Students halt Albanian universities
TIRANA (wpr) -- Universities in Albania have been brought to a standstill by student protests against a higher education law reform that threatened to heavily fine students who had to retake exams. The protests have since broadened to include radical long-term reforms in education and research ... read more | and here 18.01.2019
Scotland will continue to welcome EU students
EDINBURGH (masterstudies) -- The Scottish government has announced that EU students who are currently studying in the country, or will begin their studies this year or next, will maintain their eligibility for free tuition. According to figures from Universities Scotland, Scottish universities proportionately have more staff and students from the EU than the rest of the UK: nine percent of all college students and 27 percent of full-time research staff are EU citizens ... read more 15.01.2019
Finland leads in intergenerational mobility
HELSINKI (economist) -- Though Finland’s tertiary education system is one of the most selective in Europe, it also has one of the highest levels of intergenerational mobility in Europe, whether measured by educational outcomes or by the difference between parents’ and children’s social class ... read more 05.01.2019
New decree deepens North-South divide in Italy
ROME (repubblica) -- The same new decree that makes it easier for Italian universities to hire new professors creates a further divide between the North and the South of the country. Marco Bussetti, education and science minister since June last year, wants the best universities to strive but this automatically penalises the needier Southern universities ... read more | and here 01.01.2019
‘Digital Detox’ for Leicester Students
LEICESTER (bbc) -- De Montfort University, in Leicester, will be switching off its social media feed for five days as a way of trying to encourage its students to have their own ‘digital detox’. The move is designed to highlight the potential negative impacts of overusing social media on the mental health of young people. In the UK, where more than 9 in ten teenagers have mobiles, a study found that in schools where they were banned, the test scores of 16-year-olds improved by 6.4 percent ... read more 15.01.2019
Asian students caught out in Czech education scam
PRAGUE (radiocz) -- An apparent scam offering students from southeast Asia the chance to undertake higher education in the Czech Republic has led to an investigation into legality of six foreign institutions that claim to be universities. The Czech education ministry has fined these institutions for offering higher education without obtaining the required permission. Deputy Minister of Education Pavel Doleček spoke about two institutions
facing criminal complaints ... read more 08.01.2019
Aveiro to stage student olympiade in 2019
AVEIRO (eusa) -- This fall, from September 25, the Portuguese city of Aveiro will host European University Sports Association (EUSA) events to celebrate its 20th anniversary ... read more 16.01.2019
Romanian EU priorities is higher ed and research
BUCHAREST (aca) -- Romania has taken over, for the first time, the six-month rotating Presidency of the EU. In higher education and research, the presidency underlines the aim of “promoting research and innovation, digitalisation and connectivity, in order to increase the competitiveness of the European economy and industry” ... read more | romania2019.eu 01.01.2019
Tampere merger upsizes university
TAMPERE (uwn) -- The University of Tampere and the Tampere University of Technology have merged to create the second-largest university in Finland – a move that will further break down the borders between Finnish universities and university colleges ... read more 11.01.2019
Longing for Horizon Europe
BERLIN (sb) -- Berlin science policy leaders want Britain to stay in the EU’s Horizon programme after Brexit, but only as a full associate member. The UK shouldn’t be allowed to pick and choose which parts of the EU’s big research programme it can join post-Brexit, according to some leading German science policy makers ... read more 10.01.2019
British universities fearful of a No-Deal Brexit
BRUSSELS (spiegel) -- More than 150 British universities warn that the prospect a no-deal Brexit is a great threat to higher education in the UK. An open letter sent to all Members of Parliament expresses the concern that UK institutions could be left in the cold regarding European Research Council support measures after Brexit ... read more 04.01.2019