As a key operational partner in India, OIEG will provide the investment and professional services needed to establish the campus in Delhi, working jointly with the University to deliver the same outstanding learning and employability outcomes as in the UK.  The campus, based in Gurgaon, Delhi will be powered by both domestic and international faculty, reflecting a significant investment in India by both the University and OIEG. The first intake is planned for August 2025, launching with four undergraduate and two graduate degrees. Research and reach out activities will also begin with the launch of the campus.

This partnership highlights the shared commitment of OIEG and the University to developing transnational education (TNE) as a major strategic initiative. It supports OIEG’s strategy for expansion and diversification, while also aligning with national education policies by providing top quality international education tailored to the India context.

Andrew Atherton, Vice-President International and Engagement at the University of Southampton, commented: “This landmark launch is the next chapter in our international strategy, which emphasises global engagement and positive social impact. Our Delhi campus is a significant investment in India and reinforces our commitment to making a global contribution through fair and sustainable partnerships. It also provides Indian and international students the opportunity to gain a world-class University of Southampton degree, without leaving their country, positioning our University as a gateway to the world.”

Lil Bremermann-Richard, CEO at OIEG, said, “Establishing a campus in India with the University of Southampton is a crucial part of fulfilling our vision of enabling access to high-quality education on a global basis. The student perspective is clear; many wish to pursue studies overseas but there is also a rapidly increasingly student population that rightly believe they can realise their full potential without the need to leave their home country. We look forward to bringing the best of the UK and Indian educational systems to this community of students, and in parallel to establish new and innovative ways of undertaking research and reach out to industry in ways that assist social and economic development. Public-private partnerships like this will be an increasingly crucial part of the development of higher education in the UK and globally, with a redrawing of the line of what gets executed in universities and what they look to partners to deliver.”

Over the last 10 years, more than 200 students and staff from ACS Egham have travelled to Nepal to work on construction projects in Nepali schools. The project has raised funds to support local communities by supplying much needed educational resources – including more than 1,000 books – as well as supporting the construction of school buildings, classrooms, and hygiene facilities. It has also seen the Surrey school donate £12,000 to the Red Cross fund after the devastating consequences of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.

Carmel Kelly, Director of Project Nepal, said: “It is amazing to reflect on what has been an incredible 10 years of supporting local communities in Nepal. The initiative has developed our students’ commitment to service, social justice, and community involvement by enabling them to work productively with diverse communities. It is thanks to the support of our wider school community, and the strong partnerships forged with the Nepali community, that Project Nepal has made a positive impact during the last ten years of the initiative.”

As part of the initiative, ACS Egham launched the Project Nepal Legacy Scholarship Programme in 2017. The programme supports higher education for low-income students from the rural region of Panchkal, who would otherwise be unable to afford to attend college or university. Thanks to the school’s fundraising efforts, nearly 30 Nepalese students have been given the opportunity to complete higher education study to support their career ambitions.

One of the Nepali scholars, Pradip Kunwar, said: “I am currently studying a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering at Cosmos College of Information and Technology. I would like to thank ACS Project Nepal for helping me to complete my studies and also for funding my accommodation in Kathmandu which allows me to completely focus on my education.”

To mark the special anniversary, ACS Egham held a garden party which invited former student participants as well as guests from Nepal, and saw attendees enjoy traditional Nepali food and activities.

One ACS student commented of their involvement in Project Nepal: “I loved working with the Nepali children because it really made me realise how lucky I am to have my education. I also loved their enthusiasm to learn.”

The board, formed of 11 members based in Europe, the Middle East, China, India and Asia, (see full membership details below), have said focusing on these issues, which include tackling teacher recruitment and improving university application processes, will ensure schools can meet ever-growing demands for a British education around the world.

Currently hundreds of British international schools operate across the world, employing thousands of teachers and educating tens of thousands of children – including both UK citizens and local children in the school’s host nation – which helps play a major role in promoting the UK and its education system at both a cultural and political level.

As such, the list also calls on the next government to recognise the vital role the sector plays in global education for both UK citizens and international families wanting the very best the British education system can offer and to champion this whenever possible.

