Madrid seizes control of Catalonian universities
BARCELONA (nature) -- Following Catalonia’s unilateral declaration of independence, the Spanish government has taken over responsibility for higher education and research in the region. LERU, the League of European Research Universities has criticised the move, saying it will undermine institutional autonomy, while Carmen Vela, Spain’s secretary of state for research, development and innovation, says that the government hopes the difficulties will be resolved shortly. Jaume Casals, rector of Pompeu Fabra University, said that he does not expect the Spanish government to interfere directly in universities’ affairs ... read more 31.10.17
U-Multirank sort the wheat from the chaff
GÜTERSLOH (neth-er) -- U-Multirank has published a global ranking for science and technology universities. The ranking takes into account factors such as graduation rates, citation rates, and student mobility ... read more 27.10.2017
Trinity College Dublin with less and less permanent staff
DUBLIN (ut) -- Trinity College’s trade unions are expecting a decision this week on the institution’s reaction to government advice on the improper use of fixed-term contracts. Trinity has become increasingly reliant on temporary contracts. Since January, a dispute between the college’s three trade unions has been underway in the Labour Courts after Trinity decided it would no longer offer permanent contracts to non-academic and administrative staff ... read more 31.10.2017
Finland commits to 4%
HELSINKI (uwn) -- The Finnish government has published its vision for higher education and research in 2030, including the target of at least 50 percent of young adults completing a tertiary degree and spending on research and development arriving at 4 percent of GDP ... read more 31.10.2017
France: Selection under the surface
PARIS (francetvinfo) -- The French Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe announced on Monday that he’s “never been afraid of the word ‘selection’. The objective here is not for universities to say ‘no’. In the majority of cases, they will say ‘yes’”. While there will be no selection on the surface, universities will have access to students’ files, and can put them onto an ‘integrated course’ if they don’t meet their standards ... read more 31.10.2017
More German scientists boycott Elsevier
BERLIN (the scientist) -- Eight more German researchers have announced their resignation from the editorial and advisory boards of Elsevier’s journals to show support for German research institutions attempting to establish a new, nationwide licensing agreement. These researchers join around 200 research institutions that have cut ties with the publishing giant to support the ongoing push for open access and favourable pricing ... read more 18.10.2017
EU universities demand Brexit progress
LONDON (wn) -- European National University organisations have warned that the United Kingdom’s continued ties with European programs after 2019 has already begun to cause problems. Higher education leaders from more than 20 countries have called for urgent clarification on the UK’s continued involvement in European research and study abroad programs ... read more 26.10.2017
Azerbaijan to prop up research universities
BAKU (apa) -- With the recent addition of research universities to the country’s science legislation, the Azerbaijani government is to start providing these institutions with financial support. They will conduct fundamental research, and provide technology-based areas with staff and information, announced education minister Mikayil Jabbarov ... read more 25.10.17
€2.7 billion expected for Erasmus+ in 2018
BRUSSELS (ec) -- For 2018, funds available for Erasmus+ are expected to increase by more than €200 million euro, a rise of 8 percent compared to 2017. Education commissioner, Tibor Navracsics, said: “The celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of Erasmus throughout 2017 have highlighted the positive impact that this EU success story has on the lives of people all over Europe. I also welcome the support of several Heads of State for the idea that Erasmus+ should be far more ambitious in the future” ... read more 25.10.2017
Austrian universities: 5 homework assignments for Kurz
VIENNA (apa) -- A group of Austrian technical universities (TU Austria) has published five demands for the new government lead by Sebastian Kurz, the young, right-wing, populist winner of the national legislative election on the 15th October. The universities are demanding growing funding for growing student numbers, money for STEM studies, a greater capacity for IT training, a dedicated budget pillar for research infrastructure, and a continuation of their internationalisation strategy ... read more 24.10.2017
Paris mayor confiscates ‘sugar daddy’ billboard
PARIS (forbes) -- The Norwegian dating agency ‘RichMeetBeautiful’ strikes again with its Europe-wide campaign, targeting students who might want to improve their lifestyle by dating a rich ‘sugar daddy’ or ‘sugar mama’. The campaign was, however, not well received in Paris, where the president of University Paris-Descartes denounced it as “a call to prostitution”, and the city’s mayor ordered the billboard’s confiscation … read more 29.10.2017
Ukraine: “Law on Education” seeks to strengthen minorities
KIEV (pravda) -- The new Ukrainian “Law On Education” has been stirring up concern among ministers from neighboring countries. Education minister Lilia Grinevich calmed concerns that schools of national minorities, such as Polish, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Moldovan, would face restrictions. “About 400,000 students belonging to national minorities use their native language for general secondary education,” she said, but “55 percent of Romanian minority students and 62 percent of Hungarians fail to overcome the Ukrainian language tests to access higher education” ... read more 23.10.17
Portuguese foundational universities - “a big flop”
PORTO (público) -- The ‘foundational universities’ model was introduced in Portugal in 2007 to give more freedom to private bodies to provide financial and patrimonial management to the institutions. On Friday, however, the dean of the University of Porto, Sebastião Feyo described the model as “a big flop”, due to promised funds that never appeared ... read more 27.10.2017
French university reform already controversial
PARIS (parisien) -- President Emmanuel Macron’s promised higher education reforms haven’t yet been announced, but already the union Unef has launched a petition urging students to mobilise against any form of selective entry in universities ... read more 27.10.2017