Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS
Education
Tracking student intent for study abroad through October
Excerpts from an article published in ICEF Monitor
- Recent student surveys indicate that demand for study abroad remains strong. However, most students are planning to defer their studies until a COVID vaccine is widely available and/or until campuses reopen for face-to-face instruction.
- The vast majority of students expect to begin their studies abroad in 2021
Two recent surveys of prospective students have arrived at very similar observations.
The first comes from QS, and it relies on responses from nearly 3,000 prospective students gathered through much of September 2020. The research effort from educations.com examines a comparable number of responses from prospective students collected in the first three weeks of October.
Majority plan to defer their plans
Both studies find that demand for study abroad remains strong among prospective international students. Only very small percentages indicate they intend to cancel their study plans. The vast majority, however, are still planning to defer their programme starts – and for the most part to 2021.
“During the coronavirus crisis, prospective international students are often contending with complex challenges,” says QS. “Starting their studies overseas has been complicated by this, resulting in many students choosing to delay their application process.”
The educations.com study says that, “Only a minute percentage of prospective students (3.9%) plan to cancel their future study plans in response to the Pandemic. This demonstrates that while students are feeling increased uncertainty, they are not canceling their plans immediately.”
The other factor that comes through loud and clear in the surveys is that students remain highly committed to studying in-person and on-campus.
In fact, this overarching drive appears to be present in students’ expectations for when they will begin studies. They are planning to defer to a point where they expect a return to campus possible.
Career
Gender equality could accelerate fintech post-COVID-19
As digital transformation reshapes finance, Alexandra Roddy, CMO, Zafin, believes that an opportunity for greater equality is at hand. Excerpts from William Girling‘s article published in fintechmagazine.com
“Generally, women are disproportionately represented in the workplace. There are women missing at the top, although there are many at the bottom. For example, 7% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women despite the fact that they account for over 50% of qualified graduates,” says Alexandra Roddy.
Roddy is CMO at Zafin, a Toronto-based FinTech company specialising in software that increases the lean and agile capabilities of banks. The company has a global presence.
Adverse effects
Although gains in addressing the gender inequality issue have been made over the last few decades, Roddy says that progress is now tapering off. In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated the issue globally.
In fintech, there is a marked funding gap between men and women. Roddy calls it an unfortunate and “long-standing tradition” in the sector.
“Women represent 33% of STEM graduates, yet this isn’t reflected in the workforce,” she states. “The solution is not obvious; it’s been vigorously debated for decades. Bias against women is equally distributed among both men and women.”
This may account for the disconcerting fact that female executives are less likely to receive funding than their male counterparts, even though research indicates that their average ROI is 63% higher – often linked to more cooperative leadership and collaborative decision making.
Digital transformation could offer a solution
“Digital transformation offers that chance because these new technologies have no ‘experts’; they provide opportunities to break down preconceptions of competency,” says Roddy.
For companies to realise that the exciting development of fintech makes success contingent on applying the best talent, regardless of gender, is crucial. That companies are now struggling to stay viable during the pandemic makes this point even more apparent.
“Some women, at a certain point, seem to simply ‘drop out’ of the establishment and revert to more ‘alternative’ career choices. However, we need the best and brightest solving the large-scale problems we’re experiencing right now,” Roddy says.
Finally, Roddy reminds us that, although there are considerable obstacles still to overcome, women are still achieving considerable success. However, one of fintech’s core objectives should be to make this ‘the rule’ instead of ‘the exception’.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)
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