This week's highlights
This week's edition of University World News publishes a special report on
exporting online education, edited by PHILIP FINE, and JOHN WALSHE reports from a European Universities Association conference in Bologna on diversifying university income streams. In the Commentary section RICHARD HOLMES probes a flawed indicator in the Times Higher Education world university rankings, and in Features DAVID JOBBINS reports on first official history of the British intelligence service MI6.
SPECIAL REPORT: Exporting online education
Online education. It can bring high profits or require large subsidies. It
can educate those in far-flung regions, give hope to working-class ambitions and act as a development tool. On the other hand, it can feel isolating, cheapen a university's name and over-commodify a professor's role. It can be run by faceless corporations or be part of an integrated plan for a country's growing needs. There are lots of stories to be told.
In this special report, ALYA MISHRA in India shows how online education is being used to shore up domestic shortfalls in bricks-and-mortar universities, with entrepreneurs eyeing the export market. SARAH KING HEAD looks at the high profits of US online education providers, who seem to be straining the student loan system, and how universities are lining up to court the for-profits. Profit margins are lower in Africa, writes SHARON DELL, with one South African university cornering the market at a loss, to try and bring more higher education to the continent. EILEEN TRAVERS' article details a Mexican programme that brings online courses to ex-pats in an effort to build its roster of well-trained professionals.
Bringing this all together is DAVID JOBBINS' exclusive interview with online and distance education pioneer Sir John Daniel, who heads up the Commonwealth of Learning, looking among other things at changing attitudes toward the sector and the good it can offer developing countries. Next week JOHN RICHARD SCHROCK reports that some US universities have begun to reject online courses on transcripts of student applicants.
Philip Fine Editor of the Special Report on exporting online education
INDIA: Local need feeds online education investment
Alya Mishra While Western countries look at exporting education online, India is using that platform to fill a shortage of bricks-and-mortar universities. Keen to increase the enrolment of 18-to-30 year olds from a dismal 12.4% to an ambitious 30%, India is investing heavily in information technology believing it will encourage online education and increase student numbers.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: High profits mean online providers here to stay
Sarah King Head
A cancellation of a large online project between the California community college system and Kaplan University reflects a dilemma faced by higher education in the US: many contact universities rely on for-profit online providers to train the masses.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Going where for-profits dare not tread
Sharon Dell
Exporting online higher education to the African continent is not for the faint of heart. It's a complicated and costly affair, which means that for-profit operators have tended shy away from it. One university seems to have cornered the African market in providing distance and online post-school education, with the help of some political goodwill at the highest levels of government. The huge University of South Africa, Unisa, has brought a developmental vision to Sub-Saharan Africa, embracing the continent and earning a solid reputation in the process.
Full report on the University World News site:
MEXICO: Country targets ex-pats with online degrees
Eileen Travers
Among the more than two million students starting post-secondary classes in Mexico this semester, an additional 1,000 Mexican citizens logged on from abroad, as the country has expanded an innovative online programme to reach those outside its borders.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Q&A with on-line pioneer John Daniel
David Jobbins
Sir John Daniel has been at the leading edge of the open and distance learning (ODL) movement through his roles as Vice-chancellor of the UK's Open University, Assistant Director General of UNESCO and, currently, President of the Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, Canada, an organisation that has set the standard for ODL in developing countries. Among the many projects it supports is Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, TESSA, whose open educational materials were used by 300,000 African teachers last year.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
PAKISTAN: Universities boycott prompts funds offer
Ameen Amjad Khan
A countrywide academic boycott staged across all public sector universities in Pakistan last week due to anger at the government's refusal to provide already-allocated funds to the country's 72 universities, led to a government climb-down for fear the protests might lead to violent clashes.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Postgraduate quality principles adopted
Geoff Maslen
Assessment of quality in postgraduate education is critical to the success of masters and doctoral students, and to the future of global research within and outside academe, according to a set of principles adopted at an international conference of higher education leaders from 17 countries held in Brisbane this month.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: Anti-corruption rules for private institutions
Alya Mishra
In a bid to encourage transparency and stamp out corruption and fraud in universities, India's education ministry is preparing guidelines that will for the first time force private higher education institutions to make their accounts public. The ministry had received numerous complaints from parents and students that private providers were engaging in malpractices and fleecing students.
Full report on the University World News site:
GULF STATES: Renewable energy centre unveiled
Wagdy Sawahel
The Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, is to establish a Centre of Excellence in Renewable Energy Research in the oil rich Gulf region with a presence in each of its six states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Probe into university payments embarrassing
John Walshe
Unauthorised payments of allowances, bonuses and enhanced pensions for some university staff over several years have been revealed in a report from Ireland's public spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General. It has caused deep embarrassment to university leaders who tried to explain the expenditure when they appeared before a parliamentary committee on public spending earlier this month.
Full report on the University World News site:
POLAND: Habilitation degree process to be speeded up
Jaroslaw Adamowski
Poland's Ministry of Science and Higher Education has announced plans to accelerate the process of 'habilitation' - the final stage before a faculty post in a university. The proposal is part of a reform package developed by the ministry, aimed at boosting the competitiveness of universities and encouraging young researchers to pursue academic careers.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Economy needs more graduates, says think tank
David Jobbins
A report by a leading UK think tank calls on the coalition government to increase rather than to restrict the production of university graduates to meet long-term economic needs. The Work Foundation accepts that the only way to finance continued growth in graduate supply is to increase tuition fees - but in a way that safeguards and maximises access to higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE: 'Digital university' makes progress
Jane Marshall
The French government is striving to close the digital gap in higher education. A year after the launch of a EUR17 million (US$22 million) programme to develop the 'digitised university', the number of wireless terminals in institutions has doubled, 30,000 hours of courses are available on podcast and 95% of students have access to a 'digital working environment', said Valérie Pécresse, Minister of Higher Education and Research.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: EU plans for high-speed internet revealed
David Haworth
Opportunities for research funding into the next generation of digital technologies were unveiled last week with the European Commission's long awaited report on next generation networks, which set out the European Union's plans for implementing the next generation of high-speed internet connections.
Full report on the University World News site:
European Universities Association conference
Less state money means more regulation, was the view expressed by many
delegates at a recent European Universities Association conference in Bologna on diversifying income streams. They heard several examples of how universities are successfully tapping other sources of revenue but were also cautioned about the potential pitfalls of cosying up too close to the private sector.
EUROPE: Less government money but more regulation
John Walshe Universities across Europe face a future of reduced state funding with a greater degree of government regulation, a European Universities Association conference on its European Universities Diversifying Income Stream (EUDIS) project, heard.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Universities warned of funding risk to mission
John Walshe
Too great a hunger for external funds may distract universities from their mission and focus, the European Universities Association conference in Bologna was warned. Over-dependence on the private sector can also result in too much application-focussed research at the cost of fundamental and curiosity-driven research.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
EUROPE: Professors to select new scientific council
Cayley Dobie
Six European professors have been appointed to the European Research Council's identification committee charged with finding new members for its scientific council.
Full report on the University World News site:
DENMARK: Interest in Brazilian studies up
Jan Petter Myklebust
A Danish university department spec ialising in Brazilian studies has doubled its student numbers since 2009.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
GLOBAL: Rankings undermined by flawed indicator
Richard Holmes*
Times Higher Education said that their new-style ranking would have a few surprises. They were certainly right. There have been so many academic eyebrows rising into the stratosphere that airlines will have to impose flight restrictions.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
UK: Belfast historian sheds light on secret service
David Jobbins
The international headlines marking the first official history of the British intelligence service MI6 focussed on a James Bond world of matchbox cameras, spooks' semen used as invisible ink, the assassination of Rasputin and false horse p enises.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY: Lagging behind in OECD statistics
Michael Gardner
The latest report on education issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development emphasises that education pays its way. But while this is clearly borne out by income levels and employment prospects for academically qualified graduates in Germany, the country continues to lag behind in terms of key OECD criteria.
Full report on the University World News site:
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
UKRAINE: Arrest of historian for research activities
Roisin Joyce*
Historian Ruslan Zabiliy has been arrested by the Ukrainian security service, the SBU, allegedly on the basis of his research into the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Ukraine's independence movement in the 1940s and 1950s, the Kyiv Post reported on 17 September.
More Academic Freedom reports on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
EUROPE: EU seeks role in nanobiotechnology
Alan Osborn
Seven European research centres have formed a consortium to launch nanobiotechnology on a European scale backed by funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme on research. The grouping, EuroNanoBio, claims it is defining the key features of a potential European future nano-biotechnology industry, which uses tiny microbiological particles to make products and components.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Fines cost companies dearly in reputational loss
Cayley Dobie
Research from Britain's Oxford University has offered warnings to companies that being fined by a government regulator may cost them far more than the amount of the financial penalty.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL
DENMARK: Academic helps musicians fight injuries
Jan Petter Myklebust
A Danish academic is working to help musicians overcome musculoskeletal problems. Helene Martina Paarup at the University of Southern Denmark is concerned that professional musicians report having musculoskeletal problems two to three times more frequently that in the general workforce.
Full report on the University World News site:
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WORLD ROUND-UP
AUSTRALIA: Uneven punishment for plagiarism: report
An estimated 10,000 students a year are subjected to disciplinary action across Australia's universities, most of them for plagiarism allegations, reports Andrew Trounson for The Australian.
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ZIMBABWE: Two students killed by security guards
Two students from Bindura University are said to have died after being assaulted by security guards determined to stop those who had not paid their tuition fees from attending a graduation ceremony, reports Lance Guma for SW Radio Africa News.
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DUBAI: Universities withstand financial crisis
When Michigan State University shut down its undergraduate programme in Dubai in July, citing among other things the departure of overseas workers and their families in the wake of the financial crisis, it was feared that other colleges and universities would also suffer, writes Vir Singh for The New York Times. This has not happened.
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MALAYSIA: Johns Hopkins to set up teaching hospital
The renowned US teaching and research medical institution Johns Hopkins University will be setting up a school and hospital in Malaysia, writes Wong Chun Wai for The Star. It will be Malaysia's first private teaching hospital with research facilities.
