Catégorie : Student News

With New Zealand’s announcement of the 5-step process to reopen its borders for international students, universities and international students can both breathe a sigh of relief. As per the announcement, NZ will be completely open for international students starting 2023.

Welcomed as a “positive step”, the 5-step border opening plan set by New Zealand is set to resume the normal student visa processing starting October this year. According to the plan, under a border exception class, 5,000 international students are expected to be permitted to enter New Zealand in April.

Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao, the move back to “usual visa processing” will help students pursue higher education in the country from 2023.

Chris Hipkins, COVID-19 Response Minister stated that New Zealand will become one the most vaccinated and boosted countries in the world as the borders start to reopen. He also added that “the COVID-19 Protection Framework will be well-established in helping to manage COVID-19 outbreaks.”

According to news reports, New Zealanders travelling from Australia will be the first to enter starting 27th February, followed by nationals from other countries starting 13th March. The third step in the process includes 5,000 places reserved for international students travelling to New Zealand starting 12th April.

Grant McPherson, ENZ Chief Executive, stated that New Zealand will be able to open its borders progressively throughout 2022, first for the existing cohorts, subsequently allowing a larger international student cohort to enter before the second semester. Throughout, 2020 and 2021, the government took initiatives to bring in a few international students under border exception classes.

Citing it as a “much-needed certainty”, both for universities and the prospective international students, Universities New Zealand also sided with the move, stating that international students patiently waiting offshore have now received their answer.

Chris Whelan, Universities New Zealand Chief Executive, while expressing his relief on the announcement acknowledged that while some international students would be able to attend their second semester in New Zealand, the number is still a small fraction of the actual number waiting to enter the country.

The results released by QS in its ‘Best Student Cities Rankings‘ for 2022 on July 28 ranked London #1, followed by Munich at the second position and Seoul and Tokyo sharing the third place. Check the top 10 student cities here.

QS Quacquarelli Symonds has released its Best Student Cities Rankings for 2022 which provides an overview of the top places to leave and study worldwide. This year, the ranking has been topped by London once again, followed by Munich at the second position and Seoul and Tokyo sharing the third place.

Boston has been named the only US’ student city to make it to the top 10, placing ninth in a tie with Paris and Montreal.

The QS Best Student Cities Rankings are based on a combination of a range of factors including affordability, the standard of universities, quality of life and the views of the former students who have studied in the respective city. Broadly, there are a total of six metric categories including rankings (the number and quality of the city’s universities), desirability, affordability, employer activity, student mix and student voice.

All the cities included in the ranking have a population of at least 250,000 and home to at least two universities named in the QS World University Rankings.

In the 2022 edition, a total of 225 student cities are included, of which 15 are in the US. The rankings have been detailed out in the table below.

Top 10 QS Best Student Cities 2022

Here are the top 10 list of universities in the 2022 edition of QS Best Student Cities:

Student cities including Paris, Edinburgh, Toronto, Vienna, Hong Kong SAR, New York, Singapore, Vancouver, Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe, Lausanne, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, San Francisco and Beijing feature in the top 25 of the QS Best Student Cities 2022.

Canada has now extended the period that international students will be allowed to study online for PGWP eligibility until August 31, 2022. This will apply to students even if they are completing two study programs as long as the programs started or going on between March 2020 and Summer 2022.

Canada has now extended the period that international students will be allowed to study online for PGWP until August 31, 2022, up from December 31, 2021. The country had earlier allowed international students to do 100% of their studies online and still get a Post Graduation Work Permit (PGWP).

This move was made in 2020 to let international students affected by the pandemic still be eligible for the PGWP. The rule will apply to students even if they are completing two study programs as long as the programs started or going on between March 2020 and Summer 2022.

The study programs must be offered by an eligible Designated Learning Institution (DLI) and meet other PGWP requirements. The shortest eligible length of a program is eight months.

The time spent on studying outside Canada post-August 31, 2022 and any time spent before applying for a study permit would not be counted toward the length of a PGWP.

In case the study program was more than eight months and less than two years, the PGWP’s validity matches the length of the program. If it was more than two years, the PGWP’s validity may go up to three years. The length f the program is crucial for the PGWP eligibility and also in determining how long the PGWP will remain valid.

The PGWP is an open work permit, meaning, an international student can work for any employer in any occupation in Canada. This is a one-time provision, that cannot be renewed or extended.

Spanish universities have been rated top in the world for international students’ satisfaction rates, a survey of 108,000 students worldwide has indicated.

According to the 2021 Studyportals Student Satisfaction Report, Austria, Estonia, Hungary and Italy rounded out the top five countries.

The UK was ranked top English-speaking study destination at position seven (behind Czech Republic at six).

The other ‘big four’ English-speaking destination included Australia at 10, the US at 15 and Canada at 21.

In the 108,000 reviews written by students, study experiences are rated from one to five by assessing their satisfaction in: overall satisfaction, student-teacher interactions, admission process, student diversity, quality of student life, and career development.

Two categories were also added for the first time: online classroom experience, and Covid-19 crisis management.

“The overall average score is 4.1 out of five – very high satisfaction,” said Edwin van Rest, CEO and founder of Studyportals. “This is a great compliment to the international education industry.”

Students from over 200 different nationalities review higher education institutions in 121 countries, with top institutions recognized in the Global Student Satisfaction Awards.

“It’s a movement to put students at the heart of the higher education sector. Like all good social movements, this one is disrupting the status quo. It’s a step-change – and a long overdue one that is putting student experience at the center of what universities are about.

The reviews also help prospective students better understand their study choices and make education more transparent, Studyportals suggested.

Swiss institutions, Università della Svizzera italiana and Geneva Business School were awarded top for Student – Teacher Interaction and Career Development, respectively.

Austria’s University of Klagenfurt was first for Covid-19 Crisis Management.

In the UK, European School of Economics was recognised for Quality of Student Life, University of Sussex Student Diversity and University of Essex Online for Online Classroom Experience.

For Sussex, the award is “a ringing endorsement of the university’s status as a leading global player in internationalisation and diversity”, said Richard Follett, deputy pro vice chancellor and associate vice president (International).

But compared to 2019 findings, as well as overall satisfaction being lower students were also less satisfied by their experience of career development, unlike student-teacher interactions, admission process, student diversity and quality of student life which were all rated higher.

“Maybe it does not come as a surprise, but this year student satisfaction has been slightly decreasing,” Neghina added. “But it has also been a tremendously challenging year for higher education as a whole, for students who have had to study at home, for universities which have had to close their campuses.”

 

Great institutions and openness help city retain top spot ahead of rivals such as Tokyo and Munich

London remains the best city in the world to be a university student, according to an international ranking of higher education centres that placed it ahead of rivals such as Tokyo, Boston and Berlin.

The capital retained top spot for the third year running despite low marks for affordability, thanks to the presence of world-leading institutions such as Imperial College and King’s College London, and high ratings for its openness to international students and graduate career opportunities.

Munich came second, while Tokyo and Seoul were tied for third place ahead of Berlin, Melbourne, Zurich and Sydney. Paris, Montreal and Boston tied for ninth place.

The city rankings created by the education analysts QS Quacquarelli Symonds are based on its own league tables as well as surveys of 85,000 current and prospective students around the world. They cover cities with a population of at least 250,000 and two or more universities placed in the QS world university rankings.

Current students studying in London rated the British capital very highly for “outstanding cultural, economic, and educational opportunities”, although the city was only rated 15th – below Auckland and Montreal – for desirability among prospective students.

Ben Sowter, QS’s director of research, said: “With two of the world’s 10 best universities situated in the city, London remains a world-leading educational hub. However, increasing Covid cases and lingering Brexit effects may serve to undermine London’s privileged position.”

