NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
GLOBAL: UN forges world partnership with universities
Yojana Sharma
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week inaugurated the new United Nations Academic Impact, UNAI, which seeks to generate ideas in partnership with higher education institutions that can help solve global problems.
Full report on the University World News site:
ITALY: Mass protests against 'cuts' and reforms
Lee Adendorff
Thousands of students and temporary teachers have taken part in protests in cities across Italy against education cuts and a university reform package under scrutiny in the Italian parliament, despite an eve-of-protest amendment to a budget 'stability' bill that will restore -1 billion (US$1.4 billion) to the higher education sector.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Government defers standards bill
Geoff Maslen
An outcry from Australia's universities has forced the federal government to hold off until next year introducing legislation to parliament that would establish a new and powerful quality and standards agency. The legislation was to have been tabled last week but Education Minister Chris Evans announced it would be deferred to the autumn session of parliament in 2011.
Full report on the University World News site:
SINGAPORE: Yale partnership to go ahead, NUS says
Stanislaus Jude Chan
Despite protests from some academics and political observers over the trial and sentencing of British author Alan Shadrake last week, a tie-up between America's Yale University and the National University of Singapore for a liberal arts college in Singapore looks set to go ahead.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Re-imagining California higher education
Sarah King Head
A report from the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley, has analysed the challenges faced by tertiary education in California and its relationship to economic growth - and proposes some radical solutions for rejuvenating a faltering public higher education system that was once the envy of the world.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Opposition to higher education reform grows
Makki Marseilles
Greece's largest university has called for the government's consultation paper on reform to be rejected on the grounds that its proposals would add to higher education's problems rather than solve them. At another institution, staff held a two-day strike against the proposed reforms.
Full report on the University World News site:
ASIA: The 6th QS APPLE conference
The 6th QS Asia Pacific Professional Leaders in Education (APPLE)
conference was held from 17-19 November in Singapore, preceded by a QS university rankings evaluation workshop. APPLE is billed as the region's biggest international higher education conference. It attracted 120 higher education experts and university leaders from over 85 institutions in the Asia Pacific. University World News reports on the conference here, and will publish more articles next week.
GLOBAL: Future top universities below 'rankings radar'
Yojana Sharma Younger universities - those less than 50 years old, which are proliferating in emerging economies in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - may become leading research institutions of the future. However, these potential 'stars' are not being reflected in international university rankings tables.
Full report on the University World News site:
ASIA: Universities' rise beginning to eclipse US
Yojana Sharma
Asia's higher education institutions are emerging from the shadow of top universities in the US, Britain and continental Europe and may be on the way to overtaking them, a close analysis of major international rankings tables has shown.
Full report on the University World News site:
SPECIAL REPORT: Shuffling the global higher education deck
Decisions by the British government to cut university funding and triple
the cap on tuition fees have sparked student protests, anger in England's higher education sector and warnings that UK universities could lose quality and global competitiveness. As the second most popular destination in the world for international students, and a top research nation, repercussions will also be felt internationally by students hoping to study in England and academics involved in research and collaboration agreements with English institutions.
In this Special Report, University World News gathers the views of vice-chancellors around the world and of students on what the new policies might mean for higher education in the UK and abroad. We also look at a brain drain of French researchers to the US, Germany's efforts to attract foreign students to fill skills gaps, a proposal for a Europe-wide loan scheme aimed at increasing European student mobility, and student mobility to and from America.
UK: Wrong time to raise fees, say global rivals
Brendan O'Malley How will plans to slash 40% of the teaching budget in England and allow universities to raise tuition fees threefold affect the competitive edge of UK universities globally? We asked university leaders around the world to tell us what they think. Some of them conclude that the UK is at a critical tipping point.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: Student officers predict exodus overseas
Diane Spencer
International student officers from Britain's universities fear the country will lose out on the lucrative overseas student market as European students turn to rival institutions in Australia, the US, China and India. Even stay-at-home British students may venture abroad in search of cheaper alternatives in the event of a three-fold increase in the cap on tuition fees proposed by the coalition government and deep cuts to the teaching budget.
Full report on University World News site:
FRANCE: 'More students could turn from UK to US'
Jane Marshall
The planned UK reforms will restrict direct enrolment in English universities to the most privileged French students, as in the US, a French student leader has warned. It could turn more French students towards the US.
Full report on University World News site:
FRANCE: Top researchers lost to the US
Jane Marshall
The brain drain of French academics and researchers to the United States has been accelerating in recent years, and although the number is relatively low it tends to be the most talented who choose to move, according to a report from think tank Institut Montaigne.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY: Call for foreign students to fill skills gap
Michael Gardner
Recruitment of foreign students offers strong potential to help Germany cope with its shortage of skilled labour, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) says, calling for a 25% increase over the next decade.
Full report on University World News site:
EUROPE: EU-wide student credit union proposed
Alison Moodie
With student fees in many European countries rising and a patchwork of different loan systems, it was "only a matter of time" before the European Union considered a region-wide scheme, says French higher education researcher Cécile Hoareau. In a just-published paper she proposes an EU student credit union, starting with the Erasmus exchange programme.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Foreign student numbers up, Americans abroad down
Karen MacGregor
There were nearly 700,000 international students at universities and colleges in the United States in 2009-10 - a 3% increase over the previous academic year, driven mostly by 30% growth in Chinese students - according to the Open Doors survey published last week. For the first time there was a slight decline in US students abroad, but "notable increases" in students going to non-traditional destinations, and especially to Peru, South Korea and Chile.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
PAKISTAN: Taliban steps up university attacks
Ameen Amjad Khan
A spate of Taliban kidnappings and killings of vice-chancellors in the north-western region of Pakistan has put universities under attack, with academics fearing for their lives and many leaving their jobs. University leaders spoke to University World News about the terrifying circumstances in which they find themselves.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: Canadian universities stress partnerships
Philip Fine
This month a delegation of 15 Canadian university presidents wrapped up a visit to India where great efforts were made to convince the hosts that they were not in their country simply to try and boost Canada's international student enrolment numbers.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
GLOBAL: Partnerships thrive on exchange of values
James DeVaney*
As experimentation continues we are seeing an unprecedented number and range of types of global partnerships and educational ventures. But despite the enthusiasm for global expansion, questions about the sustainability of some branch campus models have not yet been answered. To succeed, globally engaged universities must acknowledge the needs of their host communities and communities must acknowledge that foreign universities have their own set of expectations and needs. Regardless of form, mutual value exchange will remain at the core of sustainable partnerships.
Full report on the University World News site:
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
IRAN: Student activist arrested
Roisin Joyce*
Ali Gholizadeh, an activist and member of the Daftar Tahkim-e Vahdat student organisation, has been arrested and detained in Mashad, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported on 5 November.
More Academic Freedom reports on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
GLOBAL: Women in Science Awards
For the past 13 years, the L'Oréal Corporate Foundation and Unesco have sought to recognise women researchers who, through the scope of their work, have contributed to overcoming global challenges. Each year the For Women in Science Programme highlights scientific excellence and encourages talent.
Full report on the University World News site:
FACEBOOK
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higher education worldwide. Nearly 2,460 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
GLOBAL: Questionable science behind academic rankings
For institutions that regularly make the Top 10, the autumn announcement of university rankings is an occasion for quiet self-congratulation, writes DD Guttenplan for The New York Times. When Cambridge beat Harvard for the number one spot in the QS World University Rankings this September, Cambridge put out a press release. When Harvard topped the Times Higher Education list a week later, it was Harvard's turn to gloat.
More on the University World News site:
RUSSIA: Poor rankings performance riles universities
Russian universities are seething after failing to win international recognition in a year when the country has been galvanised by Kremlin calls for modernisation, writes Alexandra Odynova for The Moscow Times. So angry are they that some are calling for the creation of Russia's own university ranking system.
More on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Science's fight to win over climate sceptics
This was simply "the worst scientific scandal of a generation" - a bid by researchers to hoodwink the public over global warming and hide evidence showing fossil fuels were not really heating up our planet. These were the dramatic claims made by newspapers, websites and blogs across the globe a year ago, following the hacking of emails from a computer at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, writes Robin McKie for The Observer.
More on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Reclaim the African academy
African higher education needs to move away from traditional, and unequal, north-south partnerships and forge ties with new partners to truly counter the African brain drain, writes Professor Johann Groenewald, a flagship projects coordinator for Stellenbosch University's graduate school and the African Doctoral Academy, in The Sunday Times.
More on the University World News site:
US: 30 college presidents topped $1-million in 2008
Nearly four decades after Bernard Lander founded Touro College with a class of 35 students, the trustees decided that he had been underpaid during his tenure as president, writes Andrea Fuller for The Chronicle of Higher Education. To make up for the difference, they awarded him more than US $4-million in deferred compensation in 2008, making him the highest-earning private college president in the 2008-09 fiscal year.
More on the University World News site:
US: Big win for undocumented students
The California Supreme Court unanimously upheld a state statute affording some undocumented students in-state tuition status, overturning an earlier decision by an appellate court last Monday, writes David Moltz for Inside Higher Ed. California is one of only 10 American states in which undocumented students are eligible to pay in-state tuition.
More on the University World News site:
CROATIA: University legislation ignites stormy debate
Over the past few months, the academic and scientific communities of Croatia have been voicing displeasure with proposed revisions to national legislation governing the country's universities and science organisations, writes Mico Tatalovic for Science. Critics have argued that the changes would take away university autonomy and freedom of scientific expression because universities and research priorities would come under direct governmental control.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Plans for major survey of higher education
A country getting younger has decided to map its youth population. From who is in college and who has been left out and why, to which student earned a scholarship, to which candidate graduated from where - a kind of pan-India census would plot the lives and performance of all those attached to the higher education sector - reports The Times of India.
More on the University World News site:
UK: 'Xenophobic' students shun foreign universities
British students may be shunning foreign universities because of "innate xenophobia", according to a report, writes Graeme Paton for The Telegraph. Research published last week suggests that Britain's "history of colonial mastery and insularity" could be preventing people taking higher education courses abroad.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Fees hike 'will deter most poorer students' - poll
The UK government's plans to raise tuition fees to £6,000 (US$9,630) a year will lead to a dramatic fall in the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university, new research suggests, write Rachel Williams and Jeevan Vasagar for The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: Students 'could lose out' to fee refugees
Scottish universities have warned they could be swamped with thousands of students from England escaping higher fees, writes Andrew Denholm for The Herald. Fears over 'fee refugees' pushing out Scottish students were raised at a national summit on future funding of higher education, held in Glasgow and chaired by Michael Russell, the Education Secretary.
More on the University World News site:
US: Online enrolments - speeding towards a slowdown?
Online college enrolments in the US grew by 21% to 5.6 million last autumn, the biggest percentage increase in several years, according to a report released last week by the Sloan Consortium and the Babson Survey Research Group, writes Steve Kolowich for Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:
US: There is no college cost crisis
There is no college cost crisis, writes Stanley Fish, professor of humanities and law at Florida International University, in the "Opinionator" blog of The New York Times. That at least is the conclusion reached by the economists Robert B Archibald and David H Feldman in their new book, Why Does College Cost So Much?
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: Teaching takes a back seat to research
The current focus on research - and securing research funding - at Canadian universities could be taking away from teaching, writes Jacob Serebrin for Macleans. According to a new survey by the Ontario government's Higher Education Quality Council only 61% of professors "believe that teaching is important or very important to their institution".
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: UK university to award degree in India
As India prepares to open its doors to foreign universities, at least one British university already has a foot in the door through a joint venture with the University of Madras and several other Indian institutions, writes Hasan Suroor for The Hindu.
More on the University World News site:
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Sunday, 14 November 2010
University World News 0146 - 14th November 2010
This week's highlights
In Features, ALYA MISHRA reports on visits to India by universities from the US, Canada and Europe and PHILIP FINE interviews Canadian Amanda Lindhout, who responded to her 15-month abduction in Somalia by creating scholarships for Somali women to attend university. YOJANA SHARMA looks at a new policy to impose the Chinese language in schools in Qinghai and its impact on access to higher education for ethnic Tibetans, and STANISLAUS JUDE CHAN traces a shift in scientific Singapore towards the liberal arts through a tie-up with Yale. In Commentary, MICHAEL GALLAGHER of Australia's Group of Eight universities discusses how countries have tackled quality assurance, and MUNYARADZI MAKONI reports on round-table higher education debates at Rhodes University in South Africa.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
UK: Violence overshadows student fees protests
Diane Spencer
For the first time in decades, a student protest ended in violence on Wednesday night with missiles hurled at police and windows smashed at Conservative Party headquarters in London's Westminster. At least 50 people were arrested and 14 taken to hospital including seven policemen. The demonstration was called to protest against the coalition government's plans to raise the cap on tuition fees by three-fold to £9,000 (US$12,350) and impose cuts of 40% on teaching budgets.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: US, Europe and Japan challenged in R&D
Geoff Maslen
While the US, Europe and Japan may still be leading the global research and development effort, they are increasingly being challenged by emerging countries, especially China. This is one of the findings of the UNESCO Science Report 2010, launched at the organisation's headquarters in Paris on World Science Day, 10 November.
Full report on the University World News site:
PAKISTAN: Strike over vice-chancellor's abduction
Ameen Amjad Khan
Just weeks after Pakistan's universities shut down in protest against cuts to higher education funding, institutions in the sensitive north-west region of the country have again been closed, this time to put pressure on the government for the safe recovery of a prominent vice-chancellor kidnapped by the Taliban.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Alarm over proposed quality agency
Geoff Maslen
Plans by the federal government to introduce legislation this month covering quality assurance and academic standards have raised fears that the nation's universities will lose much of their autonomy and possibly some of their funding. A new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency is to be created to replace the Australian Universities Quality Agency, which conducts audits of all institutions but lacks the authority to oblige them to adopt its recommendations.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Tougher test for would-be migrants
Geoff Maslen
Foreign students hoping to remain in Australia as permanent residents face far stricter entry rules under changes announced on Thursday by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. The government's decision to further tighten migration eligibility requirements could have a serious impact on the already faltering recruitment of foreign students, especially those from China and India which are the two largest source countries for universities.
Full report on the University World News website:
RUSSIA: Drive to lure foreign scientists begins
Eugene Vorotnikov
The Russian government has launched an 11 billion ruble (US$360 million) drive to attract foreign scientists to work in local universities to enhance the international competitiveness of the country's domestic science and higher education. The scientists are being lured with research grants expected to range from three million rubles up to 150 million rubles.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRAN: Dissolution of medical university sparks protest
Yojana Sharma
A decision by the health ministry to dissolve one of Iran's largest and most prominent medical universities has sparked protests, including from legislators disputing the ministry's right to close it.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Lessons from US foundation collaboration
Sharon Dell
A "highly unusual" 10-year higher education partnership between seven US foundations, each with its distinct brand of organisational culture, leadership style and mission, is guaranteed to generate interesting lessons and valuable advice for future collaborations. These have been collected in a newly-published case study which tracks the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, PHEA, which began in 2000 and whose members invested US$440 million in 65 universities across nine African countries.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: Campus police protests divide academics
Ashraf Khaled
When a group of lecturers pushing for the independence of universities in Egypt went to Ain Shams University, the country's second biggest public higher education institution, they did not expect to be chased by armed youths, spark campus protests and have a brush with the law. But that is what happened and the incident has divided the academic community.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDONESIA: Universities disrupted by volcanic ash
David Jardine
When the world's most active volcano Mount Merapi - the 'mountain of fire' - erupted recently, the ash cloud heavily inundated the neighbouring city of Yogjakarta, known in Indonesia for its large number of higher education institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
N IGERIA: Teachers oppose salary differentials
Tunde Fatunde
Strikes are sweeping across N igerian universities in a dispute over salary differentials. Teaching in most of the state universities has been disrupted although federal universities continue to run lectures.
Full report on University World News website:
US: Chinese help spur modest graduate increase
Sarah King Head
The latest Council of Graduate Schools' (CGS) International Graduate Admissions Survey shows the zero growth reported last year has been replaced by gains of 3% in current first-time enrolments to US graduate schools. But the big story is the sustained, double-digit growth in enrolment of first-time Chinese students to US graduate programmes.
Full report on the University World News site:
CHINA-UK: New campus for Nottingham in Shanghai
Yojana Sharma
Nottingham University has been invited by the Shanghai city government to set up a new British-Chinese university that will be able to attract top students and faculty. The move is seen as part of the Chinese government's push to draw more overseas academic talent, including overseas Chinese, to the country. China also hopes to attract some 10,000 more foreign students.
Full report on the University World News site:
DENMARK: Small languages under threat as cuts bite
Jan Petter Myklebust
Danish universities are considering merging more than 20 languages with other academic disciplines to cope with cuts in state funding, prompting a public outcry.
Full report on University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
GERMANY: University opens with five students
Michael Gardner
A private university of applied sciences that has begun teaching activities with just five students is said to be running the most expensive higher education courses in Germany.
Full report on the University World News site:
SENEGAL: Parliament debates higher education
Jane Marshall
Parliament has approved the budget for higher education, universities, regional university centres and scientific research - with the hope that prompt payment of students' grants through speeding up the banking process will avoid a repetition of strikes and disruption.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
INDIA: A global higher education magnet
Alya Mishra
In the same week as US President Barack Obama visited the country, universities from the US, Canada and Europe have been beating a path to India to collaborate with Indian higher educational institutions. Experts say this is not just about education but building strategic and economic partnerships in a globalised world.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOMALIA-CANADA: Forgiveness in scholarships
Philip Fine
Eleven young Somali women, who did not have the means to go to university and who all want to use their education to help their troubled country, are on track to undergraduate degrees and attending classes this semester thanks to the efforts of a Canadian woman who had been brutally held captive in their country.
Full report on the University World News site:
TIBET: Language policy threatens tertiary access
Yojana Sharma
Student protests against the Qinghai provincial government's new policy to impose the Chinese language in all schools in the predominantly Tibetan area spread quickly to Beijing's Minzu University for minorities, and highlighted wider issues of Tibetans' access to higher education and jobs.
Full report on the University World News site:
SINGAPORE: A shift from science to humanities
Stanislaus Jude Chan
For decades Singapore invested heavily in mathematics and science education, driving it to the top in international school league tables and boosting science and technology research in universities. But now the government wants to increase liberal arts students, and is supporting a proposed tie-up with Yale University.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
GLOBAL: The challenge of quality assurance
How the quality of a university education can be assured and standards of teaching and research maintained is an issue that governments and higher education institutions around the world continue to confront. In a paper discussing how different countries have tackled this topic, as Australia is at present, the Executive Director of the Australian Group of Eight universities, MICHAEL GALLAGHER, considers the responsibility of government and the university in assuring quality.
Full report on the University World News site :
GLOBAL: The university, diversity and autonomy
Munyaradzi Makoni
What is a 'real' university? asked Gordon Graham, a professor of philosophy and the arts at Princeton Theological Seminary in the US, at a round-table discussion at Rhodes University in South Africa last month. He offered a critical comparison of three 'ideal types' that have played a significant role in the history of higher education across the world, and called for a relook at professional education as a way to resist current threats to university autonomy.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: A transformative higher education agenda
Munyaradzi Makoni
The focus of higher education in South Africa has been on policies and reforms and their impacts. What is sorely needed, says Adam Habib, Deputy Vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, is engaged executives who critically reflect on their managerial experiences "leading to lessons that can advance a socially progressive higher education agenda".
Full report on the University World News site:
FACEBOOK
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. Nearly 2,450 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
GLOBAL: Unesco pulls plug on Philosophy Day in Iran
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation decided last week to pull the plug on another embarrassment to its reputation, dissociating itself from this year's celebration of philosophy, to be held in Iran in less than two weeks, writes Steven Erlanger for The New York Times.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Higher education spending to rise 13% yearly
India's expenditure on higher education will grow nearly 13% annually in the next 10 years driven by the private sector, said a report released by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday, writes Prashant K Nanda for LiveMint.com.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Reluctance to study abroad a 'pressing issue'
A new study suggests that Britain's economic future could be jeopardised unless more students embrace overseas experience, reports The Guardian.
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AUSTRALIA: Biometric scans for foreign students
Foreign students will be included in a trial of biometric checks as part of a wider campaign to weed out potential terrorists, writes Guy Healy for The Australian.
More on the University World News site:
CHINA: US exam botch frustrates Chinese students
Following the cancellation last month of thousands of Graduate Record Examination scores in China due to administrative problems, a growing number of Chinese students are speaking out about what they say is an insufficient and ineffective response by the US company that runs the exam, writes Mary Hennock for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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US: For-profit drops suit against community college
When Fort Lauderdale-based Keiser University took one of Florida's community college's to court last month for slander, the suit garnered national attention as evidence of just how nasty the debate over for-profit colleges had become, writes Michael Vasquez for The Miami Herald.
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US: Money fuels environmentalist boom on campuses
Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, has pledged to be completely carbon-neutral by 2020. On the West Coast, the University of California-Santa Cruz saves an estimated $300,000 on water each year by eliminating trays in its dining halls. And the University of Georgia, which subsidises public transportation on campus, now has nearly 30 student organisations related to sustainability, writes Brian Wingfield for Forbes.com.
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MEXICO: Comparative study makes case for universities
It can be lonely at the top, especially when it comes to global university rankings. So in 2008, researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the sole Mexican university to break into the top 200 in international rankings, decided to see how their institution stacked up against its rivals in Mexico, writes Marion Lloyd for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: Free higher education must end - report
Free higher education in Scotland is under threat after a report published by Universities Scotland confirmed that tuition fees must be reviewed, writes Kathryn Richardson for The Journal.
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ISRAEL: Minister halts Tel Aviv University funding
Israeli Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz last week ordered Accountant General Shuki Oren to immediately stop budget transfers to Tel Aviv University because of "salary irregularities", reports Globes.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Mumbai academics want Mistry book back
The University of Mumbai's Academic Staff Association wants Rohinton Mistry's book, Such a Long Journey, to be reintroduced, writes Mihika Basu for the Daily News & Analysis.
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In Features, ALYA MISHRA reports on visits to India by universities from the US, Canada and Europe and PHILIP FINE interviews Canadian Amanda Lindhout, who responded to her 15-month abduction in Somalia by creating scholarships for Somali women to attend university. YOJANA SHARMA looks at a new policy to impose the Chinese language in schools in Qinghai and its impact on access to higher education for ethnic Tibetans, and STANISLAUS JUDE CHAN traces a shift in scientific Singapore towards the liberal arts through a tie-up with Yale. In Commentary, MICHAEL GALLAGHER of Australia's Group of Eight universities discusses how countries have tackled quality assurance, and MUNYARADZI MAKONI reports on round-table higher education debates at Rhodes University in South Africa.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
UK: Violence overshadows student fees protests
Diane Spencer
For the first time in decades, a student protest ended in violence on Wednesday night with missiles hurled at police and windows smashed at Conservative Party headquarters in London's Westminster. At least 50 people were arrested and 14 taken to hospital including seven policemen. The demonstration was called to protest against the coalition government's plans to raise the cap on tuition fees by three-fold to £9,000 (US$12,350) and impose cuts of 40% on teaching budgets.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: US, Europe and Japan challenged in R&D
Geoff Maslen
While the US, Europe and Japan may still be leading the global research and development effort, they are increasingly being challenged by emerging countries, especially China. This is one of the findings of the UNESCO Science Report 2010, launched at the organisation's headquarters in Paris on World Science Day, 10 November.
Full report on the University World News site:
PAKISTAN: Strike over vice-chancellor's abduction
Ameen Amjad Khan
Just weeks after Pakistan's universities shut down in protest against cuts to higher education funding, institutions in the sensitive north-west region of the country have again been closed, this time to put pressure on the government for the safe recovery of a prominent vice-chancellor kidnapped by the Taliban.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Alarm over proposed quality agency
Geoff Maslen
Plans by the federal government to introduce legislation this month covering quality assurance and academic standards have raised fears that the nation's universities will lose much of their autonomy and possibly some of their funding. A new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency is to be created to replace the Australian Universities Quality Agency, which conducts audits of all institutions but lacks the authority to oblige them to adopt its recommendations.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Tougher test for would-be migrants
Geoff Maslen
Foreign students hoping to remain in Australia as permanent residents face far stricter entry rules under changes announced on Thursday by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. The government's decision to further tighten migration eligibility requirements could have a serious impact on the already faltering recruitment of foreign students, especially those from China and India which are the two largest source countries for universities.
Full report on the University World News website:
RUSSIA: Drive to lure foreign scientists begins
Eugene Vorotnikov
The Russian government has launched an 11 billion ruble (US$360 million) drive to attract foreign scientists to work in local universities to enhance the international competitiveness of the country's domestic science and higher education. The scientists are being lured with research grants expected to range from three million rubles up to 150 million rubles.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRAN: Dissolution of medical university sparks protest
Yojana Sharma
A decision by the health ministry to dissolve one of Iran's largest and most prominent medical universities has sparked protests, including from legislators disputing the ministry's right to close it.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: Lessons from US foundation collaboration
Sharon Dell
A "highly unusual" 10-year higher education partnership between seven US foundations, each with its distinct brand of organisational culture, leadership style and mission, is guaranteed to generate interesting lessons and valuable advice for future collaborations. These have been collected in a newly-published case study which tracks the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, PHEA, which began in 2000 and whose members invested US$440 million in 65 universities across nine African countries.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: Campus police protests divide academics
Ashraf Khaled
When a group of lecturers pushing for the independence of universities in Egypt went to Ain Shams University, the country's second biggest public higher education institution, they did not expect to be chased by armed youths, spark campus protests and have a brush with the law. But that is what happened and the incident has divided the academic community.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDONESIA: Universities disrupted by volcanic ash
David Jardine
When the world's most active volcano Mount Merapi - the 'mountain of fire' - erupted recently, the ash cloud heavily inundated the neighbouring city of Yogjakarta, known in Indonesia for its large number of higher education institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
N IGERIA: Teachers oppose salary differentials
Tunde Fatunde
Strikes are sweeping across N igerian universities in a dispute over salary differentials. Teaching in most of the state universities has been disrupted although federal universities continue to run lectures.
Full report on University World News website:
US: Chinese help spur modest graduate increase
Sarah King Head
The latest Council of Graduate Schools' (CGS) International Graduate Admissions Survey shows the zero growth reported last year has been replaced by gains of 3% in current first-time enrolments to US graduate schools. But the big story is the sustained, double-digit growth in enrolment of first-time Chinese students to US graduate programmes.
Full report on the University World News site:
CHINA-UK: New campus for Nottingham in Shanghai
Yojana Sharma
Nottingham University has been invited by the Shanghai city government to set up a new British-Chinese university that will be able to attract top students and faculty. The move is seen as part of the Chinese government's push to draw more overseas academic talent, including overseas Chinese, to the country. China also hopes to attract some 10,000 more foreign students.
Full report on the University World News site:
DENMARK: Small languages under threat as cuts bite
Jan Petter Myklebust
Danish universities are considering merging more than 20 languages with other academic disciplines to cope with cuts in state funding, prompting a public outcry.
Full report on University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
GERMANY: University opens with five students
Michael Gardner
A private university of applied sciences that has begun teaching activities with just five students is said to be running the most expensive higher education courses in Germany.
Full report on the University World News site:
SENEGAL: Parliament debates higher education
Jane Marshall
Parliament has approved the budget for higher education, universities, regional university centres and scientific research - with the hope that prompt payment of students' grants through speeding up the banking process will avoid a repetition of strikes and disruption.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
INDIA: A global higher education magnet
Alya Mishra
In the same week as US President Barack Obama visited the country, universities from the US, Canada and Europe have been beating a path to India to collaborate with Indian higher educational institutions. Experts say this is not just about education but building strategic and economic partnerships in a globalised world.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOMALIA-CANADA: Forgiveness in scholarships
Philip Fine
Eleven young Somali women, who did not have the means to go to university and who all want to use their education to help their troubled country, are on track to undergraduate degrees and attending classes this semester thanks to the efforts of a Canadian woman who had been brutally held captive in their country.
Full report on the University World News site:
TIBET: Language policy threatens tertiary access
Yojana Sharma
Student protests against the Qinghai provincial government's new policy to impose the Chinese language in all schools in the predominantly Tibetan area spread quickly to Beijing's Minzu University for minorities, and highlighted wider issues of Tibetans' access to higher education and jobs.
Full report on the University World News site:
SINGAPORE: A shift from science to humanities
Stanislaus Jude Chan
For decades Singapore invested heavily in mathematics and science education, driving it to the top in international school league tables and boosting science and technology research in universities. But now the government wants to increase liberal arts students, and is supporting a proposed tie-up with Yale University.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
GLOBAL: The challenge of quality assurance
How the quality of a university education can be assured and standards of teaching and research maintained is an issue that governments and higher education institutions around the world continue to confront. In a paper discussing how different countries have tackled this topic, as Australia is at present, the Executive Director of the Australian Group of Eight universities, MICHAEL GALLAGHER, considers the responsibility of government and the university in assuring quality.
Full report on the University World News site :
GLOBAL: The university, diversity and autonomy
Munyaradzi Makoni
What is a 'real' university? asked Gordon Graham, a professor of philosophy and the arts at Princeton Theological Seminary in the US, at a round-table discussion at Rhodes University in South Africa last month. He offered a critical comparison of three 'ideal types' that have played a significant role in the history of higher education across the world, and called for a relook at professional education as a way to resist current threats to university autonomy.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: A transformative higher education agenda
Munyaradzi Makoni
The focus of higher education in South Africa has been on policies and reforms and their impacts. What is sorely needed, says Adam Habib, Deputy Vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, is engaged executives who critically reflect on their managerial experiences "leading to lessons that can advance a socially progressive higher education agenda".
Full report on the University World News site:
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. Nearly 2,450 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
GLOBAL: Unesco pulls plug on Philosophy Day in Iran
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation decided last week to pull the plug on another embarrassment to its reputation, dissociating itself from this year's celebration of philosophy, to be held in Iran in less than two weeks, writes Steven Erlanger for The New York Times.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Higher education spending to rise 13% yearly
India's expenditure on higher education will grow nearly 13% annually in the next 10 years driven by the private sector, said a report released by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday, writes Prashant K Nanda for LiveMint.com.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Reluctance to study abroad a 'pressing issue'
A new study suggests that Britain's economic future could be jeopardised unless more students embrace overseas experience, reports The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Biometric scans for foreign students
Foreign students will be included in a trial of biometric checks as part of a wider campaign to weed out potential terrorists, writes Guy Healy for The Australian.
More on the University World News site:
CHINA: US exam botch frustrates Chinese students
Following the cancellation last month of thousands of Graduate Record Examination scores in China due to administrative problems, a growing number of Chinese students are speaking out about what they say is an insufficient and ineffective response by the US company that runs the exam, writes Mary Hennock for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
US: For-profit drops suit against community college
When Fort Lauderdale-based Keiser University took one of Florida's community college's to court last month for slander, the suit garnered national attention as evidence of just how nasty the debate over for-profit colleges had become, writes Michael Vasquez for The Miami Herald.
More on the University World News site:
US: Money fuels environmentalist boom on campuses
Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, has pledged to be completely carbon-neutral by 2020. On the West Coast, the University of California-Santa Cruz saves an estimated $300,000 on water each year by eliminating trays in its dining halls. And the University of Georgia, which subsidises public transportation on campus, now has nearly 30 student organisations related to sustainability, writes Brian Wingfield for Forbes.com.
More on the University World News site:
MEXICO: Comparative study makes case for universities
It can be lonely at the top, especially when it comes to global university rankings. So in 2008, researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the sole Mexican university to break into the top 200 in international rankings, decided to see how their institution stacked up against its rivals in Mexico, writes Marion Lloyd for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: Free higher education must end - report
Free higher education in Scotland is under threat after a report published by Universities Scotland confirmed that tuition fees must be reviewed, writes Kathryn Richardson for The Journal.
More on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Minister halts Tel Aviv University funding
Israeli Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz last week ordered Accountant General Shuki Oren to immediately stop budget transfers to Tel Aviv University because of "salary irregularities", reports Globes.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Mumbai academics want Mistry book back
The University of Mumbai's Academic Staff Association wants Rohinton Mistry's book, Such a Long Journey, to be reintroduced, writes Mihika Basu for the Daily News & Analysis.
More on the University World News site:
Sunday, 7 November 2010
University World News 0145 - 7th November 2010
This week's highlights
In the Features section this week AMEEN AMJAD KHAN looks at the plight of
scholarship students who have not received funding following radical cuts to the higher education budget in Pakistan, JANE MARSHALL reports on the OECD Education Ministerial Meeting held in Paris last week, and EVA EGRON-POLAK and ROSS HUDSON summarise the findings of a survey into internationalisation that they co-authored for the International Association of Universities. In Commentary, SAEED PAIVANDI compares efforts to Islamise universities in Iran to the 'cultural revolution' three decades ago, and MOHAMED ALI ABDUL RAHMAN, a senior official in Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education, charts the rise of private higher education.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
UK: Élite universities laud freedom to triple fees
Diane Spencer
The UK's coalition government is set to allow universities in England to raise their fees up to three-fold, to a maximum of £9,000 (US$14,640) in 2012, providing they take part in a scholarship scheme for poorer students. While universities say there will be no impact on overseas students for the immediate future, the 118,000 students from EU countries studying in the UK, who under EU rules are charged the same rate as local students, will be affected.
Full report on the University World News site:
SRI LANKA: Private universities bill sparks protests
Maya D'Souza
Major student unrest at Sri Lankan universities over government plans to allow the setting up of private institutions looks set to escalate, with students stepping up demonstrations last week and more campaigns organised by student groups in the coming days. Dozens of students have been arrested and some 200 suspended from their institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Alarming fall in Chinese student numbers
Geoff Maslen
For the first time in more than 14 years, an Australian minister for tertiary education has gone to China to try to head off a potentially disastrous collapse in the number of young Chinese studying in Australia.
Full report on the University World News website:
SINGAPORE: Conviction casts doubt on Yale tie-up
Yojana Sharma
A Singaporean verdict against British author Alan Shadrake has been watched closely around the world, in particular by Yale University in the US, which is discussing collaboration with National University of Singapore. Shadrake was found guilty on Wednesday of contempt of court for casting doubt on the independence of Singapore's judiciary in a recent book.
Full report on the University World News site:
DENMARK: Drive to boost study abroad
Jan Petter Myklebust
The Danish Ministry for Science, Technology and Education has launched a campaign to substantially increase the number of Danish students studying abroad. Charlotte Sahl-Madsen, Minister for Science, Technology and Development, said she wants studying abroad to become the rule rather than the exception.
Full report on the University World News site:
JAPAN: Volunteer plan to ease graduate joblessness
Suvendrini Kakuchi
A new plan for university students with state-funded loans to undertake volunteer work is being drawn up by Japan's education ministry and the Japan Student Services Organisation, JASSO, as rising unemployment rates among graduates make it difficult for students to pay off study debt.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Engineer shortage threatens development
An acute and growing shortage of engineers worldwide has become a threat to global development, a new Unesco report has revealed. It is based on contributions by 120 experts and is the first global report on engineering.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY-TURKEY: Joint university founded in Istanbul
Michael Gardner
Germany and Turkey have founded a new university in Istanbul. The Deutsch-Türkische Universität (DTU) is to focus on engineering sciences and engage in intensive cooperation with industry, but will also be providing a platform for cultural exchange.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDONESIA: Troubled Aceh celebrates student successes
David Jardine
Aceh, one of several Indonesian provinces beset by separatist conflict, has been sending students abroad for university studies as part of its development efforts in the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Unmotivated students seem to take more jobs
Elysha Krupp
Financial aid is an important factor in keeping students in university, but attitude may be just as important, according to a recent study that looked at 10,000 low-income first-year students who were receiving government student aid.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Nobel laureates slam Israel academic boycotts
Munyaradzi Makoni
The recent threat of a boycott by the University of Johannesburg in South Africa against Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel has prompted 38 Nobel laureates to issue a statement condemning boycotts and divestment campaigns against Israeli academics and academic institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZAMBIA: Presidential degree requirement scrapped
The National Constitutional Conference has scrapped a clause requiring any future presidential candidate to posses a recognised degree. The degree clause had come in for a barrage of criticism, being viewed as an attempt to block some of the country's political players such as opposition leader Michael Sata.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
PAKISTAN: Scholarship cuts leave students in lurch
Ameen Amjad Khan
Izhar Ahmed, an academic at Islamia University Peshawar, was selected on merit for PhD studies in botany at the University of York in the United Kingdom, encouraged by Pakistan's Faculty Development Programme to improve his academic qualifications. He succeeded in securing a government scholarship - but has now learned that he will not receive the money, the result of a severe cutback in higher education funding this year.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: OECD ministers debate education for new skills
Jane Marshall
The kinds of skills workers need are changing rapidly, and education and training systems must adapt to equip young people for different kinds of jobs, new technologies and unforeseen problems. Teachers, as the key professionals on the front line, are facing new demands and expectations. Meanwhile, countries are grappling with multiple effects of the global financial crisis.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Internationalisation: past, present, future
A global survey by the International Association of Universities has concluded that future developments and reforms of higher education will give a central place to the internationalisation process, write its co-authors EVA EGRON-POLAK and ROSS HUDSON. But the global economic crisis will most likely slow down - or impose some limits on - certain internationalisation activities.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
IRAN: Second higher education Cultural Revolution?
Saeed Paivandi*
Since the presidential elections in 2009 Iran's universities have been under attack, with measures brought in to 'Islamise' faculty and course content. The ideological campaign eerily echoes moves to Islamise universities after the Islamic Republic was proclaimed in 1979.
Full report on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Models in private higher education
Mohamed Ali Abdul Rahman*
Malaysia has encouraged the growth of private higher education institutions, including some set up by big business and branch campuses of overseas universities, to complement public universities. But it has also put in place regulations to ensure that private institutions are of quality and respond to the country's need to produce graduates who can compete globally.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
UK: Mobile networks from human wireless
Humans could form the backbone of powerful new mobile internet networks by carrying wearable sensors, according to researchers at Queen's University in Belfast. The researchers say the novel human sensors could create new ultra-high bandwidth mobile internet infrastructures and reduce the density of mobile phone base stations.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: New plant health centre of excellence
Munyaradzi Makoni
Trade opportunities for African countries are set to increase, along with improved cross-border surveillance of pests and diseases, with the creation of a Centre of Phytosanitary Excellence for Africa to prevent the introduction and spread of plant pests.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Dark chocolate and heart disease
Geoff Maslen
Could this be a chocaholic's dream come true? Research at RMIT University in Melbourne suggests that eating dark chocolate has the potential to reduce the risk factors leading to heart disease.
Full report on the University World News site:
FACEBOOK
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. Nearly 2,450 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
UK: Home secretary promises immigration crackdown
The UK home secretary, Theresa May, is to end the right to permanent settlement for more than 100,000 skilled workers and overseas students who come to Britain each year, writes Alan Travis for The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Academics warn on dangers of ethics code
Isreal's Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar has proposed a 'code of ethics' on the limits of academic freedom at higher education institutions. But academics say the code would endanger academic freedom, writes Or Kashti for Haaretz.
More on the University World News site:
US: University endowments 'healing' after crisis
University and college endowments in the United States gained an average 13% in the past year, recouping part of their losses from the global financial crisis, reports Gillian Wee for The Sydney Morning Herald.
More on the University World News site:
US: Poll results may mean tighter university budgets
The recent midterm elections in the US - in which the Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives and some key governors' offices - are likely to add to the financial pressures on colleges and universities, writes Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:
MEXICO: Lack of funds puts top university in crisis
The University of Guadalajara, one of Mexico's leading universities, said it has been in a "critical" financial situation for several months because of the Jalisco state government's failure to deliver 701 million pesos ($56.5 million) in funding, reports the Latin American Herald Tribune.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: Universities face thousands of job cuts
Higher Education leaders say funding cuts of more than £150 million (US$244 million) for Scottish universities next year will lead to thousands of job losses, cuts in courses and lasting damage to the sector's international reputation, reports Andrew Denholm for The Herald.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Graduate unemployment rate reaches new high
Unemployment among graduates in the UK is at its highest in nearly two decades as thousands struggle to find work, the Mirror reports. Some 8.9% of those who left university last year (around 21,000) were without a job six months later as graduates suffered from the effects of the recession, according to a study by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Over-50s targeted to boost PhD numbers
Students pursuing their degree or PhD at higher learning institutions after reaching the age of 50 may enjoy free or reduced tuition fee under a proposal by the higher education ministry, reports the official news agency Bernama.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Universities in China to be recognised
An agreement is in sight for universities in China to be recognised by Malaysia's Higher Education Ministry, writes Joshua Foong for The Star. Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung said the ministry was in the final stages of having several universities and higher learning institutions in China accredited.
More on the University World News site:
US: Obama leads universities to India
Yale and Duke universities are among dozens of United States colleges that India is recruiting to help educate its population, which has more than 550 million people under the age of 25, reports Bloomberg.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: University divided over PhD award dispute
A former child prodigy who became a mathematics professor at age 24 has been suspended from the University of Manitoba in Canada for protesting its decision to award a PhD to a student who failed to meet the formal requirements, in part because of an anxiety disorder, writes Joseph Brean for the National Post.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: World-first aviation university to open
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa) and the Bangalore-based Subramanya Construction and Development Company (SCDC) signed a joint venture agreement to set up the world's first integrated aviation university and training campus in the Karnataka capital, reports The Hindustan Times.
More on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Students protest funds for Torah study
Dozens of students came out to demonstrate and burn tyres at Ben-Gurion, Tel Aviv and Hebrew universities last week, to protest the bill that would restore income allowances to yeshiva (Talmudic studies) students, writes Asaf Shtull-Trauring for Haaretz.
More on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Ministry mulls recalling retired lecturers
The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education is considering plans to call back retired lecturers in a bid to address the shortage of staff at colleges as a result of the brain drain, reports Talk Zimbabwe.
More on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Desperate students turn to p rostitution
Desperate students are being forced into p rostitution as the cost of higher education spirals out of reach for the majority of the country's university and college students, reports New Zimbabwe.
More on the University World News site:
US: More high market value courses on the web
Until recently, if you wanted to take Professor Rebecca Henderson's course in advanced strategy to understand the long-term roots of successful companies, you needed to be a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Henderson taught at the prestigious Sloan School of Management, writes DD Guttenplan for the New York Times.
More on the University World News site:
In the Features section this week AMEEN AMJAD KHAN looks at the plight of
scholarship students who have not received funding following radical cuts to the higher education budget in Pakistan, JANE MARSHALL reports on the OECD Education Ministerial Meeting held in Paris last week, and EVA EGRON-POLAK and ROSS HUDSON summarise the findings of a survey into internationalisation that they co-authored for the International Association of Universities. In Commentary, SAEED PAIVANDI compares efforts to Islamise universities in Iran to the 'cultural revolution' three decades ago, and MOHAMED ALI ABDUL RAHMAN, a senior official in Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education, charts the rise of private higher education.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
UK: Élite universities laud freedom to triple fees
Diane Spencer
The UK's coalition government is set to allow universities in England to raise their fees up to three-fold, to a maximum of £9,000 (US$14,640) in 2012, providing they take part in a scholarship scheme for poorer students. While universities say there will be no impact on overseas students for the immediate future, the 118,000 students from EU countries studying in the UK, who under EU rules are charged the same rate as local students, will be affected.
Full report on the University World News site:
SRI LANKA: Private universities bill sparks protests
Maya D'Souza
Major student unrest at Sri Lankan universities over government plans to allow the setting up of private institutions looks set to escalate, with students stepping up demonstrations last week and more campaigns organised by student groups in the coming days. Dozens of students have been arrested and some 200 suspended from their institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Alarming fall in Chinese student numbers
Geoff Maslen
For the first time in more than 14 years, an Australian minister for tertiary education has gone to China to try to head off a potentially disastrous collapse in the number of young Chinese studying in Australia.
Full report on the University World News website:
SINGAPORE: Conviction casts doubt on Yale tie-up
Yojana Sharma
A Singaporean verdict against British author Alan Shadrake has been watched closely around the world, in particular by Yale University in the US, which is discussing collaboration with National University of Singapore. Shadrake was found guilty on Wednesday of contempt of court for casting doubt on the independence of Singapore's judiciary in a recent book.
Full report on the University World News site:
DENMARK: Drive to boost study abroad
Jan Petter Myklebust
The Danish Ministry for Science, Technology and Education has launched a campaign to substantially increase the number of Danish students studying abroad. Charlotte Sahl-Madsen, Minister for Science, Technology and Development, said she wants studying abroad to become the rule rather than the exception.
Full report on the University World News site:
JAPAN: Volunteer plan to ease graduate joblessness
Suvendrini Kakuchi
A new plan for university students with state-funded loans to undertake volunteer work is being drawn up by Japan's education ministry and the Japan Student Services Organisation, JASSO, as rising unemployment rates among graduates make it difficult for students to pay off study debt.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Engineer shortage threatens development
An acute and growing shortage of engineers worldwide has become a threat to global development, a new Unesco report has revealed. It is based on contributions by 120 experts and is the first global report on engineering.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY-TURKEY: Joint university founded in Istanbul
Michael Gardner
Germany and Turkey have founded a new university in Istanbul. The Deutsch-Türkische Universität (DTU) is to focus on engineering sciences and engage in intensive cooperation with industry, but will also be providing a platform for cultural exchange.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDONESIA: Troubled Aceh celebrates student successes
David Jardine
Aceh, one of several Indonesian provinces beset by separatist conflict, has been sending students abroad for university studies as part of its development efforts in the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Unmotivated students seem to take more jobs
Elysha Krupp
Financial aid is an important factor in keeping students in university, but attitude may be just as important, according to a recent study that looked at 10,000 low-income first-year students who were receiving government student aid.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Nobel laureates slam Israel academic boycotts
Munyaradzi Makoni
The recent threat of a boycott by the University of Johannesburg in South Africa against Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel has prompted 38 Nobel laureates to issue a statement condemning boycotts and divestment campaigns against Israeli academics and academic institutions.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZAMBIA: Presidential degree requirement scrapped
The National Constitutional Conference has scrapped a clause requiring any future presidential candidate to posses a recognised degree. The degree clause had come in for a barrage of criticism, being viewed as an attempt to block some of the country's political players such as opposition leader Michael Sata.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
PAKISTAN: Scholarship cuts leave students in lurch
Ameen Amjad Khan
Izhar Ahmed, an academic at Islamia University Peshawar, was selected on merit for PhD studies in botany at the University of York in the United Kingdom, encouraged by Pakistan's Faculty Development Programme to improve his academic qualifications. He succeeded in securing a government scholarship - but has now learned that he will not receive the money, the result of a severe cutback in higher education funding this year.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: OECD ministers debate education for new skills
Jane Marshall
The kinds of skills workers need are changing rapidly, and education and training systems must adapt to equip young people for different kinds of jobs, new technologies and unforeseen problems. Teachers, as the key professionals on the front line, are facing new demands and expectations. Meanwhile, countries are grappling with multiple effects of the global financial crisis.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Internationalisation: past, present, future
A global survey by the International Association of Universities has concluded that future developments and reforms of higher education will give a central place to the internationalisation process, write its co-authors EVA EGRON-POLAK and ROSS HUDSON. But the global economic crisis will most likely slow down - or impose some limits on - certain internationalisation activities.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
IRAN: Second higher education Cultural Revolution?
Saeed Paivandi*
Since the presidential elections in 2009 Iran's universities have been under attack, with measures brought in to 'Islamise' faculty and course content. The ideological campaign eerily echoes moves to Islamise universities after the Islamic Republic was proclaimed in 1979.
Full report on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Models in private higher education
Mohamed Ali Abdul Rahman*
Malaysia has encouraged the growth of private higher education institutions, including some set up by big business and branch campuses of overseas universities, to complement public universities. But it has also put in place regulations to ensure that private institutions are of quality and respond to the country's need to produce graduates who can compete globally.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
UK: Mobile networks from human wireless
Humans could form the backbone of powerful new mobile internet networks by carrying wearable sensors, according to researchers at Queen's University in Belfast. The researchers say the novel human sensors could create new ultra-high bandwidth mobile internet infrastructures and reduce the density of mobile phone base stations.
Full report on the University World News site:
AFRICA: New plant health centre of excellence
Munyaradzi Makoni
Trade opportunities for African countries are set to increase, along with improved cross-border surveillance of pests and diseases, with the creation of a Centre of Phytosanitary Excellence for Africa to prevent the introduction and spread of plant pests.
Full report on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Dark chocolate and heart disease
Geoff Maslen
Could this be a chocaholic's dream come true? Research at RMIT University in Melbourne suggests that eating dark chocolate has the potential to reduce the risk factors leading to heart disease.
Full report on the University World News site:
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. Nearly 2,450 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
UK: Home secretary promises immigration crackdown
The UK home secretary, Theresa May, is to end the right to permanent settlement for more than 100,000 skilled workers and overseas students who come to Britain each year, writes Alan Travis for The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Academics warn on dangers of ethics code
Isreal's Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar has proposed a 'code of ethics' on the limits of academic freedom at higher education institutions. But academics say the code would endanger academic freedom, writes Or Kashti for Haaretz.
More on the University World News site:
US: University endowments 'healing' after crisis
University and college endowments in the United States gained an average 13% in the past year, recouping part of their losses from the global financial crisis, reports Gillian Wee for The Sydney Morning Herald.
More on the University World News site:
US: Poll results may mean tighter university budgets
The recent midterm elections in the US - in which the Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives and some key governors' offices - are likely to add to the financial pressures on colleges and universities, writes Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:
MEXICO: Lack of funds puts top university in crisis
The University of Guadalajara, one of Mexico's leading universities, said it has been in a "critical" financial situation for several months because of the Jalisco state government's failure to deliver 701 million pesos ($56.5 million) in funding, reports the Latin American Herald Tribune.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: Universities face thousands of job cuts
Higher Education leaders say funding cuts of more than £150 million (US$244 million) for Scottish universities next year will lead to thousands of job losses, cuts in courses and lasting damage to the sector's international reputation, reports Andrew Denholm for The Herald.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Graduate unemployment rate reaches new high
Unemployment among graduates in the UK is at its highest in nearly two decades as thousands struggle to find work, the Mirror reports. Some 8.9% of those who left university last year (around 21,000) were without a job six months later as graduates suffered from the effects of the recession, according to a study by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Over-50s targeted to boost PhD numbers
Students pursuing their degree or PhD at higher learning institutions after reaching the age of 50 may enjoy free or reduced tuition fee under a proposal by the higher education ministry, reports the official news agency Bernama.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Universities in China to be recognised
An agreement is in sight for universities in China to be recognised by Malaysia's Higher Education Ministry, writes Joshua Foong for The Star. Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung said the ministry was in the final stages of having several universities and higher learning institutions in China accredited.
More on the University World News site:
US: Obama leads universities to India
Yale and Duke universities are among dozens of United States colleges that India is recruiting to help educate its population, which has more than 550 million people under the age of 25, reports Bloomberg.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: University divided over PhD award dispute
A former child prodigy who became a mathematics professor at age 24 has been suspended from the University of Manitoba in Canada for protesting its decision to award a PhD to a student who failed to meet the formal requirements, in part because of an anxiety disorder, writes Joseph Brean for the National Post.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: World-first aviation university to open
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa) and the Bangalore-based Subramanya Construction and Development Company (SCDC) signed a joint venture agreement to set up the world's first integrated aviation university and training campus in the Karnataka capital, reports The Hindustan Times.
More on the University World News site:
ISRAEL: Students protest funds for Torah study
Dozens of students came out to demonstrate and burn tyres at Ben-Gurion, Tel Aviv and Hebrew universities last week, to protest the bill that would restore income allowances to yeshiva (Talmudic studies) students, writes Asaf Shtull-Trauring for Haaretz.
More on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Ministry mulls recalling retired lecturers
The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education is considering plans to call back retired lecturers in a bid to address the shortage of staff at colleges as a result of the brain drain, reports Talk Zimbabwe.
More on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Desperate students turn to p rostitution
Desperate students are being forced into p rostitution as the cost of higher education spirals out of reach for the majority of the country's university and college students, reports New Zimbabwe.
More on the University World News site:
US: More high market value courses on the web
Until recently, if you wanted to take Professor Rebecca Henderson's course in advanced strategy to understand the long-term roots of successful companies, you needed to be a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Henderson taught at the prestigious Sloan School of Management, writes DD Guttenplan for the New York Times.
More on the University World News site:
Sunday, 31 October 2010
University World News 0144 - 31st October 2010
This week's highlights
In this week's edition ZOFEEN T EBRAHIM interviews the former chairman of Pakistan's Higher Education Commission, Atta-ur-Rahman, about heavy pressures facing the sector and its primary regulator. In Features, BRENDAN O'MALLEY reports on the European Universities Association annual conference in Italy, JAN PETTER MYKLEBUST looks at a pilot study into Europe's multi-dimensional global university ranking exercise, and SHARON DELL writes about a South African initiative to strengthen the social sciences and humanities. In the Commentary section, ALEX USHER contemplates the impacts on higher education diversity of the Bologna process, and KEN STEELE probes how and why universities are diversifying their appeal to students.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
GLOBAL: Finland top for affordability, accessibility
Ian R Dobson*
Finland has both the most affordable and accessible system of higher education, according to a study of 17 countries undertaken by Canadian research group Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA). Norway is a close runner-up.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE: University ranking by job success causes stir
Jane Marshall
A ranking of French universities according to their graduates' job prospects has been published by the Ministry for Higher Education and Research and welcomed by Minister Valérie Pécresse. But the exercise has been criticised by a spec ialist in graduate employment rates, the body representing university presidents, and by a national students' federation.
Full report on the University World News site:
PAKISTAN: Commissions lock horns over fake degrees
Ameen Amjad Khan
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan have locked horns over the verification of fake university degrees held by members of the federal and provincial assemblies, as the scandal spread to qualifications obtained at high school.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: Central universities agree to credit transfer
Alya Mishra
In a move that could significantly enhance the mobility and choice of students, central universities across India have agreed to create an inter-university credit transfer system.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRAN: Humanities and social sciences growth freeze
Yojana Sharma and Ramin Namvari
Many Iranian students hoping to stay on to study masters degrees in the humanities and social sciences could be prevented from doing so after the Iranian authorities announced a freeze on approvals for new courses in 12 disciplines, seen by experts as a move to curb university growth in these areas.
Full report on the University World News site:
ISLAMIC STATES: Boosting higher education cooperation
Wagdy Sawahel
The 57 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, have adopted resolutions for promoting a culture of knowledge, scientific research and innovation, according to a declaration made in Kuala Lumpur in October.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: Universities in fix over police removal
Ashraf Khaled
As advocates of university independence celebrate a landmark court ruling ordering the removal of police guards from campuses in Egypt, leaders of government-run universities are considering the costs of recruiting civilian guards.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Academia rejects government reforms
Makki Marseilles
Government proposals for wholesale reform of higher education have generated angry opposition among university rectors and students.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Study abroad continues despite Mexican violence
Sarah King Head
While continued updates to the US State Department's travel advisory were not enough to dissuade American universities and colleges from offering study abroad programmes in Mexico, the tragic death of University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) freshman, Jonathon William Torres Cazares, on 30 September might yet ring their knell.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: Major dispute could lead to lecturer strike
Gilbert Nganga
Kenya's 5,000 lecturers in public universities are locked in a major dispute with the government over the sacking of a union boss by one of the institutions and growing tribalism in employment in state universities. The tussle threatens to erupt into a strike next week, which could paralyse learning in the country's seven public universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Scientists push for deep sea research
Jan Petter Myklebust
Marine and maritime scientists are calling on the member states of the European Union and the institutions of the EU to recognise that "the seas and the oceans are one of the grand challenges for the 21st century".
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE IN THE NEWS
AUSTRALIA: Monash denies Mugabe invitation
Geoff Maslen
Monash University Vice-chancellor Professor Ed Byrne was forced to deny a Melbourne newspaper report last week that one of his senior executives at the university's South African campus had extended an invitation to Zimbabwe's notorious president, Robert Mugabe, to give a lecture to students at Monash's Johannesburg campus.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Mugabe - Man of many degrees
Geoff Maslen
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has been awarded a dozen or more honorary degrees from universities around the world, only to have at least three belatedly removed following widespread protests. Doubts have now surfaced whether he received an honorary doctorate last month from a university in Ecuador, or indeed whether it was bestowed by a 'bogus' bishop.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Plans for two new private universities
Kudzai Mashininga
Two new private universities are on the cards in Zimbabwe, and the projects have been lauded by the government in a country facing a critical shortage of human capital in various sectors of the economy.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Manhunt for 'wanted' student
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwean police have launched a manhunt for a University of Zimbabwe student who faces the death penalty for allegedly plotting a coup against long-time autocratic ruler President Robert Mugabe in 2007. The student was previously released from prison when not tried within the required six months, but a judge has now said he is still a wanted man.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
UK: UCL branch in Qatar to spec ialise in archeology
University College London (UCL) will open a campus in Doha, Qatar, next year which will spec ialise in Arab and Islamic archaeology. The top-ranked university is the first from the UK to open a branch in Qatar.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: New China centre for Oxford
A new centre for the study of China is to be set up at the University of Oxford thanks to a £10 million (US$16 million) gift from the Hong Kong businessman Dickson Poon.
Full report on the University World News site:
UWN INTERVIEW
PAKISTAN: Lack of higher education vision - Rahman
Pakistan's Higher Education Commission is facing the toughest time in its eight-year history, embroiled in the country's fake degrees scandal, facing major government cutbacks to higher education, and dealing with rampant academic plagiarism. ZOFEEN T EBRAHIM talks to the commission's founding chairman, Professor Atta-ur-Rahman, about the unprecedented pressures.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
EUROPE: Universities agree to sharpen profiles
Brendan O'Malley
Universities across Europe are trying to sharpen their distinctive profiles in response to an era of reforms and deep cuts in state spending. But the pursuit of diversity is hindered by simplistic rankings and the Bologna process, the European Universities Association annual conference concluded.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: U-Multirank pilot study underway
Jan Petter Myklebust
While universities were digesting the results of the three major world rankings, the European U-Multirank consortium launched a study into a new multi-dimensional global ranking aimed at comparing similar institutions and programmes in terms of their missions and profiles. This month it announced that 107 institutions from more than 40 countries had joined the study.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Initiative to strengthen liberal arts
Alison Moodie
The South African government has launched an initiative to revive and strengthen the social sciences and humanities in universities. A charter of recommendations, to be published in mid-2011, will put these oft-neglected areas back on the higher education agenda so that students who want a true liberal arts education can get a good one.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
EUROPE: Bologna doesn't have to kill diversity
Alex Usher
Those who fear that diversity in higher education in Europe is under threat from massification, accountability regimes and globalisation have missed the point. More choice can be on offer, but in most cases universities will have to provide it by operating like hypermarchés rather than niche shops.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Knowing your undergraduates
With career-oriented students seeking variety in their university experiences, universities are diversifying their appeal. The downsides are often talked about, but this evolution could well help universities in regions of population decline survive, while offering students clearer choices among a broader range of educational options, writes KEN STEELE in the latest edition of the Canadian journal Academic Matters.
Full report on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
UK: Academic-industry engagement on the rise
Debbie Derry
Academics in the United Kingdom are becoming increasingly engaged with industry, with research activity and funding among the leading motivating factors for the growing and more widely spread involvement. These are among the key findings of surveys of more than 6,000 academics. Respondents had been involved in creating nearly 700 companies in recent years.
Full report on the University World News site:
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
INDIA: University book ban sparks free speech fears
Roisin Joyce*
Writers, filmmakers and social commentators have expressed fear for freedom of speech after the withdrawal of an award-winning book from a university syllabus following pressure from hard-line Hindu activists, AFP reported on 20 October.
More Academic Freedom reports on the University World News site:
FACEBOOK
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. More than 2,400 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
MEXICO: Universities face bankruptcy over pension crisis
Nearly two-thirds of Mexico's 33 public universities could face bankruptcy because of a combined $35-billion shortfall in their pension plans, according to a government study obtained by the newspaper El Universal, writes Marion Lloyd for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: Universities bowed to pressure from private donor
It was a clash at the intersection of private money and public education, with a big-name cast of characters: BlackBerry titan Jim Basillie, Governor General David Johnston and Dr Ramesh Thakur, a former United Nations diplomat renowned as one of the world's leading scholars on peace and security studies, writes Michael Valpy for The Globe and Mail.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: University chiefs push for graduate fee
A policy paper published last week by Universities Scotland, which represents university principals, calls on the Scottish government to take urgent legislative action to introduce a graduate contribution scheme by 2012-13, writes Andrew Denholm for The Herald Scotland.
More on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Moves to identify cheating scientists
Ireland must protect against the "corruption of the scientific literature" caused by researchers who might cheat when delivering their results. Failure to do so could put people at risk and also damage the country's reputation abroad for high quality scientific work, reports Dick Ahlstrom for The Irish Times.
More on the University World News site:
ETHIOPIA: Ministry lifts ban on distance education
Ethiopia's Federal Ministry of Education has lifted its ban on distance education, after a one-and-a-half month long negotiation with private institutions ended last week in agreement, reports Daily Ethiopia.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Public universities to have more PhDs
The Malaysian government will increase the number of academic staff with doctoral qualifications in public institutions of higher learning to enable easier recognition abroad, reports New Straits Times.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Indian provider to set up global university
India's Manipal Education will invest about RM650 million (US$209 million) over the next five years to establish the Manipal International University (MIU) in Kuala Lumpur, reports Malaysia's official news agency Bernama.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: Large group of university chiefs to visit India
The largest delegation of Canadian university presidents ever to travel abroad - and the largest delegation of university presidents ever welcomed by India - will undertake a seven-day mission in India in November, writes Paul Davidson for The Vancouver Sun.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Urgent need to deregulate higher education
India's National Knowledge Commission chairman Sam Pitroda last week stressed the need to deregulate education, calling it the need of the hour, reports India Edunews.
More on the University World News site:
UK: LSE raises spectre of private universities
Some of Britain's leading universities could consider going private if the government decides to retain a cap on tuition fees - potentially pricing students out of the market, writes Richard Garner for The Independent.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Record rush to beat fees rise
An unprecedented 74,234 candidates had completed applications for courses beginning in the autumn of 2011, more than ever before at such an early stage, writes Tim Ross for The Telegraph. Up to 220,000 candidates could be left without places next summer if the 4.2% year-on-year rise in applications continues, topping the record 210,000 students who missed places this year.
More on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Elite universities warn of threat to quality
The academic integrity and international competitiveness of Australia's universities face being seriously compromised, writes Julie Hare for The Australian. This would occur if the government goes ahead with plans to approve thousands of additional student places without a corresponding boost to the sector's funding.
More on the University World News site:
EAST AFRICA: Low quality universities hinder growth
The poor quality of university education in the East African Community (EAC) is eating away the region's skills base, adding a fresh layer of challenge to the bloc's quest for faster growth and the dream of integration, writes Mwaura Kimani for Business Daily.
More on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Student body calls for free tuition in 2011
All school-leavers should have free university education from 2011, the South African Students Congress (Sasco) said last week, reports Sapa. "There must be no students that will be excluded on the basis that they cannot afford or they owe fees," Sasco president Mbulelo Mandlana told reporters in Johannesburg.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: University mulls centre for Pakistan studies
The Panjab University (PU) in north India is considering setting up a centre for Pakistan studies for the systematic study of India's relations with its neighbour.
More on the University World News site:
In this week's edition ZOFEEN T EBRAHIM interviews the former chairman of Pakistan's Higher Education Commission, Atta-ur-Rahman, about heavy pressures facing the sector and its primary regulator. In Features, BRENDAN O'MALLEY reports on the European Universities Association annual conference in Italy, JAN PETTER MYKLEBUST looks at a pilot study into Europe's multi-dimensional global university ranking exercise, and SHARON DELL writes about a South African initiative to strengthen the social sciences and humanities. In the Commentary section, ALEX USHER contemplates the impacts on higher education diversity of the Bologna process, and KEN STEELE probes how and why universities are diversifying their appeal to students.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
GLOBAL: Finland top for affordability, accessibility
Ian R Dobson*
Finland has both the most affordable and accessible system of higher education, according to a study of 17 countries undertaken by Canadian research group Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA). Norway is a close runner-up.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE: University ranking by job success causes stir
Jane Marshall
A ranking of French universities according to their graduates' job prospects has been published by the Ministry for Higher Education and Research and welcomed by Minister Valérie Pécresse. But the exercise has been criticised by a spec ialist in graduate employment rates, the body representing university presidents, and by a national students' federation.
Full report on the University World News site:
PAKISTAN: Commissions lock horns over fake degrees
Ameen Amjad Khan
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan have locked horns over the verification of fake university degrees held by members of the federal and provincial assemblies, as the scandal spread to qualifications obtained at high school.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: Central universities agree to credit transfer
Alya Mishra
In a move that could significantly enhance the mobility and choice of students, central universities across India have agreed to create an inter-university credit transfer system.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRAN: Humanities and social sciences growth freeze
Yojana Sharma and Ramin Namvari
Many Iranian students hoping to stay on to study masters degrees in the humanities and social sciences could be prevented from doing so after the Iranian authorities announced a freeze on approvals for new courses in 12 disciplines, seen by experts as a move to curb university growth in these areas.
Full report on the University World News site:
ISLAMIC STATES: Boosting higher education cooperation
Wagdy Sawahel
The 57 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, have adopted resolutions for promoting a culture of knowledge, scientific research and innovation, according to a declaration made in Kuala Lumpur in October.
Full report on the University World News site:
EGYPT: Universities in fix over police removal
Ashraf Khaled
As advocates of university independence celebrate a landmark court ruling ordering the removal of police guards from campuses in Egypt, leaders of government-run universities are considering the costs of recruiting civilian guards.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Academia rejects government reforms
Makki Marseilles
Government proposals for wholesale reform of higher education have generated angry opposition among university rectors and students.
Full report on the University World News site:
US: Study abroad continues despite Mexican violence
Sarah King Head
While continued updates to the US State Department's travel advisory were not enough to dissuade American universities and colleges from offering study abroad programmes in Mexico, the tragic death of University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) freshman, Jonathon William Torres Cazares, on 30 September might yet ring their knell.
Full report on the University World News site:
KENYA: Major dispute could lead to lecturer strike
Gilbert Nganga
Kenya's 5,000 lecturers in public universities are locked in a major dispute with the government over the sacking of a union boss by one of the institutions and growing tribalism in employment in state universities. The tussle threatens to erupt into a strike next week, which could paralyse learning in the country's seven public universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Scientists push for deep sea research
Jan Petter Myklebust
Marine and maritime scientists are calling on the member states of the European Union and the institutions of the EU to recognise that "the seas and the oceans are one of the grand challenges for the 21st century".
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE IN THE NEWS
AUSTRALIA: Monash denies Mugabe invitation
Geoff Maslen
Monash University Vice-chancellor Professor Ed Byrne was forced to deny a Melbourne newspaper report last week that one of his senior executives at the university's South African campus had extended an invitation to Zimbabwe's notorious president, Robert Mugabe, to give a lecture to students at Monash's Johannesburg campus.
Full report on the University World News site:
GLOBAL: Mugabe - Man of many degrees
Geoff Maslen
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has been awarded a dozen or more honorary degrees from universities around the world, only to have at least three belatedly removed following widespread protests. Doubts have now surfaced whether he received an honorary doctorate last month from a university in Ecuador, or indeed whether it was bestowed by a 'bogus' bishop.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Plans for two new private universities
Kudzai Mashininga
Two new private universities are on the cards in Zimbabwe, and the projects have been lauded by the government in a country facing a critical shortage of human capital in various sectors of the economy.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Manhunt for 'wanted' student
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwean police have launched a manhunt for a University of Zimbabwe student who faces the death penalty for allegedly plotting a coup against long-time autocratic ruler President Robert Mugabe in 2007. The student was previously released from prison when not tried within the required six months, but a judge has now said he is still a wanted man.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
UK: UCL branch in Qatar to spec ialise in archeology
University College London (UCL) will open a campus in Doha, Qatar, next year which will spec ialise in Arab and Islamic archaeology. The top-ranked university is the first from the UK to open a branch in Qatar.
Full report on the University World News site:
UK: New China centre for Oxford
A new centre for the study of China is to be set up at the University of Oxford thanks to a £10 million (US$16 million) gift from the Hong Kong businessman Dickson Poon.
Full report on the University World News site:
UWN INTERVIEW
PAKISTAN: Lack of higher education vision - Rahman
Pakistan's Higher Education Commission is facing the toughest time in its eight-year history, embroiled in the country's fake degrees scandal, facing major government cutbacks to higher education, and dealing with rampant academic plagiarism. ZOFEEN T EBRAHIM talks to the commission's founding chairman, Professor Atta-ur-Rahman, about the unprecedented pressures.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
EUROPE: Universities agree to sharpen profiles
Brendan O'Malley
Universities across Europe are trying to sharpen their distinctive profiles in response to an era of reforms and deep cuts in state spending. But the pursuit of diversity is hindered by simplistic rankings and the Bologna process, the European Universities Association annual conference concluded.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: U-Multirank pilot study underway
Jan Petter Myklebust
While universities were digesting the results of the three major world rankings, the European U-Multirank consortium launched a study into a new multi-dimensional global ranking aimed at comparing similar institutions and programmes in terms of their missions and profiles. This month it announced that 107 institutions from more than 40 countries had joined the study.
Full report on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Initiative to strengthen liberal arts
Alison Moodie
The South African government has launched an initiative to revive and strengthen the social sciences and humanities in universities. A charter of recommendations, to be published in mid-2011, will put these oft-neglected areas back on the higher education agenda so that students who want a true liberal arts education can get a good one.
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
EUROPE: Bologna doesn't have to kill diversity
Alex Usher
Those who fear that diversity in higher education in Europe is under threat from massification, accountability regimes and globalisation have missed the point. More choice can be on offer, but in most cases universities will have to provide it by operating like hypermarchés rather than niche shops.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Knowing your undergraduates
With career-oriented students seeking variety in their university experiences, universities are diversifying their appeal. The downsides are often talked about, but this evolution could well help universities in regions of population decline survive, while offering students clearer choices among a broader range of educational options, writes KEN STEELE in the latest edition of the Canadian journal Academic Matters.
Full report on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
UK: Academic-industry engagement on the rise
Debbie Derry
Academics in the United Kingdom are becoming increasingly engaged with industry, with research activity and funding among the leading motivating factors for the growing and more widely spread involvement. These are among the key findings of surveys of more than 6,000 academics. Respondents had been involved in creating nearly 700 companies in recent years.
Full report on the University World News site:
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
INDIA: University book ban sparks free speech fears
Roisin Joyce*
Writers, filmmakers and social commentators have expressed fear for freedom of speech after the withdrawal of an award-winning book from a university syllabus following pressure from hard-line Hindu activists, AFP reported on 20 October.
More Academic Freedom reports on the University World News site:
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. More than 2,400 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
MEXICO: Universities face bankruptcy over pension crisis
Nearly two-thirds of Mexico's 33 public universities could face bankruptcy because of a combined $35-billion shortfall in their pension plans, according to a government study obtained by the newspaper El Universal, writes Marion Lloyd for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: Universities bowed to pressure from private donor
It was a clash at the intersection of private money and public education, with a big-name cast of characters: BlackBerry titan Jim Basillie, Governor General David Johnston and Dr Ramesh Thakur, a former United Nations diplomat renowned as one of the world's leading scholars on peace and security studies, writes Michael Valpy for The Globe and Mail.
More on the University World News site:
SCOTLAND: University chiefs push for graduate fee
A policy paper published last week by Universities Scotland, which represents university principals, calls on the Scottish government to take urgent legislative action to introduce a graduate contribution scheme by 2012-13, writes Andrew Denholm for The Herald Scotland.
More on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Moves to identify cheating scientists
Ireland must protect against the "corruption of the scientific literature" caused by researchers who might cheat when delivering their results. Failure to do so could put people at risk and also damage the country's reputation abroad for high quality scientific work, reports Dick Ahlstrom for The Irish Times.
More on the University World News site:
ETHIOPIA: Ministry lifts ban on distance education
Ethiopia's Federal Ministry of Education has lifted its ban on distance education, after a one-and-a-half month long negotiation with private institutions ended last week in agreement, reports Daily Ethiopia.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Public universities to have more PhDs
The Malaysian government will increase the number of academic staff with doctoral qualifications in public institutions of higher learning to enable easier recognition abroad, reports New Straits Times.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Indian provider to set up global university
India's Manipal Education will invest about RM650 million (US$209 million) over the next five years to establish the Manipal International University (MIU) in Kuala Lumpur, reports Malaysia's official news agency Bernama.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: Large group of university chiefs to visit India
The largest delegation of Canadian university presidents ever to travel abroad - and the largest delegation of university presidents ever welcomed by India - will undertake a seven-day mission in India in November, writes Paul Davidson for The Vancouver Sun.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Urgent need to deregulate higher education
India's National Knowledge Commission chairman Sam Pitroda last week stressed the need to deregulate education, calling it the need of the hour, reports India Edunews.