The five policy points are as follows:

1. Ensure strong UK teacher recruitment – Increase the number of teaching staff entering the profession to ensure there is a steady pipeline of educators who may wish to work abroad in the international sector. This should include widening the number of international school accreditations recognised by the Department for Education so more Early Career Teachers can complete their induction while working overseas.

2. Help teachers return to UK – Do more to promote and recognise the talents and attributes of UK international teachers so they are able to find teaching jobs when they return to the UK – which would help widen the state system’s teacher recruitment pool too.

3. Address overseas student fee issues – Resolve the situation where some UK-citizen students studying in international schools can face paying international fees when applying to home universities. This should include scrapping plans for UK students who live in Europe to pay international fees for university courses from 2028.

4. Change UCAS application timings – A-level exam results should be published earlier in the summer and the UCAS application and acceptance window moved to after this date to make the processes of applying for university more efficient for overseas students and schools.

5. Champion the sector – Do more to recognise, promote and celebrate the value of the British education system to help ensure it remains in high-demand across the globe.

Vanita Uppal OBE, Director of The British School New Delhi, India, said: “The desire for, and value of, a British education is immeasurable for many families who see it as the gold standard. To have a stable supply of high quality teachers from the UK as well as the availability of bespoke professional learning opportunities will be essential to retain Britain’s educational strength overseas. “

Ruth Sanderson, Principal, The British School of Amsterdam, said: “British education, a global gold standard, faces threats. Shrinking teacher pools and qualification changes create uncertainty. British children and students abroad face an unknown future in regard to access to higher education regarding places, fees and visas. The British government needs to prioritise support for these students’ futures and this highly successful industry.”

Mark Leppard MBE, Headmaster of the British School Al Khubairat, United Arab Emirates, said: “The UK education system is more than academic success, it is a vital element of Britain’s soft power projection around the world that shouldn’t be underestimated. Furthermore, teachers that have taught abroad have a breadth of experience and skills that should be recognised by the UK institutions that shaped them to deliver so much to so many.”

Tes Global Advisory Board chair Dan Worth said: “The British international school sector is a vitally important part of the global education system, helping educate thousands of children across the world. As such, it is vital the next government works with those in the sector to address the challenges and opportunities it faces.

“We hope the five-point list created by the Tes Global Advisory Board provides clarity on how policymakers can do that so the sector continues to grow and promote the best of British education around the world – while also benefiting state education in the UK too.”

The 2,150 m² school, designed by forma6, was constructed by making use of Stora Enso’s prefabricated kit of parts – Sylva by Stora Enso. For the first time ever, these parts were automatically precoated with hydrophobic protection against moisture in the new fully automated production line at the Stora Enso mill in Ybbs, Austria, that is up and running since the beginning of this year. Coatings are applied as part of the prefabrication of the components and help streamline on-site construction, protect the mass timber elements as well as increase the speed of the project. A shorter installation time – an advantage for mass timber elements in general – meant less noise pollution and traffic in and around the school area.

The school’s façade is designed with recycled materials and certified bio-based wood fibre insulation in addition to sustainable and reusable wood. In the space developed using Sylva CLT Floors, Roofs and Walls a total of 230 students will be attending classes, spread across two levels. The building features excellent indoor air quality – vital for children’s lungs –, biophilic design, and high acoustic performance, all contributing to an excellent learning environment for both children and teachers.

Timber specialist OBM explained that the City of Nantes faced an urgent need for new sustainably built schools in the area. Stora Enso’s range of prefabricated wood-based applications coated with hydrophobic protection, that shortened the construction time, was the perfect solution to meet those needs.”

Kim Ekberg, Product Manager at Stora Enso commented: “For the construction of the Bourdonnières school we were working on a very tight timeframe and had several constraints at the site itself. For example, we knew that we would have to leave the elements exposed on-site for a period of time, which can be a risk due to the weather. Our hydrophobic coating from our new coating line combats this risk by protecting the wood from absorbing moisture and making it easier to keep the surfaces clean from dirt.”

