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Cultural experience main motivation to study abroad for young learners

31-March-2017 · by Verbalist

A new study from AFS Intercultural Programs provides some fresh insights into the perspective of younger millennials on study abroad.

Mapping Generation Z: Attitudes Toward International Education Programs surveyed 5,255 students in 27 countries between March and December 2016. The survey finds that six in ten Gen Z respondents – that is, those aged 13-to-18 years old – have considered study abroad. With some variation by home country, between 57% and 75% indicated that their main motivation in going abroad was to seek out new cultural experiences. READ MORE

Fashion schools rankings, London remains to be the fashion capital of the world

02-February-2017 · by Verbalist

WardrobeTrendsFashion announced the 2016 Best Fashion Schools rankings, featuring top-performing fashion institutions in the world. The Best Fashion Schools rankings evaluate data on more than 300+ fashion schools. London has once again dominated the Fashion Schools Rankings, with five schools featuring in the top ten, more than any city in the world.

London’s Central Saint Martins (CSM), takes the No. 1 spot, followed by London College of Fashion at No. 2 and New York based Parsons School of Design at No. 3. All of these schools are comparable in terms of academics, quality of staff, and amazing campuses.

Studying in a world-renowned fashion school is practically everyone’s dream. London has a long history of developing some of the world’s most renowned fashion designers with Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen an example of just some of London’s former students. If you want to follow in the footsteps of Stella McCartney, contact here the Verbalists Language Network and PRODIREKT group and we will help you find the right English and/or fashion course for you.

The following shortlist of 100 top fashion institutions have been ranked according to 3 factors: learning experience, influence, and value. READ MORE

Increased foreign student enrollment has allowed many US universities to avoid significant cost cuts and additional resident, in-state tuition hikes

25-January-2017 · by Verbalist

With international students paying up to three times as much in tuition as in-state residents, public research universities in the United States are increasingly turning to foreign student recruitment to offset cuts in state support for higher education.

The number of international students in the US has increased more than 40% in the last decade. In 2015/16, international student enrollment in America surpassed the one-million mark for the first time. With foreign student numbers now at an all-time high, international education has become a big business in the US. NAFSA estimates that international students contributed US$33 billion to the US economy in 2016, while supporting more than 400,000 jobs. READ MORE

English-taught bachelor and master programs has more than tripled in non-English-speaking European countries

09-December-2016 · by Verbalist

A recent study written by Bernd Wächter and Friedhelm Maiworm published by the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) collected survey data from European education institutions to examine their use of programmes taught in English as a tool to increase mobility.

Data collected by ACA in collaboration with the Gesellschaft für Empirische Studien (GES) and StudyPortals BV shows that the number of English-taught bachelor and master programmes – referred to in the study as English-Taught Programmes (ETPs) in non-English-speaking European countries has more than tripled over the last seven years. READ MORE

Is Germany now moving away from the current country-wide tuition-free model for all students?

25-November-2016 · by Verbalist

University tuition fees are set to be implemented for international students enrolling in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, becoming the first province to move away from the current country-wide tuition-free model for all students. The proposal, led by the state’s Minister for Science, Research and the Arts, Theresia Bauer, is expected to be introduced from the 2017-18 winter semester.

Speaking to StudyTravel Magazine, spokesperson for Baden-Württemberg’s Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, Jochen Schönmann, said, “We expect the final tuition fee would be announced within the first quarter of 2017. EU1,500 is a guideline figure.” READ MORE

What are the costs of study for major cities around the world

19-October-2016 · by Verbalist

In the course of examining world markets for student housing and housing investment, global real estate services firm Savills has arrived at an interesting analysis of relative cost of study for major cities around the world.

Let’s first acknowledge that comparing costs of study is always a tricky business. Currency values never stop moving around each other, “apples-to-apples” comparisons among institutions and programmes can be elusive, and some of the sharp differences in costs between major cities and smaller towns often get smoothed out into national averages.

That’s in part what makes the Savills estimates noteworthy. They are focused on larger cities, where international enrollment is often concentrated. They also look exclusively at the relative costs of purpose-built student housing (PBSH), and at the tuition costs for non-specialist STEM degree programmes (e.g., mathematics) at institutions ranked in the top tier of the QS global rankings.

Savills has rendered all of those costs in a common currency – US$ – and has arrived at a summary of average monthly costs of being an international student in 23 major world cities. READ MORE

Top 50 Universities in the World after referring to all the three popular ranking tables

15-October-2016 · by Verbalist

World University Rankings 2016-2017

Rankings are not everything. But, the world university rankings do provide significant information about the standard of a particular university. When it comes to study abroad, almost all international students look up the world university rankings to compare the universities against each other. But, which ranking system is the best; and which league table you should refer to?

According to the recently published Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking, University of Oxford is the No. 1 University in the world for 2016-17. But, last month QS ranking put MIT on the top of the table for 2016-2017. Before that, Harvard University got the coveted position of being the No. 1 University in the Shanghai Ranking, also known as Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

So, which of the three ranking systems is the most reliable one, and which ranking table should be referred by the international students? READ MORE