HIGHLIGHTS

• India continues to grapple with the second wave of the Covid with nearly 3.2 million active cases. Today, a massive surge of 386,452 cases have been reported, bringing the cumulative caseload to over 18 million. India has been reporting over 300,000 daily cases for over a week now. The country plans to open the Covid-19 vaccination drive for everyone above 18 years from 1 May.
   
• In the wake of the raging Covid crisis in India, several countries like the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Singapore, etc. have placed a ban on international flights from India.

• The education sector across Africa is set to benefit from massive investments.

• Four Vietnamese universities featured in the 2021 Impact Rankings list of the world’s most impactful universities.

ASIA UPDATES: Covid Concerns Impact Exams

Given the massive surge in Covid cases in India, the International Baccalaureate (IB) has cancelled its examination across the country. Considering the rise in cases, the IB Board has said that it will adopt the non-examination approach for the diploma programme, career-related programme and the alternative tasks for the Middle Years programme.

A week earlier, the Central Board of Secondary Education CBSE had also cancelled its 2021 Board Exams for Class 10 and postponed 2021 Board Exams for Class 12. Many state boards such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, etc. have also either cancelled or postponed their exams.

To up-skill and empower the youth of Nepal through digital education, Vertex Global Services has expanded its operations into the Himalayan country. Through its Vertex Digital Academy, the company aims to make education accessible to all and train learners in a wide range of soft skill courses thus making them job ready.

Thailand’s Education Ministry has announced that the reopening of schools for the new academic year has been postponed from 17 May to 1 June over concerns of an increase in Covid-19 cases.

Sri Lanka’s leading provider of transnational education, AIC Campus, is providing the country’s students with an opportunity to pursue a partially funded French degree program in Engineering in fields of Business, IT, and Bio-Medical.

Four Vietnamese universities have entered the list of the world’s most impactful universities by 2021 Impact Rankings, a global study that evaluates universities from 94 countries. They are Vietnam National University, Hanoi and Ton Duc Thang University, Hanoi University of Science and Technology and Phenikaa University.

Schools in the Philippines are likely to reopen on 23 August 2021 according to a statement made by the Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio.

Singapore’s leading private education institute, PSB Academy, has signed an MOU with America’s Webster University to offer American degrees in Singapore.

AFRICA UPDATES: Massive Investments to Propel Growth of Education Sector in Africa

To encourage university education among the underprivileged, the South African government has raised its yearly budget allocation for free university education to R43 billion.

13 universities from South Africa including the University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria, University of the Witwatersrand, University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Stellenbosch University, have made it to the list of top 2,000 universities compiled by the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR).

The rapid growth in several private universities post the deregulation of the higher education sector in the 90s has made education more accessible in Ghana. However, there are concerns about the quality and standards of some private institutions. To address this issue, the Education Quality Network (EQN) is planning to develop a benchmarking tool EducationMark that offers an online repository to the country’s private universities to share information about best practices, the performance of peers, cost management and quality management etc.

With the 2nd highest number of Covid cases reported among all African countries, Tunisia has directed all educational institutions in the country to switch to an online mode of education for a period of 2 weeks.

In a big boost to Egypt’s education sector, Egypt’s Sovereign Fund has invested EGP250 million and inked an agreement with the GEMS Egypt Education Group to start 2 schools with an intake capacity of over 2,500.

To improve teacher education in the country, especially in early grade literacy, Zambia’s School-to-School International and the UNZA School of Education has partnered with the Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute for the implementation of a USD 15 million project which will be executed over a 5 year period.

STUDY DESTINATIONS UPDATE: Pandemic Leads to Travel Restrictions for International Students

Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, lockdowns and curfews have been imposed in various parts in India. All VACs across India will close effective from 1st May until further notice. Clients who have confirmed biometric appointments will be contacted with a new appointment date once VACs reopen.

Currently, several countries like the USA, Canada, UK, etc. have banned international flights from India due to the sudden surge of the pandemic. This move is likely to hamper student travel plans for a couple of weeks.

USA has exempted international students with F-1 or M-1 visas from China, Brazil, Europe, UK, Ireland, Iran and South Africa from the Covid travel rule in case their academic programs start from 1 August 2021 or later under the provisions of the National Interest Exception (NIE) rule.

Earlier in the month, Australian Minister for Education and Youth, Alan Tudge had issued a statement that students could come back to universities in the country by 2022. He added that as per advice given by Australian health experts, they were hoping to predict exactly when international students could return in large numbers in 2022.
 

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