Swiss universities fight ‘English enforcement’

ZURICH (tagesanzeiger) -- Political science departments at Swiss universities are up in arms after funding body SNF announced that in order to even be considered for financial support, they must apply entirely in English. Hundreds of signatures have already been gathered for petitions to “fight against the enforcement” of English … read more 27.02.2015

British students given new way into Europe

CHELTENHAM (varsity) -- In a major system shake up, UCAS, responsible for student admissions in Great Britain, will include European universities in the system, making it far more easy for British students to study in universities on the continent … read more 27.02.2015

Record level of European patents registrations

MUNICH (wirtschaftsblatt) -- 2014 seems to have been a year for innovation, as the Munich-based European Patent Office recorded its highest ever number of patents standing at 274,000 (3.1 percent higher than in 2013). Germany, France and the Netherlands account one fifth of all applications … read more 26.02.2015

Lithuania needs more research investment

VILNIUS (baltic course) -- A lack of investment in research, alongside an ageing society and tax complications, are key factors hindering Lithuania’s future economic expansion, an upcoming EU report warns … read more 27.02.2015

Student-squatting in Amsterdam University

AMSTERDAM (heise) -- Years of tension between Dutch student representatives and university management have resulted in drastic action in the Netherlands, after leaked internal documents revealing planned merging or sale of university buildings led a small group of students to break into and begin to squat inside a university building. The police forcibly cleared the building after two weeks, but not before students and staff protested to show solidarity … read more 26.02.2015

Microsoft becomes ‘free’ for students

WASHINGTON (geeko) -- In an attempt to blow all possible competitors out of the water, Microsoft has announced that all of its Office programmes have been made freely accessible to students and teachers world-wide – provided that their institutions buy the license … read more | and here 25.02.2015

Airbus to help Polish unis lift off

WARSAW (gazeta) -- Aeronautical giant Airbus wants to start a cooperation with Polish universities and create joint research centres. A meeting with representatives from the education and science ministries outed the strong possibility for a union, which already exists in France, Germany and Spain and would make Poland a hub for aeronautical innovation … read more 27.02.2015

Cyprus wants to maximise on foreign students

NICOSIA (cyprusmail) -- Private higher education institutions in Cyprus are demanding fast procedures to allow foreign students into the country. Kyriacos Hadjiyiannis of Cyprus’ DISY Party said that the government needs a strategic plan to maximise on students in Cyprus, who reportedly spend twenty times more than tourists … read more 22.02.2015

Latvia ‘squanders’ 3.5 million euros

RIGA (baltic course) -- Latvian Education and Science Minister, Marite Seile, has described the situation as “critical”, following the loss of 3.5 million euros due to dropping of online school portal ‘skolas.lv’. Official investigations are now under way to find out exactly who is accountable for the “squandering of funds” … read more 23.02.2015

Erasmus + masters loans on the horizon

BRUSSELS (nether) -- From mid-2015, European Master’s students will have the opportunity to apply for up to 18,000 euros in support for their studies abroad. Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sports said the programme “will help us to offer young people more opportunities, enhancing their skills and fostering stronger economic growth.” … read more | and here 17.02.2015

Financial boost for new ‘Service Design’ discipline

BRUSSELS (koop int) -- Only existing as a separate area of study since the 1990s, ‘Service Design’ is set to receive a large investment from the European Union to develop and further establish the relatively new discipline. A four year programme, ‘Service Design for Innovation’ will be headed by Köln International School of Design in partnership with universities and business from across Europe … read more 20.02.2015

English is Spain’s greatest weaknesses

MADRID (el almeria) -- An official report has placed degree length and poor English formation as the main weaknesses of the Spanish education system. Published last week, the ‘strategy for the internationalisation of Spanish universities 2015-2020’ proposes measures to be taken to improve the system … read more 23.2.15

Danish flexible job market encourages youth employment

COPENHAGEN (university post) -- As figures show a 15 percent drop in youth unemployment in Denmark since 2012, chief analyst at European labour think-tank, Erik Bjørsted, has cited the country’s flexible job market as a catalyst, making employers “take a chance on youth” … read more 19.02.2015

Dutch universities boycott public transport plans

AMSTERDAM (science guide) -- As recent initiatives by Dutch Railways (NS) are boycotted by higher education institutions, the national travel service is getting ever more nervous. A huge project ‘Better Utilisation’ (Beter Benutten), targeting students in an attempt to ease heavy congestion on public transport, has so far largely failed, with pilots offering financial students incentives named ‘perverse’ by Dutch universities … read more | and here 20.02.2015

10 percent cut for Russian education

MOSCOW (ria) -- Russian universities will be hit hard by the current economic situation, with a 10 percent funding cut. In response to the rapid devaluation of the ruble, tuition fees are set to rise and scientific research to be commercialised but President Putin’s university-excellence programme ‘Five-100’ will reportedly be spared … read more | and here 20.2.15

Europe-wide virtual network for quantum control

MUNICH (koop int) -- A new project will unite researchers working in the ever growing field of quantum physics. Funded by the European Commission, QUAINT connects physicists, chemists and mathematicians from all over Europe in a virtual network … read more 20.02.2015

Education under threat by TTIP

BRUSSELS (eucis) -- Without a clear exemption system, the Transatlantic trade agreement TTIP threatens European education models. That’s the conclusion of a position paper released by the European civil learning platform (EUCIS-LLL), which demands that education be excluded from negotiations as for the audio-visual sector based on the public interest … read more 12.02.2015

Pro-secular education protests in Turkey

IZMIR (euronews) -- Following much unrest regarding the presence of religion in schools, thousands marched across Turkey to demand a secular and science-based education system. Water cannons were used to disperse students and teachers boycotting schools in Izmir … read more 13.2.15

Polish mobility leaves home universities anaemic

WARSAW (wiadomosci) -- Polish Prime Minister, Ewa Kopacz recently revealed new student mobility plans to fund the most outstanding students studying at the 100 best universities in the world. Rectors are left asking why money is being pumped abroad, when Polish universities are crying out for financing … read more 19.02.2015

Estonia opens Smart Lab

TALLINN (postimees) -- The Tallinn University of Technology opened last week a ‘unique mobile application Smart Lab testing centre’, named Mektory, sparking an air of innovation excitement in the Estonian capital. The new initiative is a collaborative work between the university and technology giant Samsung … read more 12.02.2015

“Stop research sell out!”

BERLIN (gew) -- “Countries and their universities must set boundaries around the commercialisation of research and science,” said Andreas Keller on behalf of the German education union GEW. The extent to which scientists are obliged to raise private and public funds endangers the freedom of teaching and research, he warned … read more 17.02.2015

Europe’s Silicon Valley

FRANKFURT (it) -- A billion euro investment will see Europe’s biggest start-up incubator opened on a huge campus near Western Germany city, Frankfurt. In an interview with startupradio.de, investor J. P. Schultheis confirmed the creation of the centre, which is set to open in 2019 … read more 20.02.2015

Journal publishes 200-word papers

INTERNATIONAL (nature) -- The science community is buzzing with news of an innovative journal, publishing only publications of 200 words or less. The Journal of Brief Ideas galvanises idea flow by removing the need for lengthy papers and surrounding hype is gathering more and more interest … read more 12.02.2015

Universal student debt anxiety?

LONDON (phys) -- Do attitudes about loans mean students from different countries treat their debt differently? What can University managers learn from student anxiety about debt? How can ethical approaches to helping debt-understanding be provided? A recent international report seeks to find the answers to international student debt questions … read more 16.02.2015

Research funding-boost for trailing countries

BRUSSELS (koop int) -- Research institutions in Estonia, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, Portugal and Romania will receive 2.5 million euros investment through the appointment of 13 new chairs in a new EU move to help them catch up with their European neighbours’ research excellence … read more 17.02.2015

Holland scholarship galvanises student mobility

AMSTERDAM (nuffic) -- Registration opened this week for the ‘Holland Scholarship’, a new bank of bursaries available to boost both incoming and outgoing student mobility. 768 grants of 5,000 euros are available for international students wishing to study in the Netherlands and a further 768 grants for Dutch students heading out of the EEA … read more 16.02.2015

Fears over Romanian education liberalisation

BUCHAREST (ziua news) -- Following confirmation from Romanian EU representatives that education will be exempt from a “list of services that could be marketed”, higher education union leader, Anton Hadar, said that his “concerns were diluted” … read more 14.2.15

Portuguese annual student cap

LISBON (sabado) -- In measures to combat university funding inequality, Portuguese education minister, Nuno Crato, has revealed plans to implement an annual student admissions limit. Universities have a month to mull the new funding shake-up … read more 11.02.2015

Yale students have plans for the EU

WEST HAVEN (yalenews) -- Participants at the European Student Conference at Yale —which brought together students from U.S. universities with leading Yale professors and European policy-makers— crafted 22 concrete policy recommendations for the EU and launched a new student think-tank, European Horizons. In announcing the new think-tank, the steering committee said: “We set out to open up chapters at universities across the USA and will link students, scholars, and young professionals with one another in our ongoing endeavor to develop our visions for the future of the EU and its role in the world” ... read more 18.02.2015

Dutch ‘voucher funding’ could be disastrous

AMSTERDAM (science guide) -- In a parliamentary debate on the new funding mechanisms for Dutch higher education, the government has argued that vouchers, student loans, scholarships and crowdfunding would work well in “the antiquated system trapped in uniform funding.” However, Thom de Graaf, leader of the D66 party, stood firmly against it, asking if commercialising the system and establishing market forces “would solve all problems by magic?” and referring to the Swedish experience of voucher funding which “ended in a disaster” ... read more 16.02.2015

Sweden warned against rating students

STOCKHOLM (svd) -- Sweden has been advised against hasty student ratings reform, after extensive research concluded that rating student ability has no constructive effect on performance … read more 28.01.2015

Spanish union criticises ‘cheap-labour teacher-substitutes’

MADRID (el diario) -- Following the launch of a new scholarship programme giving gives graduates a grant for supporting schools facing difficulties, Spain’s largest trade union CCOO has expressed outrage, calling the initiative a way of exploiting low-cost workers to fill the gap left by dismissed professors … read more 17.02.2015

Ukraine science reforms to mend ‘soviet rift’

KIEV (science mag) -- In the midst of growing uncertainty over violence and threat of war in Ukraine, Serhiy Kvit, minister of education and science continues to implement large reforms to the system. A new law, including competitive grants body, will bring with it sweeping changes to the ‘soviet-system’ of Ukrainian science ... read more 17.02.2015

Corruption is a barrier for innovation

BERLIN (science) -- “Greater scrutiny of public spending is needed if science and technology are to fulfil their potential,” warns Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, writer for nature. In the EU, there is a strong correlation between a country’s capacity for innovation and control for corruption and clear patterns emerge when we examine the data … read more 18.02.2015

Resentment against Crimean students in Russia stirring

MOSCOW (reuters) --With the Russian economy heading for recession and education targeted by budget cuts, the stream of students from Crimea is adding to simmering anger over how much Russians are having to pay for annexing the peninsula from Ukraine in March last year … read more 10.02.2015

Drop in European innovation

BRUSSELS (science business) -- New figures show that less than half of companies in the EU’s 28 member bloc innovated between 2010 and 2012. Despite still being European leaders, the second biggest fall was recorded in Germany, where innovation dropped by 14 percent … read more 22.01.2015

More ‘academic’ titles for Swiss vocational qualifications

BERN (baz online) -- A recent proposal by Swiss education minister, Johann Schneider-Ammann to assign more ‘academic-sounding’ names to vocational training qualifications - such as 'Professional Bachelor' or 'Professional Master' - has found support among Austrian and German trade chambers. They are willing to take it to Brussels, that professional school degrees - not only scientific ones and not only in Switzerland - get recognised more easily across borders… read more 12.02.2015

Portuguese municipalisation law criticised

LISBON (fenprof) -- A new law in Portugal transfers state powers to local authorities. The legislation has been passed without involving the educational community. The teachers’ union FENPROF called it “unacceptable” that universities are now subordinate to municipal authorities … read more 12.2.15

France debates ban on Muslim veils in universities

PARIS (france24) -- The debate over wearing veils at public universities has resurfaced after reports of professors singling out women for wearing hijabs ... read more 16.02.2015

Danish People’s Party’s anti-English agenda

COPENHAGEN (the local) -- Danish universities offering courses in English “makes no sense” and ought to be stopped, according to right-wing Danish People’s Party’s education spokesman, Jens Henrik Thulesen. The idea to stop teaching in English, a trend which increased by 58 percent in the past five years, received wide criticism, saying that students would be the ones to lose out … read more 13.02.2015

American scientists want active role in public policy

SAN JOSÉ (nbc) -- A recent survey published in California showed an overwhelming majority of 87 percent of scientists believe they should “take an active role in public policy debates about issues related to science and technology”. At a time where science topics are increasingly large part of the public debate, the study highlights “broad public support for investment in science” … read more 15.02.2015

French higher education top in internationalisation

BRUSSELS (uwn) -- A comparison of international universities by new EU-funded initiative U-Multirank placed French institutions on top for internationalisation. The instrument offers a new way of comparing universities, as opposed to the traditionally popular ranking measures like the THE World University Rankings … read more 13.02.2015

Corruption charges against Latvian officials

RIGA (delfi) -- Jānim Vētram, head of the Latvian higher education board received a 100 euro fine over corruption charges. This has drawn attention to the various similar incidents, whereby officials of education and science systems have been punished by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau in recent times … read more 14.02.2015

British politicians cherish tuition fees

LONDON (independent/conversation) -- Discussed a lot of late, the Labour party’s proposal to limit tuition fees in England under 6000 pounds, seems to pass by reality. The old argument (brought forth by Karl Marx himself) that tuition free universities benefit the wealthy class, omits even 200 years on to acknowledge the fact that fees have always also cut working class participation in higher education … read more | and here 15.2.15

French professors’ exam marks boycott

PARIS (le monde) -- In a protest against budgetary and staff cuts, biology professors at the Université Paris-Sud’s Campus d’Orsay are refusing to distribute January exam results. The move, which is preventing students from having their marks officially accredited, was condemned by student representative Baptiste Laget as “jeopardising their education” … read more 11.02.2015

Juncker’s research-cuts under fire from young academics

BRUSSELS (easac) -- In an open letter to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, several National Young Academies express deep concern about the proposed cuts to the EU research budget, Horizon 2020. The controversial proposal, which would see millions removed from the budget, would hit young researchers particularly hard … read more 09.02.2015

Lithuanian universities increasingly elitist

VILINUS (15min) -- Universities in Lithuania have a cut-throat admission process, whereby only the very best students are allowed to continue learning. Kaunas University of Technology recently further increased its already demanding entry requirements, declaring itself “a higher education institution where only gifted and motivated students learn” … read more 11.02.2015

No need for elite schools in Germany

BERLIN (manager) -- Where you studied doesn’t necessarily make a difference when it comes to getting onto the management floor in Germany, a recent survey shows. Surprisingly though, technical degrees and MBAs are less frequent among CEOs than general university education in practically any institution in the country … read more 11.02.2015

New grants help close European research excellence gap

BRUSSELS (ec) -- The European Commission announced new grants that will help bridge the research excellence gap between Member States. With funding from Horizon 2020, the new Teaming instrument aims to increase investment in countries with lower research excellence ranking … read more 30.01.2015

Newspeak among scientists

LONDON (nature) -- In order to raise funds successfully, researchers adapt their language. Text-mining suggests that terms like ‘million’, ‘major’ and ‘global’ tend to score more highly in research papers than over-used words like ‘research’, ‘university’ and ‘impact’ … read more 11.02.2015

Illiteracy in Lithuanian universities

VILINUS (balsas) -- An official study on educational text-books, masters and doctoral theses gave shocking revelations about the linguistic quality in Lithuanian academia. Less than ten percent of text-books analysed met ‘correct’ language standards and one in every five doctoral theses was considered grammatically incorrect … read more 11.02.2015

World’s oldest science journal turns 350

LONDON (guardian) -- Philosophical Transactions, the world’s oldest scientific journal, will have its most ground-breaking papers showcased in London as the journal celebrates its 350th year. From horrified reviews of Darwin’s ‘excessive wordiness’ to scrutiny of female scientists, the journal contains the scientific highlights since 1665 … read more 12.02.2015

Job prospects to determine Spanish university funding

MADRID (ft) -- Commenting on the problems with Spanish higher education, controversial education minister, José Ignacio Wert retains that the university funding model —not according to quality in teaching and research, but to student numbers— is “outdated”. His law proposal seeks to make a change by adding “employment prospects” as a quality and thus a funding criterion ... read more 11.02.2015

Priority for Bulgarian-Ukrainians?

SOFIA (focusfen) -- Georgi Parvanov, former Bulgarian president, explained at a press conference that giving university places priority to Bulgarians from Ukraine could “be an opportunity for them to arrange their future as desired” … read more 10.02.2015

High Franc value causes Swiss university panic

BERN (handelszeitung) -- Swiss universities receive abundant research funding from EU coffers, but with the current strength of the Swiss Franc, this investment is suddenly worth much less. Now the losses must be counted … read more 10.02.2015

Microsoft Outlook app poses risk to universities

BRUSSELS (toms hardware) -- The European Parliament and universities both in Europe and overseas have been warned about security risks with the new Microsoft Outlook app for mobile by their IT departments. Major security issues were found soon after the app’s release at a time where cybersecurity paranoia is running high … read more 10.02.2015

Aachen university rugby team excel

AACHEN (az) -- Students from universities in the West-German city Aachen showcased their talents last week in a sports show. Among the performers were the region’s rugby team who recently qualified for the European Universities Championship in Hungary in July 2015 … read more 04.02.2015

Dutch re-employ PhD staff as students

AMSTERDAM (advalvas) -- New legislation will allow Dutch universities to save money, cutting tax-corners by permitting them to replace PhD students’ salaries with ‘student grants’, in effect making them funded students, rather than paid employees. The reform has always been controversial and the pilot scheme will have 8-years to prove its effectiveness … read more 11.02.2015

Edinburgh University’s learning difficulties centre

EDINBURGH (bbc) -- Children and young people with learning difficulties are to benefit from a new £5m research and support centre in Edinburgh. Based at the university, ‘The Salvesen Mindroom Centre’, a first-of-its-kind initiative, will seek to “understand and resolve learning difficulties” through research and care improvement … read more 10.02.2015

Half of Slovakian degrees irrelevant to jobs

BRATISLAVA (spravy pravada) -- A recent survey from the Slovak education ministry revealed that nearly half of the university graduates never work in the field in which they studied. The figures “shocked even those who have long talked about the need to reform the school system,” said Tibor Gregor, head of Slovak employers association Klub 500 … read more 09.02.2015

European library directive released

DUBLIN (herald online) -- The latest edition of the European University Libraries Directory has been released, providing the most up-to-date information on libraries across the continent ... read more 09.02.2015

Santander Bank sponsors Humboldt University services

BERLIN (finanzen) -- Santander, the Spanish Bank with more than 1,200 partnered universities and research institutions, has now also started cooperation with Berlin’s Humboldt University. The first outcome of which being the opening of ‘International Scholar Services’ which facilitates international researcher and PhD recruitment … read more 11.02.2015

EU scholarship-finder launched

BRUSSELS (koop int) -- Serving as a platform where students can easily find an appropriate scholarship from the 12,000 available within the EU, the European Funding Guide is the first initiative of its kind. Following a German pilot-programme, www.mystipendium.de, the platform is free and allows students to enter their details and find funding possibilities with a few clicks … read more 09.02.2015

France establishes African professional training foundation

PARIS (euractiv) -- Following the French-African forum in Paris last week, France announced the creation of a foundation for professional training in Africa. 3 million euros of funding are being invested to help develop education and training and combat “one of the biggest issues threatening the continent’s future economic development” … read more 10.02.2015

More women at Austrian universities

VIENNA (orf) -- The share of women at Austrian universities continues to grow, among students, lecturers and professors as well. The latter has increased from 19 percent to 21 in the last five years ... read more 09.02.2015

HEInnovate Open Consultation in its last week

BRUSSELS (ec) -- HEInnovate, an assessment tool developed by the European Commission for more entrepreneurial universities, still welcomes contributions to its first consultation until Feb. 15 ... read more 09.02.2015

Ukrainian effort to improve teaching standards

KIEV (kmu) -- Representatives from the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture will begin work with the Ministry of Education to develop new standards of university teaching. Deputy Prime Minister and minister of culture, Vyacheslav Kirilenko, announced also that the rebel-occupied areas of Luhansk and Donetsk will “be given comprehensive assistance” … read more 05.02.2015

Further cuts would endanger Serbian universities

BELGRADE (politika) -- Serbian rectors warn that universities would not be able to continue working properly if staff is further reduced. Universities are overregulated, says dean Milorad Milovančević from the Faculty for Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade. According to him, universities should be excluded from governments efforts to rationalise the number of public employees ... read more 06.02.2015

Poland strengthens humanities

WARSAW (pap) -- The Polish science ministry will allocate 80 million złotys (19 million euros) to the next edition of the National Programme for the Development of Humanities (NPRH). The new formula NPRH will focus on: Tradition, Development and Internationalisation ... read more 06.02.2015

Priorities in Romanian higher education

BUCAREST (romania libera) -- In a recent interview, education minister Sorin Cîmpeanu pointed out his imminent objectives for Romanian universities: internationalisation through  ore English offers, employment success as a ranking criteria, and more financial autonomy ... read more 04.02.2015

Latvia creates an alumni salary database

RIGA (lsm) -- Perhaps, in a few years, Latvian students will be able to choose their universities and study courses according to their employment chances and salary prospects. The Ministry of Education is planning a graduate database for this purpose ... read more 09.02.2015

Italian pushes ahead with Islamic university plan

LECCE (the local) -- The council of Lecce, a province in the southern region of Puglia, turned down the request from Giampiero Khaled Paladini, the president of a confederation Confime for Mediterranean businesses, to renovate a former tobacco factory to house the university ... read more | video 5.2.15

Americans seal giant university project deal in Tunisia

Tool to measure impacts of digital culture

BRUSSELS (ec) -- Often, the results of scientific projects that digitise cultural heritage, are not exploited to their full potential. MAXICULTURE is a new, EU-funded assessment tool to this purpose ... read more 26.01.2015

UK academics condemn ‘repressive’ counter-terrorism bill

LONDON (cherwell) -- Oxford professors have joined 500 academics in signing an open letter that condemned the Counter Terrorism Bill currently being debated in the British parliament as “a threat to freedom of speech at Universities” and “an unlawful and unenforceable duty on educational institutions and staff.” The bill, which seeks to curb campus extremism as one of its aims, has caused considerable debate on the national stage ... read more 05.02.2015

Universities scramble to deal with Apple Watch

LONDON (pa) -- With the Apple Watch due to arrive sometime in April, there’s been an unexpected side-effect rippling through the university scene in London that is likely to escalate around the globe ... read more 06.02.2015

Universities lift Europe into space

BRUSSELS (sc) -- On February 11, in a world first, Europe will launch and land an unmanned spaceplane named Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, or IXV. IXV represents the industrial and scientific expertise of a consortium of around 40 industries, research centers and universities, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal, with Italy is providing the largest share of funding ... read more 06.02.2015

First leg of student winter sports competition concludes

ŠTRBSKÉ PLESO/OSRBLIE (eusa) -- A ‘heart-warming’ closing ceremony marked the end of the first leg of 27th Winter Universiade, student winter sport competition, in Slovakia. 31 countries were represented by a total of 250 male and 134 female athletes from 174 universities. The student-athletes from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan dominated most of the events of the biathlon and cross-country skiing competitions. Nordic combined and ski jumping offered more mixed results with nations such as Japan, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland present on the podiums. The competition continues from 4th to 14th February in Granada, Spain … read more 02.02.2015

Scientists protest detention of Palestinian physicist

LONDON (nature) -- Several organizations of scholars have issued letters protesting the detention of a Palestinian astrophysicist in the Israeli military's Ofer prison, in the West Bank. The scientist, Imad Ahmad Barghouthi, was arrested en route to a scientific conference in December and has since been detained without charges … read more 21.01.2015

“Anonymise admissions,” says race equality report

LONDON (the) -- Ethnic minority students in the UK have a lower chance at getting into top universities, despite grades being the same. A report, published this week by British think tank Runnymede Trust, has said that university admissions should be anonymised to prevent a bias against black and ethnic minority students … read more 03.02.2015

Commission ascertains loyalty of EUA

BRUSSELS (eua) -- The European Universities Association was pleased to welcome EU Commissioner Tibor Navracsics to its secretariat in Brussels. Topics discussed during the meeting included sustainable funding of universities, the future development of the Bologna Process and the Modernisation Agenda … read more 05.02.2015

Scientists must denounce human-rights abuse

Why Europe is still trailing the US in successful start-ups?

INTERNATIONAL (bisnews) -- European universities are coming second to their US counterparts in the creation of intellectual capital. A simple indicator is the international higher education league table with only three of the top ten universities located in Europe ... read more 04.02.2015

Spain’s ‘3-year-degree’ reform postponed

MADRID (el país) -- The government’s plans to introduce 3 year degree programmes at universities, recently rushed through parliament, have been stopped — at least until academic year 2017, after the next elections. Students protested against the reforms, and even universities prefered a moratorium amidst fears over fees and employability … read more 03.02.2015

Anne Glover criticises her Brussels ‘push back’

BRUSSELS (the) -- Anne Glover, who recently resigned from the post of Chief Scientific Advisor, said that the Commission did not devote a lot of resources to her role and a lot of her colleagues were fearful of how her advice could impact their work. Glover stepped down after a group of environmental organisations wrote to the Commission President calling for her position to be scrapped … read more | and here 03.02.2015

Germany struggles to hold onto international students

BERLIN (migazin) -- With 11.5 percent of Germany’s student body made up of overseas students, it’s a popular university destination, but only one in four international students choosing to stay on after they graduate. A recent study cited language barriers and bureaucracy … read more 02.03.2015

New directory puts Portuguese unis on the map

LISBON (sapo) -- A new initiative called ‘Uniarea’ maps out all Portuguese-speaking institutions, thus helping international students to select their university … read more 31.1.15

Ivy-league universities hesitate to sanction rape

UTAH (sudinfo) -- Showcased at the Sundance Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah, the film ‘The Hunting Ground’ shocked viewers with explicit documentation of the alarmingly common cases of sexual assault across North American university campuses. Besides the rage felt by assaulted girls for not feeling protected, Kirby Dick, director of the documentary, says universities like Harvard cover up rape cases to protect their brand name … read more 30.01.2015

Portuguese University to become foundation

MINHO (público) -- Nearly four years after a failed initiative to make the university of Minho, Northern Portugal, into a public foundation, negotiations are once more underway with the government. Rector, António Cunha, said that he greatly values the increased autonomy that this move will allow the university … read more 26.01.2015

Corruption rife in Romanian universities

GALATI (romanialibera) -- An inquiry has been launched at Dunarea de Jos University in Romania after students denounced their professors on grounds of financial corruption. Two new cases, whereby professors asked for cash up front from students in return for better exams grades, have brought to light the regularity of this trend across Romania ... read more 01.02.2015

New university rejected in Northern Croatia

ZAGREB (evarazdin) -- Proposals to set up a new university in northern Croatia were rejected without discussion by the government. The region, with 650,000 inhabitants and the lowest average salary in the country, has reacted with disappointment at the government’s failure … read more 30.01.2015

Biggest companies ignore higher education

LONDON (uwn) -- Less than 5 percent of the Fortunate Global 500 companies’ combined social responsibility budget goes towards higher education. A campaign, launched in partnership with UNESCO, has outlined just how little many of the biggest firms invest in higher education. UNESCO director general, Irina Bokova, said that this meagre investment reflects business’ failure to recognise the importance of an educated workforce in commercial success … read more 30.1.15

