Andalusian socialist promises lower fees
CODRDOBA (ep) -- Spanish socialists (PSOE) want to win some votes back from the left: Susana Díaz, president of the Andalusian government, said tuition fees should be subsidised when students are successful. She admitted that fees in Spain are among the highest in Europe, while salaries are not. “After the 1980s,” she said, “tuition has become a kind of tax” and pledged to pave the way for lowering the rates on state level ... read more 05.03.2017
More refugees at German universities
BERLIN (epoch times) -- The number of refugees at German universities has steeply grown, the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) reports, enrolment is five times higher than half a year ago. Two thirds of the registered students are Syrians, others are from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. Most of them aspire a Bachelor’s degree, one in five a Master’s. Overall, university enrolment is quite seldom among refugees ... read more 31.03.2017
Higher ed is reinforcing Kosovo’s ethnic divide
PRIŠTINA (balkan insight) -- With the Serbs dominating the university in Mitrovica, and Albanians the one in Priština, the ethnical, religious and linguistic divide in Albania persists. Also corruption in higher education in Kosovo stays an endemic, persistent and structural problem that has only worsened in the last few years ... read more 04.04.2017
Why students share beds in Dublin
DUBLIN (irish times) -- The numbers of full-time students in Dublin has risen by 34 percent over ten years and that the market for student accommodation is now “structurally under-supplied”. 10,442 student beds in operation in Dublin cater for just 13.2 per cent of the student population ... read more 05.04.2017
Dutch austerity to slash support for students
THE HAGUE (science) -- With its new austerity budget, the Dutch finance ministry plans to load just a little higher burden on students’ and families’ shoulders: by raising tuition fees to 2000 euro up to 1.1 billion euros, by abolishing the student transport subsidies further 830 million euro. Higher interest rates for loans, less flexible repayment terms, a lower supplementary grant, and punishing fees for long-term students could be some other bitter pills ... read more 5.4
Norway: White paper for the humanities
OSLO (uwn) -- The Young Academy of Norway said that their country ought to take the initiative to develop a “research lighthouse” that can have the “same role for the humanistic sciences as the research centre CERN in Switzerland is having within particle physics”. The proposal came after science minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen released a strategical paper to strengthen the humanities ... read more 31.03.2017
China’s big innovation plans
BEIJING (china daily) -- Last year, China announced a three-step plan to encourage and improve innovation. First, by 2020, increase spending on research and development to 2.5 percent of GDP and ensure its knowledge-intensive service industry accounts for 20 percent of the economy. Second, by 2030, to raise the R&D budget to 2.8 percent and lift Chinese businesses to the medium and high-end global supply chain. And third, by 2050, China aims to make its universities and research institutions world leaders, with science and research becoming the backbone of national strategic resources. ... read more 05.04.2017
Welsh universities don’t pay living wages
CARDIFF (argus) -- Except for Cardiff University, no Welsh university pays living wages. Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said, she’d like the Higher Education Funding Council “to begin working with institutions to create a living wage sector. I expect to see rapid progress on this. Universities’ commitment to a civic mission is not restricted to teaching and research and widening access. It should be demonstrated in how they value their staff and students, and be an example of a progressive and fair employer” ... read more 03.04.2017
Leaked Dutch Elsevier contract reveals pushback
AMSTERDAM (scienceguide) -- The agreement draws a disheartening picture of the so called ‘Golden deal’ reached by the Dutch universities with their major publisher: Elsevier. Hindered by severe restrictions only Dutch corresponding authors from the combined institutions are eligible to publish in a very small set of journals ... read more 23.03.2017
European publishing platform for scientists
BRUSSELS (knowledge speak) -- In 2016, European leaders adopted an ambitious plan to make all papers published in the union open access by 2020. A new plan suggests that the European Commission believes the publishing industry is moving too slowly ... read more 03.04.2017
Demark pushes students into the labour market
COPENHAGEN (esu) -- The Danish parliament has passed a law, popularly known as “uddannelsesloftet” or “education ceiling”. This law denies students the possibility to pursue a second degree. This means that, for instance, students with a graduate degree are not be able to take another masters degree and neither an undergraduate one, since the latter would count as a lower degree. The motivations behind this law are mainly economical. The objective is to push students faster into the job market and to limit expenses by not covering the costs of a second degree ... read more 20.03.04.2017
Visegrad group commits to innovation
WARSWAW (the news) -- Leaders of Visegrad Group countries , were special guests at the Innovators Summit and signed a “Warsaw declaration” on innovation in the region. The declaration focusses on cooperation and promotion of start-ups, research and digitalisation ... read more 28.03.2017
MOOCs gain ground despite low completion rate
(korea herald) -- A report from a joint research team from Harvard University and MIT shows that only 5.5 percent of the 4.5 million students who enroll in their open online courses earn a certificate. The drop-out rates raise skepticism on the effectiveness of the platforms as to whether they can properly supplement or even replace current education ... read more 24.03.17
Millennial poverty on the rise
TURKU (yle) -- Poverty statistics have gone down in Finland, but millennials continue to struggle. Statistics Finland reports that more than one in four 18–24-year-olds are poor. “In the past there was work to be found right after graduation. Now the transition from education to working life is jarring, elsewhere in Europe as here,” says Professor of Social Policy Veli-Matti Ritakallio from the University of Turku. “Finland’s situation is not unusual by European standards. Young adults in recent southern and eastern European EU member states are even worse off” ... read more 29.03.2017