Corruption-fighting rector in Kazakhstan
ASTANA (the) -- Kazakhstan’s universities are riddled with cheating, plagiarism, corruption and staid teaching, says Krzysztof Rybiński, rector of Narxoz University in the east of Kazakhstan. The rector has been fighting these scourges at his university since he was appointed 16 months ago, often firing staff, some of whom would take bribes to boost grades and give early access to exam papers … read more 07.06.2016
France backtracks on research cuts
PARIS (rsc) -- Following an open letter to the French government by seven Nobel laureates deploring impending cuts to France’s research and higher education budget of 256 million euros, President Hollande has agreed to reinstate more than half of the funding. Media coverage of the original decision allegedly caused the U-turn … read more 07.06.2016
German labour court favours scientists
ERFURT (gew) -- The German Federal Labour Court has ruled that the repeated granting of essentially similar short-term contracts to scientists is unlawful. Nine in ten employees in German science and higher education have a temporary contract, which makes science the most precarious workplace in the country ... read more 09.06.2016
New European university lobby group
BRUSSELS (science) -- The Guild of European Research Intensive Universities is a new EU lobby group of nine European universities that launches in November and includes the universities of Bologna and Oslo. Despite the existence of several other lobby groups such as LERU (21 members) and the EUA (850 members), the new group felt that Central and Eastern Europe were underrepresented, areas where it is seeking new members … read more 03.06.2016
‘Parship’ for Russian and Belarussian universities
MISNK (belta) -- Mikhail Myasnikovich, speaker of Belarus’ upper house, has announced that individual Belarussian and Russian universities must work together. This is on the back of cooperation agreements signed between the two countries which however need universities to take the initiative in order to bring this cooperation to fruition. A youth and academic exchange programme may also be launched between the two countries… read more
Norwegian Gargantua
OSLO (pbs) -- The number of firms founded and patents applied for by university researchers declined dramatically after a law change in 2003 which gave two thirds of the income from such activities to the researcher’s university. A study shows that the number of firms founded dropped by 50 percent whilst the number of patents dropped by 48 percent compared to other Norwegian inventors … read more 06.06.2016
Silicon Valleys from L.A. to Vladivostok
WARSAW (naukawpolsce) -- Poland’s science minister Jarosław Gowin wants his country to initiate the ‘fourth Industrial Revolution’ by transforming it into a powerhouse of innovative technology. He has promised 16 billion euros in the coming years to fund this transformation, which he believes the state should play a leading role in. A competition was launched in April to find 20 companies to start Warsaw’s own Silicon Valley … read more 08.06.2016
Grant protectionism in Portugal?
LISBON (sapo) -- Portugal’s national science funding agency FCT has changed the criteria for the granting of doctoral and post-doctoral scholarships. Uncoupling performance indicators in research from international standards to replace them with a national jury and favouring Portuguese applicants, both fly in the face of internationalisation efforts … read more 07.06.2016
Doctoral schools to close in Romania
BUCHAREST (agerpres) -- A third of the 360 doctoral schools in Romania will likely close in the next two to three years, says education minister Adrian Curaj. He said that this will help the doctoral schools overcome a ‘critical period’, as will the specialisation of some of the remaining schools in particular subjects … read more 04.06.2016
Trump attacks Clinton’s education company
WASHINGTON (fiscal times) -- Donald Trump has attacked Bill and Hillary Clinton over Bill’s involvement in the education company Laureate International Universities, which supports struggling universities around the world. Since 2010 Bill Clinton received $16.5 million as honorary chancellor of the string of for-profit universities. Despite the good reputation of the company, it flies in the face of Hillary’s attacks on private educational institutions … read more 08.06.2016
Croatia’s education system “produces careerists”
ZAGREB (df) -- Protestors were on streets of Zagreb and other Croatian cities to demand reform of the education system. It produces, they complain, only ‘careerists’ who regurgitate facts. Universities are seen as affected by the same illness, which drives many young Croatians abroad. Current reform plans are threatened by infighting in the governing conservative HDZ party … read more
Swedish research reputation at risk
STOCKHOLM (dn) -- The reputation of Swedish research is at risk after world-famous surgeon Paolo Macchiarini caused a patient at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm to die by using an unproven technique to reconstruct their trachea. This blurred the line between research and medical care, meaning that better supervisory provisions are needed in future, says research minister Helene Hellmark Knutsson, who has launched an investigation into the case … read more
Ukraine: Buy three and save!
