Finally, UKBA is moving into right direction!

UKBA announced this year earlier that the new requirements are needed to be introduced for Tier 4 (students category) applicants. The new requirement is that all the students coming to UK for a below degree level (with exception to Intensive English Course and Foundation Course) have to demonstrate the legitimate level of English Proficiency by means of English Test such as IELTS, PTE and TOEFL and it has to be at level of at least CEF and B1. Well, it is a good news for every one as we have experienced that there are several students from India who were not able to utter a single word in English went to the UK for their studies. That was a pure blah and unscrupulous agents and non genuine student grabbed the opportunity to fulfill their purpose. Due to lower level of English Proficiency, obviously students were not going to get employment and they were in distress conditions. This situation now can be averted forever and there would be some amount of filtration.

This new rule is going to be effected from 12 August 2010!

GMAT is going to get tougher

Graduate Management Admission Test known as GMAT - a passport to enter into the best B School in the USA or elsewhere- is going to add one more section of Integrated or Analytical Reasoning almost on the same line of Data Interpretation of CAT somewhat. This new section will represent carts, spreadsheets and graphs. The test takers are expected to analyse the information to draw the conclusion and logical relations between data and classes.

It is expected to change from this month. Apparently, this will be perceived not as a good news by the students and it will burden up some more stress. But every coin has two sides and there is some relief with this new change, too. GMAC will discard one of two essays from Analytical Writing Section to compensate this section which has a length of 30 minutes.

A nationwide strike - Weeping at your own cost

Off late, UPA government has been busy in boasting on its achievements of economical reforms, the healthy GDP and liberalized trade policies while ignoring the burning issues of laymen of whose the pocket is pinched severely to survive in this dear economy.

India is one of a few countries that has registered a double digit food price inflation in 2009 and prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing. Government has been unable to curb the soaring price of basic commodities and the Petroleum Ministry decided to gift another jitter to Indians by increasing prices of Petrol, Diesel and LPG excusing on increasing prices of Crude Oil internationally. Whereas I don't see any correlation in their excuse because Crude Oil is traveling at around $75 per barrel and with that international price, it seems no point in increasing. Surprisingly, government has been claiming that they are under the burden of huge subsidy which has been in existence over the years but do not disclose to the public that how much they are making by direct and indirect taxes that are imposed on petroleum and natural gas products. What is wrong if they were to reduce their taxes on these products and adjust the affordable pricing?

Congress Government has been fooling this nation since independence. Be it a Kashmir issue, be it a growth of country, be it a coward policies to tackle Naxalites , be it a weak administration to handle and control terrorism, etc. The prices of primary food articles increased by 16.5%, pulses grew by a killing 32.4%, eggs, meat and fish by 35% milk by 21%, sugar by 26%, flour by 16%, cereals by 6% and fruits and vegetables by 7.6%. It looks that Government is yet not convinced with this inflation and wish to burden more on civilians by increasing prices of petroleum products.

What is very much hilarious in this matter? The Petroleum Ministry published an advert in Times of India last week comparing prices of these in India with Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. On the one hand, government makes the people and world feel that they are progressing and outperforming in compare with its neighboring countries and on the other hand, they are helpless to fall in line with them for certain things. Gosh!

It is a shame that the country has nearly 50% population under poverty line and have to intentionally or unintentionally involve ourselves in to a nationwide strike that has made a one day loss of millions in dollars.

Students Partners Program (SPP) is a real success!

News Release

Canada works to welcome more Indian students to Canadian colleges

Toronto, January 28, 2010 — The acceptance rate for Indian students coming to study at a group of Canadian colleges has doubled thanks to a new program between Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC). The announcement was made today by Member of Parliament Tim Uppal, on behalf of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney, and by James Knight, President and CEO of the ACCC.

A joint pilot project called the Student Partners Program was launched in April 2009 between Canada’s visa offices in India and twenty member colleges of the ACCC. The goal of the program is to increase the approval rate for study permit applications at participating Canadian colleges.

“The Student Partners Program has resulted in an increase in the number of Indian students on our college campuses,” said Minister Kenney. “International students bring with them new ideas and experiences and contribute both financially and culturally to the communities and institutions where they study.”

In 2008, India ranked seventh with 3,244 people in terms of source countries for students.

The total number of international students in Canada has more than doubled since 1998 to 178,000 and their presence provided employment for over 83,000 Canadians last year. A 2009 study commissioned by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada found international students contributed more than $6.5 billion to the Canadian economy in 2008.

“International students contribute to the cultural life and economic success of colleges and institutes and of the communities they serve. In partnership with CIC, we have doubled the approval rate of visas for students from India coming to Canadian colleges. We will work with CIC to expand the initiative to other ACCC members,” said Mr. Knight.

During the first nine months of the launch of the program, CIC’s visa offices in India received over 4,000 applications in the program. The program has successfully met its objective: the approval rate for the first group of students under the program coming to study this past September was more than double the approval rate for the same colleges the preceding year. Furthermore, 95 percent of the students remain in good standing at an ACCC college. Processing times within the program are faster than the global norm, with an average of about two and a half weeks.

The program has several checks and balances, from requiring applicants to provide verifiable documentation, to a feedback mechanism where colleges report back on whether students show up. The safety, security and health of Canadians are of the utmost importance. All students who come to Canada through the Student Partnership Program must adhere to the same screening requirements as any visitor or student.

“This type of program benefits both our country and those who participate in it,” said Minister Kenney. “When all is said and done, these graduates may remain in Canada and apply to immigrate under the Canada Experience Class. They would make Canada their home and continue to contribute to our country’s social and economic fabric.”

Canada’s network of community colleges offers many outstanding programs to train young Canadians and their counterparts from around the world for the opportunities of today's economy.

The Government of Canada will continue to look at ways to encourage international students to study in Canada.

Source of this Media Report is taken from the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Stranded students see a new hope in Australia

Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has announced an updated list of skilled occupation for General Skilled Migration and Employer Nomination Scheme in which they have included the occupations which were removed some time back. The popular occupations among Indian Students' Community in Australia were Commercial Cookery, Hair Dressing, Patisserie, and Community Welfare.

In March, DIAC removed all these occupations from the list which spread hue and cry among the students and they became stranded. This move of the Australian Government brought a lot of criticism among the students' community and the numbers for going to Australia for further and higher studies trickled down dramatically. No body expected for this surprising move from DIAC for inclusion of these occupations and students literally left all the hopes for reinstatement of these.

I believe that Australian Education Export Industry may revive from this positive legislation and the export income from this has hit close to 4 billion dollars in a very first quarter. The Australian Education Export Industry contribute nearly 15 billion per annum dollars over the years and it was totally set to plummet if the corrective measures were not taken by government.

This is a good news for students who are onshore and may not significantly help to attract new students from our country at the moment since DIAC put India on Assessment Level 4 from AL 3 stating that high risk involved in documents submitted for Visa Approval and a very low returning ratio from Indian Students.

The industry registered a very rough time in this decade and the enquirers for studying in Australia almost dried up. We may notice an upward chart in coming days. Lets hope for the best for both the countries.