British academics and students against economics dogma

LONDON, Nov. 18 (guardian) -- A prominent group of academic economists have backed student protests against neo-classical economics teaching, increasing the pressure on top universities to reform courses that critics argue are dominated by free market theories that ignore the impact of financial crises ... read more

Thousands march in Greece to mark 1973 student uprising

ATHENS, Nov. 17 (CTV) -- Tens of thousands joined peaceful marches through Greece's two biggest cities to commemorate the 40th anniversary of a bloody student uprising against the then dictatorship. The revolt was crushed when a tank stormed through the university's gates in the early hours of Nov. 17, 1973. Most Greeks still blame the U.S. for supporting the 1967-74 military regime ... read more

Czech students commemorate the 17th November

PRAGUE, Nov. 18 (radio prague) -- An event, held at a student dorm in the centre of the capital, commemorate the Nazi oppression of Czech university students in 1939. Speaking at the student halls, Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok told the gathering the legacy of November 17 must be passed on to younger generations ... read more

European Commission and OECD launch website for universities to measure entrepreneurial impact

BRUSSELS, Nov. 18 (4traders) -- The European Commission, together with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is launching a new online self-assessment tool for universities to measure how entrepreneurial they are ... read more

Closer Italian-Chinese university and research cooperation

BEIJING, Nov. 15 (gazzetta) -- 9 agreements on closer cooperation between universities and research organisations in China and Italy have been signed, Italian education minister Maria Chiara Carrozza said ... read more

EU calls Spanish claims on new Erasmus funding 'rubbish'

BRUSSELS, Nov. 12 (euractiv) -- Brussels contradicted the statement sent out by the Spanish education minister José Ignacio Wert, after he suggested that new EU funding criteria will see the number of Spanish Erasmus students reduced by half next year ... read more + video

1 in 7 Swiss students dabbles in ‘smart’ drugs

ZURICH, Nov. 17 (Psych Central) -- A new study shows that one in seven Swiss university students have tried to enhance cognitive performance with prescription medications or drugs.
The researchers report that the substance most used was alcohol, followed by methylphenidate, such as Ritalin, sedatives and soporifics, marijuana, beta-blockers, amphetamines, and cocaine ... read more

A computer academy in France defies conventional wisdom

PARIS, Nov. 15 (NYT) -- There will be no lectures or teachers per se, only group projects and “friendly organisers” wearing T-shirts. No state-sanctioned degree will be awarded, nor must incoming students, ages 18 to 30, be high school graduates. Installed in a refurbished administrative building at the gray edge of Paris, 42 is tuition-free and has sought to attract students from the country’s poorest neighborhoods.
Programming classes start this month. Mr. Niel has put up 70 million Euro for 42’s first decade of operations ... read more

Student protest in Italy, Spain, Sweden, Greece, and Bulgaria

November 15 (BBC) -- Concern over cutbacks to education has sparked a strike by students across Italy in a week of college unrest across the European Union. Scuffles broke out with riot police at some marches as protesters rallied in the capital Rome and cities from Turin in the north to Palermo in the south ... read more

Southern Italian rectors say new law widens national gap

BARI, Nov. 15 (TRE) -- University rectors of Bari - the main city of Puglia in south-eastern Italy - say the hiring freeze and the quota imposed on Italian universities by ministerial decree discriminate the southern regions. The five biggest northern universities alone, including Bologna and Milan, receive 30 percent of all new staff capacities, says Eugenio Di Sciascio, rector of the University of Bari. His and his colleague’s declaration opens the week of student mobilisation and industrial action ... read more

3,000 students study in Turkish universities in Bosnia

SARAJEVO, Nov. 14 (worldbulletin) -- More than 3,000 Turkish students continue their educations at universities established by Turkish investors in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. Besides receiving education, they contribute the economy in the country ... read more

Lecturers at Russia’s top university protest job cuts

MOSCOW, Nov. 14 (rian) -- 46 employees of the Lomonosov Moscow State University have signed up to an open appeal to President Vladimir Putin, asking him to stop the ongoing staff reduction ... read more

EU-wide poll shows public support for responsible research

BRUSSELS, Nov. 14 (EU news) -- A new Eurobarometer survey shows that more than three quarters of Europeans think that science and technology has a positive influence on society. Respondents however also express concern over risks from new technologies ... read more

Jewish theology program unveiled in Germany

POTSDAM, Nov. 13 (dw) -- For the first time in Europe, a state university is offering a course of study in Jewish theology ... read more

Keep quality education at the top of global agenda, says EI

PARIS, Nov. 12 (EI) -- In his statement at the 37th General Conference of UNESCO, held in Paris, the General Secretary of Education International, Fred van Leeuwen, has called for a renewed commitment for universal free quality education to be at the centre of the new global development agenda ... read more

EU budget for the financial year 2014 agreed

BRUSSELS, Nov. 13 (BBC) -- The agreed 2014 EU budget, which is the first under the EU’s new Multiannual Financial Framework, among other things, contains: support for smart and inclusive growth, the research framework programme Horizon 2020, the Youth Employment Initiative, and humanitarian aid ... read more | press release

Hungarian oil and gas industry sponsors universities

BUDAPEST, Nov. 13 (mh) -- In order to launch a science education programme, the major oil and gas company of Hungary, MOL Rt, will support several universities in Budapest with nearly half a billion Forint (1.7 million Euro). The funds are intended to tackle the skills shortages and international recognition of Hungarian graduates ... read more

Swiss university scandal

ZÜRICH, Nov. 11 (NZZ) -- Following an affair of University Zurich professors publishing internal documents about each other, rector Andreas Fischer has stepped down. The affair has triggered a debate about leadership, confidentiality and quality control ... read more

Austerity damages countries’ international scientific aura

November 12 (euroscientist) -- The alarm bells after cuts in higher education and science across Europe are getting louder. Spanish science budgets have ben axed by 40 to 50 percent since 2009. There has been pressure from the Greek government to reduce costs at all levels. And in many countries — particularly in Eastern and Southern Europe — scientists are struggling to be heard ... read more

The new higher education law in Hungary is ready

Surviving the science crisis in Greece

ATHENS, Nov. 12 (science) -- The biologist Varvara Trachana is hardly the only one. Some 750 Greek scientists, at least, have spent a minimum of two years waiting for their salary to be funded so they can start their tenure-track positions at one of the Greek universities ... read more

Is science threatened by a publishing bubble?

TOULOUSE, Nov. 11 (le monde) -- Along with technical progress, scientific journals have become profitable and, being increasingly privatised, have transformed knowledge exchange into a market. An oligopole of five, six big publishing houses handle half of all research articles worldwide. With “Golden Open Access”, they now try to save their overgrown profits and an outdated business model ... read more

Belgian higher education reform: ready for 2014?

BRUSSELS, Nov. 10 (rtbf) -- Last Wednesday, the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium adopted the decree to reform the region’s higher education landscape. Will it be possible to apply the new measures by fall 2014? ... read more

Britain: The privatised life of a student

LONDON, Nov. 11 (marxist) -- Over the next five years students in several departments will have lecture space reduced, in some cases to make way for one of ten ‘Starbucks’ cafes to be placed on campus, the University of London has handed the lease of three of its largest halls over to a private company for the next 35 years ... read more

Scottish independence: Union ‘benefits research community’

LONDON, Nov. 11 (BBC) -- Scotland’s scientific research base could be threatened by a break from the UK, according to Whitehall universities minister David Willetts. The Scottish government dismissed this as “nonsense” ... read more

Belgian universities opposed to Osteopathy

BRUSSELS, Nov. 9 (7sur7) -- The Belgian Society of Osteopathy is surprised that some universities are against the recognition of the discipline in Belgium. While the Minister of Public Health Laurette Onkelinx working on a Royal Decree on osteopathy ... read more

European universities: the breath of austerity

November 9 (mediapart) -- The case of the Greek universities is not unique in Europe. In the last five years, two thirds of the European countries have reduced their higher education budget and the gap between northern and southern regions is growing ... read more

EU signs higher education co-op with South Korea

BRUSSELS, Nov. 8 (EC) -- Following the EU-South Korea Summit, José Barroso, president of the European Commission, confirmed an agreement on enhanced cooperation in higher education and science. It includes joint degrees and joint research, mobility programmes and SME cooperation. An agreement to facilitate the hosting of top-quality South Korean researchers in the EU has been signed as well ... read more

German uni rejects plagiarism allegations against Steinmeier

BERLIN, Nov. 5 (dw) -- A university has rejected allegations against a member of Germany’s center-left Social Democrats who is tipped for a major post in a future grand coalition. Frank-Walter Steinmeier had been accused of plagiarism ... read more

Scottish independence jeopardises science careers

GLASGOW, Nov. 4 (courier) -- Scottish independence endangers science, a group of academics say who campaign to keep the UK together ... read more

European funding is crucial to future of UK universities

LONDON, Nov. 7 (guardian) -- For UK higher education institutions, EU funding provides an additional 15 percent on top of the British research budget, a sum greater than that of all but two of the national research councils. The most recent round of EU funding for research and innovation is estimated at nearly 900,000 additional jobs and a GDP growth of nearly 1 percent ... read more

US student demands five-figure Swedish university refund

VÄSTERÅS, Nov. 6 (the local) -- A mathematics student at Mälardalen University has demanded the central Sweden college repay her tuition of about 20,000 Euro, slamming the organizers for low quality of teaching and such poor logistics that students had to sit on the floor ... read more

EU misses high qualification targets

BRUSSELS, Nov. 5 (UWN) -- The just released Education and Training Monitor 2013 draws on statistics from European Union member countries and recent analyses and policy developments, and finds numerous weaknesses and gaps in the higher education sector in Europe ... read more

US universities violate law by claiming patents

NEW CAROLINA, Nov. 6 (technician) -- Universities across the United States are increasingly trying to claim credit for its researchers’ work. In 2011, a Supreme Court case made it unconstitutional for universities to take credit for patented inventions received by researchers working for that school. However, certain institutions are rewriting their faculty patent rights agreements and claiming that they themselves should own the patents ... read more

University overhaul in Norway postponed

OSLO, Nov. 6 (UWN) -- The process to upgrade colleges to university status in Norway has been suspended because of quality concerns. 4 new universities have been approved since 2003, others planned to merge ... read more

12,000 UK university staff underpaid

LONDON, Nov. 4 (IBT) -- UK universities leave more than 12,000 workers worse off than the Living Wage, according to new research. The National Union of Students and trade union UNISON revealed that more than half of universities - 80 institutions across the UK - pay less than the rate of £7.45 per hour ... read more

Spanish education minister backs down on Erasmus decision

MADRID, Nov. 5 (el país) -- Over a storm of protests, prime minister Mariano Rajoy and his education minister Ignacio Wert had to withdraw the decision to cut Erasmus grants for Spanish students. If they hadn’t, thousands of students abroad would have had to return in the middle of the term ... read more

Turkish prime minister condemns mixed student housing

ISTANBUL, Nov. 4 (Hürriyet) -- Female and male students staying under one roof “is against our conservative, democratic character,” Turkish prime minister Recep Erdoğan said ... read more

14 days of political student protest in Bulgaria

SOFIA, Nov. 4 (sofia globe) -- Groups of students at 15 higher education institutions in Bulgaria are now involved in the anti-government protests that began two weeks ago at Sofia University and that have won widespread public support in the country. According to a poll, 60 percent of Bulgarians support the protests demanding the resignation of the Bulgarian Socialist Party government, new elections and moral reforms ... read more

Ankara’s Middle East Technical University under fire

ANKARA, Nov. 4 (Hürriyet) -- The Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in Ankara has become a target because of polarisation in society, says rector Ahmet Acar. It is not the first time the university has clashed with authorities because faculty or students have voiced critical views on social or political issues such as the new education law. Some people would like to see ODTÜ as a symbol of opposition, some see it as the target that should be fought against. But it is just a university, Acar says, not a political party ... read more

Germany: Acute student housing crisis

UK Parliament experiences a Big Bang before bonfire night

LONDON, Nov. 4 (E&T) -- Pupils and businesses from across the UK brought a slice of The Big Bang Fair – Europe’s largest science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) event for young people – to Parliament today ... read more

Icelandic universities request raising of fees

REYKJAVÍK, Nov. 1 (IR) -- State universities in Iceland have requested an increase in registration fees, education minister Illugi Gunnarsson said. Universities are authorised to collect fees from its students to cover registration and other services which do not fall under research and teaching ... read more

Bulgarian students for political change

SOFIA, Nov. 1 (reuters) -- Students with bandages over their eyes take part in a demonstration in front of the parliament in Sofia today. Over a thousand students, lecturers and supporters took part in the rally, also marking the National Enlighteners Day ... read more

Universities should share in favour of the poor

ITHAKA, NEW YORK, Oct. 28 (cornell chronicle) -- Universities should share discoveries crucial to combating diseases plaguing people in poverty, assert two Cornell scientists. They are calling for academia to loosen its focus on patent protection to solve global health threats ... read more

MOOCs try to reinvent the wheel

October 31 (vator) -- Through a partnership with the U.S. Department of State, the internat platform Coursera is going to offer a set of physical spaces called Learning Hubs ... read more

EU funds research on resource efficiency

BRUSSELS, Oct. 31 (EU) -- The European Commission has approved €40 million for 14 new research projects to shape a more resource-efficient economy in Europe. Over 140 partners from research organisations and private companies are involved ... read more

Moscow region governor resigns from university post, avoiding plagiarism charges

MOSCOW, Oct. 29 (moscow times) -- Governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov resigned from his position at the Higher School of Economics two days before an investigation into allegations of plagiarism was set to begin. An investigation group found 2/3 of his doctoral thesis containing plagiarised material ... read more

What causes the decline of language courses in the UK

BRUSSELS, Oct. 31 (ACA) -- A new analysis by the Guardian shows that the trend of UK universities to close down Modern Languages departments continues. Many closed down their ML departments over the past 15 years and this trend has even accelerated since 2007. Compared to six years ago, there are 29 percent fewer courses in French and German, 15 % fewer for Italian ... read more

Arrested development at Italian universities

FLORENCE, Oct. 29 (repubblica) -- Rigid performance indicators such as low debts and low expenditures force Italian universities to employ less and cheaper lecturers and make elder faculty work overtime. In Siena, professors will have to work 120 instead of 90 annual hours of lessons ... read more

Global Employability University Ranking 2013

October 28 (THE) -- The University of Oxford has topped an annual global ranking measuring universities performance on graduate employability. US universities dominate the table, but the performance of smaller northern European countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries had surprised this year ... read more

Challenges for university policy in Lithuania

VILNIUS, Oct. 29 (lithuania tribune) -- The Lithuanian system of higher education should be diversified so as to match students’ potential talents with the university offerings, Jo Ritzen said at the European Investment Bank (EIB) institute roundtable ‘The Future of Higher Education’ in Vilnius ... read more

Scottish unis warn of funding gap with European rivals

EDINBURGH, Oct. 28 (herald) -- The Scottish Government confirmed that it will invest some £1.06 billion in the higher education sector in 2014/15. This represents an increase on the previous year of 1.8 percent, but still is a fall in real terms when inflation is factored in ... read more

Millionaires are engineers

LONDON, Oct. 28 (funds europe) -- Millionaires are more likely to hold a degree in engineering than any other course, according to a study of high-net-worth individuals – but the majority of these wealthy engineering graduates do not actually work as engineers. An MBA was the second most common degree among millionaires, followed by economics and law ... read more

Two new EU programs will benefit students’ exchange

RUSSELS, Oct. 28 (baltic course) -- Erasmus+ and Creative Europe are two main programs that will replace the existing lifelong learning program of the European Union. The total budget for Erasmus+ is envisaged to be nearly 15 billion Euro – 40 percent higher than the EU’s existing mobility programs ... read more

Czech president provokes university rectors

PRAGUE, Oct. 25 (PO) -- The Czech rectors’ conference says most members intend to boycott a ceremony at the Prague Castle because of President Miloš Zeman’s decision not to invite two of them. The presidential office declined to explain Zeman’s reasons. But the two had recent conflicts with the controversy-prone president ... read more

4000 signatures against 150 Francs

BASEL, Oct. 23 (NZZ) -- Tuition fees in Basel are to be increased by 150 Francs (120 Euro). Students have initiated a petition and collected 4000 signatures ... read more

French university presidents ring the alarm bell

PARIS, Oct. 28 (boursier) -- In a motion released Friday, the French university presidents are ringing the alarm bells: The financial situation of universities gets worse every year, they write, because the state does not compensate for the automatic salary increase of public employees and for more missions no additional funds are provided ... read more

Dutch students flock to Flemish universities

ANTWERPEN, Oct. 28 (nieuwsblad) -- The Dutch educational environment has become increasingly grim. Tuition fees up to 15,000 Euros per year are no exception anymore. The Belgian universities and colleges are highly regarded in the Netherlands and student rooms are available at a reasonable price. As a consequence, more than 6,000 students of Dutch origin registered to Belgian universities ... read more

Nationwide protests in Spain against education law

MADRID, Oct. 25 (HP) -- Broad public outrage over the soaring tuition and a proposed new law that would impose new tests on students culminated in a series of boisterous protests across Spain this week ... read more

UK universities to be hit by large-scale lecturers’ strike

LONDON, Oct. 27 (telegraph) -- Hundreds of thousands of students could face disruption this week as universities are brought to a standstill as part of a national strike. Unions insist that a one percent pay rise offered to lecturers, technicians and administration workers represents a significant real-terms cut in salaries. It is claimed that staff have seen wages effectively reduced by 13 percent pay over the last five years ... read more

ltalian government presents three-year plan for universities

ROME, Oct. 25 (UWN) -- Italian officials are finalising a major funding and standards strategy for universities, which they hope will be enacted despite the country’s endemic political instability. The plan has been developed by the Ministry of Education, University and Research and will span three years ... read more

Anti-neoliberal movement seeks reform of Irish universities

DUBLIN, Oct. 19 (UT) -- The new political movement Defend the Irish University will combat "massive underfunding" and "commercialisation" in Irish universities ... read more

UK medical research funders committed to Open Access

LONDON, Oct. 24 (rochdale) -- Large medical research funding bodies in the UK are fully committed to open access publishing. A survey shows that while public and charitable funders have clear OA policies, commercial sector funders don’t tend to. Also, research funders are worried about the escalating costs of open access as the gold route becomes more mainstream and the cost of publishing shifts from institutions to funders ... read more

Less appreciation for public universities in Italy?

Tensions continue over EU research funding for Israel

BRUSSELS, Oct. 22 (irish times) -- Continuing tensions over European research funding threaten to undermine diplomatic ties between the European Union and Israel ... read more

Strikes in Spain over education cuts

MADRID, Oct. 25 (irish times) -- Teachers and students across Spain staged a strike yesterday against cuts to the education sector and a government reform which they say is a throwback to the country’s right-wing dictatorship.
The “Wert Law”, as it is known, after education minister José Ignacio Wert, is due to be approved by the Cabinet today before almost certainly being approved by the government-controlled congress. The minister says it will bring down Spain’s school drop-out rate and improve the country’s poor overall educational performance.
But critics say the Catholic Church has had excessive influence on the curriculum ... read more

More liberties for Azerbaijani universities

France: Young fascists attack student activists

PARIS, Oct. 23 (le monde) -- French education minister Geneviève Fioraso has condemned the attacks on two members of the student union UNEF. The attacks follow growing agressions in extreme right wing social networks ... read more

Cuts leave Portuguese universities unable to pay salaries

LISBON, Oct. 22 (JN) -- According to António Cruz Serra, rector of the University of Lisbon, there is an "error" in the draft state budget for 2014 with an impact of 30 million Euros on Portuguese universities. If not corrected, universities will not be able to pay wages in December 2014 ... read more

Incentives to reverse the brain drain of Turkish scientists

ISTANBUL, Oct. 21 (hürriyet) -- The Turkish Research Council launched a research fellowship program targeting Turks living abroad to entice them back home. 117 researchers applied to it this year ... read more

More and more US students default on their loans

MADISON, Oct. 22 (badger herald) -- Student loan debt in the United States is currently at more than $1 trillion. According to the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, this has almost doubled since 2007. More and more students falling behind on their loan payments, if not defaulting entirely ... read more

Greek lecturers protest destruction of the university

ATHENS, Oct. 22 (kathimerini) -- More than 1,000 university lecturers have signed a text protesting against the destruction of the Greek university. Meanwhile, education minister Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos issued an ultimatum to striking administrative staff ... read more

US defunds venerable Russian studies program

WASHINGTON, October 22 (RIAN) -- Amid federal budget wrangling, the United States has defunded a program financing academic research on Russia and the former Soviet bloc, that scholars call crucial for an understanding of the region among US officials and the American public ... read more

British universities urged to cut fossil fuel ties

LONDON, Oct. 21 (truthdig) -- Campaign groups in the UK say the fossil fuel industry is too deeply entwined financially with British universities and urge them to disinvest within the next five years. The groups have published a report in which they accuse the universities of allowing the industry to hide behind a coating of greenwash ... read more

European youth unemployment – an inconvenient truth

BRUSSELS, Oct. 20 (the new federalist) -- According to official data from the Commission, 23.5 percent of under 25 years of age are jobless across the EU. In other words, about 7.5 million young Europeans are neither in employment nor in education or training. And, as Eurostat reckons, definitions for unemployment tend to omit the ‘unclassified’ underemployed “part-time workers, the jobless persons seeking a job but not immediately available for work, and the jobless persons available to work but not seeking it” ... read more

Welcome to the University of Google

SHEFFIELD, Oct. 21 (computing) -- Google is fast becoming a significant force in the UK education sector. Intelligent marketing of free Google cloud services addresses later customers at universties ... read more

Universities extremely infected by malware

October 17 (dR) -- New data shows that higher education networks are a whopping 300 percent more likely to house malware in their networks than networks in the commercial or public sector ... read more

EU charm offensive to attract Indian students

NEW DELHI, Oct. 18 (telegraph) -- The European Union is likely to recognise Indian medical degrees, ease linguistic barriers in academic programmes, and offer more scholarships, skill training and jobs as part of efforts to attract more Indian students ... read more

Spain saves science agency from immediate bankruptcy

MADRID, Oct. 18 (science) -- The Spanish government today agreed to give the nation’s flagship research agency a €70 million cash injection to save it from imminent bankruptcy. The agency began running into trouble in 2009, when its funding streams started declining much faster than expenditures, largely as a result of successive across-the-board funding cuts made by the former and current Spanish governments ... read more

EU charm offensive to attract Indian students

NEW DELHI, Oct. 18 (telegraph) -- The European Union is likely to recognise Indian medical degrees, ease linguistic barriers in academic programmes, and offer more scholarships, skill training and jobs as part of efforts to attract more Indian students ... read more

