Toolkit for researcher intimidation
(psypost) –- A research found that attacking the motives of a scientist undermines the
belief in a scientific claim just as much as attacking the science itself. Interested
in the finding could be journal editors – because they have to make decisions
about conflict of interest disclosures; private corporations – because they
have to decide whether to rely on neutral research or in-house research; and
policy makers – when they have to decide policy on conflicts of interest ...
read more 13.02.2018
Belarus’ Mouth of Truth
MINSK (belta) -- Belarus still struggles to guarantee an honest and objective process of assigning academic titles. But there are plans, supported by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, to use online technologies in the defense of scientific papers, which will make the process more transparent and objective ... read more 02.02.2018
Ukraninian Science Academy holds its ground
KIEV (the) -- Former Ukrainian science minister Serhiy Kvit described the National Academy of Sciences with its 174 institutes as “a state within a state”, which has had “a special kind of autonomy since the days of Stalin. Now the Communist Party has disappeared and the state does not know what the National Academy does.” Yet instead of trying to revive and repurpose the academy, the government introduces further budget cuts and layoffs ... read more 8.2.18
Sexual harassment accusations hit universities
COPENHAGEN ET AL. (div) -- Denmark’s universities are teaming up with the student organisation to investigate the extent of sexual harassment on their campuses ... read more | Cambridge University received 173 anonymous reports of sexual misconduct in nine months ... read more | Students in Frankfurt protest against it. A Europe-wide survey says one in two girls felt harassed once, that makes 1500 for the city of Frankfurt per year; since one in ten harassers are lecturers, we got a total of ... read more 05.02.2018
Who is Alexandra Elbakyan?
NEW YORK (the verge) -- Subscription prices make science journals inaccessible to most people without institutional access — and they’re increasingly difficult for institutions to finance as well. Serial prices represent the largest inflationary factor for library budgets. An then came Sci-Hub, here’s the story how it was founded .. read more 08.02.2018
Food safety research needs a raise
BRUSSELS (new food) -- National food safety authorities from all 28 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway have called for more public investment in food safety research and committed to support European research through partnership building and training. And EFSA, the responsible body in Brussels, needs urgently more staff ... read more 06.02.2018
French Senate approves new access portal
PARIS (le monde) -- The French Senate has approved the new law on university access. The law legalises the automated online enrollment process intended to suppress unfair admission tests and high drop-out rates in the first year. The Left oppose the preselection of students before they enter university where, as Socialist deputee Sylvie Robert said, “the university president has the last word of admission” ... read more 09.02.2018
Erasmus as a soft power in Central Asia
ALMATY (euractiv) -- The main challenge for the EU is the growing competition for the ‘hearts and minds’ of Central Asia’s people, and the main goal is maintaining and promoting European soft power in the region. The Erasmus Programme is one important tool, says Nargis Kassenova, from KIMEP University, Kazakhstan ... read more 12.02.2018
Swiss tech universities show off
ZURICH (swissinfo) -- Switzerland’s federal technology institutes EPFL in Lausanne and ETH in Zurich account for 100,000 jobs and 13 billion Swiss francs in added value to the economy, a new report calculates. This represents a fivefold return on investment, it claims ... read more 05.02.2018
MOOC gentrification completed
(icef) -- The honeymoon is over. 2017 marked a continuing trend of MOOC providers sharpening their focus on students who are prepared to pay for online learning. The MOOC revenue models now range from additional fees to earn certificates to larger corporate training programmes. EdX, meanwhile, has filed a trademark application for the term “MicroBachelors”, not for traditional university students, rather for mid-career professionals who have been unable to pursue conventional degree programmes on campus ... read more 31.01.2018
Sweden’s internationalisation strategy: fees and so on
STOCKHOLM (uwn) -- Scrapping fees for international students in Sweden, introduced only seven years ago? “It is unlikely that the ministry of finance will allow this,” says professor Mats Benner of the Royal Institute of Technology. A new report for the education ministry ... read more 10.02.2018
The latest fad: corporate universities
PERM (eurekalert) -- A pair of Russian researchers are looking for fame. Their research question: would a corporate university be a good investment for a company? Their sample included some 2,500 companies located in Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. A wonderful idea! ... read more
Big tabacco lures Utreccht University
UTRECHT (science) -- Science is not equal to science, as Utrecht University had to learn. After an outburst of protest, the University had to cancel a research contract with Philip Morris International worth €360,000. Pulmonologists and the Dutch Cancer Society argued a university should not take money from an industry whose products kill an estimated 7 million people annually. However, PMI has set up a foundation to throw $1bn at research in the coming years ... read more 08.02.2018
Donald, let’s cancel everyone’s student debt!
NEW YORK (nymag) -- In America today, 44 million people collectively carry $1.4 trillion in student debt. A new research paper suggests wiping out every penny of it would revive the economy ... read more 09.02.2018
British Council fears decelerating student mobility
LONDON (icef) -- Statisticians in the sales department of the British university industry, the British Council, guess the growth of outbound student mobility will slow down by 1.7 percent in ten years. The two ‘top student markets’, China and India, are building too many domestic universities ... read more 7.2.18