Only Germany resists
HAMBURG (hrk) -- A new study by Philip Altbach et al. shows an international trend towards more private, for-profit higher education, although not always defined as such, and an increased privatisation of public higher education, with increased tuition. Germany is the only country that still maintains a free public higher education policy for nearly all students (only the marginal number of private institutions charge fees), and Scotland is also close to a “free” model ... read more 22.02.2017
Easier access for foreigners at Chinese universities
TSINGUA (tbj) -- The prestigious University of Tsinghua has started a heated debate throughout the country’s student population after lowering requirements for applicants that hold foreign passports. Chinese universities have always been fairly easy for foreign students to get into, scoring subsidizes and scholarships along the way. Starting this academic year, these new requirements drop even the standardised written academic exam before handing in their application. A Chinese language test was also required in earlier years but has since been dropped ... read more 22.02.2017
Padua still excels in medicine
ROME (il sole 24 ore) -- The University of Padua (founded in 1222) scored best in a national comparison of research institutions. In an impressive 11 out of the 16 areas taken into consideration, the Veneto-based university is ranked as one of the best (from medicine, to agriculture, to physics), whereas the University of Bologna excels in ten areas and Turin in nine ... read more
Tons of problems in Bulgaria
SOFIA (monitor) -- The new Bulgarian minister Nikolay Denkov, a former professor of Physical Chemistry, has plenty to do. His most urgent problem is the ministry’s structure that has to comply with EU regulations in order to unfreeze EU funds for a national programme for smart growth. Another one are the more than 350 professorships awarded in the past 15 months due to a university ‘autonomy law’ of his predecessor Sergey Ignatov that caused lax appointment procedures. The evaluation of school-leavers and high drop-out rates are other important tasks ... read more 17.02.2017
Belarus to shorten duration of studies
MINSK (belprauda) -- Belarus education minister Igor Karpenko announced that the duration of studies in over fifty fields will be shortened. This is part of a new education law draft ... read more 01.02.2017
Dozens of ‘fake universities’ in Belgium
BRUSSELS (moustique) -- There are dozens of ‘fake universities’ on Belgian territory. Belgium’s federal ministry of economy detected 41 institutions with well-sounding names such as Fondation Universitaire Mercure, l’Université Libre Internationale (ULiBe) or Supinfo International University, whose degrees are costly, but not accredited by the state ... read more 15.02.2017
Pope Francis at the University Roma Tre
ROME (repubblica) -- Nine years after the last pope (not Benedict XVI, but John Paul II) made his appearance at a public Roman university, Pope Francis visited the University Rome 3 and spoke with the students. He said every country is obliged to welcome refugees, society needs the peaceful dialogue, and universities play an important role in this dialogue. He also stressed that real universities are not elite institutions where only “one line of thought is taught” ... read more | audio 17.2.17
EU governments still underspending on research
BRUSSELS (sb) -- A report on the European “semester”– the EU economic oversight mechanism – says on average EU countries are still under-investing in research and development (R&D). It also lays out familiar shortcomings in member states’ science systems. More encouragingly, the Commission finds most European governments are on the way to meeting EU targets on emission reductions, renewable energy and energy efficiency ... read more 23.02.2017
Architectural education in times of homogenisation
VADUZ (standard) -- Criticism of the Bologna Process that started in 1998 in order to harmonise European education systems has led to various reactions: the latest is an assessment of its efficiency in Architecture studies. Led by the University of Liechtenstein, the research project New Schools of Thoughts (NeST) involves partners from four countries ... read more 12.02.2017
Berlin students demand justice for Turkish Premier
BERLIN (uwn) -- A petition, launched by the student union at Technische Universität Berlin, calling for the withdrawal of an honorary doctorate awarded to Turkish Premier Binali Yıldırım, has been signed by a hundred German and Austrian scientists. In February, Yıldırım came to Germany where he addressed a rally of around 10,000 Turks living in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands to support his government’s constitutional reform ... read more | and here 24.02.2017
Germans take over Austria again
VIENNA (standard) -- Only Swiss and German candidates were invited and none of the top Austrian historians. But Graz University rector Christa Neuper defended the appointment procedure for the professorship of Austrian Historical Research, saying that “all rules have been observed.” A debate has ensued if German scholars take over Austrians universities as in the 19th century ... read more 20.02.2017
Student unions important to fight ‘fake news’
BUCAREST (românia curată) -- In an opinion piece on ‘fake news’ and an education that leads to critical thinking to resist them, the Romanian blogger Cristian Ghingheș argues that student unions do an important job. They spread reliable information and, more importantly, when students get engaged, they develop a more emancipated view of the media ... read more 21.2.17
Poor America!
WASINGTON (nafsa) -- As current U.S. immigration policies dissuade students from around the world from studying in the United States, some facts may help: International students studying at U.S. colleges and universities contributed $32.8 billion (€31 bn) and supported more than 400,000 jobs to the U.S. economy. On the other hand, less than 2 percent of American college graduates are able to study abroad ... read more 31.01.2017