Trump robs more than $5 billion from low-income students
WASHINGTON (aip) --
With barely more than 200 words devoted to higher education in his so-called “America First” budget, President Donald Trump robs needy students of more than $5 billion in support and takes the United States further away from the prospect of a first among nations in any meaningful sense ... read more 17.03.2017
Riga teacher academy to be liquidated
RIGA (baltic course) -- Both the teacher academy’s administration and social partners slammed the Education and Science Ministry’s decision, to liquidate the Riga Teacher Training Academy and to merge it with the University of Latvia. The education minister, Kārlis Šadurskis, maintains, however, that the liquidation will have a beneficial economic effect and reduce the administrative burden on study programs and public administration ... read more 29.03.2017
U-Multirank publishes fourth annual edition
GÜTERSLOH (sb) -- The fourth annual edition of the EU-backed U-Multirank league table, published on Thursday, is the largest since its launch in 2014, showcasing 1,500 universities and increasing the coverage of countries from 70 to 99 ... read more 30.03.2017
European University in St. Petersburg threatened
ST. PETERSBURG (dw) -- Students at the European University in St. Petersburg are worried about their future after the authorities revoked the institute’s educational license. The problems began last year with a series of inspections. Rumors are circulating that investors have expressed interest in the institute’s buildings ... read more | and here23.03.2017
Hungary plans to outlaw Soros-founded university
BUDAPEST (portfolio) -- An amendment to the Hungarian higher education law includes provisions that will prevent the Budapest-based Central European University (CEU) from delivering programmes and issuing degrees. If passed, it could force the university to move from Hungary, according to the rector Michael Ignatieff. The proposed changes target 26 universities in Hungary, of which CEU and six others have international founders ... read more | and here29.03.2017
European Commission considers Open Access platform
BERLIN (science) -- The European Commission (EC) is considering its own open-access publishing platform for outputs from its Horizon 2020 research programme. At an ‘open science’ conference in Berlin, an EC representative suggested the service might launch this year. The Commission is reportedly looking at Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation models ... read more 23.03.
Election chaos at Russian Academy of Sciences
MOSCOW (nature) -- Academics at Russia’s premier science body have been left shocked after an election that was supposed to determine the new president of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) was cancelled at the last minute. The reasons for the candidates’ withdrawal remain mysterious ... read more 27.03.2017
University privatisation in Venice
VENICE (il post) -- A textbook example of university privatisation: the Venetian university Ca’ Foscari wants to charge 15,000 euros per year for tuition fees of the new course “Digital Management”. 73 percent of the income would go to the partner company H-Farm which would make an estimated profit of 10 million euros — with what justification? That the course is “innovative” and “high brow” as rector Michele Bugliesi says? ... read more 28.03.2017
Strategic university funding in Bulgaria
SOFIA (mediapool) -- State funded study places will be reduced by eight percent next year, Bulgarian science minister Nikolay Denkov announced. The reduction is a controlled decrease in subjects with lower labour market demand (economics, administration and management, tourism). In contrast, funding will be increased in pedagogy, mathematics, information and communication technologies. A part of next year’s budget will be dedicated to strengthen universities’ regional importance ... read more 15.03.2017
German record of long-term studies
BRAUNSCHWEIG (nwz) -- All German universities have so-called lang-term students who, depending on the definition, are more than three years beyond the regular duration of their degree. Record-holder is a student in Braunschweig who signed up for university 88 semesters — or 44 years ago ... read more 24.03.2017
Scientists support ban of nuclear weapons
NEW YORK (the conversation) -- Today’s talks at the United Nations aimed to negotiate a total ban on nuclear weapons. These talks are the first of their kind and their aim is to stigmatise nuclear weapons, as with biological and chemical weapons. In support of these discussions, thousands of scientists from around the world have today released an open letter urging our national governments to achieve this goal of banning nuclear weapons. As expected, the United States, France, the UK and Russia refused to talk about it ... read more 27.03.2017
ESU protests where it doesn’t hurt
BRUSSELS (esna) -- Students have been arrested during the latest anti-government protests in Minsk and other Belarus cities, an occasion for ESU, the student office that adornes the European Commission, to “strongly condemn” from the distance. One of the requirements of the Roadmap for higher education, however, are conditions for the establishment of student and teacher associations. In the plans of legislative activities for 2017 no such freedom of association can be found ... read more | and here 27.03.2017
France: Researchers ask for mergers
RENNES (ouest-france) -- After the universities and research organisations of Rennes failed the fourth time to win the French excellence scheme funding (Idex), 17 local scientists stepped on the stage. In an open letter they propose the creation of a great multidisciplinary university of Rennes ... read more 23.03.2017
Big companies stuff their faces
BRUSSELS (sb) -- Soledad Cabezón Ruiz, the MEP charged with drafting the European Parliament’s halfway assessment of Horizon 2020, is calling for a review of several of the programme’s industry-focused competitions. She doubts that “big enterprises do require public research funding,” since they “have not increased their share of R&D spending,” and asks the Commission to, “assess the added value of funding for industry-driven instruments such as Joint Technology Initiatives, which account for a large share of the budget” ... read more 23.03.2017
Catalonian Parliament curbs tuition hike
BARCELONA (equinox) -- The Catalonian parliament has approved a reduction of tuition fees by at least 30 percent for members of low-income families. Trade unions see increasing tuition prices, among the highest in continental Europe, as “devastating in terms of social cohesion” ... read more 24.03.2017
Interest in expanding France’s TNE base
PARIS (icef) -- France is lagging behind in transnational education and needs a new national strategy to expand its market share of higher education programming abroad. This is the central conclusion from a central planning agency attached to the Office of the Prime Minister ... read more 24.03.2017