This first project completion follows Stora Enso’s initial investment of EUR 9 million in 2022 to develop this new state-of-the-art automated coating line at the Ybbs sawmill in Austria, which continues to serve the global market. The line offers coatings to protect Sylva CLT elements from moisture, UV damage and / or insects and additionally allows for a visually enhanced surface with several grades of white. The industrial application delivers shorter construction times as well as improved quality through prefabrication and quality control.

 As a sustainably sourced and produced material, Stora Enso’s Sylva kit of prefabricated wood-based products can help meet carbon off set requirements and lower the environmental footprint of construction as well as the building’s entire life cycle.

storaenso.com

Vicky Walsh (left) from Monk Fryston C of E Primary School will make the journey to Turku to join hundreds of other primary and secondary school teachers from all over Europe, who will share their most creative STEM ideas at stands, in workshops, and in highlight sessions.

She is one of 450 participants from more than 30 countries who will come together in August after they were specifically chosen because of their contribution to the subject of science within their own schools and trusts.

In addition to attending the event, as the leader of science teaching at Monk Fryston C of E School, Vicky will also host a stand at the 4-day international event showcasing one of the many projects she has delivered since securing a grant from the Ogden Trust that means she can dedicate half a day per week to improving the teaching of physics across the wider STAR Multi Academy Trust.

This includes the now annual Great Science Share event, which last year saw more than 160 children from nine Star Multi Academy Trust primary schools in Yorkshire come together to take part in a live debate to determine which is the greatest invention of all time.

Commenting on the festival Vicky Walsh said: “This is an exciting opportunity, and I am very proud and privileged to have been selected to attend the event and to have the opportunity to showcase the work that is taking place across the Trust to promote and enhance the learning of science.

“The grant has allowed me to really dedicate a significant amount of time to enhancing the science offering across the Trust, particularly focussing on the annual Great School Science Share events, as well as delivering additional physics training and termly meetings for all STARMAT schools.

“The results have been fantastic, and we have seen a real increase in the way that the children engage with their learning of physics. I now hope to share those learnings and look forward to also hearing what the other teachers have to say about their experiences.”

Rick Weights, the executive head teacher at Monk Fryston primary school said, “We are immensely proud of the work Vicky has already been doing to improve the physics and science education we offer our pupils.

“The honour of this invitation only demonstrates what we already knew – that she is becoming a pioneering figure in her field.”

The Ogden Trust is an organisation that supports schools, teachers, projects, and programmes that are committed to enhancing physics teaching and learning.

Star Multi Academy Trust is made up of eleven schools located across West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire.

Established in 2018, the trust’s aim is to create outstanding education within its academies to enable every young person to realise their full potential.

The acquisition of DoodleLearning supports Discovery Education’s mission to prepare learners for tomorrow by creating innovative classrooms connected to today’s world. DoodleLearning complements Discovery Education’s other award-winning digital services, which include Discovery Education’s K-12 platform, Mystery Science, STEM Connect, the Math, Science, and Social Studies Techbooks, Espresso, Coding and Health and Relationships.

“Discovery Education is dedicated to creating a best-in-class edtech ecosystem that supports our mission to prepare today’s students for future success,” said Discovery Education Chief Executive Officer Scott Kinney. “This acquisition is an important milestone in that effort, and we look forward to both partnering with the talented DoodleLearning team and scaling the reach of their innovative, adaptive maths and English products.”

Prior to founding DoodleLearning, Chief Executive Officer Nicola Chilman and Chief Operating Officer Tom Minor taught maths. In 2011, after experiencing first hand technology’s ability to accelerate student learning, Chilman and Minor created an app combining high-quality digital content and educational supports that encouraged children to learn in an engaging and personal way.

Today, DoodleLearning offers four products supporting instruction in maths and English for ages 4-14 that have been used by over one million children in the U.K. and around the world. As part of the Discovery Education family of services, DoodleLearning will continue to apply its educational ability to building and deploying affordable learning solutions for students worldwide.

“The entire DoodleLearning team is excited to join Discovery Education’s efforts to build and scale a powerful edtech ecosystem of digital resources serving teachers and learners worldwide,” said Nicola Chilman, DoodleLearning Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. “Our team will naturally fit into Discovery Education’s mission-driven culture, and we look forward to working with our new colleagues on our joint mission to prepare today’s students for future success.”

