The International Student Blog

Over the past week there has been a new wave of email scams who are targeting internet users all around the world to part with their personal and financial details. The scam email appears to come from the hiring manage of the International Student Exchange Center – telling them about an excellent new area representative job and if you are interested you should apply with your personal details and CV.

We have been contacted by thousands of users who are asking us if we are anything to do with this, so we wanted to set the record straight that we have no involvement with this and want to warn users about the dangers of scams like this.

If you have received one of these emails – it is a SCAM – and it is not from InternationalStudent.com and we have no association with this.

You should delete the email and certainly do not respond to it. It has also been reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

For more information about this please see this article which fully explains the scam in greater details

After reporting earlier this year about the new student visa clampdown that was about to take effect in the UK, and how these new changes were going to threaten most English Schools in the UK, English UK challenged the government over these new regulations and won!

On the 8th July 2010 Mr Justice Foskett, sitting in London, declared the fresh restrictions had been achieved through altering guidelines when there should have been a formal change to the rules, with the matter referred back to Parliament. English UK are now asking that the rules be reverted back to the days prior to March 3rd when students could come to the UK to study English with only basic English language skills.

Tony Milns, chief executive of English UK, said: “This judgment upholds our basic case that the Home Secretary was wrong to introduce a substantive change … without laying that change before Parliament.” English UK estimates the ruling has saved “more than £3,000 jobs and over £600 million a year in foreign earnings”.

For more information on this story please visit the Daily Telegraph original article, and please also visit and support English UK in all their efforts in the UK

http://www.englishuk.com/

InternationalStudent.com recently launched its Study in the USA School Search – allowing international students to search, research and contact colleges and universities in the USA. The new search tool can be found online at:

http://www.internationalstudent.com/school-search/usa/

We also have a useful video which will show you the main features and how to use the new school search:

As college athletics in the USA continues to grow more and more competitive, colleges look internationally for athletes more than ever. The NCAA, the body governing all inter-collegiate athletics in the USA, has developed some resources to help determine eligibility of an international student to compete for a US college or university in inter-collegiate sports.

Here are the NCAA’s FAQs for International Student-Athletes:

How do I register with the NCAA Eligibility Center?

There are several documents required to apply to the NCAA Eligibility Center. International student-athletes must submit all of the following items:

1. Fill out the NCAA Eligibility Center online application at www.eligibilitycenter.org.

2. This online application requires a payment of $85 by MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover (credit or debit) card. The fee is not refundable should you decide not to attend an NCAA school or decide not to participate in athletics. *Effective September 1, 2010, the registration fee will increase to $95 for international students.

3. Original academic records [or certified (attested) copies of the original documents] and certified, literal English translations for records not originally in English sent (not faxed) to the NCAA Eligibility Center.

4. Score(s) from either the ACT or SAT standardized tests, reported directly to the NCAA Eligibility Center from the testing agency by requesting code “9999.”

After you graduate, If your eligibility status is requested by an NCAA school, the NCAA Eligibility Center will review your final transcript and proof of graduation to make a final certification decision according to NCAA standards. Note, however, if you fail to submit all the documents required or if no NCAA school requests your eligibility status, your incomplete file will be discarded after five years, requiring you to pay a new fee if certification is requested after that time. The NCAA Eligibility Center must receive all documents before a certification decision can be made.

What are the eligibility requirements for international students?

If you have never previously enrolled as a full-time student in a university (the use of the word university is important because college/collegiate often implies secondary school), you must meet minimum academic standards in order to be eligible for practice, competition and athletics financial aid your first year. The minimum required standards will vary depending on the country. These standards are outlined in the NCAA’s Guide to International Academic Standards for Athletics Eligibility.

Also, you will need a minimum score on the SAT or the ACT. International students MUST take the SAT or the ACT. Other tests, such as the TOEFL or the TWSE, are not acceptable. For more information on the SAT, please contact College Board Online at www.collegeboard.com. For information on the ACT, please contact www.act.org.

If you are currently enrolled (or have previously been enrolled) as a full-time student at a university in a foreign country, you will be considered a transfer student-athlete after enrolling

International Student Frequently Asked Questions Page No. 2 _________

at an NCAA university. Please see the NCAA Transfer Guide for more information on your eligibility.

What are the required credentials for an international student?

College-bound student-athletes must submit all annual or semester transcripts displaying grades or scores and hours of study. College-bound student-athletes must also submit proof of graduation, line-for-line translations of all documents produced in a language other than English and results from standardized tests – SAT or ACT only.