KIEV (gazeta) -- A survey shows that a majority of Ukrainian students do not want low-cost university places cut, even if it increases the quality of their education. The government defends the proposals on the basis that the country needs more vocational training and fewer graduates and that the money saved could finance the training of doctors and engineers that the country needs … read more 08.06.2016
Stand on your own two feet, Slovenia
LJUBLJANA (demokracija) -- The European Research Council (ERC) has rebuked Slovenia for trying to rely too heavily on its funding, saying that the prime responsibility for financing science lies with the country itself. Whilst the country is successful at obtaining Horizon 2020 grants, only one in 100 of its ERC funding applications were granted … read more 06.06.2016
Successful Croatian student protest
ZAGREB (tcn) -- Students in Croatia protesting against delays in payment of scholarships to socially disadvantaged students have won their battle with education minister Predrag Šustar. The students camped outside the education ministry for five days to demand changes to the payments of scholarships, including allowing students working part-time and asylum seekers studying in Croatia to claim it … read more 06.06.2016
Germany: prepare students for digitalisation
BERLIN (finanzen) -- A report commissioned by the industry says that German universities are not preparing students well enough for digitalisation. Many graduate jobs will soon be automated and many professions seemingly unrelated to technology will be changed considerably by it, it suggests. Future graduates need to be able to analyse statistics and deal with large data sets and work both independently and collaboratively … read more 06.06.2016
Resits for strike-hit Belgian students
BRUSSELS (rtbf) -- The state government for Wallonia-Brussels in Belgium will likely pass legislation allowing for students to resit exams who cannot attend them because of unexpected circumstances such as the strikes for the past fortnight by workers at the national railway company SNCB … read more
Egg-pelting students on trial in Albania
TIRANA (vision plus) -- The trial of students who pelted the Albanian prime minister’s car in November last year has begun. The students were protesting against the introduction of legislation which gave public money to private universities, increased tuition fees, introduced student loans and made a combination of government officials and businessmen responsible for administering university budgets … read more 06.06.2016
Google complains about Europe’s tech scene
AMSTERDAM (business insider) -- Executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet Eric Schmidt has bemoaned the underfunding of European universities compared to US ones, Europe’s tight regulation and its tax policies. He claimed that European politicians are inactive in response to his feedback. He made the comments at the Startup Fest Europe conference in the Netherlands … read more 29.5.16
Russia shifts science funding
MOSCOW (uwn) -- Russia plans to increasingly shift its scientific research from the Russian Academy of Sciences, where 80 percent takes place, to its national universities, such as the Moscow State University. This is in part because the Academy is very bureaucratic which hinders research efficiency. A new law will allow for this and for the stimulating of research and development in the country in general … read more 02.06.2016
Rocket Mandon
PARIS (space news) -- Europe must redouble its efforts in space research, said French research minister Thierry Mandon on a visit to the joint French and European space agencies’ merged launcher directorate in Paris. France is developing Prometheus, a reusable, liquid-oxygen, liquid-methane engine, to match the US’ Falcon 9 reusable rocket, and hopes to sub-contract work to Germany and other European partners in exchange for financial contributions … read more 01.06.2016
Galician universities haemorrhaging students
SANTIAGO (el correo) -- Universities in the Spanish region of Galicia have lost 40 percent of students in the last 15 years, going down from 95,000 to 56,000. All areas but health sciences shared the drop in students. The decreases have been put down to the Bologna reforms which cut degree lengths, the economic crisis and the ageing population … read more 05.06.2016
Rectors protest cuts to Czech university budget
PRAGUE (monitor) -- University rectors in the Czech Republic are outraged by the draft education budget for next year which would see cuts to the universities’ budgets whilst spending on renewable energy, defence and sport increases. The rectors however welcomed an increase in spending by 3.7 billion crowns (137 million euros), which they said would help develop science at universities … read more 03.06.2016
World’s biggest education prize launched
BEIJING (prn) -- The world’s biggest education prize is now in China. The internet billionaire Charles Chen Yidan has launched the prize named after him, the Yidan Prize, worth nearly seven million euros. It will recognise “outstanding” individuals or teams – teachers, researchers, academics, policymakers, and social activists, among others. The Yidan Prize also commissioned research to identify five global education indicators across 25 economies. The indicators are public expenditure, affordability, youth unemployment, STEM graduates and internet access in schools … read more 22.05.2016