Medicine students filtered out in Belgium

NAMUR (dhnet) -- Jean-Claude Marcourt, higher education minister of francophone Belgium, confirmed that examinations at the end of first year will soon be implemented in medicine departments. This comes after last year’s ‘medical student crisis’ in the Wallonia-Brussels. The proposals to dismiss future-doctors after a year of study have caused discontent and student union FEF called the plans a “scandalous procedure” … read more 29.01.2015

Lithuania distributes ‘Invasion Manual’ at universities

VILINUS (rtbf) -- In response to recent Lithunian concerns following Russian aggression in Ukraine, the ministry of defence  distributed manuals in schools nationwide, explaining what to do in case of an invasion. Starting next week, even university students will receive the manual … read more 28.01.2015

Student protection office in San Marino

SAN MARINO (smnotizie) -- San Marino’s one university recently welcomed the opening of a new office to defend students’ rights. Similar to an ombudsman, a professor will be placed in charge of dealing with complaints also and in particular those concerning the university itself … read more 30.01.2015

“Cultural Chernobyl” - Moscow university library fire

MOSCOW (figaro) -- An immense fire at Moscow’s Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences on Friday has destroyed over 1 million historical documents, some dating back to the 16th century. Vladimir Fortov, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, described the tragedy as “a great loss for science... the vastest collection of its kind in the World”. Referring to the 1986 nuclear tragedy, he compared the loss of this collection, one of the World’s richest catalogues of Slavic-works, as “reminiscent of Chernobyl” … read more | and here 02.02.2015

Scottish university to refund failing students

Academic cabinet gives hope to Greek education

ATHENS (guardian) -- The Greek university community sighed a collective sigh of relief and optimism as new President, Alexis Tsipras, revealed his cabinet to be rich in academics and university professors. The importance of youth and education under the new leadership has been emphasised as the anti-austerity government shows heavy investment is the way to battle Greek’s debt-woes. Kostas Fotakis, president of the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), was appointed as Research and Innovation Deputy Minister … read more | and here 27.01.2015

German-Arab relations becoming ever stronger

European universities criticise ‘Juncker Plan’

BRUSSELS (euractiv) -- The European University Association has voicedthe concerns of the university community in relation to the European Fund for Strategic Investments proposal as it stands. The commission’s rechanneling of funds from its research programme Horizon 2020 to the ‘Juncker Plan’, says Lesley Wilson, secretary-general of the EUA, sends out the wrong message and will harm the research community … read more 26.01.2015

Merger creates Norway’s largest university

TRONDHEIM (news in english) -- Norway’s largest university has been created under a merger between Science and Technology University in Trondheim, NTNU, and three university colleges. The campus will remain in Trondheim and house almost 40,000 students. The question now is whether this will trigger further mergers elsewhere in Norway … read more 29.01.2015

Probe into price fixing at Russian universities

MOSCOW (cw) -- At a time of economic instability in Russia, the country’s anti-monopoly authority (FAS), together with the general prosecutor’s office, plan to start widespread checks at universities on suspicion of price fixing and unfounded increases in the cost of tuition. According to members of the Duma, possibilities being considered are creating a law that will stop tuition fees rising faster than the rate of inflation or freezing the cost of tuition for three years, perhaps even longer. Universities found guilty of price fixing could be subject to large fines or have their licence withdrawn ... read more 29.01.2015

One quarter of Turkey’s unemployed have degrees

ANKARA (hurriyet) -- Unemployment is climbing in Turkey, but more worrying is that ¼ of the unemployed are actually qualified at university level, according to an official report. Reforms under the current government saw an 83 percent increase in the amount of students since 2006 … read more 26.01.2015

Danish universities “don’t care about teaching”

COPENHAGEN (university post) -- “Universities don’t care about teaching abilities of their employees and the government is regulating the wrong things.” That’s one conclusion of a report of an expert committee in Denmark demanding that central regulation of education needs to change … read more 30.01.2015