Academics face prosecution in Turkey
ANKARA (guardian) -- Turkey has launched an investigation into the 1128 academics from 90 universities who signed a petition criticising the military’s crackdown on Kurdish rebels in the south-east. Calling themselves ‘Academicians for Peace,’ the intellectuals called for an end to the violence, claiming not to be “a party to this crime” and demanding that the government “abandon its deliberate massacre and deportation of Kurdish and other peoples in the region.” The signatories now face accusations ranging from ‘terrorist propaganda’ to ‘inciting people to hatred, violence and breaking the law.’ In the open letter to Erdoğan released last month, hundreds of Turkish and international academics including Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler, accused him of waging war against his own people ... read more 15.1.
Extra innovation efforts in Poland
WARSAW (ps) -- The new Polish science minister, Jarosław Gowin, has emphasised that the Polish economy should become more innovative, with technology production playing a greater role. An amendment to the law on supporting innovation should remove many of the legal obstacles, which have previously limited Poland’s advances in the field … read more 14.01.2016
European Innovation Council in the pipeline
BRUSSELS (science|business) – Carlos Moedas, European research commissioner, has announced plans to establish a European Innovation Council as a cohesive body for innovation that will parallel what the European Research Council has done for science … read more 15.01.2016
Netherlands increasingly elitist
AMSTERDAM (volkskrant) -- Measures to restrict access to master studies have incited student rage. In an open letter to education minister, Jet Bussemaker, and the university association they complain that nothing is being done to help those affected by these changes … read more 13.01.2016
Danish education minister confronts speculation
COPENHAGEN (politiken) -- The Danish education minister, Esben Lunde Larsen has been forced to ask the University of Copenhagen to investigate his PhD thesis in order to put an end to the speculation surrounding it. Last year, the Swedish company Urkund allegedly found several traces of plagiarism and self-plagiarism in it … read more 15.01.2016
Victory for rejected master’s applicant
REIMS (france bleu) -- Very often, short-term degrees like those favoured by the promoters of the Bologna Process are not sufficient: desirable career and study paths often demand a master’s degree qualification. Quod erat demonstrandum in a recent case at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in northern France, in which a psychology student sued the university following his rejection, eventually winning a place. The university claims to have thirteen applicants for every place … read more 14.1.15
Internationality: playing the numbers game
LONDON (the) -- As if figures on foreign relations can reflect on quality in itself, the Times Higher Education magazine has published yet another ranking. The top 800 universities of the overall 2015-16 ranking have been compared regarding their proportion of international students, professors and research papers … read more 14.01.2016
Excellency shines in Gran Canaria
GRAN CANARIA (eldiario) -- The Campus of Excellency of the Canary Islands, an alliance between the Universities of Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) and La Laguna (Tenerife), specialising in marine studies, tourism and biomedicine, is an undeniable success story. As the only ‘A’-class campus in Spain besides Catalonia, its annual funding has grown from 4.5 million to 90 million euros in just five years … read more 15.01.2016
Estonian universities losing out to Finland
TALLINN (delfi) -- The Estonian education minister, Jürgen Ligi, has expressed concern at the number of students looking further afield for their studies. He emphasised the competition between the universities of Estonia and the University of Helsinki, suggesting that the adoption of a free higher education policy would only exacerbate this academic exodus abroad … read more 7.1.16
Student apathy in Germany
BERLIN (furios) -- Student unions in Germany continue to lose legitimacy. The loss of student influence on university policy is an important topic as national student elections approach. Observers are worried that over 50 percent of German students are disinterested in university politics and less than 10 percent participated in last year’s elections … read more 09.01.2016
500 new university jobs in Greece
ATHENS (efsyn) -- The recruitment of 500 additional faculty staff members was confirmed by the deputy minister of education, Sia Anagnostopoulou, with the guarantee that the new employees will be at work by 2017. This promise is to be part of the upcoming bill for research … read more 11.01.2016
Portugal: stable crisis
LISBON (económico) -- Portugal’s new Minister of Science and Education, Manuel Heitor, has announced that this year’s budget will be the same as 2015. He has admitted that the funding “does not satisfy” the needs of the universities and polytechnics across the country … read more 11.01.2016
European education technology market grows
DUBLIN (business wire) -- Many governments in the EU region are adopting an open education policy to support the deployment of digital technology across European schools and universities. It has led to rapid growth of the software and services segment of this market. A research report predicts the education technology market to grow over 10 percent annually reaching over 33 billion dollars (30 billion euros) by 2019.
Western and Southern Europe is expected to experience slower growth as compared to the rest of Europe market ... read more 12.01.2016
Irish academics on the picket line
DUBLIN (rte) -- Drastic funding cuts to higher education have led lecturers from Ireland’s Institutes of Technology to announce a day of strike action to be held next month. Chronic underfunding and precarious contracts meant that the decision was favoured by 92 percent of voters in a ballot held by the teachers’ union. According to TUI President Gerry Quinn, the strike will mark the beginning of a sustained campaign of action … read more 13.01.2016
No exceptions for Strasbourg University
STRASBOURG (mcetv) -- The National Union of Students in France (UNEF) has won a case against the University of Strasbourg regarding the availability of exam retakes to students. The ‘right to resit’ has been guaranteed by law since 2011, but certain universities still refuse to allow their students to redo failed examinations. William Martinet, head of UNEF, pointed out that retakes help universities to maintain a system of controlled assessment by allowing students to catch up over the course of a semester … read more 13.01.2016 Co-operative teacher training policy in Austria
VIENNA (standard) -- Alliances will be formed between teacher training colleges (Pädagogische Hochschulen) and universities, in an overhaul of educational training with the objective of rendering it more academic. Universities and colleges will work in co-operation according to region, developing new interdisciplinary programmes and combining vocational training with scientific study … read more 13.01.2016New survey examines corruption in EU universities
BERLIN (bez) -- Graduates in Romania, Italy and Spain perceive their universities to be ‘corrupt’ in almost all major fields. A new survey investigating irregularities in admissions, marking, degree issuing, and academic staff recruitment has revealed … read more 13.01.2016
Turkish academics confront state interference
ANKARA (todayszaman) -- Almost 700 academics have called for respect of their university’s independence and an end to outside interference. The Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), one of the most prestigious universities in the country, is currently the focus of debate as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and government figures have launched a smear campaign against the university. Allegedly a student has been attacked while praying on campus. With the university administration being accused of not upholding religious freedom as well as failing to take the necessary measures to prevent cyber attacks on websites because it operates the main Internet domain in the country, civil society groups and academics agree the aim of the campaign is to deal a blow to its scientific freedom … read more 07.01.2016
Italy: Flogging a (not really) dead horse
ROME (corriere) -- A flawed funding system of Italian higher education has amplified the disadvantages for the southern regions: further brain drain and capital flight. Now some Italian academics go so far as to propose the closure of ‘inefficient’ institutions of the Mezzogiorno … read more 08.01.2016
Obligatory tuition fees for non-EU students in Finland
HELSINKI (pienews) -- Finland’s coalition government has announced that students from outside the EU will begin paying tuition fees of at least €1,500 from August 2017. This follows the introduction of non-EU fees in Sweden in 2011 … read more 05.01.20Denmark deports top foreign student
AARHUS (camer) -- Marius Youbi, an excellent engineering student at Aarhus University, has been forced to return to Cameroon after breaching his visa regulations. Denmark allows foreign students to work no more 15 hours a week, Youbi did a cleaning job 16.5 hours … read more 09.01.2016
Swiss action against ghostwriting
ST GALLEN (swissinfo) -- The University of St Gallen has filed criminal charges in an attempt to uncover the extent of ghostwritten papers. A report aired on SRF revealed that at least 200 students at Swiss universities used the services of the ghostwriting website ACAD WRITE, which also has clients in both Germany and Austria … read more | commentary 07.01.2016
Innovation on the Dutch EU Presidency’s agenda
BRUSSELS (neth-er) -- The new year has started with the Dutch EU-Presidency. Robert-Jan Smits, Director-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, outlines this year’s priorities in Brussels ... read more 07.01.2016
High dropout rates across the EU
BRUSSELS (the) -- At just 59 percent, Norway has one of the lowest degree completion rates in Europe, despite quality reforms introduced in the early 2000s. This is according to a new study released by the European Commission … read more 01.01.2016
Green light for Islamic studies in Greece
SALONIKI (kathimerini) -- The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki will be the first university in Greece to offer Muslim Studies starting in 2016. Despite having the approval of the Ministry for Education, Research and Religious Affairs, it has met with opposition from conservative clerics … read more 10.1.
Spain’s High Court awards Israeli university $100,000
MADRID (the tower) -- Spain’s Supreme Court awarded Israel’s Ariel University over $100,000 in damages after it was illegally excluded from a scientific competition by Spain’s Housing Ministry. Yigal Cohen-Orgad, the university’s chancellor, said that the court’s decision was “a partial, but necessary, response to the pressure being mounted by the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement around the globe, and proves that efforts to isolate and demonize Israel can and will be thwarted” ... read more 7.1.15
Syrian refugees study for free in Germany
BERLIN (newsweek) -- Despite the political unrest surrounding the European country’s refugee influx, around 60 German universities are offering free courses and some are even waiving their expensive fees to Syrian nationals who arrived in Germany this year ... read more 06.01.2015
British universities come together for new IoT hub
LONDON (engineer) -- Nine universities across the UK will form a new PETRAS Internet of Things (IoT) Research Hub, with the aim of furthering the technology and exploring some of its key issues. The £23m project is part of IoTUK, a £40m, three-year government programme to advance connected technologies in the UK ... read more 06.01.2016
Transcontinental MOOCs
DELFT (ihe) -- Six universities from Australia, Europe, Canada and the U.S. want to establish an alliance in which their massive open online courses (MOOCs) are formally accredited by partner institutions. Among them, Delft University of Technology and ETH Zurich. Their initiative is believed to be the first international one relating to online courses ... read more 07.01.2015
Flemish research director awards himself a prize
BRUSSELS (de morgen) -- Jurgen Tack has stepped down as the secretary-general of the Flemish research foundation FWO. He had drawn the annoyance of the universities after accepting an award worth 3000 euros — from a non-existing competition ... read more 6.1.16