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INDIA: World's largest university to open in Europe
The Indira Gandhi National Open University, the largest in the world, will open study centres in six European nations, including Germany and France, to offer personalised courses, reports Sify Finance.
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US: Study shows value of university degree is growing
Despite rising tuition and student loan debt levels, the long-term payoff from earning a college degree is growing, writes Tamar Lewin for The New York Times. According to a report by the College Board, workers with a college degree earned much more and were much less likely to be unemployed than those with only a high school diploma
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CANADA: Parents struggle with soaring university bills
Almost two-thirds of Canadian parents say they cannot afford the soaring costs of sending their children to university, a poll by BMO Financial Group found, while a separate survey said students are graduating with double the debt of 20 years ago, reports Sharon Singleton for the QMI Agency.
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US: For-profit school stocks jump
Shares of education companies got a big boost last Thursday on hopes for a change in tough new regulations that schools have said would hurt their business, reports Bloomberg Business Week.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Graduate community service possible
The South African government will look at introducing compulsory community service for university graduates, Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande said at the ruling African National Congress' national general council on Thursdays, writes Stuart Graham for News24.
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VIETNAM: Can universities produce another Asian tiger?
Vietnam is building up its universities in an effort to join economic tigers Taiwan and South Korea, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
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UK: Students prepare to earn and learn
With rising inflation and tuition fees likely to go up, a university place now involves working as well as studying, writes Karen Dugdale for The Observer. Of the 443,000 students starting university in the coming weeks, around two-thirds will be funding their studies through part-time work.
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UK: Oxford's status under threat from cuts, VC warns
Professor Andrew Hamilton, Oxford University's vice-chancellor, says the university will increasingly have to rely on philanthropy owing to imminent government cuts to higher education, reports Jessica Shepherd for The Guardian.
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SCOTLAND: Vice-chancellor proposes graduate tax
A leading academic has said that students should start contributing towards the cost of their degrees to help Scottish universities cope with a looming public spending crisis, reports Simon Johnson for The Telegraph.
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UAE: Expert urges standardisation of higher education
An expert in professional education has urged Arab colleges and universities to standardise their programmes, reports Al Bawaba News.
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UGANDA: Questions over honorary professorships
The National Council for Higher Education has questioned Makerere University's recent award of honorary professorships to some leading Ugandans, reports Conan Businge and John Eremu for The New Vision.
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Sunday 26 September 2010
Saturday 25 September 2010
University World News 0140 - 19th September 2010
This week's highlights
GEOFF MASLEN reports on last week's 2010 Times Higher Education world
university ranking, and DAVID JOBBINS compares its methodology with that of the previous week's QS World University Rankings. In the Commentary section YUE MA and MARIUS VERMAAK investigate internationalisation challenges facing universities in China, and in Features SHARON DELL looks at implications of new intellectual property regulations for university research in South Africa.
OECD higher education conference
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Institutional
Management in Higher Education programme held its general conference in Paris from 13-15 September. The title was "Higher Education in a World Changed Utterly: Doing more with less", and delegates investigated a major issue - how, in the context of a global recession, the higher education sector can lead the way to sustainable recovery.
University World News was a media partner to the event and had a team of five journalists there to report on it. Below is a selection of their stories. University World News will also publish a Special Edition on the OECD conference in October - a full edition of the paper featuring numerous additional articles, interviews and commentaries from this key event.
GLOBAL: Universities must "play to their strengths"
Yojana Sharma The global financial crisis means that higher education institutions "need to work smarter", said Barbara Ischinger, director for education at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. "We need to ensure institutions play to their strengths," she said at the opening session of the three-day Institutional Management in Higher Education conference.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Higher Education conference attacks rankings
Yojana Sharma
With the international university rankings season underway, higher education policy-makers and leaders have criticised league tables for distorting university priorities during a major global recession. Delegates speaking at the OECD conference in Paris said rankings did not help. Vice-chancellor of California State University, Charles Reed, caused a stir when he described global rankings as "a disease".
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Changes looming in global student market
Yojana Sharma
After analysing international trade data, Angel Calderon of RMIT University in Australia predicts the sun is setting on international students from some East Asian countries, continues to shine on India and China, while sunrise countries such as Chile and the Czech Republic may not yet be visible on the horizon but will be a source of international students in future.
Full report on the University World News site:
BRAZIL: Too few students to fill university seats
Alecia D McKenzie
While universities in many countries are bemoaning the fact that they have too many students applying for too few places, Brazil has the opposite dilemma: the country has an abundance of university seats but not enough qualified students to fill them.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Branch campuses are 'hollow shells'
Yojana Sharma
Many branch campuses where students can earn a degree from another country without ever going abroad are proliferating. However, they were described as "hollow shells" at the OECD higher education conference in Paris on Tuesday.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Recession leads MIT to consider paywall
Lawrence J Speer
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is considering putting lecture notes and other academic content behind a paywall to raise revenue and make up for funding shortfalls stemming from the global recession, according to Lori Breslow, who runs MIT's teaching and learning laboratory.
Full report on University World News site:
US: America can learn from the Bologna process
Patricia Brett
The US "must adapt and apply the lessons" learned from the Bologna Process if it is to increase the percentage of Americans with high quality degrees, according to Holiday Hart McKiernan, Senior Vice-president of the Lumina Foundation for Higher Education.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNESCO: UN to increase its focus on higher education
Yojana Sharma
The United Nations is to focus more strongly on higher education in developing countries, Qian Tang, UNESCO's newly-appointed Assistant Director-General for Education, said in Paris last week.
Full report on the University World News site:
Global university rankings 'wars'
GLOBAL: Harvard resumes top spot in THE ranking
Geoff Maslen
The latest world ranking of universities by the UK's Times Higher Education magazine has placed Harvard back on top, following its displacement to second spot for the first time since 2004 in last week's QS World University Rankings.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Rankings methodologies in confidence battle
David Jobbins
Hard on the heels of the publication of the QS World University Rankings, former partner Times Higher Education last week published its first league table in conjunction with Thomson Reuters. The methodologies are designed to be poles apart.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
EUROPE: Universities' income sources diversify
John Walshe
European universities rely heavily on direct public funding, which represents about three quarters (73%) of their overall budgets. But many expect this percentage to decrease and are looking to other sources of income, according to a new study from a European university consortium.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Economy, demography drive record applications
John Walshe
Several records were set this year by the Central Applications Office which processes applications and offers for virtually all higher education institutions in Ireland - record applications, especially from adults, a record number of offers of places, and record numbers of acceptances.
Full report on the University World News site:
PANAMA: Quality initiative to strengthen universities
Eileen Travers
Panama's commitment to higher education has been thrust forward with the launch of the first nationwide initiative to evaluate and accredit tertiary institutions, aimed at strengthening programmes offered by a flourishing number of foreign and local post-secondary institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Resigning ERC head says exit was planned
Alan Osborn
The secretary general of the European Research Council has told University World News that his surprise resignation on 1 September was not a sudden decision but part of a planned "reintegration to my academic position".
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Higher education funding promises broken
The Commission for Africa, established by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004, has called on the donor community to increase funding to Africa's higher education system, saying there has been no improvement in resources channeled towards the sector in the past five years.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: University leaders threatened with jail
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwe's government has threatened to fire or jail university vice-chancellors and principals accused of expelling students who have failed to raise higher education fees. The higher education managers are in violation of a government decree issued earlier this year.
Full report on the University World News site:
N IGERIA: Planned higher education deregulation slated
Tunde Fatunde
The N igerian government is putting the finishing touches to an elaborate plan to deregulate public universities that includes an end to government's commitment to substantially fund public higher education. A key aspect of the proposed deregulation is a projected astronomical increase in student fees.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE: One-stop advice service for foreign students
Jane Marshall
A 'one-stop' advisory service has opened in Paris for foreign students arriving for the first time in the French capital. Open until 15 December, it brings together in one location information and advice on all the authorities and administrative agencies with which new students need to register, and services that will help them settle in.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: New software preserves digital data for future
Emma Jackson
Researchers say they have secured the future of Europe's huge volumes of digital data, having created open source software that will protect digital data from becoming unreadable or unusable because of incompatibility with newer technologies. The European Union-funded programme, CASPAR, developed the software.
Full report on University World News site:
EUROPE: Transatlantic ties strengthened
Alan Osborn
Higher educational ties between the European Union and the United States and Canada have been strengthened with the launch of a new slew of transatlantic education partnerships involving 160 universities and training institutions and thousands of students on both sides of the ocean.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY: Go-ahead for new grants scheme
Michael Gardner
A new national grants programme is to be introduced in Germany from the next summer semester. Some 10,000 students will be supported by the scheme in 2011-12 following approval by state governments.
Full report on University World News site:
COMMENTARY
CHINA: Universities face internationalisation dilemma
Yue Ma and Marius Vermaak
Just imagine that the US Department of Education announced to the world that it had 3,000 scholarships on offer for study at college level in the United States, open to any applicant with proficient English. The number of applicants from China alone would undoubtedly be in the millions. In fact, just such a highly unlikely offer was made recently, but by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
UK: New universities push for graduate tax, not fees
David Jobbins
A think tank representing newer UK universities is attempting to head off the prospect of higher tuition fees for undergraduate students by reviving the case for a graduate tax through which students would contribute to the cost of their education over their working lives.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Jury out on intellectual property laws
Sharon Dell
Will South Africa's Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development (IPR) Act incentivise or bureaucratise innovation at public universities? Some academics are concerned about the law's impacts on international collaboration and open access to research, among other things. But it seems only time will tell.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
GLOBAL: Reform of UN climate panel
Kudzai Mashininga
The InterAcademy Council has recommended reforms to a UN climate panel - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC - following errors in some of its assessment reports. A council review committee said in a report that the process used by the IPCC to produce its periodic assessment reports had been successful overall but that fundamental reforms were needed to its management structure.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Bees warm up with a hot drink
Geoff Maslen
Humans are not the only ones to enjoy a hot drink on a cold morning. Bees have the same idea when the weather is chilly and the discovery could be highly significant with the advent of climate change. And not just to bee keepers.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK-US: Plastic residue affects s ex hormone
An international group of researchers led by the Peninsula Medical School and the University of Exeter have for the first time identified changes in s ex hormones associated with Bisphenol-A exposure in men, in a large population study. BPA is a controversial chemical commonly used in food and drink containers.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL
AUSTRALIA: Ministerial mess for higher education
Geoff Maslen
For a brief time last week, Australia was without a federal Minister of Education. It was yet another weird byproduct of the most bizarre election in Australian history and media commentators pointed to the peculiarity of Australia joining Canada as the only two countries that had universities in the top 100 rankings but no education minister with that title.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: College attempt to block social media fails
The Harrisburg University of Science and Technology made waves last week when it announced it would block access to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and AOL Instant Messenger from its campus wireless network for one week, writes Steve Kolowich for Inside Higher Ed.