Logicalis launches higher education analytics

LONDON, Oct. 18 (mrweb) -- IT solutions and managed services provider Logicalis has launched a predictive analytics package called Student Analytics. The tool enables universities to capture, predict, and act on a range of student data ... read more

“A United States of Europe in the field of research”

BRUSSELS, Oct. 16 (ne-ther) -- The Italian MEPs Sartori and Berlinguer have presented a manifesto called ‘Towards a Maastricht for Research’ in order to push for a legislative framework of ther European Research Area ... read more

Luxembourgers are happy with their university

LUXEMBOURG, Oct. 14 (wort) -- A survey conducted on the 10th anniversary of the city state’s university shows a 81 percent satisfaction with the institution. In 2003 only one in two citizens agreed with its foundation ... read more

University of Zurich has to disclose UBS contract

ZURICH, Oct. 17 (WOZ) -- The fear of losing future sponsors is not a valid reason to keep entire contracts secret, the appeals committee of Zurich universities has decided. The University of Zurich must now disclose “nearly entirely” a 100-million-Francs (80 million Euro) contract with the UBS bank ... read more

Universities beef up German economy

ESSEN, Oct. 16 (RP) -- German universities add 190 billion Euro to the annual income of regions and cities - 7.3 percent of the GDP. Higher salaries and tax revenue, less unemployment and more knowledge transfer ... read more

Greased palms at the the European University of Rome

ROME, Oct. 16 (ilfattoquotidiano) -- The European University of Rome, belonging to the catholoc Legion of Christ, is at the center of a corruption scandal. Involved in manipulated recruitment and selection procedures are even members of a juridical committee of PM Enrico Letta. Anna Maria Bernini, minister of European Policy in the government Berlusconi, was one of the desired benificiaries of the scam ... read more

Adriatic universities agree on closer cooperation

TRANI, Oct. 15 (LUM) -- At a conference of south-east European universities (ALUm), rectors from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey have agreed on a closer cooperation ... read more

North-east European universities form consortium

BIALYSTOK, Oct. 16 (belta) -- An agreement stipulating the establishment of a consortium of the universities of the border regions has been signed by rectors of partner universities of Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. The creation of the common educational space will facilitate the exchange of students and professors and help organise international conferences, receive international grants and carry out cross-border research ... read more

University of Malta soars in anti-plagiarist rankings

VALLETTA, Oct. 16 (malta today) -- The University of Malta has employed amongst one of the most advanced anti-plagiarising systems, a study by Coventry University, in the UK has found ... read more

Italian opposition proposes abolition of public funding for private schools and universities

ROME, Oct. 15 (prealpina) -- The proposal of Beppe Grillo’s party Movimento 5 Stelle consists of almost 200 amendments. “It is a reform of the reforms under minister Gelmini and foresees investments which will compensate for the 8 billion Euro cuts occurred during the years of the Berlusconi government”, party members explained ... read more

Online university iversity starts with 100,000 freshmen

BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Morgenpost) -- With only 30 employees the Berlin-based internet university iversity starts its operations today. 100,000 students have enrolled for 24 courses held by German and foreign professors ... read more

Greek rectors plan Brussels appeal over mobility

ATHENS, Oct. 14 (ANSA) -- The rectors of eight Greek universities refused to supply the Education Ministry with details of their administrative staff, a third of whom must join a so-called mobility scheme. The rectors are now seeking a meeting with troika officials to press their case ... read more

More European universities teaching students in English

LONDON, Oct. 10 (telegraph) -- Figures show that the number of English language-based courses taught in countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden has soared by 38 percent in just over a year ... read more

British universities falling short on STEM

Ukraine and Turkey deepen cooperation in education

KIEV, Oct. 10 (forUm) -- The Ukrainian Cabinet has approved a program of cooperation with Turkey in education until 2015, which includes academic exchanges, training of young scientists, joint research projects, and, in the future, practical implementation of the “double degree” ... read more

Austrian Research Council proposes new structures

VIENNA, Oct. 9 (standard) -- In a recently published ‘White Book’, the Austrian Research Council proposes an agency to coordinate basic and applied sciences as well as new incentives for private investors ... read more

Catholic universities: models of authentic higher education

International research universities join forces

SHANGHAI, Oct. 11 (UWN) -- Representatives of American, European, Australian and Chinese research universities associations have agreed to cooperate. They signed a paper commiting to excellence, research, training, teaching, integrity, academic freedom, tolerance, transparency as well as national and local responsability ... read more

French elite graduates eager to leave the country

PARIS, Oct. 10 (le monde) -- Just graduated and already a visa on the passport! Four in five students in the last year at France’s elite schools - the grandes écoles - “do not exclude” to seek amployment abroad ... read more

Paris art students against private use of university space

PARIS, Oct. 9 (regards) -- This week, the students of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris are on the barricades. The art school’s new rector, Nicolas Bourriaud, has rent 14 ateliers to the company Ralph Lauren for a private event ... read more & video

Croatian students protest against food prices at canteens

ZAGREB, Oct. 10 (vecernji) -- In order to have a price increase of 50 percent at university canteens revoked, more than 6.000 students agreed in social networks on refusing any food but cake today. Education minister Željko Jovanović will meet them for a discussion ... read more

Scientists threatened by demands to share data

October 10 (al jazeera) -- The open data movement is polarizing the scientific community while numerous services are popping up to lessen the burden of archiving and cleaning up data for wide consumption ... read more

Sunday sex tourism

KIEV, Oct. 9 (eTn) -- In Kiev, 18.5 percent of female students work part-time as prostitutes to earn money for their education. The trend is spreading like a virus among poor students who see this as a means to pay for their expensive costs of higher education ... read more

Austrian students in precarious jobs

VIENNA/LONDON, Oct. 9 (standard) -- Students constitute five percent of the European working force and they are a group particularly affected by precarious working. In Austria, two thirds of students work, mostly under precarious conditions, because the allowance money is insufficient. Half of the students see their jobs as “not adequate” to their studies ... read more

Ukraine’s first IT university opens in Kiev

KIEV, Oct. 6 (Kyiv Post) -- The first intercorporate IT University of Ukraine, Bionic University, opened in Kiev. It is part of the innovation Bionic Hill park (and the national project ‘Technopolis’) and financed by a Ukrainian real estate company UDP ... read more

Russian branch campus in Armenia

YEREVAN, Oct. 1 (ARKA) -- Russia’s transport minister Maxim Sokolov and Armenia’s prime minister Tigran Sargsyan signed on Tuesday a program of long-term economic cooperation for the period up to 2020, discussing also the possibility of speeding up the opening of a branch of Moscow State University in Armenia ... read more

Naked protest against dress code at Hungarian university

KAPOSVÁR, Oct. 8 (euronews) -- Flip-flops, miniskirts and heavy make up have all been banned under a dress code introduced at Kaposvar University in south east Hungary. Many students have been objecting to being told what they can and cannot wear and are continuing to dress in the banned clothing. Last week, a group went further: attending an arts class wearing nothing at all ... read more

Scientists “bad at judging peers” published work

SUSSEX, Oct. 8 (eurekalert) -- Are scientists any good at judging the relevance of the scientific work of others? “They are probably the best judges of science, but they are pretty bad at it,” a new study says ... read more

Referendum on German university merger fails

COTTBUS, Oct. 9 (moz) -- “We know we have not reached the required 80,000 signatures,” the spokesman of a petition against the merger of two Lusatian universities, Michael Apel, said ... read more

EU wants to impose “gender action plans” on universities

BRUSSELS, Oct. 8 (telepolis) -- EU research commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn threatens new legislation to enforce gender equality in the future European Research Area. She wants to oblige universities to adopt so-called “Gender Action Plans” - plans of which four in five universities are still lacking ... read more

European languages abandoned by many UK universities

LONDON, Oct. 7 (guardian) -- UK accused of ‘systematically squandering linguistic resources’ as number of students studying French, German, Italian and Spanish falls ... read more

Increased fees in Sweden deter international students

LUND, Oct. 5 (thelocal) -- 3,900 non-European students were admitted to Swedish universities in 2013 - a stark contrast to the estimated 36,000 foreigners who enrolled in 2008/09 ... read more

“Hiring freeze in higher education damages Italy”

ROME, Oct. 8 (AGI) -- “The hiring freeze imposed on higher education and research has broken the alliance between the generations. It has created more damage compared to the savings that have been made”, the Italian education minister Maria Chiara Carrozza said at a conference today ... read more

Shrinking higher education in Portugal

LISBON, Oct. 6 (tvi24) -- With shrinking numbers of teenagers in general, also student numbers are decreasing. 60.000 university applicants in 2009 have become 53.000 last year. In one year, 1000 lecturers less have worked in higher education. While financial support has been cut, costs - such as tuition and rents - have grown for students and their families ... read more

35% of EU jobs depend on intellectual property rights

BRUSSELS, Oct. 1 (euractiv) -- More than a third of European jobs rely on intellectual property rights (IPR) such as patents, trademarks and design rights according to a new pan-European study ... read more

Slovaks look for better education at Czech universities

PRAGUE, Oct. 5 (Radio Prague) -- Youngsters from Slovakia make up almost two-thirds of all international students at Czech universities. Last year, around 24.500 Slovaks attended Czech universities, more than ever before ... read more

Top 5 major economies with “corrupt” education systems

LONDON, Oct. 4 (THE) -- A recent report by Transparency International suggested that reductions in the amount of public money allocated to universities is fuelling corruption within higher education systems across the world. TI’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013, which asked over 114,000 people in 107 countries for their views ... read more

The true French higher education budget

PARIS, Oct. 2 (mediapart) -- After the government’s proud announcement of a “stable” higher education budget of 2014, a thorough look at the universities’ finances shows the truth: 15 of 80 universities are in deficit having the “freedom” of an unsufficient operative budget and 2000 teaching posts frozen ... read more

Emerging Wild West in academic publishing

October 4 (science) -- A spoof paper concocted by Science reveals little or no scrutiny at many open-access journals ... read more

France to put university lectures online

PARIS, Oct. 2 (le Parisien) -- Higher edcuation minister Genevieve Fioraso presented the project France Digital University (FUN), whose goal is to put 20% of the course faculty online by 2017. According to surveys, only 5 percent of students and 18 percent of lecturers know what MOOCs are ... read more

German politician faces plagiarism accusations

BERLIN, Sept. 30 (NYT) -- A German university is looking into allegations that Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a leading Social Democrat and a former foreign minister, plagiarised parts of his doctoral dissertation. He dismissed the claim as “absurd” ... read more

Wage dumping at German universities

HAMBURG, Oct. 2 (Zeit) -- The number of lecturers or professors on short-term contracts is growing in Germany. Their salary for teaching is often below minimum wage while chances of a tenured post are poor. An effect is the deterioration of quality and the loss of excellent students ... read more

2014 budget disappoints Spanish researchers

BARCELONA, Oct. 1 (science) -- Following several years of drastic cuts, the Spanish government plans to be a little more generous to science in 2014. But the small increase in next year’s budget — 1.3% for Spain’s civil research sector — comes as a disappointment for Spanish scientists ... read more

Research universities criticise EU budget cuts

BRUSSELS, Sept. 26 (science|business) -- Cuts to the R&D budget for 2014 proposed by national ministers earlier this month threaten investment in knowledge, research and innovation, and could push the Horizon 2020 timetable off track, the association of research universities LERU says ... read more | press release

Manchester named European City of Science for 2016

MANCHESTER, Oct. 1 (CN) -- Manchester has been named the European City of Science for 2016. The city will host the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), which takes place every two years ... read more

East meets North - rethinking academic cooperation

Edinburgh University drops drone firm investments

EDINBURGH, Oct. 1 (blue&green) -- The University of Edinburgh is to divest £1.2m from Ultra Electronics, a US company that makes components for weaponised drones, after civil rights campaigners and students raised concerns over associated human rights abuses ... read more

Is education investment the latest bubble about to burst?

PARIS, Oct. 1 (worldcrunch) -- Over the past 15 years, global investors have experienced a series of bubbles: the Internet bubble in 2001, the real estate and credit bubbles in 2008, and then gold this year. But there is another, relatively modest but far-reaching global investment bubble: education ... read more

OECD countries must expand and adapt higher education

PARIS, Sept. 28 (UWN) -- Tertiary institutions will need to expand the number of student places they offer, according to new OECD report ... read more

Will MOOCs kill university degrees?

LONDON, Oct. 1 (economist) -- The combination of quality courses offered by brand-name universities, good online learning technology and the wide availability of broadband links has allowed distance learning to come of age. But will MOOCs kill university degrees? ... read more

Two lecturers arrested in Messina for corruption

MESSINA, Sept. 30 (AGI) -- Two staff memebers of the University of Messina have been arrested on charges of corruption. According to the accusations based on telephone surveillance, the dean and a professor manipulated a competition for research posts in favour of familiy members. Three more lecturers are being investigated ... read more

Ireland’s brain drain

DUBLIN, Sept. 27 (irish times) -- Ireland is experiencing a “brain drain”, as the people currently leaving Ireland for a new life abroad are much more likely to have a higher level of education than the general population ... read more

Not all Belgians have to go to university

BRUSSELS, Sept. 24 (eurotopics) -- According to data from Belgian universities, six out of ten students fail in their first year. This is an alarming trend, the left-liberal daily De Morgen writes, because “it doesn’t just cost taxpayers (up to 100 million euros per year) and parents a lot of money ... read more

Danish problems of internationalisation

COPENHAGEN, Sept.28 (UWN) -- The Danish education ministry is working on an action plan for increased higher education internationalisation. To raise the threshold of Danish students going abroad to 50 percent, rectors object to the main objective, also the number of incoming students and the volume of adequate services must grow ... read more

Oracle without sursprises: Higher Education in 2020

LONDON, Sept. 26 (insideHE) -- What will higher education look like in 2020? A new report from a British perspective draws on interviews with 21 international experts in an attempt to answer just that. Unfortunately, universities do nothing but the expected:
MOOCs will cause an “evolutionary shift” in pedagogy, mobility will continue to grow, public universities will increasingly seek for-profit opportunities, “the cultural divide between the elite and the rest will widen in the U.S and U.K.” ... read more

More students, less unemployment in the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM, Sept. 26 (iamexpat) -- Less youth unemployment comes with the warm weather, statsitician Senne Jannsen says. There were also more entrants at Dutch universities, showing that currently more young people are choosing to continue studying and thus were not looking for work ... read more

France: Stable university and research budget 2014

PARIS, Sept. 26 (e-orientations) -- The French higher education and research budget will stay stable in 2014 while other departments suffer cuts of 9 billion Euro. Expenses for student support grows slightly from 2.33 to 2.47 billion Euros, for research shrinks from 7.85 to 7.77 billion Euro. Extra money will flow into modernisation, future investments and university research ... read more

University of Toulouse prohibits toilet breaks during exams

TOULOUSE, Sept. 23 (lemag) -- Due to incidents with students using their cellphones in the restrooms, law school entrance exams in Toulouse have been cancelled and will be repeated. “The rules are now clear and rigorous”, said jury president Bertrand de Lamy, from now on, breaks will be forbidden ... read more

Spaniards flock back to school in recession for job options

MADRID, Sept. 25 (ANSA) -- More spaniards older than 40 years return to the universities. A 49 percent increase over last year, a 129 percent one over the past five years and a 400 percent one over the past 10 years. Many are also hoping to strengthen their current position through the earning of a higher degree ... read more

US universities ‘seeking to recruit more British students’

LONDON, Sept. 26 (telegraph) -- The number of US institutions marketing themselves to British students has almost doubled in just four years in a bid to capitalise on rising tuition fees in the UK ... read more

Dutch universities prefer short-term contract staff

THE HAGUE, Sept. 20 (Trouw) -- Over the past eight years, the number of Dutch academics on short-term contracts has risen by one third to 40 percent. According to the academic staff union Vawo, this poses a risk to scientific research ... read more

Austerity pushes Greek universities to point of collapse

ATHENS, Sept. 25 (salon) -- After the University of Athens announced it could no longer function because of lay-offs demanded by the EU, IMF and European Central Bank, universities in Thessaloniki, Patras, Ioannina and Crete have followed suit. All say that cuts in administrative staff have made it impossible to keep their doors open. Greece is under pressure to relocate 25,000 civil servants into a strategic reserve or mobility scheme on reduced pay by the end of the year. ... read more

Dubious private PhD support and services in Finland

HELSINKI; Sept. 23 (yle) -- Outsourcing firms around Finnish universities, offering doctoral candidates a helping hand, have come under suspicion: do they help postgraduates to cheat? ... read more

Portuguese universities ordered to limit private business

PORTO, Sept. 19 (Público) -- The Portuguese Court of Auditors has ordered higher education institutions to reassess their participation in companies, associations and other private entities. Some of the tech transfer projects of the University of Porto (UP), University of Minho (UM) and the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (IPP) have to be closed ... read more

Angela Merkel and Germany’s uneven university funding

BERLIN, Sept. 24 (nature) -- Wisely, the government has increased research and technology expenditure by some 60 percent since 2005. Today, Germany’s science landscape is more diverse, more competitive, better funded and less parochial than at any time since the Second World War ... read more

Western European tech transfer strengths and weaknesses

September 23 (guv) -- The British firm Global University Venturing has produced an overview of the technology transfer scenes of innovation in Western Europe, showing trends, issues and developments ... read more

France: State-funded drop-outs

PARIS, Sept. 23 (figaro) -- The cost of students in France who drop out after having received a scholarship amounts to €100 million a year, according to a calculation of RTL radio. Among the 640.000 students who receive up to €5.500 annually, the radio says, are 20.000 ‘cheaters’ ... read more

Hungarians unmotivated to study foreign languages

BUDAPEST, Sept. 20 (xpatloop) -- At Hungarian colleges and universities thousands of students do not get their diploma each year because they have not taken the requested language exam yet. Hungary fares very poorly in foreign language proficiency by comparison to other countries of the European Union ... read more

European universities catch the online wave

BIELEFELD, Sapt. 20 (NYT) -- Europe’s multiple languages and diverse cultures — and a less market-oriented view of college education — may help to differentiate European MOOCs from their American cousins, according to some educators. An EU directive later this week will focus on online resources and teaching as a response to a vast increase in student numbers expected in the coming decade ... read more

Turkish students face 6 years of jail after protests

ANKARA, Sept. 16 (Hürriyet) -- Some 45 students at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University could face up to six years in prison due to their protest against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2012 ... read more

Open Access in Germany restricted by law

BERLIN, Sept. 20 (spektrum) -- On Friday, the law amendment on the re-use of research publications has passed the Upper House of the German Parliament. With several restrictions, such as the 12-month-embargo for scientific articles and the exclusion of research at universities, the law protects the interests of the publishing industry ... read more

Cheating Spaniards bluff way through university

Austria supports university-business cooperations

WIEN, Sept. 18 (Wirtschaftsblatt) -- The Austrian government has assigned €63 million to universities and business cooperations. Yesterday, science minister Karlheinz Töchterle presented 61 new, publicly funded projects ... read more

Policy leaders want data sharing to advance global research

BRUSSELS, Sept. 18 (science|business) -- Leading American and European policy makers said greater international collaboration is needed so scientists can share more research data to solve climate, healthcare, economic and other challenges facing the globe ... read more

Boom of international enrolments in Iceland

Reykjavík, Sept. 19 (grapevine) -- International student enrolment in Iceland is on the rise. As of this year, 8 percent of the university’s total enrolment, or 1,152 students, are from foreign countries ... read more

Spanish universities contribute €12 million to development

MADRID, Sept. 20 (universia) -- In 2012, Spanish universities have delivered €12 million in development aid. The money helps African and American regions to improve their infrastructure, services and production. The highest contribution came from the University of Valencia ... read more

Germany hits science high

BERLIN, Sept. 18 (nature) -- German research has thrived since Angela Merkel first came to power eight years ago. Public science spending has increased considerably, and these investments have paid off. But there are fears that the good times may end if other budget pressures, such as debt reduction, welfare and transport, are prioritized after the election ... read more

Looming global cloud computing skills shortage

REYKJAVÍK, Sept. 18 (computing) -- According to an expert, there is going to be a skills shortage of IT professionals with expert knowledge about cloud, something government and educational establishments should step in to counter ... read more

Education inflation hurts Swedes

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 17 (TL) -- Not long ago, many Swedes began their working lives at the age of 20, today at 28. Though highly educated, many of them struggle to find qualified work after graduation ... read more

25 years of Magna Charta Universitatum

BOLOGNA, Sept. 19 (UniBo) -- Celebrations are underway in Bologna, where 25 years ago the first 388 - now more than 750 - university rectors signed the Magna Charta of universities. An occasion to reflect on the outcomes of the process of europeanisation of higher education ... read more

Greek rectors threaten to close universities

ATHENS, Sept. 18 (kathimerini) -- Greek university rectors suggested that they would close the country’s higher education institutions indefinitely if the government goes ahead with a plan to put 1,765 administrative staff into a mobility scheme ... read more

Science publishing scam in Serbia

BELGRADE, Sept. 15 (inSerbia) -- To draw public attention to dubious research journals, two Serbian professors published a completely fictional article in the Romanian ‘Metalurgia International’. More than a million euros are paid by faculties to fraudulent magazines which, for 300 to 1,000 euros per person, publish quasi-scientific papers very quickly ... read more

Zero-hour contracts shame British universities

LONDON, Sept. 16 (NI) -- Research published earlier this year showed 27 per cent of companies in the UK employ staff on zero-hour contracts, through which staff agree to be available for work as and when required but are not guaranteed any minimum hours.
While this started from the mixed traditions of the ‘gentleman’ scholar and the career aspirations of the non-elite to break through the class ceiling, it has drifted since the mid-1990s into a wholesale abuse of the system ... read more

Teacher and university strikes ahead in Greece

ATHENS, Sept. 16 (the star) -- Debt-wracked Greece is bracing for a fresh series of strikes this week against a redeployment scheme, carried out by Athens in exchange for new EU-IMF loans and affecting thousands of civil servants. Universities are also opposing the cuts ... read more

Further cuts to subsidies for Italian students

Budapest, Baku and Brasilia compete for 2019 Universiade

BRUSSELS, Sept. 14 (FISU) -- Today, the cities that are candidate for the organisation of the 2019 Winter and Summer Universiades presented their bid to FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien. 12.000 young sportsmen and women participate in the biannual event. The attribution of the 2019 Universiades will follow on November 9th ... read more

Breivik begins studies at University of Oslo

OSLO, Sept. 12 (BBC) -- The man convicted of murdering 77 people in attacks in Norway in 2011 has enrolled at the University of Oslo to study political science. The 34-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, who is serving a 21-year sentence, will study at his high security prison and will not have direct contact with university staff ... read more

Is Sweden recovering from the international student crash?

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 14 (UWN) -- Swedish universities are struggling after the collapse in overseas applications when ‘full-cost’ tuition fees were introduced for non-European students in 2011 ... read more

University merger in Bordeaux

BORDEAUX, Sept. 13 (sudouest) -- The three universities Bordeaux 1, Bordeaux 2 and 4 are officially one: the Nouvelle Université de Bordeaux (NUB). The merger follows a longer cooperation in natural sciences, medicine and law, and announces more subject-related restructuring of higher education in the region ... read more

LinkedIn launches a new platform for universities

Sept. 13 (pienews) -- Professional networking site LinkedIn has launched a new platform for universities. It allows students to see and search an institution’s alumni network based on nationality and job sector ... read more

Tension between EU and Israel over EU research funding

BRUSSELS, Sept. 14 (Irish Times) -- The EU research department has become embroiled in a controversy over the disbursement of EU funding to research projects linked to Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Israel has reacted strongly ... the United States has also pressed the European Union to postpone the introduction of the new rules ... read more

Yet another innovation ranking - made in Brussels

BRUSSELS, Sept. 13 (portfolio) -- Sweden, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg are the EU Member States getting the most out of innovation, according to a new indicator proposed by the European Commission ... read more

The Bologna Process doesn’t stop in Armenia

Google and edX create a MOOC site for everyone

Sept. 10 (chronicle) -- edX, a nonprofit provider founded by Harvard University and the MIT, is joining forces with Google to create a spinoff Web site where ordinary folks can not only sign up but also build one themselves ... read more

Times Higher Education ranks universities by CEO numbers

LONDON, Sept. 5 (THE) -- In a new index that ranks universities by how many degrees they have awarded to the chief executives of the world’s biggest companies, UK institutions put in a much weaker showing than many of their traditional rivals ... read more

“Adopt a student” plan for Spain

MADRID, Sept. 5 (telegraph) -- Spanish universities are considering a move to set up charitable funds so that private individuals can sponsor the studies of those from low income families ... read more

Brits 3rd at European Universities Rowing Championship

POZNAN, Sept. 12 (imperial) -- British students were third at the bi-annual European Universities Rowing Championships (EURC) in Poznan last weekend, placing behind Germany and host nation Poland ... read more

Foreign universities allowed entry in India

NEW DELHI, Sept. 12 (indiaedunews) -- The Indian government is now going to let foreign universities to set up campuses in India and offer degrees without having a local partner ... read more

Maastricht speech of EU commissioner sets future priorities

MAASTRICHT, Sept. 2 (sciencguide) -- At the opening of the academic year EU research commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn clings to the students of Maastricht for hope. “To play that role effectively universities need to change. There are big challenges ahead. The MOOCs are revolutionizing higher education, big data is transforming the scope and scale of research. So, how should European universities respond?” ... read more

36 European university football teams in Málaga

Italian student numbers decrease

ROME, July 14 (Panorama) -- A significant signal: for the first time after WWII, the number of new students at Italian universities shrinks: 17 per cent less in ten years, 70,000 less every year ... read more

Anatolian universities generate new intelligentsia

İSTANBUL, July 12 (todayszaman) -- The southeastern industrial city of Gaziantep, which is very close to Syria, is a case in point for flourishing Anatolian universities. Some argue that a new wave of Anatolian universities will further expand a new intelligentsia ... read more

Universities: capitalise on EU reputation

BRUSSELS, July 15 (scienceguide) -- The European Commission predicts that in 10 years’ time Europe shall host 3 million mobile students more than today. Therefore an ‘overhaul’ of Europe’s internationalisation strategy is needed ... read more

Police to replace private security in Turkish universities

İSTANBUL, July 12 (Hürriyet) -- Police will replace private security firms in universities, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced as a response to the Gezi Park protests, which have particularly been led by young university students ... read more

Massive investment in French excellency universities

PARIS, July 10 (la depeche) -- French universities and research will receive €3.65 billion with the goal of continuing to “build new campuses of excellence”, prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has announced. Other priorities of the strategic plan “Investments for the Future” for the next ten years will be green energy, health and technological industries ... read more

Universities boost Welsh economy by £3.6bn

CARDIFF, July 11 (BBC) --New research shows that universities create £3.6bn (€4.1bn) every year in the Welsh economy. Of that, £1bn is spent by students, according to the report commissioned by Higher Education Wales. Some say closer links are needed between the universities and potential employers ... read more

Humanities: no obstacle to employment

LONDON, July 11 (THE) -- The University of Oxford has used a study of its humanities graduates’ careers to question the government’s financial prioritisation of science students ... read more

€22 billion for public-private partnerships

BRUSSELS, July 10 (euractiv) -- The European Commission, member states and industry will invest more than €22 billion over the next seven years in innovation. The investment will primarily go to special sectors via five public-private partnerships ... read more

Commission pushes universities to globalise

BRUSSELS, July 13 (new europe) -- „The international higher education landscape is changing dramatically in shape and size, with greater competition from countries such as China and India. This calls for an overhaul in the way Europe’s 4 000 universities operate - not only internationally, but also in how they deliver in their home countries.“ This was pointed out again and again during a press conference to present the new EU educational strategy was launched by the European Commission on 11 July ... read more

Africa increasingly popular

July 11 (scienceguide) -- African academic talent progressively chooses for education on the African continent, according to a Campus France research on student mobility in Africa. South-Africa and Morocco serve as academic hubs for the entire continent, but “la France reste le premier pays” ... read more

EIT publishes its annual report 2012

BUDAPEST, July 5 (earto) -- The European Institute for Innovation and Technology has presented its Annual Report 2012. The report highlights the Institute’s developing ambitions and the achievements of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) over 2012 ... read more

EIB drops universities’ capital loans threshold

LONDON, July 11 (THE) -- The European Investment Bank has announced a new mechanism that will allow it to open up lending to relatively smaller-scale capital projects at UK universities. Since pledging in 2012 to commit £1 billion to UK higher education over five years, investment has picked up, exceeding the £200 million target in the past year ... read more

Santander expands university cooperations in Germany

MÖNCHENGLADBACH, July 10 (ots) -- Santander is expanding its engagement in German higher education. At present, five universities are partners of the Spanish bank and receive funds for mobility and innovation transfer projects; in turn, bank products are being promoted to students ... read more

Sony issues ‘PlayStation 4’ developer kits to universities

July 11 (ps3news) -- Sony has announced that it will issue ‘PlayStation 4’ developer kits to universities as part of their Academic Development Program ... read more

Walloon parents of medical students write an open letter

NAMUR, July 10 (la libre) -- In an open letter to the Walloon prime minister and education minister Jean-Claude Marcourt, parents of medical students complain: overcrowded courses, high drop-out rates, unlimited French influx and stagnating professional licences for graduates have hampered quality and attractiveness of studies in medicine ... read more

Polish universities struggle to survive

WARSAW, July 11 (gazeta) -- Polish universities are in trouble. Due to economic contraints one in two private universities is in danger of bankrupcy. Also, cooperations, smaller mergers and acquisitions are taking place across the country, forcing many students to travel far distances ... read more

Gezi Park protests resonate in Turkish academe

ISTANBUL, July 2 (Chronicle) -- Surveillance, allegations of cronyism, concentrations of administrative powers, violations of academic freedom, and denying students their education are but a microcosm of the climate in Turkey. While protesters have taken to the streets, it’s clear higher education has a big stake in how the demonstrations are resolved ... read more

Rich US universities seek investments in Africa

JOHANNESBURG, July 7 (Reuters) -- America’s wealthiest universities are venturing into Africa’s fast-growing frontier markets in search of outsized investment returns that will allow them to offer scholarships, lure star professors and fund research ... read more

Ljubljana students divided on student-run youth hostel

Athens University calls police against student protesters

ATHENS, July 8 (avgi) -- On Monday, about 100 students invaded a council meeting at an Athens university, attempting to halt decisions on spending and staff reductions. The building was sealed off by a major police presence, which interrupted traffic and prevented journalists from approaching. The police made use of tear gas and arrested many of the protesters. Onlookers criticised the “totally unprovoked police violence against the assembled representatives of student associations and workers” on the university premises ... read more

Italian mafia manipulates university exams

MESSINA, July 8 (studenti.it) -- An organisation, manipulating admission tests, has been exposed at the University of Messina, Sicily. Following extended surveillance operations, four persons, supposedly members of 'ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, were arrested this morning. The organisation acted with particular arrogance and violence: money in exchange for exams, authorisations, and professional permits in combination with intimidation ... read more

Portugal: Entry exams “strangulating” university access

Austrian students suffer from a lack of money

Cantabria, Spain, allows first private university to open

SANTANDER, July 2 (20minutos) -- The Parliament of Cantabria, in northern Spain, has approved the creation of the first private university. The ‘Universidad Europea del Atlántico’ is expected to be created with €14 million of private investment and to create 200 jobs ... read more

Russia to invest US$3 billion in giant education cluster

MOSCOW, June 29 (UWN) -- The cluster would be a Russian analogue of Cambridge and is expected to house the nation’s leading technical universities ... read more

US universities want to open Tech Institute in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM, June 19 (hiv) -- The American universities Stanford, Columbia, MIT and Duke want to establish a new technology institute in Amsterdam. The renowned institutes have worked together with Dutch universities and multinational companies, such as IBM, Shell, Philips and Cisco to write a number of proposals for a ‘third university’ in the capital city ... read more

Russian Academy of Science en route to demise

MOSCOW, July 4 (nature) -- A bill, hastily introduced to the Russian parliament last week, would, if approved, effectively liquidate the academy in its present form. The academy is ill, of that there is no doubt. But the proposed cure would kill it off ... read more

Dynamic innovation multiplying around the world

PARIS, July 1 (UN) -- Despite the economic crises, innovation is alive and well with research and development spending levels up, the United Nations intellectual property agency today said unveiling the latest Global Innovation Index. Switzerland tops the 2013 Index, followed by Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands ... read more

World university rankings revealed

JEDDAH, July 2 (Trade Arabia) -- The Jeddah-based Center for World University Rankings has released its 2013 ranking of the world’s top 100 universities. The top 10 universities are, what a surprise ... read more

Priority to free software in French higher education

PARIS, July 4 (ZDnet) -- In a session on Thursday, the French Senate voted in favour of a law draft that would oblige higher education institutions to opt for open source software for service and teaching purposes. The law is now awaiting approval by the National Assembly on July 9th ... read more

LERU criticises Erasmus liberty

July 4 (EV) -- In a new report, the League of European Research Universities (LERU) argues that take-up of the Erasmus student-exchange scheme has peaked and that EU education funds should now be opened up to other approaches ... read more

UK to launch first outward mobility strategy

LONDON, July 3 (pienews) -- Starting next month, the Outward Student Mobility Programme will form part of larger departmental strategy at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Just 30,000 British study abroad each year compared to 130,000 Germans ... read more

European deal cuts red tape

BRUSSELS, July 2 (nature) -- The deal struck last week on Horizon 2020 sweeps away the onerous red tape involved in the present diverse arrangements and replaces it with an across-the-board 25 per cent reimbursement rate for all. The deal could be a boon for the many European universities with low overheads, but ... read more

Croatian scientists hope to capitalise on EU membership

ZAGREB, July 1 (CW) -- Last month, Croatia won €11.2 million for 19 science projects from the EU's fund to support countries set to join the union. Croatia’s research community has begun getting a taste of what the EU has to offer ... read more

Regional German universities merge reluctantly

COTTBUS, June 30 (rbb) -- After long debates, the new university BTU, a merger of two institutions in the northern German region Brandenburg, has been officially launched. A petition against the merger is still pending, but regional science minister Sabine Kunst persists ... read more

Massive cuts at universities in the UK

LONDON, July 2 (WSWS) -- University teaching was cut by 1/5 last academic year, losing £1.3 billion (~€1bn) in funds. This follows the halving of teaching budgets after the introduction of tuition fees ... read more

Open data and open science in Europe

BRUSSELS, July 1 (ICTuptodate) -- The European Commission intends to take steps to promote open access and preserve scientific information, including publications and data resulting from research projects funded by the EU. Neelie Kroes, EC vice-president responsible for the Digital Agenda, announced in April 2013 that member states have approved the text of the new PSI directive on the reuse of public sector information, known as open government data ... read more

European students file suit against large American companies over data-mining controversy

June 27 (red orbit) -- The group, called Europe-v-Facebook, has filed formal complaints against large American companies which have taken part in the NSA data-mining operation PRISM. Though these companies are based in America, they conduct business in Europe. EVF claims this means they must also adhere to European privacy laws ... read more

Most Portuguese universities resist to fees increase

LISBON, 29 June (tvi24) -- In view of the difficult economic situation of many families, the majority of Portuguese higher education institutions will not increase tuition fees to the legal maximum of 1,037 Euro. Exceptions are four universities in Coimbra and Lisbon ... read more

Four Lithuanian universities create a consortium

VILNIUS, June 28 (balsas) -- Four Lithuanian universities want to cooperate more closely and soon will set up a consortium. Vilnius University, Lithuanian Sports University, Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts and Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy will develop joint study programs and collaborative research projects ... read more

EU Leaders agree on science budget

BRUSSELS, June 27 (science) -- EU leaders have reached a last-minute agreement on the bloc’s budget for the next 7 years, including €70.2 billion for its flagship research program, Horizon 2020. This is a 23 per cent increase over the predecessor FP7; the R&D budget will drop next year ... read more

Scottish government interferes in university governance

HackYourPhD goes to America

PARIS, June 28 (kisskissbankbank) -- A group of young French researchers and PhD students, named HackYourPhD, has successfully concluded a crowd-funding project in order to finance an investigative journey to the US. The aim of the trip is to achieve more transparency and cooperation between researchers across the world ... read more

Time for a new generation of Spanish entrepreneurs

CASTELLÓN, June 27 (el mundo) -- The president of the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations (CEOE), Joan Rosell, has urged young men and women to “come out of the universities” and start their own businesses; he also suggested that universities should do more to encourage start-ups ... read more

Turkish academic reformer attempts suicide in jail

ANKARA, June 19 (sciencemag) -- Kemal Gürüz, a former president of the Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK) and the Turkish science-funding agency TÜBITAK, attempted suicide in Ankara’s Sincan prison. Between 1997 and 2003, Gürüz fiercely opposed Islamist influence in education; he also discharged a university rector named Beşir Atalay, who is now Turkey’s deputy prime minister. He was arrested July 2012 ... read more

Care for tomorrow’s teachers in Europe

AMSTERDAM, 27 June (scienceguide) -- “Many European countries like Italy, Sweden or Germany suffer from a silo-sectored teacher labor market. It is very hard for teachers to get into the profession. The number of students is decreasing in many countries and at the same time there is little mobility in the teaching profession. That leads to this over-aged teaching force”, says OECD education expert Andreas Schleicher. For him it is important to prepare the next generation of teachers, but also to invest in the teaching force that exists today ... read more

OECD report: Education at a Glance 2013

More funds for Erasmus+

Swedish universities could become foundations

STOCKHOLM, June 25 (Svenska Dagbladet) -- The Swedish government proposed to transform public universities into private foundations. “This would pave the way for international cooperation and a better collaboration between businesses and the public sector” said Pam Fredman, vice-chancellor at the University of Gothenburg ... read more

Science journalists in Austria – badly paid in precarious jobs

VIENNA, June 26 (standard) -- Only 58 of 100 Austrian science and education journalists were employed in February 2013, a survey reveals. The necessity to work in other areas, PR for instance, creates conflicts of interest ... read more

Up to 30 UK universities ‘could close or face merger’

LONDON, June 24 (independent) -- A survey reveals two thirds of British university leaders believe a number of universities will fail or go bankrupt as a result of government higher-education reforms and dwindling student applications ... read more

Italian university to finance scholarships by crowdfunding

BERGAMO, 26 June (ecodibergamo) -- The University of Bergamo seeks to find funds for talented students on the internet. The initiative invites citizens to subsidise tuition fees, young researchers and mobility programmes ... read more

Eurotech and universities of Regensburg and Wuppertal sign cooperation agreement

REGENSBURG, June 25 (HPCwire) -- Eurotech, a leading provider of embedded and supercomputing technologies, today announced to have signed with the University of Regensburg and the University of Wuppertal a R&D cooperation agreement to deliver a novel supercomputing architecture ... read more

Spanish rectors against cuts of student support

MADRID, 25 June (diariodesevilla) -- The Spanish rectors’ conference, CRUE, rejects the law draft on scholarships and study grants proposed by education minister José Ignacio Wert. The reform would considerably raise the academic requirements for access to a college scholarship ... read more

Not enough teaching quality in Europe

BRUSSELS, June 21 (UWN) -- Not enough emphasis is placed on teaching as opposed to research in many of Europe’s top universities, concludes the EU High Level Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education ... read more

French Senate passes bill on higher education and research

PARIS, June 22 (le monde) -- Last night, the French Senate passed, with 172 to 157 votes, the law on higher education and research. The bill sets an ambitious goal: to raise the annual quota of graduates in the first cycle to 50 per cent. It also aims at improved research dissemination, more university autonomy and the expansion of foreign language courses ... read more

Berlin wants to attract new students with 300 Euro

BERLIN, June 24 (Morgenpost) -- According to the just released official country-wide census, Berlin has less inhabitants than estimated and will have to refund almost €1bn received from the federal financial equalisation scheme. The city just announced to offer 250 to 300 Euro to new students who register their residency ... read more

European universities undertake survey of recent emigrants

DUBLIN, June 24 (irish central) -- Trinity College Dublin is collaborating with universities in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal on a survey of people who have recently left these countries in the context of the current economic crisis ... read more

German industry pleas for tax raise to fund universities

BERLIN, June 21 (FR) – The German Stifterverband demands additional funding for universities. The industry-oriented German non-profit association proposes to increase the income tax by one per cent – and spend the resulting €8 billion on universities. Stifterverband President Andreas Barner called university funding a “national matter” ... read more

The French are becoming more British

PARIS, June 20 (les echos) -- Not the fiercely discussed use of English at French universities will make France more Anglo-Saxon, but perhaps Michel Albouy’s way of thinking. The management professor from Grenoble proposes very high tuition fees for overseas students - like in the UK - as a means “to gain international scientific reputation” ... read more

Polish higher education budget stable on a low level

WARSAW, June 20 (PAP) -- The public expenditure for higher education in Poland has slightly decreased: from 0.75 per cent of the Gross Domestic Income to 0.65 per cent in 2012, as the parliamentary Commission for Education, Science and Youth has criticised. Commission member Witold Czarnecki also noted that the private investment into R&D is still too small ... read more

Microsoft: discounts for Belgian schools and universities

June 19 (datanews) -- Microsoft makes a special offer to Belgian universities in a promotional campaign, selling the new Microsoft tablet ‘Surface RT’ for half the price (about 199 dollars). Between June 24 and 31, the software company will promote its offers in 25 countries ... read more

Belgium: Marcourt wants to help ‘fragile’ students

BRUXELLES, June 18 (dhnet) -- The Walloon minister of higher education (in the French speaking region of Belgium), Jean-Claude Marcourt, wants to give more money to universities and high schools who take special care of students ‘at risk’, in particular in their first year ... read more

Greeks owe £4.3 million for student loans in the UK

ATHENS, June 15 (kathimerini) -- Greek students owe about £4.3 million in unpaid loans provided to study at British universities. Over the last five years, more than £117 million have been disbursed to EU students ... read more

Italian “Barons” never get enough

MILAN, June 19 (repubblica) -- The request of some professors and deans – often referred to as the powerful ‘barons’ of the universities – to postpone the retirement age over 70 years, has ignited a fierce debate in Italy. Ivano Dionigi, rector of the University of Bologna, took position in favour of intergenerational change and called for greater attention to the expectations of young researchers ... read more

Germany: Complaint against university merger

COTTBUS, June 19 (ND) -- Eight professors from the Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) are trying to prevent the planned merger of their university at the last moment. The university teachers have filed a constitutional complaint ... read more

Spanish universities offer free services to the poor

MADRID, June 18, (expansión) -- Spanish universities in Madrid, Málaga, Navarra and other cities offer free basic services such as oral implants, psychotherapy or treatment of patients affected by rare diseases. Other activities to diminish social exclusion are the support of student cooperation in expensive courses and public relation services to non-profit organisations ... read more

Iranian president made in Scotland?

