Wednesday 15 August 2012

University World News - Issue No 0234

MOOCs shake up world’s universities ‘like a tectonic shock’ – Marginson


In World Blog, Jo Ritzen argues that universities could help Europe out of its current economic crisis, but there needs to be more Pan-European higher education cooperation and institutions need to become more engaged in broader societal issues.
In Commentary, Simon Marginson explains why Massive Open Online Courses – MOOCs – will be the game changer in higher education worldwide. Lynnel Hoare writes that transnational education may need to overcome ethnocentricity but can bring significant benefits to mature students, and Francesca Onley describes a project involving mobile teaching support in Tanzania that could provide a model for improving learning around the world.
Geoff Maslen interviews Melbourne sociologist Ramon Spaaij, author of a new book on ‘lone wolf’ terrorists – the first in-depth analysis of the phenomenon. Also in Features, Alya Mishra reports on gaps in America’s visa regulations highlighted by the latest raid on a dubious university, which has left hundreds more foreign students stranded. And she looks at a study of India’s culture of creative improvisation, which has led to ‘frugal innovations’ that are attracting interest worldwide.
Finally, Gilbert Nganga writes that rapidly rising student numbers and increased competition have led universities in Kenya to embark on an extraordinary ‘race for space’ in commercial buildings in cities and towns, driving a property boom.
Karen MacGregor – Global Editor

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

IRAN
Huge rise in discrimination against women students
Yojana Sharma and Shafigeh Shirazi
More than 600 degree programmes in 60 universities in Iran are now segregated by gender, in what is being seen as a major expansion of the government’s efforts to separate male and female students. Discrimination against women students is also on the rise.

CHINA
New academic misconduct laws may not be adequate
Yojana Sharma
New laws to clamp down on academic cheating at China’s universities could come into effect later this year as the rampant problems of plagiarism, falsification, lying about credentials and research papers and other misconduct continue unabated in higher education.

ITALY
Students to protest over fee hikes for late finishers
Lee Adendorff
Student groups are threatening protest action after the Italian parliament backed a law on 7 August that gives universities the power to raise the fees of students who are taking too long to complete their studies.

GERMANY
Bologna reforms now implemented and widely accepted
Michael Gardner
Ten years after the formal introduction of bachelor and masters degrees at German higher education institutions in the wake of the Bologna reforms, most courses have been adapted to the new system. Statistics suggest that the new degrees have found acceptance among students and industry.

EGYPT
Islamist professor becomes higher education minister
Ashraf Khaled
One month after Egypt got its first-ever elected Islamist president, the higher education portfolio went to another Islamist – engineering professor Mustafa Musad.

EGYPT
New regional higher education initiatives under way
Wagdy Sawahel
Egypt has launched several higher education initiatives including a plan to set up branches of Alexandria University in Lebanon and Malaysia, establishing an Arab higher education area and joining the Arab and European Leadership Network for Higher Education.

SOUTH AFRICA
Study finds link between research and economic growth
Sharon Dell
Recent research in South Africa confirms what has almost become a truism, particularly in the developing world: knowledge production and the pursuit of higher education is good for a country’s economic growth, and governments would do well to bear such evidence in mind in their development of research-related policies.

CÔTE D’IVOIRE
Fees hike as universities prepare to reopen
Jane Marshall
Côte d’Ivoire’s universities, disrupted or closed for the past two or three years, are due to reopen on 3 September – but critics are protesting against increases in fees of up to 5,000%.

MALAWI
Students sue for losses during lecturer protests
University of Malawi students have sued the institution’s council for losses they incurred during an eight-month academic freedom protest by lecturers, who have in turn passed a vote of no confidence in the institution’s authorities.

KENYA
UN launches human rights initiative in universities
Maina Waruru
Kenyan universities will start teaching human rights to arts students, in an initiative spearheaded by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Five universities will be selected later this year to pilot the project, in which arts students will take a unit on the subject.

FEATURES

GLOBAL
New book on lone wolf terrorists who cause mayhem
Geoff Maslen
In the long roll call of ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attacks, few countries have been spared. Melbourne sociologist Dr Ramon Spaaij has been researching terrorism for 10 years and for the past five has focused on solitary gunmen who open fire on the innocent in pursuit of specific goals. His new book, Understanding Lone Wolf Terrorism, is the first in-depth analysis of such terrorism worldwide.

INDIA
US visa fraud institutions highlight regulatory gaps
Alya Mishra
Herguan University in Sunnyvale, California, is the third institution in less than two years to have been raided by US officials and accused of visa fraud by the federal authorities, leaving hundreds of foreign student – most of them from India – stranded.

INDIA
‘Frugal innovation’ path for cash-strapped research
Alya Mishra
Although countries like China have raced ahead of India in research spending and investment in science and innovation, India’s culture of creative improvisation has led to inexpensive, low-key innovative solutions, sometimes known as ‘frugal innovation’.