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FACEBOOK
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WORLD ROUND-UP
MALAYSIA: Asia-Pacific shows steep research growth
While researchers at universities and institutes in many Western countries fret about budget pressures, scientists in many Asian nations are translating huge investments in research and development into impressive gains in research output, writes Liz Gooch for The New York Times.
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US: Women doctoral graduates outstrip men
For the first time, more women than men in the United States received doctoral degrees last year, the culmination of decades of change in the status of women at colleges nationwide, writes Daniel de Vise for The Washington Post.
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US: Graduate applications spiked in economic crisis
A new report by the Council of Graduate Schools shows that the number of people applying to America's graduate schools spiked after the economy tanked in 2008, writes Peter Schmidt for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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PAKISTAN: No bailout package for 72 universities
In a meeting with vice-chancellors, Pakistan's Ministry of Finance has ruled out any possibility of a financial bailout package for 72 public sector universities, owing to financial constraints and failure to reach a consensus on meeting budget requirements for higher education reforms, reports Sajid Chaudhry for The Daily Times.
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UK: Financial pressures 'will shut down' a university
A survey suggests that nine out of 10 university leaders believe a UK university will shut down because of financial pressures in the next decade, reports Sean Coughlan for BBC News.
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INDIA: Professor whose hand was chopped-off is fired
A union at Mahatma University in India has slated the dismissal of Professor TJ Joseph as illegal and demanded he be re-hired, reports SperoNews. Joseph, who headed the department of Malayalam, lost his job after students claimed some of his exam questions contained words offensive to Muhammad. Despite a public apology, he was attacked by activists who chopped off one of his hands and part of his arm.
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TURKEY: University headscarf ban debate may resurface
Turkey's ban on the wearing of Islamic headscarves in universities and state institutions could rise up the political agenda again if the ruling AK Party wins a key referendum on constitutional reforms, reports BBC News.
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INDIA: Lost Buddhist university to rise from ashes
The chance of intellectual life returning to Nalanda University in India has come one step closer after the parliament in New Delhi last month passed a bill approving plans to re-build the campus as a symbol of India's global ambitions, writes Rupam Jain Nair for Associated Press.
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US: Yale plans college in Singapore
Yale University announced last week that it was planning to create a liberal arts college in Singapore that would be financed entirely by the government there and could, in time, establish a new model for higher education in Asia, reports Lisa W Foderaro for The New York Times.
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JAPAN: Nagoya baits US state with lower fees
Japan's Nagoya University is dangling economic bait to American parents in North Carolina worried about how they'll afford college tuition, reports News Observer.
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VIETNAM: Universities struggle to recruit lecturers
Low salaries have made it difficult for universities in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to attract lecturers and meet the target for new hires in 2010 set by the Ministry of Education and Training, reports Viet Nam News.
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IRELAND: Maths and science rankings slip
The Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is likely to raise concerns about dropping maths and science standards in Ireland, reports Sean Flynn for the Irish Times. The report ranks Ireland 24 out of 139 countries for maths and science, down 10 places since last year.
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SCOTLAND: Poor still 'struggle to access higher education'
The education secretary has defended the Scottish National Party's record on higher education after a new report suggested there are fewer students from poorer families in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK, reports Andrew Whitaker for the Scotsman.
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US: Columbia's invite to Ethiopian leader criticised
Columbia University likes to invite world leaders to campus when they are in New York City for United Nations meetings, and has defended invitations to some particularly controversial leaders. However, the university's latest invitation - to Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia - is providing new ammunition for those who question some of Columbia's choices, reports Inside Higher Ed.
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CANADA: Windsor law dean candidate alleges racism
A Canadian law professor is asking the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to force the University of Windsor to appoint her dean of law, after her candidacy was spoiled by accusations of plagiarism and, she claims, racism and s exism, reports the National Post.
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GEOFF MASLEN reports on last week's 2010 Times Higher Education world
university ranking, and DAVID JOBBINS compares its methodology with that of the previous week's QS World University Rankings. In the Commentary section YUE MA and MARIUS VERMAAK investigate internationalisation challenges facing universities in China, and in Features SHARON DELL looks at implications of new intellectual property regulations for university research in South Africa.
OECD higher education conference
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Institutional
Management in Higher Education programme held its general conference in Paris from 13-15 September. The title was "Higher Education in a World Changed Utterly: Doing more with less", and delegates investigated a major issue - how, in the context of a global recession, the higher education sector can lead the way to sustainable recovery.
University World News was a media partner to the event and had a team of five journalists there to report on it. Below is a selection of their stories. University World News will also publish a Special Edition on the OECD conference in October - a full edition of the paper featuring numerous additional articles, interviews and commentaries from this key event.
GLOBAL: Universities must "play to their strengths"
Yojana Sharma The global financial crisis means that higher education institutions "need to work smarter", said Barbara Ischinger, director for education at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. "We need to ensure institutions play to their strengths," she said at the opening session of the three-day Institutional Management in Higher Education conference.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Higher Education conference attacks rankings
Yojana Sharma
With the international university rankings season underway, higher education policy-makers and leaders have criticised league tables for distorting university priorities during a major global recession. Delegates speaking at the OECD conference in Paris said rankings did not help. Vice-chancellor of California State University, Charles Reed, caused a stir when he described global rankings as "a disease".
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Changes looming in global student market
Yojana Sharma
After analysing international trade data, Angel Calderon of RMIT University in Australia predicts the sun is setting on international students from some East Asian countries, continues to shine on India and China, while sunrise countries such as Chile and the Czech Republic may not yet be visible on the horizon but will be a source of international students in future.
Full report on the University World News site:
BRAZIL: Too few students to fill university seats
Alecia D McKenzie
While universities in many countries are bemoaning the fact that they have too many students applying for too few places, Brazil has the opposite dilemma: the country has an abundance of university seats but not enough qualified students to fill them.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Branch campuses are 'hollow shells'
Yojana Sharma
Many branch campuses where students can earn a degree from another country without ever going abroad are proliferating. However, they were described as "hollow shells" at the OECD higher education conference in Paris on Tuesday.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Recession leads MIT to consider paywall
Lawrence J Speer
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is considering putting lecture notes and other academic content behind a paywall to raise revenue and make up for funding shortfalls stemming from the global recession, according to Lori Breslow, who runs MIT's teaching and learning laboratory.
Full report on University World News site:
US: America can learn from the Bologna process
Patricia Brett
The US "must adapt and apply the lessons" learned from the Bologna Process if it is to increase the percentage of Americans with high quality degrees, according to Holiday Hart McKiernan, Senior Vice-president of the Lumina Foundation for Higher Education.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNESCO: UN to increase its focus on higher education
Yojana Sharma
The United Nations is to focus more strongly on higher education in developing countries, Qian Tang, UNESCO's newly-appointed Assistant Director-General for Education, said in Paris last week.
Full report on the University World News site:
Global university rankings 'wars'
GLOBAL: Harvard resumes top spot in THE ranking
Geoff Maslen
The latest world ranking of universities by the UK's Times Higher Education magazine has placed Harvard back on top, following its displacement to second spot for the first time since 2004 in last week's QS World University Rankings.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Rankings methodologies in confidence battle
David Jobbins
Hard on the heels of the publication of the QS World University Rankings, former partner Times Higher Education last week published its first league table in conjunction with Thomson Reuters. The methodologies are designed to be poles apart.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
EUROPE: Universities' income sources diversify
John Walshe
European universities rely heavily on direct public funding, which represents about three quarters (73%) of their overall budgets. But many expect this percentage to decrease and are looking to other sources of income, according to a new study from a European university consortium.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Economy, demography drive record applications
John Walshe
Several records were set this year by the Central Applications Office which processes applications and offers for virtually all higher education institutions in Ireland - record applications, especially from adults, a record number of offers of places, and record numbers of acceptances.
Full report on the University World News site:
PANAMA: Quality initiative to strengthen universities
Eileen Travers
Panama's commitment to higher education has been thrust forward with the launch of the first nationwide initiative to evaluate and accredit tertiary institutions, aimed at strengthening programmes offered by a flourishing number of foreign and local post-secondary institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Resigning ERC head says exit was planned
Alan Osborn
The secretary general of the European Research Council has told University World News that his surprise resignation on 1 September was not a sudden decision but part of a planned "reintegration to my academic position".
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Higher education funding promises broken
The Commission for Africa, established by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004, has called on the donor community to increase funding to Africa's higher education system, saying there has been no improvement in resources channeled towards the sector in the past five years.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: University leaders threatened with jail
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwe's government has threatened to fire or jail university vice-chancellors and principals accused of expelling students who have failed to raise higher education fees. The higher education managers are in violation of a government decree issued earlier this year.
Full report on the University World News site:
N IGERIA: Planned higher education deregulation slated
Tunde Fatunde
The N igerian government is putting the finishing touches to an elaborate plan to deregulate public universities that includes an end to government's commitment to substantially fund public higher education. A key aspect of the proposed deregulation is a projected astronomical increase in student fees.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE: One-stop advice service for foreign students
Jane Marshall
A 'one-stop' advisory service has opened in Paris for foreign students arriving for the first time in the French capital. Open until 15 December, it brings together in one location information and advice on all the authorities and administrative agencies with which new students need to register, and services that will help them settle in.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: New software preserves digital data for future
Emma Jackson
Researchers say they have secured the future of Europe's huge volumes of digital data, having created open source software that will protect digital data from becoming unreadable or unusable because of incompatibility with newer technologies. The European Union-funded programme, CASPAR, developed the software.
