Sunday 28 August 2011

University World News 0186 - 28th August 2011

This week's highlights

In Features, YOJANA SHARMA writes that a new 'world-class' university in Vietnam will need autonomy - a major cultural shift - and ALISON MOODIE writes that the United State's preservation of Pell grants comes at the expense of graduate students. SHARON DELL looks at moves by South Africa's government to encourage universities to transform the curriculum, and MUNYARADZI MAKONI describes a project to identify, digitise and archive the country's research in the Antarctic. In Commentary, BRUNO DENTE and NADIA PIRAINO outline a new framework for assessing the effectiveness of student loan schemes. SANDRA GREY argues against calls in New Zealand for a private showcase university, saying the way to create world-class institutions is to invest in existing higher education, and SAM SHEN writes that more Western students should study abroad in order to develop the international outlook needed in the 21st century world of work.

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

RUSSIA: Universities face student shortage crisis
Eugene Vorotnikov
Russian universities face a shortage of students for state-funded places this year, due to the economic crisis and an emerging population hole which economists predict could lead to 100,000 university teachers losing their jobs by 2020.
Full report on the University World News site:

JORDAN: Plan to raise bar for university admission
Wagdy Sawahel
The proportion of Jordan's secondary school graduates to be admitted to university is to be cut by up to a third in an effort to improve the quality of university education and outcomes, under new national reform plans.
Full report on the University World News site:

CANADA: Boosting higher education links with Brazil
Sarah King Head
Canada has announced a series of programmes between Brazilian and Canadian universities in the hope of strengthening ties with the world's fifth largest economy.
Full report on the University World News site:

CHINA: Compromises for new 'autonomous' university
Mimi Leung
The embattled president of the new South University of Science and Technology of China, intended to be the country's first 'autonomous' institution able to carry out world-class teaching and research, has made a rare media appearance to defend his methods of bypassing the rules that currently govern universities in China.
Full report on the University World News site:

FRANCE: Student living costs 'rising sharply'
Jane Marshall
Students' living costs for the new academic year have risen by more than 4% compared with 2010-11, twice the rate of inflation, France's two biggest student organisations claim. But Laurent Wauquiez, Minister for Higher Education and Research, said the increases were "without doubt" among the lowest for the last five years.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Nine million species on Earth?
Some 8.7 million species, give or take 1.3 million, is the new estimated total number of species on Earth. Said to be the most precise calculation ever offered, 6.5 million species are on land and 2.2 million, or about 25% of the total, dwell in the ocean depths. Census of Marine Life scientists say the estimates are based on an innovative, validated analytical technique that dramatically narrows the range of previous estimates.
Full report on the University World News site:

KENYA: Higher education minister fired
Gilbert Nganga
Kenya last week fired Higher Education Minister William Ruto, who had been suspended from cabinet last year following allegations of graft. His axing ends uncertainty that has engulfed the ministry for a year.
Full report on the University World News site:

GHANA: Growing role for private higher education
Francis Kokutse
Ghana's government is considering more private participation in the provision of tertiary education, which is facing a funding squeeze due to huge demand on the national budget and pressure from increasing student enrolments, Education Minister Betty Mould-Iddrisu said last week at a national dialogue on sustainable funding for the tertiary sector.
Full report on the University World News site:

NIGERIA: Staff to down tools over retirement clause
Tunde Fatunde
Leaders of Nigeria's Academic Staff Union of Universities have begun mobilising lecturers to embark, once again, on indefinite strike action. The main gripe is the failure of the national assembly to pass into law the voluntary retirement of professors at the maximum age of 70, rather than the current 65. The country's president and vice-president have reportedly now called for the retirement bill's speedy enactment.
Full report on the University World News site:

MALAWI: Collapsed dialogue, campuses stay closed
Students in Malawi have embarked on a vigil to force the authorities to open campuses that were closed in April, as dialogue efforts launched in June have so far failed to yield results. The vigil is the latest twist in the academic freedom saga that started in February and continues in what many report to be an increasingly autocratic climate.
Full report on the University World News site:

MADAGASCAR: Student protests hit universities
Student protests have disrupted universities during the past weeks, with student strikes and demonstrations hitting the Ecole Polytechnique of Vontovorona, the University of Fianarantsoa and the University of Toliara, where students took members of staff hostage for three days at the end of July.
Full report on the University World News site:

FEATURES

VIETNAM: Major new university heralds culture change
Yojana Sharma
If Vietnam is to follow China in becoming a low-cost manufacturing centre for the world it needs good universities geared towards 'world-class' research and innovation. The new University of Science and Technology Hanoi (USTH) could cater to that need. But attracting the best students and academics requires institutional autonomy - a major cultural shift.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: Pell saved, but graduate students suffer
Alison Moodie
The preservation of a federal loan programme for low-income undergraduate college students earlier this month provided an unexpected last-minute boon for higher education in the United States. But the decision to save Pell grants, hammered out as part of the debt reduction deal, came at the expense of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies and loans for graduate students around the country.
Full report on the University World News site:

SOUTH AFRICA: Grappling with curriculum 'relevance'
Sharon Dell
Seventeen years after the end of white rule and against the backdrop of persistent high unemployment levels, South Africa's universities continue to grapple with the issue of a 'relevant' curriculum and how best to achieve it.
Full report on the University World News site:

SOUTH AFRICA: Antarctic Legacy Project takes shape
Munyaradzi Makoni
The considerable role South African researchers have played in scientific, biological and meteorological discoveries in the sub-Antarctic Ocean lacks full recognition. But memories that lay scattered in national archives, personal diaries and mementos will now be accessible through a project to identify, digitise and archive this historical heritage online.
Full report on the University World News site:

COMMENTARY

GLOBAL: Are student loan policies effective?
Student loan policies have been adopted in several countries in the last decade as a means of funding increasing numbers of students going into higher education. But are they effective? In an article for the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, BRUNO DENTE and NADIA PIRAINO outline a new framework for assessing the effectiveness of student loan schemes in particular contexts.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEW ZEALAND: Call for showcase university misguided
Amid calls for New Zealanders to invest in a private showcase university, SANDRA GREY argues that the way to create world-class institutions is to invest in the existing higher education infrastructure.
Full report on the World University News site:

GLOBAL: More Western students should study abroad
Western students are reluctant to study abroad for various reasons, but in not doing so they are missing out on the fresh cultural insights and an international outlook that would equip them for the 21st century world of work, writes SAM SHEN.
Full report on the University World News site:

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

GLOBAL: Academic freedom reports worldwide
Noemi Bouet*
In Iran former university chancellor Mohammad Maleki, charged with being an "enemy of God", has accused the court hearing his case of being illegal, and theological scholar Ahmad Ghabel has been re-incarcerated to serve a 20-month sentence. In Tajikistan, authorities have opened criminal cases against 22 students who have returned from abroad, apparently to discourage them from contacting extremist Islamist groups. US academics who wrote a book on China's Xinjiang region and were banned by the authorities from entering China, have expressed shock at lack of support from their universities. And in Burkina Faso, three police officers have been jailed for their involvement in the death of a student.
Full report on the University World News site:

UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories

CANADA: Bunnies bounced from college campus
A Canadian university has "officially declared the campus to be rabbit-free" after years of occupation by enthusiastically breeding bunnies and over-feeding by students, reports FM World.
More on the University World News site:

CORRECTION

Last Sunday we ran a round-up item from the Times of India, titled "US:
Eleven universities to join India partnership". The original Times of India article was inaccurate. The Institute of International Education's International Academic Partnership Program complements projects funded by the US and Indian governments, but it is not part of the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative. Rather, it is a private effort to support US-India educational partnerships.

WORLD ROUND-UP

EGYPT: Four university heads resign before elections
The president of Cairo University, Hossam Kamel, and the presidents of Helwan, Fayoum and Al-Wadi Al-Gadeed universities resigned last week before the end of their term ahead of the first ever elections to choose new leaders, writes Tamim Elyan for Daily News Egypt.
More on the University World News site:

GREECE: Students march over university reform
Hundreds of Greek students protested outside parliament last week against a proposed shake-up of higher education that would introduce more competition into universities. Planned legislation would also curb the student role in university administration and set a four-year deadline for obtaining a degree, writes Kerin Hope for the Financial Times.
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UKRAINE: Fears over university centralisation plans
Leading academics warn that Ukraine Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk's attempts to centralise control over universities is hindering their work and dragging Ukraine away from European standards in higher education, writes Rina Soloveitchik for the Kyiv Post.
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AUSTRALIA: Airport officials cancel 159 student visas
More than 150 overseas students returning to Australia in the last financial year were intercepted by immigration authorities at the airport over visa breaches and put on a plane home within 72 hours, writes Bernard Lane for The Australian. And of 470,221 people who arrived on a student visa, nearly 9,000 were questioned by officials.
More on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA-US: Red tape thwarts Kaplan plan
Kaplan, the education arm of The Washington Post, has dumped plans to establish a university in Adelaide, blaming complex regulatory approvals in Australia and the US. The decision is a setback for departing Premier Mike Rann's ambition to make Adelaide a 'university city', writes Andrew Trounson for The Australian.
More on the University World News site:

US: Hispanic gains push US college enrolment
A surge in Hispanic enrolment brought the number of US college students aged 18 to 24 to a record high last year even as the number of young whites at universities fell, writes John Lauerman for Bloomberg.
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US: Tighter rules on conflicts of interest in science
The Obama administration announced last week the final form of new rules governing financial conflicts of interest in federally sponsored medical research, saying it hoped to boost public confidence after years of scandals tied to corporate influence, writes Paul Basken for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:

US: Climate scientist exonerated over research
A climate scientist at the centre of the climate-change debate has been exonerated of allegations of research misconduct, reports UPI.
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THAILAND: Student loans to depend on employability
Thailand's Education Minister Woravat Au-apinyakul has proposed changing the student loan fund to make loans contingent on an applicant's employment prospects, reports the Bangkok Post.
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UK: Student debt set to match welfare bill
The crippling legacy of the coalition's new system of tuition fees was laid bare recently with a government analysis that shows Britain will be loading almost £200 billion (US$327.44 billion) of debt onto students of the future, write Sarah Morrison and Brian Brady for The Independent.
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SCOTLAND: Bid to outlaw full fees for English
A bid is to be made in the House of Lords to make it illegal for Scottish universities to charge only English students full tuition fee costs, writes David Maddox for The Scotsman. The amendment to the Scotland Bill is to be placed by Scottish Labour peer Lord Foulkes.
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UK: Anger at axing of student support scheme
Critics have condemned the closure of a higher education outreach programme amid evidence that poorer students are likely to be put off by the trebling of tuition fees next year, writes Daniel Boffey for the Guardian.
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UK: Academics 'afraid to criticise students' - study
Academics are afraid to give negative student references or put candid remarks on exam scripts because of an overbearing risk-management culture in universities, according to a researcher who has undertaken a two-year study of the issue, writes David Matthews for Times Higher Education.
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TURKEY: University departments face closure
Departments in Turkish universities with low or no enrolment are facing closure in the future, reports Hurriyet Daily News.
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GHANA: New campus for IT visionary's university
It took a bit longer than expected, but the university in Ghana started a decade ago by a visionary Microsoft engineer finally has its own campus. Ashesi University is moving from rented space in the city of Accra to a 100-acre suburban campus due to formally open this weekend, writes Brier Dudley for The Seattle Times.
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UGANDA: Council proposes 300% university fee hike
Uganda's National Council for Higher Education has designed a new fees structure for public universities, raising tuition by more than 300% for most courses, write Francis Kagolo and Siki Kigongo for The New Vision.
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EAST AFRICA: Call for harmonisation of student fees
The president of the Inter-University Council for East Africa, IUCEA, Professor Silas Lwakabamba, has called on higher education institutions in the East African Community to charge citizens from member states the same tuition fees as local students, reports The New Times.
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KENYA: Gulf African bank to open university
The Gulf African Bank will set up a university in Malindi to boost higher education standards in the area, reports Alphonce Gari for the Nairobi Star. Chairman Suleiman Shakhbal said design and architectural work was complete and the bank was currently waiting for a letter from the Ministry of Higher Education, which is expected soon.
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NORTH KOREA: Defectors get US scholarships
Three young North Korean defectors living in South Korea have won scholarships offered by the US federal government for study and internships at American universities, reports Yonhap News Agency.
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SCOTLAND: Student expelled for Israeli flag abuse
A student at St Andrews University in Edinburgh was convicted last week by a Scottish court for a racist breach of the peace for abusing an Israeli flag belonging to a Jewish student, who said he felt "violated and devastated" by the incident, writes Jonny Paul for the Jerusalem Post.
More on the University World News site:

Sunday 21 August 2011

University World News 0183 - 21st August 2011

This week's highlights

In Features, YOJANA SHARMA explains the significance of the recent UN Academic Impact conference in Seoul, and describes the difficult decisions facing new branch campuses in South Korea amid higher education upheaval. JAN PETTER MYKLEBUST reports on an OECD study into how countries are equipping PhD researchers with transferrable skills vital in today's world. In Commentary, GIORGOS AGGELOPOULOS and RANIA ASTRINAKI argue that the financial crisis in Greece is paving the way for higher education reforms that will change the nature of universities, ELIZABETH HANAUER and ANH-HAO PHAN write that an extraordinary increase in offshore, satellite and branch campuses in the Middle East is one of the most significant developments in globalised higher education in recent years, and MELISSA BUULTJENS and PRISCILLA ROBINSON support the creation of 'one-stop shop' services to enhance the student experience. Finally, in an obituary TREVOR EVANS remembers Alan Treloar, one of Australia's greatest linguists and classical scholars.