GLASGOW, June 17 (Herald Scotland) -- In January, the new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed to have a PhD from Glasgow University. Last week a spokesman of the university declared “no record of anyone of his name” ever attending the institution ... read more

Migrations and Education: the new EU report

BRUXELLES, June 17 (EC). -- A new report of the European Commission addresses the relationship between education, unemployment and migration towards Europe. The report states that “immigration is not the only answer to fill skills gaps where they exist, (but) certainly part of a common solution supportive of EU’s economic growth strategy” ... read more

Bosnian Serb students protest: “We need more spending for education”

BANJA LUKA, June 12 (foxnews) -- Students marched through the main Bosnian Serb city of Banja Luka, demanding that the regional government build a promised university dorm, lower the price of education and clean up corruption and organized crime. Police banned the protest route but did not react as about 2,000 people marched anyway Wednesday ... read more

Baltic higher education looks forward to Asian cooperations

TALINN, June 17 (baltic course) -- Science ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania want to join forces to facilitate cooperation with Asia. At the proposal of Estonia, a working group will be created ... read more

Irish universities forge R&D pact with Japanese drugs giant

DUBLIN, June 14 (siliconrepublic) -- Irish top universities have entered into a collaboration pact with Shionogi, one of the largest pharmaceutical players in Japan. Shionogi will implement in Ireland the Shionogi Science Programme, which the company is working on as part of its globalisation of industry-university collaboration ... read more

4 Dutch suspects arrested in widening exam scandal

ROTTERDAM, June 16 (NYT) -- Close to 150 students in their final year of high school at Ibn Ghaldoun, an Islamic school in Rotterdam, will have to redo exams after thieves stole copies of the national tests for 24 courses, in what has been called the “largest exam fraud ever” in the Netherlands ... read more

UK universities failing on equality of access

LONDON, June 14 (guardian) -- A recent report warns that the proportion of state-educated pupils attending top UK universities has declined since 2002. Elite universities are becoming less socially representative ... read more

Brain drain in Spain leaves scientific research on the wane

MADRID, June 13 (FT) -- Thousands of young scientists and researchers once again take to the streets of Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities to highlight their plight – and to warn of the risks that the current brain-drain poses to the country in the long term.
Spending on research has been cut dramatically as part of the government’s austerity programme. Universities and research centres complain there is sometimes not even money to pay for gloves, lab coats and basic materials ... read more

G8 science ministers endorse open access

LONDON, June 13 (THE) -- The first-ever joint meeting of G8 science ministers saw ministers endorsing the need to expand open access in science. In a statement, the ministers said they recognised the benefits of ‘immediate global access to and unrestricted use of published peer- reviewed, publicly funded research results’, and pledged to address the issue ... read more

Fewer university places available for Greek students

ATHENS, June 12 (skai) -- The Greek education ministry has reduced the number of places available at higher education institutions across the country by almost nine per cent, following reforms introduced by the ‘Athena’ project which saw nationwide closures and mergers ... read more

France and Serbia sign agreements on student exchange

BELGRADE, June 12 (inserbia) -- The Serbian Ministry of Youth, the French Embassy in Belgrade and the French Institute have signed agreements with the goal of promoting the exchange of students and joint financing of scholarships for students from Serbia who want to continue their studies in France at the MA 2 or PhD level. This ‘Fund for Young Talents’ ... read more

German science boss slams Spain's R&D crisis

MADRID, June 13 (the local) -- Just minutes after receiving Spain’s prestigious Award for International Cooperation, Peter Gruss, president of Germany’s Max Planck Society, has criticised Spain’s science spending cuts, saying that scientists are forced to leave the country due to inadequate conditions for research ... read more

Danish opposition fighting in favour of fees

COPENHAGEN, June 11 (cp) -- Four opposition parties have united to raise the issue of introducing university tuition fees in Denmark. According to them, fees would provide an incentive for students to concentrate on employment prospects and to complete courses more quickly ... read more

Berlin’s iversity muscling in on MOOC market

BERLIN, June 10 (gigaom) -- Berlin-based education startup iversity has announced its first 10 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Universities from Italy and Spain will join German institutions in offering the courses, as selected from over 250 proposals by a public vote and a jury of academic experts ... read more

Russian research under threat from own government

MOSCOW, June 10 (ria) -- According to Stephen Hanson, president-elect of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), Russia’s new law, requiring some NGOs to register as foreign agents, casts doubt on the possibility for international collaborations in Russian research and could have a “chilling” effect ... read more

Italy: Researchers rally to defend science

ROME, June 10 (science) -- A series of protests, including flash mobs and conferences in 15 cities, were held across Italy this weekend as part of the Italy United for Correct Scientific Information campaign. The protests build on an earlier demonstration by 300 researchers, and aim to protest what organisers say is an antiscientific attitude in Italy and widespread "misinformation" about science in the media ... read more

Politically-motivated attack kills student: nation protests

PARIS, June 8 (20minutes) -- Dozens of students have gathered in Paris to denounce the rise of far-right groups in France following the death of Clément Méric, anti-fascist activist and student at Sciences Po, at the hands of a group of skinheads. The sentiments of these students have been mirrored across the country, as thousands march ... read more | read more

Russian research under threat from own government

MOSCOW, June 10 (ria) -- According to Stephen Hanson, president-elect of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), Russia’s new law, requiring some NGOs to register as foreign agents, casts doubt on the possibility for international collaborations in Russian research and could have a “chilling” effect ... read more

Italy: Researchers rally to defend science

ROME, June 10 (science) -- A series of protests, including flash mobs and conferences in 15 cities, were held across Italy this weekend as part of the Italy United for Correct Scientific Information campaign. The protests build on an earlier demonstration by 300 researchers, and aim to protest what organisers say is an antiscientific attitude in Italy and widespread "misinformation" about science in the media ... read more

Politically-motivated attack kills student: nation protests

PARIS, June 8 (20minutes) -- Dozens of students have gathered in Paris to denounce the rise of far-right groups in France following the death of Clément Méric, anti-fascist activist and student at Sciences Po, at the hands of a group of skinheads. The sentiments of these students have been mirrored across the country, as thousands march ... read more | read more

Growing gaps in university funding across Europe

June 11 (insidehighered) -- A new analysis of public funding in European universities, conducted by the European University Association, warns of a widening resource gap. Of the 17 higher education systems considered, nine saw funding increase from 2012 to 13, whilst eight experienced cuts, the most severe of which were in Greece ... read more

EU and Gates Foundation sign research agreement

BRUSSELS, June 10 (euractiv) -- The EU and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have pledged to pool resources for research into poverty-related diseases. The agreement will come under the budget for European commissioner for research and innovation Máire Geoghegan-Quinn’s directorate and will form part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme ... read more

The Netherlands promises 1,000 tech scholarships

AMSTERDAM, June 10 (thepienews) -- A new “technology pact” signed by Dutch businesses, unions, and educational and governmental institutions, will provide 1,000 technological scholarships each year to domestic and foreign students in the Netherlands. The pact aims to tackle labour market shortages ... read more

Turkish Minister criticises postponement of exams

ISTANBUL, June 8 (uwn) -- Several prominent Turkish universities have announced the postponement of university finals amid ongoing protests across the country, in a move that was interpreted by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as encouraging students to join in the protests ... read more

Auditors slam research funding red tape

BRUSSELS, June 7 (science) -- The European Union's budget watchdog says that scientists seeking grants from the EU's main research funding program, known as Framework Programme 7 (FP7), face unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. In a recent report, the European Court of Auditors writes that FP7 procedures remain complex and sometimes inconsistent ... read more

Sunny outlook for students of Lisbon University

LISBON, June 6 (altenergymag) -- Students at Lisbon University will be running their computers on clean solar power thanks to the Conergy modules and inverters of the university’s 640 kilowatt rooftop plant promoted in collaboration with Galp Energia and Capa. The plant, covering a total area of 5,000 square metres, can cover around 6% of the campus’ overall energy requirements ... read more

EU backs pan-African quality assurance initiatives

BRUSSELS, June 8 (uwn) -- The European Commission has consulted with the African Union Commission, the Association of African Universities, and quality assurance and accreditation agencies, to discuss the Africa-EU Strategy, in which the Commission will prioritise quality assurance and international accreditation in African higher education ... read more

World’s first intercontinental 100 Gbps link for research

MAASTRICHT, June 6 (phys) -- During the TERENA Networking Conference 2013, six of the world’s leading research and education networks demonstrated for the first time a 100 Gbps transmission link for research and education between North America and Europe. The link will be used for engineering and testing ... read more

Visa rules cost UK £2.4bn in a decade

LONDON, June 5 (guardian) -- According to a new study, many overseas students may choose to study in the US and Canada rather than the UK, following the government’s hardening of international student visa rules. This will lead to a reduction in exports to the value of £2.4bn (€2.8bn) until 2024 ... read more

Education strategy subordinated to industrial policy by EU

BRUSSELS, June 6 (ESNA) -- At a conference on “industrial renaissance” in Brussels, the European Commission underlined its efforts to equip the labour force for industrial transformations and to better anticipate ‘skills needs and mismatches’. Recently the EC has launched the so-called Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs and put forward a strategy to “Rethink education”, including targeted recommendations to Member States for modernising education and training systems ... read more

Indian students increasingly choose Russian universities

MOSCOW, June 4 (pienews) -- The number of Indian students at Russian universities increased by almost 60 per cent to 450 in 2012, accounting for 15-20 per cent of international students. These students primarily choose medical courses ... read more

University of Leipzig: A victory for feminism?

LEIPZIG, June 4 (Spiegel) -- After years of male dominance, the University of Leipzig has made a controversial decision to title all university staff, whether male or female, ‘Professorin’, the feminine version of the German noun ‘Professor’ ... read more

U-Multirank exceeds recruitment goal of 500

GÜTERSLOH, June 6 (pm) -- To date 540 higher education institutions have registered for participation in U-Multirank, the new international university ranking initiated by the EU. Institutions in more than 60 countries will be represented in the initial listing, published for the first time early next year ... read more

Studies explore European universities’ innovation potential

BRUSSELS, June 5 (sciencebusiness) -- A grace period for patents and factors impacting the growth and success of young entrepreneurial technology companies in Europe are the key issues examined in two new studies published by a Brussels-based publishing and consulting firm ... read more

Istanbul universities come out in support of protesters

ISTANBUL, June 3 (div) -- Universities in Istanbul have criticised Turkish riot police following their response to Bahçeşehir University’s decision to shelter and treat wounded protesters. Özyegin University has publicly condemned the police, who broke windows, threw gas bombs and rampaged through university buildings, as using excessive violence, in a statement signed by 225 academics and staff ... read more | read more

Khabarovsk rectors ignore ministry requirements

KHABAROVSK, June 4 (mail) -- The Russian Minister of Education and Science, Dmitry Livanov, in March 2013, said that university rectors are required to publish a declaration of their income on university websites. As yet, no rectors have made this income statement available to the public domain ... read more

France adopts Swiss higher education model

LAUSANNE, June 3 (20min) -- At the first France-Switzerland Innovation Forum, Geneviève Fioraso, French education minister, praised Swiss developments in science and training, and indicated that France aimed to draw on the country’s successful model of linking research with opportunities in innovation and employment ... read more

Danes face EU obstacle to grants reform

COPENAGHEN, May 30 (THE) -- Denmark’s student support system remains mired with confusion despite the country’s coalition government landing a deal with opposition politicians to reform it. The agreement, struck last month, will cut millions from the system known as SU (State Educational Support Grant). Uffe Elbæk, education spokesman for the Liberal Party, said that the system was too generous ... read more

Hungarians protest against education reform

BUDAPEST, June 3 (politics) -- Demonstrations held in Budapest on Sunday were provoked by reservations regarding perceived shortfalls with the restructuring of the public education system, says PDSZ chairman László Mendrey. Protestors are demanding that amendments be made to legislation to ensure that decision-making in education remains a professional matter ... read more

Madrid: 7000 students unable to pay tuition fees

MADRID, June 2 (elmundo) -- More than 7000 students at the universities of Madrid face an abrupt end to their higher education, as they are unable to pay fees, which have risen by 38 per cent in the last year alone ... read more

Foreign students increasing probability of cyber-attacks?

May 29 (inserbia) -- A criminology professor of the University of Maryland, David Maimon, has drawn a link between the number of foreign students logged into college networks and the frequency and origin of cyber-attacks. According to Maimon, “increasing the number of foreign students that arrive from specific countries increases the probability of our campus to receive attacks from those specific countries by around 40 percent” ... read more

Dutch students oppose fee reforms

AMSTERDAM, May 30 (ESU) -- Students numbers in the Netherlands are expected to rise by 20 per cent in 2014, as reforms planned by the Dutch government prompt students to rush their university studies. On Monday, student representatives met education minister Jet Bussemaker to deliver over 6,000 postcards written by students opposing the reforms ... read more

New technological universities in Ireland

DUBLIN, May 30 (rte) -- The Department for Education has announced a reorganisation of the higher education sector that includes the creation of Technological Universities. The department also announced the formation of regional clusters between universities and institutes of technologies ... read more

Portugal: Tax incentives for employing academics

LISBON, May 27 (sicnoticias) -- The Portuguese prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho said last week that he considers investment in the highly qualified human capital of the country essential. He proposes tax incentives for hiring PhDs and researchers in business ... read more

Istanbul student writes to report police madness

ISTANBUL, June 2 (eTN) -- Things are worse in Istanbul right now. Police are resting during the daytime and attacking at night. (...) And it’s not even just Istanbul anymore, dozens of cities in Turkey like the capital Ankara, Izmir, Adana, and Eskişehir are burning with this fire of freedom. (...) Police attacked Bahçeşehir University, because there were medical treatments to the injured people within the campus ... read more

Luring foreign tech students to The Netherlands

AMSTERDAM, May 29 (eurogates) -- A new ‘technology pact’, signed recently by Dutch businesses, educational institutions, unions, and governmental bodies proposes an increase of internships and scholarships for talented foreign tech students to cover around 30,000 unfilled technical positions ... read more

Trondheim needs more student housing

TRONDHEIM, May 29 (universitetsavisa) -- Knut Solberg, chief executive officer of SIT, a student association in Trondheim, has met with the city mayor to highlight the need for more student housing. If the city wishes to uphold its reputation of being the nation’s premier student city ... read more

Romania invests to stop scientific brain drain

BUCAREST, May 30 (monitorul) -- The Romanian government has set up a programme of 50 scholarships, 15.000 Euro each, aimed at excellent researchers who choose to continue working at a university in their home country ... read more

Vienna aims to halt influx of German students

VIENNA, May 28 (presseurop) -- According to figures from the Austrian Ministry of Economy, one in every nine first year university students in Austria is from Germany. The Minister for Science and Research, Karlheinz Töchterle now wants “to give priority” to Austrian students ... read more

Ireland sign an important transatlantic partnership

DUBLIN, May 27 (education ireland) -- Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has announced the details of a partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States. The agreement will help facilitate research opportunities in Ireland for the best young research talent in the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Programme ... read more

Scottish universities remain elitist

EDINBURGH, May 30 (scotsman) -- Professor Sheila Riddell, of Edinburgh University’s School of Education, has warned that abolishing tuition fees for Scottish students has failed to widen access to the country’s universities, as the proportion of working class students has fallen in the past decade ... read more

Research funding organisations back open access

BERLIN, May 29 (science) -- A group of research funding organisations from around the world have put their weight behind open access (OA) to scientific literature at the second annual meeting of the Global Research Council (GRC) in Berlin. The GRC endorsed an Action Plan towards Open Access to Publications and proposed a list of actions ... read more

Half of Italian universities in danger of economic failure

ROME, May 29 (repubblica) -- The Italian Conference of Rectors (CRUI) has complained that recent cuts in spending will push half of Italian universities into economic failure. Following annual funding cuts since 2009, state spending on universities has been reduced by a further 4.6 per cent since 2012, resulting in nationwide recruitment freezes, higher rents for student housing and redirecting of research money ... read more

Mutual recognition agreement for China and Malta

VALLETTA, May 28 (timesofmalta) -- The education ministers of Malta and China have signed a cooperation agreement for the Mutual Recognition of Academic Degrees and Diplomas. Malta’s education ministry and the Rector of Malta University, Professor Juanito Camilleri, have hailed this as an important milestone to facilitate and enhance student mobility between the two countries ... read more

France: Unpaid internships to be a thing of the past?

PARIS, May 27 (lefigaro) -- French MPs have voted in favour of a bill that would introduce obligatory pay for university students’ internships, regardless of the duration and nature of the work undertaken. Education minister Fioraso has responded unfavourably ... read more

Portuguese university hikes up fees

LISBON, May 27 (publico) -- The University of Coimbra (UC), which already charges the highest tuition fees in Portugal, says Coimbra student president Ricardo Morgado, is standing firm on its decision to increase tuition fees in line with inflation. This, despite opposition from students who demand a freeze on the amount ... read more

Algerian-Ukrainian aeronautical partnership announced

KIEV, May 28 (elmoudjahid) -- Professor Bashir Imine of the Mohamed Boudiaf University of Science and Technology in Oran (USTO), has unveiled a new partnership with the Ukraine’s Kharkiv Aviation Institute. The initiative, to be signed in June, aims to strengthen scientific research in the aerodynamic field ... read more

Bremen universities’ tuition fees ruled unconstitutional

BERLIN, May 28 (radiobremen) -- Karlsruhe has deemed that the universities of Bremen imposed unconstitutional rules on students between 2005 and 2010. These rules, stating that students not living in Bremen during the course of their studies were required to pay €500 per semester after a third semester, are said to contravene the right to “free and equal access” ... read more

Barcelona: Students and professors stage ‘sit-in’

BARCELONA, May 25 (diariovasco) -- Police have been called in to evacuate more than 50 protesting students and professors on the second night of their occupation of the university rectory in Barcelona. The protest was sparked by fears of job cuts ... read more

160 cameras to monitor universities

BERLIN, May 24 (shz) -- To prevent theft, universities of the German region Schleswig-Holstein have installed 160 cameras. Deputees of the Pirate Party consider the surveillance illegal and criticised it as costly and inefficient ... read more

Hungary losing its best and brightest

BUDAPEST, May 23 (IPS) -- The westward flow of brainpower that is leaving Hungary’s future uncertain. The debate has erupted around the worrisome 56 per cent of students who consider leaving Hungary, a group that has often participated in international programs and can easily integrate in Western European labour markets ... read more

Free Wi-Fi and e-services for Bulgarian students

SOFIA, May 23 (technews) -- Two ministers have presented the platform campus.egov.bg, which combines academic web spaces and allows students and teachers to use and customise certain e-services. Also new is free Wi-Fi access around the clock at all universities ... read more

Swedish university and region create new Academy

GOTHENBURG, May 23 (PM) -- The southern Swedish region Västra Götaland and the University of Gothenburg have created the Heritage Academy. This research and practice-based forum is supposed to foster cooperation for the development of the regional cultural heritage ... read more

Petition calls for Russian science minister to go

MOSCOW, May 20 (CW) -- A group of  Russian scientists and members of the Parliament has called on President Vladimir Putin to fire Dmitry Livanov, Minister of Education and Science, and to evaluate the rate of efficiency of reforms that are currently being conducted in the domestic science and higher education ... read more

French Parliament approves language law

PARIS, May 23 (le monde) -- Today, the French National Assembly has adopted a law that authorises the teaching of university courses in English, to attract foreign students from emerging powers like Brazil, India and China. A national debate has arisen about its menace to the future of French ... read more

Kurdish speaking university to open in Diyarbakır

ANKARA, May 22 -- Diyarbakır province is preparing to house the first Kurdish speaking university of Turkey by 2016 – a trilingual institution that is mainly addressing Mesopotamian people. According to Ramazan Tunç, the general secretary of the Mesopotamia Foundation, it “came from an urgent need,” and “will fill in the gap for societal needs as well as science” ... read more

Asia-Europe student mobility labelled ‘unbalanced’

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 -- Student mobility between Europe and Asia is notably unbalanced in favour of Europe, said Datuk Ab Rahim Md Noor, secretary-general of Malaysia’s education ministry, at the Fourth Asia-Europe Meeting of Ministers for Education (ASEMME4). “Improving mutual recognition is a key factor for more balanced mobility” ... read more

Norway: New universities at a disadvantage

OSLO, May 21 -- Rector of the young University of Nordland, Pål Pedersen, has highlighted his struggling university’s plight by drawing attention to poor staff-student ratios, limited resources and insufficient space. Pedersen fears that these issues will limit the university’s chances of attracting students and engaging in research. The new universities of Stavanger and Agder have also reported economic woes ... read more

French students more stressed and depressed

PARIS, May 20 (doctissimo) -- French students are feeling the pressure of the economic crisis according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive. Figures recorded show decreased general health since 2009, with two thirds of students considering themselves ‘regularly stressed’ and one half of students reporting prolonged periods of depression. The most worrying trends revealed by the study are widespread sleep disruption and an increase in experiences of violence in education ... read more

The legacy of Italian higher education minister Profumo

ROME, May 20 (ilfattoquotidiano) -- Shortly before the end of the Monti government, former Italian minister of higher education, Francesco Profumo, signed a decree to cut university funding in 2013 by 300 million Euro, a decrease of 20 per cent from 2009. Thirty universities are now in danger of bankruptcy ... read more

Long road to international recognition of Romanian diplomas

BRUSSELS, May 20 (studentie) -- The international recognition of diplomas issued by universities in Romania is part of a “long process,” education minister Remus Pricopie said last week in Brussels. He mentioned a “fake degrees scandal in medicine” as a problem ... read more

Spanish higher education reform sparks anger

MADRID, May 20 (20minutos) -- Spanish science minister Ignacio Wert’s higher education reform proposal (LOMCE) has passed through the Ministers’ Council and has unsurprisingly generated widespread cries of protest. Whilst some regions label the law ‘unconstitutional’, the parliamentary opposition has gone so far as to demand a complete retraction. Amongst the proposed changes is the abolition of compulsory teaching of regional languages and, more importantly, the transfer of curriculum-related decision-making power from local regions to the central government based in Madrid ... read more

German academics set world record in wireless data transmission

KARLSRUHE, May 20 (techweekeurope) -- Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (FIAF) and the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) have managed to transmit data over the air at a speed of 40 Gbps – fast enough to send a full DVD in under a second ... read more

Lithuania puts digital learning on EU presidency agenda

BRUSSELS, May 17 (lithuanian tribune) -- Digital learning will be one of the priorities of the upcoming Lithuanian EU presidency, the country’s education minister Dainius Pavalkis said in Brussels, highlighting open-access learning resources and the recognition of digital learning ... read more

EU, China step up joint innovation projects

SHANGHAI, May 21 (Shanghai Daily) -- The EU and China have signed a joint declaration on high-level innovation cooperation and the first China-EU Innovation Cooperation Dialogue will be held in Beijing this September, shortly before the 16th China-EU Summit. “Under the framework, we'll encourage and support cooperation on research and innovation and involve industries and universities on both sides to engage in cooperation,” said Belgian Consul General Cathy Buggenhout ... read more

Czech Republic: ‘Zeman threatens university freedom’

PRAGUE, May 20 (presseurop) -- Czech President Miloš Zeman has provoked a storm of criticism from academics, politicians and journalists by refusing a request from Charles University in Prague to confer the title of professor on literary historian Martin C. Putna. The head of state has said that he has doubts about promoting the popular author because of his liberal opinions and participation in the Prague Pride gay parade ... read more

Scientific support for the Danube Strategy

May 17 (Baltic Course) -- The European Commission and scientists and policy makers from the 14 Danube Region countries have launched six scientific clusters to support economic development in the region. One of them - the smart specialisation cluster - will use the region as a pilot area to study and foster the integration and coordination of regional or national research and innovation strategies for Smart Specialisation ... read more

CIS member states found common education space

MINSK, May 16 May (BelTA) – The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Ukraine, have established a foundation for a common education space. The ccoperation aims at student mobility, the mutual recognition of university diplomas, academic cooperation, and better qualifications of school teachers... read more

Brazilian impact in The Netherlands

THE HAGUE, May 16 (nuffic) -- In the third call of the Brazilian Science without Borders programme, 371 students were granted a scholarship to study in Holland for one year. Nearly half of the students will study at research universities ... read more

UK research in danger of losing young blood to Germany

BERLIN/LONDON, May 15 (guardian) -- The influential German Council for Humanities and Science (Wissenschaftsrat) is discussing a reform of the German university sector that, if implemented, would affect innovation systems in Europe and beyond ... read more

How would UK higher education fare if Britain left the EU?

Gill Wyness, an education researcher at the London School of Economics and author for the international daily The Guardian, ponders the pros and cons of Britain’s EU membership and its meaning for the island’s higher education. She exposes the arguments of those in favour of quitting Europe and of those who want to stay in Europe, asking: what impact would leaving the EU have on the UK’s higher education sector? What impact would leaving the EU have on foreign students in the UK? ... read more

Journal Impact Factors under fire

May 16 (science) -- More than 150 prominent scientists and 75 scientific groups from around the world today took a stand against the use of impact factors, a measure of how often a journal is cited, to gauge the quality of an individual’s work ... read more

Should students use Wikipedia?

The Nepalese daily paper República is featuring the debate about Wikipedia, its value for academic work and its meaning for the future of knowledge and scientific expertise. The website’s founder Jimmy Wales once warned readers not to use the website for academic purposes; American research shows, however, that the majority of students browse its pages when researching essays. In this article, several experts criticise the phenomenon, its mass use by students and the experts’ distrust in its reliability ... read more

Stephen Hawking’s boycott hits Israel where it hurts: science

LONDON, May 15 (guardian) -- Steven Hawking’s boycott of the Israeli president’s conference follows the rejection of prominent singers, artists and writers who have publicly refused invitations to perform in Israel. But what winds Israel up is the fact that this rejection is by a famous scientist and that science and technology drive its economy. Hawking’s decision threatens to open a floodgate ... read more

Merkel woos qualified immigrants from the South

BERLIN, May 14 (FAZ) -- At a summit on demographics, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that “by 2025, Germany will have a shortage of six million workers.” According to Hans-Peter Friedrich, interior minister, Germany counts on qualified immigrants from southern European countries affected by the crisis ... read more

‘Extremists’ preaching to UK student societies

LONDON, May 13 (BBC) -- The anti-extremist group Students Rights claims a new generation of “extremist” speakers are touring British campuses to spread their version of Islam ... read more | Muslims are describing the campaign as a “witch hunt” ... read more

Extent of Spanish universities’ debt crisis revealed

MADRID, May 15 (economista) -- Public universities across Spain have recorded a collective debt amounting to almost 1.4 billion Euro. This follows a string of nationwide cuts in funding. With a debt of 250 million Euro, the region of Catalonia appears to be the worst hit ... read more

Greek teachers threatened with jail in face of strike action

ATHENS, MAY 12 (que) -- Proposed strike by Greek trade union OLME may be put to an end before it begins on May 17 thanks to threats from Andonis Samaras’ government which has issued a decree demanding that teachers avoid strike action, in a move to safeguard Greek university entrance exams. Dissenting teachers may face jail ... read more

Dismissal over 'miracle healing' in Belgian university

BRUSSELS, May 11 (jesus.ch) -- Fernando Pauwels, staff member at the Catholic University of Leuven, has been dismissed following his involvement in an alleged miracle healing. Pauwels’ personal website shared the story of one of the university hospital’s patients who was miraculously healed through prayer ... read more

Law reform to allow Austrian universities to merge

VIENNA, May 14 (standard) -- Science minister Karelheinz Töchterle has presented a bill proposal under which mergers of Austrian universities and medicine faculties will be allowed. “This paves the way for the fusion of the universities of Linz and Innsbruck”, Töchterle said ... read more

Sony to launch super-thin e-reader for universities

May 13 (computerworld) -- Sony will soon launch a flexible e-reader device, which has the size of an A4 document without margins, a Wi-Fi connection and 4GB of internal memory. The firm said it will market the device to universities; tests at Japanese universities are scheduled for this year ... read more

Cyprus needs to invest in oil and gas education

NICOSIA, May 10 (FG) -- “The challenge that lies ahead of us”, a speaker of the Cypriot energy ministry said, “is to build a sustainable market in the oil and gas area. More than 5000 jobs will be created in the hydrocarbon sector by 2019. Obviously, all of these jobs will have to be filled by the right professionals, with the right skills and education” ... read more

University for lifelong learning in Berlin not profitable

BERLIN, May 13 (Spiegel) -- Apparently, the Freie Universität Berlin (FU) wants to sell one of her youngest children: the Berlin University for Professional Studies (DUW). This institution, founded only five years ago together with the publishing house Klett, was an investment in commercial further education ... read more

Calls for higher education reform for Norway

OSLO, May 13 (the foreigner) -- With a focus on the employability of Norwegian graduates, education and research minister Kristin Halvorsen has called for a new whitepaper ten years after the country’s last major higher education reform ... read more

Russia wants to control foreign research grants

MOSCOW, May 13 (science) -- Russian researchers are up in arms over a decree issued last month which turns the process of issuing research grants into a bureaucratic nightmare for international foundations. Any organisation that wants to award grants to Russian researchers must obtain permission from the science ministry for every grant ... read more

EU students owe UK £50 million in loans

LONDON, May 12 (independent) -- The Student Loans Company (SLC) has been forced to take dramatic measures to protect the British taxpayer, as unpaid European Union graduate debt has risen to almost £52 million in five years. SLC officials have confirmed the appointment of a tracing agency to locate ‘missing’ EU graduates ... read more

Hong Kong university reaches out to Turkish students

ANKARA, May 10 (hurriyet) -- Following a visit to seven Turkish universities in Ankara and Istanbul, Tony F. Chan, President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has expressed a wish to develop cooperation with Turkish students in research, undergraduate exchanges, and postgraduate studies ... read more

French clash over move to English

PARIS, May 10 (science) -- French Science Minister Geneviève Fioraso has defended a new draft bill containing controversial proposals to relax the compulsory use of French in universities in favour of English. This has been met with criticism from some leading scientific researchers ... read more

Turkey wins back scholars and researchers

ANKARA, May 7 (world bulletin) -- The last four years has seen a total of 248 Turkish researchers, who had been residing abroad to capitalise on research and development opportunities in their fields, return to Turkey as a result of the efforts of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) ... read more

Portuguese students stand against government cuts

LISBON, May 6 (público) -- Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s announcement of new austerity measures involving public spending cuts of 4.8 billion by 2015, has been met with open criticism from student representatives. Students particularly fear plans to reduce state expenditure in the education and social security sectors ... read more

Student protests break into violence in Naples

NAPLES, May 7 (il secolo XIX) -- Naples experienced a day of tension yesterday on the occasion of the first visit to the city of Maria Chiara Carrozza, the new Italian Minister of Education and Research. A fight broke out as a group of students gathered before the prefecture to condemn the previous day’s clashes in Milan, which saw the police clearing out an occupied university classroom ... read more

Dutch students make a fool of Christine Lagarde

AMSTERDAM, May 07 (AD) -- The appearance of Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), at the University of Amsterdam has been interrupted by student protesters. Lagarde had just begun a discussion about the European debt crisis when students emerged from the audience criticising the Fund’s policies ... read more

Georgian rectors call upon the President

TBILISI, May 7 (dfwatch) -- The rectors of two large universities in Georgia are asking President Mikheil Saakashvili to veto a law amendment, which they believe will restrict the autonomy of universities ... read more

Student loan repayment plans under fire in Britain

LONDON, May 7 (new statesman) -- Nicholas Barr, professor of Public Economics at the London School of Economics, is adamant that graduates should start repaying their student loans when earning less than the £21,000 figure previously discussed ... read more

50 million Euro in the hands of Finnish students

HELSINKI, May 7 (kaleva) -- The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture intends to give students more power. By 2015, three per cent of university funding will be reallocated to issues determined by national student surveys … read more

Minister backs the Islamic University of Rotterdam

ROTTERDAM, May 6 (scienceguide) -- The Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Jet Bussemaker, has backed the Islamic University of Rotterdam. This follows a parliamentary question by the right-wing party PVV to revoke the university’s accreditation after statements made by the rector in an interview considered incompatible with ‘Western values’ … read more

France wants to attract more foreign students

PARIS, May 3 (pienews) -- French science minister Geneviève Fioraso maintains that France needs to attract more international students. She proposes to extend two-to-three year student visas, to streamline the visa procedures, to establish one-stop shops supporting international students in France and to facilitate employment after graduation … read more

The Netherlands: BASF buys its way into university

WAGENINGEN, May 6 (EurActiv) -- The Pesticide Action Network has accused the German chemicals company BASF of buying credibility for industry views within academia, after one of its employee was offered a professorship at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. “Today,” PAN writes, “Mr. Bernhard van Ravenzwaay, will officially get a professor seat at Dutch agricultural university of Wageningen in exchange for BASF-funding.” ... read more

Catalan universities are in big trouble

Romania needs more foreign students

BUCAREST, May 1 (Adevărul) -- In a recent interview, Ecaterina Andronescu, former Romanian Minister of Education, said that Romania needs to attract more foreign students. Opportunities for medical studies in the country are thought to be particularly attractive. Problems persist however, with the visa system ... read more

France and China cooperate on higher education & research

PARIS, May 4 (UWN) -- France and China have entered into 11 agreements to strengthen higher education and research partnerships as well as student mobility between the two countries, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research has announced. The agreements were signed during an official visit to China by French President François Hollande in April, on which he was accompanied by Higher Education and Research Minister Geneviève Fioraso ... read more

Danish students can now borrow DKK 100,000 to go abroad

COPENHAGEN, May 2 (UniversityPost) -- From now on, Danish students who want to go abroad, but lack the funding to do so, can borrow up to DKK 100,000 (€13,500) from the Danish state ... read more

Polish rectors conference wants more deregulation

WARSAW, April 29 (WP) -- At its recent meeting, the Polish rectors’ conference, CRASP – an organisation of more than 100 member universities – stated their intention to propose to the government further deregulation of higher education by the end of the year ... read more

Ireland: Monetising the Trinity brand

DUBLIN, May 2 (UniversityTimes) -- The steady decrease in the state grant offered to universities in Ireland has seen institutions mirror their American and British counterparts in persuading former students to open up their wallets. With Trinity’s increased focus on external revenues, the ‘Trinity brand’ is one of the major tools available to the office for Global Relations ... read more

Cyprus MPs want foreign student visa overhaul

NICOSIA, May 1 (pienews) -- “The current bureaucratic procedure for registering foreign students in Cyprus entails serious negative consequences for both the sustainability and the development of higher education in Cyprus,” said Nicos Tornarits, chairman of the house education committee ... read more

Blackstone boss backs $300 million Chinese university fund

BEIJING, April 21 (Reuters) -- Blackstone Group Inc. founder Stephen Schwarzman will personally donate $100 million to a scholarship fund at China’s Tsinghua University as part of the largest internationally funded philanthropic project in the country’s history. Schwarzman has already raised another $100 million from a group of mostly Western donors including BP and Boeing. “The goal is to build the most prestigious and well-funded international scholarship program in the most populous country in the world,” Schwarzman said ... read more

University of Pavia ordered to pay back €2m of fees

PAVIA, May 2 (Leggi Oggi) -- The Regional Administrative Court of Lombardy ruled that the University of Pavia has to return 2.16 million Euro to students enrolled in 2011. The university exceeded the legal threshold of tuition fees under 20 per cent of public funding ... read more

UK: Foreign applicants return to the roots

LONDON, May 2 (THE) -- Just one in 17 prospective international students sees settling permanently in the UK as the main aim of a university education in the country, a survey has found. The ability to work while studying is a bigger draw for such students than post-graduation employment rights ... read more

Valencian universities “economically strangulated”

ALICANTE, May 1 (la verdad) -- The five public universities of the Province of Valencia in south-east Spain intend to enforce by court order the payment of 1.2 million Euro, owed by the regional government. According to Manuel Palomar, rector of the University of Alicante, the Region’s total debt towards the universities amounts to 250 million Euro ... read more

East Germany: Thousands of students protest against higher education cuts

HALLE, April 30 (Berliner Zeitung) -- On Tuesday, around 7000 students hit the streets of Halle, eastern Germany, to protest against severe cuts in higher education and the loss of university clinics. The university budget of €300 million could be reduced by 50 million in the coming years. Students and citizens fear for the city’s future... read more

Russia’s academic revival a daunting task

MOSCOW, May 1 (the australian) -- Russia has two universities in the Shanghai Ranking: Moscow and St Petersburg State. China has 28. Things cannot go on like this. But where will change come from? ... read more

European Student Union against student loans

BUDAPEST, April 30 (ESU) -– Students want more investment in the grant system for higher education in Europe, rather than the introduction of a new loan scheme, as proposed by the European Commission. They demand that the EP and Council look at alternative measures to enhance student mobility ... read more

Great hopes on Italy’s new education and science minister

ROME, April 27 (il fatto quotidiano) -- Italy’s new Education and Science Minister, Maria Chiara Carrozza, Professor of Engineering and former rector at the renowned university of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, promised to realise more meritocracy in research careers and funding. Academics hope she will be “the minister of the university community” and not, like her predecessors, “school commissioner for the Ministry of Economy and Finance” ... read more

New challenges to Turkey’s education reforms

ISTANBUL, April 30 (globalist) -- Turkey has made strides in improving education in recent decades. But, according to Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, the nation’s rapidly growing student body now stands at 17 million, bringing a new set of challenges to education reform ... read more

Microsoft signs up several European schools to Office 365

REDMOND, WASHINGTON, April 29 (newin) -- Today, Microsoft announced that Office 365 has also gained traction overseas as a number of schools and universities in Central and Eastern Europe have made the move to use the productivity software suite ... read more

Russian bank and university cooperation

MOSCOW, April 29 (ysia) -- One of Russia's biggest banks, Rosbank, has signed an agreement with the Financial University of Moscow. Under this agreement, Rosbank experts will conduct lectures and workshops for students, as well as master classes ... read more

German professors criticise contradictions of Bologna

BERLIN, April 28 (zeit) -- According to a survey, most German professors share the aims of the Bologna Process but complain about its enduring real-life contradictions – bureaucracy or self-evaluation, mobility or didactic density, ECTS or understanding of skills? All unresolved conflicts caused by policy failure and obstructionism ... read more

Belgium wants to reduce the number of French students

NAMUR, April 26 (figaro) -- Belgium has taken new measures to limit the number of foreign medical students. The government is especially targeting French citizens who sometimes represent more than half of the registered students ... read more

New education and research minister in Luxemburg

LUXEMBURG, April 29 (delano) -- Martine Hansen, currently director of the Agriculture Technical Academy, has been nominated to join prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker’s government and take over the department of higher education and research, as one of two new ministers brought in during this cabinet reshuffle ... read more

A new libel law for England and Wales

LONDON, April 25 (science) -- Scientists campaigning for libel law reform in England and Wales have a reason to celebrate. A new Defamation Bill that advocates say will help protect free speech – including statements included in peer-reviewed scientific publications – received the go-ahead from Parliament ... read more

Amsterdam plans to establish a third university

AMSTERDAM, April 25 (InsideHigherEd) -- The initiative Amsterdam Metropolitan Solutions is designed to attract foreign universities interested in forming a consortium with internationally operating and Amsterdam-based businesses, as well as one or more Dutch research institutes or universities, all organised around a city-minded or urban research issue ... read more

China and Italy pledge stronger education ties

MILAN, April 24 (pienews) -- At the event at the Politecnico di Milano, the Chinese vice education minister Du Yubo said that China will support educational cooperation and exchanges with Italy. There are currently 13,000 Chinese students in Italy and around 4,130 Italian students in China ... read more

Oxford has the most super rich students

LONDON, April 25 (pr newswire) -- In the last UK ranking report, Oxford University tops the list with the highest UHNW alumni population count of 401, making it the university that grooms the largest number of students worth more than $1m in the UK ... read more

Homeopathic medicine conquers German universities

BERLIN, April 22 (telepolis) -- An association called European Union of Homoeopathy is planning to open its 109th private higher education institution in Germany; a project funded by the state of Bavaria with half a million euros. This alternative brand of medicine has strong supporters in other German regions as well, such as North Rhine-Westphalian's health minister Barbara Steffens ... read more

Cyprian universities reduce the fees

NICOSIA, April 24 (cyprusmail) -- In an attempt to help Cyprian universities in the current crisis, there will be a 10 per cent decrease in tuition fees at private and state-run universities, Education Minister Kyriacos Kenevezos announced yesterday … read more

Strong reduction of Danish student grants and loans

COPENHAGEN, April 25 (UWN) -- The major political parties in Denmark have signed a reform agreement aimed at strengthening the economy, job creation and competitiveness. Public money saved on the student grants and loans system will be invested in other areas of higher education. Students are angry, but rectors support the move ... read more

Cybercrimes against Scottish universities

EDINBURGH, April 25 (the journal) -- A journal investigation reveals that Scottish universities have experienced hundreds of cyber attacks. Universities are exploring ways to prevent IT security incidents ... read more

11 European universities launch online courses together

BRUXELLES, April 23 (novinite) -- Partners from 11 countries are joining forces in an initiative for massive open online courses. The initiative is led by the association of open universities EADTU and supported by the European Commission ... read more

Acute shortage of student flats in Sweden

STOCKHOLM, April 22 (aftonbladet) -- Rents for students have risen sharply due to acute shortage of student flats. There is a wait of four years for student-housing requests, particularly in Stockholm. Today there are around 80,000 students in the Stockholm region, but only 12,400 student apartments. There is currently a shortage of nearly 7,000 apartments  ... read more

Russian and Dutch higher education cooperate more closely

AMSTERDAM, April 18 (nuffic) -- During Russian president Vladimir Putin's visit to Amsterdam, made shortly before the Forum of Rectors and Presidents of Russian and Dutch Universities, the two education ministers signed an agreement about higher education and science. The aim is to boost student mobility and university cooperation between both countries ... read more

Young European scholars to gather in Azerbaijan

BAKU, April 22 (azernews) -- The Azerbaijani capital Baku will host the first international forum of young European scientists, titled “Challenges in the EU area”, on May 20-25. The main purpose is to facilitate effective cooperation and to intensify the integration of Azerbaijani scholars into the European scientific community ... read more

Erasmus budget could be cut by 15%

BRUSSELS, April 22 (PieNews) -- The European Commission is considering a fifteen per cent cut to its budget for the Erasmus exchange programme from 2014 to 2020, in the face of demands for austerity cuts among member states—although in real terms it would still represent an increase. At the same time it is pushing for a student loan guarantee scheme to encourage more students to fund their own studies ... read more

Scientist jailed for faking drug results

EDINBURGH, April 18 (neweurope) -- Steven Eaton, a researcher working for US pharmaceutical firm Aptuit in Edinburgh, has been sentenced to three months in prison after providing false data about the effect of a medicine on rats in order to persuade bosses to begin testing it on humans ... read more

Goldman partner to help raise funds for research institute

LONDON, April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Charles Manby, a senior partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., will lead a 100 million-pound (€116 million) fundraising campaign for the Francis Crick Institute, which will be Europe’s largest biomedical research center ... read more

Multidimensional university ranking system for Russia

MOSCOW, April 20 (UWN) -- In Russia almost 30 different approaches to ranking have been developed recently and tested in a bid to satisfy the needs of various stakeholders. Thus in 2011 the education ministry contracted the National Training Foundation to develop a template methodology for a Russian university ranking ... read more

IFERC expands global collaboration

CAMBRIDGE, April 19 (scienceworldreport) -- As of 9 April GÉANT, the world’s leading high-speed research and education network managed and operated by DANTE in Cambridge, UK, will be providing data links to the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC), in Rokkasho, Japan. IFERC hosts the Helios supercomputer ... read more

Swiss measures to heal lack of practitioners

BERN, April 22 (Bund) -- The decision of a great majority in the Swiss National Council to abolish access restricions for medical studies is not uncontested. Universities fear study quality will deteriorate and the lack of physicians will not be remidied ... read more

India and Germany plan joint vocational university

NEW DELHI, April 17 (india edu news) -- India and Germany last week signed two agreements to strengthen cooperation in education and research. “We are looking at a couple of possibilities and one is setting up a central vocational university,” Indian Ambassador to Germany Sujatha Singh told the media ... read more

More degree courses 'lying empty' after tuition fees rise

LONDON, April 18 (telegraph) -- Rising numbers of degree courses are lying empty after failing to attract any students following a sharp hike in tuition fees, according to new research ... read more

Gay students: invisible on campus?

LONDON, April 19 (guardian) -- The British student union NUS plans to collect more information on the number and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. Why, asks says NUS LGBT officer Finn McGoldrick, aren’t institutions doing more to support their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students? ... read more

French universities court world’s brightest students

APARIS, April 17 (France24) -- The French government has started unveiling a series of reforms aimed at making its universities more attractive to foreigners, with a new emphasis on drawing in the brightest students from developing countries ... read more

Eight EU countries hit 2020 education goals early

BRUSSELS, April 12 (euractiv) -- Denmark, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden have already met or even exceeded their 2020 national targets on boosting university education, defined three years ago at EU level to enhance the bloc’s labour force and ability to compete against global economic rivals ... read more

Austerity-led brain drain is killing Greek science

ATHENS, April 17 (nature) -- Many young scientists are heading abroad. In 2010, about 120,000 Greek scholars lived and worked elsewhere, about one-tenth of the total. The number is now estimated at 150,000. The young, skilled workforce, a key factor for economic development, is disappearing exactly when society needs it most ... read more

A toothless governance code for Scottish universities

EDINBURGH, April 16 (THE) -- A new draft code of governance for Scottish universities has been condemned as “weak” and “meaningless” by student and academic unions. Non of the recommendations - drawn up by Ferdinand von Prondzynski in January 2012, such as quotas for women on governing boards, more staff and student representation on boards, and a ban on bonuses for vice-chancellors - have made it into the draft code ... read more

Portuguese students question the legitimacy of tuition fees

LISBON, April 15 (Público) -- A group of students and academics have launched a debate on tuition fees in Portugal. Lusa Afonso Moreira, one of the organisers, recalls that in the 1990s the students were paying six euros and now they pay nearly a thousand ... read more

Technical University merger in France

PARIS, April, 15 (l’etudiant) -- The three universities UT Belfort-Montbéliard, UT Compiègne and UT Troyes will henceforth form a group “to deploy a common strategy in France and abroad”, said UTC president Alain Storck. 7500 engineering students can benefit from harmonised curricula and more ... read more

Exodus of young Hungarians

BUDAPEST, April 17 (telegraaf) -- More and more highly qualified young Hungarians go abroad. According to official EU figures, the number of leavers increased from about 25,000 to at least 85,000 per year, since Viktor Orbán came to power in 2010 ... read more

ETH Zurich profs want their say in choosing a rector

ZÜRICH, April 13 (Tagesanzeiger) -- Professors of the Swiss university ETH criticise the University Council for monolpolising the choice and selection of a new rector after Ralph Eichler will leave in 2014. Even the past elections for this powerful position were not free of conflict ... read more

Controversial Confucius Institutes

April 15 (boise) -- The first Confucius Institute opened in Seoul, South Korea, in 2004. Most US-based Confucius Institutes are located in state universities or regional colleges. There are more than 60 in the United States, 14 in France, 11 in Germany, 13 in Britain and others in Eastern Europe and Asia. The Chinese government typically pays to start the centers and for a portion of their continuing costs.
But the institute doesn’t come without some controversy, as professors in various countries were worried that a Confucius Institute might interfere with academic freedom and possibly censor speech on topics the Communist Party of China might object to ... read more

Thousands of European students hear the gospel

April 15 (inspire) -- The Fellowship of Evangelists in the Universities of Europe (FEUER) is seeing thousands of students hear and respond to the gospel. FEUER is currently in the middle of a continent-wide campaign to hold university missions in 25 major cities in 25 countries in 25 months ... read more

Scottish univerities criticised for voluptuous salaries

British universities delegation in Tripoli

TRIPOLI, April 15 (Libya Herald) -- Representatives from 21 British universities arrived in Tripoli today looking at the possibilities of collaboration opportunities with Libyan universities and colleges as well as with ministries and related educational and training departments ... read more

Minorities seen as threat by students in Turkey

ISTANBUL, April 15 (Hürriyet) -- According to a survey conducted by Turkey’s Education and Science Employees Union (Eğitim-Sen), more than half of the students and teachers in Turkey believe that minorities constitute a threat to the country ... read more

Russia’s students on the verge of mass protests

MOSCOW, April 13 (UWN) -- Russia’s students seem to be on the verge of mass protests, due to ongoing attacks on university autonomy and reforms that could result in the closure or merging of nearly a third of higher education institutions, as well as new disciplinary measures ... read more

Canadian universities square off against copyright group

TORONTO, April 14 (CBC) -- Some universities no longer feel the need to pay a company which has provided a pool of protected intellectual work for two decades while distributing royalties to the writers, artists and publishers. A new deal with this company requires institutions to pay $26 per student annually — up from $3.38.
One of Canada’s largest universities has now been taken to court. The entire situation could have wide-ranging implications for students and educational institutions across the country ... read more

New billions for German higher education

BERLIN, April 13 (Welt) -- To tackle the growth of student numbers, German universities receive additional auxiliary funds. The Federal Government will increase the “Higher Education Pact” by 2.2 billion Euro to finance new study places, science minister Johanna Wanka said. The regions will have to provide a “similar amount” ... read more

Austrian municipality lures students with 150 Euro

MUNDERFING, April 15 (OÖN) -- To retain students in their home city - at least as residents - the Austrian town of Munderfing offers 150 Euro per semester. It is a counter-measure against “bait offers” of big cities. The principal residence is the basis of federal transfer funds ... read more

Demonstration in favour of foreign students in Strasbourg

STRASBOURG, April 10 (l’alsace) -- On Tuesday, students, teachers, union representatives and other citizens protested outside the prefecture of Strasbourg against the expulsion of foreign students. The conflict, going on since months ... read more

Resistance against university merger in Norway

KRISTIANSAND, April 10 (NRK) -- On Wednesday, the City Council of Kristiansand expressed their skepticism towards the plans to merge the University of Agder with the Telemark University College, fearing a loss of quality ... read more

Commuter students to Monaco

MONACO, April 10 (meltycampus) -- Understandably, the housing prices in the small state of Monaco are very high – comparable to Hong Kong and Tokyo. Students have to look for accommodation across the border ... read more

More than 120.000 Greek scientists have emigrated

THESSALONIKI, April 9 (Zeit) -- Since 2010, more than 120.000 Greek scientist have emigrated to over 70 countries worldwide. “Ten per cent of young scientists leave the country”, the economist Lois Lambrianides told ethnos, because they “nearly can’t find any employers in need of specialised, academic staff any more” ... read more

Most Catalan students have weak English proficiency

BARCELONA, April 6 (la vanguardia) -- Two thirds of Catalan first year students possess English skills lower than B2, the university council CIC reports. Thousands will have to attend courses to obtain a degree ... read more

Who is the biggest European ‘student exporter’ to the U.S.?

