Earlier this year Hybrid News’ managing director James Craven was invited to appear on ‘Gadget Nation’ – A leading technology show on Malaysian cable television channel Astro Awani.

On each episode of Gadget Nation a guest is profiled from within the technology industry and asked questions specific to the Asian technology market and the projects/companies the guests are involved in. In relation to what we do here at Hybrid News, James was asked ‘Have universities been catching up with the revolution of social media and how is Hybrid New Ltd partnering with universities to engage students through social media?’ – Where he shed some light on our model and how we engage with prospective students in a targeted and palatable manner as opposed to some of the more brash, blunt methods you may see else where on the internet.

James also touches on the correlations between the current social and economic developments in south east Asia and the positive impact this is likely to have on the ever expanding mobile ecosystem, both in way of consumers purchasing items such as tablets and 3G enabled telephones and an increase in digestible mobile content.

As a company we were delighted to be asked on the show and would like to thank all at Astro Awani.

You can view the interview HERE

It’s social media’s most prestigious event and Asian Correspondent has been invited to be a part of it! James Craven, managing director of Hybrid News Ltd and the company behind Asian Correspondent, has been invited to speak at the popular World Bloggers Summit in Malaysia this month.

On the 16th of June, James will be presenting a speech on social media and its importance in contemporary elections in Asia. The man behind Asian Correspondent will be talking about all things virtual and how this forms a pillar for popular support during ballots being cast in Asian politics.

The World Bloggers Summit being held in Kuala Lumpur is a one-of-a-kind event that draws the best of minds behind social media successes. James will be rubbing shoulders with Malaysia Prime Minister YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who will be delivering the special address for the event, along with speakers such as the country’s minister for information, communication and culture and the deputy minister for higher education. Speakers also include heads of Higher Education Malaysia, The Sun Daily Malaysia and Malaysia Kini. The two-day event will sport the leaders of the social media world and discuss the phenomenon’s influence and importance in Asia.

And not just Malaysia, James can be spotted in Singapore on June 17, where he is attending Echelon – recognised for being Asia’s leading web technology event. The event focuses on bringing together the best of web technology experts and discusses the hottest trends in the industry. With organisations such as Geeks On A Place, Yahoo and Amazon Web Services represented – this is an event that cannot be missed!

There is a superb article from Newley Purnell in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week noting the aggressive and progressive approach of Asian Universities in their fund raising.  I follow the development of higher education in Asia closely – last year Asian Correspondent ran advertising campaigns with over 65 universities in the US, Asia, the UK and Australia with schools as diverse as Queensland University (Australia), Rutgers (United States) and Yonsei (South Korea).

Newley writes blogs at Siam Voices in Asian Correspondent but his insight into the huge amount of funding heading into new Asian education was a good one…local business man KC Chew has had a lot of success.

“In 2003 Mr. Chew, known as K.C., opened the first fund-raising office for the National University of Singapore. In just five years, the university raked in more than $1-billion from philanthropists and a government program that matched donations to universities. This was four times the amount raised in the 12 previous years.”

“Mr. Chew joined Nanyang Technological University in 2009 to bolster its efforts to raise private funds. The institution this month received roughly $117-million from the Lee Foundation, which was established by a Singaporean businessman. The private donation is reportedly the largest ever to a Singapore university.”

Both the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University have been liberated recently form government control creating further competition for the pursuit of international students.

So what is happening in the rest of the world affecting Asian students?

The international student scene in Asia is changing rapidly.  International students is the third largest industry to Australia (more important than steel in financial terms) but as recently reported in Asian Correspondent by the Phillip Charlton (Head of the HTA) the federal government has failed to reform the local immigration laws to support sensible intake.

Education standards among Universities from Hong Kong through to Malaysia and Indonesia have increased dramatically in line with investment.  India and China continue to invest heavily in education.  Graduates in China are struggling to find work.

The United Kingdom (traditionally the third most popular destination for Asian students) has raised University fees.   Recent student riots and negative PR have not made the plight of UK Recruitment Officers any easier.   UK schools can expect a drop in numbers from Asia unless they market aggressively.  Hybrid is working with a number of leading universities in Great Britain over the next two quarters to promote their very strong curriculum to Asian readers in the 18-30 YO  demographic.  We will be producing a comprehensive list of the Top 25 schools for Asian students based on cultural empathy, prestige and salaries salary / employment opportunity after graduation.

Universities in the US and Asian could be the big winners from the difficulties facing recruitment officers in Australia and the UK.  But sometimes, difficulty leads to focus, sharper marketing and opportunity.  Students in Asia spend up to 25% of their day online…if International departments are not trying to speak to them the way they want to be spoken to then they are not in the race.

Interesting fact:  one runaway success of international recruitment (if not education standards) in recent years has been the University of Phoenix, owned by the Apollo Group.  At the height of the BP oil spill media campaign last year BP spent $3.59 million (green dollars) in online advertising with Google.  In the same month, Apollo spent almost double, $6.67 million, on promoting the University of Phoenix?!

Higher Education is big, big business and the online marketing is defining the winners.

Mark Zuckerberg, Time Person of the Year…

Last tech or media guy to get this honour was Jeff Bezos in 1999 and before that Ted Turner (see an old 2004 blog) in 1991. Connecting half a billion people, your own movie and the cover of Time is not bad at 26.

Did he deserve it or was there more support for the other new media upstart Julian Assange?