“DoodleLearning is excited to join the Discovery Education team,” said Tom Minor, Chief Operating Officer, and Co-Founder of DoodleLearning. “The company has laid out exciting plans to increase the number of instructional minutes it supports each day, and DoodleLearning is poised to play a significant role in this effort.”

DoodleLearning is Discovery Education’s latest acquisition. In October 2020, Discovery Education acquired Mystery Science and in July 2020, Discovery Education purchased Spiral. In August of 2019, Discovery Education announced the acquisition of Inspyro.

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.co.uk, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.

Maisha Mema’s vision is “to create a conducive environment for the children in the program through learning and activities so that they will be brought up to be useful citizens of Kenya in terms of getting an education and a job.”

Michael Kyavoa, Teacher, Maisha Mema, explains: “We have worked with Whizz Education since 2016 for our children to access the award-winning virtual tutor Maths-Whizz.  Currently, we have 113 licences, so children, mainly from Play Group to Grade 5 (6-14 years), use Maths-Whizz on a regular basis, funded by St. Olav VGS in Stavanger, Norway, whose generous contribution also covers our WiFi.

“All beneficiaries of Maisha Mema attend public school during the day. When they return in the afternoons, we then work with them to ensure they understood their lessons and anywhere where they found challenges, can be set on Maths-Whizz.  This reinforces learning and really helps build confidence when they are in school.”

90% of Maisha Mema’s students who made 2.5 progressions or more, since the beginning of the academic year, have achieved accelerated progress. 

“Our Whizz Education Success Partner, Matt Jones has been incredible.  He has provided several meeting and training sessions with all of our staff over zoom. He is always available to help and answer any questions.

“One area we have found most helpful is that Maths-Whizz enables us to monitor the progress of each child and groups of learners too.  This is a good point of reference for our teachers.  Every teacher has their own password and log in to access detailed information.  This enables us to drill down into subtopics so we can clearly assess strengths and weaknesses.  The data empowers us as teachers to step in and support individuals, groups of learners or a whole class on a particular topic.  In this way it helps guide our lesson planning on a daily basis.

“The Teachers Resource aspect of the solution is also very helpful.  This is a library and tool containing lesson plans and guides which we can use to plan lessons on specific topics.

“The virtual tutor itself is really well received by the children.  They love the games, animals and animation, and genuinely enjoy working through the programme.  It means there is not a ‘formal’ classroom feeling and learners are active in making progress by themselves.   One of the best aspects of Maths-Whizz is that it pitches the learning at the level of the individual child.  It automatically assesses and tailors online lessons to match knowledge and ability.  We often use it to recap on our normal lessons and yet, everyone is working at their own level and pace.

“Because we use an English version of Maths-Whizz, incidentally, we have found this helps children with their English too!   As well as reading, the sounds help them with their pronunciation.

“Following the COVID lockdown, we were allowed to let five children at a time access our Maths-Whizz room although we still couldn’t teach.   This helped them keep up to date with their maths learning as much as they possibly could given the circumstances.

“Maths-Whizz is now helping us prepare students’ learning for the new CBC curriculum which has been introduced, as they eventually work towards a new national exam when they reach Grade 6.

“Overall, working with Whizz Education and being able to access the virtual tutor Maths-Whizz has helped our learners so much.  Ultimately, the knowledge they have acquired will help our children get jobs in the future and improve their life outcomes.”

If you would like to sponsor or donate to Maisha Mema please visit: www.maishamema.org

For further information about Whizz Education please see:  www.whizz.com

Every year millions of students and teachers around the world benefit from English language learning and assessment products from Cambridge. This includes Cambridge English Qualifications, courses, support and digital resources to help people to learn English and prove their skills to the world. Cambridge’s new look and feel for its English range also includes a promise ‘where your world grows’, which is a commitment to its customers around the world.

Francesca Woodward, Global Managing Director English, says the new brand will give the organisation a strong, single identity going forward. She will be supported by Paul Colbert, Deputy Global Managing Director, English & Commercial Director.

