like admission fees, tuition fees and examination fees of the students (PG and University UG students) for the academic year 2021-22 for different semesters and it is not required for the students to pay fees for collecting the marksheets/grade sheets of different semester examinations,” the university said in a circular. Source: The Hindu

South East Asia students win big fee discounts as Covid keeps campuses shut

Malaysia and Thailand have offered generous fee reductions to university students as renewed waves of Covid are expected to keep campuses closed into the new academic year, with only part of the cost impact covered by the government. The prime minister of Thailand has ordered universities to reduce tuition fees by up to 50%, with the government subsidising universities for 60% of the discounts.  Public university students would receive discounts on a graded scale, depending on the cost of their education, while private university students would receive a flat fee.  The Malaysian government also announced a fee reduction initiative, of between 10% and 35%, which will cost 185.7 million ringgit, or £32 million, for 400,000 public university students. Source: Times Higher Education (THE)