DrEducation: Trends and Insights on Global Higher Education

NAFSA commissioned a national research "Bridging the Gap: Recruitment and Retention to Improve International Student Experiences" to investigate the reasons why international undergraduate students leave their institutions of first enrollment and what are the best practices to avoid attrition? The research was a response to increasing number of international students in American campuses and the widening gap between expectations of students and capacities of institutions to support them.
One of the key take-away of the research was "that poor retention is a function of the mismatch between expectations of students prior to enrollment and the actual experience of students once they are on campus.” Three key implications of the study for institutions improving the experiences and setting proper expectations with international students are: -understanding the diverse needs of the international student body, -coordinating internationalization efforts across campus, and -in…

Quality Assurance Agency of UK released a very insightful report entitled "Review of UK Transnational Education in United Arab Emirates." It provides an overview of the scale and scope of the overseas branch campus activity of British universities in UAE. It is an important indicator as, according to the report "the UAE is the country hosting the largest number of international branch campuses in the world, currently hosting 37 from 11 different countries, with the UK being the highest sending country."
The report notes that "of all UK higher education institutions, 70 of them (over 40 per cent) were engaged in some form of TNE activity in the UAE in 2012-13. This activity involves just over 15,000 students, representing an increase of 37 per cent during the past two years. This increase has been most noticeable in the number of students studying in the two large branch campuses of Heriot-Watt University and Middlesex University, which account for 78 per cent…

What higher education policies in BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are working and not working in achieving access goals? The open access Special Issue of the Journal Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning aims to answer this central question. 
The co-editors-- Erich Dietrich, Teboho Moja and Loni Bordoloi Pazich--note that "This special issue focuses on access policies to higher education in the BRICS countries with scholars from each country contributing an analysis of what is working and what is not, as well as a critical examination of emerging issues in the implementation of access policies aimed at addressing equity issues and increasing participation rates in higher education. This country-by country case-study approach illuminates the contextual challenges of developing equitable policies for access to higher education. In each country, the lines of inequality differ: race, socioeconomic status, caste, ethnic group affiliation, gender…

How many students are graduate from universities and colleges in India every year? This is one of the often asked question to me. While there is data available on the number of students enrolled in Indian higher education, I have not come across any official data on number of students completing the post-graduate (master's or doctoral) or graduate (bachelor's) degree.

Please click here to see latest data for 2016 and growth from 2008.

Based on the latest enrollment figures available for 2012-13, I have estimated the student enrollment and number of graduates earning degree every year. Based on previous data, I have assumed that one out of six students enrolled in bachelor's degree programs is in four-year engineering and rest are in three-year degrees. In addition, I have estimated the rate of growth or expansion of higher education enrollment at the rate of 15% per annum. 
This results in an estimated 26.5 million students enrolled in Indian higher education in 2014-15 an…