Elsewhere in the UK, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester made the top 30 out of the 115 eligible cities. Coventry did extremely well for “student mix”, ranked second only to Melbourne for the proportion of domestic and international students in the local population, as well as tolerance and inclusion.

The highest-ranked US centre was Boston, thanks to the proximity of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. But US cities suffered from high affordability, with Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco the worst overall based on cost of living, tuition fees and the Economist’s “Big Mac” index, which uses the local cost of the hamburger as a proxy for relative costs.

QS also noted that US cities “are suffering from a systemic decline” in their desirability ratings, which includes metrics such as pollution, crime, safety and corruption as well as a student survey.

The most desirable city in which to study was Tokyo, followed by Toronto and Zurich. Boston could only manage 26th, while Durham, North Carolina – close to the high-ranking University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University – was 85th.

Monterrey in Mexico and Almaty in Kazakhstan were rated as the least desirable places to study. The most affordable centre was the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, ahead of Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan in Russia.

 

 

The UK government has confirmed that from 1 July 2021, international students can apply to live and work in the UK for up to 2 years after graduating with the new Graduate Route visa.

What is the Graduate Route visa?

With the Graduate Route visa, students set to graduate in summer 2021 onwards will be able to remain in the country for up to 2 years. This new rule applies to both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, regardless of your area of study. Applications for the Graduate Route visa are now open.

You don’t need to be sponsored by an employer to be eligible for the visa, so you don’t need to already have a job when you apply. There are also no restrictions on the kind of job you can do during these 2 years, and no minimum salary requirements. You could look for roles related to your degree, or gain experience working in other areas. Either way, it’s a fantastic opportunity to build your CV and kick-start your career!

The new route is also very flexible: you don’t need to be employed continuously in the same job on the Graduate Route visa, so if you decide to take some time out, or change jobs, it won’t count against you.

The Graduate Route is slightly different for PhD students. You will be able to work in the UK for up to 3 years after completing your doctoral degree.

The visa is part of the government’s aim to increase opportunities for international graduates in the UK and bring 600,000 international students into the country’s universities by the year 2030. This confirms the UK’s commitment to welcoming students from all over the world, and creating fantastic opportunities for them to boost their career prospects with an international education.

What if I have been studying online from my home country?

Many universities switched to digital learning in the early part of 2020, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Understandably, lots of international students also returned to their home countries at the same time.

However, there’s no need to worry as you will still be eligible to apply for the Graduate Route visa if you can travel to the UK this year. The deadline for arriving in the UK was previously set at June 2021 for students who started their studies in Autumn 2020, and September 2021 for students who started in January or February this year. We’re pleased to say these deadlines have been extended! Now, all students who began their studies in either Autumn 2020 or Spring 2021 need to arrive in the UK by 27 September 2021 to qualify for the visa.

You will also need to complete at least the final semester of your degree in the UK.

I’m planning to start studying online this Autumn — can I still apply for the visa?

Although most UK universities are now open for face-to-face learning, many are still offering digital options for students who aren’t able to travel to the country for the start of the new academic year in September 2021. However, you will still have the chance to apply for the new visa: if you start your studies online this Autumn, you will be eligible to apply for the Graduate Route visa if you arrive in the UK by 6 April 2022.

We’re excited to announce that 2 new International Year One (IYO) courses are now available at the University of Essex International College! These 2 new IYOs will offer progression to the second year of a Psychology-related or Life Sciences-related degree at the University of Essex.

International Year One in Psychology

This is Kaplan’s first ever International Year One in Psychology, and will give you full preparation for a Psychology degree at the University of Essex. The IYO combines degree preparation, including enhancing your study skills and English language level, with the first year of an Essex undergraduate degree. When you successfully pass your course at the required level, with good attendance, you’ll progress to Year 2 of your chosen degree.

The University of Essex ranks in the world top 300 for Psychology (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021), as well as 13th in the UK for Psychology research quality (Complete University Guide 2022). Psychology degrees at Essex are accredited by the British Psychological Society, which means you’ll be able to apply for Graduate Membership of the Society when you finish your degree.

Its strong rankings in the field are in part down to the University’s exceptional facilities, including the Brain Centre for Research. This purpose-built research centre is home to numerous specialist labs, with state-of-the-art equipment that allows users to directly measure and modulate brain activity.

International Year One in Life Sciences

Also new to Kaplan is the International Year One in Life Sciences, which offers you the chance to progress directly to year 2 of a related undergraduate degree. Expert teachers will help you develop your English language level, and the skills you’ll need for your degree studies.

The University of Essex is ranked in the world top 250 for the Life Sciences (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021). Within the UK, its Biological Sciences degrees are ranked 20th for teaching effectiveness, and 10th for student satisfaction (Guardian University Guide 2021).

Depending on your degree, studying Life Sciences at the University of Essex could allow you to explore exciting and topical areas such as cloning, gene manipulation and bioinformatics. Alternatively, you could explore cancer biology, immunology or other vital medical issues that will shape the future. On some degrees, you’ll be able to further customise your studies to suit your specific interests.

The University of Essex

At the University of Essex, you’ll enjoy a great education on a traditional campus within the grounds of the historic Wivenhoe Park, just outside of Colchester. The University has been a pioneering academic institution in the UK for decades, and is ranked in the country’s top 40 universities (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021).

You’ll be joining a truly international community at Essex, with students from more than 140 countries on campus. And, while you’ll be living less than an hour from London, you can expect a lower cost of living. At Essex, you’ll be able to enjoy a rewarding study experience, join student societies and see more of the UK by getting out and exploring!

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021 evaluated over 1,500 institutions from around the world to create a comprehensive rating for universities. Lets explore and analyse the results.

The highly anticipated Time Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2021 have been revealed. The 2021 edition represents the most extensive evaluation of higher learning institutions around the world for the THE rankings. With a focus on inclusion and diversity THE examined over 1,500 universities in 93 countries across the world. Sometimes it can seem challenging to make sense of what it all means, how the rankings are calculated and which study destinations performed best. We’ve got the inside information for you with an analysis of the top performers and the up and comers

 

Which universities ranked in the top 10?

It was once again a battle of the perennial high achievers in the UK and U.S. with an arm wrestle for first place between the University of Oxford and Stanford University, with the former bagging the top honour for 2021. This is the fifth year in a row that sees the UK institution lead the pack, however, for Stanford University it represents a two-place improvement from 2020, knocking last year’s second-placed institution, the California Institute of Technology, out of the runners-up spot.

Third place for 2021 was awarded to another Ivy League institution in the U.S., namely Harvard University, which saw their stock rise considerably from a disappointing 7th spot in 2020. Rounding out the top five were another pair of universities from the U.S., with California Institute of Technology sitting in fourth and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in fifth.

The 2021 rankings reveal a strong showing for institutions in the U.S. with eight of the top ten institutions being based in the country. The UK also features significantly in the top 20 global universities with four institutions making the list. One of the biggest jumps in the top 20 was for the University of California Berkeley who moved from 15th in the previous rankings to 7th for 2021.

Significantly three institutions from Asia remain in the top 25 in 2021 including Tsinghua University (+20), Peking University (23) and National University of Singapore (25). Tsinghua University rose from the 23rd spot in 2020 to take up a position in the top 20 for the first time, while Peking University improved by one spot. The top ten universities in the world for 2021, according to the THE World University Rankings 2021 are:

1. University of Oxford (UK)

2. Stanford University (US)

3. Harvard University (US)

4. California Institute of Technology (US)

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)

6. University of Cambridge (UK)

7. University of California Berkeley (US)

8. Yale University (US)

9. Princeton University (US)

10. University of Chicago (US)

Which universities are in the top 50?