Full report on University World News site:
EUROPE: Transatlantic ties strengthened
Alan Osborn
Higher educational ties between the European Union and the United States and Canada have been strengthened with the launch of a new slew of transatlantic education partnerships involving 160 universities and training institutions and thousands of students on both sides of the ocean.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY: Go-ahead for new grants scheme
Michael Gardner
A new national grants programme is to be introduced in Germany from the next summer semester. Some 10,000 students will be supported by the scheme in 2011-12 following approval by state governments.
Full report on University World News site:
COMMENTARY
CHINA: Universities face internationalisation dilemma
Yue Ma and Marius Vermaak
Just imagine that the US Department of Education announced to the world that it had 3,000 scholarships on offer for study at college level in the United States, open to any applicant with proficient English. The number of applicants from China alone would undoubtedly be in the millions. In fact, just such a highly unlikely offer was made recently, but by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
UK: New universities push for graduate tax, not fees
David Jobbins
A think tank representing newer UK universities is attempting to head off the prospect of higher tuition fees for undergraduate students by reviving the case for a graduate tax through which students would contribute to the cost of their education over their working lives.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Jury out on intellectual property laws
Sharon Dell
Will South Africa's Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development (IPR) Act incentivise or bureaucratise innovation at public universities? Some academics are concerned about the law's impacts on international collaboration and open access to research, among other things. But it seems only time will tell.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
GLOBAL: Reform of UN climate panel
Kudzai Mashininga
The InterAcademy Council has recommended reforms to a UN climate panel - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC - following errors in some of its assessment reports. A council review committee said in a report that the process used by the IPCC to produce its periodic assessment reports had been successful overall but that fundamental reforms were needed to its management structure.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Bees warm up with a hot drink
Geoff Maslen
Humans are not the only ones to enjoy a hot drink on a cold morning. Bees have the same idea when the weather is chilly and the discovery could be highly significant with the advent of climate change. And not just to bee keepers.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK-US: Plastic residue affects s ex hormone
An international group of researchers led by the Peninsula Medical School and the University of Exeter have for the first time identified changes in s ex hormones associated with Bisphenol-A exposure in men, in a large population study. BPA is a controversial chemical commonly used in food and drink containers.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL
AUSTRALIA: Ministerial mess for higher education
Geoff Maslen
For a brief time last week, Australia was without a federal Minister of Education. It was yet another weird byproduct of the most bizarre election in Australian history and media commentators pointed to the peculiarity of Australia joining Canada as the only two countries that had universities in the top 100 rankings but no education minister with that title.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: College attempt to block social media fails
The Harrisburg University of Science and Technology made waves last week when it announced it would block access to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and AOL Instant Messenger from its campus wireless network for one week, writes Steve Kolowich for Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:
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WORLD ROUND-UP
MALAYSIA: Asia-Pacific shows steep research growth
While researchers at universities and institutes in many Western countries fret about budget pressures, scientists in many Asian nations are translating huge investments in research and development into impressive gains in research output, writes Liz Gooch for The New York Times.
More on the University World News site:
US: Women doctoral graduates outstrip men
For the first time, more women than men in the United States received doctoral degrees last year, the culmination of decades of change in the status of women at colleges nationwide, writes Daniel de Vise for The Washington Post.
More on the University World News site:
US: Graduate applications spiked in economic crisis
A new report by the Council of Graduate Schools shows that the number of people applying to America's graduate schools spiked after the economy tanked in 2008, writes Peter Schmidt for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
PAKISTAN: No bailout package for 72 universities
In a meeting with vice-chancellors, Pakistan's Ministry of Finance has ruled out any possibility of a financial bailout package for 72 public sector universities, owing to financial constraints and failure to reach a consensus on meeting budget requirements for higher education reforms, reports Sajid Chaudhry for The Daily Times.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Financial pressures 'will shut down' a university
A survey suggests that nine out of 10 university leaders believe a UK university will shut down because of financial pressures in the next decade, reports Sean Coughlan for BBC News.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Professor whose hand was chopped-off is fired
A union at Mahatma University in India has slated the dismissal of Professor TJ Joseph as illegal and demanded he be re-hired, reports SperoNews. Joseph, who headed the department of Malayalam, lost his job after students claimed some of his exam questions contained words offensive to Muhammad. Despite a public apology, he was attacked by activists who chopped off one of his hands and part of his arm.
More on the University World News site:
TURKEY: University headscarf ban debate may resurface
Turkey's ban on the wearing of Islamic headscarves in universities and state institutions could rise up the political agenda again if the ruling AK Party wins a key referendum on constitutional reforms, reports BBC News.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Lost Buddhist university to rise from ashes
The chance of intellectual life returning to Nalanda University in India has come one step closer after the parliament in New Delhi last month passed a bill approving plans to re-build the campus as a symbol of India's global ambitions, writes Rupam Jain Nair for Associated Press.
More on the University World News site:
US: Yale plans college in Singapore
Yale University announced last week that it was planning to create a liberal arts college in Singapore that would be financed entirely by the government there and could, in time, establish a new model for higher education in Asia, reports Lisa W Foderaro for The New York Times.
More on the University World News site:
JAPAN: Nagoya baits US state with lower fees
Japan's Nagoya University is dangling economic bait to American parents in North Carolina worried about how they'll afford college tuition, reports News Observer.
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VIETNAM: Universities struggle to recruit lecturers
Low salaries have made it difficult for universities in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to attract lecturers and meet the target for new hires in 2010 set by the Ministry of Education and Training, reports Viet Nam News.
More on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Maths and science rankings slip
The Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is likely to raise concerns about dropping maths and science standards in Ireland, reports Sean Flynn for the Irish Times. The report ranks Ireland 24 out of 139 countries for maths and science, down 10 places since last year.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: Poor still 'struggle to access higher education'
The education secretary has defended the Scottish National Party's record on higher education after a new report suggested there are fewer students from poorer families in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK, reports Andrew Whitaker for the Scotsman.
More on the University World News site:
US: Columbia's invite to Ethiopian leader criticised
Columbia University likes to invite world leaders to campus when they are in New York City for United Nations meetings, and has defended invitations to some particularly controversial leaders. However, the university's latest invitation - to Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia - is providing new ammunition for those who question some of Columbia's choices, reports Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: Windsor law dean candidate alleges racism
A Canadian law professor is asking the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to force the University of Windsor to appoint her dean of law, after her candidacy was spoiled by accusations of plagiarism and, she claims, racism and s exism, reports the National Post.
More on the University World News site:
Sunday 12 September 2010
University World News 0139 - 12th September 2010
This week's highlights
In the Commentary section MICHAEL GALLAGHER, Executive Director of the
Australian Group of Eight research-intensive universities, worries that policy drift may beset the new government at a time when fundamental change is needed in higher education and research. In Features, ALYA MISHRA argues that Indian Education Minister Kapil Sibal's visit to China next week could help thaw chilly relations through cooperation in higher education, and YOJANA SHARMA reports on the growing popularity in Asia of the International Baccalaureate diploma as a route to study abroad.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
GLOBAL: Harvard toppled in new QS ranking
David Jobbins
A university from outside the United States has topped the QS World University Rankings for the first time since their appearance in 2004. The University of Cambridge tops the global ranking, edging aside Harvard which has led the table since the rankings were inaugurated. Over that time Cambridge has never been rated lower than third and was runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2009.
Full report on University World News web site:
GLOBAL: Young graduates drive economic advantage
Yojana Sharma
Human capital, or the knowledge and skills available to developed country economies, has grown impressively in the last decade as a larger proportion of people have university degrees. But countries where the proportion of younger people with degrees is rising will be best prepared for a high-tech future, the OECD's Education at a Glance 2010 predicts.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEW ZEALAND: Quake closes three universities
John Gerritsen
Three of New Zealand's universities were closed after a large earthquake caused widespread damage to the South Island city of Christchurch. The quake happened early on the morning of Saturday 4 September and registered 7.1 on the Richter scale. It caused damage to the University of Canterbury, Lincoln University and the Christchurch campus of the University of Otago.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRAN: Probe into 'political cleansing' of professors
Yojana Sharma and Ramin Namvari
The forced retirement of eminent Iranian professors, particularly scientists, has continued apace since Iran's elections reinstated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year. But in an indication that the removals may have gone too far, Iran's parliament last week announced it would hold an investigation into the issue.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Vice-chancellors relieved by Labor win
Geoff Maslen
"When it comes to elections there are odd results, strange results and bizarre results; Australia has just managed to achieve the surreal," wrote Professor Greg Craven last week. The vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University was commenting in the Melbourne Age newspaper on the outcome of the Australian election - nearly three weeks after the polls had closed. More in the Commentary section
Full report on the University World News site:
JAPAN-CHINA: Moving closer, say students and academics
Suvendrini Kakuchi
Sino-Japanese ties, dogged by historical colonial wounds, have grown closer thanks to increasing economic interdependency, according to responses from students and academics polled in both countries. And relations could improve further with more university contacts and exchanges.
Full report on the University World News site:
RUSSIA: Structural reform seeks to raise prestige
Eugene Vorotnikov
The Russian government is considering implementing massive structural reforms of the higher education system through the adoption of a new federal law. The reforms are based on a shift to a two-tier system of bachelors and masters programmes in line with European and world educational standards.
Full report on University World News web site:
GERMANY: Fee abolition tests minority government
Michael Gardner
The minority government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is pushing ahead with a draft bill to abolish tuition fees by the 2011-12 winter semester despite a complex political situation. Higher Education Minister Svenja Schulze said: "I want to get rid of the fees at last and do so on a legally secure basis."
