The move was announced earlier this week as the province’s premier,  Jean Charest, visited India and met with students and scholars from the University of Mumbai. Starting February 14th, international students who graduate from universities in Quebec would get “a certificate of selection” that would put them on a fast track to Canadian citizenship.

The news is sure to see an influx of applications to Canada, not only from India, but also from countries all over the world. The UK and Australia will be hardest hit however with their recent troubles. Most recently the UK have suspended all visa issuance in India as the last quarter of 2009 saw an huge influx of visa requests (13,500) which is up from the average for that period around 1,200 to 1,800. For more information on this subject, please see the original news source for a full outline.

Are you an international student who is now going to consider studying in Canada because of this? Let us know in the comments section below!

THE SARA’S WISH FOUNDATION

In 1996, Sara Schewe, a student at Georgetown University, was killed, along with 3 other students from her program, while taking a bus in India to see the Taj Mahal. Since that time, Charles and Anne Schewe have dedicated themselves to bringing awareness on how to minimize safety issues while traveling abroad.

Since 1996, there have been a number of advances in the materials and information available from the U.S. government, colleges, universities and study abroad programs, other organizations, as well as support available through insurance and emergency assistance providers. There have also been domestic and international meetings and workshops supporting improved health and safety policies and procedures to support U.S. college and university students.

Sara’s Wish Foundation has collaborated with some of these organizations to develop the video “Know Before You Go”, and to put together the information you will find on their website. The information and links are intended to help inform students, parents, and friends who may go abroad or support others who do, that knowing more about good study abroad program practices and health and safety challenges in countries around the world can help students have a healthy and safe time abroad.

Foreign travel and study abroad remains an invaluable learning experience, broadening a student’s world view and enhancing the college experience. While there have been advancements in the field since this incident to ensure student safety, precautions must still be taken, students and families need to research about benefits and risks associated with a particular location and/or program, and understand that the quality of support does vary from institution to institution and from program to program. It is Sara’s Wish Foundation’s hope that together we can avoid tragedies and difficulties as students begin that wondrous adventure to broaden their lives.

For more information, please visit the Sara’s Wish Foundation website where you will find further, excellent information and advice.

To avoid any surprises in your phone bill, there are a few things you can do to minimize your costs and make sure you have the best calling options available to you. Before you travel abroad, you should:

1. Call Current Provider – before you leave, you should call your current phone provider and find out firstly if you can use your phone abroad, secondly find out what the charges will be (so there will be no surprises if you do end up using your phone) and thirdly ask if your phone is locked or unlocked, and if the latter you should request your phone unlock code. If they do not provide this to you, there are many sources online to unlock your phone – Google Search is a good start!
2. Do Some Research – after calling your provider, you will most likely find out that your charges when abroad are going to be high. The best way to avoid this is to purchase a sim card for the country you are traveling to, this way you will have a local number, cheap calls locally and depending on the country you are traveling to, you may have free inbound calls.
3. International Calls – of course, if you are traveling, you will want to be calling home and people around the world. The best and cheapest way to do this is through a VOIP solution such as Skype and Gizmo which you can run for free on your laptop, and will offer low cost rates per minute to countries around the world. If you do not have access to a laptop, consider purchasing an international calling card, or a sim card with international calling services built in. It may be slightly more expensive, but will be very easy as you can call directly from your mobile phone. Please also be aware that when using a calling card from a prepaid phone, you will be using up your prepaid credit and your international calling credit.

Hopefully with these few simple steps, you will be able to avoid the high roaming charges that most providers will impose on you when you travel abroad. If you need a range of sim cards, we have a range available that can be purchased online quickly and easily. For example our T-Mobile USA Sim Card offers some excellent benefits and can be delivered anywhere in the world!

If you would like to add your schools video to our site – please contact us.

Foreign students represent a huge revenue source for the big players in the market. For example, the UK and Australia have an international student market that is estimated to be worth €12 billion and countries like New Zealand receives around €1.5 billion per year.

Compare that with Ireland, and yearly revenue from International Students here only reach around €900 million per year – and when you take out English Language Schools in Ireland the figure drops to €400 million. In 2008, applications from India were down by 44% compared to the previous year and Chinese applications had fallen by almost 29%.

So why is Ireland so far behind in attracting international students to its shores? Surely an English speaking country, with the history and stature of Ireland would be an ideal place for international students to study.

There are are number of factors working against Ireland, most notably the strength of the Euro makes the cost of studying higher, and the recent recession has meant the availability of part time jobs when studying in Ireland have been sparse. But, the majority of the blame for the drop in international students has to fall on Ireland and schools themselves.

“There isn’t a great awareness of Ireland, in Asia especially,” says Prof Ciarán Ó Catháin, president of Athlone IT, an institution that has made attracting international students a key priority. “At the moment, the universities are branding themselves under the Irish Universities Association. We’re trying to brand ourselves under Institutes of Technology Ireland. We just don’t have the joined-up thinking necessary to give us a coherent approach.”

But even if schools and colleges could raise awareness, the second problem is the process to obtain a student visa for Ireland. Students can expect to wait up to 4 weeks for an answer on visa approval – the same process takes no more than 48 hours if you wish to study in the UK. The amount of paperwork also needed to apply for a visa compared to the UK is also substantially more – and students from China, in particular, have rejection rates of over 40%.

The Minister for Education in Ireland, Batt O’Keeff, has now recognized the need for a coordinated effort to both boost the image of Ireland as a destination to study, plus make it easier for students to gain student visas. However, it all seems its a little too late – the current economic environment will also not help matters.

For more information on this article, please see the original source from the Irish Times. Please also leave any feedback or comments below and let us know if you think Ireland has “dropped the ball”.

However, the booming industry has some major concerns regarding the new points based visa system. Brought into use back in April 2009, the new points based system was originally designed to close down bogus colleges and institutions – and for a large part the system succeeded. However there were still concerns that the system could be abused, and at the tail end of 2009, the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown ordered a review of the system in order to tighten it up.

This review led to new proposals being put forward to raise both the level study and the standard of English for any applicant coming into the UK on the points based system. Although this new proposal will almost certainly remove further abuses of the system, it will also certainly exclude all students who want to come into the UK for six months or more to develop their English skills from a basic level.

Philip Hopkins, principal of the English Language Centre in Brighton, says that if the government’s proposals come into force, about 40% of the school’s business would be wiped out. “We are an educational charity founded in 1962 and many of the students we get for long-term courses are students who go on to a foundation, undergraduate or master’s programme and will be in the UK education system for the next four or five years.”

Clearly the UK Government needs to review their current proposals, otherwise we could see some serious knock-on effects to the English Language sector in the UK. For more information about this article please see the original news source at the Guardian Newspaper.

You can also search for a range of ESL programs from all around the world through the ESL Directory.

1. Tonal and Narrative Balance – We have mentioned this before, but the key to effective admissions writing is finding a balance between humanity and authenticity, while targeting the prompt and preserving language sophistication. This balance is shifted depending on the level of the applicant (MBA essays will feel more ‘buttoned up’ than a college level essay). However, every admissions essay should target a specific prompt and also convey a deeper sense of who you are.
2. Admit me! Admit me! Overselling Yourself – Applicants frequently push too hard to demonstrate fit with an institution. Their writing loses all sense of authenticity and focus. They resort to stilted language such as, ‘If admitted to XXX, I will bring my enthusiasm…’ In doing so, they impede the natural momentum of their writing and lose reader’s interest.
3. Underdeveloped Ideas and Cliches – “I want to be a doctor because I thrive on patient interaction.” “A legal career will help me to drive change in underserved communities.” “You can never judge a book by its cover.” “I want to make the world a better place.” Vague, underdeveloped ideas and cliches seem to go hand in hand.Stay specific and concrete–flesh out the path even if you are uncertain. Employ language that is your own. Whether you are writing a college essay, MBA admissions essay, med school or law school personal statement, clearly define your story and your purpose.
4. Missing the Prompt – Make sure that you reread the prompt. Did you catch every facet of the prompt–such as the ‘why’ component? Consider the admissions committee point of view. Did you provide the level of self-reflection they are looking for?The Man in the Mirror – All admissions essays should show a degree of perspective and self-reflection. Ultimately, this implies maturity, and a willingness to enter a community that can shape you (and vice versa).
5. Concision – It is ironic that we needed to add a 4b to squeeze in this last tip. It just goes to show, it is difficult to think and write concisely. In admissions essays, however, it is to your advantage to ‘think crisp.’ This will help you to sharpen your content, and cut out ‘fluff’ which does not enrich your candidacy.

We hope these tips help you as you work on your admissions materials at levels–MBA Essays, Common Application essays, medical personal statements and more. As always, message us with specific questions or to receive a free assessment of your first writing submission, including admissions essays, personal statements, resumes, cover letters, dissertations and more.

All best,
Janson Woodlee
Ivy Eyes Editing

This has been a guest blog post by Ivy Eyes Editing Service and you can follow them on Twitter

You can also check out the useful resources that we have on our Essay Writing Resource pages

Schools have been scrambling to locate and evacuate their study abroad students in Haiti.  Lynn University and the University of Florida, among others, have been working around the clock to ensure the safety of their students. You can read the updates that Lynn University provides on its website, and there is also an excellent article by Karin Fischer in the Chronicle of Higher Education talking about location and evacuation efforts.

We wish the very best to all study abroad students in Haiti and hope for their safe return.

There are many ways to contribute to the relief effort. The Red Cross of course has relief operations under way.  You can donate to the Red Cross Haitian relief effort by phone at 1-800-REDCROSS; or online at www.redcross.org.

Or simply text the word “HAITI” to 90999 and a $10 donation will go the Red Cross and be billed to you on your phone bill.

There has been a lot of outcry from both academics in Australia and India, claiming that the Australia government has been doing too little with regards to the matter. Melbourne University professor Simon Marginson, delivering a keynote address to the World Universities Forum in Davos, said “The Australian government is in denial. Racist targeting is involved (in the attacks). Indian students do have a special problem. And there isn’t enough official and civil concern about international student security in Australia.”

The international student industry in Australia is one of the largest in the world with revenues expected to be in excess of $15 billion a year. The government has been heavily criticized for sticking their heads in the sand, denying there is a problem and only providing only modest security enhancements for know trouble spots.

Are you an international student in Australia – or planning to attend school in Australia? Post your comments and thoughts below: