This article should be useful to anyone intending to study or work in Europe. The below websites and resources give essential information about study programs and scholar funding in Europe(1); EU affairs internships and entry-level jobs in the private sector(2); and vacant positions(3) at the EU level and in various European countries, across all sectors.
Showing posts with label International students. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International students. Show all posts
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Friday, 3 August 2012
Jobs in Geneva & UN System
This article provides a selection of key websites useful to job seekers wanting to work in Geneva and/or the United Nations system.
Geneva is known not only for being home to many of the UN agencies but also to many other international and non-governmental organizations, professional associations and various consulting companies. Jobs in the private sector and websites with information on research funding and jobs in Switzerland have also been included in the list.
In addition to the official UN career page, there are currently several other websites where UN vacant positions are published. Note that UN internships are unpaid and entry-level positions are rarely announced. However, there are opportunities for young professionals through the Young Professional Programs based at various UN agencies, only nationals of countries sponsoring these programs are eligible but sometimes nationals of developing countries may also apply.
While it is true that foreign language fluency is a requirement, or at least an advantage, for a career in international organizations, many people believe that social science degrees are the only suitable qualification. In fact, international organizations are also looking for staff trained in the natural sciences and engineering, and IT skills are highly sought after, irrespective of the degree.
Geneva is known not only for being home to many of the UN agencies but also to many other international and non-governmental organizations, professional associations and various consulting companies. Jobs in the private sector and websites with information on research funding and jobs in Switzerland have also been included in the list.
In addition to the official UN career page, there are currently several other websites where UN vacant positions are published. Note that UN internships are unpaid and entry-level positions are rarely announced. However, there are opportunities for young professionals through the Young Professional Programs based at various UN agencies, only nationals of countries sponsoring these programs are eligible but sometimes nationals of developing countries may also apply.
While it is true that foreign language fluency is a requirement, or at least an advantage, for a career in international organizations, many people believe that social science degrees are the only suitable qualification. In fact, international organizations are also looking for staff trained in the natural sciences and engineering, and IT skills are highly sought after, irrespective of the degree.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Expat Resources, Guides and Networks
If you are considering moving abroad and want to know where to find information about jobs, articles and tips for traveling, studying and living in a foreign country, country guides or simply advice by or network with other expats, then the following links might help you.
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Useful Links for Tourists, Expats & Students in Latin America
Here is a list of useful links for future expats and travelers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Latin America:
Latin America:
- Finding Statistics in Latin America, an article (July 2012) by FreePint, the full version is available only to subscribers
- Intern in Latin America - all-inclusive programs for interns, volunteers, students enrolled in medicine/no Spanish is required/, Spanish courses; positions in Argentina & Colombia, soon the program will expand to Chile, Mexico and Brazil
- Internship programs in Latin America - links by Transitions Abroad
- South America Travel Guide - Chile-based website providing basic info for most countries in the region
- Nearshore Americas - Latin America business and outsourcing news and analysis
- Caribbean Search - local news, real estate and jobs
- South America Expat Blogs - blogs by and for expatriates
- More Expat Resources - expat websites, jobs & careers, immigration information, country guides, resources for healthcare and travel
Latin America Attracts Foreign Professionals & Students
Skilled migrants consider economies already reputed for specific industries and skill pools – such as the USA, other English-speaking countries and countries in continental Europe. But given that visa procedures are complicated and since the American and European economies have been affected by the economic crisis, immigrants are increasingly interested in the emerging economies, especially if they are relatively stable and have a leading position in their region – i.e. countries in Asia and Latin America.
Emerging or catching-up economies are eager to fill their skill gaps. That is why they have been working on competitive migration policies which only complement developments such as attractive conditions for outsourcing; well developed higher education systems or ongoing efforts to improve them; growing industries; investments in IT and English language training.
Here is an overview of the latest economic advances, skills shortages and immigrant inflows in the most developed Latin American economies other than Brazil - Argentina, Chile and Mexico.
Emerging or catching-up economies are eager to fill their skill gaps. That is why they have been working on competitive migration policies which only complement developments such as attractive conditions for outsourcing; well developed higher education systems or ongoing efforts to improve them; growing industries; investments in IT and English language training.
Here is an overview of the latest economic advances, skills shortages and immigrant inflows in the most developed Latin American economies other than Brazil - Argentina, Chile and Mexico.
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Skilled Migrants in Brazil
Latin America’s biggest economy is now the world’s sixth. With a population of over 190 million people and an annual growth of 4 %, Brazil is expected to become the fifth oil exporter by 2020. Despite recent warnings that its economy is not sustainable and that inequality is still prevailing across the country, significant socioeconomic changes have occurred including the 28 million people having moved out of poverty, improved education outcomes - Brazil’s 2009 PISA results placed it ahead of Argentina and Colombia, birth rates lower than the ones of the US (1.9 children/woman vs. 2, down from 6 children/woman in the 1960s) and a closing gender gap in education - women account for 60 % of the country’s graduates.
In addition to these changes which are likely to increase consumption, new employment opportunities will be created thanks to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the same time, Brazil needs more professionals than it produces and is fortunate that the world crisis is bringing the latter its way. In order to facilitate procedures, Brazil is about to revise its immigration policy and create a path for skilled workers.
In addition to these changes which are likely to increase consumption, new employment opportunities will be created thanks to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the same time, Brazil needs more professionals than it produces and is fortunate that the world crisis is bringing the latter its way. In order to facilitate procedures, Brazil is about to revise its immigration policy and create a path for skilled workers.
Asia’s Prospects: Regional Hubs and Skilled Mobility
This post covers the latest developments in human mobility in Asia, mainly with regard to skilled migrants and international students. While China, Korea and Japan are trying to attract skilled immigrants as well as to ease policies toward immigrants already arrived, they might have to compete with Southeast Asian countries.
The University World News article Worldwide Student Numbers Forecast to Double by 2025 revealed some highlights of the Bob Goddard chapter for the book Making a Difference: Australian International Education. According to the author, by 2025 there will be 262 million post-secondary students worldwide (up from 150 million currently, or an increase of 75 %), much of that growth coming from India and China; and almost 8 million students studying outside the country in which they were born (up from 3-3.5 million currently).
Goddard points to Singapore and Malaysia as emerging education hubs: the former hopes to attract 150,000 foreign students by 2015 while the latter has a target of 100,000 by 2020. However, both countries are currently experiencing some problems.
The University World News article Worldwide Student Numbers Forecast to Double by 2025 revealed some highlights of the Bob Goddard chapter for the book Making a Difference: Australian International Education. According to the author, by 2025 there will be 262 million post-secondary students worldwide (up from 150 million currently, or an increase of 75 %), much of that growth coming from India and China; and almost 8 million students studying outside the country in which they were born (up from 3-3.5 million currently).
Goddard points to Singapore and Malaysia as emerging education hubs: the former hopes to attract 150,000 foreign students by 2015 while the latter has a target of 100,000 by 2020. However, both countries are currently experiencing some problems.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Turkey’s Target: 100,000 International Students by 2020
In order to attract tourists from all horizons, Turkey and Istanbul have been promoted as a country/city between two continents – where East meets West. Now Turkey's officials are looking forward to another campaign – how to optimize the benefits of international students mobility, and maybe take their exports and marketing to another level.
According to the Turkish Student Selection and Placement Center (OSYM) latest statistics, there is a 59 % increase in the number of foreign full-degree students over a 5-year period – from 16,000 in 2006/07 to over 25,500 in 2011/12 (Today’s Zaman 2011). The overall growth is largely due to a 65 % increase in the number of students from Muslim countries – from 11,000 in 2000/01 to 18,000 in 2010/11(Uzum 2012). In times of rising Islamophobia, Turkey was perceived as a politically safe and economically stable country in the Muslim world. However, academics and students cited other reasons for the increase, among which positive experiences of former international students, Turkey's cultural and historical heritage, reputation for good educational facilities and programs and increased promotion of universities at education fairs.
According to the Turkish Student Selection and Placement Center (OSYM) latest statistics, there is a 59 % increase in the number of foreign full-degree students over a 5-year period – from 16,000 in 2006/07 to over 25,500 in 2011/12 (Today’s Zaman 2011). The overall growth is largely due to a 65 % increase in the number of students from Muslim countries – from 11,000 in 2000/01 to 18,000 in 2010/11(Uzum 2012). In times of rising Islamophobia, Turkey was perceived as a politically safe and economically stable country in the Muslim world. However, academics and students cited other reasons for the increase, among which positive experiences of former international students, Turkey's cultural and historical heritage, reputation for good educational facilities and programs and increased promotion of universities at education fairs.
Monday, 27 February 2012
Study Abroad Intentions Tweets: US & UK Top Choices; Wealthy Chinese to Go Abroad Earlier
Genius Recruiter has created a map of students' preferred study destinations based on January 2012 tweets. The US and the UK stood out as top destinations, especially for students from Europe, East Asia and South America; Australia was attractive for Southeast Asians, and Canada saw a growing interest in India.
Since Twitter is blocked in China, there was no data for Chinese student preferences. However, another post (published in July 2012) examines why Chinese students are going abroad and where they are going. Again, the US (27%) and the UK (22%), followed by Canada (15%) and Australia (7%) were the most preferred countries, although this study focuses on the children of the rich Chinese. While it is not surprising that Chinese parents are (or want to) sending their children to the US to get a quality education and all-round development, Genius Recruiter reports that 35% of the surveyed wealthy parents, or HNWI (high net worth individuals), were planning to send their children to high school education, followed by 30% to college education, 21% to junior high school and only 4% at the level of postgraduate education - here is the original infographic. While 85% of HNWI were thinking of sending their children abroad, this was the case for 9 out of 10 UHNWI (the ultra rich). The survey was carried out by the Chinese magazine Hurun Report and the Industrial Bank.
Having accessed the Chinese Luxury Consumer White Paper, one can read that children's education was the 3rd consumption hot spot of the HNWI, just behind luxury travel and healthcare, and that more and more parents are planning to send their children abroad earlier. Actually, while more HNWI parents planned to send their children abroad to junior and senior high school in 2011 than in 2010 (21% vs. 17%; and 35% vs. 32%, respectively), the UHNWI were clearly showing more interest in senior high school (40% in 2011 vs. 23% in 2010) and were less interested in college-level education (18% in 2011 vs. 27% in 2010 – this compares to 30% in 2011 vs. 29 % in 2010 for the HNWI, see p.40 of the white paper). At the same time, the study states that wealthy Chinese care not only about their children's education but also about their own - 30% of HNWI were taking further education courses in order to increase their professional knowledge and expand their social networks.
Chinese parents' plans on their children's earlier education abroad may aim at a more effective learning of the host country language and culture as well as at building a social network as early as possible, but they may also reflect the idea that their children should return home once they graduate from the program. International Business Times (quoted by Genius Recruiter) reminded of last year's estimates of Fujian's Overseas Chinese University: only around 500,000, or less than 1/3 of the 1.62 million students who arrived in the US in the period 1978-2009 returned to China.
While it is not unlikely to see more Chinese and other foreign students going to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, rather than to the UK and the US, as a result of aggressive recruitment, targets set by the former countries and two-step migration policies making it easier for students to stay, it is also possible to expect changes in admission policies and screening procedures in order to prevent frauds (e.g. New Zealand declined 3453 applications from India and 1027 Chinese applications in the past 12 months because of fake documents).
References (posts & reports mentioned):
International Students Future Forecasts, (15 June 2012), blog post by Genius Recruiter, http://geniusrecruiter.com/2012/06/15/international-student-future-forecasts/
International Student World Map Based on Tweets, (15 February 2012), blog post by Genius Recruiter, http://geniusrecruiter.com/2012/02/15/international-student-world-map-based-on-tweets/
Tan, Lincoln, (19 July 2012), Thousands from India Failing Student Visa Bids, an article by NZ Herald accessed on 20/07/2012, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/students-study/news/article.cfm?c_id=329&objectid=10820611
The Chinese Luxury Consumer White Paper, (March 2012), prepared by the Hurun Report and the Industrial Bank, accessed via Hurun Report website on 20/07/2012,
http://img.hurun.net/hmec/2012-03-27/201203271608211665.pdf
Why Chinese Students are Going Abroad, (6 July 2012), blog post by Genius Recruiter, http://geniusrecruiter.com/2012/07/06/why-chinese-students-are-going-abroad/
Zhang, Yifei, (7 April 2012), 90% Of China’s Super-Rich Want To Send Children Abroad, an article by International Business Times accessed on 20/07/ 2012, http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/325189/20120407/chinese-super-rich-children-abroad.htm?page=all
The post was updated on 20/07/2012
Since Twitter is blocked in China, there was no data for Chinese student preferences. However, another post (published in July 2012) examines why Chinese students are going abroad and where they are going. Again, the US (27%) and the UK (22%), followed by Canada (15%) and Australia (7%) were the most preferred countries, although this study focuses on the children of the rich Chinese. While it is not surprising that Chinese parents are (or want to) sending their children to the US to get a quality education and all-round development, Genius Recruiter reports that 35% of the surveyed wealthy parents, or HNWI (high net worth individuals), were planning to send their children to high school education, followed by 30% to college education, 21% to junior high school and only 4% at the level of postgraduate education - here is the original infographic. While 85% of HNWI were thinking of sending their children abroad, this was the case for 9 out of 10 UHNWI (the ultra rich). The survey was carried out by the Chinese magazine Hurun Report and the Industrial Bank.
Having accessed the Chinese Luxury Consumer White Paper, one can read that children's education was the 3rd consumption hot spot of the HNWI, just behind luxury travel and healthcare, and that more and more parents are planning to send their children abroad earlier. Actually, while more HNWI parents planned to send their children abroad to junior and senior high school in 2011 than in 2010 (21% vs. 17%; and 35% vs. 32%, respectively), the UHNWI were clearly showing more interest in senior high school (40% in 2011 vs. 23% in 2010) and were less interested in college-level education (18% in 2011 vs. 27% in 2010 – this compares to 30% in 2011 vs. 29 % in 2010 for the HNWI, see p.40 of the white paper). At the same time, the study states that wealthy Chinese care not only about their children's education but also about their own - 30% of HNWI were taking further education courses in order to increase their professional knowledge and expand their social networks.
Chinese parents' plans on their children's earlier education abroad may aim at a more effective learning of the host country language and culture as well as at building a social network as early as possible, but they may also reflect the idea that their children should return home once they graduate from the program. International Business Times (quoted by Genius Recruiter) reminded of last year's estimates of Fujian's Overseas Chinese University: only around 500,000, or less than 1/3 of the 1.62 million students who arrived in the US in the period 1978-2009 returned to China.
While it is not unlikely to see more Chinese and other foreign students going to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, rather than to the UK and the US, as a result of aggressive recruitment, targets set by the former countries and two-step migration policies making it easier for students to stay, it is also possible to expect changes in admission policies and screening procedures in order to prevent frauds (e.g. New Zealand declined 3453 applications from India and 1027 Chinese applications in the past 12 months because of fake documents).
References (posts & reports mentioned):
International Students Future Forecasts, (15 June 2012), blog post by Genius Recruiter, http://geniusrecruiter.com/2012/06/15/international-student-future-forecasts/
International Student World Map Based on Tweets, (15 February 2012), blog post by Genius Recruiter, http://geniusrecruiter.com/2012/02/15/international-student-world-map-based-on-tweets/
Tan, Lincoln, (19 July 2012), Thousands from India Failing Student Visa Bids, an article by NZ Herald accessed on 20/07/2012, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/students-study/news/article.cfm?c_id=329&objectid=10820611
The Chinese Luxury Consumer White Paper, (March 2012), prepared by the Hurun Report and the Industrial Bank, accessed via Hurun Report website on 20/07/2012,
http://img.hurun.net/hmec/2012-03-27/201203271608211665.pdf
Why Chinese Students are Going Abroad, (6 July 2012), blog post by Genius Recruiter, http://geniusrecruiter.com/2012/07/06/why-chinese-students-are-going-abroad/
Zhang, Yifei, (7 April 2012), 90% Of China’s Super-Rich Want To Send Children Abroad, an article by International Business Times accessed on 20/07/ 2012, http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/325189/20120407/chinese-super-rich-children-abroad.htm?page=all
The post was updated on 20/07/2012
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