The plans will see the government funding 2,000 Russian students to enroll in overseas universities in 2012, which will rise up to 10,000 a year in 2015. They will have tuition fees and living expenses paid for. It’s estimated that the first year alone will cost the government US$60 million. However, the funding will only apply to postgraduate degrees – master’s, PhDs and MBAs.

The plans are designed to strengthen the labour market and bring more skilled workers into the Russian workforce – part of the funding agreement will involve the student signing a contract agreeing to return to Russia after their studies have finished and those that do not will face a penalty.

For the time being, students under the scheme will be able to choose their courses, but it is expected that in the future the funding will be for specific subjects in order to develop specialists in in-demand areas, such as engineers. There are also plans to prepare lists of employers who can offer the returning graduates attractive job offers.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said: “Thousands of our young scientists, engineers and public officials will receive master’s and doctoral degrees at the world’s leading universities during the next decade. Hopefully, studying abroad will allow them to take key positions in Russian business, government, science and education.”

It is expected that most students will go to the USA, but others will go to Australia, Europe and elsewhere. The funding is a big step up from previous years – up until now, the government has funded just 40 domestic undergraduate students and 60 postgraduates in overseas universities under a presidential scholarship programme that selected candidates based on a nationwide public competition.

Of the Top 50 institutions listed, the US holds 29 of the places, followed by the UK (6), Canada (3), Japan (3), China (2) and single positions for the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Russia.

The survey was part of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-11 and was conducted in multiple languages with more than 13,000 higher education academics around the world; respondents were asked to highlight “what they believed to be the strongest universities for teaching and research in their own fields”.

The top six institutions which appear in the list – Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, University of California Berkely, Stanford University and the University of Oxford – scored far higher than the other institutions which made the Top 100, suggesting that these institutions are considered world-leaders by the majority of respondents.

The top institutions by country were:

• US – Harvard University
• UK – University of Cambridge
• Japan – University of Tokyo
• Canada – University of Toronto
• Australia – University of Melbourne
• Germany – Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
• The Netherlands – Delft University of Technology
• Switzerland – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich
• Sweden – Karolinska Institute

You can download the full Top 50 Rankings, along with their individual research, teaching and overall reputation scores here.

The total of 230,000 foreign students marks the highest number since the founding of New China in 1949, and an increase of 6.6% on 2008’s numbers.

The top 10 countries sending students to China in 2009 were:

• South Korea
• The USA
• Japan
• Vietnam
• Thailand
• Russia
• India
• Indonesia
• Kazakhstan
• Pakistan

Overall the majority of foreign students in China originated from Asia (68%) followed by Europe (15%), the Americas (10.7%), Africa (5%) and Oceania (1.1%). China increased the number of scholarships made available to foreign students by around 35% on last years numbers, providing more than 18,000 students with support.

China has declared its goal of attracting 500,000 students in the year 2020. Since 1949, around 1.69 million students from around the world have chosen to study in China.

New for 2010, the Macmillan Education Award for Innovative Writing is open to aspiring ELT authors who have not yet been published. The winner receives £1,000 and the opportunity to publish their work.

The UK Award for Innovation and The Cambridge ESOL International Award for Innovation International categories continue to thrive with an increase in submissions from around the world. Entries from the UK doubled from 2009.

Michael Carrier, Head English Language Innovation for English and Exams at the British Council says: “The ELTons are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate innovative ELT resources from around the world, and the new Innovative Writing Award category will also provide the opportunity for aspiring creative writers to make their first break into the English language publishing industry. It is an exciting time for anyone at the forefront of developing and teaching English around the world”.

There are twelve entries short listed for an award in the UK category, seven in the International category and six in the Innovative Writing category. There will be three winners in the UK category, one winner in the International category and one winner in the Innovative Writing category. The winners will be announced at a prestigious ceremony in London on 3 March 2010. Each of the winners receives £1,000 cash prize along with the much sought after ELTon statuette.

ELTons 2010 UK Nominated Entries

•  Nik’s Daily English Activities – Blog – Nik Peachey

•  Vocabulary Matrix – Book Heinle ELT, Cengage Learning

•  Teaching Unplugged – Book Delta Publishing

•  www.teachertrainingvideos.com – Russell Stannard

•  Fast Track to Reading: Accelerated Learning for EFL & ESOL Students – Book
Garnett Education

•  Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5th edition Pearson Education

•  Teaching with Bear: Using puppets in the language classroom with young learners – Book, DVD, Bear Puppet Oxford University Press

•  IH Online Teacher Training Institute International House World Organisation Ltd (IHWO)

•  The Bell Online Delta – online training – The Bell Educational Trust

•  Primary i-Box – classroom presentation software Cambridge University Press

ELTons 2010 International Nominated Entries

•  Small Stars – comprehensive ELT course English First – Signum International S.A.R.L Zug Branch (Switzerland)

•  Welcome to English 3! – primary learner handbook Tic Tac Toe – Didactic Material (Argentina)

• English for Very Young Learners – online course
Net Languages (Spain)

•  Ways with Words – website
Lexitronics (Cyprus)

• Hoola Hoop – course
Porto Editora (Portugal)

•  Global Issues in the ELT Classroom – book
Spolecnost pro Fair Trade (Czech Republic)

•  Activities for Interactive Whiteboards – book and CD-Rom
Helbling Languages GmbH (Austria)

ELTons 2010 The Macmillan Education Award for Innovative Writing

•  Ekaterina Belozerova (Russia)

•  Richard Brittain (UK)

•  Stuart Wiffin and Helen Gibbons (UK)

•  Chris Lima (Brazil) and Maria Manuela De La Fuente (Peru)

•  Carla Cruz D’Elia (Brazil)

•  Helen Broady (UK)