Francesca Woodward said: ‘‘Last year we combined our publishing and assessment operations and now our team works even more closely together to deliver the very best solutions for English language learners and teachers worldwide. In the past learners and teachers have taken exams, used textbooks and digital resources from different parts of our Cambridge family, and our new single brand for English brings all of this together under one roof. It helps us to show the world that we create unique learning and assessment experiences that could only come from Cambridge.”

In the coming months Cambridge’s new brand for English will come to life in exam centres, schools and on learning and assessment products around the world. This will be a gradual process, and Cambridge will be working with its partners and distributors to take the transition to its new look step-by-step.

Woodward added: “As part of our commitment to the environment we’re not asking our partners and distributors around the world to throw away existing branded materials. We want them to take a step-by-step approach to the transition to our new Cambridge brand for English.”

“Spaces Learning is like a textbook that I use to deliver the content, which instead of being words on a page, is hands-on experiential courses. It’s a much better experience and I firmly believes using Spaces Learning has made me a better teacher 50 times over,” says Professor Feltus.

Toolwire Spaces Learning is a workstream collaboration platform that combines asynchronous digital learning (allowing students to view coursework at any time) with synchronous video conferencing and collaboration tools (where students are required to login and participate at a specific time) to create a virtual classroom. Using it, Professor Feltus and his students find that they communicate more frequently and effectively. No longer do students sit through lectures where some may get away with hiding in the back and not contributing. Thanks to Spaces Learning, they now engage and interact through discussion boards, logging-in when and where they want to ask a question or answer one. Students have started teaching and helping each other, collaborating, and moving forwards together.

One-on-one mentoring between teacher and student is still important, and thanks to its inbuilt analytics capability, Professor Feltus benefits from actionable insights he can draw from Spaces Learning. Using this, the Professor can see who has not been logging-on very often and might need additional help – something he might have missed in a physical classroom. The platform can also be set up to perform automated ‘nudging’ of students to catch-up with coursework, which gets better results than traditional methods.

“With Spaces Learning, I get fine-grained detail which lets me see how students are doing. Because I can see what is going on, I am better positioned to help and students can share their screens to show me exactly what they are doing,” says Professor Feltus.

Since autumn 2021, students and faculty have been required to physically return to the classroom, but Professor Feltus will never go back to full time face-to-face teaching. His classes will now be a hybrid of Spaces Learning and face-to-face, as for him, using Spaces Learning enables a teaching style like the modern Socratic method. Because students can access and review all the content on the platform whenever they want to, they start thinking and coming up with ideas, which means classes are used to go over those ideas and have the discussion that needs to be had that day instead of dryly going over coursework.

The pandemic taught us many lessons about the everyday activities we took for granted. Education is complex and what works for one group may not work for others. For further information and to request a one-to-one demo click here.

By providing health insurance products specifically made for the international school community, Regency can ensure that these expat teachers can gain access to all of the support, service and cover that other expats in over 120 countries are currently receiving from an safe, secure and established provider.

In addition to the renowned health insurance product, teachers can take advantage of the array of additional benefits that Regency offers to its members, such as fitness, nutrition, psychology, covid cover and the LIVELIFE Direct Card, in partnership with VISA.

Furthermore, as Regency understands the needs of international schools and their teachers, they have released a number of exclusive benefits developed specifically for this product. These include helping teachers acquire knowledge, information and skills for career progression, supporting teachers with expert advice relating to difficult students, guidance to navigate cross-cultural communications and will even ensure that their pets are cared for in the instant of delayed returns home.

Director of Regency Employee Benefits, Nuk Foster said “Our main aim is to become the best option for international schools and have built an infrastructure around teacher requirements that have enabled us to work towards this”.

Regency Employee Benefits is part of global insurance giant, Regency Assurance, a fully regulated insurance company specialising in providing comprehensive international health and life insurance plans for globally mobile individuals and local nationals in more than 120 countries. Their aim is to help customers to understand and manage everyday risks and to help them to protect themselves, their employees, loved ones and families, accordingly.

To learn more about the International School Health Insurance product or for any further information, please visit the website at www.regency-eb.com