randy_byers: (2010-08-15)
randy_byers ([personal profile] randy_byers) wrote2013-10-23 11:55 am
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University of the Pacific Rim

I'm doing statistics for the International Student Services office, and I'm always fascinated by where our international students come from. We have students from 112 different countries. The top countries are all Asian, except for Canada:

1. People's Republic of China (3324)
2. Republic of Korea (630)
3. Taiwan (ROC) (426)
4. India (354)
5. Hong Kong (209)
6. Indonesia (196)
7. Japan (154)
8. Canada (141)
9. Thailand (123)
10. Vietnam (88)
11. Malaysia (86)

Singapore comes in 13th at 59 students, but what's also interesting is that there are two Middle Eastern countries before we get to our first European country: Saudi Arabia (85) and Iran (55). Then we get to Germany (48) and the UK (46).

We don't seem to draw very strongly from Latin America, with Mexico being the top one at 21 students, and then Chile at 19 and Brazil at 18. Only 27 from Australia and 19 from New Zealand.

Countries that have only sent us one student: Albania, Botswana, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Mozambique, Rwanda, Syria, Trinidad & Tobago, and Yugoslavia.

[identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
ps I forgot to deliver the obvious piece of info: you dont get EU because a we have our own world class unis at UG and b at PG where you would be appealing, we have no money to send any but the most brilliant to the US - and your private schools by EU standards re mindbogglingly expensive. . Most PhD/Masters students in UK are guess what, Chinese, Indian, Arab, Nigerian etc etc.. we have essentally destroyed our own homegrown next gen of academics.(At least in my discipline, I suppose I should add. I'm not sure how many Chinese they get coming to do Eng Lit PhDs for example.)

[identity profile] randy-byers.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
That all makes a lot of sense, as did your similar comment about the Japanese. The UW has talked about opening a branch in China itself. Apparently the Chinese are interested in a way to bootstrap their own university system.

[identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
THis is pretty much exactly why I am here. Lots of Oz unis, some US unis and one or 2 UK unis (Nottingham is one I know of) have opened Chinese campuses. Very lucrative and much admired by UK Tory plc etc. Strathclyde wants in on this and this is when I discovered that raher than being a good citizen by coming out to entertain the locals, my entire dept now hated me (slight overstatement)cos they view links with China as link to institutional breach of human rts. I d think frankly given almost every world class uni in world has links with China now (money talks!), they really won;t give a shit if Strathclyde cold shoulders them :)

Sorry I live and breath this stuff..

[identity profile] randy-byers.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 03:42 pm (UTC)(link)
I find it quite fascinating myself!

[identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I like knowing about it but as an overall view of how the world works vs idealised pursuit of knowldge it's a bit depressing..

[identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Last datum and then you can work out EVERYTHING in your stats: non Anglo/Commonwealth countries insecure about English language skills mostly go to countries speaking their own language - so Lat Americans go to Spain/Italy not US or UK (tho this is changing -current Brazilian generation eg speaks v good English cos of US tv/Internet) which is why you aint got them, and why we still get less Spaniards than Greeks (who really have nowhere else to go that speaks their language except Melbourne :)even tho until recently youth unemployment was as catastrophic in Spain as Greece.

Also I'm curious about your quite high Arab intake. We hear we (UK) do well on them because they fear anti Islamic prejudice in US. Though it may well be just as bad in UK now..

Why Imperial has a high French intake is a true mystery to me tho! Maybe nowhere teaches science very well in FRance? Or maybe they're all exchange (one year or one term) studnts. It is a dark art..

[identity profile] randy-byers.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure why we have such a large Middle Eastern population here either. (We also have 38 from Turkey.) Possibly our school of International Studies has some kind of outreach program. One of the members of the transitional government of Libya, Ali Tarhouni, taught here in the business school and was very outspoken during the civil war over there.

[identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Also the reason why Imperial has France, Spain, Greece high on its list and you dont is cos by law UK unis have to admit EU students at same prices as home students (as opposed to the gouging we give overseas non EU). And right now all UK unis are swamped with Greeks and to less extent Spaniards fleeing the economic desert of their countries. I have 3 greek students like this who have all more or less been told not to go home at any price and who are having nervous breakdowns as result. Its devastating - like running a refugee escape route but knowing escape isnt really there.

[identity profile] randy-byers.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Our system has different tuition rates for residents of Washington and non-residents (who pay approximately three times as much), but there's talk of yet another (even more costly) tier for international students. Don't know whether it will actually happen. Tuition in general has been going through the roof, even at public schools, but I think it was just frozen for the next two years.

[identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
hey what time is it at yours right now?

[identity profile] randy-byers.livejournal.com 2013-10-24 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, right *now* it's 9:29 AM.