The figures, which cover the academic year ending in 2009 and will be released in May, show that the number of international students studying worldwide has risen to 3.43 million from 2.96 million. The sharp rise shown by the Unesco statistics was revealed by BBC News yesterday. They report that the global figure in Unesco’s report shows an increase in international students over the past decade, rising by over 75% since 2000.

The report has used a range of indicators to follow mobility trends, exploring the numbers of students sent and received from perspective countries. It also shows how likely students are to go abroad for their education, as a percentage of all tertiary students in that country.

Despite fears that the global economic downturn would impact international student enrolment, the numbers of students choosing to study abroad appears to be on a continued increase, although not at the rates seen in previous years. For example, the number of international student studying in the USA rose by 3% in the 2009/2010 academic year, with the highest percentage of students coming from China, according to the Institute of International Education.

China is attempting to increase it’s own number of incoming students, which currently mainly come from Asia and the US, as are many other countries in Asia. The Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE), which aims to promote international education in the Asia-Pacific region, is currently holding a four day conference in Taiwan entitled ‘Asia-Pacific Education: Impacting the world’. The conference is expected to bring together 750 delegates from 40 countries and includes an international education fair open to students. Deputy Education Minister Lin Tsong-ming said: “The conference is the perfect venue for Taiwan’s higher education workers to share valuable experience with their international counterparts, an for our universities to step up their globilization”, reported Taiwan Today.

As the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings released yesterday show, Asia’s institutions are still struggling to be considered among the ‘best’ in the world. Although Japan’s University of Tokyo featured in the top ten universities by reputation, Asian institutions were massively outnumbered by those from the UK and US.

But with international student numbers still on the increase, and changes in higher education in both the UK and US taking place, perhaps Asia will begin to feature more prominently in international student numbers.

This years’ conference, which runs for four days, is subtitled ‘The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research for Societal Change and Development’.  On the agenda for discussion are the growth in student numbers, the new dynamics and policy implications and the social responsibility of higher education. The aim of the conference is an internationally agreed set of actions ‘to ensure that higher education and research play a strategic role in knowledge creation and sharing for a more sustainable, inclusive and development-oriented future’ says the UNESCO website.

Inside Higher Ed published an article today in which Nicholas Burnett, Assistant Director General for education at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization discusses the agenda in more detail.

“The first question is what are these new dynamics? I think there are many, but there are four in particular that we really think are changing the face of higher education,” said Burnett.

“In no particular order — and they’re all linked — one is just the accelerating demand for higher education. In the last seven years, we’ve just had extraordinary expansion — with an increase of about 51 million postsecondary students from 2001-8.”

See the full article on Inside Higher Ed to read all Nicholas Burnett’s points.

University World News, the official media partner of the conference and will be providing updates from the conference on their website throughout the conference.

“The President has made an excellent choice in nominating David Killion as US Ambassador to UNESCO,” said NAFSA Executive Director and CEO Marlene M. Johnson. “David is a dedicated public servant and a skilled foreign-policy practitioner. This appointment speaks very well for the role that the US mission to UNESCO can play in supporting President Obama’s commitment to renewing America’s engagement in the world.”

Mr. Killion is a senior professional staff member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and is the Committee’s leading expert on international organisations and State Department operations — a position he has held under both Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and the late Chairman and former Ranking Member Tom Lantos (D-Calif.). Mr Killion has been a key player in shaping a renewed US relationship with UNESCO over the past several years, working continually with the organisation to refocus its mandate, streamline its operations and enable it to more effectively pursue its important mission.

In his tenure at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Killion has also had a leading role in advancing important international education and exchange initiatives to strengthen US foreign policy and public diplomacy. He was instrumental in helping to draft and shepherd through the House of Representatives a visionary piece of legislation, the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act, which will dramatically increase the number of US students studying abroad.

Click here for full story.

Hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Malaysia marks 60 years of the modern Commonwealth and 50 years of progress in education since the first Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers. The Conference theme is ‘Education in the Commonwealth: towards and beyond global goals and targets’.

At the opening on Sunday 15th June there were more than 1,500 educational experts and government officials, allAfrica.com reported.

On Sundays agenda was the Youth forum where students were given the opportunity to ask questions of senior education officials, amongst the officials were the Education Minister of Seychelles, the Honorable Bernard Shamlaye and the Minister of Higher Education and Training of the Republic of South Africa, the Honorable Dr Blade Bonginkosi Nzimande.

Dr Molly Lee, the Higher Education Specialist for UNESCO Asia and the Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Thailand as well as Professor Simon Marginson of the Centre of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne discussed current global trends of higher education.

Professor Marginson said that the next 20 years will be a challenging period for higher education as educational institutions struggle to find their balance in today’s every-changing dynamic business environment. See thecommonwealth.org for full story.