More on the University World News site:
UK: LSE raises spectre of private universities
Some of Britain's leading universities could consider going private if the government decides to retain a cap on tuition fees - potentially pricing students out of the market, writes Richard Garner for The Independent.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Record rush to beat fees rise
An unprecedented 74,234 candidates had completed applications for courses beginning in the autumn of 2011, more than ever before at such an early stage, writes Tim Ross for The Telegraph. Up to 220,000 candidates could be left without places next summer if the 4.2% year-on-year rise in applications continues, topping the record 210,000 students who missed places this year.
More on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: Elite universities warn of threat to quality
The academic integrity and international competitiveness of Australia's universities face being seriously compromised, writes Julie Hare for The Australian. This would occur if the government goes ahead with plans to approve thousands of additional student places without a corresponding boost to the sector's funding.
More on the University World News site:
EAST AFRICA: Low quality universities hinder growth
The poor quality of university education in the East African Community (EAC) is eating away the region's skills base, adding a fresh layer of challenge to the bloc's quest for faster growth and the dream of integration, writes Mwaura Kimani for Business Daily.
More on the University World News site:
SOUTH AFRICA: Student body calls for free tuition in 2011
All school-leavers should have free university education from 2011, the South African Students Congress (Sasco) said last week, reports Sapa. "There must be no students that will be excluded on the basis that they cannot afford or they owe fees," Sasco president Mbulelo Mandlana told reporters in Johannesburg.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: University mulls centre for Pakistan studies
The Panjab University (PU) in north India is considering setting up a centre for Pakistan studies for the systematic study of India's relations with its neighbour.
More on the University World News site:
Sunday, 24 October 2010
University World News 0144 - 24th October 2010
This week's highlights
In Commentary, LUCY JAMES argues that universities must support students to challenge extreme Islamist ideologies on campus in order to protect freedom of speech; WIN MIN says if the Burmese election on November is rigged, there will be no protests this time because the student movement has been elaborately silenced; and JOEL DUFFY says cash-strapped universities should not be using public money to pay private lobbyists to put their case to government. In Features, KENCHO WANGDI, tracks the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan's attempts to become a higher education hub. And in Business, GEOFF MASLEN reports on the pitfalls for negotiators of misunderstanding cultural differences in body language.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
UK: Massive cuts raise spectre of student outflux
Diane Spencer and Brendan O'Malley
The coalition government is cutting the higher education budget by 40%. The budget will be reduced from £7.1 billion to £4.2 billion (US$11.2 billion to US$6.6 billion) by 2014-15. The scale of the cuts, and the possibility of tuition fees being driven up to compensate if the fee cap for UK students is raised, have left some European university leaders rubbing their hands with glee at the heightened prospect of enticing UK students abroad.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Reforms may usher in privatisation
Makki Marseilles
Universities are facing radical reforms with the emphasis on attracting private funds and reducing the state's financial commitment to higher education in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the liberation of the country from the Ottoman Empire in 1821.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Universities agree PhD reform principles
Brendan O'Malley and Cayley Dobie
Higher education institutions must develop a critical mass and diversity of research to offer high-quality doctoral education. University structures dedicated to doctoral education should be developing ways that strengthen the research environment rather than simply creating more taught courses for doctoral candidates, the European Association of Universities (EUA) warned this week.
Full report on the University World News site:
LATIN AMERICA: Micro-loans widen students' options
Eileen Travers
Students in Latin America and the Middle East discovered a new way to help pay tuition fees last month, as an innovative micro-loan organisation launched a one-year pilot programme in Bolivia, Lebanon, and Paraguay to make it easier for them to pursue a university education.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: EU patent plan could boost research
Jan Petter Myklebust
The EU presidency is seeking to resolve the sensitive question of what languages should be used to write European patents, which could have a knock-on effect of encouraging more research innovation in European universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Premier vows to tackle student concerns
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has asked for a grace period to address student grievances, in a move that ended a countrywide class boycott following protests that saw eight student union members arrested last week.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Universities woo maths students
John Walshe
Irish universities have bowed to political and business pressures and agreed to give additional 'weighting' to higher level mathematics in the secondary schools' Leaving Certificate examination - but they are not convinced it will do much to boost the numbers taking maths at the higher level.
Full report on University World News site:
VIETNAM-AFRICA: Promoting research, consultancy links
Mike Ives
As China builds on five decades of humanitarian projects in Africa, Vietnam is following suit by promoting new research and consulting partnerships with African allies. Officials recently announced that they were sending educational, medical and agricultural consultants to Africa and encouraging African students and researchers to visit Vietnam.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: History research shines in bleak humanities landscape
Alya Mishra
Universities in India have been unable to produce high quality research in the arts, humanities and social sciences, according to the 'Arts and Humanities Research Mapping, India' report. However some world class research is being carried out in autonomous research centres, often funded by philanthropic bodies and India has pockets of research strength such as in history where "the exploration of new fields of research and of new historical sources", have bourne fruit.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE: HEC Paris ties knot with Asian arts museum
Jane Marshall
Two prestigious French institutions have formed an unusual partnership to promote understanding of Asia. Leading business school HEC Paris and the Guimet Museum of Asian Arts have signed a three-year agreement, under which museum experts will teach courses centred on the museum's collections.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
AFRICA: Most countries miss gender in universities MDG
Most African nations are likely to miss the Millennium Development Goal of achieving gender parity in tertiary education by 2015, a new report has said. But it noted that in three of nine African countries reviewed, more women now access university education than their male counterparts.
Full report on University World News site:
EU: Commission pushes for more translators
MJ Deschamps
The European Commission is encouraging universities to join its European Masters in Translation (EMT) university network as part of its new aim to encourage more European universities to offer high-quality courses for students who want to work as translators. The move is in response to a growing shortage of properly qualified translators in the job market.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
BHUTAN: Future higher education hub of Asia?
Kencho Wangdi
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is renowned for its untouched mountainous beauty. It is also known for its political innovation: its tobacco sales ban and its use of 'gross national happiness country' as a yardstick for development, for example. But could it soon become known as a higher education hub of Asia?
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
GLOBAL: Islamist extremism must be challenged
The propagation of extreme Islamist ideologies at universities can push students towards terrorism and have a damaging effect on cohesion on campuses, so universities must support students who challenge them, says LUCY JAMES, author of a new study on the threat of radicalisation.
Full report on the University World News site:
BURMA Elections: The students have been silenced
The 1988 student protests in Rangoon led to a mass uprising and the emergence of Aung San Suu Kyi as Opposition leader. Burmese students also initiated the 2007 demonstrations — and monks took their place when they were arrested. But, former student activist Win Min argues, the military will take any measures necessary to avoid losing the election on 7 November.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Keep public funds away from the lobbyists
Joel Duff*
Evidence of public college and university administrations using taxpayers' money to hire private lobbyists surfaced earlier this month in Canada's largest province, Ontario. The controversy fuelled a heated debate that began weeks before when similar evidence implicated public hospitals, leading the Ontario government to pledge to legislate a ban on public institutions hiring private lobbyists.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
AUSTRALIA: Saving cancer patients from starvation
Geoff Maslen
It is like watching someone starve to death: sometimes slowly, sometimes so quickly as to be shocking in its suddenness but always dreadfully painful to the sufferers and their relatives. Half the people dying with cancer lose weight and their muscles waste away until a significant proportion of their body mass has gone. This is the impact of a condition called cancer cachexia, from the Greek meaning 'bad condition'.
Full report on the University World News site:
SWEDEN: A richer, greener, smaller alpine world
Alpine plant life is proliferating, biodiversity is on the rise and the mountain world appears more productive and inviting than ever, says Swedish biologist Leif Kullman in a paper published in A Journal of the Human Environment*.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY: A solution to the kilogram headache
The kilogram is a massive headache for scientists, writes Geoff Brumfiel in a news item in the latest issue of Nature,com. It is officially defined as the mass of a 122-year-old cylinder of platinum and iridium, kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris. But the cylinder's mass seems to be changing as it ages, prompting several groups of scientists to seek a replacement.
Full report on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
GLOBAL: Beat the body language barrier
Geoff Maslen
Clear cultural differences have been detected between the body language used by Western and Asian negotiators. Understanding them will prevent negotiators from inadvertently sending the wrong signals to their opponents, according to research by Wendi L Adair, an associate professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Full report on the University World News site:
FACEBOOK
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. More than 2,400 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
NEW ZEALAND: Plan to raise entrance bar
New proposals have been made to lift the bar for university entrance as universities clamp down on domestic enrolments, with government funding caps keeping growth down, writes Antonio Bradley for The Dominion Post.
More on the University World News site:
UAE: Academic City turns down 25 universities
Dubai International Academic City has turned down 25 applications from international universities to set up their branch campuses in the Tecom Investment's Education Cluster because they failed to meet best practices and international standards, reports Muaz Shabandri for Khaleej Times.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: LSE to help set up top universities
The London School of Economics will collaborate with the Reliance Foundation, run by the promoters of India's largest corporate house, in setting up world-class universities in the South Asian nation, reports the Economic Times.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: Panel says name and shame fakers
A blue-ribbon panel says Canadian academics found to have faked data, plagiarised and engaged in serious misconduct should be named publicly, reports Margaret Munro for Postmedia News. In a report slated for release last week, the panel said action was needed to fill serious gaps in how Canada dealt with misconduct involving research and studies paid for by taxpayers.
More on the University World News site:
US: Universities pursue ties with schools in Mexico
The leaders of the nation's most prestigious universities are reaching out to their counterparts in Mexico, saying more partnerships between the two countries could help with some of the border's most intractable problems, reports Jeannie Kever for The Houston Chronicle.
More on the University World News site:
NORTH AMERICA: Big drop in maths skills of students
The mathematics skills of students entering Canadian and North American universities have declined sharply in recent years, with many students unable to do basic arithmetic. Educators are divided on how much it matters, writes Anne Kershaw for University Affairs.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Foreign intake to be hiked
The Higher Education Ministry is confident that the targeted increased intake of foreign students will help spur the economy, reports The Star. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the ministry is targeting an intake of 150,000 foreign students into Malaysia's public and private higher learning institutions by 2015.
More on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: High drop-out rates cost $1.4 billion
Student attrition in Australia's universities comes at a cost of more than $1.4 billion (US$1.36 billion) a year, or an average of $36 million (US$35.2 million) an institution. A new study of 12 universities found attrition rates ranged from a low of 9.7% to a high of 24.2%, with an average of 17%, reports The Australian.
More on the University World News site:
BRAZIL: Affirmative action on the rise
Affirmative action programmes have spread rapidly across Brazil's higher education institutions. Afro-Brazilians seeking a university education now have access to opportunities that were unreachable just decades ago, writes Amy Erica Smith for Americas Quarterly. A recent study by the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro found that 70% of Brazil's public universities - both federal and state - have adopted some form of affirmative action.
More on the University World News site:
US: Blacks, Hispanics trail in higher education
Higher education attainment rates for college-aged African-Americans and Hispanics have dropped across the board, according to a report, Minorities in higher education 2010, from the American Council on Education, a nonprofit that represents college leaders, writes Skyler McKinley for Youth Today.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Supermarket to pay student fees
A supermarket chain says it will pay for students' university fees if they enrol in a degree course it is sponsoring, heralding a new era of commercialisation in England's university system, writes Jessica Shepherd for The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: New red tape upsets universities
A newly formed association of universities has criticised several proposed laws to reform higher education, saying they would 'over-regulate' the sector and undermine the autonomy of institutes, reports The Telegraph. Among the bills the Indian Council of Universities (ICU) has opposed is the educational tribunals bill, which seeks to set up spec ialised tribunals to adjudicate disputes in higher educational institutions.
More on the University World News site:
SOUTH KOREA: Too many graduates for too few jobs
Well-educated graduates are struggling to find decent jobs amid concerns of a mismatch between industry and academia, reports Korea's JoongAng Daily. According to an OECD report this month, Korea has one of the lowest employment rates for college-educated people out of its 33 member countries, with only 77.1% of college graduates in 2008 gaining employment.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Move to improve staff training
With the aim of improving professionalism in the management of universities and colleges, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines on "training and development of academic administrators in higher education", reports The Times of India. It is argued that quality of education has taken a toll as teachers, besides performing primary task of teaching and research, are also discharging duties as deans, proctors, provosts, exam controllers, principals, department heads.
More on the University World news site:
SRI LANKA: 15 private universities on the way
Providing educational opportunities to all students is behind a move to set up 15 private universities in Sri Lanka, reports Hiran H Senewiratne for The Island, with 20% of seats of each university having to accommodate Sri Lankan students on a scholarship basis.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Minister defends ban on Mistry novel
Chief minister
The Times of India last week justified the Mumbai University's decision to withdraw Rohinton Mistry's novel Such a long journey on the grounds that it contained "very bad language", reports Prafulla Marpakwar for The Times of India.
More on the University World News site:
In Commentary, LUCY JAMES argues that universities must support students to challenge extreme Islamist ideologies on campus in order to protect freedom of speech; WIN MIN says if the Burmese election on November is rigged, there will be no protests this time because the student movement has been elaborately silenced; and JOEL DUFFY says cash-strapped universities should not be using public money to pay private lobbyists to put their case to government. In Features, KENCHO WANGDI, tracks the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan's attempts to become a higher education hub. And in Business, GEOFF MASLEN reports on the pitfalls for negotiators of misunderstanding cultural differences in body language.
NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report
UK: Massive cuts raise spectre of student outflux
Diane Spencer and Brendan O'Malley
The coalition government is cutting the higher education budget by 40%. The budget will be reduced from £7.1 billion to £4.2 billion (US$11.2 billion to US$6.6 billion) by 2014-15. The scale of the cuts, and the possibility of tuition fees being driven up to compensate if the fee cap for UK students is raised, have left some European university leaders rubbing their hands with glee at the heightened prospect of enticing UK students abroad.
Full report on the University World News site:
GREECE: Reforms may usher in privatisation
Makki Marseilles
Universities are facing radical reforms with the emphasis on attracting private funds and reducing the state's financial commitment to higher education in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the liberation of the country from the Ottoman Empire in 1821.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: Universities agree PhD reform principles
Brendan O'Malley and Cayley Dobie
Higher education institutions must develop a critical mass and diversity of research to offer high-quality doctoral education. University structures dedicated to doctoral education should be developing ways that strengthen the research environment rather than simply creating more taught courses for doctoral candidates, the European Association of Universities (EUA) warned this week.
Full report on the University World News site:
LATIN AMERICA: Micro-loans widen students' options
Eileen Travers
Students in Latin America and the Middle East discovered a new way to help pay tuition fees last month, as an innovative micro-loan organisation launched a one-year pilot programme in Bolivia, Lebanon, and Paraguay to make it easier for them to pursue a university education.
Full report on the University World News site:
EUROPE: EU patent plan could boost research
Jan Petter Myklebust
The EU presidency is seeking to resolve the sensitive question of what languages should be used to write European patents, which could have a knock-on effect of encouraging more research innovation in European universities.
Full report on the University World News site:
ZIMBABWE: Premier vows to tackle student concerns
Kudzai Mashininga
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has asked for a grace period to address student grievances, in a move that ended a countrywide class boycott following protests that saw eight student union members arrested last week.
Full report on the University World News site:
IRELAND: Universities woo maths students
John Walshe
Irish universities have bowed to political and business pressures and agreed to give additional 'weighting' to higher level mathematics in the secondary schools' Leaving Certificate examination - but they are not convinced it will do much to boost the numbers taking maths at the higher level.
Full report on University World News site:
VIETNAM-AFRICA: Promoting research, consultancy links
Mike Ives
As China builds on five decades of humanitarian projects in Africa, Vietnam is following suit by promoting new research and consulting partnerships with African allies. Officials recently announced that they were sending educational, medical and agricultural consultants to Africa and encouraging African students and researchers to visit Vietnam.
Full report on the University World News site:
INDIA: History research shines in bleak humanities landscape
Alya Mishra
Universities in India have been unable to produce high quality research in the arts, humanities and social sciences, according to the 'Arts and Humanities Research Mapping, India' report. However some world class research is being carried out in autonomous research centres, often funded by philanthropic bodies and India has pockets of research strength such as in history where "the exploration of new fields of research and of new historical sources", have bourne fruit.
Full report on the University World News site:
FRANCE: HEC Paris ties knot with Asian arts museum
Jane Marshall
Two prestigious French institutions have formed an unusual partnership to promote understanding of Asia. Leading business school HEC Paris and the Guimet Museum of Asian Arts have signed a three-year agreement, under which museum experts will teach courses centred on the museum's collections.
Full report on the University World News site:
NEWSBRIEFS
AFRICA: Most countries miss gender in universities MDG
Most African nations are likely to miss the Millennium Development Goal of achieving gender parity in tertiary education by 2015, a new report has said. But it noted that in three of nine African countries reviewed, more women now access university education than their male counterparts.
Full report on University World News site:
EU: Commission pushes for more translators
MJ Deschamps
The European Commission is encouraging universities to join its European Masters in Translation (EMT) university network as part of its new aim to encourage more European universities to offer high-quality courses for students who want to work as translators. The move is in response to a growing shortage of properly qualified translators in the job market.
Full report on the University World News site:
FEATURES
BHUTAN: Future higher education hub of Asia?
Kencho Wangdi
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is renowned for its untouched mountainous beauty. It is also known for its political innovation: its tobacco sales ban and its use of 'gross national happiness country' as a yardstick for development, for example. But could it soon become known as a higher education hub of Asia?
Full report on the University World News site:
COMMENTARY
GLOBAL: Islamist extremism must be challenged
The propagation of extreme Islamist ideologies at universities can push students towards terrorism and have a damaging effect on cohesion on campuses, so universities must support students who challenge them, says LUCY JAMES, author of a new study on the threat of radicalisation.
Full report on the University World News site:
BURMA Elections: The students have been silenced
The 1988 student protests in Rangoon led to a mass uprising and the emergence of Aung San Suu Kyi as Opposition leader. Burmese students also initiated the 2007 demonstrations — and monks took their place when they were arrested. But, former student activist Win Min argues, the military will take any measures necessary to avoid losing the election on 7 November.
Full report on the University World News site:
CANADA: Keep public funds away from the lobbyists
Joel Duff*
Evidence of public college and university administrations using taxpayers' money to hire private lobbyists surfaced earlier this month in Canada's largest province, Ontario. The controversy fuelled a heated debate that began weeks before when similar evidence implicated public hospitals, leading the Ontario government to pledge to legislate a ban on public institutions hiring private lobbyists.
Full report on the University World News site:
SCIENCE SCENE
AUSTRALIA: Saving cancer patients from starvation
Geoff Maslen
It is like watching someone starve to death: sometimes slowly, sometimes so quickly as to be shocking in its suddenness but always dreadfully painful to the sufferers and their relatives. Half the people dying with cancer lose weight and their muscles waste away until a significant proportion of their body mass has gone. This is the impact of a condition called cancer cachexia, from the Greek meaning 'bad condition'.
Full report on the University World News site:
SWEDEN: A richer, greener, smaller alpine world
Alpine plant life is proliferating, biodiversity is on the rise and the mountain world appears more productive and inviting than ever, says Swedish biologist Leif Kullman in a paper published in A Journal of the Human Environment*.
Full report on the University World News site:
GERMANY: A solution to the kilogram headache
The kilogram is a massive headache for scientists, writes Geoff Brumfiel in a news item in the latest issue of Nature,com. It is officially defined as the mass of a 122-year-old cylinder of platinum and iridium, kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris. But the cylinder's mass seems to be changing as it ages, prompting several groups of scientists to seek a replacement.
Full report on the University World News site:
BUSINESS
GLOBAL: Beat the body language barrier
Geoff Maslen
Clear cultural differences have been detected between the body language used by Western and Asian negotiators. Understanding them will prevent negotiators from inadvertently sending the wrong signals to their opponents, according to research by Wendi L Adair, an associate professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Full report on the University World News site:
The Facebook group of University World News is the fastest growing in
higher education worldwide. More than 2,400 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:
WORLD ROUND-UP
NEW ZEALAND: Plan to raise entrance bar
New proposals have been made to lift the bar for university entrance as universities clamp down on domestic enrolments, with government funding caps keeping growth down, writes Antonio Bradley for The Dominion Post.
More on the University World News site:
UAE: Academic City turns down 25 universities
Dubai International Academic City has turned down 25 applications from international universities to set up their branch campuses in the Tecom Investment's Education Cluster because they failed to meet best practices and international standards, reports Muaz Shabandri for Khaleej Times.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: LSE to help set up top universities
The London School of Economics will collaborate with the Reliance Foundation, run by the promoters of India's largest corporate house, in setting up world-class universities in the South Asian nation, reports the Economic Times.
More on the University World News site:
CANADA: Panel says name and shame fakers
A blue-ribbon panel says Canadian academics found to have faked data, plagiarised and engaged in serious misconduct should be named publicly, reports Margaret Munro for Postmedia News. In a report slated for release last week, the panel said action was needed to fill serious gaps in how Canada dealt with misconduct involving research and studies paid for by taxpayers.
More on the University World News site:
US: Universities pursue ties with schools in Mexico
The leaders of the nation's most prestigious universities are reaching out to their counterparts in Mexico, saying more partnerships between the two countries could help with some of the border's most intractable problems, reports Jeannie Kever for The Houston Chronicle.
More on the University World News site:
NORTH AMERICA: Big drop in maths skills of students
The mathematics skills of students entering Canadian and North American universities have declined sharply in recent years, with many students unable to do basic arithmetic. Educators are divided on how much it matters, writes Anne Kershaw for University Affairs.
More on the University World News site:
MALAYSIA: Foreign intake to be hiked
The Higher Education Ministry is confident that the targeted increased intake of foreign students will help spur the economy, reports The Star. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the ministry is targeting an intake of 150,000 foreign students into Malaysia's public and private higher learning institutions by 2015.
More on the University World News site:
AUSTRALIA: High drop-out rates cost $1.4 billion
Student attrition in Australia's universities comes at a cost of more than $1.4 billion (US$1.36 billion) a year, or an average of $36 million (US$35.2 million) an institution. A new study of 12 universities found attrition rates ranged from a low of 9.7% to a high of 24.2%, with an average of 17%, reports The Australian.
More on the University World News site:
BRAZIL: Affirmative action on the rise
Affirmative action programmes have spread rapidly across Brazil's higher education institutions. Afro-Brazilians seeking a university education now have access to opportunities that were unreachable just decades ago, writes Amy Erica Smith for Americas Quarterly. A recent study by the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro found that 70% of Brazil's public universities - both federal and state - have adopted some form of affirmative action.
More on the University World News site:
US: Blacks, Hispanics trail in higher education
Higher education attainment rates for college-aged African-Americans and Hispanics have dropped across the board, according to a report, Minorities in higher education 2010, from the American Council on Education, a nonprofit that represents college leaders, writes Skyler McKinley for Youth Today.
More on the University World News site:
UK: Supermarket to pay student fees
A supermarket chain says it will pay for students' university fees if they enrol in a degree course it is sponsoring, heralding a new era of commercialisation in England's university system, writes Jessica Shepherd for The Guardian.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: New red tape upsets universities
A newly formed association of universities has criticised several proposed laws to reform higher education, saying they would 'over-regulate' the sector and undermine the autonomy of institutes, reports The Telegraph. Among the bills the Indian Council of Universities (ICU) has opposed is the educational tribunals bill, which seeks to set up spec ialised tribunals to adjudicate disputes in higher educational institutions.
More on the University World News site:
SOUTH KOREA: Too many graduates for too few jobs
Well-educated graduates are struggling to find decent jobs amid concerns of a mismatch between industry and academia, reports Korea's JoongAng Daily. According to an OECD report this month, Korea has one of the lowest employment rates for college-educated people out of its 33 member countries, with only 77.1% of college graduates in 2008 gaining employment.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Move to improve staff training
With the aim of improving professionalism in the management of universities and colleges, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines on "training and development of academic administrators in higher education", reports The Times of India. It is argued that quality of education has taken a toll as teachers, besides performing primary task of teaching and research, are also discharging duties as deans, proctors, provosts, exam controllers, principals, department heads.
More on the University World news site:
SRI LANKA: 15 private universities on the way
Providing educational opportunities to all students is behind a move to set up 15 private universities in Sri Lanka, reports Hiran H Senewiratne for The Island, with 20% of seats of each university having to accommodate Sri Lankan students on a scholarship basis.
More on the University World News site:
INDIA: Minister defends ban on Mistry novel
Chief minister
The Times of India last week justified the Mumbai University's decision to withdraw Rohinton Mistry's novel Such a long journey on the grounds that it contained "very bad language", reports Prafulla Marpakwar for The Times of India.
More on the University World News site:
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