KENYA
Universities’ scramble for space fuels property boom
Gilbert Nganga
In the basement of Church House in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, worshippers gather at one end of a room for evening prayers. At the other end of the dimly lit space, students of the Presbyterian University of East Africa finish assignments for a 17h00 class. The noise from the enthusiastic worshippers fills the room, but the students are at ease. They are used to it.

WORLD BLOG

EUROPE
Can universities lead Europe out of crisis?
Jo Ritzen
Universities can help lift Europe out of the economic crisis. But there needs to be more Pan-European higher education and research cooperation, Europe needs to recognise that one size does not fit all, and universities need to overcome the crisis of trust between academia and society.

COMMENTARY

GLOBAL
Yes, MOOC is the higher education game changer
Simon Marginson
Free Massive Open Online Courseware – MOOC – is less than a year old but it is already clear this will be the game changer in higher education worldwide. Right now it is reverberating through the world’s universities like a tectonic shock.

SINGAPORE
Transnational education: A good-news story
Lynnel Hoare
Transnational education has been seen as everything from altruistic to neocolonialist, but in much research the voices of students involved are ignored. A study of mature students on a transnational education programme in Singapore shows they can reap considerable benefits, but it raises questions about ethnocentricity in the way courses are taught.

TANZANIA
Mobile teaching technology provides a model for future
Sister Francesca Onley
A joint project in Tanzania between an NGO founded by Stanford's chief technology officer and Holy Family University could provide a model for future teaching. It involves the use of mobile teaching technology that enhances student learning and encourages creative and innovative approaches to their education.

Monday 6 August 2012

University World News - Issue No 0233

MOOCs and problems with export model call branch campuses into question


In World Blog, Rahul Choudaha ponders whether Massive Open Online Courses make starting up new branch campuses seem outdated. In Commentary, Christian Leder writes that new institutions have emerged in Switzerland that are tied closely to industry, enabling a flow of ideas between the two sectors.
Research by Peter Bodycott and Ada Lai reveals that Chinese parents play a major role in decisions about whether and where their children study abroad – though teenagers are beginning to have their voices heard – and Julius Kravjar describes a nationwide anti-plagiarism programme that is helping Slovakia to beat academic cheats.
Alya Mishra interviews Indian theoretical physicist Ashoke Sen, one of nine winners of the new Yuri Milner Fundamental Physics Prize, and in Features, Dinesh De Alwis reports on the entrance exam fiasco in Sri Lanka that has denied thousands of students university places.
Also in Features, Geoff Maslen describes a new report that finds some universities considering transforming the branch campus model into fully-fledged multinational institutions, and looks at a speech by David Finegold presenting contrasting descriptions of how China and India are expanding higher education.
In Myanmar, Naw Say Phaw Waa writes that moves to restore Yangon University to its former glory have captured the public imagination, and Tunde Fatunde covers the 13th World Congress of the International Federation of French Teachers in Durban, where participants found that the future of the language could lie in Africa.
Karen MacGregor – Global Editor

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

RUSSIA
One in five universities to close or merge – Minister
Eugene Vorotnikov

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a reorganisation of state universities that will lead to some closures. One in five universities could be shut down or forced to merge over the next two or three years.

GREECE
New minister may tone down higher education reforms
Makki Marseilles
Greece’s Education Minister Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos has indicated that the new coalition government is willing to negotiate a compromise on controversial higher education reforms inherited from the two previous administrations.

LATIN AMERICA
Brazil tops 2012 Latin America rankings 
María Elena Hurtado

Sixty-five out of the 250 universities in the 2012 QS ranking on Latin America published late last month are Brazilian, with the University of São Paulo taking the top spot. Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina make up 80% of the universities from the 19-country ranking.

GLOBAL
China and Australia to support African universities
Wagdy Sawahel

Two countries recently pledged further support for African universities and students. The China-Africa strategic partnership has strengthened its focus on higher education, and the Australia-Africa Universities Network seeks to build collaboration with African institutions.

HONG KONG
Academics, students protest against ‘patriotic’ studies
Yojana Sharma

Professors and students joined a major Hong Kong rally last Sunday against the imposition of ‘national education’ about China in secondary schools, saying it could have a detrimental impact on the entire education system including universities, if allowed to take hold.

GERMANY
Foreign students and staff get more work opportunities
Michael Gardner
A new law giving foreign academics and students more job-seeking opportunities has come into effect in Germany, as the share of foreign students enrolled at German higher education institutions rose again last year.

ZAMBIA
Government scraps student bursaries in favour of loans

Zambia’s government has decided to scrap its national bursary scheme and replace it with student loans, following controversies including allegations of corruption that have dogged the bursary initiative for years.

AFRICA
Association of African Universities loses new leader
Maina Waruru
The struggling Association of African Universities, the umbrella body for higher education institutions across the continent, has lost another secretary general prematurely.

FEATURES

GLOBAL
The rise of the multinational university
Geoff Maslen
More than 200 degree-granting international branch campuses of universities are now located in foreign countries. But a new report says some universities are considering transforming the branch campus model into fully fledged multinational universities “by slicing up the global value chain in ways akin to multinational corporations”.

GLOBAL
How will ‘whirlwind’ forces affect higher education?
Wagdy Sawahel
Technology experts believe market factors will push universities to expand online courses, create hybrid learning spaces, and move towards lifelong learning models and different credential structures by 2020, according to a new report. “But they disagree about how these whirlwind forces will influence education, for the better or the worse.”

SRI LANKA
Exam fiasco denies thousands university places
Dinesh De AlwisThey had a dream. They had a target. They had a future. But their dreams have been shattered and the future is uncertain for thousands of Sri Lankan students who have failed to gain admission to state universities because of a mess-up in the calculation of the results of entrance exams held last year.

MYANMAR
Restoring Yangon University to its former glory
Naw Say Phaw Waa
The campus of Yangon University, formerly Rangoon University, in the centre of the city, is semi-abandoned. Tall grass surrounds the old convocation hall still used by a number of universities for delivering degrees. But other structures, particularly the old student buildings, are in a dilapidated state.

GLOBAL
China and India’s rapidly expanding higher education
Geoff Maslen
China and India together represent more than 35% of the global workforce and both are seeking a transition from a low-skill equilibrium to high-skill ecosystems – although India will continue to have large numbers of lower-skilled jobs – according to David Finegold of Rutgers University. He described the implications of their growth and rapidly expanding higher education systems for America, Europe and Australia.

GLOBAL
The expansion of the French language lies in Africa
Tunde Fatunde

More than 800 delegates from educational institutions including universities in 150 countries attended the 13th World Congress of the International Federation of French Teachers held in South Africa recently. The major concern was how to protect French from contending languages in a fierce global world – and the future could lie in Africa.

PEOPLE

INDIA
Indian scientist scoops US$3 million physics award
Alya Mishra

Theoretical physicist Ashoke Sen, a string theorist at India’s Harish-Chandra Research Institute, is one of nine winners of the first Yuri Milner Fundamental Physics Prize. At US$3 million, the award is worth nearly three times more than a Nobel and is the most lucrative academic prize in the world.

WORLD BLOG

GLOBAL
Could MOOCs lead to the decline of branch campuses?
Rahul Choudaha

Massive Open Online Courses – MOOCs – offer a low risk, low cost way of reaching international students. Will they replace branch campuses? Established branch campuses are unlikely to die out any time soon, but newer versions may need to take developments in internationalisation into account.

COMMENTARY

SWITZERLAND
Who determines what should be taught?
Christian Leder

New higher education institutions in Switzerland are closer to industry than traditional universities, and a new development in which external actors are brought onto the boards of institutions could bring them more benefits, boosting professional development, shaping better educational opportunities for students and furthering research on current issues.

CHINA
The role of Chinese parents in study-abroad decisions
Peter Bodycott and Ada Lai

Universities that host Chinese students studying abroad need to pay more attention to the factors that influence their choices to study overseas – primarily their families. Little is known about how contemporary families in China make such decisions.

SLOVAKIA
A national system to prevent plagiarism is working
Julius Kravjar

A national system for countering plagiarism has been initiated in Slovakia, and findings after two years show it has reduced copying and increased the quality of dissertations and theses.

SCIENCE SCENE


GLOBAL
Human behaviour emerged earlier than believed
Recent archaeological discoveries have revealed that pigment use, beads, engravings and sophisticated stone and bone tools were already present in Southern Africa 75,000 years ago. But many of these artefacts had disappeared by 60,000 years ago, suggesting that modern behaviour appeared in the past and was lost before becoming firmly established.

CHINA
Whale shark survival threatened by over-fishing
Researchers at Shandong University in Weihai and Murdoch University in Western Australia have found distressing trends in the catching and trading of threatened whale sharks around the Chinese coast. Results indicate that whale sharks are increasingly being targeted because of high demand for large shark fins and a rising appetite for shark meat in general.

EUROPE
Call for big investment in marine research

Seas and oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, host the majority of its biomass and contribute significantly to all global cycles of matter and energy. All life on Earth most likely originated from microbes in the sea, says a report by the European Science Foundation’s Marine Board.

GLOBAL
UV radiation causing rising deaths in marine life

Ultraviolet radiation has caused a steep increase in deaths among marine animals and plants, according to an international team of marine scientists. The team found the marine life most affected by ultraviolet B radiation were protists such as algae, corals, crustaceans, and fish larvae and eggs, thereby affecting marine ecosystems from the bottom to the top of the food web.