April 8 (NYT) -- Which European nation sends the most young people to America? It’s not Britain, Germany or France. It’s  ... read more

Highest bribes at a Belarus university ever

MINSK, April 9 (EJ) -- Belarus students usually may pay several hundred thousand rubles (100.000 rubles ≈ 9 euro) for positive exam decisions, an investigation unit on corruption has uncovered a case of bribes amounting to 16 million rubles (1.400 euro) at the trade union’s university MITSO ... read more

British students fear ‘triple-dip recession’

LONDON, April 8 (THE) -- Students today face a “triple-dip recession” consisting of a lack of jobs, opportunities to study and prospects, according to the president of their national union ... read more

Students oppose the Cyrillic alphabet in Croatia

French researchers’ rally for non-profit science publishing

PARIS, April 8 (Sauvons l’université!) -- A group of research directors and members of the French researchers’ trade union CGT-INRA have published an alarming analysis of science publishing in the hands of big publishing firms like Elsevier, Springer and Nature. They shed light on the destructive market machanisms of profit-oriented science publishing and propose ways of resistance ... read more

Nature’s publishers to launch open-access platform

April 7 (THE) -- Nature Publishing Group has launched a new open-access platform that will peer review and publish detailed descriptions of their contents. Scientific Data will publish “data descriptors”, not host the datasets themselves. The platform, which will open for submissions in the autumn and launch in spring 2014, will focus initially on the life and environmental sciences, before expanding into other areas ... read more

Research Council UK changes open-access guidance again

LONDON, April 9 (THE) -- Research Councils UK has removed from its guidance on its open-access policy an exhortation for institutions and authors to make sure a “proper market in article fees” operates ... read more

Swiss universities tested by foreign student influx

BERN, April 7 (swissinfo) -- Top Swiss universities are now bulging at the seams with new students and frequently cry out for more cash to help them cope. At the same time, the proportion of overseas students is constantly rising - from 23 per cent in 1990 to 38 per cent in 2011 ... read more

Easier visa procedure for Maroccan students in France

PARIS/RABAT, April 5 (atlas) -- While France is regaining its strong economic position in Maroc, President François Hollande said during a visit that it will be easier for Maroccan students in France to obtain a visa after graduation ... read more

Silesian students demand change of academic calendar

KATOWICE, April 1 (DZ) -- Due to the prolonged winter season Silesian students have proposed a change of the academic calendar at their university. They argue that according to weather forecasts the ideal period for summer holidays would start in May ... read more

Portuguese minister quits amid questions about his degree

LISBON, April 4 (Reuters) -- A senior Portuguese cabinet minister resigned on Thursday after months of allegations that he had obtained a university degree without earning the required course credits. Antonio Costa Pinto, a political analyst at the University of Lisbon, compared Relvas’s demise with similar cases in Germany, where two ministers stepped down in the past few years because they were found to have plagiarised their academic theses ... read more

Dutch students accelerate

THE HAGUE, April 3 (NRC) -- Dutch students finish their first degree earlier and earlier. The question is now, which of the recent measures to assure quicker accomplishment are responsible for this acceleration? ... read more

Complete failure of the Bologna Process in Croatia

ZAGREB, March 29 (Politika) -- Eight years after its introduction, prominent deans and professors admit that the Bologna Process has failed in Croatia: first-cycle degrees are not recognised by employers, students flee into inflationary Master’s courses, and mobility is decreasing instead of increasing ... read more

Universities fined for having too many foreign students

COPENHAGEN, April 4 (CP) -- Danish universities have to pay fines up to 97.5 million Kroner (€13 million) for accepting more foreign exchange students than they have sent abroad. Kristian Thorn, the deputy rector of Aarhus University, said that the punishment is self-defeating ... read more

Big majority of Portuguese postgrads want to study abroad

LISBON, April 4 (Portugal News) -- The survey of 700 Portuguese Masters’ and post-graduate students show that around a third would like to study in Spain, a lttle less favouring the UK, and one in ten the U.S. ... read more

UK open access

LONDON, April 4 (nature) -- Rules making publicly funded research in the United Kingdom free to read came into force on 1 April. This year, universities and research institutions are expected to openly publish at least 45% of any research funded with grants from the UK research councils ... read more

Sussex protesters evicted following court order

SUSSEX, April 2 (THE) -- A number of police were present at the eviction, which the university said was to “prevent any criminal offences, ensure public safety”. The occupation, in protest at the outsourcing of 235 estates and catering jobs at the university, had been in place for more than seven weeks ... read more

Plagiarism software – successful and useless

BERLIN, April 2 (div) -- Anglo-Saxon plagiarism software does not work, as professor Debora Weber-Wulff from Berlin reiterates ... read more | Nevertheless, as a survey of the news agency dpa shows, half of the universities in the German state of Baden-Württemberg are intending to buy some ... read more

EU promises easier access for international students

BRUSSELS, March 27 (pienews) -- The European Commission proposes to make it easier for non-EU students and researchers to enter and stay in the European community states, in the face of growing competition from host destinations such as the US, Australia and Japan ... read more

Oxford wins this year's boat race against Cambridge

LONDON, March 31 (guardian) -- After the events of last year, when an anti-elitist act of civil disobedience earned Trenton Oldfield global notoriety, this year's race was disappointingly incident-free ... read more

Italian education suffered most cuts

ROME, March 28 (roars) -- According to a study by the European Commission, Italy is the only European country that has not increased spending on schools and higher education between 2000 and 2010. The other countries with cuts higher than 5 per cent ... read more

Belgian students demonstrate for better universities

BRUSSELS, March 28 (RTL) -- Students from both parts of Belgium took the streets in protest against the deteriorating quality of their universities. The action day involved students from eight universities in eight cities denouncing chronic underfunding ... read more

Greek parliament overturns right to universal education

ATHENS, April 2 (WSWS) -- On Thursday the Greek parliament voted to pass legislation, codenamed the Athena Plan, aimed at the destruction of free, state-provided higher education. The law was rammed through in flagrant violation of the Greek constitution, which does not allow for the abolition of universities ... read more

Rising number of German professors at Austrian universities

VIENNA, March 29 (profil) -- Some Austrian academics are irritated by the rising number of professors coming from Germany, especially in Innsbruck, near to the border. Science minister Karlheinz Töchterle says he didn’t notice this kind of aversions in his time as a rector ... read more

British professorial pay rises twice as fast as rest

LONDON, March 28 (THE) -- The average salary for full-time professors rose by 0.55 per cent to £76,214 in 2011-12 - almost three times the 0.2 per cent average pay increase handed to all other academic staff. The average remuneration awarded to university leaders rose to £247,428 ... read more

European Parliament rejects new 7-year budget proposal

BRUSSELS, March 29 (ACA) -- The European Council agreed on the Union’s framework budget for the years 2014-2020, after difficult and long-drawn negotiations. The compromise foresaw spending in the range of EUR 960 billion, and thus 3 per cent less in real terms than in the current 7-year period ... read more

Three Turkish universities join their forces

ANKARA, March 27 (Hurriyet) -- In a project called ‘International United Ankara University’ (IUAU) the three largest universities of Ankara will work closer together. In nearly 20 subject areas students can gain a diploma by all three universities ... read more

Salamanca: a moment of silence as a sign of protest

SALAMANCA, March 27 (tercera) -- On Monday, students stood 15 minutes in silence at the university gates when members of the governing council were passing. Their silence was meant as a protest because the young antifascist Alfonso Fernández "Alfon" couldn’t attend a public and peaceful meeting at the university last week ... read more

First department of Jewish theological studies in Germany

BERLIN, March 24 (JTA) -- The Brandenburg Parliament will permit theological education at the German state’s universities to allow the study of Jewish theology at Potsdam University, changing its laws on higher education ... read more

Romanian students claim freedom of speech

CLUJ, March 27 (mondo) -- 30 students have occupied a lecture hall at their university claiming that a university ought to be a place of free speech and debate, after the screening of a documentary had been suspended a week earlier. Students at the University of Bucharest occupied the auditorium of the Faculty of History as a gesture of solidarity ... read more

Impediments for foreign students to live in Estonia

TALLINN, March 26 (ERR) -- The European Commission says that bureaucratic hurdles, such as complex procedures for obtaining visas and residence permits, can make it difficult for non-EU students to stay in Estonia after graduation ... read more

EU wants more foreign students and researchers

BRUSSELS, March 25 (EC) -- The commission proposes to make it easier for non-EU national students, researchers and other groups to enter and stay in the EU for periods exceeding three months. New legislation will set clearer time limits for national authorities ... read more

Italian students ask Bersani for additional funding

Students bussed in to join Sussex protest

SUSSEX, March 25 (BBC) -- Students from around the UK have joined a University of Sussex protest over the outsourcing of support services ... more

Professors’ rebellion in Macedonia

OHRID, March 20 (dnevnik) -- The police had to intervene to finish a rebellion at Ohrid University in Macedonia. Professors had formed a counter-senate to dethrone the new rector Ninoslav Marina whose academic titles they don’t acknowledge. A court order alone hadn’t been enough to remove the usurpers ... read more

New French science law falls short of expectations

PARIS, March 22 (science) -- Months of consultation with the French scientific community culminated on Wednesday when the science minister presented a draft bill for a new higher education and research law that France’s Parliament will soon consider. The crafting of the new law began with high hopes among scientists, including that it would reduce competition between researchers, institutions, and regions and simplify an overly complex national education and research system. But many now feel that the draft bill sidestepped some key issues, such as funding and job stability ... read more

French scientists protest against research bill

PARIS, March 21 (nature) -- A number of higher-education unions and the campaign group Let’s Save Research called a strike on March 21th demanding withdrawal of a bill, adopted the day before by the French cabinet, to reform higher education and research ... read more

The Law Fioraso: an ultra-liberal project

PARIS, March 20 (resistance) -- The proposal of the new higher education and research law (ESR) furthers the marketisation of universities, opens them to external financial interests and damages the French language ... read more

German universities challenge big research organisations

BONN, March 23 (div) -- Berhard Kempen, president of the university association DHV, has criticised that German universities loose research funding and the big research organisations’ growing influence. He claims that “universities have to become the center of research again” ... read more

More scientific publications in Norway

TRONDHEIM, March 25 (ua) -- The amount of scientific publications at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is rising steadily. Only the NTNU’s ‘main competitors’, University of Oslo and Bergen, have a higher proportion of top publications ... read more

Ankara students punished for pro-Öcalan rally

ANKARA, March 23 (timeturk) -- During the annual celebrations at the campus of Hacettepe University in Ankara, policy intervened with gas bombs to stop a group of students who were rallying for the release of Kurd leader Abdullah Öcalan. The university has taken disciplinary action against 96 students ... read more

Scottish universities ‘worst in UK’ for attracting poor

EDINBURGH, March 21 (BBC) -- A study indicates that only one in four students in Scotland are from lower socio-economic groups compared to 30.7 per cent for the UK as a whole. In England, the figure is 30.9, in Wales 29.1 and in Northern Ireland 39.1 per cent. NUS Scotland president Robin Parker said: “We know universities can’t do it all on fair access, but they can, and must, do a great deal more than this” ... read more

‘United Russia’ opens its own party university

MOSCOW, March 19 (Izvestia) -- The governing party of ‘United Russia’ (Единой России) will open a university. Next week, prime minister and party leader Dmitry Medvedev will give a lecture. The university is an up-grade of the school for party members ... read more

Polish rectors worry about freedom of speech at universities

WARSAW, March 15 (Gazeta) -- The Polish rectors’ conference KRASP is concerned about violations of academic principles of openness and freedom on college campuses. Recently, groups of young neo-fascists had raided a university lecture on homosexuals at Warsaw University ... read more

The risks of subsidising Welsh student mobility

CARDIFF, March 19 (BBC) -- Finance directors of Welsh universities say the Welsh government’s student fees subsidies are leaving their sector with an uncertain financial future. No-one knows from year to year how many Welsh students will choose to study in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland ... read more

“War on talent” continues for engineers in Europe

March 14 (Newswire) -- Human resource professionals of European-based companies complain that there is not enough “talent” to go around. If anything, the need for qualified engineers and computer professionals may never have been greater than it is now ... read more

Student loans bill for EU undergraduates tops £100m

LONDON, March 8 (telegraph) -- Figures show that funding awarded to EU students increased by more than £15m – 17.5 per cent – in just 12 months on the back of a surge in demand from eastern European nations. In all, almost 32,000 undergraduates took out Government-backed loans to cover tuition fees in 2011/12 – almost four times the total five years earlier. Students from Romania were one of the largest recipients of funding, while those from Lithuania and Bulgaria also received more loans than most other countries ... read more

EU opens up access to scientific research

BRUSSELS, March 19 (WSJ) -- New scientific research must be published for free online, the vice-president of the European Commission said, in a move designed to increase the knowledge pool open to small business and lead to more innovative products ... read more

Will Wikipedia replace the academic thesis?

KIEV/POZNAŃ, March 19 (global post) -- From Ukraine to Egypt, universities are looking to drop traditional requirements for scholarly papers in favor of internet entries. Instead of cribbing research from Wikipedia for papers that will probably only gather dust, advocates of the idea say students would be better off writing their own Wikipedia articles ... read more

UK student-loan system angers some Muslims

LONDON, March 14 (Aljazeera) -- Muslims students in the UK have been protesting against a new loan system that was implemented this academic year because it must be paid back with interest. For a devout Muslim, this is unacceptable because usury is illegal under Islamic law ... read more

Conference on global research launches Horizon 2020

BRUSSELS, March 16 (UWN) -- Around 1,000 participants from more than 100 countries participated in a five-day conference launching Horizon 2020 in Brussels this month. Its aim was to encourage worldwide collaboration in science and explore how Horizon 2020 could “enable an effective scientific response to global challenges” ... read more

Russia gauges universities by graduate employment

MOSCOW, March 18 (rbth) -- The Russian Ministry of Education will monitor the effectiveness of universities by calculating the number of out-of-work graduates applying for positions at job centers to identify universities that are producing the most unemployed graduates ... read more

University applicants in Venice need to prove English skills

VENICE, March 18 (Corriere) -- ‘Ca’ Foscari’ in Venice will be the first Italian university to demand a B1 level of English skills of Bachelor applicants and a B2 level for the Master’s degree ... read more

New German science minister Wanka showns no intention to raise student allowances

BERLIN, March 15 (Focus) -- The new German science minister Johanna Wanka wants to ‘talk’ with the regions about reforms of the federal student allowance (Bafög). She said nothing about a raise or adjustment. Opposition members compared her initiative to her predecessor’s Schavan: ‘swallow’ ... read more

French students rally against private Portuguese university

FRANCE, March 14 (mediaetudiant) -- The National Union of Students in Dental Surgery have organised nationwide protests against the opening of the private Portuguese university centre in La Garde, southern France ... read more

Spanish university reform unconstitutional?

MADRID, March 18 (Público) -- Ignacio Wert, Spanish Minister of Education, met regional leaders to discuss his reform proposals of the Spanish university system. One focus of the reform is the creation of a ‘University Council’ for the election of the rector. But with more than half of the council members from outside the university, the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of universities is at risk ... read more

Swiss universities will train imams

BERN, March 14 (Presse) -- Universities, Government and muslim associations have found an agreement on the future training of Islamic theologists at Swiss universities. Universities are now asked to develop educational structures ... read more

Lithuanian youth chooses vocational schools

VILNIUS, March 15 (Baltic Course) -- More and more university graduates are choosing education at vocational schools in Lithuania. The main argument – practice is more important than theory ... read more

Plagiarism accusations become a political weapon in Russia

MOSCOW, March 12 (Moscow Times) -- Members of the political opposition often accuse state officials of grandiose misdeeds, such as falsifying election results, stealing millions from state coffers, or even ordering the killings of their adversaries. Lately, they have begun accusing pro-Kremlin officials of a far less sinister offense: plagiarism ... read more

Spanish university students protest against education cuts

MADRID, March 14 (Prensa Latina) -- The students of all public universities in Spain began today a day of strikes and demonstrations to show their opposition to the cuts made in education by the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy. According to the movement, the severe budgetary adjustments undertaken by the central and regional executives, both led by the conservative Popular Party, are threatening social, teaching and investigative function of the state university ... read more

University College London bans hard-line Islamic group

LONDON, March 14 (Daily Mail) -- A leading London university has banned an Islamic organisation from holding events on its campus after it told women to sit separately from men and couples at a debate there ... read more

Greek university reform splits coalition

ATHENS, March 14 (kathimerini) -- Plans to reform Greece’s tertiary education sector appear to be threatening the coalition’s cohesion. The Democratic Left, the government’s junior partner, dismissed the new law proposal for reducing the number of university departments ... read more

Georgian students demonstrate to save their uni

TBLISI, March 13 (radio free europe) -- Hundreds of students from several universities in Tbilisi have demonstrated to protest the withdrawal of Agricultural University’s accreditation. Its licence has been revoked for several violations of the education law, a decision the students regard politically motivated ... read more

UK student co-operative for cheaper university housing

BIRMINGHAM, March 13 (guardian) -- Five students are behind what will soon become the UK’s first student housing co-operative. They have secured £550,000 in finance to buy two five-bedroom houses which will remain permanently available to student members of the co-operative ... read more

Incresasing graduate unemployment in Italy

ROME, March 13 (universita) -- Graduate unemployment has grown by up to 3 per cent in Italy, according to the latest figures of AlmaLaurea. Only 60 to 70 per cent of students have found a job one year after graduation. Also the average payment, around 1000 Euro, has decreased ... read more

Kazakhstan to halve private universities by 2015

ASTANA, March 12 (Tengri News) -- The number of private universities will be slashed in Kazakhstan by 2015, not more than 30 will be left instead of the existing 66. Earlier Kazakh education and science minister Bakytzhan Zhumagulov said that each oblast would have one private university but this innovation would not touch the big cities like Shymkent, Karaganda, Almaty and Astana. Two or three universities would be left in each of the cities ... read more

‘Established’ UK universities are at risk, warns report

LONDON, March 11 (THE) -- Michael Barber, chief education adviser at education Pearson and former adviser to Tony Blair’s Labour government, warned that even established, red brick universities could go bust. His report calls on universities to specialise, arguing that ... read more

iversity sets its sights on becoming the Coursera of Europe

BERLIN, March 11 (the crunch) -- The fast expanding universe of MOOCs has a new addition. Berlin-based startup iversity, founded in 2011 to offer online collaboration tools for learning management, has relaunched itself as a platform for massive open online courses ... read more

French government looks after exploited interns

PARIS, March 11 (place publique) -- After many promises broken, the initiative ‘Génération Précaire’ hopes that the government Hollande will really do something against the exploitation of interns. Proposed measures are contracts including social contributions, compulsory payment and public supervision of the 1.5 million work placements per year in France ... read more

Dutch universities focus on British students

LONDON, March 8 (NOG) -- The Technical University Eindhoven and several other Dutch universties are pointing their arrows towards students from the United Kingdom ... read more

“Criminal hand” behind Naples Science Museum fire

NAPLES, March 7 (science) -- Last week, a fire destroyed an area covering up to 12,000 square meters of the Città della Scienza (City of Science) complex in Naples. “It seems to me that a criminal hand is behind the flames,” Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris publicly stated. Now Italy mobilises to rebuild the museum ... read more

Universities in Madrid transfer lectures into the squares

MADRID, March 9 (Público) -- In an initiative called ‘Uni en la calle’ (University in the streets), thousands of students and interested citizens have participated in university lessons held in the streets of Madrid. The protest denounces the degradation of university quality due to deep cuts in education budgets ... read more

Turkish universities to back firms, state to fund

ISTANBUL, March 11 (Hurriyet) -- Turkey’s universities and industry are to join forces in a new initiative financed by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. Universities will develop projects for resolving problems experienced by industrial companies, minister Nihat Ergün has said ... read more

Concern over ruling on EU student’s right to finance

COPENHAGEN, March 2 (UWN) -- The chair of the Danish Rectors’ Conference has described a recent European Court of Justice ruling on an international student’s right to financial support as representing a threat to Denmark’s student financial aid system in its current form ... read more

International petition against university sponsoring

ZÜRICH, March 4 (Zeit) -- A group of Swiss, German and Austrian academics have launched a petition to call for the protection of academic independence. A cooperation agreement worth CHF100m (€81m) between the ETH Zurich and the bank UBS has triggered the protest. The agreement contents are still kept secret ... read more

Demonstration in Lisbon for more university funding

LISBON, March 7 (sapo) -- Dozens of university students held a rally in front of the Portuguese education ministry in Lisbon for more university funding. They denounce an unprecedented tuition fee hike and deteriorating working conditions at universities ... read more

Kosovo, Serbia debate status of university in Mitrovica

BELGRADE/PRISTINA, March 7 (SETimes) -- While the governments of Serbia and Kosovo continue negotiating the future of northern Kosovo, education officials are similarly engaged in resolving the status of the Serbian-language University of Pristina in Mitrovica. Disagreements concern which nation should have jurisdiction over the university and its name ... read morey

Kosovo to get three new public universities

PRISTINA, March 6 (time) -- Kosovo’s government has decided to establish three public universities in the twons Gjakova, Gnjilane and Mitrovica. Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi explained this step as a measure ti improve the country’s infrastructure, labour opportunities and social welfare ... read more

Students denounce illegitimate fees at Czech universities

PRAGUE, March 4 (radio prague) -- Czech student representatives found that 14 of the 26 universities are charging fees for various services. These fees for certificates, repeated exams, library or internet use are not illegal, but the law guarantees university attendance to be free ... read more

Polish nationalists disrupt university lectures

WARSAW/GDANSK, Feb. 26 (polskie radio) -- Within a week, two seperate incidents of disrupting lectures on university campuses in Warsaw have been traced to Polish nationalist groups. The organisers of a debate on homosexual partnerships due to take place at the University of Gdansk cancelled the event, fearing the same ... read more

Collapse of new enrolments in Italy

ROME, March 6 (Repubblica) -- According to new figures: only 267,000 new enrolments in Italian universities, seventy-thousand less than ten years ago. Sciences keep up, but social sciences enrolments have halved. Further splip down in international university reputation rankings ... read more

Central Athens rallies to protest education reform

Universities fail to train enough general practicioners

BERLIN, March 4 (div) -- The German association of physicians KBV has criticised the universities of failing to produce enough general practicioners (GPs). In 2012, out of 10.000 medicine graduates not even 10 per cent chose to become a GP. KBV vice president Regina Feldmann also said, the training structures and contents are outdated. “Universities consider the physicians’ education only a byproduct of research” ... read more
A similar news story appeared last week in the UK with a national shortage of GPs and vacancies quadrupled in two years ... read more

EC launches Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs

BRUSSELS, March 4 (EU news) -- Commission President José Manuel Barroso today called on Europe’s digital businesses, governments, training and education sectors to join a Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs to address up to 900,000 job vacancies expected to exist in Europe in ICT by 2015 ... read more

Regent’s College acquires US for-profit university in London

LONDON, March 4 (Pienews) -- Regent’s College London, one of Britain’s largest higher education institution, is to acquire American InterContinental University London (AIUL) — a move it says will make it the largest campus-based provider of American degrees in Europe ... read more

Sussex University students and staff oppose privatisation

SUSSEX, March 2 (WSWS) -- Following a demonstration of over 300 students and staff at the University of Sussex February 8 and 13, a conference centre was occupied to oppose the outsourcing of more than 230 non-academic jobs to privately owned companies. The attacks on catering and other workers follow several rounds of cuts at the university in recent years ... read more

Turkish universities may hold own entry exams

ISTANBUL, March 2 (Hurriyet) -- Education Minister Nabi Avcı told journalists that the high school entrance exam, known as the SBS, as well as the university entrance exam system will change. In the current system, a central university exam determines entrance to universities ... read more

Belarus President wants university fees analysed

MISNK, March 2 (belta) -- President Alexander Lukashenko drew attention to the fees at the universities as one of the nation’s most pressing problems. “You haven’t told me what price, for instance, for one hour of university education is. Who calculated it?” ... read more

SPECIAL: How science literature will merge into multimedia

March 1 (Chronicle of Higher Education) -- Fascinating things are going on in the world of representation. Over the last few years, each art form has begun to bleed into the others. Whether it’s art based on information technology or immersive performances that engage all of the senses, it has become increasingly necessary to be able to wield a range of skills drawn from different domains, either individually or in groups. As a result, media have not so much become mixed as have started to produce new, more permeable forms. — And we can now start to see these changes affecting everyday academic practice ... read more

New group to advise Barroso on science, technology

BRUSSELS, Feb. 28 (euractiv) -- European Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced on Wednesday the creation of an advisory group on science and technology, 13 months after the appointment of the Commission’s first scientific advisor ... read more

US science to be open to all

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (nature) -- The White House declared that government-funded research would be made free for all to read, rather than kept behind paywalls. However, those hoping that the government would require papers to be free from the time of publication were disappointed ... read more | commentary

Foreign hackers steal more than a terabyte of data per day

February 27 (The Verge) -- A Florida-based Internet security firm has uncovered a massive overseas hacking operation that is making off with a terabyte of data per day. Some of the victims include military and academic facilities and a large search engine. “This is Internet theft on an industrial level,” said Santorelli, a former detective with Scotland Yard ... read more

Gender attack on Scottish universities

EDINBURGH, Feb. 26 (Herald) -- Scottish universities have been accused of Victorian values on gender equality. The attack comes after analysis of the make-up of university ruling Courts shows just 25% of members are female – and none of the current chairs of university Courts are women ... read more

Students from abroad in Turkey double in ten years

ISTANBUL, Feb. 25 (Hurriyet) -- From 2002 to 2012, the number of foreign students at Turkish universities has increased from 15,505 to 31,170. Most of them come from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan ... read more

Rally against university layoffs in Hungary

BUDAPEST, Feb. 26 (WSJ) -- In the latest move against the government’s cost-cutting measures at universities, Hungary’s students staged a protest by forming a live chain at the Budapest-based ELTE University on Tuesday. The government has so far been reluctant to negotiate with grass-root movements ... read more

UniBike - a bicycle university in Bologna

BOLOGNA, Feb. 26 (bologna today) -- The City of Bologna, where Europe’s first university was founded, has initiated ‘UniBike’, Italy’s first university for cylists. On Saturdays, five p.m. citizens can take courses on everything concerning bicycles and traffic ... read more

“Brain drain of scientists will set Spain 10 years back”

CANTABRIA, Feb. 20 (20 minutos) -- José Carlos Gómez Sal, rector of the University of Cantabria in northern Spain has warned that, because of the great loss of talents who leave the country, Spain will “lose not one, but two generations” and be “thrown backward for ten years or more” ... read more

Historical pact between Portuguese universities and state

LISBON, Feb. 19 (Sol) -- The president of Portugal’s rectors’ conference CRUP, António Rendas, praised today’s agreement with the government a as “proof of great trust”. He said, this agreement on the use of EU funds is “innovative” because it “mobilises universities to mobilize the country” ... read more

UK: Postgraduate studies will be ‘domain of the wealthy’

LONDON, Feb. 25 (independent) -- According to recent reports, the UK is one of only three countries in Europe where fewer than 10 per cent of students go on to postgraduate studies. The National Union of Students warned that the current fees structure was in danger of putting off poor students from postgraduate education because of the debts they had already incurred ... read more

Direct student aid instead of tax exemptions in France

PARIS, Feb. 25 (francetvinfo) -- French science minister Geneviève Fioraso considers to cancel tax exemptions for students’ parents in order to finance a new scheme of direct student aid as promised by president François Hollande ... read more

Greece plans radical university mergers

ATHENS, Feb. 23 (UWN) -- The Greek Education Ministry’s plan to abolish, relocate or merge higher education departments and in some cases entire universities for economic reasons is once again throwing the academic community into turmoil ... read more

Big business on campus

February 25 (Transparency International) -- Unfortunately, the corruption of the academy doesn’t end with the economics profession. There are numerous examples across disciplines of companies trying to steer research to suit their commercial interests. For instance, a 2007 funding agreement between Deutsche Bank and two German universities ... read more

Swedish universities to change PhD students’ status

Bavaria abolishes tuition fees

MUNICH, Feb. 25 (IGMetall) -- A sweeping success for the Union Against Tuition Fees: Bavaria’s coalition government of Liberals and Christians agrees, after ardous negotiations, to abolish tuition fees avoiding a referendum. The universities will be compensated by the state for their income losses ... read more

Heading the list of global universities with richest alumni

February 20 (abc) -- If you remove Harvard, Penn, and other American universities that have the wealthiest alumnae networks in the world, a surprising mix of British, Indian and Australian schools show a tight global competition of wealthy networks ... read more

Stanford University raises record-breaking $1bn

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20 (BBC) -- Stanford University has become the first US college to raise more than $1bn (€747m) in a year ... read more

Danish students face grant reforms

COPENHAGEN, Feb. 19 (CPH) -- Students living at home and those who take too long before university stand to lose the most in the Danish student grant system reform. The government wants to save two billion kroner (€270m) by 2020 ... read more

Bulgarian students prepare protest against fee rise

SOFIA, Feb. 19 (news) -- After an announcement to increase tuition fees by 8 per cent students of the Sofia University “St. Kl. Ohridsk” are preparing a protest next week. “We consider it a shame to be treated as a ‘walking fee’ of our own university,” they write in an open letter ... read more

European University Institute’s renaissance thinking

FLORENCE, Feb. 21 (THE) -- Established in 1976 by the EU, the non-denominational European University Institute is one of just a handful of genuinely “international” universities not linked to the academic traditions or governmental demands of a single country. That is partly down to the institute’s “denationalised” funding model ... read more

Portugal: Public universities provide better education

LISBON, Feb. 19 (Boas) -- According to a representative study conducted by the University of Porto, students from private universities achieve worse results. Another finding of the study found that social grants improve students’ performance considerably ... read more

Reforms at stake in Italian elections

ROME, Feb. 20 (nature) -- Italian researchers are counting on the next government to allow a series of radical reforms to Italian universities and research institutes, introduced over the past three years, to go forward without interruption. But the noisy resistance to the new national evaluation agency, ANVUR has raised concerns that politicians will be tempted to tinker with the reforms or stall them ... read more

Empower Europe’s disadvantaged youth

BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (scienceguide) -- The EU is investing €2.5 million in the research project ‘SocIEtY’. 40 social scientists will be carrying out comparative national studies on how far young people are able to participate in society and exploit their developmental opportunities ... read more

Calls for Denmark to increase research spending

COPENHAGEN, Feb. 18 (CPH) -- Business and education leaders are joining forces to lobby for an increase in Denmark’s research spending. The current percentage of public GDP that has been set aside for research and development is one percent, but ... read more

Cambridge Union invites fascist Le Pen

CAMBRIDGE, Feb. 18 (independent) -- A storm is brewing: Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right Front National party, is set to speak at the Cambridge University Union on Tuesday ... read more
Feb. 21 (thenews) -- About 200 people protested ... read more

New decree makes foreigners eligible as rectors in Spain

MADRID, Feb. 16 (La nueva España) -- Rectors and professors of Spanish universities can now be foreigners as well, and faculties can’t contract their own PhDs for at least three years, according to reform proposals commissioned by Spanish science minister José Ignacio Wert ... read more

Lyon universities warn against sex offenders

LYON, Feb. 18 (Le Point) -- The Universities Lyon 1 and 3 have sent an email to more than 50,000 students and staff inviting them to “not go out unaccompanied and to stay vigilant” after a serial rapist assaulted several young women in the 8th arrondissement of Lyon since October ... read more

Pirates bring ‘liquid democracy’ to Austrian universities

VIENNA, Feb. 18 (Presse) -- “Pirate values” for universities: More participation rights and more transparency in student representation are the goals of Pirate Party’s student branch who intends to candidate at the next election at Austrian universities in May. They propose a Liquid Democracy Platform ... read more

University funding changes will cost UK Government £7bn

LONDON, Feb. 18 (Huffington Post) -- Changes to the way universities are funded will result in economic costs six times higher than any Government savings, new figures suggest. Reduced earnings for graduates, lower tax revenues from the smaller number of graduates entering the jobs market and a higher write-off of student loans are among the reasons for the increased economic costs, the think tank million+ claims ... read more

Greek hospitals, university hit in student server shutdown

ATHENS, Feb. 13 (greek reporter) -- A group of students on Monday broke into the university’s central server facilities and occupied the premises in order to prevent an online vote for the institution’s new board of governors. As a result, several hospitals and one of the country’s main universities have suffered an Internet blackout ... read more

Head of Russian degree-awarding regulator arrested

MOSCOW, Feb. 15 (Chemistry World) -- Felix Shamkhalov, Chairman of the Russian Higher Attestation Commission, a government agency that oversees awarding of advanced academic degrees, has been arrested on charges of money laundering and issuing false dissertations ... read more

Czech rectors, ministry agree on university reform

PRAGUE, Feb. 15 (ČTK) -- Rectors of Czech universities have agreed with the Education Ministry on the important points in an amendment to the university law. They agreed, e.g., on the new accreditation system and the appointment of senior lecturers. The long-prepared university reform might be eventually pushed through this year ... read more

Booming trade of college papers in Bosnia and Herzegovina

SARAJEVO, Feb. 14 (open equal free) -- Over the past few years Bosina and Herzegovina have seen a boom of websites and social media pages (mostly Facebook) that offer college essays, term papers, graduate, masters’ and even doctoral theses for the right price. This trend has become a “public secret” – accepted by students, overlooked by universities, and ignored by authorities ... read more

Cambridge enters UK banking business

CAMBRIDGE, Feb. 15 (Businessweek) -- “We’re starting to look more like an Ivy League, American university, with a mixed-funding regime,” said Martin Daunton, master of Trinity Hall and professor of economic history. “The university needs to be more reliant on its endowment and diverse in its investments.” The endowments of UK colleges are collectively valued at about 3 billion pounds (€3,48 billion) while the university’s separate endowment is 1.9 billion pounds ... read more

Medvedev proposes research centres at major universities

MOSCOW, Feb. 15 (Voice of Russia) -- Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has suggested setting up research centres at major Russian universities, centres that would invite the best scientists worldwide to cooperate ... read more

Job prospects are changing for science writers

February 13 (nature) -- Internet-focused careers are popping up in many realms of science communication. The field has gone through a similar revolution before, during the Internet boom of the 1990s — but that ended in a disastrous burst bubble. The current online-news trend seems to have more staying power, ... read more

Luxury student flat plan snubbed by Manchester unis

MANCHESTER, Feb. 13 (BusinessDesk) -- Manchester’s two universities have not supported a plan by a Wilmslow developer to build luxury apartments for wealthy foreign students at First Street. A council document shows Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester both fear oversupply in the student accommodation market ... read more

Swedish lessons take off across Europe

February 12 (the local) -- An estimated 18,000 students worldwide are taking university lessons in Swedish in the hope of broadening their job horizons to include the Nordic nation. The biggest interest stems from Germany, where 7,500 people study the language ... read more

“…the most backward-looking EU budget in history”

BRUSSELS, Feb. 11 (Nether) -- A big ‘hooray’ echoed through Brussels’ European Quartier as last Friday, after 26 hours of negotiations, the EU heads of state reached an agreement on the EU’s multiannual budget (MFF) for 2014-2020. The proposed budget by the EC was cut with 6.3% from 1025 billion Euros to 960 billion Euros, EP President Martin Schulz already stated on his Facebook page that the budget is “…the most backward-looking financial framework in the history of the EU” ... read more

UK lacks skills against cyber threats

LONDON, Feb. 12 (The Register) -- The UK doesn’t have enough skilled workers to protect it against online attacks. The number of cyber security professionals in the UK has not increased in line with internet growth, according to the National Audit Office, which blames the skills gap on a lack of promotion of science and technology subjects at school ... read more

Italy’s universities – the way out

ROME, Feb. 12 (euronews) -- Young Italians aren’t going to university like they used to. There are 58,000 fewer students pursuing degrees than ten years ago. This is a drop of 17per cent. Basic university funding has been cut by more than 15 per cent since 2008 – by well over a billion euros. Thirty of the 68 universities are nearly bankrupt ... read more (+video)

USA: “Crowdfunding” to finance research commercialisation

UNITED STATES, Feb. 11 (Forbes) -- Perhaps it was just a matter of time – but here’s a new development in the funding of academic research and technology commercialization: crowdfunding. Recently the University of Utah has launched a program ... read more

New French law draft still highly controversial

PARIS, Feb. 11 (melty campus) -- The new law draft, presented after long months of consultation with the entire higher education community by science minister Geneviève Fioraso, does not satisfy everyone. University leaders expected more drastic changes. One of the changes regards the "licence" (first cycle degree), a large and puzzling offer of degrees, the minister wants to simplify ... read more

Science in Turkey - the obstacle of mentality

ISTANBUL, Feb. 11 (Hurriyet) -- According to the latest “Science Report” issued by UNESCO, Turkey alone has more scientific publications than the total of all Arab countries. However, Turkey’s scientific publications are less than South Korea. We have to seriously think about this data ... read more

Alleged degree mill in Romania under investigation

BUCAREST, Feb. 10 (arad) -- The Romanian Education Ministry announced controls of the University “Vasile Goldiş” after prosecutors and the General Anticorruption Directorate (DGA) raided the university with subsidiaries in eight countries last week on charges of fake degrees ... read more

In France, seasonal workers with a Ph.D.

PARIS, Feb. 10 (New York Times) -- Under French law they are considered “saisonniers,” or seasonal workers. But instead of spending their days picking apples, they toil in the university classrooms of Paris, teaching French language and literature, art history and political science ... read more

Educational travel to grow dramatically by 2020

February 8 (Pie News) -- The youth travel industry is set to double by 2020 according to youth travel consulting and development company StudentMarketing. The trend will be driven mostly by educational and experiential travel. Last year 207 million trips were taken by youth travelers, roughly 40% involving education. ... read more

EU research scheme for less developed regions

BRUSSELS, Feb. 7 (European Voice) -- The European Commission is testing a scheme that will set up EU-funded research chairs at universities in less-developed regions of Europe. The aim is to build research capacity around these new professors, both in the selected universities and their home regions ... read more

German education minister resigns amid plagiarism scandal

BERLIN, Feb. 10 (DW) -- Education Minister Annette Schavan appeared before reporters in Berlin on Saturday, alongside the chancellor, to announce her resignation. The decision came several days after the University of Düsseldorf stripped her of her doctorate on plagiarism findings. Chancellor Merkel said she had accepted Schavan’s resignation “with a heavy heart” ... read more

Swiss universities try to catch the MOOC wave

BERN, Feb. 7 (swissinfo) -- Free interactive online university courses are quickly spreading far beyond the US. After Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology, other Swiss universities are keen to experiment ... read more

Universities pull out of EU’s ‘unjustifiable’ U-Multirank

LEUVEN, Feb. 7 (THE) -- The League of European Research Universities, which represents 21 leading research-intensive universities, has disassociated itself from the U-Multirank project, a new ranking system funded by the European Union, warning that it could pose “a serious threat” to higher education ... read more

More foreign and female PhDs in Norway

OSLO, Feb. 5 (ua) -- According to NIFU, the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, the number of Ph.D. graduates in Norway continues to rise. 10 per cent more doctorates in 2012 than in 2011; a third more foreigners’ succeeded ... read more

A reform idea for teacher training in Belgium

NAMUR, Feb. 2 (l’avenir) -- Michel Dumont, a former education inspector, has submitted an elaborate proposal for better teacher education to Walloon education minister Jean-Claude Marcourt. His idea is based on two principles: excellence in recruitment and paying future teachers during their studies ... read more

Education reform in Greece at what price?

ATHENS, Feb. 1 (kathimerini) -- The government’s plans to abolish and merge a significant number of universities and departments, together with an anticipated reduction in the number of new entrants, signify important changes to the Greek higher education system ... read more

French proposal: Erasmus for high school students

PARIS, Feb. 6 (Libération) -- Jacques Soppelsa, president of the University Paris I, praises the success of the Erasmus programme for university students. With reference to the American Fulbright scholarship, he demands grants which would benefit school pupils within Europe ... read more (p. 24)

Outsourced workers protest at University of London

LONDON, Feb. 5 (THE) -- Around 70 protesters gathered outside the University of London’s Senate House today to campaign for better rights for outsourced university staff. Students, academic and administrative staff, trade unionists and the outsourced workers themselves were among those demonstrating. “These workers don't have the same pension and holiday rights,” says unionist Naomi Bain ... read more

Portuguese science minister defends university foundations

LISBON, Feb. 6 (tvi24) -- The Portuguese education minister, Nuno Crato, has said at a meeting with rectors that the model of university foundations is not to be abolished, but to be discussed and further developed. He said, “the model is important to maintain and deepen the institutional autonomy” ... read more

Spanish universities decry highest tuition fees ever

MADRID, Feb. 6 (Crónica Norte) -- Twenty-five deans of Madrid universities have denounced this year’s “exorbitant” tuition fees set by the Spanish Government. The fee increases at all entrance levels, the deans write in a statement, are “clearly deterrent” for students and constitute, together with research and staff spending cuts, a serious danger for the universities’ ability to operate ... read more

Austrian university budgets grow by 14 per cent

Largest Hungarian universities lose billions in state funding

BUDAPEST, Feb. 5 (Politics) -- Hungary’s largest universities are set to lose billions of forints in funding this year, due to government cutbacks that will slash their budgets by 25%. The biggest loser is the University of Pécs whose budget will be cut by 34% to Ft 10.7 billion (€ 35.5 million) ... read more

German science minister loses her doctor title

BERLIN, Feb. 5 (Spiegel) -- The University of Düsseldorf has revoked Annette Schavan’s doctor title. The German Federal Minister for Education and Science has “feigned systematically and intentionally intellectual achievements” which were not hers “in a considerable dimension” ... read more

5 million Euro to bring back talents to Italy

ROME, Feb. 5 (MTV News) -- Science minister Francesco Profumo has signed a decree to free 5 million Euro for the recovery of Italian researchers who currently work abroad ... read more

International talents are wasted in Norway

OSLO, Feb. 4 (The Nordic Page) -- A recent survey shows that very few international students remain in Norway after their graduation. There are 15,000 of them in the country, but little is done to get them to stay after their studies ... read more

Retirement may leave Hungarian universities short-staffed

BUDAPEST, Feb. 3 (Politics) -- Recently introduced rules requiring the termination of the employment of public sector workers past the pension age could leave Hungary’s higher education short-staffed. Finding replacements will be difficult and costly.
Gabor Szabo, rector of the University of Szeged, said that the situation was critical, his university alone may have to let 400 staff go ... read more

Dutch graduation rates soar under threat of long-term fine

THE HAGUE, Feb. 4 (scienceguide) -- The threat to fine students who exceed the standard period of study has apparently worked - before the measure had even be properly implemented. 16 per cent more Masters and even 17 per cent more Bachelors degrees were awarded in 2012 ... read more

A new phase in the battle for Ukrainian higher education

KIEV, Feb 2 (UWN) -- Instead of learning and implementing policies based on successful foreign and domestic experience, science minister Dmytro Tabachnyk continues to support self-isolating policies by promoting a standardised approach to higher education in Ukraine ... read more

Security fears over exposure of web-accessible printers

January 30 (The Sydeny Morning Herald) -- Many printers around the world aren’t protected by a password, meaning anyone can upload a document to them via a web interface and print it remotely. Printers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Gothenburg in Sweden and University of Freiburg in Germany were also found to be exposed, even the United Nations Development Programme had a vulnerable printer ... read more

Students fuel growth in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN, Jan. 31 (IceNews) -- Students are among the primary forces behind continued growth in the Danish capital, new research has shown. Mayor Frank Jensen told reporters that the rise in population proves that the city’s promotional efforts to bring in more students have been fruitful ... read more

Hungarian government open for talk with students and teachers

BUDAPEST, Feb. 1 (Politics) -- Representatives of the government, students and professors, as well as the chamber of commerce and industry, have met for the first time in a roundtable to discuss higher education financing, the rights and obligations of students, as well as structural aspects ... read more

Scottish science is ready to go it alone

January 30 (nature) -- Scientists in restless territories such as Scotland, Quebec and Catalonia should embrace change, Colin Macilwain suggests. Mike Russell, the Scottish education minister, is investigating possible approaches for organizing research in an independent Scotland. Similar issues arise in other corners of the globe. In Catalonia — which is contemplating its own independence referendum — researchers increasingly look to Brussels, rather than Madrid, for support ... read more

Italy: 58.000 students less

ROME, Jan. 31 (l’Unità) -- A loud and clear alarm signal: As for the loss of university students, one entire big university has disappeared in the last ten years in Italy. Only 280,000 students enrolled in 2011/2012 - more than 58,000 less than in 2003/2004. Also the number of university teachers has fallen ... read more

Uzbekistan and Finland plan university cooperation

TASHKENT, Jan. 30 (Trend) -- Urgent aspects of bilateral relations, including proposals to support cooperations between universities of the two countries have been discussed by Finnish and Uzbek representatives ... read more

Student satellite takes important step towards space

January 30 (ESA) -- A new satellite mission designed by university students is entering the advanced stages of development. The European Student Earth Orbiter (ESEO) is a micro-satellite mission to low Earth orbit. Newly appointed prime contractor ALMASpace, Italy, will now oversee its final development, integration, testing, and in-orbit commissioning by European university students ... read more

UK research councils could face mergers

LONDON, Jan. 30 (nature) -- A government review that quietly began earlier this month could lead to major changes at the agencies charged with distributing much of the United Kingdom’s scientific funding. Possible changes to improve efficiency include bringing the roughly £3-billion (€3.5-billion) annual spend of all seven research councils into a single pot ... read more

Science named one of Belarus’ priorities

MINSK, Jan. 25 Jan. (BelTA) -- Science enhancement is one of the priorities of the Belarusian policy, President Alexander Lukashenko said in his greetings addressed to scientists and academics on the occasion of Science Day ... read more

Referendum against tuition fees in Bavaria successful

MUNICH, Jan. 30 (Spiegel) -- The referendum against tuition fees in Bavaria was apparently successful. First results seems to indicate that more than ten per cent of the voters have signed it. Now the regional parliament has to vote. If he does not abolish the fees, citizens can dicide directly ... read more

Danish universities have difficulties employing foreigners

COPENHAGEN, Jan. 28 (Copenhagen Post) -- Despite promises from the government, the number of rules and the cost of employing foreign researchers have increased. Universities wanting to employ foreign researchers are still facing significant immigration barriers ... read more

New program for improving students’ attention

January 30 (PRWeb) -- To help overcome these issues and ensure that all students stay on track for success in school, college and career, Pearson today unveiled Cogmed 3.0, a new version of the breakthrough intervention for improving attention, behavior and capacity for learning ... read more

France: A charter for gender equality

PARIS, Jan. 28 (Le Monde) -- Today, the presidents of universities, grandes écoles and engineering schools signed a charter for gender equality in Franch higher education. The ambitious declaration contains 40 ambitious measures to fight sexism both among students and among staff, faculty, researchers and leaders ... read more

University funding reform in Estonia

TALLINN, Jan. 29 (ERR) -- Education minister Jaak Aaviksoo signed an agreement with six public universities for the implementation of a new funding system ... read more

Hungarian students win dispute over tuition fees

BUDAPEST, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hungary’s minister of human resources signed an agreement with the  students’ union HÖOK, ending weeks of protest demonstrations over government cuts in college, university and student funding ... read more

Switzerland to introduce training for imams at universities

BERN, Jan. 28 (Tagesanzeiger) -- Germany is already one step ahead, in Switzerland it has been debated for years: the training of imams. In mid-March, a working group of the education ministry will present plans for university chairs of Islamic Theology ... read more

EU Commission issues action call to close digital skills gap

BRUSSELS, Jan. 25 (EC) -- Europe faces up to 700.000 unfilled ICT jobs and declining competitiveness. Today, the Commission is issuing a call to action to companies, governments, educators, social partners, employment service providers and civil society to join us in a massive effort to “turn the tide”. The Commission will collect pledges on new jobs, internships, training places, start-up funding, free online university courses and more. Companies such as Nokia, Telefónica, SAP ... read more

Bulgarian government lures yuppies with scholarships

SOFIA, Jan. 27 (Standart) -- The Bulgarian students who go to study abroad will be offered a special scholarship to come back and work in Bulgaria. The measure will be applied as of 2014, education minister Sergey Ignatov said ... read more

The global race for STEM skills

January 27 (OBHE) -- Higher education is often seen as an export industry in the developed world, but the economic crisis has exposed once again its role as a driver for economic growth. Investment in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) disciplines is increasingly seen in the US and Europe as a means to boost innovation.
Europe is in a similar position to the US, but with less flexible immigration policies. Unemployment is on the rise and STEM supply has remained relatively stagnant ... read more

Initiative against product placement at German universities

BERLIN, Jan. 24 (meedia) -- The newspaper taz, Transparency International Germany and the student union fzs launched the initiative ‘Higher Education Watch’ to collect examples of questionable corporate influence in universities. Professors, faculty, staff and students are called upon to blow the whistle where universities are abused for covert advertisement ... read more

University merger in central France

AUVERGNE, Jan. 24 (Le Monde) -- By 2017, five higher education institutions of the French region Auvergne want to be one: the universities Clermont-I and Blaise-Pascal-Clermont-II together with three schools for professional education. “We will create one unique facility,” said Alain Martel, president of the excellency centre Clermont-Université ... read more

EU rolls out university ranking

BRUSSELS, Jan. 24 (European Voice) -- Plans to roll out a new system of university rankings to encourage international comparison will be outlined next week at a conference in Dublin. The system, called U-Multirank ... read more

British researchers receive most from EU

January 23 (scienceguide) -- British, German, French, Dutch and Italian researchers get the biggest slice of the cake from the European Research Council. In total €680 million is divided among 302 top researchers, leading to breakthroughs in, for instance, quantum computing ... read more

Switzerland strengthens cooperation with the United States in mobility of young researchers

BERN, Jan. 25 (news) -- Scientific relations between Switzerland and the United States are excellent, the US is Switzerland’s most important non-European research partner. Today, State Secretary Mauro Dell’Ambrogio and Subra Suresh, Director of the American National Science Foundation, signed a Letter of Intent ... read more

Turkish education minister seeks cooperation with Bosnia

ANKARA, Jan. 21 (worldbulletin) -- The Turkish education minister, Ömer Dinçer, said on Monday educational cooperation with Bosnia-Herzegovina had to be strengthened. His Bosnian counterpart, Damir Mašić, agreed to cooperate more with Turkey in the educational field ... read more

Czech university denies admission to Iranian student

Drastic decrease of French interest in Erasmus

January 22 (La Repubblica) -- Erasmus, adieu: while in Italy the controversy mounts on the vote of students abroad, less and less French students participate in the European programme of academic mobility ... read more

A pragmatic role for science in policy-making

BRUSSELS, Jan. 23 (The Journal) -- To sustainably and efficiently address on-going societal challenges, it is imperative that government policy-making encompasses contemporary technological and scientific perspectives. The European Science & Technology Options and Assessment (STOA) initiative has endeavoured to address this long-standing divide, and provide a platform for integrative, informed European policy ... read more

Scottish government claims power over universities

EDINBURGH, Jan. 23 (Scotsman) -- University leaders said legislation is open to abuse by giving Scittish education minister Mike Russell wide discretion to intervene in the day-to-day management of their institutions ... read more

Western Balkan nations collaborate on higher education

Doctorate of German science minister may be revoked

BERLIN, Jan. 22 (Zeit) -- The university commission who investigates the doctorate of Annette Schavan, has attenuated the initial accusation of intentional fraud. However, the panel insists on a full investigation of the current German science minister’s thesis submitted 33 years ago ... read more

Guttenberg cancels speech after student protest

NEW HAMPSHIRE, Jan. 22 (The Dartmouth) -- Disgraced former German defense minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg canceled his scheduled lecture in Haldemann after a flurry of criticism from students and faculty over the weekend. A petition which collected over 100 signatures in three days notes that he has denied wrongdoing and continually downplays his actions as a mistake ... read more

'Suspect' journals take scientists for a ride

January 21 (SciDevNet) -- Under pressure to publish to advance their careers, many scientists, especially in developing countries, risk falling prey to a growing number of substandard and unethical journals that adopt dubious and dishonest practices to turn a quick profit ... read more

Germany: Church supports referendum against tuition fees

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor released

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 17 (GEM) -- The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2012, released today, estimates that, in all geographic regions surveyed, 25-34 year olds showed the highest rates of entrepreneurial activity ... read more

Spending cuts create innovation divide in Europe

BRUSSELS, Jan. 16 (euractiv) -- Without more private R&D spending, Spain, Italy and others in the south may continue to lag as national governments and the EU are slashing money earmarked for research and innovation. Critics of government cuts say these risks are creating a vicious circle ... read more

Horizon 2020 negotiations "disappointing"

BRUSSELS, Jan. 18 (scienceguide) -- The signs for Horizon 2020 are not favourable. During a question and answer session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week, European Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn showed major disappointment on the state of play of the 7 year budget negotiations ... read more

Finland divided over tuition fee trial for overseas students

HELSINKI, Jan. 17 (Helsinki Times) -- Debate over the merits of tuition fees for foreign students continues as trial period nears its end. “The fees have generated more costs than revenue,” says Hanna Sauli, a specialist in International Affairs at Aalto University, citing costs stemming from the scholarships and administrative tasks ... read more

Vast reduction of Irish colleges

DUBLIN, Jan. 16 (scienceguide) -- The number of publicly funded third-level colleges in Ireland will be reduced from 39 to 15. Ireland’s Higher Education Authority aims at improving the quality, meeting the existing demand and getting better value for money ... read more

German universities strive for ‘sustainability’

BERLIN, Jan. 17 (FAZ) -- The ambition of many European municipalities — to reach carbon dioxide neutrality — has now reached German universities. Perhaps they cling to this trend in hope for attention. Especially small and private provincial universities ... read more

Steps towards the new French higher education law

Low chance for a new law on universities in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Jan. 17 (Hurriyet) -- The chances of the new Higher Education Board (YÖK) draft being passed in Parliament are not even 1 per cent. The law would change YÖK’s supervising role and give universities more autonomy, but an amendment to the Constitution would be necessary ... read more

Shifting the higher education paradigm in the US

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (Huffington Post) -- Most headlines about higher education today focus on trends at prestigious institutions serving elite populations. But thousands of colleges and universities do most of their work outside of the limelight, and many of these relatively obscure institutions are already deeply into changing curricula, pedagogies and delivery systems to serve the new populations of students that are shifting the paradigm for much of higher ed in this country ... read more

Student numbers for Chinese and German double in Spain

MADRID, Jan. 14 (Republica) -- The number of persons who study German in Spain has increased by 103 per cent from 2011 to 2012. Also the demand for Chinese lessons has doubled. The demand for Italian, Portuguese and Russian has halved in the same period ... read more

Italy: the poor finance the rich students

New education law sparks debates in Russia

MOSCOW, Jan. 15 (RBTH) -- Last December Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law entitled “On Education.” The law, which will enter into force on Sept. 1, 2013, has become one of the most talked-about and complicated statutes in Russian legal practice ... read more

Europe’s universities struggling to make the grade

January 12 (New Zealand Herald) -- Outmoded teaching, overcrowded classrooms and even broken windows are common complaints by teachers and students at French universities. Recently, a group of overwhelmed instructors published an open letter to France’s Education Minister in daily newspaper Liberation to voice their frustration ... read more

£750,000 help Scots study in mainland Europe

EDINBURGH, Jan. 9 (HS) -- Scottish students studying in mainland Europe will be eligible for a full package of financial support for the first time under a £750,000 pilot scheme. The Scottish Government will offer 250 students bursary payments of up to £1750 and a student loan of up to £5500. Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, said officials would assess the demand for funding to ensure all Scottish students studying in the EU in future years would benefit ... read more

Court drops charges on Aaron Swartz days after his suicide

January 15 (RT) -- A federal court in Massachusetts has dismissed the hacking case against Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide on January 11 while facing decades behind bars and a $1 million fine. The dismissal follows an investigation into Swartz’s involvement in the theft of content hosted on JSTOR, a digital archive used by universities and other research institutions ... read more

Anonymous hacktivists target MIT websites over Aaron Swartz suicide

Januar 14 (Telegraph) -- The ‘hacktivist’ group Anonymous has attacked websites run by the Massachsetts Institute of Technology following the suicide of Aaron Swartz, a free information activist who was due to face trial for the theft of academic papers from the university ... read more

Aaron Swartz hacker case ends with suicide

BOSTON, January 14 (Forbes) -- Swartz was portrayed by prosecutors as a computer hacker who had wrongfully accessed some free documents from an on-line academic journal repository at the MIT. But he was an innocent man until proven guilty who was charged with a crime that could have put him in prison for 35 years, 3 years of supervised release and a $1 million fine. So what was this terrible crime that Swartz was charged with that would send him away for so long? ... read more

Russian state encourages university endowment funds

MOSCOW, Jan. 13 (UWN) -- Endowment funds are gaining popularity among Russian universities as they attempt to attract new, long-term sources of funding and reduce dependence on the state. One of their main proponents is Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who said recently: “The idea of endowment funds is very close to the Russian government. In line with our plans for the future, all Russian universities must form their own endowment funds.” ... read more

Swedish students can sacrifice housing comfort

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 11 (the local) -- “If you want to simplify building rules, student housing is the first place to start,” Ulf Perbo, top aide to Sweden’s housing minister, told a construction trade magazine. He suggested students could do without a common room and a kitchen ... read more

Hackers reveal corruption at Turkish universities

Scoop! The ivory towers of ice cream

The dangers of English as unique scientific language

BONN, January (Forschung & Lehre) -- The abolition of national languages in science in favour of Engish is proceeding fastly, in Germany, in France and all over Europe. The result, that soon it will be impossible to study science in your mother tongue, is an unprecendented danger, says Pierre Frath ... read more

Employers feel neglected in Wallonia’s higher ed reform

WAVRE, Jan. 8 (7sur7) -- The Walloon Union of Enterprises (UWE) asked the Minister of Higher Education Jean-Claude Marcourt —also Minister of Economy— to further integrate the economy in his higher education reform draft. “There is no reference to the essential nature of the economic role of education,” laments the UWE ... read more

Hungarian students hand government protest ultimatum

BUDAPEST, Jan. 8 (Daily Star) -- Hungarian students issued an ultimatum to the government on Tuesday, threatening continuous mass protests if it failed to meet their demands amid a month-long standoff over higher education reforms. The government has until February 11 to respond to the demands or the students will launch regular nationwide rallies, said Richárd Barabás of the Students Network Hallgatói Hálózat ... read more

Turkish student gets 3 years of prison over one day boycott

DIYARBAKIR, Jan. 8 (bianet) -- Sedat Altunay, who was convicted with a total of 14 years and 6 month of prison for attending a student boycott and various protest walks on Dicle University campus, was unable to benefit from sentence reductions due to his testimony in Kurdish ... read more

French university website under pirate attack

BOURGOGNE, Jan. 4 (figaro) -- On New Year’s Eve, the University of Burgundy was under pirate attack. Its website was hacked and nothing but a skull with a bandana and hiphop music was left to be seen. The group ‘Hacker Fire’ claimed responsibility ... read more

Professor in Austria demands death penalty for the Pope

GRAZ, Jan. 8 (ORF) -- The prosecuter will start no investigation against Richard Parncutt, professor at the University Graz, who had demanded the death penalty for Pope Benedict XVI. “Not every unfortunate phrase is a criminal offense,” ... read more

Italian economists propose to lift tuition fee limit

BOLOGNA, Jan. 4 (universita) -- Two economists propose in a new book to abolish the legal upper limit of tuition fees in Italy and to introduce loans for students from poorer backgrounds. They are inspired by the example of the USA where students repay their loans after graduation ... read more

Rector criticises new Spanish university law draft

CARTAGENA, Jan. 5 (La Verdad) -- The rector of the Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT), José Antonio Franco, has publicly defended the current mechanism of access to universities. The draft of the ‘Organic Law for Improvement of Teaching’ should be revised “with more caution and more reflection.” He criticized that the law could cause “more difficulties for mobility between Spanish universities than with European universities” ... read more

French Jewish students take on Twitter

PARIS, Jan. 8 (Al Jazeera) -- The French Union of Jewish students is preparing to take on one of the giants of the internet —Twitter— and they expect to win. They want the micro-blogging site to reveal the names of people who post anti-Semitic tweets so they can be prosecuted for hate crimes ... play video

Danes consider cutting student aid

COPENHAGEN, Jan. 7 (Copenhagen Post) -- The amount of time students can spend getting their degree could be cut if plans submitted by a government education panel are adopted. Although a poll released last week indicated that the majority of Danes are against making cuts to the student grants, sources in the Education Ministry said “nothing was sacred” ... read more

Kyiv Mohyla Academy versus Ministry of Education

KIEV, Jan. 3 (Kyiv Post) -- The National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy filed a lawsuit challenging the efforts of the education ministry to control university autonomy and academic freedom — a policy that results in lower academic standards, prevents European integration and ... read more

EU Commission stops vital VAT exemption for universities

LONDON, Jan. 4 (fresh business thinking) -- A vital exemption on VAT for the business supply of research between universities and charities is set to end this summer. “The background to this is the EU decision that research is not covered by the education exemption within EU law, so the UK is out of line in exempting it,” says Ruth Corkin ... read more

Legal action against secret university-business contracts

COLOGNE, Jan. 3 (Jungle World) -- Almost four years ago, the University of Cologne made a ‘cooperation’ agreement with Bayer HealthCare AG. Its contents are still kept secret. An NGO who took legal action against it, has lost the case in a court of first instance ... read more

UK policy on Romanian, Bulgarian students is illegal

BRUSSELS, Jan. 04 (euractiv) -- The policy of denying Bulgarian and Romanian students employment in Britain is a breach of EU law, says Galina Kostadinova. “Britain has been systematically breaking or bending EU’s rules. And it is not because it treats Romanians and Bulgarians at its universities worse than, say, Germans, Finns or Greeks” ... read more

Not enough professors per student in Germany

MUNICH, Jan. 03 (SZ) -- The number of university lecturers is not keeping pace with the growth of the student body. According to official estimates, further 450,000 new students a year are to be expected until 2019. According to the rectors’ conference, additional 7 billion Euros will be necessary ... read more

Free University countries reap the rewards

EDINBURGH, Jan. 02 (SNP) -- A recent research shows that Scotland occupies a similar successful placing as Finland, Sweden and Denmark in terms of higher education research. Crucially, none of these other countries charge fees for domestic or EU students ... read more

Irish EU Presidency in favour of Open Access

January 02 (scienceguide) -- From January 2013 Ireland has taken over the EU Presidency: what will this mean for Open Access policy? “A welcome trend, since the Irish reject the Finch approach in the UK”, says an Harvard OA-expert. In a recent government paper, the Irish define Open Access as “ ... read more

Moscow State Universty leads national reputation ranking

MOSCOW, Jan. 02 (Vestnik) -- According to the preferences of student-winners of school Olympiads in 2012, the Moscow State University and the Higher School of Economics are the most popular in Russia. “The proportion of higher educational institutions of Russia, which are considered as institutions with good, strong reputations, increased,” Yaroslav Kuzminov says ... read more

Bias against Romanian and Bulgarian students in the UK

LONDON, Jan. 02 (Independent) -- They might be members of the EU, but UK law discriminates unfairly against students from Romania and Bulgaria. The country has extended their work restrictions until January 2014 ... read more

Jewish students not secure at UK universities

EDINBURGH, Jan. 02 (Arutz Sheva 7) -- A new survey reveals that Jewish students at the University of Edindburgh face a ‘toxic atmosphere.’ “It is a real shame to discover that the institution is failing to ensure the security of Jewish students who are apparently quitting courses ‘in despair’ following recent anti-Israel demonstrations ... read more

International university ratings for sale

December 30 (NYT) -- After paying a one-time audit fee of $9,850 and an annual license fee of $6,850, the University of Limerick is now able to boast that it has been awarded “5-star ratings across the areas of infrastructure, teaching, engagement and internationalisation,” according to QS ... read more

Female Spanish students drink harder

VIGO, Dec. 30 (Deccan Herald) -- Spanish researchers have found that women university students get drunk – on purpose – quicker than their male counterparts, and live a more sedentary life than the latter ... read more

Turkish Prime Minister against emancipated universities

ANKARA, Dec. 27 (Hurriyet) -- Thousands of students, professors and employees were silently rallying toward the stadium on the campus of the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ). The crowd, being the biggest in decades in Turkey, was carrying a banner with “ODTÜ is standing up and resisting the AKP” written on it as a protest against Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti). They filled up the stadium and silently started to wait for the result of the meeting between Erdoğan and Ahmet Acar, the rector of the university ... read more