Higher education should reassert universal values
LONDON (punch) -- UNESCO’s education chief, Stefania Giannini, has emphasised the important role that higher education has to play in defying the spread of nationalism and tackling global challenges such as poverty and climate change. Speaking on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in London, she argued that a “strong higher education system can help to lessen social tensions” regarding different cultures, religions, and languages ... read more 08.01.2019
Greek rectors get poisoned letters
LESBOS (gz) -- Employees at the University of Mytilini on the island of Lesbos were surprised to receive some suspicious letters from India. Inside the letters was a type of dust that has left several people hospitalised after the dust caused inflammation of the mouth and nose. Similar letters were also received by universities in Corfu and Athens which prompted a further police investigation ... read more 10.01.2019
Regulate recognition of refugees’ qualifications
EUROPE (uwn) -- A new project aimed at increasing the global recognition of refugees’ educational qualifications has been launched. The challenge to ensure that refugees can use their previous education to access jobs and higher education is often made difficult without the necessary documentation of their previous education and training. A toolkit was presented in three webinars, which are available online ... read more 11.01.2019
Ireland spends less in R&D
DUBLIN (indy.ie) -- According to the EU’s statistics agency, Ireland is falling well below the European average when it comes to research and development spending. Just 1.05 percent of Ireland’s GDP was spent on it in 2017, compared with an EU average of 2.07 percent ... read more 11.01.2019
Hungarian students lead the charge for democracy
BUDAPEST (nation) -- In response to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s refusal to sign an agreement allowing Central European University to continue operating in Hungary, thus forcing the university out of the country, the student-led group ‘Free University’ (‘Szabad Egyetem’) has broadened the spectrum of their protests to demonstrate against Orbán’s despotic regime as a whole ... read more 16.01.2019
Berlin, Hamburg, Jena and Dresden unite
BERLIN (iw) -- Universities from Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden and Jena will each receive €250,000 in funding from the Joachim Herz Foundation to expand their promotion of natural sciences and to provide better services to students already enrolled in the degree subject ... read more 15.01.2019
Security on campus increased after Çankaya murder
ANKARA (hurriyet) -- Turkey’s Higher Education Board, YÖK, have announced new security measures for universities across the country following the murder of a female lecturer earlier this month. Research assistant Ceren Damal Şenel was stabbed and shot dead by a student after he was caught cheating in an exam at Çankaya University. ... read more 16.01.2019
Fire, fire!
LYON (euronews) -- Lyon 1 University was ablaze last week after a gas bottle explosion, resulting from building works, caused a large fire to break out on the roof of one of the university’s buildings. The university was evacuated and three people suffered minor injuries in the incident ... read more 17.01.2019
Universities reach out across the English Channel
BERLIN (iw) -- The two university associations Russell Group and German U15 have issued a joint statement urging their respective governments to continue to promote research cooperation between the two countries after Brexit. The two groups met in Berlin and released the statement demanding the continuation of research partnerships and funding from the governments post-Brexit ... read more 14.01.2019
EMA leaves London
LONDON (nature) -- The European Medicines Agency, the EU’s drug regulator, is preparing to leave its UK headquarters to its new base in Amsterdam, as a result of Brexit. The bitter pill: The EU agency has still a lease on its Canary Wharf office. This means EMA faces paying ‘double rent’ for 21 years or £500million (€575 million) until its lease expires in 2039 ... read more | and here 25.01.2019
UK: University pension fears calmed
LONDON (uwn) -- The threat of industrial action by university staff in the UK continuing in 2019 now looks less likely after the deficit in Britain’s largest private-sector pension scheme was halved. It is estimated that the plan’s deficit now stands at £3.6 billion, compared with £7.5 billion in 2017, after the 2017 valuation was deemed incorrect by a an independent expert panel ... read more | background 11.01.2019
Murder at Çankaya University, Ankara
ANKARA (ahval) -- A female academic has been murdered by her own student in Ankara because she had caught him cheating. The murder follows a string of violent incidents that have taken place over the past few months in Turkish universities. The Ministry of Interior and the higher education council, YÖK, are set to introduce measures aimed at lessening this threat ... read more 5.1.19
German student allowances far below the necessary
BERLIN (kg) -- The German government has planned the 26th BAföG amendment in an attempt to further improve the financing of studies for young people from low-income families. They plan, as usual, with great reluctance to meet, even approximately, the true needs of the majority of students, says Kai Gehring, spokesman for research, science and university of the Green party. He demands that “subsidy rates and allowances must rise by at least ten percent” to combat the constant pay freeze and inactiveness in the system ... read more 18.01.2019