Full report on University World News web site:
CANADA: Football doping scandal takes another hit
Philip Fine
A Canadian university football player who became the first North American university athlete to test positive for the occurrence of human growth hormone has been given a stiff penalty by the body that oversees doping control and testing of university athletes.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: College slammed for 'misleading' claims
John Walshe
A Dublin college has been severely criticised for making misleading claims in its promotional material, lack of a clear vision, poor quality assurance controls and isolation from the rest of the Irish higher education community.
Full report on University World News site:
UK: Students shun expensive library services
Diane Spencer
Students prefer to use Google and YouTube rather than expensive electronic resource library systems for information searches, a study has revealed. Researchers at Middles ex University told the 17th annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology at the University of Nottingham last week that students find many university and college systems too complex, time-consuming and cumbersome for their research.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: Plan for first organ transplant college
Ashraf Khaled
With hepatitis C infecting around 20% of Egypt's 80 million population and renal failure estimated at around 14,000 cases annually, the country is planning to create a first college to qualify spec ialists in organ transplants.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Nineteen countries pledge to promote science
The 19 member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa have come up with a raft of resolutions to boost science and technology, including the creation of a central fund to promote the sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
EUROPE: EU research head quits early
Alan Osborn
The unexpected resignation of Professor Andreu Mas-Colell as Secretary General of the European Research Council has caused something of a stir in EU academic circles.
Full report at University World News web site:
EUROPE: New legislation limits animal testing
Emma Jackson
The European Parliament has approved new legislation to limit the number of animals used in scientific studies within the European Union, in an effort to improve animal welfare without hindering important scientific research.
Full report at University World News web site:
SWEDEN: Boom in international applications
Jan Petter Myklebust
Applications for international master studies in Sweden have increased by 124% over 2009, while the number of applicants for international courses increased by 43%. .
Full report at University World News web site:
COMMENTARY
AUSTRALIA: Policy paralysis will be costly
Michael Gallagher*
After an unedifying election, with a vacuous flogging-to-death of fragmented pop-policy positions, we face a compromised government that will be on a re-election footing from its outset. Coherent policy ideas are not likely to emanate from that cauldron. Courageous policy, never an easy thing, will be back-burnered by the new 'followership'.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
INDIA: Education ties could ease tension with China
Alya Mishra
As India and China struggle to normalise an ongoing chill in relations caused by tensions over defence exchanges, Education Minister Kapil Sibal's visit to China next week could thaw the ice through bilateral cooperation in the field of education.
Full report on the University World News site:
ASIA: International bac - 'Global academic passport'
Yojana Sharma
The International Baccalaureate diploma was set up in the 1960s to provide education continuity for internationally mobile families. But new motivations for taking the IB have emerged among aspirant families in Asia, with the aim of studying in universities abroad a key factor.
Full report on the University World News site:
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
JORDAN: Student jailed for writing poem
Roisin Joyce and Nadia Kevlin*
A student at Irbid's University in Jordan has been accused of lèse majesté and "causing national strife" over a poem he denies writing that criticised the King, Human Rights Watch reported on 3 September 2010. Hatim Al-Shuli was arrested at his university on 25 July, after flyers of the poem under his name were distributed around campus.
More Academic Freedom reports on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
UK: Tighter work permits worry business schools
Maria Ahmed*
Further restrictions on post-study work permits for international students will damage British universities, according to the admissions director at a leading business school. "People apply to us from overseas not just to undertake a degree but to get the opportunity to work in this country", says Sean Rickard, admissions director at the Cranfield School of Management.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK-DUBAI: Executive MBAs partner across borders
Cayley Dobie
Students enrolled in the Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) programme at Britain's London Business School now have the opportunity to work in partnership with students attending the Dubai stream of the programme, as the school launches its first internationally integrated curriculum.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Composting to reduce landfill waste
Cayley Dobie
Composting may be the key to solving high farming costs and plant disease, according to researchers at University College Dublin and Teagasc, the Irish agriculture and food development authority. Scientists at the two institutions have been looking at ways to use the growing number of landfills across Europe for the benefit of the agriculture sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL
AUSTRALIA: University adopts iPhone app
Geoff Maslen
The second oldest university in Australia claims to be at the forefront of education technology with a new iPhone application. Nearing its 160th anniversary, the University of Melbourne says it has responded to the rise in mobile traffic to its suite of websites with the development of the 'Unimelb iPhone application' for staff and students.
Full report on the University World News site:
FACEBOOK
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. Nearly 2,320 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
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WORLD ROUND-UP
ISRAEL: Higher education budget gets 30% raise
Israel's higher education budget will be increased by 30% and amount to a total of NIS7.5 billion (roughly $1.9 billion) in the coming six years, writes Yael Branovsky for YNet News.
More on the University World News site:
NETHERLANDS: Delft is centre of new Iranian activism
Delft, a dreamy university town in the Netherlands, has become a major centre for Iranian activists, writes Thomas Erdbrink for The Washington Post. Over 1,000 Iranian students, the majority fresh arrivals from Iran's best universities, are taking classes such as applied physics and aerospace engineering at the Delft University of Technology, and meeting during evenings in cafes that line the city's canals.
More on the University World News site:
BRAZIL: Top universities starting to internationalise
Brazil is not a hot spot on the international academic scene. Universities looking for institutional partners, foreign students looking to study abroad and professors searching for posts in other countries rarely consider Brazil as a first choice, writes Andrew Downie for The Chronicle of Higher Education. But circumstances are slowly changing.
More on the University World News site:
UK: One in five foreign students stays on
One international student in five remains in the UK after their initial visa has expired, writes Karen McVeigh for The Guardian. According to a recent Home Office study, almost 40,000 of those who arrived on an overseas student visa in 2004 remained in Britain last year.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Top earners to pay more for degrees
Higher earning graduates can expect to pay more for their degrees in the form of a "progressive and fair" contribution that could be introduced as early as next September, reports Jeevan Vasagar for The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Universities called on to do more for less
Business Secretary Vince Cable has unveiled plans for a squeeze on public funding for scientific research, reports the BBC. He urged universities to do "more for less" and said taxpayers should only back research that had a commercial use or was academically outstanding.
More on the University World News site:
MEXICO: Higher education access lags behind region
The Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Jose Narro Robles said higher education coverage in the country is expected to reach 30%, but this is below average for Latin American nations, reports the government news agency Notimex.
More on the University World News site:
MYANMAR: Best students choose to study abroad
Most outstanding students in Myanmar have sought university education abroad over the past five years, reports the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: No takers for university 'transgender quota'
An initiative of Bangalore University in India to reserve some seats for transgender candidates in postgraduate courses has no takers, reports Express Buzz. The university reserved one seat each in all postgraduate courses for transgender candidates.
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INDIA: US partnership receives final touches
Ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit in November, the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative has been finalised with both the governments pledging $5 million each that will fund university partnerships and faculty development, reports Akshaya Mukul for the Times of India.
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US-AFICA: Multi-million dollar grants for universities
The US Agency for International Development and a Washington-based group, Higher Education for Development, awarded grants of up to $1.1-million to partnerships between 11 American universities and 11 African counterparts that aim to deal with some of Africa's biggest developmental challenges, writes Kevin Kiley for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
CHINA: Olympic champs on university dismissal list
Olympic champions are facing possible dismissal from a university because they failed to earn enough credits for their masters degree courses, reports the Shanghai Daily.
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VIETNAM: Chinese, other language majors face the cut
The Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology has received only five to 10 applications for Chinese language and Chinese studies majors, reports VietNamNet Bridge.
More on the University World News site:
In the Commentary section MICHAEL GALLAGHER, Executive Director of the
Australian Group of Eight research-intensive universities, worries that policy drift may beset the new government at a time when fundamental change is needed in higher education and research. In Features, ALYA MISHRA argues that Indian Education Minister Kapil Sibal's visit to China next week could help thaw chilly relations through cooperation in higher education, and YOJANA SHARMA reports on the growing popularity in Asia of the International Baccalaureate diploma as a route to study abroad.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
GLOBAL: Harvard toppled in new QS ranking
David Jobbins
A university from outside the United States has topped the QS World University Rankings for the first time since their appearance in 2004. The University of Cambridge tops the global ranking, edging aside Harvard which has led the table since the rankings were inaugurated. Over that time Cambridge has never been rated lower than third and was runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2009.
Full report on University World News web site:
GLOBAL: Young graduates drive economic advantage
Yojana Sharma
Human capital, or the knowledge and skills available to developed country economies, has grown impressively in the last decade as a larger proportion of people have university degrees. But countries where the proportion of younger people with degrees is rising will be best prepared for a high-tech future, the OECD's Education at a Glance 2010 predicts.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEW ZEALAND: Quake closes three universities
John Gerritsen
Three of New Zealand's universities were closed after a large earthquake caused widespread damage to the South Island city of Christchurch. The quake happened early on the morning of Saturday 4 September and registered 7.1 on the Richter scale. It caused damage to the University of Canterbury, Lincoln University and the Christchurch campus of the University of Otago.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRAN: Probe into 'political cleansing' of professors
Yojana Sharma and Ramin Namvari
The forced retirement of eminent Iranian professors, particularly scientists, has continued apace since Iran's elections reinstated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year. But in an indication that the removals may have gone too far, Iran's parliament last week announced it would hold an investigation into the issue.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Vice-chancellors relieved by Labor win
Geoff Maslen
"When it comes to elections there are odd results, strange results and bizarre results; Australia has just managed to achieve the surreal," wrote Professor Greg Craven last week. The vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University was commenting in the Melbourne Age newspaper on the outcome of the Australian election - nearly three weeks after the polls had closed. More in the Commentary section
Full report on the University World News site:
JAPAN-CHINA: Moving closer, say students and academics
Suvendrini Kakuchi
Sino-Japanese ties, dogged by historical colonial wounds, have grown closer thanks to increasing economic interdependency, according to responses from students and academics polled in both countries. And relations could improve further with more university contacts and exchanges.
Full report on the University World News site:
RUSSIA: Structural reform seeks to raise prestige
Eugene Vorotnikov
The Russian government is considering implementing massive structural reforms of the higher education system through the adoption of a new federal law. The reforms are based on a shift to a two-tier system of bachelors and masters programmes in line with European and world educational standards.
Full report on University World News web site:
GERMANY: Fee abolition tests minority government
Michael Gardner
The minority government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is pushing ahead with a draft bill to abolish tuition fees by the 2011-12 winter semester despite a complex political situation. Higher Education Minister Svenja Schulze said: "I want to get rid of the fees at last and do so on a legally secure basis."
Full report on University World News web site:
CANADA: Football doping scandal takes another hit
Philip Fine
A Canadian university football player who became the first North American university athlete to test positive for the occurrence of human growth hormone has been given a stiff penalty by the body that oversees doping control and testing of university athletes.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: College slammed for 'misleading' claims
John Walshe
A Dublin college has been severely criticised for making misleading claims in its promotional material, lack of a clear vision, poor quality assurance controls and isolation from the rest of the Irish higher education community.
Full report on University World News site:
UK: Students shun expensive library services
Diane Spencer
Students prefer to use Google and YouTube rather than expensive electronic resource library systems for information searches, a study has revealed. Researchers at Middles ex University told the 17th annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology at the University of Nottingham last week that students find many university and college systems too complex, time-consuming and cumbersome for their research.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: Plan for first organ transplant college
Ashraf Khaled
With hepatitis C infecting around 20% of Egypt's 80 million population and renal failure estimated at around 14,000 cases annually, the country is planning to create a first college to qualify spec ialists in organ transplants.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Nineteen countries pledge to promote science
The 19 member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa have come up with a raft of resolutions to boost science and technology, including the creation of a central fund to promote the sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
EUROPE: EU research head quits early
Alan Osborn
The unexpected resignation of Professor Andreu Mas-Colell as Secretary General of the European Research Council has caused something of a stir in EU academic circles.
Full report at University World News web site:
EUROPE: New legislation limits animal testing
Emma Jackson
The European Parliament has approved new legislation to limit the number of animals used in scientific studies within the European Union, in an effort to improve animal welfare without hindering important scientific research.
Full report at University World News web site:
SWEDEN: Boom in international applications
Jan Petter Myklebust
Applications for international master studies in Sweden have increased by 124% over 2009, while the number of applicants for international courses increased by 43%. .
Full report at University World News web site:
COMMENTARY
AUSTRALIA: Policy paralysis will be costly
Michael Gallagher*
After an unedifying election, with a vacuous flogging-to-death of fragmented pop-policy positions, we face a compromised government that will be on a re-election footing from its outset. Coherent policy ideas are not likely to emanate from that cauldron. Courageous policy, never an easy thing, will be back-burnered by the new 'followership'.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
INDIA: Education ties could ease tension with China
Alya Mishra
As India and China struggle to normalise an ongoing chill in relations caused by tensions over defence exchanges, Education Minister Kapil Sibal's visit to China next week could thaw the ice through bilateral cooperation in the field of education.
Full report on the University World News site:
ASIA: International bac - 'Global academic passport'
Yojana Sharma
The International Baccalaureate diploma was set up in the 1960s to provide education continuity for internationally mobile families. But new motivations for taking the IB have emerged among aspirant families in Asia, with the aim of studying in universities abroad a key factor.
Full report on the University World News site:
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
JORDAN: Student jailed for writing poem
Roisin Joyce and Nadia Kevlin*
A student at Irbid's University in Jordan has been accused of lèse majesté and "causing national strife" over a poem he denies writing that criticised the King, Human Rights Watch reported on 3 September 2010. Hatim Al-Shuli was arrested at his university on 25 July, after flyers of the poem under his name were distributed around campus.
More Academic Freedom reports on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
UK: Tighter work permits worry business schools
Maria Ahmed*
Further restrictions on post-study work permits for international students will damage British universities, according to the admissions director at a leading business school. "People apply to us from overseas not just to undertake a degree but to get the opportunity to work in this country", says Sean Rickard, admissions director at the Cranfield School of Management.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK-DUBAI: Executive MBAs partner across borders
Cayley Dobie
Students enrolled in the Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) programme at Britain's London Business School now have the opportunity to work in partnership with students attending the Dubai stream of the programme, as the school launches its first internationally integrated curriculum.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Composting to reduce landfill waste
Cayley Dobie
Composting may be the key to solving high farming costs and plant disease, according to researchers at University College Dublin and Teagasc, the Irish agriculture and food development authority. Scientists at the two institutions have been looking at ways to use the growing number of landfills across Europe for the benefit of the agriculture sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL
AUSTRALIA: University adopts iPhone app
Geoff Maslen
The second oldest university in Australia claims to be at the forefront of education technology with a new iPhone application. Nearing its 160th anniversary, the University of Melbourne says it has responded to the rise in mobile traffic to its suite of websites with the development of the 'Unimelb iPhone application' for staff and students.
Full report on the University World News site:
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. Nearly 2,320 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
ISRAEL: Higher education budget gets 30% raise
Israel's higher education budget will be increased by 30% and amount to a total of NIS7.5 billion (roughly $1.9 billion) in the coming six years, writes Yael Branovsky for YNet News.
More on the University World News site:
NETHERLANDS: Delft is centre of new Iranian activism
Delft, a dreamy university town in the Netherlands, has become a major centre for Iranian activists, writes Thomas Erdbrink for The Washington Post. Over 1,000 Iranian students, the majority fresh arrivals from Iran's best universities, are taking classes such as applied physics and aerospace engineering at the Delft University of Technology, and meeting during evenings in cafes that line the city's canals.
More on the University World News site:
BRAZIL: Top universities starting to internationalise
Brazil is not a hot spot on the international academic scene. Universities looking for institutional partners, foreign students looking to study abroad and professors searching for posts in other countries rarely consider Brazil as a first choice, writes Andrew Downie for The Chronicle of Higher Education. But circumstances are slowly changing.
More on the University World News site:
UK: One in five foreign students stays on
One international student in five remains in the UK after their initial visa has expired, writes Karen McVeigh for The Guardian. According to a recent Home Office study, almost 40,000 of those who arrived on an overseas student visa in 2004 remained in Britain last year.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Top earners to pay more for degrees
Higher earning graduates can expect to pay more for their degrees in the form of a "progressive and fair" contribution that could be introduced as early as next September, reports Jeevan Vasagar for The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Universities called on to do more for less
Business Secretary Vince Cable has unveiled plans for a squeeze on public funding for scientific research, reports the BBC. He urged universities to do "more for less" and said taxpayers should only back research that had a commercial use or was academically outstanding.
More on the University World News site:
MEXICO: Higher education access lags behind region
The Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Jose Narro Robles said higher education coverage in the country is expected to reach 30%, but this is below average for Latin American nations, reports the government news agency Notimex.
More on the University World News site:
MYANMAR: Best students choose to study abroad
Most outstanding students in Myanmar have sought university education abroad over the past five years, reports the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: No takers for university 'transgender quota'
An initiative of Bangalore University in India to reserve some seats for transgender candidates in postgraduate courses has no takers, reports Express Buzz. The university reserved one seat each in all postgraduate courses for transgender candidates.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: US partnership receives final touches
Ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit in November, the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative has been finalised with both the governments pledging $5 million each that will fund university partnerships and faculty development, reports Akshaya Mukul for the Times of India.
More on the University World News site:
US-AFICA: Multi-million dollar grants for universities
The US Agency for International Development and a Washington-based group, Higher Education for Development, awarded grants of up to $1.1-million to partnerships between 11 American universities and 11 African counterparts that aim to deal with some of Africa's biggest developmental challenges, writes Kevin Kiley for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
CHINA: Olympic champs on university dismissal list
Olympic champions are facing possible dismissal from a university because they failed to earn enough credits for their masters degree courses, reports the Shanghai Daily.
More on the University World News site:
VIETNAM: Chinese, other language majors face the cut
The Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology has received only five to 10 applications for Chinese language and Chinese studies majors, reports VietNamNet Bridge.
More on the University World News site:
Sunday 5 September 2010
University World News 0138 - 5th September 2010
This week's highlights
In the Commentary section FRANCES WOOLLEY, an economics professor at
Carleton University in Canada, investigates the implications of the US Higher Education Opportunity Act for the textbook market, students, universities and publishers. JAMES DEVANEY, a higher education consultant based in the United Arab Emirates, comments on tighter regulation of international branch campuses in Dubai. In Features, GEOFF MASLEN reports on research that concludes aid agencies will continue to waste money and make avoidable mistakes in disaster situations. KATE ASHCROFT reveals the dilemmas of 'massification' in Ethiopia, and AHMED MOHAMOUD ELNI charts the development of higher education in Somaliland.
OECD higher education conference
OECD: How higher education can help economic recovery
Mary-Louise Kearney and Richard Yelland*
Against the background of the most synchronised recession in developed countries in over half a century, the upcoming conference of the OECD's Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) programme will focus on how the higher education sector - governments, institutions and individuals - can help contribute to sustainable recovery.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
AUSTRALIA: Downturn threatens universities
Geoff Maslen
Frequent warnings over the past three months that Australian universities are facing a collapse in overseas student numbers have had little impact on the nation's political leaders. Caught up in a post-election battle over who will hold the reins of government, neither Prime Minister Julia Gillard nor Opposition Leader Tony Abbott appear concerned by the effects of a potentially disastrous fall in Australia's third largest export industry: selling education to foreigners.
Full report on the University World News site:
SINGAPORE: New Universities Trust to ensure funding
Yojana Sharma
Singapore will set up a national endowment fund known as the Singapore Universities Trust to support higher education institutions through economic downturns, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced during his annual National Day Rally speech this week.
