Tuesday 26 April 2011

University World News 0168 - 24th April 2011

This week's highlights

In a special report, University World News investigates issues and trends in the global talent trade, where there are growing signs that the world's vibrant economies are starting to attract back domestic graduates who have studied in the West. In People, GEOFF MASLEN interviews 71-year-old Australian Dr Doris LeRoy, who was awarded a PhD recently despite setbacks including cancer, hip replacements and the death of her husband. In Commentary, KN PANIKKAR argues that revisions are needed to India's foreign educational institutions bill, or it could undermine education that promotes nation-building and national identity. In the UK, GIDEON CALDER reports on swelling academic opposition to a research council's plan to direct research towards the government's 'big society' ideology, and ANNE COBETT writes that the Libyan funding debacle at the London School of Economics should force a rethink on the purpose of an international university.

THE TALENT TRADE

There has been a lot of talk about the 'brain drain' phenomenon in higher
education, whereby the brightest students and academics are attracted from East to West and from South to North. But as competition for students and academics has grown in countries such as India and China, there have been reports that this process may be going into reverse. For example a just-published report by the leading business consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan predicts that there will be a steady flow of returning migrants to countries like India to fill vacancies for senior positions - and that they will be joined by Americans and Europeans seeking better prospects.

Universities are already beginning to see this reverse movement and analysts like Peggy Blumenthal and Rajika Bhandari of the Institute for International Education argue that there will be increasing mobility in higher education with 'brain drain' being replaced by 'brain circulation', 'brain exchange' or the 'brain train'. In this special report, University World News investigates this phenomenon and asks whether economic insecurity and rising tuition fees in the West could be factors influencing the talent trade. We also look at migration of the highly educated from Africa and efforts to counter the 'brain drain'.

UK: Fees and unemployment make mobility attractive

Rising tuition fees and youth unemployment plus a competitive market in international higher education are making many UK and other European students look further afield for undergraduate degrees. This could affect the pipeline of future academics, reports HARRIET SWAIN.
Full report on the University World News site:

ASIA: 'Brain reclaim' as talent returns from West
Asian universities are rising and this coincides with a downturn in Western economies. The combination could promote greater internationalisation in higher education, but some fear that it could lead to long-term problems for Western universities which may have to do more to tackle what is being dubbed 'brain reclaim', reports YOJANA SHARMA.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: Reverse brain drain takes off
The brain drain of international students to the US is slowly reversing as more international students opt to return to their home countries and some US students of immigrant parents choose to study abroad. The US may need to adapt its visa policies to compete, but countries in the developing world will also have to ensure they have enough to offer to keep returning students there, reports ALISON MOODIE.
Full report on the University World News site:

ASIA: Getting graduates to come home is not easy
There has been a lot of talk about 'brain exchange' rather than 'brain drain', but brain drain still continues. Countries like China and India have tried a range of programmes to get students to return, but the brightest are still the least likely to return, argue PHILIP G ALTBACH and WANHUA MA in the latest edition of International Higher Education.
Full report on the University World News site:

AFRICA: Limit costs, raise benefits of skills flight
Some 30 million Africans live outside their home countries, and more than a million highly qualified Africans - one in eight - live in an OECD country, a new study by the African Development Bank and the World Bank reveals, reports KAREN MACGREGOR. While migration is a "vital lifeline" for the continent, and is a symptom rather than the root of development problems, governments must act cleverly to limit the costs and maximise the benefits of tertiary-educated migration.
Full report on the University World News site:

AFRICA: Research network project promotes brain gain
UNESCO and Hewlett Packard's Brain Gain Initiative, based on grid computing and academic networks, is fostering research collaboration between universities in the South as well as between African academics in the South and North, write MARC BELLON and LILIANA SIMIONESCU.
Full report on the University World News site:

AFRICA: Harnessing bright minds in the diaspora
The Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance was set up in 2007 and aims to engage African scholars from the diaspora in development initiatives. Set up by students in the US, it is gaining international recognition for its work, say Harambe members CORINA SHIKA KWAMI and ISABELLA AKINSEYE.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

UK: Fears over private sector gain from loans hike
Brendan O'Malley
The government has announced plans to extend support and loans to students attending private sector institutions in England, to the same level as for state sector students. But the announcement has stoked fears that private institutions will be able to cherry-pick lucrative courses.
Full report on University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Likely research cuts trigger alarm
Geoff Maslen
Rarely have Australia's academic and research communities responded so rapidly and vigorously to rumoured threats of a US$400 million cut over the next three years to the major medical funding council. University leaders, education and health unions, medical bodies and science organisations warned of a mass exodus of top scientists if the possible savaging of the National Health and Medical Research Council's budget went ahead.
Full report on the University World News site:

FRANCE: Graduates fare best in recession, says study
Jane Marshall
Three years after completing their higher education in 2007 graduates in France were faring better in the economic crisis than less eduated peers, according to a newly released survey.
Full report on the University World News site:

GERMANY: Plagiarism claims mount for ex-minister
Michael Gardner
With an intensive investigation almost concluded, Bavaria's University of Bayreuth now claims that ex-minister of defence Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg must have copied parts of his doctoral thesis. But zu Guttenberg continues to deny wilful deceit.
Full report on University World News site:

EUROPE: Nazaré elected as next EUA President
Members of the European University Association have elected Professor Maria Helena Nazaré from Portugal as the new president of the organisation that represents more than 800 universities and 34 national rectors' conferences across Europe.
Full report on the University World News site:

CANADA: Tool to predict international student trends
Sarah King Head
Predicting more accurately where international students will go to pursue higher education has been taken one step forward with the release last week of the Global International Student Flow Forecasting Model pilot project. The British Columbia Council for International Education released the model for use by the Canadian province where international education is a leading export.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Non-stop learning conference
A non-stop 48-hour online conference spanning the globe began at the University of Leicester in the UK on Wednesday, with the focus on innovation in teaching and learning in higher education. The conference, "Learning Futures Festival Online 2011, Follow the sun", covered three countries and three time zones.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWSBRIEFS

SAUDI ARABIA-UK: New centre to tackle global disease
Wagdy Sawahel
Saudi Arabia is to establish an international training and research centre in Jizan to advance global efforts to control infectious diseases, with the cooperation of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium.
Full report on the University World News site:

SWAZILAND: Calm returns to university
Munyaradzi Makoni
The University of Swaziland, forced to close last Tuesday when pro-democratic protests rocked the tiny landlocked Southern African kingdom, has now reopened. Some students reported being coerced by others to participate in the demonstrations.
Full report on the University World News site:

PEOPLE

AUSTRALIA: Six decades to earn a PhD
Geoff Maslen
Melbourne-born Doris LeRoy dropped out of school when she was 14. Now, almost 60 years later, she has been awarded a doctorate - despite battling cancer, enduring hip replacements and suffering the death of her husband.
Full report on the University World News site:

COMMENTARY

INDIA: Foreign universities bill needs to be revised
India is considering a Bill which proposes to regulate the operation of foreign educational institutions. This is all very well, argues KN PANIKKAR, but it also promotes a more globalised form of higher education when education should be dictated by issues around nation building and national identity.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: Research council slated for bowing to ideology
The UK Arts and Humanities Research Council's latest delivery plan appears to promote government policy and could endanger academic independence, argues GIDEON CALDER. Academics are mobilising to resist any threat to their freedom.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: The LSE debacle and the role of a university
The furore surrounding the resignation of the head of the London School of Economics should force a rethink about the purpose of an international university, argues ANNE CORBETT. There is a need to return to the basics of what a university is about and guard against becoming what the late Professor Fred Halliday called 'shopping malls of the mind'.
Full report on the University World News site:

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

GLOBAL: Academic freedom reports worldwide
Noemi Bouet*
The Chinese authorities have arrested three Tibetan monks, including a student, in Beijing following a self-immolation protest against Chinese rule in Tibet, and have banned an inter-college debate on the 1911 revolution. In Iran, a human rights lawyer and law professor at Allameh Tabatabaee University in Tehran has been dismissed, and two student activists have been expelled from Baku State University in Azerbaijan. Student anti-government protests have been held in Damascus and at Aleppo University in Syria.
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 2,600 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

UK: Universities 'recruiting more foreign students'
Universities are planning a huge increase in foreign students to boost their income following swingeing government funding cuts, it emerged last week, writes Graeme Paton for The Telegraph. Some top institutions want to almost double the number of undergraduates recruited from outside Europe.
More on the University World News site:

US: Foreign graduate student numbers continue to rise
Foreign-student applications to American graduate schools are up 9% over last year, with much of the increase fueled by a double-digit expansion in applications from prospective Chinese students, according to a report released last week, writes Karin Fischer for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:

US: Big cuts to international programmes
When a chart of all cuts in the 2011 budget passed by the US congress on Thursday was made public earlier last week, international education advocates received an unpleasant surprise: funding for foreign language and area studies programmes within the Education Department could be cut by as much as $50 million, rolled back to levels last seen before 9/11, writes Libby A Nelson for Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:

RUSSIA: Foreigners get right to teach in universities
A new law passed on Wednesday allows the employment of foreign experts as teachers at Russian colleges and universities, reports Ria Novosti.
More on the University World News site:

MALAYSIA: Universities must expand internationally
Universities should extend their wings beyond Malaysia's national boundaries by promoting and contributing to regional and international development, said the Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
More on the University World News site:

ISRAEL: Colleges approved for state research funding
An unprecedented agreement signed between Israel's finance ministry and representatives from local colleges will, for the first time, allow college staff to receive government funding for research, writes Tomer Velmer for YNetNews. Until now, this has been reserved for universities alone.
More on the University World News site:

PAKISTAN: Petition filed against plan to dissolve HEC
A petition has been filed in the supreme court against the government's plan to dissolve the Higher Education Commission, or HEC, which is widely credited with playing a key role in promoting higher learning in Pakistan, writes Mohsin Ali for Gulf News.
More on the University World News site:

INDIA: Reprieve for 44 deemed universities
India's supreme court on Monday gave a reprieve to the 44 'deemed universities' facing de-recognition on the basis of deficiencies pointed out by the Tandon Committee, writes J Venkatesan for The Hindu. The court extended the status quo order: in other words, it restrained the government from taking further action on the basis of the report.
More on the University World News site:

INDIA-US: Obama-Singh initiative to fly soon
India and the US will take steps to increase collaboration in higher education in the next few months under an initiative announced during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US in November 2009, writes Prashant K Nanda for LiveMint.com.
More on the University World News site:

US: California students protest against university cuts
Decrying what they called an assault on higher education, thousands of academics and students at California State University campuses across the state rallied, marched and held teach-ins on Wednesday to protest against steep funding cuts and rising tuition, write Carla Rivera and Larry Gordon for the Los Angeles Times.
More on the University World News site:

US: College loans weigh heavier on graduates
Student loan debt outpaced credit card debt for the first time last year and is likely to top a trillion dollars this year as more students go to college and a growing share borrow money to do so, writes Tamar Lewin for The New York Times.
More on the University World News site:

SOUTH KOREA: KAIST criticised after student suicides
The president of South Korea's top science university is fighting to save his job after a string of student suicides sparked fierce criticism of his controversial reforms and a government audit accused him and other officials at the institution of financial and administrative violations, writes David McNeill for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:

SOUTH AFRICA: Student funding chief sacked
The CEO of South Africa's National Student Financial Aid Scheme, suspended after the scheme was given an audit report with a disclaimer, has been fired, writes Caiphus Kgosana for The Sunday Times.
More on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Steps to grow indigenous representation
Indigenous Australians have long been under-represented in their country's universities, but now some institutions are creating leadership posts to help increase the number of indigenous students and academics, writes Liz Gooch for The New York Times.
More on the University World News site:

KOSOVO: Higher education challenges
Kosovo has the lowest higher education attendance in the European Union, writes Muhamet Brajshori for the Southeast European Times. While there are 50 students per 1,000 inhabitants in the EU, Kosovo falls short with just 30 students per 1,000 inhabitants, according to the education ministry.
More on the University World News site:

MOZAMBIQUE: Budget cuts threaten university quality
Mozambique's Education Minister Zeferino Martins has warned that cuts to the budgets of the country's two public universities, Eduardo Mondlane University and the Pedagogical University, will compromise the quality of education in both institutions, reports AllAfrica.com.
More on the University World News site:

University World News 0167 - 17th April 2011

This week's highlights

In a special report, University World News investigates issues and trends in the global talent trade, where there are growing signs that the world's vibrant economies are starting to attract back domestic graduates who have studied in the West. In People, GEOFF MASLEN interviews 71-year-old Australian Dr Doris LeRoy, who was awarded a PhD recently despite setbacks including cancer, hip replacements and the death of her husband. In Commentary, KN PANIKKAR argues that revisions are needed to India's foreign educational institutions bill, or it could undermine education that promotes nation-building and national identity. In the UK, GIDEON CALDER reports on swelling academic opposition to a research council's plan to direct research towards the government's 'big society' ideology, and ANNE COBETT writes that the Libyan funding debacle at the London School of Economics should force a rethink on the purpose of an international university.

THE TALENT TRADE

There has been a lot of talk about the 'brain drain' phenomenon in higher
education, whereby the brightest students and academics are attracted from East to West and from South to North. But as competition for students and academics has grown in countries such as India and China, there have been reports that this process may be going into reverse. For example a just-published report by the leading business consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan predicts that there will be a steady flow of returning migrants to countries like India to fill vacancies for senior positions - and that they will be joined by Americans and Europeans seeking better prospects.

Universities are already beginning to see this reverse movement and analysts like Peggy Blumenthal and Rajika Bhandari of the Institute for International Education argue that there will be increasing mobility in higher education with 'brain drain' being replaced by 'brain circulation', 'brain exchange' or the 'brain train'. In this special report, University World News investigates this phenomenon and asks whether economic insecurity and rising tuition fees in the West could be factors influencing the talent trade. We also look at migration of the highly educated from Africa and efforts to counter the 'brain drain'.

UK: Fees and unemployment make mobility attractive

Rising tuition fees and youth unemployment plus a competitive market in international higher education are making many UK and other European students look further afield for undergraduate degrees. This could affect the pipeline of future academics, reports HARRIET SWAIN.
Full report on the University World News site:

ASIA: 'Brain reclaim' as talent returns from West
Asian universities are rising and this coincides with a downturn in Western economies. The combination could promote greater internationalisation in higher education, but some fear that it could lead to long-term problems for Western universities which may have to do more to tackle what is being dubbed 'brain reclaim', reports YOJANA SHARMA.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: Reverse brain drain takes off
The brain drain of international students to the US is slowly reversing as more international students opt to return to their home countries and some US students of immigrant parents choose to study abroad. The US may need to adapt its visa policies to compete, but countries in the developing world will also have to ensure they have enough to offer to keep returning students there, reports ALISON MOODIE.
Full report on the University World News site:

ASIA: Getting graduates to come home is not easy
There has been a lot of talk about 'brain exchange' rather than 'brain drain', but brain drain still continues. Countries like China and India have tried a range of programmes to get students to return, but the brightest are still the least likely to return, argue PHILIP G ALTBACH and WANHUA MA in the latest edition of International Higher Education.
Full report on the University World News site:

AFRICA: Limit costs, raise benefits of skills flight
Some 30 million Africans live outside their home countries, and more than a million highly qualified Africans - one in eight - live in an OECD country, a new study by the African Development Bank and the World Bank reveals, reports KAREN MACGREGOR. While migration is a "vital lifeline" for the continent, and is a symptom rather than the root of development problems, governments must act cleverly to limit the costs and maximise the benefits of tertiary-educated migration.
Full report on the University World News site:

AFRICA: Research network project promotes brain gain
UNESCO and Hewlett Packard's Brain Gain Initiative, based on grid computing and academic networks, is fostering research collaboration between universities in the South as well as between African academics in the South and North, write MARC BELLON and LILIANA SIMIONESCU.
Full report on the University World News site:

AFRICA: Harnessing bright minds in the diaspora
The Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance was set up in 2007 and aims to engage African scholars from the diaspora in development initiatives. Set up by students in the US, it is gaining international recognition for its work, say Harambe members CORINA SHIKA KWAMI and ISABELLA AKINSEYE.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

UK: Fears over private sector gain from loans hike
Brendan O'Malley
The government has announced plans to extend support and loans to students attending private sector institutions in England, to the same level as for state sector students. But the announcement has stoked fears that private institutions will be able to cherry-pick lucrative courses.
Full report on University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Likely research cuts trigger alarm
Geoff Maslen
Rarely have Australia's academic and research communities responded so rapidly and vigorously to rumoured threats of a US$400 million cut over the next three years to the major medical funding council. University leaders, education and health unions, medical bodies and science organisations warned of a mass exodus of top scientists if the possible savaging of the National Health and Medical Research Council's budget went ahead.
Full report on the University World News site:

FRANCE: Graduates fare best in recession, says study
Jane Marshall
Three years after completing their higher education in 2007 graduates in France were faring better in the economic crisis than less eduated peers, according to a newly released survey.
Full report on the University World News site:

GERMANY: Plagiarism claims mount for ex-minister
Michael Gardner
With an intensive investigation almost concluded, Bavaria's University of Bayreuth now claims that ex-minister of defence Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg must have copied parts of his doctoral thesis. But zu Guttenberg continues to deny wilful deceit.
Full report on University World News site:

EUROPE: Nazaré elected as next EUA President
Members of the European University Association have elected Professor Maria Helena Nazaré from Portugal as the new president of the organisation that represents more than 800 universities and 34 national rectors' conferences across Europe.
Full report on the University World News site:

CANADA: Tool to predict international student trends
Sarah King Head
Predicting more accurately where international students will go to pursue higher education has been taken one step forward with the release last week of the Global International Student Flow Forecasting Model pilot project. The British Columbia Council for International Education released the model for use by the Canadian province where international education is a leading export.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Non-stop learning conference
A non-stop 48-hour online conference spanning the globe began at the University of Leicester in the UK on Wednesday, with the focus on innovation in teaching and learning in higher education. The conference, "Learning Futures Festival Online 2011, Follow the sun", covered three countries and three time zones.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWSBRIEFS

SAUDI ARABIA-UK: New centre to tackle global disease
Wagdy Sawahel
Saudi Arabia is to establish an international training and research centre in Jizan to advance global efforts to control infectious diseases, with the cooperation of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium.
Full report on the University World News site:

SWAZILAND: Calm returns to university
Munyaradzi Makoni
The University of Swaziland, forced to close last Tuesday when pro-democratic protests rocked the tiny landlocked Southern African kingdom, has now reopened. Some students reported being coerced by others to participate in the demonstrations.
Full report on the University World News site:

PEOPLE

AUSTRALIA: Six decades to earn a PhD
Geoff Maslen
Melbourne-born Doris LeRoy dropped out of school when she was 14. Now, almost 60 years later, she has been awarded a doctorate - despite battling cancer, enduring hip replacements and suffering the death of her husband.
Full report on the University World News site:

COMMENTARY

INDIA: Foreign universities bill needs to be revised
India is considering a Bill which proposes to regulate the operation of foreign educational institutions. This is all very well, argues KN PANIKKAR, but it also promotes a more globalised form of higher education when education should be dictated by issues around nation building and national identity.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: Research council slated for bowing to ideology
The UK Arts and Humanities Research Council's latest delivery plan appears to promote government policy and could endanger academic independence, argues GIDEON CALDER. Academics are mobilising to resist any threat to their freedom.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: The LSE debacle and the role of a university
The furore surrounding the resignation of the head of the London School of Economics should force a rethink about the purpose of an international university, argues ANNE CORBETT. There is a need to return to the basics of what a university is about and guard against becoming what the late Professor Fred Halliday called 'shopping malls of the mind'.
Full report on the University World News site:

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

GLOBAL: Academic freedom reports worldwide
Noemi Bouet*
The Chinese authorities have arrested three Tibetan monks, including a student, in Beijing following a self-immolation protest against Chinese rule in Tibet, and have banned an inter-college debate on the 1911 revolution. In Iran, a human rights lawyer and law professor at Allameh Tabatabaee University in Tehran has been dismissed, and two student activists have been expelled from Baku State University in Azerbaijan. Student anti-government protests have been held in Damascus and at Aleppo University in Syria.
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 2,600 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

UK: Universities 'recruiting more foreign students'
Universities are planning a huge increase in foreign students to boost their income following swingeing government funding cuts, it emerged last week, writes Graeme Paton for The Telegraph. Some top institutions want to almost double the number of undergraduates recruited from outside Europe.
More on the University World News site:

US: Foreign graduate student numbers continue to rise
Foreign-student applications to American graduate schools are up 9% over last year, with much of the increase fueled by a double-digit expansion in applications from prospective Chinese students, according to a report released last week, writes Karin Fischer for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:

US: Big cuts to international programmes
When a chart of all cuts in the 2011 budget passed by the US congress on Thursday was made public earlier last week, international education advocates received an unpleasant surprise: funding for foreign language and area studies programmes within the Education Department could be cut by as much as $50 million, rolled back to levels last seen before 9/11, writes Libby A Nelson for Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:

RUSSIA: Foreigners get right to teach in universities
A new law passed on Wednesday allows the employment of foreign experts as teachers at Russian colleges and universities, reports Ria Novosti.
More on the University World News site:

MALAYSIA: Universities must expand internationally
Universities should extend their wings beyond Malaysia's national boundaries by promoting and contributing to regional and international development, said the Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
More on the University World News site:

ISRAEL: Colleges approved for state research funding
An unprecedented agreement signed between Israel's finance ministry and representatives from local colleges will, for the first time, allow college staff to receive government funding for research, writes Tomer Velmer for YNetNews. Until now, this has been reserved for universities alone.
More on the University World News site:

PAKISTAN: Petition filed against plan to dissolve HEC
A petition has been filed in the supreme court against the government's plan to dissolve the Higher Education Commission, or HEC, which is widely credited with playing a key role in promoting higher learning in Pakistan, writes Mohsin Ali for Gulf News.
More on the University World News site:

INDIA: Reprieve for 44 deemed universities
India's supreme court on Monday gave a reprieve to the 44 'deemed universities' facing de-recognition on the basis of deficiencies pointed out by the Tandon Committee, writes J Venkatesan for The Hindu. The court extended the status quo order: in other words, it restrained the government from taking further action on the basis of the report.
More on the University World News site:

INDIA-US: Obama-Singh initiative to fly soon
India and the US will take steps to increase collaboration in higher education in the next few months under an initiative announced during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US in November 2009, writes Prashant K Nanda for LiveMint.com.
More on the University World News site:

US: California students protest against university cuts
Decrying what they called an assault on higher education, thousands of academics and students at California State University campuses across the state rallied, marched and held teach-ins on Wednesday to protest against steep funding cuts and rising tuition, write Carla Rivera and Larry Gordon for the Los Angeles Times.
More on the University World News site:

US: College loans weigh heavier on graduates
Student loan debt outpaced credit card debt for the first time last year and is likely to top a trillion dollars this year as more students go to college and a growing share borrow money to do so, writes Tamar Lewin for The New York Times.
More on the University World News site:

SOUTH KOREA: KAIST criticised after student suicides
The president of South Korea's top science university is fighting to save his job after a string of student suicides sparked fierce criticism of his controversial reforms and a government audit accused him and other officials at the institution of financial and administrative violations, writes David McNeill for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:

SOUTH AFRICA: Student funding chief sacked
The CEO of South Africa's National Student Financial Aid Scheme, suspended after the scheme was given an audit report with a disclaimer, has been fired, writes Caiphus Kgosana for The Sunday Times.
More on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Steps to grow indigenous representation
Indigenous Australians have long been under-represented in their country's universities, but now some institutions are creating leadership posts to help increase the number of indigenous students and academics, writes Liz Gooch for The New York Times.
More on the University World News site:

KOSOVO: Higher education challenges
Kosovo has the lowest higher education attendance in the European Union, writes Muhamet Brajshori for the Southeast European Times. While there are 50 students per 1,000 inhabitants in the EU, Kosovo falls short with just 30 students per 1,000 inhabitants, according to the education ministry.
More on the University World News site:

MOZAMBIQUE: Budget cuts threaten university quality
Mozambique's Education Minister Zeferino Martins has warned that cuts to the budgets of the country's two public universities, Eduardo Mondlane University and the Pedagogical University, will compromise the quality of education in both institutions, reports AllAfrica.com.
More on the University World News site:

Sunday 10 April 2011

University World News 166 - 10th April 2011

This week's highlights

In Features, ALISON MOODIE writes that nearly 600 universities have signed up so far for the United Nations Academic Impact, and WAGDY SAWAHEL looks at challenges facing higher education in South Sudan which will become a new state in July. In People, PHILIP FINE remembers Ottilia Chareka, an extraordinary Canadian academic who died last month. In Commentary, HANS DE WIT describes nine misconceptions about internationalisation in higher education, JOHN DOUGLASS, RICHARD EDELSTEIN and CECILE HOARAEU report on the sometimes surprising findings of research into where international students choose to study in California, and JANE HEMSLEY-BROWN argues that freeing up the higher education market in England will increase social divisions.

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

BRAZIL: US, Europe pursue higher education ties
Tom Hennigan
Brazil and America are set to revive ties in education and research following a meeting last month between Barack Obama and his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff. The presidents ordered a ministerial-level review of existing bilateral programmes covering higher education exchanges and called for a plan to deepen cooperation. Last week a European commissioner also paid a high-level visit to Brazil to strengthen policy cooperation in higher education, academic exchange and strategic ties with the South American giant.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: English proficiency ranking of 44 countries
Yojana Sharma
With countries such as Britain and Australia tightening up on the level of English language skills for international student visas, students in some countries are having to invest a great deal more than others in improving language proficiency.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: Curb fee hikes or lose places, Cable warns
Brendan O'Malley
Universities that seek to charge the highest possible fees and can't fill places as a result will risk having those places withdrawn permanently, UK Business Secretary Vince Cable warned on Wednesday. Instead they should find ways to offer good value for money, he told a meeting of vice-chancellors and principles.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: MIT tops global engineering ranking
Karen MacGregor
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the top university in the world in engineering and computer sciences, according to the first QS World University Rankings by Subject, published on Tuesday. The next best-performing universities are Stanford and Cambridge.
Full report on the University World News site:

PAKISTAN: University protests against HEC disbanding
Ameen Amjad Khan
Protests by university students and academics erupted last week against the decision by Pakistan's federal government to devolve responsibilities of the Higher Education Commission to provinces, signalling the death throes of the autonomous regulatory body.
Full report on the University World News site:

MALAWI: Academic freedom protests close campuses
Malawian authorities have indefinitely closed two campuses following protests by students and lecturers aimed at pushing for the restoration of academic freedom. The action has seen three academics fired and 17 students arrested.
Full report on the University World News site:

EGYPT: Uncertain future for first research university
Ashraf Khaled
Since long-standing president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular revolt in February, Egypt has been gripped by waves of protests ranging from demands for better wages to the removal of university administrators deemed loyal to the former regime. Now students and academics at Nile University, Egypt's first research university set up in 2007, have taken to the street - but this time, to protect an institution accused of corruption from closure.
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CHINA: Muslim students offered jobs to avoid uprising
Yojana Sharma
Muslim students in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have been promised jobs and university internships in a bid to prevent 'contagion' from uprisings in the Middle East.
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GERMANY: Baden-Württemberg set to scrap fees
Michael Gardner
Following a Green-Social Democrat victory in elections to the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg, fees will probably be scrapped as early as the next winter semester, leaving two of Germany's 16 federal states, Bavaria and Lower Saxony, with fees. University leaders are looking to the state government to make up the shortfall.
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GLOBAL: French-speaking universities collaborate
Munyaradzi Makoni
The French language has become a common driver for technological innovation among French-speaking technology universities. Developed world universities have teamed up with Francophone universities, mostly in Africa, in a network for excellence in engineering sciences that officially starts operating this month.
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KENYA: Declining quality drives students overseas
Gilbert Nganga
Perceived poor quality of university education in Kenya could be pushing students out of the country. A recent survey by Synovate, a consumer research firm, revealed that most Kenyans would prefer to study abroad, where they believe universities guarantee quality learning and are prestigious.
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NEWSBRIEF

ALGERIA: Bologna "source of student unrest"
University students in Algeria continued their unlimited strike as the new term started last week. The secretary general of the left-wing Parti des Travailleurs, claimed the introduction of Bologna process-style reforms was at the root of the crisis.
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FEATURES

GLOBAL: Universities sign up for UN Academic Impact
Alison Moodie
For the last six years the United Nations has been pursuing a novel idea: gathering academic research globally into a practical framework. Last November, the idea finally came to fruition when Secretary General Ban Ki Moon launched the UN Academic Impact in New York. So far, nearly 600 universities have signed up to participate, making the initiative one of the fastest-growing cooperative measures of its kind.
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SOUTH SUDAN: Reforming universities in a new state
Wagdy Sawahel
In an effort to build the emerging independent state of South Sudan on a solid foundation, the government has launched a roadmap in which reforming the country's higher education sector features prominently. Due to open for classes in mid-May, universities in what is one of the world's least developed nations face a host of challenges.
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PEOPLE

OBITUARY: Generous professor counted herself lucky
Philip Fine
Zimbabwean-born Ottilia Chareka was a rising academic star in Canada, a researcher with a passion for political engagement, a mentor who expected a lot from her students and a role model who helped find new teachers among underrepresented populations.
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HERANA - Universities and development in Africa

AFRICA: Higher education and democratic citizenship
Formal education in Africa has provided 'democratic dividends', enabling people to make greater use of the news media, obtain information and understanding about politics and thus become more cognitively engaged and critical, according to research. But it is high school, and not higher education, that pays the greatest dividend.
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COMMENTARY

EUROPE: Misconceptions about internationalisation
Internationalisation in higher education has become mainstream, but there is still a lack of clarity about what this involves. HANS DE WIT describes what he sees as the nine misconceptions about internationalisation.
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US: Where do international students choose to study?
There is growing world demand from international students, particularly for enrolment in a high-profile state like California with an array of prestigious universities and brand name higher education institutions, write JOHN DOUGLASS, RICHARD EDELSTEIN and CECILE HOARAEU. At the same time, there is a thirst by public universities and colleges to draw in additional revenue, particularly in the light of dwindling government support. But research shows some surprising statistics on where international students choose to study.
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UK: Higher education market - conflicting messages
Freeing up the market in higher education could increase social inequality, argues JANE HEMSLEY-BROWN. Universities know that higher fee charges equate to better quality education and if this is combined with restrictions on international student numbers, and therefore international fees, it will only increase social divisions.
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SCIENCE SCENE

UNIVERSE: Fifty years since first human in space
"Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marvelled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty - not destroy it!" said Yuri Gagarin. Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of the first man in space: on 12 April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to leave Earth and float above the planet. It was a day that saw not only the Vostok 1 spacecraft and its cosmonaut go into orbit but also ramped up the space race between the US and USSR.
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GLOBAL: Fat men less likely to suffer dementia
New results from a decade-long epidemiological study offer some encouraging news for overweight older men: they are less likely to develop dementia. Men with a body mass index in the overweight category and with high measurements of fat deposits around the waist were less prone to develop dementia compared with their normal weighted peers.
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GLOBAL: Foreign species not so dominant
Many of the world's ecosystems are dominated by introduced plant species that result in loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function. A common but rarely tested assumption is that these plants are more abundant in introduced rather than their native communities because ecological or evolutionary-based shifts in populations underlie invasion success.
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BRAZIL: Fossil find has South African links
A fossil of a herbivorous 'reptile' found recently in Brazil has close links to a species discovered at Williston in South Africa's Northern Cape province in 1999. The latest find indicates how the South American and African continents were once part of Gondwana, the southernmost of the two supercontinents.
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GLOBAL: Paper-based water filter for emergencies
Wagdy Sawahel
Cheap, portable paper-based filters, coated with silver nanoparticles, could be used to produce clean drinking water during disasters such as floods, tsunamis and earthquakes, according to Canadian researchers.
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FACEBOOK

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WORLD ROUND-UP

POLAND: University reform law contested
Poland's higher education system will undergo significant changes if a bill signed into law on 5 April by President Bronisław Komorowski remains on the statute books. The bill is due to enter into force in October but its constitutionality has been called into question, writes Katrarzyna Piasecka for the Warsaw Business Journal.
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US: Universities monitoring radiation from Japan
The amount of radioactive material reaching the West Coast of the US from Japan's crippled nuclear reactors is dropping off sharply but the information does not come from government agencies. The most complete picture of the isotopes wafting across the Pacific is from university scientists, writes Sandi Doughton in the Seattle Times.
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TURKEY: Investigation into national exam 'scam'
Turkish prosecutors are investigating allegations of possible cheating and favouritism in the annual university entrance exam sat by 1.7 million students on 27 March. Suspicions were raised this week after a lawyer discovered a formula for correct answers for multiple-choice maths questions on one exam, Suzan Fraser reported for the Associated Press.
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US: Budget cuts hit universities nationwide
Drastic budget cuts to higher education are forcing public university officials to take unprecedented measures. Proposed solutions across the country range from raising tuition fees by 30% in Pennsylvania to eliminating tenure programmes for professors in North Carolina. Colleges will not find out exactly how much they need to cut until the summer, when state legislatures finalise the budget, reports Elizabeth Johnson for the Daily Tar Heel.
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US: Public university presidents' pay
Presidents of public universities collected a small raise in pay last year amid budget squeezes at most US universities. As many state legislatures debate double-digit percentage cuts in higher-education funding, presidential pay could become a sensitive subject, writes Kevin Helliker in The Wall Street Journal, commenting on the survey of university presidents pay released by The Chronicle of Higher Education last week.
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INDIA: Plan to increase vocational education
Vocational students should account for 50% of all tertiary enrolment by 2020 compared to less than 5% now, as the neglected vocational education sector will receive a boost in India's next five-year plan starting in April 2012, writes Basant Kumar Mohanty for The Telegraph.
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CANADA: China accreditation restored after Tibet row
The University of Calgary is back on China's list of accredited universities more than a year after being removed in the wake of the Dalai Lama's September 2009 visit to the university to receive an honorary doctorate, Clara Ho reports in the Calgary Herald.
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LATIN AMERICA: Alliance pushes increased university access
The Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (Alba), brainchild of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and Cuba's former president Fidel Castro, is expanding its alternative vision of higher education across Latin America. It has supported moves for reform in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela, provoking violent street demonstrations and fierce opposition from the university sector, writes Meesha Nehru in Times Higher Education.
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POLAND: Highest private-sector enrolment in Europe
Poland has the highest private sector university enrolment in Europe, with more than a third of students educated outside the state system. However, with a dip in the Polish birthrate shrinking the number of potential students, competition between the private and state sectors is expected to get sharper, writes Jeevan Vasagar for The Guardian.
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CZECH REPUBLIC: Huge growth in private students
The number of students at private colleges and universities in the Czech Republic has increased almost 30-fold in the past 10 years, the Czech Statistical Office and the Institute of Education Information said in remarks picked up by the Czech news agency CTK.
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MALAYSIA: Private colleges struck off
Malaysia's higher education ministry cancelled the setting up of 59 private colleges and deregistered 28 others between 2009 and 2010 over quality issues, the official news agency Bernama reported. Deputy Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said the ministry found that the institutions were unable to provide quality programmes, premises, management, teaching staff, or learning and teaching facilities.
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VIETNAM-INDONESIA: US to enhance education ties
A trade mission led by the US Department of Commerce's Under Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sanchez and comprising representatives from around 60 US universities and colleges began a trip to two of the fastest-growing markets in Asia, Vietnam and Indonesia, from 2-9 April, the official Saigon Giai Phong newspaper reported.
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US: College consortia to recruit overseas students
Universities and colleges are forming state-by-state consortia to put themselves on the map for foreign students. Nearly half of all US states now have international education associations to promote both public and private colleges in areas not traditional magnets for overseas students, writes Karin Fischer in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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GULF: Western institutions 'risk failing'
Western universities in Gulf countries are at risk of failing because of a difficulty in recruiting students and a reliance on outside funding. "There are disturbing stories that suggest that many of the less prestigious institutions are under considerable financial stress," said John Willoughby, an economist at the American University in Washington, James Calderwood reports in The National.
Full report on the University World News site :

Sunday 3 April 2011

University World News 0165 - 3rd April 2011

This week's highlights

In Features, YOJANA SHARMA describes growing higher education ties between mainland China and Hong Kong, and ALISON MOODIE reports on research at Boston University into head trauma injuries using the donated brains of athletes. In People, SHARON DELL interviews South African novelist and former vice-chancellor Njabulo Ndebele, and GEOFF MASLEN profiles Bob Birrell, a much-quoted academic whose journal has fallen victim to the Excellence in Research for Australia Initiative. In Commentary, KEVIN DOWNING writes that rankings are enabling Asian universities to emerge from the long shadows cast by those in the West, AREVIK OHANYAN argues that the Bologna process has not accommodated the shared history and soc ialist legacies of post-communist states, and KATE WHITE, TERESA CARVALHO and SARAH RIORDAN argue that new managerialism in universities is having a negative impact on women's ability to climb the career ladder.

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

COLOMBIA: Students resist liberalisation plans
Pacifica Goddard
University students across Colombia are planning a large protest next week over their government's plans to reform the country's higher education sector and allow universities to become for-profit institutions. The proposals seek to expand high education by 608,000 places, to achieve 50% enrolment of undergraduate-age Colombians.
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INDIA: Medical education may be cut from foreign bill
Alya Mishra
India's Health Ministry and the Medical Council of India have together opposed the government's proposed Foreign Educational Institutions Bill to allow and regulate foreign universities in India, refusing to support the landmark legislation that is being closely watched around the world.
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GLOBAL: Strong science in Iran, Tunisia, Turkey
Yojana Sharma and Wagdy Sawahel
Iran, Tunisia and Turkey are among a number of countries beginning to challenge the dominance of established powerhouses of scientific research, according to a major new report that has identified rapidly emerging nations "not traditionally associated with a strong science base".
Full report on the University World News site:

GERMANY: Draft legislation recognises foreign degrees
Michael Gardner
With fears mounting over a shortage of specialists to fuel Germany's economic boom, the government has approved draft legislation on the recognition of qualifications and degrees that immigrants have acquired abroad. New regulations would make it much easier for many professionals to find jobs in their respective fields.
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UKRAINE: Number of universities to be reduced
Eugene Vorotnikov
The number of higher education institutions in Ukraine may be significantly cut in the coming years under an initiative by the Ukrainian government. The reduction will take place in accordance with a new higher education law, which is expected to be adopted by parliament within the next few months.
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DENMARK: Rector resigns over business school fiasco
Ard Jongsma
Copenhagen Business School Rector Johan Roos tendered his resignation and was sent home last weekend as it emerged that a merger between his institution and private MBA provider SIMI was in conflict with Danish university legislation. The merger had been carried out prematurely, anticipating approval, despite the rector's knowledge that it was contestable. Current MBA students risk ending up with an expensive degree without the accreditation so critical in the world of MBAs.
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AUSTRALIA: No place for People and Place
Geoff Maslen
The final edition of one of Australia's most oft-quoted academic journals has just been published. The controversial founder of People and Place, Dr Bob Birrell, used his final editorial to savage the federal government's Excellence in Research for Australia initiative, which he believes has led to the journal's demise and is affecting academics in the humanities and social sciences.
Full report on the University World News site:
Read a profile of Bob Birrell in the People section

SINGAPORE: Yale tie-up to proceed despite controversy
Adele Yung
After months of controversy and deliberations over funding, the National University of Singapore and Yale University last week announced that they will establish a new autonomous Yale-NUS college within two years as Singapore's first liberal arts college based on the US model.
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FRANCE: Projects and campuses 'of excellence' chosen
Jane Marshall
The first 100 projects selected for funding under the government's 'Labex' (Laboratories of Excellence) programme have been announced, together with a preliminary shortlist of seven university federations for 'Idex' (Initiatives of Excellence) status, part of a plan to create internationally competitive centres of higher education and research.
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GULF STATES: Virtual universities on the rise
Wagdy Sawahel
E-universities are proliferating in the Gulf States with a number of new projects aimed at improved technology transfer, narrowing the digital divide and facilitating access to knowledge.
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ZIMBABWE: Parliament wants fair student loan scheme
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwe's parliament has recommended an overhaul of higher education including depoliticising the country's student cadet loan system and placing a controversial presidential scholarship scheme under a government department rather than in the hands of loyalists of President Robert Mugabe.
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NEWSBRIEF

ROMANIA: Diversified university system on track
The European University Association is to collaborate with the Romanian Ministry of Education and universities in the country to support the implementation of a major new higher education reform bill that came into force last month.
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FEATURES

CHINA-HONG KONG: Thorny issues of higher education ties
Yojana Sharma
One of the little-publicised sections of China's economic plan for the next five years includes Hong Kong for the first time since the former British colony's handover to China in 1997. However, Hong Kong and Southern China have already been forging higher education ties with a view to creating a common higher education space in the not-too distant future.
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US: Trauma centre studies donated brains of athletes
Alison Moodie
Dave Duerson, a former professional football player, committed suicide in February. His last request was that his brain be donated to Boston University's brain bank. With the knowledge that his injured brain would offer some answers to his deteriorating mental health, he made sure to shoot himself in the chest. Duerson is one of hundreds of athletes pledging their brains and spinal cord tissue to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, CSTE.
Full report on the University World News site:

PEOPLE

SOUTH AFRICA: Njabulo Ndebele on labels and leadership
In an interview with SHARON DELL, South African writer and former vice-chancellor of three universities Njabulo Ndebele highlights the limitations of absolutes and the fine line between universities and the society in which they are located.
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AUSTRALIA: Bob Birrell, controversial but determined
Geoff Maslen
For someone who has been at the centre of storms of controversy for two decades, Dr Bob Birrell seems remarkably placid. Likewise People and Place, the journal he and colleagues at Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research have produced four times a year for the past 18 years, seems a modest, octavo-sized publication. Yet the magazine and its unassuming publisher have probably generated more heated discussions about immigration, population and a host of other topical issues than any other such venture in the country.
Full report on the University World News site:

HERANA - Universities and development in Africa

AFRICA: Coordination and connectedness of universities
While African governments coordinate higher education at the national level, this is largely "symbolic" and most ministries do not have effective steering mechanisms, a three-year study of universities in eight African countries has found. This, along with lack of coordination of and connectedness to external groups, is undermining the potential of universities to contribute to economic development.
Full report on the University World News site:

COMMENTARY

GLOBAL: Rankings bring Asia out of the shadows
The benefits of rankings in encouraging international competition have been neglected as universities focus on the system itself, argues KEVIN DOWNING. He says that while rankings are necessarily imperfect, they are also creating the opportunity for many Asian institutions to emerge from the long shadows cast by those in the West.
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EUROPE: The Bologna process in the post-Soviet world
The effects of the Bologna process on the post-Soviet world have been treated insufficiently by policy-makers and researchers, argues AREVIK OHANYAN in the current issue of International Higher Education. The Bologna process is poorly positioned to accommodate the shared history of post-communist states and their soc ialist legacies.
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GLOBAL: Gender, power and managerialism in universities
The new managerialism in universities is having a negative impact on women's ability to climb up the career ladder, argue KATE WHITE, TERESA CARVALHO and SARAH RIORDAN. Their research shows that while women as senior managers have more of an impact on decision-making in managerialist universities, this is mainly related to 'soft' management skills which are not valued in a 'male' managerial culture that is strongly focused on research output.
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ACADEMIC FREEDOM

GLOBAL: Academic freedom reports from around the world
Noemi Bouet*
Members of a student group in South Korea have been arrested and accused of violating national security by openly supporting North Korea. There has been a furore in the US over a request by the Republican Party for copies of emails of history professor William Cronon, after he wrote articles critical of the party in Wisconsin. Peking University has announced its intention to screen students, including those with 'radical thoughts' and 'eccentric lifestyles', and in Iran nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri has been arrested and charged with treason. In Sudan's Darfur region, police have killed one protesting student and wounded several others.
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FACEBOOK

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WORLD ROUND-UP

IRELAND: New book casts doubt on university rankings
In a book published last week, Dublin Institute of Technology professor, Ellen Hazelkorn, expressed severe doubts about the value of international ranking systems and argued that they undermine the broader mission to provide education, writes Dick Ahlstrom for The Irish Times.
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LATIN AMERICA: University rankings take root
The growing influence of university rankings has reached Latin America, with governments, news media and private researchers drawing up domestic versions that they say are important for the institutions and students alike, writes Andrew Downie for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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INDIA: University chiefs back semester plan
The vice-chancellors of state and central universities from across India unanimously supported a semester system at a two-day conference in Delhi, writes Kavita Chowdhury for India Today.
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UK: Fury over order to study the big society
The UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council will spend a 'significant' amount of its funding on the prime minister's vision for the country, after a government 'clarification' of the Haldane principle - a convention that for 90 years has protected the right of academics to decide where research funds should be spent, writes Daniel Boffey for the Observer.
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UK: Chinese accused of stealing British inventions
Noted English industrial designer, Sir James Dyson, has accused a section of Chinese students studying in the United Kingdom of infiltrating universities in order to steal intellectual property and technology inventions, reports the International Business Times.
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PERU: Yale returns Machu Picchu artefacts
A first batch of nearly 400 Machu Picchu objects arrived in Peru last week from Yale University, almost 100 years after they were taken away from the Inca citadel by explorer and academic Hiram Bingham, reports The Times of India.
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CHINA: Building of Sino-American university underway
The Chinese economic hub of Shanghai began construction of the New York University Shanghai (NYU Shanghai) last week, the first university jointly operated by China and the United States, reports Xinhuanet.
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US: Rutgers joins colleges paying for speakers
On 15 May, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison will give the commencement address at Rutgers University in New Jersey. For her trouble, she will receive an honorary doctorate of letters - and a cheque for $30,000. Rutgers said the payment would be the first for a graduation speech in its 245-year history, writes Richard Pérez-Pena for The New York Times.
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AUSTRALIA: Business takes dim view of academe
Launching its higher education policy, the Business Council of Australia's education taskforce said graduates still lacked essential attributes, especially in leadership, teamwork and communication, but universities were failing to heed the call, writes Julie Hare for The Australian.
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SCOTLAND: Students sue for higher grades
Growing numbers of students in Scotland are taking legal action against their universities for failing to provide adequate support for degree courses. According to the legal firm Ross Harper, six students across the country have taken out cases after receiving lower grades than they expected, writes Fiona MacLeod for Scotland on Sunday.
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UK: Failed fees plan may end up costing £1billion
Some of England's worst universities plan to charge students close to the maximum fee of £9,000 (US$14,406) a year and not one of them plans to charge average fees of £6,000 a year or less - the level which ministers said would be the norm when they announced the controversial proposals. This could end up costing the government £1 billion more than budgeted each year as it will have to provide upfront fees to universities, long before students repay them, write Oliver Wright, Lewis Smith and Joe Dyke for The Independent.
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WALES: Universities face up to 'challenging' cuts
Universities in South Wales are coming to terms with a "challenging" funding settlement which has seen their public cash cut, writes Gareth Evans for South Wales Echo.
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UK: A third of students drop out of university - study
Student drop-out rates at former polytechnics range between 30% and 40%, while the Higher Education Statistics authority predicts that more than 76,000 students who started their studies in 2008 will fail to graduate this summer, writes Kate Loveys for the Daily Mail.
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US: Bishops urge Catholic Schools to ban nun's book
A committee of American Roman Catholic bishops announced last Wednesday that a popular book about God by Sister Elizabeth A Johnson, a theologian at Fordham University in New York, should not be used in Catholic schools and universities because it does not uphold church doctrine, writes Laurie Goodstein for The New York Times.
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