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

INDIA: Hazare unrest delays higher education bills
Alya Mishra
Protests led by social activist Anna Hazare, which are likely to escalate in the coming week, have meant that a parliamentary bill to allow international branch campuses to set up in India, and other key higher education reform bills, have a negligible chance of making it through in the ongoing session of the Indian parliament.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Shanghai rankings reshuffled, Middle East up
Karen MacGregor
There are few changes in the upper echelons of the 2011 Academic Ranking of World Universities, published on Monday by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with the same eight American and two British universities making the top 10. But there has been "remarkable" progress by the Middle East, the entry of more Chinese institutions and some universities have shot up the ranking.
Full report on the University World News site:

SOUTH KOREA: Foreign institutions face inspections
Yojana Sharma
Foreign branch campuses and Korean institutions that admit foreign students will be included in inspections of universities in the first stage of a wide-ranging restructuring of South Korea's higher education sector after widespread student protests over soaring tuition fees in May and June. See the related article in the Features section.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: International student admissions soar by 11%
Alison Moodie
The rates at which international students applied to - and were accepted by - US universities rose by 11% last year, the biggest surge since 2006, according to a new report from the Council of Graduate Schools.
Full report on the University World News site:

SINGAPORE: New 'cap' on foreign students
Emilia Tan
While other countries are looking to expand international student numbers, foreign enrolment at Singapore's universities will be capped at present levels while 2,000 new university places will be added for local students by 2015, so that "gradually the proportion of foreign students will come down," said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon.
Full report on the University World News site:

GERMANY: Foreign students value good security
Michael Gardner
Higher education in Germany has been given good marks in two surveys of international students, particularly for the high level of personal security and good information on universities.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: Student satisfaction is high and rising
Brendan O'Malley
UK universities and colleges have been given a vote of confidence by their students, with 83% expressing satisfaction with their course. Only 9% were dissatisfied, while 8% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, according to this year's National Student Survey.
Full report on the University World News site:

KENYA: Universities seek private investment
Gilbert Nganga
Kenyan universities are increasingly seeking private investors to build new academic and residential facilities, as surging enrolments pile pressure on the cash- and space-strapped institutions. State-run universities especially are bracing for student expansion as the government moves to have an extra 40,000 students admitted to clear a two-year backlog.
Full report on the University World News site:

EGYPT: Higher entry grades deter science students ‬
Ashraf Khaled
Nermeen Hafez, an Egyptian pupil who will sit for school-leaving examinations next year, is no longer interested in becoming a medical doctor. She is one of thousands of pupils who have been discouraged by a sharp increase in minimum admission grades set by schools such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacology and veterinary science - fields of study that are traditionally in high demand among secondary school graduates.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWSBRIEF

GLOBAL: Masters in management an MBA alternative?
An international survey of masters in management programmes has shown that three in four do not require a first degree in business or economics, or the work experience demanded of many MBAs, thus enabling any graduate to enrol for a postgraduate qualification in management.
Full report on the University World News site:

European Association of International Education

EUROPE: Arab unrest high on EAIE agenda
Jan Petter Myklebust
The role of partnerships between universities in the Middle East-North Africa and Europe in tackling causes of unrest will be high on the agenda of Europe's biggest international education conference. The European Association of International Education event, to be held from 13-16 September in Copenhagen, is expected to attract up to 4,000 educators.
Full report on the University World News site:

FEATURES

GLOBAL: Academic Impact tackles 'unchartered waters'
Yojana Sharma
The first ever meeting of United Nations Academic Impact 'hub' universities examined projects and themes being tackled by academics around the world that can feed into the UN system, and ultimately find solutions to world problems.
Full report on the University World News site:

SOUTH KOREA: Difficult decisions face branch campuses
Yojana Sharma
Even as a number of foreign universities wait in the wings to set up new branch campuses in South Korea, one in six of the country's existing 200 universities could be shut down or merged under a wide-reaching government overhaul of the higher education sector.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: OECD maps PhD transferable skills progress
Jan Petter Myklebust
Amid claims that doctoral training still follows a medieval model of cloning students to emulate their mentors, an OECD study aims to find out how countries are equipping their researchers with the transferable skills vital in today's world. Government policies and institutional practices will be covered in a comprehensive questionnaire circulated to universities, public research institutions and government agencies.
Full report on the University World News site:

COMMENTARY

GREECE: Reforms to change the nature of universities
The financial crisis in Greece is being used to introduce higher education reforms that are anti-democratic and will undermine universities' autonomy and the very nature of what they do, argue GIORGOS AGGELOPOULOS and RANIA ASTRINAKI.
Full report on the University World News site:

MIDDLE EAST: Global higher education's boldest step
Offshore, satellite and branch campuses have taken off hugely in the Middle East in the last few years. The success of foreign institutions remains to be seen, but their presence and development is one of the most significant factors in globalised higher education in recent years, argue ELIZABETH HANAUER and ANH-HAO PHAN.
Full report on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Ways to enhance the student experience
Creating student hubs that centralise student support services in a 'one-stop shop' can improve the student experience and technology can help to increase efficiency and ease of access, write MELISSA BUULTJENS and PRISCILLA ROBINSON in the latest edition of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management.
Full report on the University World News site:

OBITUARY

AUSTRALIA: Classical scholar and soldier
Obituary: Alan Treloar 13-11-1919 to 22-7- 2011 Trevor Evans* Colonel Alan Treloar was one of Australia's greatest linguists and classical scholars - and also a distinguished soldier. Treloar had an astonishing gift for languages and would admit, when pressed, to direct knowledge of about 80. He had a formidable command of many, such as Arabic, Chinese, Hittite, Russian and Sanskrit. Even in his early 80s he was investigating Bunuba, a language of the Aboriginal people in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Full report on the University World News site:

UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories

SWAZILAND: Students want king to fund university
Students want Swaziland's absolute monarch, King Mswati III, to dig into his pockets to fund the country's only university, which has been shut due to financial problems, reports News24. Nearly 200 University of Swaziland students marched to the gates of the institution demanding that it be re-opened. Officials said they needed US$11 million to resume classes.
More on the University World News site:

WORLD ROUND-UP

AUSTRALIA: Governments 'lethargic' on student safety
The International Education Association of Australia has slammed successive Australian governments for neglecting research on the industry, warning that a new study on crimes against international students is a "wake-up call", writes Andrew Trounsen for The Australian.
More on the University World News site:

US: Eleven universities to join India partnership
Eleven prestigious US colleges and universities have been selected for the partnership programme with India as part of the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative. An announcement to this effect came ahead of the scheduled India-US Education Summit in Washington in October, reports The Times of India.
More on the University World News site:

US: Artificial intelligence course attracts 58,000
A free online course at Stanford University on artificial intelligence, to be taught this autumn by two leading experts from Silicon Valley, has attracted more than 58,000 students around the globe - a class nearly four times the size of Stanford's entire student body, writes John Markoff for The New York Times.
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MALAYSIA: Foreign students top 90,000
Malaysia is the 11th most sought-after country for tertiary education among international students, reports the official agency Bernama.
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SRI LANKA: Ten new foreign universities on the cards
Sri Lanka is on track to attract about 10 foreign universities under an initiative to expand tertiary education, with the Bangkok-based Asian Institute of Technology among them, reports Lanka Business Online.
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UK: Riot footage may hurt overseas recruitment
Experts say scenes of rioting and looting beamed around the world this month could affect the recruitment of overseas students to UK universities, writes Jack Grove for Times Higher Education. The warning came as Malaysian student Mohammed Ashraf Haziq became one of the most high-profile victims of the violence, after he was robbed by youths posing as 'good Samaritans' - an incident seen by millions after footage was posted on YouTube.
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UK: Universities operate 'two-tier' clearing system
Just 24 hours before the publication of A-level results last week, it emerged that many institutions are continuing to accept applications from international students, despite declaring themselves 'full' to those from Britain, writes Graeme Paton for The Telegraph.
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UK: Top grades fail to secure university places
Even with a string of A and A* grades under their belts, some teenagers failed to secure a university place in what was arguably the toughest year yet for A-level students in the UK, write Jessica Shepherd and Helen Carter for the Guardian.
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PAKISTAN: Vice-chancellor guilty of plagiarism
University of Peshawar Vice-chancellor Dr Azmat Hayat Khan has been found to be involved in plagiarism by a three-member committee of the Higher Education Commission that was constituted to probe the matter, writes Noor Aftab for The News.
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INDIA: Act to make vice-chancellors accountable
Vice-chancellors are no longer above question, as they were previously. The new government in West Bengal is amending the University Act to insert a clause that can be invoked to remove a vice-chancellor, reports The Times of India.
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JAMAICA: More tertiary graduates needed: Minister
Jamaica is trailing its Caribbean partners in the output of tertiary students, a trend that Minister of Education Andrew Holness is concerned about and wants tackled, writes Sheena Gayle for The Gleaner.
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UK: Fees may fall as students hold out for better deal
A report by the influential Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) last week warned that most universities will have to reduce their fees to an average of £7,500 (US$12,400) a year as they struggle to fill places, writes Richard Garner for The Independent.
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UK: Students shun humanities at university
Students are shunning traditional arts and humanities courses at university in favour of vocational ones, writes Jasper Copping for The Telegraph.
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UAE: Dubai University hopes to offer business PhD
The popularity of business courses provides many of Dubai's universities with a problem: no institution in the UAE offers PhD programmes to develop lecturers. The University of Dubai hopes to change that and has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Higher Education to offer business PhDs, writes Melanie Swan for The National.
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US: 'Pattern of plagiarism' costs scholar his job
A faculty panel has substantiated a "pattern of plagiarism" on the part of a tenured University of Utah political scientist, but in a split decision declined to recommend firing him or revoking his tenure, writes Brian Maffly for The Salt Lake Tribune. That lifeline was severed, however, by a senior administrator who overruled the panel, known as the Consolidated Hearing Committee, and fired Bahman Bakhtiari.
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UK: Lecturer 'tried to influence student survey'
A senior lecturer allegedly attempted to influence official government rankings by warning that the value of students' degrees was at risk if the university received poor feedback, write Graeme Paton and Adam Dobrik for The Telegraph.
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Monday 15 August 2011

