University World News 0176 - 19th June 2011

Talloires Network 2011 conference

Some 200 university leaders from around the world met in Madrid last week for the second conference of the Talloires Network, a global association of institutions committed to strengthening the civil roles and social responsibilities of higher education. "Building the Engaged University, Moving beyond the ivory tower", was held from 14-16 June at the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain. University World News was the official media partner to the conference. We publish initial reports from the conference in this edition and next week will have further coverage.

GLOBAL: New project tackles youth employment
Rebecca Warden High youth unemployment is one of the most pressing issues facing the world today and the Talloires Network and Mastercard Foundation are launching a major new initiative to promote greater job opportunities for young people in developing countries, especially in Africa. This was announced in Madrid last Thursday, the final day of the conference.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Civic engagement is not an add-on
Rebecca Warden
More and more universities around the world are actively engaging with their communities and this is generating big benefits, not least for the universities involved.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Creating supportive policy
Ard Jongsma
How can policy affect the social role of universities? A panel of high-level experts explored this question at the Talloires Network conference last week. All but one of the panellists could combine their expertise of having been in power with the freedom of no longer being in that position, which offered refreshingly interesting results.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Charting the growth of civic engagement
Rebecca Warden
Civic engagement is a growing movement in higher education but to date there has been little serious study of exactly how universities around the world are going about it, according to Elizabeth Babcock, coordinator of the Talloires Network. Publication of The Engaged University: International perspectives on civic engagement should go some way to plugging this gap.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Raising community outreach's profile
Rebecca Warden
A university project serving people living in situations of high risk in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, has won the 2011 MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship, awarded at the Talloires Network conference.
Full report on the University World News site:

EGYPT: Universities incubators for the revolution
Rebecca Warden
Like many people in Egypt, Barbara Ibrahim is still reeling from the events of the last few months. The Director of the John D Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University in Cairo told the Talloires Network conference that campus life has changed beyond recognition since the people's uprising swept away the Mubarak regime in February, after 30 years in power. With the end of the old regime has come a flowering of freedom of academic expression and a flurry of activity.
Full report on the University World News site:

COSTA RICA: Strategic management for social action
Ard Jongsma
One country that has taken civic engagement of its academic community to extremes is Costa Rica. If there's any ivory left at the University of Costa Rica, it would have to be on the keys of an old piano used in music lessons for the kids of San Jose
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Opening ivory tower's doors
Ard Jongsma
The Talloires Network conference in Madrid closed last Thursday with slowly settling amazement among delegates at how topical civic engagement of higher education had become. With Tufts University in the lead, the Talloires founders were genuinely baffled to see how much their baby had grown in just six years. Many of the hundreds of other network members were surprised to find just how wide the doors of the ivory towers have been flung open in a great range of countries.
Full report on the University World News site:

Worldviews: Media and Higher Education

University World News teamed up with the US paper Inside Higher Ed,
Canada's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations to host an international conference in Toronto from 16-18 June. The first international Worldviews Conference on Media and Higher Education explored, among many other topics, how the media influences public perceptions of higher education and how the sector engages with the media to shape public perceptions of its role and importance. Our journalists report . CANADA: Bill Ayers attends Worldviews - on screen

Philip Fine Just before the Worldviews Conference on Media and Higher Education held in Toronto last week, outspoken US academic Bill Ayers decided he would not enter Canada. He had been barred from the country in 2009 and was given little reason to think he would not be turned away again. But he delivered his views on democracy and the responsibility of academics to contribute to public debate anyway, via a filmed interview screened to the conference.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Building bridges between academia and media
Karen MacGregor
Universities and the media should be natural allies, given similarities in their social mandates, and there are many examples of how fruitful partnerships between them have enriched public discourse, Adam Habib, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, said in Toronto last week. But for both sectors to be globally responsive they need to be aware of global inequalities and voice the concerns and interests of the marginalised.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Higher education and the English question
Karen MacGregor
The globally dominant English media is exporting the British-American worldview of higher education everywhere, Columbia University's Jorge Balan said in Toronto last week. And the growing use of English as the lingua franca of higher education is placing huge pressures on non-English academics while those who succeed in the mainstream may "perish locally".
Full report on the University World News site:

ARAB WORLD: A platform to analyse the Arab Spring
Yojana Sharma
The Qatar-based global public television broadcaster Al Jazeera has charted what is known as the Arab Spring - the uprisings that began in Tunisia and spread to Egypt and other parts of the Arab world. But the channel, which broadcasts in Arabic and English, also gave local academics an unparalleled platform to explain and analyse events in their own region. "A lot of local voices, including academics, have been given prominence on Al Jazeera," said Tony Burman, who was Managing Director of Al Jazeera English until last year and is now head of strategy for the Americas.
Full report on the University World News site:

CANADA: Whose brain is it anyway?
Philip Fine
Brain drain is a problem that will never be solved, Professor Philip Altbach told delegates at the Worldviews Conference in Toronto. While many people feel bad for developing countries that lose top intellectuals, he said that as long as there is a global marketplace for academic talent, there is little that can be done to keep people at home and few to blame for the difficulties this creates. "Morality plays almost no role in this."
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Reputation in an era of rankings
Yojana Sharma
Universities are keeping a close eye on rankings not simply to see how far up or down the list they appear but also because changes in rankings, often only because of tweaks in methodology by those who compile them, can have an impact on the general reputation of an institution.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Globalisation of the higher education media
Karen MacGregor
There are interesting similarities between higher education and the media. Both deal in information and ideas, and both are cutting-edge - universities in research and analysis, the media in reporting on unfolding events. And both resist changing themselves. This, along with the imperatives of business, could be why the higher education media found itself in the contradictory position of being at the forefront of globalisation through vast communication networks while being slow to respond to the globalisation of higher education itself.
Full report on the University World News site:

International Association of University Presidents

The International Association of University Presidents held its triennial
conference in New York from 17-20 June. It is believed to be the world's largest gathering of university leaders and this year the theme was "Building Bridges through Education". University World News was at this conference too.

US: Challenges facing university presidents
At least three challenges face the world's university leaders, the International Association of University Presidents' incoming head Dr Michael Adams told YOJANA SHARMA in an interview: One is access; a second is how to make young people feel connected to each other; and the third is the impact of technology on the learning environment.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Women's progress: Radical action needed
More women may be breaking through the glass ceiling but there is still a long way to go and radical action is needed for change. That means everything from looking at how girls are brought up to showing women they can succeed in academia - even with childcare responsibilities. Senior female academics have more responsibility than their male counterparts to raise awareness and push for change, argues KRISTA VARANTOLA, one of the women rectors speaking at the International Association of University Presidents triennial conference in New York this weekend.
Full report on the University World News site:

ARAB WORLD: Quality assurance: a simple definition?
Obi Emekekwue
A simple definition of quality assurance that everyone could work with was needed to build an effective system in the Arab region, Professor Khalid Jaafar Naciri, President of Hassan II University in Morocco, said in New York on Saturday.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

EUROPE: EUA's first review of rankings
A report published last week by the European University Association argues that the main international university rankings provide an oversimplified picture of institutional missions, quality and performance because they focus mainly on indicators related to the universities' research function.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: Institutional profiles database
Thomson Reuters, the American company that provides information for business and industry, has released Institutional Profiles, a web-based resource that provides what it says is a comprehensive view of nearly 500 of the world's leading academic research institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:

FINLAND: Call to apply tuition fees
Ian R Dobson
An economist has reopened the debate on whether to introduce tuition fees in Finland's universities by calling for a system similar to that in England.
Full report on the University World News site:

SCANDINAVIA: Danish scientists lead Nordic peers
Jan Petter Myklebust
Danish universities and university hospitals lead their Nordic counterparts in international ranking, publishing patterns, research profiles and citation impact in natural sciences, medical and technological research, according to a new report.
Full report on the University World News site:

INDIA: Boost to Africa partnerships
Wagdy Sawahel
India has announced initiatives to enhance its higher education and research partnerships with Africa - including thousands of scholarships for African students, US$700 million to establish new institutions and training programmes in consultation with the African Union, and the offer of US$5 billion in credit over three years towards achieving development goals.
Full report on the University World News site:

TANZANIA: Universities tackle ICT challenges
Tunde Fatunde
High-level decision-makers along with academics and researchers from African universities descended on Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania, last month to attend the sixth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies. The conference recognised the strategic role of Africa's tertiary institutions in helping fast-track the continent's entry into the 21st century knowledge economy.
Full report on the University World News site:

MALAWI: Academic calls commission a 'gimmick'
Munyaradzi Makoni
The University of Malawi council, academics and students hope to resolve their months-long academic freedom dispute after President Bingu wa Mutharika set up a commission to investigate the issue last month. But academics say the commission's mandate is unclear, its constitution problematic - and it could be a "political gimmick".
Full report on the University World News site:

COMMENTARY

MIDDLE EAST: Rallying cry of reform
Higher education reform has been one of the rallying cries in many Middle Eastern countries that have seen recent uprisings. But the kind of reform needed to improve the quality of higher education requires difficult choices such as the introduction of higher tuition fees, says PHILIP ALTBACH.
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INDIA: Strategic plan for skills gap
India's last five-year plan for higher education focused on expansion and widening access. The 12th five-year plan needs to be more strategic about filling the country's skills gaps and making higher education more flexible and adaptable to 21st century needs, argues PAWAN AGARWAL.
Full report on the University World News site:

SCIENCE SCENE

UK: Reindeer vision keeps wolf away
Arctic reindeer avoid the damaging effects of ultra violet light that causes snow blindness in humans by allowing UV light to pass into the eye. The unexpected finding was made by an international team and contrasts with most other mammals such as humans where UV light is prevented from entering the eye by the cornea and lens.
Full report on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Tracking a single atom
Geoff Maslen
In a world first, researchers at the University of Melbourne have tracked a single atom of nitrogen inserted in a human cell using techniques that could boost the testing and development of new drugs.
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US: Subtropical rainfall and the Antarctic ozone hole
For more than 100 years, researchers have understood that ozone in the stratosphere, the atmospheric layer between 10 and 50 kilometres above the Earth's surface, plays an important role in absorbing ultraviolet radiation and protecting life on Earth.
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AUSTRIA: Quantum computer is growing up
A team of physicists at the University of Innsbruck has become the first to demonstrate a crucial element for a future functioning quantum computer: repetitive error correction. This allows scientists to correct errors occurring in a quantum computer efficiently.
Full report on the University World News site:

UNI-LATERAL:

SPAIN: Binge drinking impacts on memory
New research has found a connection between binge drinking and a form of long-term memory. "Our main finding was a clear association between binge drinking and a lower ability to learn new verbal information in healthy college students," says Dr María Parada of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, lead author of the study.
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WORLD ROUND-UP

AUSTRALIA: Bid to stop 'professional students'
The federal Opposition will fight to retain a Howard government rule designed to discourage ''professional students'' by limiting access to publicly subsidised university study, writes Dan Harrison for The Age.
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US: Debt fears lead to community college boom
Bargain education at two-year community colleges is the new financial norm for an army of cash-strapped students who can't afford the savage costs of the typical four years of higher education, writes John Aidan Byrne for New York Post.
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WALES: Universities' fee plans rejected
Welsh universities have had their initial plans for higher tuition fees in 2012-13 rejected by the Welsh funding council in a move that will be closely watched in England, writes Simon Baker for Times Higher Education.
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WALES: Top students choose English universities
The cream of Welsh undergraduates is choosing to study in England, writes Gareth Evans for the Western Mail. Figures obtained by the newspaper provide clear evidence the best young brains in Wales are being lost to institutions across the border. They also highlight the apparent gulf in stature that exists between Welsh universities and their English counterparts.
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CANADA: Students upset at 'plagiarised' speech
Medical students at the University of Alberta say they are embarrassed after the faculty of medicine dean allegedly plagiarised his speech to the graduating class at the convocation banquet, writes Codi Wilson for the Edmonton Journal.
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SOUTH AFRICA: University to honour Oprah Winfrey
A South African university is set to award talk show queen Oprah Winfrey with an honorary doctorate, reports East Coast Radio Newswatch.
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AUSTRALIA: Slower growth for higher education exports
Growth in overseas student numbers for higher education, the last sector of Australia's education export industry still on the rise, has slowed to just 1.9%, reports Bernard Lane for The Australian.
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US: Students push for financial disclosure
A group of Harvard students and employees in addition to a state senator and representative testified before a State House committee in support of a bill that would require the university to reveal a slew of financial information, including increased information about investments and administrator salaries, writes Mercer R Cook for The Crimson.
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KOREA: Professors' salaries push up tuition costs
Rapidly rising salaries for professors are one of the main contributors to high college tuition. This has turned into a major political issue and sparked daily protests in Seoul, reports JoongAng Daily.
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PHILIPPINES: Push for student patent awareness
Senator Edgardo Angara said he is throwing his support behind a legislative measure that would compel elementary pupils, high school and tertiary students all over the country to be taught and eventually promote intellectual property rights of original works and crafts, writes Hannah L Torregoza for Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation.
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INDIA: Environmental science mandatory
Beginning this academic year, environmental science will be a mandatory subject at graduation level, under a government resolution issued on 7 June, writes Samarpita Banerjee for Indian Express.
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US: Colleges offer graduates help repaying loans
Law schools have done it for years. Now, some private liberal arts colleges are experimenting with the idea: offering upfront to help students pay off their loans after they graduate, writes Mary Beth Marklein for USA Today.
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UK: Students turn to US Ivy League universities
Harvard University - ranked the best in the world - has seen the number of applications from Britain rise by more than a third in just 12 months, figures show. Other elite Ivy League institutions, including Yale, Columbia and Cornell, have also reported an increase in demand, writes Graeme Paton for The Telegraph.
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UK: Student complaints reach record levels
Student complaints against universities in England and Wales have reached record levels with the higher education ombudman's annual report showing that complaints rose by 33%, reports Sean Coughlan for the BBC.
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UK: University films students suspected of extremism
Confidential documents relating to a "major Islamist plot" have revealed that security staff from a leading university have been filming students on campus as a method of monitoring potential extremists, writes Mark Townsend for The Guardian.
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