NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
FRANCE: Climatology row raises a storm
Jane Marshall
Minister for Higher Education and Research Valérie Pécresse has ordered the French Academy of Sciences to organise a debate on climate change "as soon as possible" after more than 400 climatologists demanded she disown attacks made by sceptical scientists - including one of her predecessors.
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US: Women gain in science while video games hold back boys
John Richard Schrock*
The number of women taking courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the STEM subjects, has been increasing since 1966, according to a new report. But another study, on boys' academic responses to new video games, establishes a cause-and-effect relationship that could partly explain the decline in male academic achievement.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Ensuring survival of a 150-year old system
Sarah King Head
The university system and its board of regents in the state of Georgia has been sued for failing to fund black colleges and universities to the same degree as the other 34 institutions. A group called the Legal Defense Coalition for the Preservation of Public Historically Black Colleges and Universities filed the lawsuit on 1 April. It claimed there had been violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment of the American Constitution.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Foreign graduate applications up for fifth year
The number of applications from prospective international students to American graduate schools has increased for the fifth consecutive year. In a report released last week, the Council of Graduate Schools says the 7% growth in 2010 is the largest since a 9% gain three years ago.
Full report on the University World News site:
UKRAINE: Radical reforms will not follow elections
Eugene Vorotnikov
Ukraine's higher education system will not undergo any radical reform following the recent election of a new president and government. But some changes are likely to be implemented, including modification of a controversial testing system.
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AUSTRALIA: Foreign enrolments continue to rise
Geoff Maslen
Despite the increasing value of the Australian dollar compared with other currencies, and widespread reporting across Asia of attacks on Indian students, the nation's universities continue to attract more foreign fee-paying students.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: Dispute over selecting vice-chancellors
Alya Mishra
Indian government attempts to introduce greater transparency in appointing university vice-chancellors, amid revelations that many private universities appointed family members to administrative posts, have not gone down well with the academic community.
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AUSTRALIA-INDIA: Consolidating educational links
Australia's Education Minister Julia Gillard and India's Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal signed a Joint Ministerial Statement last Thursday aimed at strengthening educational ties between the two nations.
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EGYPT: OECD urges sweeping higher education reform
Ashraf Khaled
Egypt's higher education system is not serving the country's current needs well, and without far-reaching reform this will hamper economic and social progress, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and World Bank.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Academy defends academic freedom
Munyaradzi Makoni
The Academy of Sciences of South Africa has defended academic freedom it believes is under threat from intrusive government regulations, the "apparently excessive influence" of private sector sponsorships of universities and perceived limitations on free speech within universities. The academy represents the country's outstanding scientists.
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N IGERIA: Single examination for 6.4 million
Tunde Fatunde
N igeria has introduced a single entrance examination for all tertiary institutions - universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. It is the first time the government has sought to harmonise entry examinations that will take place next Saturday with 6.4 million registered candidates.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: Boost to knowledge transfer partnership
Dave Daido
Kenya's National Council for Science and Technology and the British Council are to work together to expand the Africa Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme. The aim is to provide opportunities for businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of higher education knowledge, technology and expertise.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Lecturers strike while students face crackdown
A special correspondent
Lecturers at the National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe's main science university, have gone on strike over unpaid allowances. Meanwhile, the state has renewed its crackdown on students resulting in countrywide arrests, court appearances, abductions, disciplinary hearings and expulsions over demonstrations staged on 29 March in protest against continuing deterioration of higher education standards.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
RUSSIA: Millions for research and development
Eugene Vorotnikov
Leading universities will receive up to 90 billion rubles (US$3 billion) to support R&D activities over the next three years. Announcing the grant, Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko said the funds would improve the scientific potential of universities and attract foreign scientists, including Russians currently working abroad.
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AFRICA: ADEA launches research prize
The Association for the Development of Education in Africa will launch a new prize to promote excellence in educational research in African universities and research institutes and networks, and among the African diaspora working and studying throughout the world, reported Sudonline of Dakar, Senegal.
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BURKINA FASO: Local government centre opens
A new international centre for training local authority officials and elected councillors of 15 West and Central African countries has been inaugurated in Ouagadougou, reported Sidwaya of Ouagadougou.
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GABON: Bullies sanctioned, not expelled
Students at the Université des Sciences et Technique of Massuku who bullied freshers have avoided dismissal from the university, reported Gabonews of Libreville.
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ALGERIA: Mauritania and Mozambique collaborate
Mauritania and Mozambique hope that Algeria will increase the number of grant quotas it makes each year for their students and widen its collaboration with them in higher education and research, reported La Tribune of Algiers.
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ACADEMIC FREEDOM
CHINA: Academic banned from travelling
Jonathan Travis*
A prominent Chinese academic who was to speak at an academic conference in the United States has been barred from leaving China. Professor Cui Weiping, a poet and professor at the Beijing Film Academy, had planned to lecture at Harvard University and attend a conference sponsored by the Association for Asian Studies. But the director of her school said she had been forbidden to travel.
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SCIENCE SCENE
US: Mid-pyramid predators good for vegetation
A new study shows that birds, bats and other insect-eating predators have a positive effect on the plants they live among.
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EU: Scientists consider poverty
The role of science in the fight against poverty was the focus for 200 international experts who met in Spain last week. The Science Against Poverty conference was organised by the Spanish government as part of its presidency of the European Union.
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DENMARK: Football is good for you
It's known as the beautiful game but new research indicates that football should perhaps also be called the healthy game. Scientists have found that men worry less when playing football than when running, while women benefit socially and are more likely to continue with the sport.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
SOUTH AFRICA: Less HIV in universities than nationally
Sharon Dell
At 3.4%, HIV prevalence among students at South African universities is well below the national average, suggesting that prevention strategies aimed at the sector are finding their mark. But there's no cause for complacency, according to interpretations of a study by the Higher Education HIV and Aids Programme (HEAids) on HIV prevalence and knowledge, attitude, behaviour and practice. There are still signs of risky behaviour on campuses.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town - an 'Afropolitan' university
Alison Moodie
In the past decade, the University of Cape Town has established itself as Africa's top university. High global rankings, large numbers of international students and significant growth in research output have helped cement its reputation. Now, says Vice-chancellor Dr Max Price: "We're positioning ourselves as a significant global player". The aim is to make Cape Town an interface between academic activities in Africa and the rest of the world.
Full report on the University World News site:
HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
AFRICA: Science must tackle local language barriers
Charles Dhewa*
Africans have a rich cultural heritage and a wealth of traditional knowledge on topics ranging from agriculture and forestry to medicines and medical practices, all of which could make valuable contributions to modern science - but only if science can be translated into local languages.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Academics identify ideal research-teaching nexus
Research and teaching are supposed to be closely related in universities. Among academics the belief in a symbiotic relationship is strong. However, it is unclear what form this relationship can take. In an article in the latest edition of Higher Education Research & Development, several authors present categories and dimensions to clarify this relationship. The aim of the project was to understand what academics' ideal research-teaching nexus would look like.
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UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories
KENYA: University sued over missing cat
Dave Daido
The University of Nairobi in Kenya has been sued after a male cat in its possession for treatment vanished. The cat's owner, Tawhida Yakub, filed a suit against the university seeking compensation. Yakubsaid she had taken Fifi to the College of Veterinary Science at the Kabete campus in Nairobi in December for treatment of wounds and castration - but he subsequently disappeared without trace.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Spreading the TED message
TED is a small non-profit, US-based organisation that is rather fond of capital letters and says it is "devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading". It was begun in 1984 as a conference "bringing together people from three worlds, Technology, Entertainment, Design", hence TED.
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US: Graduate school survival guide
While most doctoral programmes have some sort of orientation, the focus on such matters as required courses, time to degree and dissertation goals may diminish opportunities to consider really important matters - such as how to wander into a colloquium at which food is served, timing your entrance so you don't need to listen to the talk - writes Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed. Adam Ruben wants to help.
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FACEBOOK
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WORLD ROUND-UP
CANADA: Chinese spies stole secret documents online
Researchers at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada, have provided a detailed account of how a Chinese spy operation it called the 'Shadow Network' systematically hacked into personal computers in government offices on several continents, CyberMedia News reports.
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INDONESIA: Universities, students in dark over funding
Universities and students across Indonesia find themselves confused over their immediate financial futures after the Constitutional Court last week annulled the 2008 Education Legal Entity Law that made universities autonomous and responsible for their own funding, write Putri Prameshwari and Dimas Siregar for the Jakarta Globe.
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PAKISTAN: Only academics should be university heads
The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations has called on the Higher Education Commission to appoint only serving academics fulfilling the requirements of a professor as vice-chancellors or rectors in public sector universities, writes Rasheed Khalid for The News. Academics do not want universities headed by military of civil officials.
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INDIA: Social justice through higher education
India has initiated action to ensure social justice among its citizen through higher education, by increasing student intakes in universities and colleges to 30% by 2020, reports the Assam Tribune. The current gross enrolment ratio in higher education is 12.4%, said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, last week.
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TAIWAN: Aid to attract international students
Taiwan's government will this year give more than NT$62 million (US$2 million) to universities as part of an expansion project to recruit more international students, with Ming Chuan University to receive the highest amount, reports The China Post. In all 20 universities will receive financial aid from the Ministry of Education for the 2010 academic year.
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US: University law clinics face a backlash
Law school students across the US are facing growing attacks in the courts and legislatures as legal clinics at universities increasingly take on powerful interests that few other non-profit groups have the resources to challenge, writes Ian Urbina for The New York Times. Earlier this month, lawmakers in Maryland debated a measure to cut money for the University of Maryland's law clinic if it does not provide details to the legislature about its clients, finances and cases.
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US: Universities tap fees for unintended projects
While California universities have faced round after round of crippling budget cuts and protests against increased fees have flared on campuses, administrators have tapped funds meant for classrooms and students to cover some extraordinary costs - losses on ill-timed real estate deals, loans to high-ranking officials and an ambitious construction project - writes Jack Dolan for The Los Angeles Times.
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US: Studying at one university is outdated
Is the "bundled" model of higher education outdated? asks Steve Kolowich in Inside Higher Ed. Some higher-education futurists think so. Choosing the academic programme at a single university, they say, is a relic of a time before online education made it possible for a student in Oregon to take courses at a university in Florida. Since the online-education boom, the notion that students could cobble together a curriculum that includes courses designed and delivered by a variety of institutions has gained traction in some circles.
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US: Community colleges like attention, need money
Politicians and policy-makers are lavishing unprecedented attention on community colleges, promoting them as engines to train workers in the recession and boost America's college graduation rates, writes Eric Gorski for Associated Press. Grappling with soaring enrolment and plummeting state support, community colleges are grateful for the higher profile but disappointed that money has yet to materialise to help them keep up with demand.
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AUSTRALIA: Beware the second rate
The way students will be admitted, universities funded and research organised and rewarded is changing following the government's adoption of the Bradley review, writes Professor Paul Johnson, Vice-chancellor of La Trobe University, in The Australian. Last year Education Minister Julia Gillard announced a series of important policies.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Case built for mega-telescope contract
Driving the dirt road to the Karoo Array Telescope site, the FM radio searches in vain for a frequency it can catch, scanning the dial bottom to top and back again, writes Joshua Howat Berger for AFP. This very quiet corner of South Africa's sparsely populated Northern Cape province seems an unlikely place to build such an instrument, but its silence is precisely what makes the Karoo an attractive site for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope project.
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UAE: Students who fail 'should pay for college'
Failed students are clogging the federal university system for up to eight years, denying places to young women who are desperate to study, the head of the National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia) said in Abu Dhabi last week. Now the body in charge of employing Emiratis wants students who do not work hard enough to be made to pay for their education, writes Kareem Shaheen for The National.
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MALAYSIA: Closer ties with the EU
Bilateral ties between Malaysia and the EU are set to improve with the launch of the RM2.5 million (US$0.8 million) Malaysia-European Union Link (MYEULINK) initiative, writes Richard Lim for The Star. Funded by the EU with support from the Higher Education Ministry, the three-year project encourages cooperation and dialogue in higher education, while keeping decision-makers in Malaysia informed on a range of EU policy initiatives.
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MALAYSIA: Call for more HE-business collaboration
The Malaysian government is calling for more constructive collaboration between the private sector and institutions of higher learning in the country, especially in commerc ialising the latter's research and development findings, the Bernama news agency reports.
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Monday, 12 April 2010
Sunday, 4 April 2010
University World News 118 - 5th April 2010
This is the second in our two-part series of reports from the British Council's Going Global conference in London on 26 and 27 March. The event attracted 1,200 delegates from 75 countries as well as 200 speakers and 60 poster presentations. Our correspondents report. To see the previous reports, click here.
CHINA: More autonomy for universities
Yojana Sharma Moves to give China's universities more autonomy under far-reaching education reforms will mean they have more say in enrolment and international exchanges, Chinese officials told the Going Global conference.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Internationalisation or westernisation?
Yojana Sharma
A new awareness is emerging among policy-makers and university heads that a headlong rush towards internationalisation is not always best for students, universities and the countries involved. This year's Going Global conference debated whether internationalisation was just a euphemism for the 'westernisation' of higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Is the private sector necessary?
Diane Spencer
Can governments deliver their higher education policies without the private sector? In the session devoted to this question at the Going Global conference, all three speakers agreed that they couldn't although Lord (John) Tomlinson, former Labour minister and chair of the UK's Association of Independent Higher Education Providers, said: "Yes, but not very well."
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Finding the best economists and engineers
Yojana Sharma
As the subjective nature of international university league tables becomes more widely recognised, the OECD is making an ambitious attempt at more objective international comparisons of what students actually learn at universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
HONG KONG: Reforms challenge academic standards
Yojana Sharma
When Hong Kong first proposed shifting from a three-year undergraduate degree to four years while reducing upper secondary programmes by a year so students could begin university at age 17, it was seen as a move away from an education system inherited from the British colonial era to a more politically neutral American-style education.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Lectures to go in a Web 2.0 world?
Yojana Sharma
As the learning content in universities is rapidly 'commoditised', with lectures cheaply or freely available on the internet, the question posed at the Going Global conference session on higher education in a Web 2.0 world was: "What value do institutions bring when everything is on the web?"
Full report on the University World News site:
IRAQ: Rolling back the years of isolation
Brendan O'Malley
International partnerships are being used to expose Iraqi education leaders to current global thinking on policy and practice after years of academic disengagement, the Going Global conference was told. The UK is funding two schemes to encourage partnerships with technical and higher education institutions as a means of rebuilding capacity and helping the education sector to contribute to prosperity, peace and security.
Full report on the University World News site :
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
EUROPE: New ways of ranking universities
Jan Petter Myklebust
An expert group on the assessment of university-based research was established by the European Commission in July 2008. The main objective was to "identify parameters to be observed in research assessment and to analyse major assessment and ranking systems in order to establish a more valid comparative methodological approach". Now the group has delivered its final report proposing wide-ranging changes in the world ranking of universities and calling for a more fine-tuned assessment methodology.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Owners attempt to exploit state sector cuts
Makki Marseilles
One would not have to be a guru to predict that the recent austerity measures affecting the state sector, and imposed by the government at the behest of the European Union, would inevitably have an impact on the private one. Private education institution owners have been accused of attempting to apply the state sector's severe reductions in wages and salaries to their own employees.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Fewer doctors graduate
Alison Moodie
The number of doctors graduating from South African universities has dropped in recent years despite a pressing need for more medical practitioners. A more than 6% decline in medical graduates between 2004 and 2008 - from 1,394 to 1,306 - has been blamed on lack of funds, staff shortages and poor facilities.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: Academics threaten pay strikes
Ashraf Khaled
A recent admission by Egypt's Minister of Higher Education that the salaries of lecturers at public universities are "paltry" has not mollified them. Indeed, academics are angrier than before and have threatened more protests to pressure the government to substantially increase their salaries.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: US$1 billion grant for education
The World Bank has approved two education projects worth US$1 billion to improve the quality of engineering education across India and boost the number of children enrolling in and completing primary school.
Full report on the University World News site:
ISLAMIC STATES: Science and technology innovation
Wagdy Sawahel
Islamic states have given the green light to the establishment of a science and technology innovation organisation to maximise utilisation of the scientific talent and technological potential of the Muslim world by pooling the resources of the private and public sectors for research and development.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
GERMANY: Government funding for research decade
Michael Gardner
In the wake of the failed Copenhagen climate summit, Germany has stressed the need to step up efforts to counter threats to sustainable development and secure the world's natural resource base. A new government initiative will promote sustainable development research.
Full report on the University World News site:
NORWAY: Largest donation for medicine
Jan Petter Myklebust
A NOK800 million (US$136 million) donation to the Bergen Medical Foundation, probably the largest given in Norway, for science and other social benefits has been made by the heirs of Nowegian ship-owner Kristian Gerhard Jebsen who died in 2004.
Full report on the University World News site:
SPAIN: Big loan to ICAF
The European Investment Bank has granted a EUR75 million loan to the Instituto de Finanzas de Cantabria, or ICAF, for investment in education in the region. The finance contract was signed by the Vice-President of the Cantabrian government, Dolores Gorostiaga Saiz, bank Vice-President Carlos da Silva Costa, and the region's Finance Minister and Chair of ICAF, Ángel Agudo San Emeterio.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Boosting research ties with the East
A grant of €600,000 (US$809,000) has been allocated to build better research relations between the European Union and nations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia known as the EECA. The grant to the EECAlink project comes under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURE
GLOBAL: Private education and development
In the past decade, private education has had an increasingly significant impact in the developing world, with many countries promoting private sector growth to expand educational capacity and access at all levels, an international education conference was told last week. The conference heard that more entrepreneurs were investing in the private sector in developing countries and "bringing fresh approaches and perspectives".
Full report on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
INDIA: Eco-friendly university in US partnership
Leah Germain
A new model giving universities a shot at generating valuable overseas student fees has been shown by an agreement between an environment-friendly university in India and Bradley University in Illinois, US. The agreement will give students the chance to begin their academic career in India and graduate in the United States.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Sustainability education needs radical change
Leah Germain
In a recent poll, 78% of students studying construction industry-related courses think their industry will play one of the most important roles in global efforts to tackle climate change. But if graduates are to help the building sector go green, leaders in the sector say a more radical approach to teaching sustainability is required.
Full report on the University World News site:
SAUDI ARABIA: A holistic approach to business
Leah Germain
A new programme designed to develop management and leadership skills for business leaders in Arab and Muslim countries has taken an alternative approach to relaying important business techniques to its participants. The Programme for Advanced Leadership and Management, or PALM, has been designed by a Saudi Arabia college to develop intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual relations in the Middle East business sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories
AUSTRALIA: Can politicians stop repeating mistakes?
The Alfred Deakin Research Institute at Deakin University in Geelong, near Melbourne, claims its new website will help politicians avoid reinventing the wheel and repeating the errors of the past.
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US: Field trip or I'll sue, says 13-year-old prodigy
Colin Carlson is the kind of student every university loves: bright and engaging, he boasts near-perfect grades and a 100% attendance record during his first year-and-a-half studying for a bachelor's degree in environmental biology at the prestigious University of Connecticut. He also happens to be just 13 years old, writes Guy Adams for The Independent. That factor lay behind the institution's recent rejection of his request to take part in a summer field trip to the exotic wilds of South Africa.
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CHINA: Hamburger University opens in Shanghai
China's newest university has no football field or fancy library, writes Elaine Kurtenbach for Associated Press. For inspiration it looks not to Confucius, but to Ronald McDonald. But Shanghai's Hamburger University aspires to be a leader in higher learning for ambitious Chinese managers.
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US: To scientists, laughter is no joke
So a scientist walks into a shopping mall to watch people laugh. There's no punch-line, writes Seth Borenstein for Associated Press. Laughter is a serious scientific subject, one that researchers are still trying to figure out.
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WORLD ROUND-UP
UK: Climate science must be more open, say MPs
MPs investigating the climate change row at the UK's University of East Anglia have demanded greater transparency from climate scientists, writes Roger Harrabin for BBC News. The science and technology committee of the House of Commons criticised the university authorities for failing to respond to requests for data from climate change sceptics. But it found no evidence that Professor Phil Jones, whose e-mails were hacked and published online, had manipulated data.
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UK: Majority of young women in university
A watershed in university participation has been reached - for the first time a majority of young women in England are going to university, Sean Coughlan reports for BBC News. Provisional figures, showing university entrance for 2008-09, reveal that 51% of young women entered higher education, up from 49% the previous year.
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US: Obama signs higher-education measure into law
President Barack Obama signed into law on Tuesday a package of revisions to his new health-care overhaul that includes a measure aimed at making higher education more affordable, writes William Branigin for The Washington Post. The provision ends what Obama called a long-standing 'sweetheart deal' for banks in federally guaranteed student loans.
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CANADA: Ontario universities cash-starved: report
The contrast between the past and the present at Ontario universities lies at the heart of a report released last week by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, the voice of 15,000 professors and academic librarians across the Canadian province, writes Matthew Pearson for The Ottawa Citizen. The Decline of Quality in Ontario Universities calls on the province to inject millions more dollars more into universities so today's students can enjoy what previous generations did - without going deeply into debt.
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CHINA: Shanghai to attract more foreign students
Shanghai plans to improve its higher education resources to attract more foreign students, and to spend more for college students to study overseas, reports Liang Yiwen for the Shanghai Daily. The goal is for the percentage of overseas students in local colleges to grow to 15% in 2020 compared with 5.9% in 2008, according to the city's 10-year education development outline.
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MALAYSIA: Not a 'dumping ground' for foreign students
Malaysia is not a 'dumping ground' for foreign students who have problems and are under-qualified, Parliament was told on Wednesday, reports the official agency Bernama. Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Dr Hou Kok Chung, said the government did not compromise on the quality of foreign students it allowed to study in higher education institutions.
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ZIMBABWE: 33 students arrested during protests
Around 33 students were arrested countrywide on Monday after they staged a series of demonstrations against high tuition fees and the political deadlock in Zimbabwe, reports Lance Guma for SW Radio Africa. The Zimbabwe National Students Union, Zinasu, said the protests also commemorated the March 2008 elections which marked "Zimbabwe's closest ever shot at democracy".
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AUSTRALIA: Universities want residency for post-grads
Australia's top universities have called for a new visa to be established that would clear the way for postgraduate students to gain permanent residency, reports ABC News. The federal government is reviewing its points system for skilled migrants ahead of changes to the list of preferred skills that will come into effect later this year.
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THAILAND: Concern over quality of doctoral degrees
If you wish to pursue a PhD in Thailand, there are now at least 1,000 programmes to choose from, writes Chularat Saengpassa for The Nation. But top educators admit they are worried that quality may be being compromised.
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DUBAI: Half of all students on business programmes
Dubai's education bouquet just got bigger with 112 new programmes introduced by higher education institutes in 2009-2010. Business-related courses are again a big draw, enrolling half of all students in higher education, writes Afshan Ahmed for the Khaleej Times.
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US: University cancels William Ayers speech
The University of Wyoming last week cancelled a speech by former 1960s radical William Ayers after it raised hundreds of objections from citizens and politicians over the man who became an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign, writes Bob Moen for The Associated Press. Ayers had been invited to speak on Monday about social justice issues and education by the university's Social Justice Research Center, which studies oppression and inequality.
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US: Planned Palin speech stirs California protest
A controversy is erupting over Sarah Palin's June speaking engagement at a campus of California State University, writes Daniel B Wood for the Christian Science Monitor. A student protest group and other critics want the university to reveal how much they're paying her, which they suspect might be more than $100,000. A professor has started a Facebook gripe group. And a state senator is pressuring university officials to disclose Palin's compensation or be prosecuted under state law.
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US: Seven Texas universities submit Tier One strategies
The University of Texas at Arlington will offer doctorate degrees in sustainability and globalism. UT-Dallas will bring more diversity to its student body and faculty. UT-San Antonio will continue raising admissions standards, writes Holly K Hacker for The Dallas Morning News. Those are among the strategies of some state public universities for becoming so-called Tier One campuses, which are considered the country's top research universities and carry national clout.
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MALAYSIA-CHINA: Degree recognition discussed
A delegation from China's Education Ministry has visited Kuala Lumpur for discussions with Malaysia's Higher Education Ministry on recognition of university degrees from both countries, reports the official news agency Bernama.
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US-CHINA: Universities pledge US$6 million for research
The University of Michigan and China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University have each pledged US$3 million over the next five years for a series of grants to fund renewable energy and biomedical research projects in Michigan and Shanghai, Ryan Beene reports for Crain's Detroit Business web news service.
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CHINA: More autonomy for universities
Yojana Sharma Moves to give China's universities more autonomy under far-reaching education reforms will mean they have more say in enrolment and international exchanges, Chinese officials told the Going Global conference.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Internationalisation or westernisation?
Yojana Sharma
A new awareness is emerging among policy-makers and university heads that a headlong rush towards internationalisation is not always best for students, universities and the countries involved. This year's Going Global conference debated whether internationalisation was just a euphemism for the 'westernisation' of higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Is the private sector necessary?
Diane Spencer
Can governments deliver their higher education policies without the private sector? In the session devoted to this question at the Going Global conference, all three speakers agreed that they couldn't although Lord (John) Tomlinson, former Labour minister and chair of the UK's Association of Independent Higher Education Providers, said: "Yes, but not very well."
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Finding the best economists and engineers
Yojana Sharma
As the subjective nature of international university league tables becomes more widely recognised, the OECD is making an ambitious attempt at more objective international comparisons of what students actually learn at universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
HONG KONG: Reforms challenge academic standards
Yojana Sharma
When Hong Kong first proposed shifting from a three-year undergraduate degree to four years while reducing upper secondary programmes by a year so students could begin university at age 17, it was seen as a move away from an education system inherited from the British colonial era to a more politically neutral American-style education.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Lectures to go in a Web 2.0 world?
Yojana Sharma
As the learning content in universities is rapidly 'commoditised', with lectures cheaply or freely available on the internet, the question posed at the Going Global conference session on higher education in a Web 2.0 world was: "What value do institutions bring when everything is on the web?"
Full report on the University World News site:
IRAQ: Rolling back the years of isolation
Brendan O'Malley
International partnerships are being used to expose Iraqi education leaders to current global thinking on policy and practice after years of academic disengagement, the Going Global conference was told. The UK is funding two schemes to encourage partnerships with technical and higher education institutions as a means of rebuilding capacity and helping the education sector to contribute to prosperity, peace and security.
Full report on the University World News site :
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
EUROPE: New ways of ranking universities
Jan Petter Myklebust
An expert group on the assessment of university-based research was established by the European Commission in July 2008. The main objective was to "identify parameters to be observed in research assessment and to analyse major assessment and ranking systems in order to establish a more valid comparative methodological approach". Now the group has delivered its final report proposing wide-ranging changes in the world ranking of universities and calling for a more fine-tuned assessment methodology.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Owners attempt to exploit state sector cuts
Makki Marseilles
One would not have to be a guru to predict that the recent austerity measures affecting the state sector, and imposed by the government at the behest of the European Union, would inevitably have an impact on the private one. Private education institution owners have been accused of attempting to apply the state sector's severe reductions in wages and salaries to their own employees.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Fewer doctors graduate
Alison Moodie
The number of doctors graduating from South African universities has dropped in recent years despite a pressing need for more medical practitioners. A more than 6% decline in medical graduates between 2004 and 2008 - from 1,394 to 1,306 - has been blamed on lack of funds, staff shortages and poor facilities.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: Academics threaten pay strikes
Ashraf Khaled
A recent admission by Egypt's Minister of Higher Education that the salaries of lecturers at public universities are "paltry" has not mollified them. Indeed, academics are angrier than before and have threatened more protests to pressure the government to substantially increase their salaries.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: US$1 billion grant for education
The World Bank has approved two education projects worth US$1 billion to improve the quality of engineering education across India and boost the number of children enrolling in and completing primary school.
Full report on the University World News site:
ISLAMIC STATES: Science and technology innovation
Wagdy Sawahel
Islamic states have given the green light to the establishment of a science and technology innovation organisation to maximise utilisation of the scientific talent and technological potential of the Muslim world by pooling the resources of the private and public sectors for research and development.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
GERMANY: Government funding for research decade
Michael Gardner
In the wake of the failed Copenhagen climate summit, Germany has stressed the need to step up efforts to counter threats to sustainable development and secure the world's natural resource base. A new government initiative will promote sustainable development research.
Full report on the University World News site:
NORWAY: Largest donation for medicine
Jan Petter Myklebust
A NOK800 million (US$136 million) donation to the Bergen Medical Foundation, probably the largest given in Norway, for science and other social benefits has been made by the heirs of Nowegian ship-owner Kristian Gerhard Jebsen who died in 2004.
Full report on the University World News site:
SPAIN: Big loan to ICAF
The European Investment Bank has granted a EUR75 million loan to the Instituto de Finanzas de Cantabria, or ICAF, for investment in education in the region. The finance contract was signed by the Vice-President of the Cantabrian government, Dolores Gorostiaga Saiz, bank Vice-President Carlos da Silva Costa, and the region's Finance Minister and Chair of ICAF, Ángel Agudo San Emeterio.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Boosting research ties with the East
A grant of €600,000 (US$809,000) has been allocated to build better research relations between the European Union and nations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia known as the EECA. The grant to the EECAlink project comes under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURE
GLOBAL: Private education and development
In the past decade, private education has had an increasingly significant impact in the developing world, with many countries promoting private sector growth to expand educational capacity and access at all levels, an international education conference was told last week. The conference heard that more entrepreneurs were investing in the private sector in developing countries and "bringing fresh approaches and perspectives".
Full report on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
INDIA: Eco-friendly university in US partnership
Leah Germain
A new model giving universities a shot at generating valuable overseas student fees has been shown by an agreement between an environment-friendly university in India and Bradley University in Illinois, US. The agreement will give students the chance to begin their academic career in India and graduate in the United States.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Sustainability education needs radical change
Leah Germain
In a recent poll, 78% of students studying construction industry-related courses think their industry will play one of the most important roles in global efforts to tackle climate change. But if graduates are to help the building sector go green, leaders in the sector say a more radical approach to teaching sustainability is required.
Full report on the University World News site:
SAUDI ARABIA: A holistic approach to business
Leah Germain
A new programme designed to develop management and leadership skills for business leaders in Arab and Muslim countries has taken an alternative approach to relaying important business techniques to its participants. The Programme for Advanced Leadership and Management, or PALM, has been designed by a Saudi Arabia college to develop intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual relations in the Middle East business sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories
AUSTRALIA: Can politicians stop repeating mistakes?
The Alfred Deakin Research Institute at Deakin University in Geelong, near Melbourne, claims its new website will help politicians avoid reinventing the wheel and repeating the errors of the past.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Field trip or I'll sue, says 13-year-old prodigy
Colin Carlson is the kind of student every university loves: bright and engaging, he boasts near-perfect grades and a 100% attendance record during his first year-and-a-half studying for a bachelor's degree in environmental biology at the prestigious University of Connecticut. He also happens to be just 13 years old, writes Guy Adams for The Independent. That factor lay behind the institution's recent rejection of his request to take part in a summer field trip to the exotic wilds of South Africa.
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CHINA: Hamburger University opens in Shanghai
China's newest university has no football field or fancy library, writes Elaine Kurtenbach for Associated Press. For inspiration it looks not to Confucius, but to Ronald McDonald. But Shanghai's Hamburger University aspires to be a leader in higher learning for ambitious Chinese managers.
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US: To scientists, laughter is no joke
So a scientist walks into a shopping mall to watch people laugh. There's no punch-line, writes Seth Borenstein for Associated Press. Laughter is a serious scientific subject, one that researchers are still trying to figure out.
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WORLD ROUND-UP
UK: Climate science must be more open, say MPs
MPs investigating the climate change row at the UK's University of East Anglia have demanded greater transparency from climate scientists, writes Roger Harrabin for BBC News. The science and technology committee of the House of Commons criticised the university authorities for failing to respond to requests for data from climate change sceptics. But it found no evidence that Professor Phil Jones, whose e-mails were hacked and published online, had manipulated data.
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UK: Majority of young women in university
A watershed in university participation has been reached - for the first time a majority of young women in England are going to university, Sean Coughlan reports for BBC News. Provisional figures, showing university entrance for 2008-09, reveal that 51% of young women entered higher education, up from 49% the previous year.
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US: Obama signs higher-education measure into law
President Barack Obama signed into law on Tuesday a package of revisions to his new health-care overhaul that includes a measure aimed at making higher education more affordable, writes William Branigin for The Washington Post. The provision ends what Obama called a long-standing 'sweetheart deal' for banks in federally guaranteed student loans.
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CANADA: Ontario universities cash-starved: report
The contrast between the past and the present at Ontario universities lies at the heart of a report released last week by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, the voice of 15,000 professors and academic librarians across the Canadian province, writes Matthew Pearson for The Ottawa Citizen. The Decline of Quality in Ontario Universities calls on the province to inject millions more dollars more into universities so today's students can enjoy what previous generations did - without going deeply into debt.
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CHINA: Shanghai to attract more foreign students
Shanghai plans to improve its higher education resources to attract more foreign students, and to spend more for college students to study overseas, reports Liang Yiwen for the Shanghai Daily. The goal is for the percentage of overseas students in local colleges to grow to 15% in 2020 compared with 5.9% in 2008, according to the city's 10-year education development outline.
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MALAYSIA: Not a 'dumping ground' for foreign students
Malaysia is not a 'dumping ground' for foreign students who have problems and are under-qualified, Parliament was told on Wednesday, reports the official agency Bernama. Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Dr Hou Kok Chung, said the government did not compromise on the quality of foreign students it allowed to study in higher education institutions.
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ZIMBABWE: 33 students arrested during protests
Around 33 students were arrested countrywide on Monday after they staged a series of demonstrations against high tuition fees and the political deadlock in Zimbabwe, reports Lance Guma for SW Radio Africa. The Zimbabwe National Students Union, Zinasu, said the protests also commemorated the March 2008 elections which marked "Zimbabwe's closest ever shot at democracy".
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AUSTRALIA: Universities want residency for post-grads
Australia's top universities have called for a new visa to be established that would clear the way for postgraduate students to gain permanent residency, reports ABC News. The federal government is reviewing its points system for skilled migrants ahead of changes to the list of preferred skills that will come into effect later this year.
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THAILAND: Concern over quality of doctoral degrees
If you wish to pursue a PhD in Thailand, there are now at least 1,000 programmes to choose from, writes Chularat Saengpassa for The Nation. But top educators admit they are worried that quality may be being compromised.
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DUBAI: Half of all students on business programmes
Dubai's education bouquet just got bigger with 112 new programmes introduced by higher education institutes in 2009-2010. Business-related courses are again a big draw, enrolling half of all students in higher education, writes Afshan Ahmed for the Khaleej Times.
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US: University cancels William Ayers speech
The University of Wyoming last week cancelled a speech by former 1960s radical William Ayers after it raised hundreds of objections from citizens and politicians over the man who became an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign, writes Bob Moen for The Associated Press. Ayers had been invited to speak on Monday about social justice issues and education by the university's Social Justice Research Center, which studies oppression and inequality.
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US: Planned Palin speech stirs California protest
A controversy is erupting over Sarah Palin's June speaking engagement at a campus of California State University, writes Daniel B Wood for the Christian Science Monitor. A student protest group and other critics want the university to reveal how much they're paying her, which they suspect might be more than $100,000. A professor has started a Facebook gripe group. And a state senator is pressuring university officials to disclose Palin's compensation or be prosecuted under state law.
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US: Seven Texas universities submit Tier One strategies
The University of Texas at Arlington will offer doctorate degrees in sustainability and globalism. UT-Dallas will bring more diversity to its student body and faculty. UT-San Antonio will continue raising admissions standards, writes Holly K Hacker for The Dallas Morning News. Those are among the strategies of some state public universities for becoming so-called Tier One campuses, which are considered the country's top research universities and carry national clout.
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MALAYSIA-CHINA: Degree recognition discussed
A delegation from China's Education Ministry has visited Kuala Lumpur for discussions with Malaysia's Higher Education Ministry on recognition of university degrees from both countries, reports the official news agency Bernama.
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US-CHINA: Universities pledge US$6 million for research
The University of Michigan and China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University have each pledged US$3 million over the next five years for a series of grants to fund renewable energy and biomedical research projects in Michigan and Shanghai, Ryan Beene reports for Crain's Detroit Business web news service.
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Sunday, 28 March 2010
University World News 0117 - 29th March 2010
SPECIAL REPORT: Going global
This year's Going Global conference in London last week was the fourth
major international education conference organised by the British Council. The event attracted 1,200 delegates from 75 countries, the largest number yet. Academics, administrators and decision-makers from across further and higher education sectors gathered at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre to listen and respond to 200 speakers in 40 sessions and 60 poster presentations.
In a two-part series this week and next, our correspondents report on some of the most news-worthy aspects and we also publish addresses given by some keynote speakers in our Features section.
GLOBAL: Meeting education's challenges
Diane Spencer The main theme of the Going Global conference had world potential with its aim of "making education meet the challenge". As countries face the worst recession in decades, are they becoming more isolationist? If so, what are the implications for international education?
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Three nations tops in collaboration
Yojana Sharma
Germany, Australia and Britain have topped a new global index on the internationalisation of higher education and the openness of their institutions to foreign collaboration, with China and Malaysia not far behind. India and Brazil still prohibit foreign universities operating on their soil and were lower down on the British Council-sponsored ranking index.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Detecting application fraud
Brendan O'Malley
Some of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for tackling fraud in admissions applications have been developed by West African countries N igeria and Ghana, the Going Global conference held by the British Council in London last week was told.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Foreigners are not "cash cows"
Yojana Sharma
As universities in Britain brace themselves for huge public spending cuts, institutions have been warned against trying to plug the hole in their budgets by treating foreign students as "cash cows". British Council Chief Executive, Martin Davidson, told the council's international conference Going Global in London last Thursday that it would be counterproductive and potentially self-defeating.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Elephants and tins of paint
Diane Spencer
The old adage of 'the elephant in the parlour' was rehearsed again by Dave Burnapp, a senior lecturer in the business school of Northampton University. Burnapp has examined the strategic implications of international collaboration in higher education as part of a research project. He wanted to find more about that "embarrassing thing there that everyone ignores".
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
RUSSIA: Plans to close 30% of universities
Eugene Vorotnikov
Nearly 30% of leading Russian universities could be forced to close and merge with other institutions this year because of a shortage of students and the implementation of a state plan to consolidate the higher education sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Student loan reform will improve funding
Sarah King Head
While the passage in the House of Representatives of the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act last week will fundamentally reshape the US healthcare system, it will also improve the way students fund their post-secondary education.
Full report on the University World News site:
EU: Call to maintain 3% research target
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Union commissioner for research, innovation and science, believes the bloc's target of spending 3% of GDP on research and development must be maintained if Europe is to put itself firmly on the road to economic recovery.
Full report on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Excellence centres to woo back academics
Helena Flusfeder
In an attempt to stop the brain drain of Israel's leading scientists who have left the country to conduct research abroad, the government recently approved the creation of 30 academic excellence centres.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Minister charts new tertiary directions
Munyaradzi Makoni and Karen MacGregor
Following two decades of tumultuous change, universities in South Africa were warned of much more to come when Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blaze Nzimande, delivered his budget vote in parliament on Thursday. Universities will receive R17.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) this year - the lion's share of a R32 billion post-school budget.
Full report on the University World News site:
NZ: University sets big fund-raising goal
John Gerritsen
Massey University has launched a campaign to raise NZ$100 million for an endowment fund, making it the third New Zealand university in as many years to turn to the public for extra funding.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: Academics attack finance plans
Dave Daido
The University Academic Staff Union has lashed out at a proposal to merge 'regular' and 'parallel' degree programmes offered at Kenya's public universities, and accused the World Bank of "sabotage". Unifying separate courses for state-sponsored and self-sponsored students, and charging students uniform fees, were among sweeping changes to university financing recommended in an expert report published last month.
Full report on the University World News site:
BENIN: Five-month strike - now a pay rise
Tunde Fatunde
Teachers in Benin's three state universities have suspended industrial action that lasted for five months. They resolved to return to work this month following a formal commitment made by President Boni Yayi to grant them a 50% pay rise and other financial benefits. If the package is implemented it will have far-reaching positive consequences for teaching and research in state tertiary institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
UGANDA: Kenyan students shot dead
Dave Daido
A security guard at Makerere University in Uganda's capital Kampala allegedly shot and killed two Kenyan students this month, sparking riots on the campus. The two Kenyans, first-year law student Brian Livasia Amuoga and third-year commerce student Ignatius Nyongesa, were killed at a hostel while campaigning for student elections.
Full report on the University World News site:
CORRECTION: Eurobioref research partnership
A report in our business section in last week's edition EUROPE: Partnership for biomass technologies described the launch by the European Commission of a EuroBioRef research project. Franck Dumeignil, coordinator of the project, has pointed out what he says is "a slight confusion" in the article: Mr Dumeignil says EuroBioRef is one specific project, as BIOCORE and SUPRABIO are. The EuroBioref Subvention is €23 million for a total cost of €38 millions and it comprises 28 partners. A press release from the French CNRS group
describing the project can be read
NEWSBRIEFS
GERMANY: Rectors welcome funding pledge
Michael Gardner
Germany's higher education heads have welcomed a pledge by federal and state education ministers to provide an additional -800 million for new study places. The ministers said the grant was justified because institutions had overshot targets originally set by governments.
Full report on the University World News site:
MAGHREB: New regional and US science partnerships
Wagdy Sawahel
North African countries are planning to boost higher education and scientific capacity by establishing a University of the Maghreb and an Academy of Sciences of the Maghreb as well as forging partnerships with the United States.
Full report on the University World News site:
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
LEBANON: Attacked for working with Israelis
Daniel Sawney and Jonathan Travis*
A professor at the American University of Beirut has been criticised for writing a book in collaboration with two academics from Tel Aviv University, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lebanese law prohibits its nationals from having any contact with Israelis.
More Academic Freedom reports on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
US: Tests not affected by heavy drinking
A big night on the booze does not damage students' performance in tests the next day, new research shows.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Galactic growth spurt observed
A massive galaxy produced suns at the prodigious rate of 250 a year in what scientists are describing as a teenage growth spurt in the early years of the universe.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Testing wine with radiation
There are recognised steps to identifying fine wine - swirling the drink in a glass, sniffing it and, finally, tasting it. Now Australian scientists have added another - bung it in a mass spectrometer and test it for an uncommon carbon isotope.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
GLOBAL: Research: A force for globalisation
In a keynote speech to the Going Global conference in London last week, Professor Simon Marginson* said higher education and research were the central drivers of globalisation while research universities were among the most globally connected and driven of all sectors of society. At the same time, global connections, the global flow of ideas, global comparisons and rankings, and global people mobility were the most powerful single drivers of change in higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: First step towards free tuition
Sharon Dell
It has been called a "monumental disappointment" by South Africa's official opposition. But student groups have predictably welcomed a review of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, which represents a "first step" towards realising the ruling African National Party's plan to progressively introduce free higher education for poor undergraduates.
Full report on the University World News site:
NZ: Making friends, creating jobs, building a nation
Mike Moore*
Education as a service industry with paying students is now around New Zealand's sixth biggest earner of overseas funds. A great export winner.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Science "rises" to meet continental needs
Munyaradzi Makoni
Science and education development can only flourish in Africa through support for home-grown institutions. The Regional Initiative in Science and Education, or RISE, has been striving to achieve this for the past 18 months through university-based networks that train science and engineering academics for African universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
SOUTH AFRICA: Free higher education - why not?
Dr Saleem Badat, Vice-chancellor of Rhodes University, writes that he supports the ideal of free higher education and believes it's possible in South Africa. However, it would require fundamental re-thinking of and changes in social goals, priorities and policies - without this, the call for free higher education cannot be supported. For example, unless government made up the massive tuition fee shortfall that universities would experience, they would collapse.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: The scholarship of teaching and learning
Gary Poole
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has established a presence in Canada. Some institutions provide structural and moral support for such scholarship, while other campuses have a long way to go before SoTL can become the positive force it promises to be. An article from the journal Academic Matters examines examples of successful support for SoTL in Canada, and how this support could be more widespread.
Full article on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories
RUSSIA: Maths genius may take $1 million prize
Nick Holdsworth
Reports that a reclusive Russian mathematical genius, Grigory Perelman, had refused a $1 million prize for solving the apparently intractable Poincare Theorem may have been premature.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Pundit attacks VP over cancelled speech
Leah Germain
A controversial American right-wing political pundit, Ann Coulter, said she would file a human rights complaint after a 1,500-strong protest at the University of Ottawa forced her to cancel a lecture scheduled for that evening. Coulter said the university's vice-president François Houle was partly to blame.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Cloudy weather 'increases university appeal'
Students who attend university open days when the weather is cloudy have an increased likelihood of applying there, reports BBC News. The research published by the Royal Economic Society found that an increase in cloud cover could be linked to a 9% rise in enrolment. The author, Uri Simonsohn, said students seemed to associate cloudy days with study and homework.
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US: Last Supper helpings have grown, study finds
The Christian faith holds several acts of 'super-sizing' to be miracles accomplished by Jesus Christ - a handful of fish and loaves of bread expanded to feed thousands; a wedding feast running low on wine suddenly awash in the stuff, writes Melissa Healy for the Los Angeles Times. In a bid to uncover the roots of super-sized American fare, a pair of sibling scholars has turned to an unusual source: 52 artists' renderings of the New Testament's Last Supper.
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FACEBOOK
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higher education worldwide. More than 2,000 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
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WORLD ROUND-UP
CHINA: Google exit could hit academics and students
Businesses and universities could be substantially affected by the departure of Google, writes Lara Farrar for CNN. Most of the country's nearly 400 million internet users might not be affected by the closure, but academics, university students and other researchers rely heavily on Google's search services to access information not available through Chinese engines like Baidu.com, the country's most popular search portal.
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INDIA: Plans to put degrees online, ease verification
India's government has appointed a task force to create a national database of academic qualifications to ensure confidentiality, authenticity, online verification and easy retrieval of degrees, write Ravi Krishnan, Pallavi Singh and Sapna Agarwal for LiveMint.com and The Wall Street Journal.
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INDIA: Education financial corporation planned
India's Human Resource Development Ministry proposes to set up an education financial corporation to provide soft, long-term loans for developing educational infrastructure, reports The Hindu. The corporation will also help students get loans for pursuing higher education, but this will be through refinance by banks.
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US: Student loan bill scorecard
Books will probably be written about the legislation Congress is poised to enact to transform the federal student loan programmes. But while the historians do their work, Doug Lederman of Inside Higher Ed looks at which institutions, people and other players will be helped, hurt and otherwise affected by the measure - and how it positions them for the future.
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CANADA: Only native-run university thrown lifeline
Canada's only aboriginal-run university has been thrown a lifeline by the Saskatchewan government just one week before its money was set to run out, writes Elizabeth Church for The Globe and Mail. The province has reached an agreement that will restore $5.2 million (US$5.1 million) in funding for the troubled First Nations University of Canada, and is pledging to pressure the federal government to follow its lead.
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UK: 20,000 new university places pledged
UK Chancellor Alistair Darling has pledged to create 20,000 new university places to cope with the surge in demand. The one-off £270 million (US$402 million) funding for 2010-11 will support subjects including science, technology and maths in universities in England from September.
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UK: Government to invest £30 million in Semantic Web
The British government will invest £30 million (US$45 million) in a research centre to further develop Tim Berners-Lee's Semantic Web, writes Joab Jackson for IDG News Service. The Institute for Web Science will be run by Berners-Lee, who formulated the basic protocols for the web, along with University of Southampton artificial intelligence professor Nigel Shadbolt.
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UK: Huge pay rises for university heads in recession
University bosses were given pay rises of up to 28% last year, writes Lucy Ballinger for the Daily Mail. The hikes came at the peak of the recession, and there have been further increases this year.
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US: Bias a persistent hurdle for women in sciences
A report on the underrepresentation of women in science and maths by the American Association of University Women, released last Monday, found that although women have made gains, stereotypes and cultural biases still impede their success, writes Tamar Lewin for The New York Times.
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CHINA: Professor sacked for academic plagiarism
A 45-year-old professor at the prestigious Xi'an Jiaotong University in Northwest China's Shaanxi province was sacked last Sunday after six of his colleagues repeatedly posted letters to the university and on the internet exposing his academic scandals, according to China Daily-Asia News Network.
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POLAND: Wiki-plagiarism endemic in universities
Polish university students are using Wikipedia and 'crib sheet' websites as the main source for their research, a new survey has revealed, reports Polskie Radio. Last year, 54% of state-run university students and 72% of private school students dug deep into Wikipedia while writing their bachelor or masters degree theses, a survey conducted by Professor Mariusz Jedrzejko of Warsaw University of Life Sciences revealed.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Running battles close university
South Africa's Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, will commission an independent investigation into problems at Durban University of Technology following running battles between students and police that have forced the institution to close until next term, writes Latoya Newman for The Mercury.
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US: Cornell builds bridge fences to deter suicides
Cornell University last week erected temporary fencing along three university-owned bridges that cross the deep gorges on its campus, where three students have jumped to their deaths in recent weeks, writes Lisa W Foderaro for The New York Times. University officials are also in talks with the City of Ithaca to get permission to put up similar fencing along three other city-owned bridges on campus, said spokesman Simeon F Moss.
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CHINA: Universities join in water saving campaign
More than 100 universities in 23 Chinese cities have joined in an annual water saving campaign called "saving a barrel of water", which was kicked off at the Capital Normal University in Beijing last week, the official Xinhua news agency reports.
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This year's Going Global conference in London last week was the fourth
major international education conference organised by the British Council. The event attracted 1,200 delegates from 75 countries, the largest number yet. Academics, administrators and decision-makers from across further and higher education sectors gathered at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre to listen and respond to 200 speakers in 40 sessions and 60 poster presentations.
In a two-part series this week and next, our correspondents report on some of the most news-worthy aspects and we also publish addresses given by some keynote speakers in our Features section.
GLOBAL: Meeting education's challenges
Diane Spencer The main theme of the Going Global conference had world potential with its aim of "making education meet the challenge". As countries face the worst recession in decades, are they becoming more isolationist? If so, what are the implications for international education?
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Three nations tops in collaboration
Yojana Sharma
Germany, Australia and Britain have topped a new global index on the internationalisation of higher education and the openness of their institutions to foreign collaboration, with China and Malaysia not far behind. India and Brazil still prohibit foreign universities operating on their soil and were lower down on the British Council-sponsored ranking index.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Detecting application fraud
Brendan O'Malley
Some of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for tackling fraud in admissions applications have been developed by West African countries N igeria and Ghana, the Going Global conference held by the British Council in London last week was told.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Foreigners are not "cash cows"
Yojana Sharma
As universities in Britain brace themselves for huge public spending cuts, institutions have been warned against trying to plug the hole in their budgets by treating foreign students as "cash cows". British Council Chief Executive, Martin Davidson, told the council's international conference Going Global in London last Thursday that it would be counterproductive and potentially self-defeating.
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GLOBAL: Elephants and tins of paint
Diane Spencer
The old adage of 'the elephant in the parlour' was rehearsed again by Dave Burnapp, a senior lecturer in the business school of Northampton University. Burnapp has examined the strategic implications of international collaboration in higher education as part of a research project. He wanted to find more about that "embarrassing thing there that everyone ignores".
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
RUSSIA: Plans to close 30% of universities
Eugene Vorotnikov
Nearly 30% of leading Russian universities could be forced to close and merge with other institutions this year because of a shortage of students and the implementation of a state plan to consolidate the higher education sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Student loan reform will improve funding
Sarah King Head
While the passage in the House of Representatives of the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act last week will fundamentally reshape the US healthcare system, it will also improve the way students fund their post-secondary education.
Full report on the University World News site:
EU: Call to maintain 3% research target
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Union commissioner for research, innovation and science, believes the bloc's target of spending 3% of GDP on research and development must be maintained if Europe is to put itself firmly on the road to economic recovery.
Full report on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Excellence centres to woo back academics
Helena Flusfeder
In an attempt to stop the brain drain of Israel's leading scientists who have left the country to conduct research abroad, the government recently approved the creation of 30 academic excellence centres.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Minister charts new tertiary directions
Munyaradzi Makoni and Karen MacGregor
Following two decades of tumultuous change, universities in South Africa were warned of much more to come when Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blaze Nzimande, delivered his budget vote in parliament on Thursday. Universities will receive R17.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) this year - the lion's share of a R32 billion post-school budget.
Full report on the University World News site:
NZ: University sets big fund-raising goal
John Gerritsen
Massey University has launched a campaign to raise NZ$100 million for an endowment fund, making it the third New Zealand university in as many years to turn to the public for extra funding.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: Academics attack finance plans
Dave Daido
The University Academic Staff Union has lashed out at a proposal to merge 'regular' and 'parallel' degree programmes offered at Kenya's public universities, and accused the World Bank of "sabotage". Unifying separate courses for state-sponsored and self-sponsored students, and charging students uniform fees, were among sweeping changes to university financing recommended in an expert report published last month.
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BENIN: Five-month strike - now a pay rise
Tunde Fatunde
Teachers in Benin's three state universities have suspended industrial action that lasted for five months. They resolved to return to work this month following a formal commitment made by President Boni Yayi to grant them a 50% pay rise and other financial benefits. If the package is implemented it will have far-reaching positive consequences for teaching and research in state tertiary institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
UGANDA: Kenyan students shot dead
Dave Daido
A security guard at Makerere University in Uganda's capital Kampala allegedly shot and killed two Kenyan students this month, sparking riots on the campus. The two Kenyans, first-year law student Brian Livasia Amuoga and third-year commerce student Ignatius Nyongesa, were killed at a hostel while campaigning for student elections.
Full report on the University World News site:
CORRECTION: Eurobioref research partnership
A report in our business section in last week's edition EUROPE: Partnership for biomass technologies described the launch by the European Commission of a EuroBioRef research project. Franck Dumeignil, coordinator of the project, has pointed out what he says is "a slight confusion" in the article: Mr Dumeignil says EuroBioRef is one specific project, as BIOCORE and SUPRABIO are. The EuroBioref Subvention is €23 million for a total cost of €38 millions and it comprises 28 partners. A press release from the French CNRS group
describing the project can be read
NEWSBRIEFS
GERMANY: Rectors welcome funding pledge
Michael Gardner
Germany's higher education heads have welcomed a pledge by federal and state education ministers to provide an additional -800 million for new study places. The ministers said the grant was justified because institutions had overshot targets originally set by governments.
Full report on the University World News site:
MAGHREB: New regional and US science partnerships
Wagdy Sawahel
North African countries are planning to boost higher education and scientific capacity by establishing a University of the Maghreb and an Academy of Sciences of the Maghreb as well as forging partnerships with the United States.
Full report on the University World News site:
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
LEBANON: Attacked for working with Israelis
Daniel Sawney and Jonathan Travis*
A professor at the American University of Beirut has been criticised for writing a book in collaboration with two academics from Tel Aviv University, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lebanese law prohibits its nationals from having any contact with Israelis.
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SCIENCE SCENE
US: Tests not affected by heavy drinking
A big night on the booze does not damage students' performance in tests the next day, new research shows.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Galactic growth spurt observed
A massive galaxy produced suns at the prodigious rate of 250 a year in what scientists are describing as a teenage growth spurt in the early years of the universe.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Testing wine with radiation
There are recognised steps to identifying fine wine - swirling the drink in a glass, sniffing it and, finally, tasting it. Now Australian scientists have added another - bung it in a mass spectrometer and test it for an uncommon carbon isotope.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
GLOBAL: Research: A force for globalisation
In a keynote speech to the Going Global conference in London last week, Professor Simon Marginson* said higher education and research were the central drivers of globalisation while research universities were among the most globally connected and driven of all sectors of society. At the same time, global connections, the global flow of ideas, global comparisons and rankings, and global people mobility were the most powerful single drivers of change in higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: First step towards free tuition
Sharon Dell
It has been called a "monumental disappointment" by South Africa's official opposition. But student groups have predictably welcomed a review of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, which represents a "first step" towards realising the ruling African National Party's plan to progressively introduce free higher education for poor undergraduates.
Full report on the University World News site:
NZ: Making friends, creating jobs, building a nation
Mike Moore*
Education as a service industry with paying students is now around New Zealand's sixth biggest earner of overseas funds. A great export winner.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Science "rises" to meet continental needs
Munyaradzi Makoni
Science and education development can only flourish in Africa through support for home-grown institutions. The Regional Initiative in Science and Education, or RISE, has been striving to achieve this for the past 18 months through university-based networks that train science and engineering academics for African universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
SOUTH AFRICA: Free higher education - why not?
Dr Saleem Badat, Vice-chancellor of Rhodes University, writes that he supports the ideal of free higher education and believes it's possible in South Africa. However, it would require fundamental re-thinking of and changes in social goals, priorities and policies - without this, the call for free higher education cannot be supported. For example, unless government made up the massive tuition fee shortfall that universities would experience, they would collapse.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: The scholarship of teaching and learning
Gary Poole
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has established a presence in Canada. Some institutions provide structural and moral support for such scholarship, while other campuses have a long way to go before SoTL can become the positive force it promises to be. An article from the journal Academic Matters examines examples of successful support for SoTL in Canada, and how this support could be more widespread.
Full article on the University World News site:
UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories
RUSSIA: Maths genius may take $1 million prize
Nick Holdsworth
Reports that a reclusive Russian mathematical genius, Grigory Perelman, had refused a $1 million prize for solving the apparently intractable Poincare Theorem may have been premature.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Pundit attacks VP over cancelled speech
Leah Germain
A controversial American right-wing political pundit, Ann Coulter, said she would file a human rights complaint after a 1,500-strong protest at the University of Ottawa forced her to cancel a lecture scheduled for that evening. Coulter said the university's vice-president François Houle was partly to blame.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Cloudy weather 'increases university appeal'
Students who attend university open days when the weather is cloudy have an increased likelihood of applying there, reports BBC News. The research published by the Royal Economic Society found that an increase in cloud cover could be linked to a 9% rise in enrolment. The author, Uri Simonsohn, said students seemed to associate cloudy days with study and homework.
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US: Last Supper helpings have grown, study finds
The Christian faith holds several acts of 'super-sizing' to be miracles accomplished by Jesus Christ - a handful of fish and loaves of bread expanded to feed thousands; a wedding feast running low on wine suddenly awash in the stuff, writes Melissa Healy for the Los Angeles Times. In a bid to uncover the roots of super-sized American fare, a pair of sibling scholars has turned to an unusual source: 52 artists' renderings of the New Testament's Last Supper.
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WORLD ROUND-UP
CHINA: Google exit could hit academics and students
Businesses and universities could be substantially affected by the departure of Google, writes Lara Farrar for CNN. Most of the country's nearly 400 million internet users might not be affected by the closure, but academics, university students and other researchers rely heavily on Google's search services to access information not available through Chinese engines like Baidu.com, the country's most popular search portal.
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INDIA: Plans to put degrees online, ease verification
India's government has appointed a task force to create a national database of academic qualifications to ensure confidentiality, authenticity, online verification and easy retrieval of degrees, write Ravi Krishnan, Pallavi Singh and Sapna Agarwal for LiveMint.com and The Wall Street Journal.
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INDIA: Education financial corporation planned
India's Human Resource Development Ministry proposes to set up an education financial corporation to provide soft, long-term loans for developing educational infrastructure, reports The Hindu. The corporation will also help students get loans for pursuing higher education, but this will be through refinance by banks.
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US: Student loan bill scorecard
Books will probably be written about the legislation Congress is poised to enact to transform the federal student loan programmes. But while the historians do their work, Doug Lederman of Inside Higher Ed looks at which institutions, people and other players will be helped, hurt and otherwise affected by the measure - and how it positions them for the future.
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CANADA: Only native-run university thrown lifeline
Canada's only aboriginal-run university has been thrown a lifeline by the Saskatchewan government just one week before its money was set to run out, writes Elizabeth Church for The Globe and Mail. The province has reached an agreement that will restore $5.2 million (US$5.1 million) in funding for the troubled First Nations University of Canada, and is pledging to pressure the federal government to follow its lead.
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UK: 20,000 new university places pledged
UK Chancellor Alistair Darling has pledged to create 20,000 new university places to cope with the surge in demand. The one-off £270 million (US$402 million) funding for 2010-11 will support subjects including science, technology and maths in universities in England from September.
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UK: Government to invest £30 million in Semantic Web
The British government will invest £30 million (US$45 million) in a research centre to further develop Tim Berners-Lee's Semantic Web, writes Joab Jackson for IDG News Service. The Institute for Web Science will be run by Berners-Lee, who formulated the basic protocols for the web, along with University of Southampton artificial intelligence professor Nigel Shadbolt.
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UK: Huge pay rises for university heads in recession
University bosses were given pay rises of up to 28% last year, writes Lucy Ballinger for the Daily Mail. The hikes came at the peak of the recession, and there have been further increases this year.
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US: Bias a persistent hurdle for women in sciences
A report on the underrepresentation of women in science and maths by the American Association of University Women, released last Monday, found that although women have made gains, stereotypes and cultural biases still impede their success, writes Tamar Lewin for The New York Times.
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CHINA: Professor sacked for academic plagiarism
A 45-year-old professor at the prestigious Xi'an Jiaotong University in Northwest China's Shaanxi province was sacked last Sunday after six of his colleagues repeatedly posted letters to the university and on the internet exposing his academic scandals, according to China Daily-Asia News Network.
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POLAND: Wiki-plagiarism endemic in universities
Polish university students are using Wikipedia and 'crib sheet' websites as the main source for their research, a new survey has revealed, reports Polskie Radio. Last year, 54% of state-run university students and 72% of private school students dug deep into Wikipedia while writing their bachelor or masters degree theses, a survey conducted by Professor Mariusz Jedrzejko of Warsaw University of Life Sciences revealed.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Running battles close university
South Africa's Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, will commission an independent investigation into problems at Durban University of Technology following running battles between students and police that have forced the institution to close until next term, writes Latoya Newman for The Mercury.
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US: Cornell builds bridge fences to deter suicides
Cornell University last week erected temporary fencing along three university-owned bridges that cross the deep gorges on its campus, where three students have jumped to their deaths in recent weeks, writes Lisa W Foderaro for The New York Times. University officials are also in talks with the City of Ithaca to get permission to put up similar fencing along three other city-owned bridges on campus, said spokesman Simeon F Moss.
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CHINA: Universities join in water saving campaign
More than 100 universities in 23 Chinese cities have joined in an annual water saving campaign called "saving a barrel of water", which was kicked off at the Capital Normal University in Beijing last week, the official Xinhua news agency reports.
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Sunday, 14 March 2010
University World News 0115 - 15th March 2010
SPECIAL REPORT: Bologna's 10th anniversary
Several conferences were held last week in Budapest and Vienna to mark the
10th anniversary of the launch of the Bologna process. In the following special commentaries, University World News correspondents report on the outcomes of the conferences, including the launch of the Trends 2010 report from the European University Association, the Budapest-Vienna declaration from the Ministerial conference, the Eurodoc survey, and the student summits and Vienna protests by student groups from across Europe.
GERMANY: Bologna architecture in place
Michael Gardner Considerable progress has been made in developing the Bologna process, according to a new report released by the European University Association during Bologna's 10th anniversary events in Vienna. The report, Trends 2010, was released to coincide with the launch of the European Higher Education Area. It highlights Bologna's clear achievements regarding such aspects as new degree structures and credit transfer but also calls for greater efforts to enhance mobility and more funding for implementation.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: A decade of reform
The Trends 2010 report by the European University Association reviews implementation of the Bologna process and its impact over the past 10 years on higher education across 46 countries in Europe, in the context of broader reform processes affecting European higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: The Eurydice report
Since the beginning of the Bologna process, higher education systems in the European Higher Education Area have grown significantly, says a report prepared for the Vienna conference and published by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, Eurydice, last week.
Full report on the University World News site:
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE: Recognising the social dimension
Karl-Heinz Kloppisch Jr and Tino Brömme*
An extraordinary Ministerial Anniversary Conference was co-hosted by Hungary and Austria last week in Budapest and Vienna to assess the achievements of the Bologna process and its contribution to enhancing the quality and the diversification of higher education in Europe. Ministers in charge of higher education in Austria and Hungary invited their colleagues participating in the Bologna process from the other 44 countries, and the newly-accepted Kazakhstan, to assess the progress made towards the achievements of this unique partnership.
Full report on the University World News site:
POLICY FORUM: Other side of Bologna
Karl-Heinz Kloppisch Jr*
The second Bologna policy forum took place late on Friday at the venue of the ministerial conference in the patriarchal Hofburg of Vienna. Taking a stand for better global cooperation in higher education, the forum was described as a great success by representatives from the more than 60 nations that attended.
Full report on the University World News site:
EURODOC: Doctoral candidates meet in Vienna
Karl-Heinz Kloppisch Jr*
The young European researchers of today long for an active role in the reform process of the higher education and research area in Europe, now rather than complain afterwards, said Zaza Nadja Lee Hansen, a board member of Eurodoc, the international umbrella organisation of associations of doctoral students and post-docs in Europe. Hansen underlined this while summarising the ambitious programme at the annual EURODOC 2010 conference.
Full report on the University World News site:
BOLOGNA STUDENTS: Urgent need for reform
Joseph Walters*
As Education Ministers celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Bologna in Budapest and Vienna this week, the European Student Union criticised the shortcomings and "superficial implementation" of the process. The union, which represents 11 million members, held a European Student Summit alongside the celebratory Ministerial Conference in Vienna from 7-12 March. Some 130 delegates from 30 European countries took part in workshops while discussing the successes and failures of Bologna.
Full report on the University World News site:
STUDENT PROTESTS: No time for celebration
Joseph Walters*
Limited participation and the social dimension in higher education policy are dominating the agendas of European student unions. Such issues compelled thousands of students to follow their education ministers across the continent last week to campaign against the Bologna anniversary celebrations in Vienna.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
UK: Buffer body should clarify international role
David Jobbins
An independent review of the funding body for universities and other higher education institutions in England has concluded it is a high-performing organisation that has the confidence of the sector and government. While most areas of operations of the Higher Education Funding Council for England were found to be meeting or exceeding requirements, some improvements were needed and its international strategy required clarification.
Full report on the University World News site:
DENMARK: Scientists not "sacked", says vice-dean
On 14 February, University World News published a report titled Denmark: Sackings create confusion and anger. The article stated that more than 80 scientific staff in the departments of geology and biology at Copenhagen University had been sacked in January "with immediate effect". The story was based on reports in a university newspaper Universitetsavisen of 28 January that we subsequently learned has no official status. Professor Katherine Richardson, Vice Dean for Public Outreach, has pointed out that some details in our story were wrong. She says the number of staff immediately affected was 14, none were "sacked with immediate effect" and all have at least six months' salary and the right to work in that period. Her explanation of the circumstances is on our website.
Full report on the University World News site:
POLAND: Universities least popular with Europeans
Eugene Vorotnikov
Poland ranks first in Europe in terms of access to higher education but Polish universitie are among the least popular with foreign students, says a study carried out by analysts with the Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal, a Brussels-based think tank.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Higher education: world's most effective?
Australia's higher education sector has the potential to be the most diverse and therefore among the most effective in the world, according to leading international expert Professor Frans Van Vught. In an address last week to the LH Martin Institute's executive seminar series at the University of Melbourne, Van Vught praised new policy initiatives being introduced to the sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Multi-million dollar postdoctoral scheme
Philip Fine
In its annual budget this month, the Canadian government announced the creation of 140 well-paid postdoctoral fellowships, offering some acknowledgment to a group in higher education whose salaries are generally low and whose positions in their university are often nebulous.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Free university for the poor proposed
Sharon Dell
Free higher education for poor South African students and the scrapping of race in favour of class as a mechanism to identify those in need of financial assistance could be on the cards if recent media reports based on a leaked version of a ministerial review of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, are to be believed.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: More funding to raise quality
Ashraf Khaled
Egypt's higher education budget has been increasing by 10% a year to reach LE11 billion (US$2 billion), Minister of Higher Education Hani Helal told a seminar recently. "But it is still limited compared to the growing numbers attending universities every year," Helal said, adding that shortage of money remained the "key challenge" to improving quality in universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Pay hike ends lecturer strike
From a special correspondent
Lecturers in Zimbabwe have been awarded salary hikes, prompting them to return to work more than a month after engaging in a wider civil servant strike that is still raging. Top-paid academics will earn US$800 a month - up from $290. Only lecturers have been awarded a pay rise so far, out of a striking civil servant pool that includes health workers and teachers, who continue to take home less than $200 a month.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZAMBIA: New institution to tackle medical brain drain
Zambia's government is planning to open a new higher learning institution for training doctors as part of efforts to fight the brain drain. Deputy Minister of Health Dr Solomon Musonda told parliament that intakes of health professionals - doctors, nurses and others - at four other institutions would also be doubled this year in a country said to have 27,000 health workers instead of a required 56,000.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
AUSTRALIA: Mathematics in crisis
It has been described as "the handmaiden of the sciences", but the state of mathematical sciences in Australia has deteriorated to a dangerous level. A report released last week says universities should provide additional mathematics-enabling courses and improve co-operation between education and mathematics faculties.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: University projects stalled, some for 20 years
Dave Daido
A public university in Kenya requires at least 2.1 billion shillings (US$27.4 million) to complete stalled projects - some of them started nearly 20 years ago. The parliamentary investment committee, or PIC, established that Egerton University's projects had ground to a halt due to lack of funds.