Declaration for a global student voice
BRUSSELS (esu) -- The European Students’ Union has formally adopted the ‘Bergen declaration’, an agreement drafted by student activists from around the world last month. The declaration aims to create a global student movement, guarantee free and inclusive education for all and reaffirm the importance of academic freedom … read more 01.06.2016
Ambitious EU open access target
BRUSSELS (rsc) -- Ministers from the European Union’s 28 member states have agreed that open access to scientific publications should become the common standard across the bloc by 2020. The EU Competitiveness Council met in Brussels on 26-27 May and announced the target following a public debate of broader plans to develop ‘open science’ ... read more 02.06.2016
African students’ union at Russian university
MOSCOW (africa news) -- The National University of Science and Technology (МИСиС) in Moscow has inaugurated a students’ union for Africans. The union was created to increase the comfort and enhance the experience of African students at the university. Its objectives include social and academic support, communication support and connections with other communities and organisations … read more 27.05.2016
Lara Croft at the LSE
LONDON (independent) -- The actress Angelina Jolie has been appointed visiting professor at the London School of Economics at the university’s Centre for Women, Peace and Security where she will teach a Master’s course. Jolie has been a vocal campaigner on refugee rights, and against the female genital mutilation and the use of rape as a weapon of war … read more 25.05.2016
Portable academic credentials
AMSTERDAM (pienews) -- The Groningen Declaration Network has just held its annual meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. The aim of the group is to promote the secure, portable, digital ownership of academic credentials for students, which means that international students can transfer their records from, say, China to the US if they study there. This combats both data fraud and facilitates studying overseas … read more 13.05.2016
British research funding merged into single agency
LONDON (sci business) -- The British government is to create a single research funding body, bringing together seven research councils, the innovation agency Innovate UK and research funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The new body, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will command a six billion pounds (7.8 billion euros) budget. The aim is to make it easier to fund cross-disciplinary studies and create an integrated research and innovation system … read more 19.05.2016
Ukraine: laboratory for the labour-market shaped university
KIEV (div) -- Recent articles highlight the successful transformation of Ukrainian higher education in line with Western ‘standards’ like New Public Management and technological rationalisation. Student participation, with a tame political agenda, and big data analysis for funding allocation are promised as a panacea ... read more | and here 27.05.2016
Turkish Education bill threatens academics
ANKARA (hurrieyet) -- Turkey’s ruling party has sent a draft omnibus bill proposing a tightening of the disciplinary system in universities, including provisions concerning academics, while also demanding mandatory apprenticeships for secondary school students and outlining plans to open six new universities. According to the amendments, academics’ political activities will be punishable … read more 24.05.2016
More funding for Czech universities?
PRAGUE (aktualne) -- 1.8 billion extra crowns (67 million euros) – that’s what the Czech education ministry is asking the government for. Education minster wants to spend 1.1 billion on educational activities, and the remaining half a billion on the modernisation of buildings and the procurement of equipment. However academics fear the request will be turned down as they face competition for funding with schools and have already faced a funding setback this year… read more 24.5.2016
Fake degrees in Greek civil service
ATHENS (ekathimerini) -- What to do with civil servants who got their job with fake qualifications? A row has erupted between the Greek government and main opposition party New Democracy over the fact that civil servants who have been fired for having fraudulent degrees were given the chance to re-enter the civil service by sitting an exam. The debate draws attention to the systematic issuing and use of forged degrees in Greece, many issued by private vocational institutions … read more 26.05.2016
Denmark speaks: keep student grants
COPENHAGEN (politiken) -- A poll in Denmark has shown 69 percent of Danish want to keep student grants. The country’s student union, claimed the vote “is a sign that free and equal access to education is a fundamental value.” Education minister Ulla Tørnæs however discredited the poll, saying that people were simply opposed to cuts in general … read more 27.5.2016