University World News 0182 - 15th August 2011

This week's highlights

This week YOJANA SHARMA reports on the first United Nations Academic Impact conference, held in South Korea. The arrest in Thailand of a 23-year-old student blogger on charges of lèse majesté has dismayed many students, writes SULUCK LAMUBOL, and exiled political scientist GILES JI UNGPAKORN calls on the newly-elected Thai government to stop use of the law to trample on academic freedom. SHARON DELL looks at two reports published in South Africa calling for urgent action to reverse the decline of the humanities. In Commentary MARCELO KNOBEL proposes reforms to make Brazil more attractive to international students and academics, and RAMEZ MALUF argues that the Arab world needs to encourage academic freedom if its universities are to be truly world-class.

United Nations Academic Impact

The first meeting of the United Nations academic impact initiative was held in South Korea last week. University World News reports.

GLOBAL: UN Academic Impact a 'global enterprise'

Yojana Sharma What started with just a few universities and "the simple wish to harness academia's great power for the common good, has become a global enterprise," said United Nations Secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, opening the UN Academic Impact forum in the South Korean capital Seoul last week.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Leadership education gets a boost through UN
Yojana Sharma
As the United Nations attempts to tap the wealth of knowledge and expertise available in universities to solve major global problems, one of the key areas of collaboration will be in capacity building in the developing world.
Full report on the University World News reports:

GLOBAL: Collaboration winds blowing North-South-South
Yojana Sharma
Under the United Nations Academic Impact, an innovative method of university collaboration involves linking universities in developed countries of the North with those in a group of developed countries in the South - the so-called North-South-South model.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

INDIA: 300,000 more lecturers needed
Alya Mishra
India's universities and colleges are working with fewer than half the number lecturers they require, a recent government assessment has found. Around 300,000 more academics are needed.
Full report on the University World News site:

RUSSIA: Medical school scandal rector fired
Nick Holdsworth
The rector of the Russian National Pirogov Research Medical University, Nikolai Volodin, has been fired. His axing followed an inquiry into student admissions fraud, which found that hundreds of highly qualified but fictional students had been granted government-funded places that were later quietly sold to real students with poorer grades.
Full report on the University World News site:

LATIN AMERICA: Higher education integration for bloc
Chrissie Long
Member states of Latin America's left-leaning political bloc known as Alba are organising to create an integrated higher education system. The eight participating nations aim to pool resources with a view to strengthening their universities. But the initiative, which has a strong soc ialist and anti-US agenda, has come in for widespread criticism.
Full report on the University World News site:

EAST AFRICA: Ministers adopt harmonisation report
Gilbert Nganga
Education Ministers in the East African Community have adopted a report that could advance the planned harmonisation of education systems in the region. The master plan details how to harmonise educational systems and training curricula and touches on the fields of education, science and technology as well as culture, sports and youth affairs.
Full report on the University World News site:

SWITZERLAND: Rectors can set foreign student quotas
Michael Gardner
Universities can limit the number of foreigners they enrol if they fear overcrowding, according to an expert opinion commissioned by the Swiss Rectors' Conference. The report was prompted by fears of a huge influx of German students into Switzerland this year.
Full report on the University World News site:

ISRAEL: Palestinian prisoners' study funds frozen
Wagdy Sawahel
The Israeli prisons authority has frozen the education funds of 280 Palestinian prisoners enrolled with the Hebrew Open University until further notice, according to a statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs.
Full report on the University World News site:

SINGAPORE: Push to develop local technology talent
Emilia Tan
Singapore has announced a SGD70 million (US$58 million) programme of postgraduate funding and scholarships to boost "research, innovation and enterprise talent" and become a leader in engineering and applied research in Asia.
Full report on the University World News site:

TOGO: Government yields to student pressure
Tunde Fatunde
After more than eight weeks of suspended classes, sit-ins and violent clashes with security forces, students at Togo's largest higher education institution, the University of Lomé, forced the government to the negotiation table. Students were protesting against a new semester system, a minimum pass mark and inadequate facilities, among other things.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Universities call for funding change
Karen MacGregor
South Africa's vice-chancellors are to call for a differentiated funding formula aimed at strengthening the ability of universities to deliver on their individual missions and at easing a funding 'bias' towards research. The university leaders achieved consensus - often a difficult task, given vast institutional differences - at their annual meeting in Pretoria.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Disturbances at technology universities
Munyaradzi Makoni
Three universities of technology have been hitting the headlines in South Africa. At one, a top administrator used qualifications obtained from a bogus university to land the vice-chancellorship. At another, the vice-chancellor has had his leadership style questioned, and at the third students went on the rampage over government loans.
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ZIMBABWE: China loan for new military university
Kudzai Mashininga
China has loaned Zimbabwe US$98 million to establish a military university after the African country mortgaged its diamonds to service the credit facility. But the move to set up the training institution is proving controversial.
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FEATURES