To kick-off let’s take a look at the universities that took spots 11 to 25. The rankings feature eight universities from the U.S., two from the UK, two from China and one from Switzerland and Singapore respectively. One of the notable inclusions was Imperial College London that dropped out of the top ten to sit in 11th spot and a two ranking spot rise for the University of California, Los Angeles to 15th. Places 11 to 25 went to:

11. Imperial College London (UK)

12. Johns Hopkins University (US)

13. University of Pennsylvania (US)

14. ETH Zurich (Switzerland)

15. University of California, Los Angeles (US)

16. UCL (UK)

17. Columbia University (US)

18. University of Toronto (Canada)

19. Cornell University (US)

20. Tsinghua University (China)

21. Duke University (US) (= 20th)

22. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (US)

23. Peking University (China)

24. Northwestern University (US)

25. National University of Singapore (Singapore)

Looking at the universities that are ranked between 26 and 50 you will notice that there is more diversity in the countries that are represented. Although the institutions in the United States still dominate, with nine universities ranked, there are also universities from the UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, Japan, Hong Kong, France, Switzerland and Singapore. The universities ranked 26 to 50 are:

26. New York University (US)

27. London School of Economics and Political Science (UK)

28. Carnegie Melon University (US)

29. University of Washington (US)

30. University of Edinburgh (UK)

31. University of Melbourne (Australia)

32. LMU Munich (Germany)

33. University of California, San Diego (US)

34. University of British Columbia (Canada)

35. King’s College London (UK)

36. Karolinska Institute (Sweden)

37. The University of Tokyo (Japan)

38. Georgia Institute of Technology (US)

39. University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

40. McGill University (Canada)

41. Technical University Munich (Germany)

42. Heidelberg University (Germany)

43. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (France)

44. University of Texas, Austin (US)

45. KU Leuven (Belgium)

46. Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris (France)

47. Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)

48. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (US)

49. University of Wisconsin, Madison (US)

50. Washington University in St Louis (US)

The 2021 rankings saw a gain for New York University which jumped three spots to 26, while the Hong Kong University of Technology and Australia National University dropped out of the top 50. There were also an additional 141 new entries onto the rankings in 2021, of which Paris-Saclay University in France was the top-rated, sitting at number 178.

Now that you have a better idea of which destinations and universities received the plaudits, you’ll have very useful insights to inform your own decision making.

Don’t forget that league tables are not the final authority on whether a university is worth attending, but a useful way of evaluating potential options in combination with other factors.

The University of Birmingham has been named the most targeted university by the UK’s top 100 graduate employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2021.

The survey, conducted during December 2020, assessed the impact that the Coronavirus pandemic had on graduate recruitment in 2020 and looked ahead to how many vacancies are available for new graduates in 2021.

The Graduate Market in 2021 is an independent annual review of graduate vacancies and starting salaries at the UK’s one hundred best-known and most successful employers. The survey is carried out by High Flyers Research.

This accolade comes after Birmingham maintained its UK Top 15 place (13th) in the Complete University Guide League Tables, whilst the University moved up one place to 13th among UK universities featuring in QS World University Rankings during 2020,

The University is also classed as a Top 100 institution by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) – which rates Birmingham 78th out of 20,000 global universities and eighth in the UK in its 2020-21 rankings as well.

Etta Parkes-Firth, Director of Careers & Employability at the University of Birmingham said: « For the University of Birmingham to achieve number one as most targeted University by UK’s top graduate employers shows our students can be confident that they are joining a university with exceptional links to a wide range of industries. This is particularly important in a competitive job market, and even more so in light of Coronavirus.

“Top employers know our graduates are exceptional, and are ready for the world of work, with Careers Network providing support to students and recent graduates at every step of the way.”

High Fliers Research is an independent market research company which specialises in student and graduate research. The company also produces The UK Graduate Careers Survey, a comprehensive annual study of over 20,000 final year undergraduates at thirty-four leading universities, which is supported and funded by up to 75 national and international employers each year.

The ten universities targeted by the largest number of top graduate employers in 2020-2021 are Birmingham, Manchester, University College London, Nottingham, Leeds, Warwick, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College London.