Full report on the University World News site:
VIETNAM: Pledge to strengthen maths after Medal win
Mike Ives
Vietnamese mathematician Ngo Bao Chau was given a hero's welcome in Vietnam this week when he arrived after winning the prestigious Fields Medal, regarded as the 'Nobel' Prize for mathematics. His win has spurred the government to invest in mathematics higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: More autonomy for 'innovation universities'
Alya Mishra
India's Education Minister has held consultations on a special bill to set up 14 world-class research-oriented 'innovation universities', which will attract foreign collaboration. Greater autonomy and flexibility emerged as key themes.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Higher education access reforms on the cards
Makki Marseilles
Greece is proposing to radically reform access to higher education following this year's school-leaving examinations, which exposed the limitations of the current system and a failure to close an ever-widening gap between the brightest students and those who failed to meet requirements.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Vice-chancellors, law deans slam bill
Alison Moodie
University vice-chancellors and law deans across South Africa have joined the growing protest against the country's controversial proposed media laws. Higher Education South Africa, the vice-chancellors' association, and the South African Law Deans Association have condemned the planned legislation as placing academic freedom in jeopardy.
Full report on the University World News site:
N IGERIA: Dramatic increase in female undergraduates
Tunde Fatunde
The number of female students in N igeria has risen almost seven-fold since independence in 1960 and women could soon outnumber their male counterparts in the country's universities, according to experts. Recently released statistics show the proportion of female students rose from 7.7% in 1960 to 45% in 2009.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: Pressure to speed up universities bill
Gilbert Nganga
Lecturers and politicians in Kenya have renewed pressure on the government to expedite a pending universities bill, which aims to revolutionise the country's shaky higher education sector. Among other things the bill seeks to bring all universities - public and private - under a common law and repeal the parliamentary acts of seven public universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Confucius institutes grow Chinese
Munyaradzi Makoni
China is bridging the cultural gap between itself and Southern Africa through Confucius Institutes, the newest teaching Mandarin - simplified traditional Chinese - to students at the University of Cape Town. There are now 25 institutes across Africa, including four in South Africa, where China has become the largest trading partner.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Row over research into school books
Alison Moodie
With its basic education system in a shambles, the South African government is rolling out easy-to-read workbooks to the poorest schools. But it may be wasting millions of Rand - more rigorous research is needed to test the efficacy of such books before they are handed out to children, according to a new study by researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand and JET Education Services. The study has infuriated the book project leaders.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: OSCE debates risks for mother tongue tuition
Jana Bacevic
A conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has been warned of the dangers that threaten to compromise the advantages of minority language higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
SWEDEN: Key universities set foreign fees for 2011
Jan Petter Myklebust
Sweden is for the first time to make international students pay for their tuition, and leading universities have announced the fees they will levy from 2011 on students from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZAMBIA: Higher education gender disparities reduced
Zambia has said it is on the way towards meeting one of the Millennium Development Goals of eliminating gender disparities in education - including in higher education through affirmative action programmes for female students.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
US: Act brings in much-needed textbook competition
Frances Woolley*
Economics textbooks extol the virtues of competition. However the market for textbooks is anything but competitive. A professor typically requires students to buy a specific textbook. Even if that text is available from sellers such as amazon.com, students may not discover which books are required until the first day of classes, by which time it is too late to get the best on-line deals. The US Higher Education Opportunity Act is trying to change that.
Full report on the University World News site:
DUBAI: Regulation is not the only challenge
James DeVaney
A call for tighter regulation of international branch campuses in Dubai's free zones hit the headlines last week. In a Dubai School of Government policy brief, Jason Lane of the State University of New York says patchwork regulation has encouraged significant duplication of degree offerings, concern about the quality of some programmes and could damage the emirate's reputation. Should we be surprised?
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
GLOBAL: Disaster lessons unheeded
Geoff Maslen
International aid agencies have failed to learn the lessons of the 2004 tsunami and may be repeating their mistakes in Haiti, and even in Pakistan as that country recovers from the disastrous floods, say researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne. After the world's first thorough investigation into what is needed to rebuild viable communities following a major natural disaster, the researchers concluded that international aid agencies will continue to waste aid money and make avoidable mistakes in new disaster situations.
Full report on the University World News site:
ETHIOPIA: Dilemmas of higher education massification
Kate Ashcroft*
Ethiopia is moving very rapidly from an elite towards a mass public sector higher education system. The considerable challenges raised by 'massification' include teaching quality, funding, the need for a more professionalised leadership, staff shortages and institutional structure and mission. The operation of the Ethiopian system, where innovation is highly centralised, also makes local responsiveness difficult.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOMALILAND: Higher education booms despite challenges
Ahmed Mohamoud Elmi
Struggling to rebuild its infrastructure after years of civil war with Somalia, Somaliland saw its first university inaugurated in 1998 and has been steadily building its higher education system ever since. While significant challenges remain, higher education is booming as each year thousands of school-leavers pin their hopes on the country's universities and colleges.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
GLOBAL: Marine census publishes latest findings
The latest research from a global effort to document all known ocean life has been made public. The Census of Marine Life project has published an inventory of species distribution and diversity in 25 ocean areas from the Antarctic to tropical seas.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Scientists discover new chlorophyll
University of Sydney scientists have discovered the first new chlorophyll in over 60 years. Found by accident, the new pigment has been dubbed 'chlorophyll f' and can utilise lower light energy than any other chlorophyll.
Full report on the University World News site:
SPAIN: More hot days, fewer cold nights
When researchers at the University of Salamanca decided to consider the impact of climate change on mainland Spain they chose to look at it in a different way from many other scientists. Instead of studying average temperatures, they looked for changes in the incidence of two climate extremes - warm days and cold nights.
Full report on the University World News site:
FACEBOOK
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. More than 2,300 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
HONG KONG: Incentives to attract foreign campuses
Hong Kong is offering cheap land and other incentives to attract foreign colleges and universities to its shores and turn the Chinese territory into a global centre for higher education, writes Mary Hennock for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
RUSSIA: Universities riddled by corruption
Paying for good school examination results for entrance into university, and to pass university courses, is a multi-million dollar industry in Russia, according to the Indem think tank in Moscow, reports Galina Materova of Russia Now for The Telegraph.
More on the University World News site:
WALES: 'Cut top university salaries'
Universities in Wales have been urged to "clamp down" on their high earners as spending cuts loom, reports Gareth Evans for the Western Mail. Assembly members have demanded assurances that lower-paid staff will not pay for a slashed budget while several university vice-chancellors' salaries continue to dwarf that of the Prime Minister.
More on the University World News site:
PALESTINE: Moves to expand higher education access
Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, has said his government wants to expand access to higher education as it enters the second and final year of its plan to prepare Palestinians for independent statehood, writes Matthew Kalman for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
CHINA: Graduates struggle to find work
Even as labour shortages plague manufacturing industries, more than one-quarter of this year's 6.3 million Chinese college graduates are unemployed, according to the Education Ministry, reports Dexter Roberts for Bloomberg Businessweek.
More on the University World News site:
IRAN: Guard universities against 'plots' - Minister
Minister of Science, Research and Technology Kamran Daneshjoo said the "enemies" of Iran were plotting a cultural invasion of the country's universities, reports Press TV.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Universities lead the way in start-up companies
Look no further than Britain's universities for business success stories at a time when the wider commercial world is reeling from recession, writes Richard Wachman for The Observer.
More on the University World News site:
ETHIOPIA: Government scraps distance learning
An Ethiopian government agency has scrapped all distance education programmes provided by both private and public institutions in the country, and private colleges are no longer to offer training in law and teaching fields, reports Addis Fortune.
More on the University World News site:
IRELAND: College offers to disabled, poor rise by 61%
A national effort to increase the number of students from families with no tradition of going to college, or students with a disability, participating in higher education has produced a big jump in college offers in these categories, reports Katherine Donnelly for the Independent.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Elite institutes seek permanent foreign faculty
The Indian Institutes of Technology have asked the government to allow them to hire foreign nationals as permanent faculty, in a radical proposal that if accepted could expose students to globally-renowned professors, writes Charu Sudan Kasturi for the Hindustan Times.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Chinese degrees to take on equal status
A long-awaited pact between China and India is on the verge of being signed, which will see the two countries treat each other's degrees as equivalent, reports the Hindustan Times. The mutual recognition agreement with China will, however, not cover medicine and pharmacy programmes.
More on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Quality body to monitor academic freedom
A Labour government would extend the powers of the higher education regulator to oversee academic freedom, a move that has been described as "sensible" by University of New South Wales legal expert Professor George Williams, writes Guy Healy for The Australian.
More on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: S ex for pass offered to Chinese students
A Perth lecturer found to have pressured failing Chinese students for s ex is unlikely to be the only academic to exploit the vulnerability of students caught up in Australia's visas-for-degrees trade, writes Bernard Lane for The Australian.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Foreign students 'cheating on study applications'
Research suggests that foreign students are attempting to bluff their way into British universities by parroting education websites in their application forms, reports Graeme Paton for The Telegraph.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: Students' technology needs push up costs
First-year students need �3,500 (US$5,400) of "essential" kit including a laptop and smartphone before embarking on their university career, reports Fiona Macleod for The Scotsman.
More on the University World News site:
RWANDA: Universities turn towards self-help
Some public universities have resorted to depending on income generating projects and cost cutting techniques following the Rwandan government's decision to scale down funding to institutions of higher learning, reports The New Times.
More on the University World News site:
In the Commentary section FRANCES WOOLLEY, an economics professor at
Carleton University in Canada, investigates the implications of the US Higher Education Opportunity Act for the textbook market, students, universities and publishers. JAMES DEVANEY, a higher education consultant based in the United Arab Emirates, comments on tighter regulation of international branch campuses in Dubai. In Features, GEOFF MASLEN reports on research that concludes aid agencies will continue to waste money and make avoidable mistakes in disaster situations. KATE ASHCROFT reveals the dilemmas of 'massification' in Ethiopia, and AHMED MOHAMOUD ELNI charts the development of higher education in Somaliland.