THAILAND: Student blogger charged with lèse majesté
Suluck Lamubol
Norawase Yotpiyasathien, 23, a business administration student who graduated this summer from Kasetsart University, was arrested last week for his online blog posts. He is the youngest and the latest victim of Thailand's lèse majesté law, and his arrest has caused deep dismay among many students. See also this week's commentary by Giles Ji Ungpakorn.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Action on humanities urgent - reports
Sharon Dell
Two separate reports, both released last week and authored by teams of leading South African academics, have called for urgent action to promote the value of the humanities and arrest their post-apartheid decline, evidenced by decreasing student numbers, falling graduation rates and inadequate funding.
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COMMENTARY

BRAZIL: What is holding higher education back?
Brazil lacks the critical mass of researchers needed to compete on the international stage. Despite moves to professionalise and expand higher education, there are still problems in the pipeline to the sector as well as language, bureaucratic, curriculum and internationalisation challenges. MARCELO KNOBEL suggests ways forward for the country and which areas should be prioritised.
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THAILAND: New rulers must act on academic freedom
The arrest of Bangkok student Norawase Yotpiyasatien and the role of the leadership of Kasetsart University in his arrest is testament to the lack of academic freedom in Thailand. The new government is running out of time to show it is serious about democratic reform, argues GILES JI UNGPAKORN.
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ARAB WORLD: Academic freedom key to being world class
Arab university rankings are based on web visibility and biased towards technical disciplines. If the Arab world wants truly world-class institutions it needs to encourage academic freedom, argues RAMEZ MALUF.
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SCIENCE SCENE

AUSTRALIA: Mums kept on the hop
Geoff Maslen
What defines devotion to the cause of research? Try this: two postgraduate students perched atop a three-metre tower outside a 22-hectare paddock, watch kangaroos through telescopes for several hours a day, seven days at a time. And there's more: they note at three-minute intervals what the females carrying joeys are doing, how many bites of grass they take and their number of steps, an indication of whether each kangaroo is after better-quality grass.
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UK: Galaxy-sized twist in time
A University of Warwick physicist in Britain has produced a galaxy-sized solution to explain one of the outstanding puzzles of particle physics - while leaving the door open to the related conundrum of why different amounts of matter and antimatter seem to have survived the birth of the universe.
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SWEDEN: Cure against diarrhoea
Jan Petter Myklebust
Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm are leading the world in the transplantation of intestinal flora from normal faeces to people suffering diarrhoea, as a result of taking antibiotics for example.
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WORLD ROUND-UP

