Page 80 - EW-January-2026

International News

da. “Canada’s cutting-edge research sector has a proven
track record of successfully attracting the best and bright-
est across the globe. We call on the federal government to
continue investing in top talent at every career stage — from
internationally recognised researchers to promising gradu-
ate students — ensuring they have the resources and sup-
port required to advance Canadian science and innovation.”

AUSTRALIA
Introducing Block Model pedagogy

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY (VU) SAYS THE BLOCK
model is “innovation” that attracted its partner and
campus joint owner, Mumbai-based edtech firm
Erulearning Solutions. The campus — known as Victoria
University, Delhi National Capital Region — is scheduled to Victoria U, Gurgaon campus inauguration. Adam Shoemaker (left)
open in July. It is likely to occupy six floors of a refurbished
tower block in Gurgaon, a satellite city of New Delhi. The multaneously — in small classes over periods of about four
campus will deliver VU-badged undergraduate and post- weeks.
graduate degrees in areas including business, cybersecurity, VU credits block teaching for a turnaround in its for-
applied information technology and sports management. tunes, with a marked improvement in student success con-
VU expects initial enrolments of a few hundred, rising to tributing to its bottomline. Pass rates for its higher edu-
thousands within five years. cation students rocketed from 75 percent in 2017, a year
Australian universities’ appetite for foreign branch cam- before the university started phasing in the block model, to
puses has surged in recent years, as host countries have 91 percent by 2024. Although attrition rates remain high,
rolled out more accommodating policies and Canberra im- VU’s higher education enrolments increased 16 percent be-
posed onshore limits on international enrolments. tween 2022 and 2024.
India has been a particular focal point following the The biggest institution globally to teach in block mode,
2020 finalisation of its National Education Policy. Deakin its approach has been adapted by Southern Cross Univer-
and Wollongong universities opened the country’s first for- sity in northern New South Wales, Sunway College in Kuala
eign branch campuses in Gujarat in mid-2024, and West- Lumpur, the National School of Business Management in
ern Sydney University has received approval to establish Colombo and the Hanoi School of Business and Manage-
its own outpost. The University of Western Australia plans ment in Vietnam.
campuses in Mumbai and Chennai, and at least one other Shoemaker says he expects the block model to work well
Australian university has similar aspirations. More an- in Gurgaon, where — like at VU’s home campus — a sub-
nouncements are likely in the coming days amid visits to In- stantial proportion of students are likely to be the first in
dia by Australian education minister Jason Clare, assistant their families to go to university. He says the new campus
international education minister Julian Hill and numerous should provide a fresh opportunity to test whether the ap-
vice-chancellors. proach works as effectively online as face to face.
Pathway arrangements — where foreigners undertake at
least 40 percent of their studies offshore before completing AFGHANISTAN
their degrees in Australia — are increasingly popular fea- Taliban destruction
tures of offshore branch campuses, partly because pathway
students do not count towards onshore international enrol- ACADEMIC MANAGEMENT OF AFGHANI-
ment quotas. Vice-chancellor Adam Shoemaker says that STAN’S universities has been systematically dis-
although VU’s new campus would have pathway arrange- mantled by the Taliban, according to a new study,
ments, they could flow either way. “We’re not saying it’s a with almost no leaders appointed prior to 2021 still in post.
pathway to Australia. We’re saying it’s a bilateral gateway in A recently published analysis of senior administrators who
both directions. It’s as important to have Australians come run the country’s universities shows men with religious or
here as to have Indians go there.” militant backgrounds have taken over all the key positions,
VU plans to retrofit the Gurgaon building to resemble its leading to radical changes within institutions.
tower block in Melbourne, where flexible learning spaces Researchers Sayeed N. Orfan and Eric Lavigne, of the
and the absence of lecture theatres are considered vital in- Ontario Institute for Studies in Higher Education at the
gredients in the block teaching approach. Under the block University of Toronto, collected data on 160 administrators
model, subjects are taught one at a time — rather than si- across 40 universities and studied the detailed biographies

80 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2026