Please include the NCAA ID with all mailings of documents. Please note documents sent via fax or e-mail will not be accepted. See below for mailing instructions.

If a student is unsure of whether a document is required, he or she can either call the NCAA Eligibility Center or send copies of all credentials. In most cases, the staff will advise the college-bound student-athlete to forward any questionable credential.

What transcripts/marks do I need to submit to the NCAA Eligibility Center?

Original documents or certified photocopies of semester or yearly marks for all years of secondary school education must be forwarded to the NCAA Eligibility Center before a certification can be rendered. This shall include at least school years nine (9) and higher for all students.

Canadian students are reminded that high school transcripts issued by the provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia do not include ninth grade marks. College-bound student-athletes must contact the school where ninth grade was completed to have the transcript forwarded to the NCAA Eligibility Center (preferably together with your 10th through 12th grade transcript). In addition, official copies of final transcripts must be sent directly from the high school or Ministry of Education. The date of graduation and degree awarded must be marked on the transcript.

What does the NCAA Eligibility Center need for proof of graduation?

The document issued by a college-bound student-athlete’s country after completion of secondary school must be provided before a certification can be completed. This document varies by country. It may be a final diploma, a leaving exam, a maturity certificate, a record of learning, a higher certificate or other document. The document must include the official name or type of diploma and date issued.

If the proof of graduation includes a leaving certificate, maturity exam, records of learning, higher certificates or exam certificates, the college-bound student-athlete must provide final

International Student Frequently Asked Questions Page No. 3 _________

credentials or photocopies of the original documents certified by his or her secondary school. Provisional results will not be used. The exam results must be presented on final certificates.

Exception: Students presenting the IGSCE, HIGSE, GSCE, GCE or South African Senior Certificates may forward certified copies of provisional results for academic certification purposes.

Some documents are considered by themselves as proof of graduation. A partial list of examples includes: Kenya Secondary Exam certificate, Abitur, Bagrut, French Baccalaureate, GSCE certificate, GCE certificates, WAEC exam results, South African Senior Certificate, and All Indian Senior Certificate.

How do I send my SAT or ACT scores?

SAT or ACT scores must be sent directly to the NCAA Eligibility Center by the testing agency. Paper or faxed copies will not be accepted. College-bound student-athletes should use the reporting code 9999 when requesting a score from either testing agency.

TOEFEL exam results should not be forwarded to the NCAA Eligibility Center. These scores are not used for certification purposes.

Can I send photocopies of my credentials?

Photocopies of credentials will only be accepted if they are certified as true copies of original documents forwarded from the NCAA school’s office of admissions or the principal or headmaster of the college-bound student-athlete’s secondary school. Photocopies that are not certified as true copies of originals or come from a source other than the sources listed above will not be used. Photocopies will not be accepted directly from a college-bound student-athlete or his or her relatives unless they are certified with a cover letter from the school official (listed above); each page is certified and stamped as a true copy; and arrive in an envelope sealed by the secondary school prior to providing the documents to the student.

Exceptions: Kenya Certificates of Secondary Education must be sent directly from the Kenya Examination Office. West Africa Exam Council results will only be accepted when a college-bound student-athlete provides a Buddie card used to access the WAEC exam. Photocopies of credentials from Kenya and WAEC are not acceptable.

What is required for translations of my credentials?

If documents are issued in a language other than English, line-for-line translations must be provided by a person not related or associated with the student or the athletics department at the school the college-bound student-athlete plans to attend. The translator must provide a letter, including any appropriate stamps or seals, explaining his or her qualifications as a

International Student Frequently Asked Questions Page No. 4 _________ NCAA-EC/6/15/10/crr

translator. It is recommended that translations be performed by a qualified professor from a university or college or a certified official translator. Translations from unverifiable sources will not be accepted. Translations must accompany the original documents written in the native language.

Who can I contact if I have questions or concerns?

The NCAA Eligibility Center can be contacted directly by telephone or by mail. The country code for the United States is “1″ and the NCAA Eligibility Center telephone number is 317/223-0700, fax number is 317/968-5100. The NCAA Eligibility Center office is open Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. U.S. Eastern time. The NCAA Eligibility Center can be contacted via mail at:

Mailing Address:

NCAA Eligibility Center

Certification Processing

P.O. Box 7136

Indianapolis, Indiana 46207

USA

Overnight or Express Mailing Address:

NCAA Eligibility Center

Certification Processing

1802 Alonzo Watford Sr. Drive

Indianapolis, Indiana 46202

USA

Can you forward information on NCAA universities that offer my sport?

