NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

Wagdy Sawahel

In an attempt to diffuse sectarian tension, the Afghan government has closed down the main state-run universities in the capital Kabul for 10 days after clashes at Kabul University that left one student dead and several others wounded.

Alan Osborn

Time is running out for an agreement on the European Union’s budget that would permit the Erasmus student exchange programme to continue without damaging cuts early next year. But the hold-ups are to some extent procedural and a rescue could be on the way before year end.

Munyaradzi Makoni

The ambition of South Africa’s post-secondary education system to deliver graduates that meet the needs of the country’s economy and businesses has been bolstered with billions of rand in financial support to further education and training colleges.

Geoff Maslen

Providing education to students from more than 100 nations around the world is Australia’s fourth largest export industry, behind iron, coal and gold but ahead of tourism, natural gas and crude oil, according to a new report. It says education as an export has played a key role in Australia’s economic prosperity, doubling in value every five years from 1990 to 2010.

Alison Moodie

The unexpected passage in California of tax measure ‘Proposition 30’, which won by a 54% to 46% margin, is a victory for higher education in the state. After four years of relentless budget cuts, the bill will give California’s embattled public universities some respite by curbing nearly $1 billion in further cuts.

Mimi Leung

China is to upgrade the education and training of doctors and medical practitioners who serve rural areas, to include a period of on-the-job training and move towards world-class medical education, as the population demands more and higher quality health care.

Hiep Pham

A time scale has been established for setting up a common credit transfer scheme between several South East Asian and neighbouring countries, which will be crucial for encouraging student mobility within Asia.

Michael Gardner

Germany’s chief policy advisory body on higher education issues, the Science and Humanities Council, has criticised grading practice at universities. While grade averages between universities or between subjects vary considerably, there is too little spread at institution level within individual subjects, the council argues.

Yojana Sharma

Asia’s universities must align more closely with labour market needs to ensure graduates have the skills and knowledge demanded by employers, according to a new Asian Development Bank report.

Geoff Maslen

The European Medical Research Council has called on the European Commission and the EU parliament to allocate €1 billion (US$1.3 billion) a year, with further increases over time, to a new European Clinical Research Fund for biomedical and health research.

Ashraf Khaled

An Egyptian court has given the private Nile University part of a disputed campus and facilities, ending an 18-month row with a research institution managed by Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail. The ruling also ends a three-month student sit-in that turned violent in September.

Jane Marshall

A vast national consultation to determine the future of French higher education and research has culminated in 121 proposals, distilled from nearly 1,300 written contributions and 20,000 participants who attended more than 500 meetings and debates throughout the country.

Jan Petter Myklebust

The impact of controls on recruitment of Congolese and Chinese students to Belgian higher education institutions has been significant, according to a report prepared with the support of the European Commission.

Kudzai Mashininga

Zimbabwe has made strides in implementing some targets contained in its five-year science and higher education policy, as efforts to improve standards eroded by a decade of turmoil gather momentum.

FEATURES

Hiep Pham

It is time for Taiwan to support developing countries in training their young people, in the same way that Western countries such as America have done for Taiwan in the past, according to Teresa Ju, director of the Taiwan Education Center in Da Nang in central Vietnam.

WORLD BLOG

Curt Rice

The Norwegian University of Tromsø has launched a new project, looking at whether research results could improve if research took gender more into account. It could provide a model for other universities, but care must be taken not to overemphasise the role of gender to the exclusion of other factors.

COMMENTARY

Martin Rees

The UK needs a system that allows for new, world-class graduate schools to develop and that is flexible enough to ensure wider access to the top institutions.

Elisabeth Gehrke

Policy-makers and industrialists should not dictate university policy based on yesterday's needs and fear of the future. They need to trust universities and students to create and innovate.

Carlos Olivares

Recent student protests in Chile have highlighted many issues, but one that has not received due attention is the urgent need for the country to address the lack of governance reform in higher education.

FACEBOOK

University World News has a new Facebook group. If you are not a member, do consider joining to see our regular updates, post on our wall and communicate with us and other University World News fans. You can also follow University World News on Twitter @uniworldnews

WORLD ROUND-UP

An analysis of data published by universities has revealed for the first time the extent to which coursework has replaced traditional exams throughout higher education in Britain, writes Julie Henry for The Telegraph.

On average, college graduates still earn far more and receive better benefits than those who do not have a degree. Nonetheless, there is growing anxiety in the US about higher education, reports The Economist.

Irish educational institutions are signing an increasing number of memoranda of understanding with the Bric countries, to allow for increased student exchange and, more importantly, increased international research collaboration, writes John Holden for The Irish Times.

In an unprecedented intervention, St Andrews University said it was “utterly dishonest” to dumb down admissions requirements to create a more socially balanced student body, write Simon Johnson and Graeme Paton for The Telegraph.

Veterans of the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh have laid the foundations for another Asian women’s university, to focus on leadership, which is expected to open in Malaysia in 2015, writes Kelly Wetherille for The New York Times.

China has overtaken the United States as Australia's biggest "knowledge partner" for the first time, reports AAP.

The Université de Montréal is spearheading the most ambitious fundraising campaign ever attempted among francophone universities worldwide – a goal of $500 million to support teaching, research and infrastructure, writes Karen Seidman for The Montreal Gazette.

While Chinese students traditionally went abroad when they failed to secure a place at a top-tier local university, the best students are now forgoing elite Chinese universities to study in the United States, writes Alexis Lai for CNN.

The number of students in England applying to university has slumped by almost 10%, reports the Press Association. The latest UCAS statistics reveal that almost 12,000 fewer people living in England have applied to start degree courses in autumn 2013.

The Ugandan government is to come up with new policies that will support private universities in research and development, writes Joyce Namutebi for New Vision.

Ten smaller higher education colleges in England, including three spec ialist arts institutions and the venerable Royal Agricultural College, are to become full universities, the government has announced, in the biggest shakeup to the sector in 20 years, writes Peter Walker for the Guardian.

Private Indian university Amity plans to open a campus for 15,000 foreign students in London, it was announced last week as Boris Johnson continued his whirlwind tour of the country to promote links with the United Kingdom, writes Theo Usherwood for The Independent.

The OECD recommends that Chile tighten its accreditation process, an area of particular scrutiny lately, in order to improve its higher education system, writes Emily Green for The Santiago Times.

Subscribe / Unsubscribe

Terms and Conditions / ISSN 1756-297X / © University World News 2007-2012