US: Top for-profit group sued for fraud
The US Department of Justice and four states last week filed a multibillion-dollar fraud suit against the Education Management Corporation, the nation's second largest for-profit college company, charging that it was not eligible for the $11 billion in state and federal financial aid it had received from July 2003 to June 2011, reports Tamar Lewin for The New York Times.
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VIETNAM: Jailing of professor draws fire
The US, France and a human rights group have strongly criticised the conviction of a French-Vietnamese maths professor who was sentenced to three years in a Vietnamese prison for belonging to a banned pro-democracy group and publishing an anti-Communist blog, reports CBS News.
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MEXICO: Anti-tech group linked to university bombs
A violent anti-technology group linked to attacks against academics in Europe was responsible for a package bomb that injured two professors in Mexico, a state prosecutor said last week, reports Fox News.
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IRAN: Gender segregation plan for 20 universities
Twenty Iranian universities have reportedly announced that in the coming academic year, 40 departments will begin accepting either male or female students, reports Radio Zamaneh.
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GLOBAL: Social media sells education
The explosion in internet access has transformed the 3.5 million strong market for international education, according to a four-year global research project by the British Council's Education Intelligence unit, writes Stephen Matchett for The Australian.
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SRI LANKA: Universities return to normal
With academics resuming duties at their voluntary administrative posts from Monday, normalcy has now returned to universities after a two-month long protest and tug-of-war between academics and vice-chancellors, writes Lakna Paranamanna for The Daily Mirror.
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NEPAL: Academics protest top appointments
The Nepali Congress-aligned Democratic Professors' Association and Unified CPN-Maoist-aligned Nepal National Professors' Organisation last week padlocked universities across the country to protest the government decision to appoint vice-chancellors, reports the Himalayan Times.
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US: Debt deal spares student aid scheme - for now
If the devil was in the detail of the hard-fought, last-minute deal to reduce US federal spending by trillions of dollars, there was an angel looking out for higher education, writes John Marcus for Times Higher Education.
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US: Complex link found between education and faith
For years, a commonly held belief has been that more educated Americans are less likely to embrace religion. But an article forthcoming in The Review of Religious Research suggests that the relationship between education and faith is more nuanced, and that more education has a negative impact only on certain religious questions, not on all of them, writes Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed.
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SOMALIALAND: First higher education body formed
President Ahmed M Silanyo last weekend announced the formation of Somaliland's first Higher Education Commission before he left the country for his first China visit, reports Somaliapress.
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UK: Small colleges could gain university status
Smaller higher education institutions in England would be able to gain university status, under proposals put forward by the government, reports the BBC. The proposals suggest removing the current requirement for universities to have at least 4,000 students.
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UK: Students face leaving university with £60k debts
Recent figures reveal that undergraduates enrolling on courses in England, where costs are higher than elsewhere in the UK, can expect to owe £59,100 (US$96,150) when degrees finish, writes Graeme Paton for The Telegraph.
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UK: More universities seek top grades
Six more leading institutions in the UK want students to achieve the 'super grade' in one A-level this year, while a further two will require one from next year, write Kate Loveys, Inderdeep Bains and Sarah Harris for the Daily Mail.
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PHILIPPINES: Teachers warn of threats to quality
A teacher group in the Philippines warned last weekend of further deterioration in the quality of higher education and more drop-outs next year, as funding for 50 state universities and colleges will be cut by more than P500 million (US$11.75 million), reports the Sun Star.
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SWAZILAND: University closed by cash crisis
The University of Swaziland has not opened for the new academic year after the government failed to provide money for student fees, reports the BBC.
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SIERRA LEONE: University runs out of paper for exams
Students at Sierra Leone's respected Fourah Bay College were unable to take their final exams because of a lack of paper, reports the BBC.
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Sunday 7 August 2011

University World News - summer break

Northern summer break and debates

University World News is on a two-week break over the northern summer holidays, but we are publishing a debate series compiled by Commentary Editor MANDY GARNER and some breaking news stories. Full publication of the newspaper resumes next week.

This second debate looks at how much say students should have in how a university is run, and whether the increasing focus on the student experience might raise or lower quality in higher education. There are articles by CATHERINE MONTGOMERY of Northumbria University in Britain, WILLIAM PATRICK LEONARD of SolBridge International School of Business in the Republic of Korea, and ALLAN PALL of the European Students' Union.

University World News would like to mandy.garner@uw-news.com interested in writing articles for our popular Commentary section, which provides a space for academics around the world to write about important and topical higher education issues in their countries, regions and globally.

Second debate - The student voice

UK: Students - Angry customers or global citizens?
Students are portrayed as being consumers of education who are only focused on getting a job and a big salary. But research shows they are interested in the social and intercultural experience offered by globalised universities and institutions should listen to them, says CATHERINE MONTGOMERY.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Praised for access, slammed for lower quality
Increasing student numbers, including international students, has led to criticism about slipping educational quality. This has been addressed by offering students more remedial-type programmes. WILLIAM PATRICK LEONARD argues that university is not necessarily for all students, that we need better ways to assess potential and that some students should be allowed to fail.
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EUROPE: Access and quality are not mutually exclusive
The so-called failure of widening participation is not an argument against it, but for an understanding of what universities need to do better to support a more diverse body of students, writes ALLAN PALL, chair of the European Students' Union.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWS: Our correspondents report

NORWAY: Political massacre demands new research
Jan Petter Myklebust
The killing last month of 77 people in Norway, most of them young members of the Labour Party attending a summer camp at Utøya outside the capital Oslo, shocked the country and the world. More research into political extremism is needed, Junior Minister of Higher Education Kyrre Lekve told University World News.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Libyan students call for help
Geoff Maslen
Thousands of Libyan students enrolled in universities and colleges in Australia, Britain, Egypt, South Arica and the US face suspension of their monthly stipend from the government in Tripoli, possibly by the end of August. Many students fear reprisals for holding protests against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi should they return home, but the British and US governments have promised to do what they can to ensure the students will be able to complete their courses.
Full report on the University World News site:

GERMANY: student mobility rising
Michael Gardner
Germany is sending more students abroad to study than other Western European countries and the number of international students in Germany is set to increase, according to a survey by the German Academic Exchange Service and the statistics agency HIS.
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GHANA: Angry students protest range of fee hikes
Francis Kokutse
Students of the University of Ghana, Legon, in Accra and representatives of the National Union of Ghana Students and the Graduate Students Association of Ghana took to the streets at the end of July to protest increases in the academic and residential fees that take effect from the new academic year, starting in August.
Full report on the University World News site: