Forget free higher education with Trump

WASHINGTON (wp) -- Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders elevated the issue of college affordability with campaign proposals to make public higher education free for the vast majority of American families, but those prospects have faded with the election of Donald Trump. Proponents of debt-free college, nevertheless, remain convinced that the movement still has legs. They say underlying concerns about skyrocketing student debt and price barriers in higher education are as relevant as ever ... read more 14.11.2016

Fees cause rift in Ireland

Finland moves away from entrance exams

HELSINKI (sss) -- Finland’s ministries of education and culture have proposed that universities select candidates based on a wider range of baccalaureates and certificates, rather than entrance examinations. This is likely to effect arts and social sciences the most. Entrance to these courses more often relies on examinations compared to maths and technology related programmes … read more 14.11.2016

New Greek education minister

ATHENS (ekathimerini) -- When Nikos Filis, now the former Greek education minister, planned to create more fact-based religious classes, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, did not take kindly to the suggestions. A public dispute followed, which ended in Filis and his deputy, Sia Anagnosopoolou leaving their posts under pressure from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The future of their replacements, Kostas Gavroglou and Kostas Zouraris, the former from Syriza and the latter from right-wing coalition party ANEL, depends on their cooperation … read more | and here 7.11.16

Swiss government widens access to university

BERN (le nouvelliste) -- Thirteen years after the vocational baccalaureate became acceptable, holders of a Swiss ‘specialised maturity’ qualification, awarded by the country’s Fachmittelschulen, can now use that certificate to gain entry to university … read more 09.11.2016

Non-EU students in Baden-Württemberg to pay fees

STUTTGART (uwn) -- The State government of Baden-Württemberg will reintroduce tuition fees for non-EU students in order to cover costs. Kambiz Ghawami, head of World University Service Germany expressed surprise at the proposal, adding that state higher education minister Theresia Bauer “is pursuing this approach even though it clashes with the Green-Christian Democrat coalition agreement” … read more 11.11.2016

Russian universities evaluated

MOSCOW (div) -- The Russian education minsitry commissioned an independent evaluation of 503 universities in the eyes of students, parents and teachers, and the results are in. The “Social Navigator” involved over 100,000 people and ranked the 67 best universities. Only one of Moscow’s institutions made the top 10 and only one made the top 20. Isak Froumin, scientific supervisor at the Moscow Higher School of Economics’ Institute of Educational Development criticised unclear methodology but said: “This is a positive initiative, because it is important to listen to the main consumers of education - students” ... read more | and here 08.11.2016

European doctorate comes to Romania

CLUJ-NAPOCA (cluju) -- The European doctorate, a brainchild of the Confederation of European Union Rectors’ Conferences (now the EUA), will be implemented for the first time in Romania, at the Babeș-Bolyai University. The hope is that the it will serve as a mechanism for internationalistation and quality assurance in doctoral studies ... read more 8.11.2016

Google brings Digital Workshop to German unis

KARLSRUHE (ka-news) -- In partnership with higher education institutions, unions and business, Google is running Digital Workshops in German universities for academics to improve their digital skills and know-how … read more 09.11.2016

Poland’s univerisites face vicious cycle

WARSAW (wyborcza) -- Under the Polish education minister’s “new constitution for science” universities would receive funds based on the ratio of students to teachers — the lower the ratio the more money. Some fear this would cause a vicious cycle of understaffed universities being underfunded, thus having to cut more staff, leading to further diminished subsidies ... read more 07.11.2016

Slovenian universities stay speaking Slovenian

LJUBLJANA (24ur) -- Slovenian academics’ fears of linguistic colonisation have been abated, for now. The controversial article in the draft Law on Higher Education that could have permitted English as the language of instruction, has been removed … read more 03.11.2016

850 million euro boost for French universities

PARIS (figaro) -- The French National Assembly has added an extra 850 million euros to the latest five-year budget for higher education and research. 280 million is assigned to research and 85 million for student life. President François Hollande said it would “preserve the means of research” … read more 08.11.2016

Greek students protest underfunding

ATHENS (newsbomb) -- More than 80 student unions across Greece held demonstrations on Thursday to protest underfunding and understaffing of universities, as well as the introduction of graduate tuition fees. Protests in Athens were especially impassioned, with the traffic police having to take exceptional measures in the city centre … read more 03.11.2016

EU to bolster commercial Latvian research

RIGA (baltic course) -- EU funding worth 66.8 million euros will be made available to Latvian research projects between now and 2023. A total of 309 projects are competing for the subsidies, and they will be assessed on their commercial potential … read more 08.11.2016

German students protest new copyright contract

BERLIN (netzpolitik) -- A new contract between VG Wort, the organisation in Germany that deals with copyright royalties, and the Conference of Culture Ministers, stipulates that lecturers would have to have any lecture or seminar that they wish to put online for their students via Moodle or Blackboard first invoiced through VG Wort. Multiple state rectors’ conferences have announced their refusal to sign the contract, and students in Berlin have protested outside the office of VG Wort … read more | and here 04.11.2016

Methuselah in Spain

MADRID (la opinión) -- Economic crisis goes in Spain hand in hand with staff reduction at academia. While public funding has decreased by 17 percent, teachers and administrative staff has been slashed by 7,500 between 2010 and 2014. The number of researchers at public universities has declined by 6 percent since 2008. Meanwhile, the number of lecturers over 60 has reached over 15 percent … read more 07.11.2016

MOOCs gain ground in the Netherlands

HILVERSUM (nos) -- More and more people are signing up for Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) developed by Dutch universities, a report by broadcaster NOS has found. The number of registered users doubled from 2014 to 2015 and is set to rise further this year … read more 08.11.2016

Lithuanian state to set entrance requirements

VILNIUS (fm99) -- A new law in Lithuania stipulates that universities and colleges will only accept entrants with a competitive score of not less than that set by the education ministry. “This will ensure growth in study quality, students with poor grades will no longer be able to drag down down the overall academic quality” said minister Audronė Pitrėnienė … read more 04.11.2016

University of Hamburg president condemns Bologna Reform

HAMBURG (welt) -- Dieter Lenzen, president of the University of Hamburg holds no bars in his criticism of the Bologna Reform, labelling the process “a concession to the British… a hit-and-run accident.” He also claims he’s not the only one: “There’s a considerable number of my colleagues who would judge the developments as critically as me” … read more 30.10.2016

Slovak universities under cyber-attack

BRATISLAVA (touchit) -- Thousands of times a day, Slovakian universities’ computer networks come under attack from cyber-criminals, according to IT corporation Cisco. “Based on these findings, our priority has become increasing the security of our data network” said Martin Drozd, Vice Dean at the Slovak University of Technology … read more 3.11.16

What Croatian universities need

ZAGREB (dnevnik) -- The need to overhaul and refund Croatian universities has been acknowledged by the country’s highest authority. At a ceremony at the University of Zagreb, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said “we have to turn to the adoption of practical knowledge and skills.” Rector, Damir Boras drew attention to the need to streamline with the Bologna Process and a lack of funding. Higher education receives funds less than 1.2 percent of GDP, not even 60 percent of the European average … read more03.11.2016

Czech students rally against President

PRAGUE (rozhlas) -- In a display of unity against their president, Miloš Zeman, 51 Czech student associations, chambers, councils and unions have released a statement expressing their support for rectors, and abstained from state award ceremonies on October 28th’s public holiday. This is the latest development in what has been a fraught relationship between Czech academia and the government … read more 01.11.2016

Romanian Board of Ethics approved by minister

BUCHAREST (agerpres) -- Romanian education minister, Mircea Dumitru, keen to build a sound ethical reputation for his country’s universities, announced new members of the National Council of Ethics for Research, Technological Development and Innovation (CNECSDTI) … read more 02.11.2016

NSA hacks European universities

GENEVA et al. (div) -- Everyones favourite intelligence service strikes again: this time at European higher education institutions. The University of Geneva and the Free University of Brussels were amongst the 352 IP addresses to have been hacked by NSA malware, according to information leaked by hacking group, Shadow Brokers … read more | and here 04.11.2016

English problems for Ukraine’s academics

KIEV (ihned) -- Ukrainian academics have to meet a certain level of proficiency in English before being awarded professorships. The test must be taken at the British Council, which doesn’t accept bribes. This has caused the number of professorships to plummet. So far this year only 16 people have gained professorships; in 2014 that number was well above 1000 … read more 2.11.16

Dutch technical universities still in crisis

AMSTERDAM (div) -- Overcrowded and underfunded, Holland’s technical universities won’t be receiving any more money. Education minister Jet Bussemaker has made that clear. But the situation is so dire, in some cases lectures have to be held in cinemas. “We cannot continue this way,” says Victor van der Chijs, president of the 4TU technical university federation … read more | and here 04.11.2016

Portuguese polytechnics want to be universities

PORTO (je) -- Pedro Lourtie, President of the General Council of the Leiria Polytechnic, has said that “polytechnics will be able to award doctorates - it’s inevitable.” But he wants them to be designated as universities of applied sciences. “It’s an internationally accepted designation and used to facilitate external relations” … read more 03.11.2016

Erdoğan and Turkish academia remain in conflict

ISTANBUL (div) -- Hundreds of academics from the prestigious Bosphorus University in Istanbul have called on the government to annul the decree that abolishes elections of university rectors. But this comes alongside the news that the regime has issued arrest warrants for a further 137 people involved in education … read more | and here 02.11.16