Full report on the University World News site:
DR CONGO: Minister's plans to improve higher education
The Democratic Republic of Congo's Minister for Higher Education, Léonard Mashako Mamba, is introducing legislation with the aim of boosting the country's higher education system and enabling universities to meet the challenges of globalisation, reported Le Potentiel of Kinshasa.
Full report on the University World News site:
SWAZILAND: Students regroup after long boycott
Munyaradzi Makoni
Higher education students in Swaziland have resumed classes after weeks of boycotts - but unhappiness with the government's handling of their grievances has prompted the national students' union to call for a mass meeting in April to regroup and decide a course of action.
Full report on the University World News site:
SENEGAL: School risks closure over fee-paying courses
Jane Marshall
Amadou Tidiane Bâ, Minister for Higher Education, Universities, Regional University Centres and Scientific Research, has threatened to close the Ecole Polytechnique de Thiès if lecturers continue to ignore a government order banning them from teaching fee-paying courses during the day, according to press reports.
Full report on the University World News site:
WEST AFRICA: Universities debate keeping campus peace
Jane Marshall
Governments and university communities must take measures to prevent recurrent violent incidents breaking out on campuses, representatives of higher education institutions concluded at an international conference on keeping the peace in West African universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
US: Chilean earthquake attracts scientific interest
Last month's massive earthquake in Chile may have been the fifth-largest since instruments were available to measure such events, but it could well become the most important large quake thanks to the information scientists are gaining from it.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY: Mapping the world by smell
Humans have long admired the humble ant for its organisational abilities and strength. Now researchers have found another reason to respect the insect - some of them can smell 'in stereo' and use the ability to find their way home.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Chilling evidence of super ice age
Scientists have found evidence that sea ice reached the equator during a super ice age more than 700 million years ago.
Full report on the University World News site:
NAMIBIA: Rice research blossoms into national venture
Moses Magadza
What began as a small-scale experiment by a University of Namibia associate professor to grow rice in areas where it had not previously been possible, has metamorphosed into a thriving rice-growing venture that has been declared a national project by the government.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
THE NETHERLANDS: Four km of "hidden" dissertations
Jos Damen
The library at Leiden University has many "hidden" treasures and among the pearls is the collection of an estimated 400,000 uncatalogued dissertations or theses dating from 1580 to 1990 that are kept in the library stacks. They occupy four kilometres of shelf space and include Albert Einstein's 1905 dissertation.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE-AFRICA: Medical e-learning network launched
Fabienne Guimont*
A vast e-learning programme based on the establishment of a North-South network of inter-university diplomas has begun operating, with the first batch of students successfully completing an online course in obstetrics ultrasound in Dakar, Senegal - 6,000 kilometres from Brest in France where the project originated.
Full report on the University World News site:
HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
NORTH AMERICA: Univeristies in perpetual funding crisis
David Trick*
Universities, it seems, are in a perpetual state of funding crisis. Costs grow more quickly than ordinary inflation every year. Prospective students and their parents demand that universities expand to meet the growing number of applicants. Governments demand that universities produce more research to drive the transition to a knowledge-based economy. The gap between mission and funding seems ever-larger. Mission and Money: Understanding the university steps back from the question of whether university funding is adequate to ask a different question: How does the task of earning revenue shape universities' behaviour?
Full article on the University World News site:
Article from the journal Academic Matters :
US: An open future for higher education
Patrick McAndrew, Eileen Scanlon and Doug Clow Education, and in particular higher education, has seen rapid change as learning institutions have had to adapt to the opportunities provided by the internet to move more of their teaching online and to become more flexible in how they operate. It might be tempting to think that such a period of change would lead to consolidation and agreement about approaches and models of operation that suit the 21st century. New technologies continue to appear, however, and changes in attitude indicated by the integration of online activities and social approaches within our lives are accelerating. How should institutions react to these changes?
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Article from EDUCAUSE Quarterly :
UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories
ICELAND: Bank collapse benefits foreign students
Foreign students and their visiting families no longer need to brace themselves before ordering a pizza. Just about any foreign currency is worth twice as much in the Icelandic krona as it was in August, according to an article in the International Education Magazine for Nordic Students.
Full report on the University World News site:
FACEBOOK
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WORLD ROUND-UP
JAPAN: Three countries develop academic credit system
Japan has decided to draw up a new framework in conjunction with China and South Korea to allow universities in all three countries to integrate methods to evaluate students' academic achievements and certify academic credits, reports The Yomiuri Shimbun. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry hopes the collaboration will encourage more students to study abroad.
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CHINA: Fake papers are rife at universities
Strong demand for ghost-written academic papers in the lead-up to university graduation and revelations that people pay to have scholarly articles published are worrying critics who fear the billion-yuan industry is making it harder than ever to evaluate graduates' abilities, reports China Daily/Asia News Network.
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CHINA: Top scientist plans new autonomous university
A Chinese scientist is planning to establish the mainland's first university outside the grip of government bureaucracy, the official Xinhua news agency reports. Zhu Qingshi, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who served as president of the prestigious University of Science and Technology of China for 10 years, believes heavy red tape in higher education is mainly responsible for China's lack of world-renowned scientists.
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INDIA: Five higher education bills before cabinet
Education was set to dominate Thursday's meeting of the Indian cabinet, which was due to look at five Bills - four new and one amendment Bill - from the Human Resource Development Ministry, all related to higher education. All the new Bills are part of Minister Kapil Sibal's plan to revamp higher education, writes Akshaya Mukul in The Times of India.
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MALAYSIA: Pay and promotions for professors to improve
The Prime Minister's call to raise the salaries and expedite the promotions of top performers in the public sector has been well received by the Higher Education Ministry, with the salary scheme for professors to be revised, Richard Lim reports for The Star. Professors will be able to enjoy promotions up to the highest grade without holding administrative posts at public universities.
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VIETNAM: Minister orders greater university transparency
All universities in Vietnam must publish their financial accounts and information about educational standards on their websites by 15 April, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan told a conference in Hanoi this month, reports Saigon Giai Phong. He also said tertiary education would be further decentralised as part of government's action plan to renovate higher education management 2010-12.
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UK: Why university standards have fallen
The new 'manifesto'- Talent, Opportunity, Prosperity - published by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) deals with a number of core issues in the current debate about the future shape and direction of higher education in the UK, comments Geoffrey Alderman, professor of politics and contemporary history at the University of Buckingham, in The Guardian.
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US: Continental perspectives
College presidents were urged last Tuesday to consider why most Americans think of North America as a geographic entity and not much more, writes Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed. The failure of American academics to embrace a common agenda for cooperation of colleges and universities in Canada, Mexico and the US may be preventing those countries' higher education systems from realising some of the gains European universities are experiencing through the 'Bologna process', said several experts at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education, held in Phoenix.
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US: Express lane to a BA
What was a year ago an emerging idea about how to reduce college costs and better serve students has begun to take hold at colleges across the United States, as more institutions introduce three-year bachelor's degrees, writes Jennifer Epstein for Inside Higher Ed.
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US: Huge rise in students predicted in California
California's public colleges and universities must prepare to serve 387,000 more undergraduates by 2019 than in 2008 - a 16% increase - and they will need an additional $1.5 billion in enrolment funding for the task, according to a report released last week by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, writes Carla Rivera for The Los Angeles Times.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Students sing 'kill the (white) farmer'
African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema is facing a barrage of complaints to the police and chapter nine institutions over his latest racial outburst, after he led students at the University of Johannesburg in singing 'kill the boer', writes Natasha Marrian for the Mail & Guardian. 'Boer' refers to white farmers. Malema also sang the song the previous week at birthday celebrations held in a province where six farmers had been murdered in the past month.
More on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Einstein's relativity manuscript goes on display
The original manuscript of Albert Einstein's groundbreaking theory of relativity, which helps explain everything from black holes to the Big Bang, went on display last weekend in its entirety for the first time, writes Karoun Demirjian for Associated Press.
More on the University World News site:
Several conferences were held last week in Budapest and Vienna to mark the
10th anniversary of the launch of the Bologna process. In the following special commentaries, University World News correspondents report on the outcomes of the conferences, including the launch of the Trends 2010 report from the European University Association, the Budapest-Vienna declaration from the Ministerial conference, the Eurodoc survey, and the student summits and Vienna protests by student groups from across Europe.
GERMANY: Bologna architecture in place
Michael Gardner Considerable progress has been made in developing the Bologna process, according to a new report released by the European University Association during Bologna's 10th anniversary events in Vienna. The report, Trends 2010, was released to coincide with the launch of the European Higher Education Area. It highlights Bologna's clear achievements regarding such aspects as new degree structures and credit transfer but also calls for greater efforts to enhance mobility and more funding for implementation.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: A decade of reform
The Trends 2010 report by the European University Association reviews implementation of the Bologna process and its impact over the past 10 years on higher education across 46 countries in Europe, in the context of broader reform processes affecting European higher education.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: The Eurydice report
Since the beginning of the Bologna process, higher education systems in the European Higher Education Area have grown significantly, says a report prepared for the Vienna conference and published by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, Eurydice, last week.
Full report on the University World News site:
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE: Recognising the social dimension
Karl-Heinz Kloppisch Jr and Tino Brömme*
An extraordinary Ministerial Anniversary Conference was co-hosted by Hungary and Austria last week in Budapest and Vienna to assess the achievements of the Bologna process and its contribution to enhancing the quality and the diversification of higher education in Europe. Ministers in charge of higher education in Austria and Hungary invited their colleagues participating in the Bologna process from the other 44 countries, and the newly-accepted Kazakhstan, to assess the progress made towards the achievements of this unique partnership.
Full report on the University World News site:
POLICY FORUM: Other side of Bologna
Karl-Heinz Kloppisch Jr*
The second Bologna policy forum took place late on Friday at the venue of the ministerial conference in the patriarchal Hofburg of Vienna. Taking a stand for better global cooperation in higher education, the forum was described as a great success by representatives from the more than 60 nations that attended.
Full report on the University World News site:
EURODOC: Doctoral candidates meet in Vienna
Karl-Heinz Kloppisch Jr*
The young European researchers of today long for an active role in the reform process of the higher education and research area in Europe, now rather than complain afterwards, said Zaza Nadja Lee Hansen, a board member of Eurodoc, the international umbrella organisation of associations of doctoral students and post-docs in Europe. Hansen underlined this while summarising the ambitious programme at the annual EURODOC 2010 conference.
Full report on the University World News site:
BOLOGNA STUDENTS: Urgent need for reform
Joseph Walters*
As Education Ministers celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Bologna in Budapest and Vienna this week, the European Student Union criticised the shortcomings and "superficial implementation" of the process. The union, which represents 11 million members, held a European Student Summit alongside the celebratory Ministerial Conference in Vienna from 7-12 March. Some 130 delegates from 30 European countries took part in workshops while discussing the successes and failures of Bologna.
Full report on the University World News site:
STUDENT PROTESTS: No time for celebration
Joseph Walters*
Limited participation and the social dimension in higher education policy are dominating the agendas of European student unions. Such issues compelled thousands of students to follow their education ministers across the continent last week to campaign against the Bologna anniversary celebrations in Vienna.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
UK: Buffer body should clarify international role
David Jobbins
An independent review of the funding body for universities and other higher education institutions in England has concluded it is a high-performing organisation that has the confidence of the sector and government. While most areas of operations of the Higher Education Funding Council for England were found to be meeting or exceeding requirements, some improvements were needed and its international strategy required clarification.
Full report on the University World News site:
DENMARK: Scientists not "sacked", says vice-dean
On 14 February, University World News published a report titled Denmark: Sackings create confusion and anger. The article stated that more than 80 scientific staff in the departments of geology and biology at Copenhagen University had been sacked in January "with immediate effect". The story was based on reports in a university newspaper Universitetsavisen of 28 January that we subsequently learned has no official status. Professor Katherine Richardson, Vice Dean for Public Outreach, has pointed out that some details in our story were wrong. She says the number of staff immediately affected was 14, none were "sacked with immediate effect" and all have at least six months' salary and the right to work in that period. Her explanation of the circumstances is on our website.
Full report on the University World News site:
POLAND: Universities least popular with Europeans
Eugene Vorotnikov
Poland ranks first in Europe in terms of access to higher education but Polish universitie are among the least popular with foreign students, says a study carried out by analysts with the Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal, a Brussels-based think tank.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Higher education: world's most effective?
Australia's higher education sector has the potential to be the most diverse and therefore among the most effective in the world, according to leading international expert Professor Frans Van Vught. In an address last week to the LH Martin Institute's executive seminar series at the University of Melbourne, Van Vught praised new policy initiatives being introduced to the sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Multi-million dollar postdoctoral scheme
Philip Fine
In its annual budget this month, the Canadian government announced the creation of 140 well-paid postdoctoral fellowships, offering some acknowledgment to a group in higher education whose salaries are generally low and whose positions in their university are often nebulous.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Free university for the poor proposed
Sharon Dell
Free higher education for poor South African students and the scrapping of race in favour of class as a mechanism to identify those in need of financial assistance could be on the cards if recent media reports based on a leaked version of a ministerial review of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, are to be believed.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: More funding to raise quality
Ashraf Khaled
Egypt's higher education budget has been increasing by 10% a year to reach LE11 billion (US$2 billion), Minister of Higher Education Hani Helal told a seminar recently. "But it is still limited compared to the growing numbers attending universities every year," Helal said, adding that shortage of money remained the "key challenge" to improving quality in universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Pay hike ends lecturer strike
From a special correspondent
Lecturers in Zimbabwe have been awarded salary hikes, prompting them to return to work more than a month after engaging in a wider civil servant strike that is still raging. Top-paid academics will earn US$800 a month - up from $290. Only lecturers have been awarded a pay rise so far, out of a striking civil servant pool that includes health workers and teachers, who continue to take home less than $200 a month.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZAMBIA: New institution to tackle medical brain drain
Zambia's government is planning to open a new higher learning institution for training doctors as part of efforts to fight the brain drain. Deputy Minister of Health Dr Solomon Musonda told parliament that intakes of health professionals - doctors, nurses and others - at four other institutions would also be doubled this year in a country said to have 27,000 health workers instead of a required 56,000.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
AUSTRALIA: Mathematics in crisis
It has been described as "the handmaiden of the sciences", but the state of mathematical sciences in Australia has deteriorated to a dangerous level. A report released last week says universities should provide additional mathematics-enabling courses and improve co-operation between education and mathematics faculties.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: University projects stalled, some for 20 years
Dave Daido
A public university in Kenya requires at least 2.1 billion shillings (US$27.4 million) to complete stalled projects - some of them started nearly 20 years ago. The parliamentary investment committee, or PIC, established that Egerton University's projects had ground to a halt due to lack of funds.
Full report on the University World News site:
DR CONGO: Minister's plans to improve higher education
The Democratic Republic of Congo's Minister for Higher Education, Léonard Mashako Mamba, is introducing legislation with the aim of boosting the country's higher education system and enabling universities to meet the challenges of globalisation, reported Le Potentiel of Kinshasa.
Full report on the University World News site:
SWAZILAND: Students regroup after long boycott
Munyaradzi Makoni
Higher education students in Swaziland have resumed classes after weeks of boycotts - but unhappiness with the government's handling of their grievances has prompted the national students' union to call for a mass meeting in April to regroup and decide a course of action.
Full report on the University World News site:
SENEGAL: School risks closure over fee-paying courses
Jane Marshall
Amadou Tidiane Bâ, Minister for Higher Education, Universities, Regional University Centres and Scientific Research, has threatened to close the Ecole Polytechnique de Thiès if lecturers continue to ignore a government order banning them from teaching fee-paying courses during the day, according to press reports.
Full report on the University World News site:
WEST AFRICA: Universities debate keeping campus peace
Jane Marshall
Governments and university communities must take measures to prevent recurrent violent incidents breaking out on campuses, representatives of higher education institutions concluded at an international conference on keeping the peace in West African universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
US: Chilean earthquake attracts scientific interest
Last month's massive earthquake in Chile may have been the fifth-largest since instruments were available to measure such events, but it could well become the most important large quake thanks to the information scientists are gaining from it.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY: Mapping the world by smell
Humans have long admired the humble ant for its organisational abilities and strength. Now researchers have found another reason to respect the insect - some of them can smell 'in stereo' and use the ability to find their way home.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Chilling evidence of super ice age
Scientists have found evidence that sea ice reached the equator during a super ice age more than 700 million years ago.
Full report on the University World News site:
NAMIBIA: Rice research blossoms into national venture
Moses Magadza
What began as a small-scale experiment by a University of Namibia associate professor to grow rice in areas where it had not previously been possible, has metamorphosed into a thriving rice-growing venture that has been declared a national project by the government.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
THE NETHERLANDS: Four km of "hidden" dissertations
Jos Damen
The library at Leiden University has many "hidden" treasures and among the pearls is the collection of an estimated 400,000 uncatalogued dissertations or theses dating from 1580 to 1990 that are kept in the library stacks. They occupy four kilometres of shelf space and include Albert Einstein's 1905 dissertation.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE-AFRICA: Medical e-learning network launched
Fabienne Guimont*
A vast e-learning programme based on the establishment of a North-South network of inter-university diplomas has begun operating, with the first batch of students successfully completing an online course in obstetrics ultrasound in Dakar, Senegal - 6,000 kilometres from Brest in France where the project originated.
Full report on the University World News site:
HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
NORTH AMERICA: Univeristies in perpetual funding crisis
David Trick*
Universities, it seems, are in a perpetual state of funding crisis. Costs grow more quickly than ordinary inflation every year. Prospective students and their parents demand that universities expand to meet the growing number of applicants. Governments demand that universities produce more research to drive the transition to a knowledge-based economy. The gap between mission and funding seems ever-larger. Mission and Money: Understanding the university steps back from the question of whether university funding is adequate to ask a different question: How does the task of earning revenue shape universities' behaviour?
Full article on the University World News site:
Article from the journal Academic Matters :
US: An open future for higher education
Patrick McAndrew, Eileen Scanlon and Doug Clow Education, and in particular higher education, has seen rapid change as learning institutions have had to adapt to the opportunities provided by the internet to move more of their teaching online and to become more flexible in how they operate. It might be tempting to think that such a period of change would lead to consolidation and agreement about approaches and models of operation that suit the 21st century. New technologies continue to appear, however, and changes in attitude indicated by the integration of online activities and social approaches within our lives are accelerating. How should institutions react to these changes?
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Article from EDUCAUSE Quarterly :
UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories
ICELAND: Bank collapse benefits foreign students
Foreign students and their visiting families no longer need to brace themselves before ordering a pizza. Just about any foreign currency is worth twice as much in the Icelandic krona as it was in August, according to an article in the International Education Magazine for Nordic Students.
Full report on the University World News site:
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WORLD ROUND-UP
JAPAN: Three countries develop academic credit system
Japan has decided to draw up a new framework in conjunction with China and South Korea to allow universities in all three countries to integrate methods to evaluate students' academic achievements and certify academic credits, reports The Yomiuri Shimbun. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry hopes the collaboration will encourage more students to study abroad.
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CHINA: Fake papers are rife at universities
Strong demand for ghost-written academic papers in the lead-up to university graduation and revelations that people pay to have scholarly articles published are worrying critics who fear the billion-yuan industry is making it harder than ever to evaluate graduates' abilities, reports China Daily/Asia News Network.
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CHINA: Top scientist plans new autonomous university
A Chinese scientist is planning to establish the mainland's first university outside the grip of government bureaucracy, the official Xinhua news agency reports. Zhu Qingshi, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who served as president of the prestigious University of Science and Technology of China for 10 years, believes heavy red tape in higher education is mainly responsible for China's lack of world-renowned scientists.
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INDIA: Five higher education bills before cabinet
Education was set to dominate Thursday's meeting of the Indian cabinet, which was due to look at five Bills - four new and one amendment Bill - from the Human Resource Development Ministry, all related to higher education. All the new Bills are part of Minister Kapil Sibal's plan to revamp higher education, writes Akshaya Mukul in The Times of India.
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MALAYSIA: Pay and promotions for professors to improve
The Prime Minister's call to raise the salaries and expedite the promotions of top performers in the public sector has been well received by the Higher Education Ministry, with the salary scheme for professors to be revised, Richard Lim reports for The Star. Professors will be able to enjoy promotions up to the highest grade without holding administrative posts at public universities.
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VIETNAM: Minister orders greater university transparency
All universities in Vietnam must publish their financial accounts and information about educational standards on their websites by 15 April, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan told a conference in Hanoi this month, reports Saigon Giai Phong. He also said tertiary education would be further decentralised as part of government's action plan to renovate higher education management 2010-12.
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UK: Why university standards have fallen
The new 'manifesto'- Talent, Opportunity, Prosperity - published by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) deals with a number of core issues in the current debate about the future shape and direction of higher education in the UK, comments Geoffrey Alderman, professor of politics and contemporary history at the University of Buckingham, in The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
US: Continental perspectives
College presidents were urged last Tuesday to consider why most Americans think of North America as a geographic entity and not much more, writes Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed. The failure of American academics to embrace a common agenda for cooperation of colleges and universities in Canada, Mexico and the US may be preventing those countries' higher education systems from realising some of the gains European universities are experiencing through the 'Bologna process', said several experts at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education, held in Phoenix.
More on the University World News site:
US: Express lane to a BA
What was a year ago an emerging idea about how to reduce college costs and better serve students has begun to take hold at colleges across the United States, as more institutions introduce three-year bachelor's degrees, writes Jennifer Epstein for Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:
US: Huge rise in students predicted in California
California's public colleges and universities must prepare to serve 387,000 more undergraduates by 2019 than in 2008 - a 16% increase - and they will need an additional $1.5 billion in enrolment funding for the task, according to a report released last week by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, writes Carla Rivera for The Los Angeles Times.
More on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Students sing 'kill the (white) farmer'
African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema is facing a barrage of complaints to the police and chapter nine institutions over his latest racial outburst, after he led students at the University of Johannesburg in singing 'kill the boer', writes Natasha Marrian for the Mail & Guardian. 'Boer' refers to white farmers. Malema also sang the song the previous week at birthday celebrations held in a province where six farmers had been murdered in the past month.
More on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Einstein's relativity manuscript goes on display
The original manuscript of Albert Einstein's groundbreaking theory of relativity, which helps explain everything from black holes to the Big Bang, went on display last weekend in its entirety for the first time, writes Karoun Demirjian for Associated Press.
More on the University World News site:
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