OECD higher education conference
OECD: How higher education can help economic recovery
Mary-Louise Kearney and Richard Yelland*
Against the background of the most synchronised recession in developed countries in over half a century, the upcoming conference of the OECD's Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) programme will focus on how the higher education sector - governments, institutions and individuals - can help contribute to sustainable recovery.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
AUSTRALIA: Downturn threatens universities
Geoff Maslen
Frequent warnings over the past three months that Australian universities are facing a collapse in overseas student numbers have had little impact on the nation's political leaders. Caught up in a post-election battle over who will hold the reins of government, neither Prime Minister Julia Gillard nor Opposition Leader Tony Abbott appear concerned by the effects of a potentially disastrous fall in Australia's third largest export industry: selling education to foreigners.
Full report on the University World News site:
SINGAPORE: New Universities Trust to ensure funding
Yojana Sharma
Singapore will set up a national endowment fund known as the Singapore Universities Trust to support higher education institutions through economic downturns, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced during his annual National Day Rally speech this week.
Full report on the University World News site:
VIETNAM: Pledge to strengthen maths after Medal win
Mike Ives
Vietnamese mathematician Ngo Bao Chau was given a hero's welcome in Vietnam this week when he arrived after winning the prestigious Fields Medal, regarded as the 'Nobel' Prize for mathematics. His win has spurred the government to invest in mathematics higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: More autonomy for 'innovation universities'
Alya Mishra
India's Education Minister has held consultations on a special bill to set up 14 world-class research-oriented 'innovation universities', which will attract foreign collaboration. Greater autonomy and flexibility emerged as key themes.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Higher education access reforms on the cards
Makki Marseilles
Greece is proposing to radically reform access to higher education following this year's school-leaving examinations, which exposed the limitations of the current system and a failure to close an ever-widening gap between the brightest students and those who failed to meet requirements.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Vice-chancellors, law deans slam bill
Alison Moodie
University vice-chancellors and law deans across South Africa have joined the growing protest against the country's controversial proposed media laws. Higher Education South Africa, the vice-chancellors' association, and the South African Law Deans Association have condemned the planned legislation as placing academic freedom in jeopardy.
Full report on the University World News site:
N IGERIA: Dramatic increase in female undergraduates
Tunde Fatunde
The number of female students in N igeria has risen almost seven-fold since independence in 1960 and women could soon outnumber their male counterparts in the country's universities, according to experts. Recently released statistics show the proportion of female students rose from 7.7% in 1960 to 45% in 2009.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: Pressure to speed up universities bill
Gilbert Nganga
Lecturers and politicians in Kenya have renewed pressure on the government to expedite a pending universities bill, which aims to revolutionise the country's shaky higher education sector. Among other things the bill seeks to bring all universities - public and private - under a common law and repeal the parliamentary acts of seven public universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Confucius institutes grow Chinese
Munyaradzi Makoni
China is bridging the cultural gap between itself and Southern Africa through Confucius Institutes, the newest teaching Mandarin - simplified traditional Chinese - to students at the University of Cape Town. There are now 25 institutes across Africa, including four in South Africa, where China has become the largest trading partner.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Row over research into school books
Alison Moodie
With its basic education system in a shambles, the South African government is rolling out easy-to-read workbooks to the poorest schools. But it may be wasting millions of Rand - more rigorous research is needed to test the efficacy of such books before they are handed out to children, according to a new study by researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand and JET Education Services. The study has infuriated the book project leaders.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: OSCE debates risks for mother tongue tuition
Jana Bacevic
A conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has been warned of the dangers that threaten to compromise the advantages of minority language higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
SWEDEN: Key universities set foreign fees for 2011
Jan Petter Myklebust
Sweden is for the first time to make international students pay for their tuition, and leading universities have announced the fees they will levy from 2011 on students from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZAMBIA: Higher education gender disparities reduced
Zambia has said it is on the way towards meeting one of the Millennium Development Goals of eliminating gender disparities in education - including in higher education through affirmative action programmes for female students.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
US: Act brings in much-needed textbook competition
Frances Woolley*
Economics textbooks extol the virtues of competition. However the market for textbooks is anything but competitive. A professor typically requires students to buy a specific textbook. Even if that text is available from sellers such as amazon.com, students may not discover which books are required until the first day of classes, by which time it is too late to get the best on-line deals. The US Higher Education Opportunity Act is trying to change that.
Full report on the University World News site:
DUBAI: Regulation is not the only challenge
James DeVaney
A call for tighter regulation of international branch campuses in Dubai's free zones hit the headlines last week. In a Dubai School of Government policy brief, Jason Lane of the State University of New York says patchwork regulation has encouraged significant duplication of degree offerings, concern about the quality of some programmes and could damage the emirate's reputation. Should we be surprised?
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
GLOBAL: Disaster lessons unheeded
Geoff Maslen
International aid agencies have failed to learn the lessons of the 2004 tsunami and may be repeating their mistakes in Haiti, and even in Pakistan as that country recovers from the disastrous floods, say researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne. After the world's first thorough investigation into what is needed to rebuild viable communities following a major natural disaster, the researchers concluded that international aid agencies will continue to waste aid money and make avoidable mistakes in new disaster situations.
Full report on the University World News site:
ETHIOPIA: Dilemmas of higher education massification
Kate Ashcroft*
Ethiopia is moving very rapidly from an elite towards a mass public sector higher education system. The considerable challenges raised by 'massification' include teaching quality, funding, the need for a more professionalised leadership, staff shortages and institutional structure and mission. The operation of the Ethiopian system, where innovation is highly centralised, also makes local responsiveness difficult.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOMALILAND: Higher education booms despite challenges
Ahmed Mohamoud Elmi
Struggling to rebuild its infrastructure after years of civil war with Somalia, Somaliland saw its first university inaugurated in 1998 and has been steadily building its higher education system ever since. While significant challenges remain, higher education is booming as each year thousands of school-leavers pin their hopes on the country's universities and colleges.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
GLOBAL: Marine census publishes latest findings
The latest research from a global effort to document all known ocean life has been made public. The Census of Marine Life project has published an inventory of species distribution and diversity in 25 ocean areas from the Antarctic to tropical seas.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Scientists discover new chlorophyll
University of Sydney scientists have discovered the first new chlorophyll in over 60 years. Found by accident, the new pigment has been dubbed 'chlorophyll f' and can utilise lower light energy than any other chlorophyll.
Full report on the University World News site:
SPAIN: More hot days, fewer cold nights
When researchers at the University of Salamanca decided to consider the impact of climate change on mainland Spain they chose to look at it in a different way from many other scientists. Instead of studying average temperatures, they looked for changes in the incidence of two climate extremes - warm days and cold nights.
Full report on the University World News site:
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WORLD ROUND-UP
HONG KONG: Incentives to attract foreign campuses
Hong Kong is offering cheap land and other incentives to attract foreign colleges and universities to its shores and turn the Chinese territory into a global centre for higher education, writes Mary Hennock for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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RUSSIA: Universities riddled by corruption
Paying for good school examination results for entrance into university, and to pass university courses, is a multi-million dollar industry in Russia, according to the Indem think tank in Moscow, reports Galina Materova of Russia Now for The Telegraph.
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WALES: 'Cut top university salaries'
Universities in Wales have been urged to "clamp down" on their high earners as spending cuts loom, reports Gareth Evans for the Western Mail. Assembly members have demanded assurances that lower-paid staff will not pay for a slashed budget while several university vice-chancellors' salaries continue to dwarf that of the Prime Minister.
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PALESTINE: Moves to expand higher education access
Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, has said his government wants to expand access to higher education as it enters the second and final year of its plan to prepare Palestinians for independent statehood, writes Matthew Kalman for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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CHINA: Graduates struggle to find work
Even as labour shortages plague manufacturing industries, more than one-quarter of this year's 6.3 million Chinese college graduates are unemployed, according to the Education Ministry, reports Dexter Roberts for Bloomberg Businessweek.
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IRAN: Guard universities against 'plots' - Minister
Minister of Science, Research and Technology Kamran Daneshjoo said the "enemies" of Iran were plotting a cultural invasion of the country's universities, reports Press TV.
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UK: Universities lead the way in start-up companies
Look no further than Britain's universities for business success stories at a time when the wider commercial world is reeling from recession, writes Richard Wachman for The Observer.
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ETHIOPIA: Government scraps distance learning
An Ethiopian government agency has scrapped all distance education programmes provided by both private and public institutions in the country, and private colleges are no longer to offer training in law and teaching fields, reports Addis Fortune.
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IRELAND: College offers to disabled, poor rise by 61%
A national effort to increase the number of students from families with no tradition of going to college, or students with a disability, participating in higher education has produced a big jump in college offers in these categories, reports Katherine Donnelly for the Independent.
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INDIA: Elite institutes seek permanent foreign faculty
The Indian Institutes of Technology have asked the government to allow them to hire foreign nationals as permanent faculty, in a radical proposal that if accepted could expose students to globally-renowned professors, writes Charu Sudan Kasturi for the Hindustan Times.
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INDIA: Chinese degrees to take on equal status
A long-awaited pact between China and India is on the verge of being signed, which will see the two countries treat each other's degrees as equivalent, reports the Hindustan Times. The mutual recognition agreement with China will, however, not cover medicine and pharmacy programmes.
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AUSTRALIA: Quality body to monitor academic freedom
A Labour government would extend the powers of the higher education regulator to oversee academic freedom, a move that has been described as "sensible" by University of New South Wales legal expert Professor George Williams, writes Guy Healy for The Australian.
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AUSTRALIA: S ex for pass offered to Chinese students
A Perth lecturer found to have pressured failing Chinese students for s ex is unlikely to be the only academic to exploit the vulnerability of students caught up in Australia's visas-for-degrees trade, writes Bernard Lane for The Australian.
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UK: Foreign students 'cheating on study applications'
Research suggests that foreign students are attempting to bluff their way into British universities by parroting education websites in their application forms, reports Graeme Paton for The Telegraph.
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SCOTLAND: Students' technology needs push up costs
First-year students need �3,500 (US$5,400) of "essential" kit including a laptop and smartphone before embarking on their university career, reports Fiona Macleod for The Scotsman.
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RWANDA: Universities turn towards self-help
Some public universities have resorted to depending on income generating projects and cost cutting techniques following the Rwandan government's decision to scale down funding to institutions of higher learning, reports The New Times.
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