You will need to contact each university on your own. Since telephone calls from foreign countries can be expensive, the NCAA Eligibility Center suggests using the Internet for your research. Most universities have Web pages with information about their athletics programs. A list of links to college Web pages can be found in our College Sports Links Section.

For more information, visit the NCAA’s page for International Student-Athletes.

Glee, the popular American musical comedy-drama satire television series is going international with the international pop star Charice joining the cast as an international exchange student. Charice rose to popularity mainly via Youtube, but is now a worldwide singing sensation thanks to support from people like Oprah Winfrey. Details of who she will be playing are still not 100% clear, but she will be joining season 3 as an exchange student from Asia.

Now most of our readers may think this is a slightly off topic blog post for us – however we wanted to highlight this as we feel introducing an exchange student into a show as popular as Glee can only mean a good thing for international student exchange. It will raise not only awareness for international education and student exchange, but bring to masses of young teenage kids the idea that studying abroad is “cool” and “fun”. You can view the full article online here.

What do you think? Will it impact international student exchange for the better?

For students who are going to study/ travel or live in the UK, making sure you have access to an international calling solution from the UK will save you a lot of money! No expensive roaming charges, and quick/ easy access to call your family and friends whenever you want to.

Thanks to our iCallAbroad UK service, you can place international calls from either a landline or mobile phone from as little as 1p per minute. What is even better is that this service is not like other calling solutions where you typically need to setup an account, give all your personal information,etc….

The UK.InternationalStudent.com calling service is easy as picking up the phone and dialing an access number from your landline, or topping up for your mobile phone with credit by sending a short SMS.

To obtain more information, you first need to select where you are calling from – will you be calling from a landline or mobile phone?

a Landline?

a Mobile Phone?

The number of foreign students studying in New Zealand has risen for the first time in six years, making a turnaround for the countries international student population. Figure released by Education New Zealand shows 93,500 foreign students studied in the country last year, compared to 88,470 in the previous year.

Education New Zealand chief executive Robert Stevens commented that people tended to stay in education longer or enter tertiary education from the labour market in tough economic times, plus the organisation’s target group, those in the high-income bracket, were still able to afford to study overseas, he said.

Education providers have also carried more intense marketing and promotion in countries such as China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, North America, Brazil and Germany over the previous 12 months which is also a major factor in the increased numbers.

For more information about Studying in New Zealand, please visit:

http://www.newzealandeducated.com/

and please click here to read the full article in detail.

InternationalStudent.com is proud to launch its new International Student Concierge Service, dedicated to helping international students all around the world with finding and researching schools and evaluating your education options.

The new, totally free service, allows you to submit your details which will be sent to schools all around the USA who are interested and looking for international students. These schools will then send you details about their campus and programs so that you can make an informed decision about what is right for you!

Why spend your time searching the internet for school and college information, and trying to find schools that want, and are looking for international students when you can submit your details to the concierge service and we will have schools contact you back.

To find out more and to submit your details to the concierge service please visit:

http://www.internationalstudent.com/concierge/

Thousands of Indian students are struggling to get their prepaid tuition refunded from Australian schools and colleges. The situation has come to light following the collapse of colleges and a clamp down of the Australian immigration system. As we reported earlier this year, there were a number of high profile attacks on Indian students in Australia which had led to a number of college closures and a clampdown of the visa process for students coming into Australia. This all led to the denial of visas for thousands of students, many of whom had already prepaid their tuition in advance.

The exact extent of the problem is not fully know, as the Australian government has refused to disclose the amount of prepaid tuition that students are seeking reimbursement for – however international education experts are predicting the amount of tuition that students prepaid could run into the millions of Australian dollars.

Ravi Lochan Singh, the managing director of Global Reach, an education agency that represents Australian universities and colleges in India, said “There is an issue here; I think that with more and more private colleges going down the issue will increase”. Under Australian law course fees must be refunded within 28 days, but Mr Singh said the question of whether students’ prepaid college fees were protected by the ESOS Assurance Fund was still a “grey area”.

If you are an international student who is waiting for their tuition back, post your comments below. You can also read the full article here.

A few months back, we launched our first venture into the mobile smartphone market with the International Student iPhone App. To widen our user base, we now have the pleasure in launching the Android version of the same application – available free of charge to all android users.

The new android application provides you with all the same functionality of the iPhone application such as instant access to our blog feed, live view of our twitter feed, the opportunity to share information you see with twitter or facebook and much more.

You can now see screenshots of the application on our new mobile application page, which also have information on where to download the applications. You can also download the new Android application directly from:

http://www.androidzoom.com/