International news
We make a daily selection from the main news providers in international higher education.
The Chronicle of Higher Education - The Professors Behind the MOOC Hype
72% of professors who teach online courses don’t think their students deserve credit.
Nazret.com - Ethiopia: The Dragon Eating the Eagle's Lunch in Africa?
In June 2011, during her visit to Zambia U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton pulled the alarm bell on a creeping “new colonialism” in Africa. While dismissing “China’s Model” of authoritarian state capitalism as a governance model for Africa, she took a swipe at China for its unprincipled opportunism in Africa.
Pharma Letter - Brazil's CAPES joins forces with Sanofi to provide scholarship students with training in research centers abroad
Brazil’s Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and French drug major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) have established a partnership under the Science without Borders program, that will allow Brazilian researchers holding a PhD to receive training in international research centers and will also provide trainee positions abroad to undergraduate and PhD students, in subsidiaries of the company.
The PIE News - MOU between Scottish and Korean universities
Universities in Scotland and South Korea have signed a memorandum of understanding to foster closer academic ties and student mobility. The agreement between Universities Scotland and the Korean Council for University Education builds on the success of visits to Scotland by two delegations from South Korea in 2011 and 2012.
Times Higher Education - German academics boycott CHE ranking system
Scholars tired of ‘constant’ data requests. Frances Mechan Schmidt writes.
University World News - East aims high for international student numbers
International education used to be dominated by Western countries. While the US and the UK are still the leaders in foreign student intake, East Asia is quickly becoming a major player in this sector. China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan have made huge investments in international education, with the aim of attracting more students from around the world.
Inside Higher Ed - Speakers consider best practices for internationalizing highly regulated professional degree programs
Faculty and administrators discussed strategies for internationalizing professional programs at a best practices conference sponsored by the Institute of International Education.
The PIE News - Canada: $23m for international education strategy
The Canadian government has unveiled “key elements” of its long awaited international education strategy, and allocated CAN$23 million to supporting the plan in the latest federal budget. It has also promised $42 million over two years to speed up visa processing for all temporary residents including students.
Science|Business - Parliament vote against MMF prompts new round of lobbying on Horizon 2020
University and industry lobbyists are gearing up for a busy spring in Brussels, as the Parliament and the Council lock horns on the 2014 - 2020 budget, with investment in Horizon 2020 up for grabs once more
University World News - Research universities to establish global network
Four of the world’s major research university groups are to form an international network as a parallel organisation to the Global Research Council of Science and Engineering Funding Agencies, established last year by agency representatives from nearly 50 countries.
Inside Higher Ed - Academics in Germany rebel against rankings system
The Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) is responsible for what is arguably Germany's best-known university ranking system.
University World News - ‘Manifesto for Change’ for women in higher education
Hong Kong: zero. Japan: 2.3. India: three. Kuwait: three. Turkey: seven. UK: 14. Australia: 17. The numbers tell a story. They are the percentages of universities that have women as leaders in a range of jurisdictions around the world.
University World News - Wanted: New visions of the university
The presence of University World News is witness to massive global forces affecting universities, such as the emergence of a global knowledge economy, marketisation and neoliberalism. More recently, too, global changes in knowledge creation and circulation have been noted, so helping to form ‘cognitive capitalism’, as it has been termed.
NZ Herald - Universities face copyright action
All eight of New Zealand's universities are being taken to the New Zealand Copyright Tribunal for refusing to agree to an increased annual licence fee which allows lecturers to copy authors' work for students.
Scientific American - Massive Open Online Courses, aka MOOCs, Transform Higher Education and Science:
Science, engineering and technology courses have been in the vanguard of the massive open online course movement. These classes also are providing fodder for scientific research on learning
University World News - Policy think-tank set up ahead of annual BRICS summit
Academics from the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – this week established a policy think-tank ahead of the fifth BRICS summit to be held in Durban. South Africa called for strengthening research collaboration and academic exchange in the global South, and placing knowledge production at the heart of the emerging country bloc.
University World News - Higher education hubs – Why do we want them?
Significant planning and investment have been devoted to developing higher education hubs around the world, but the reasons that drive host countries to set up areas that can attract foreign branch campuses can be diverse, a global higher education conference heard this week.
The PIE News - GG13: build digital, industry-linked knowledge economies
Its central theme was ‘Knowledge-based economies for 21st-century nations’, and the conference threw up dynamic debate over the need for economies that are international in scope, at pace with technological change and offer education in line with labour market needs.
The PIE News - Australia closes four education posts in Asia
Just a week after international education in Australia got a vote of confidence from the Chaney report, including cultivating closer links with regional educational hubs in Asia, the Aussie government has announced it will close four education counsellor posts in Asia.
TechCrunch - Berlin-Based iversity Relaunches As MOOCs Platform, Sets Its Sights On Becoming The Coursera Of Europe
The fast expanding universe of MOOCs has a new addition. Berlin-based startup iversity, founded in 2011 to offer online collaboration tools for learning management, has relaunched itself as a platform for massive open online courses.
University World News - Higher education as soft power in the age of autonomy
Higher education is often seen as playing a ‘soft power’ role in international relations. But it is not easy for governments to co-opt universities, and soft power can be both positive and negative, an international higher education conference in Dubai heard this week.
Open Education Week
Open Education Week is taking place from 11-15 March 2013 online and in locally hosted events around the world. The purpose of Open Education Week is to raise awareness of the open education movement and opportunities it creates in teaching and learning worldwide. Participation in all events and use of all resources are free an open to everyone.
University World News - Brazil’s academic capitalism vs Venezuela’s populism
Latin America is beginning to fall into two distinct higher education camps, with some countries pursuing ‘academic capitalism’ – including collaborations with rich countries of the North rather than within the region – and other countries preferring a more populist route, an international higher education conference heard this week.
Fast Co.exist - The Future Of Education Eliminates The Classroom, Because The World Is Your Class
Massive Open Online Courses might seem like best way to use the Internet to open up education, but you’re thinking too small. Technology can turn our entire lives into learning experiences.
ScienceGuide - Which university will make you rich?
At which university in the world would you have to study if you want to become a multi-millionaire? It may not be a surprise that Harvard tops that almost completely American ranking. But what is the secret of the University of Mumbai?
Times Higher Education - Top universities by reputation 2013
The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings employ the world's largest invitation-only academic opinion survey to provide the definitive list of the top 100 most powerful global university brands.
University World News - Concern over ruling on EU student’s right to finance
The chair of the Danish Rectors' Conference has described a recent European Court of Justice ruling on an international student’s right to financial support as representing a threat to Denmark’s student financial aid system in its current form.
Inside Higher Ed - International educators consider the challenges in integrating students from abroad
In interviews with 40 international students at four research universities, Chris R. Glass was struck by the relative absence of Americans from his subjects' stories
University World News - Presidential decree creates first Chinese university
Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has issued a decree to establish the Egyptian Chinese University in the capital Cairo – the first Chinese university to be set up in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Time - Putin’s Ph.D.: Can a Plagiarism Probe Upend Russian Politics?
It’s an open secret in Russia today that many politicians and businessmen pad their resumes with fake diplomas, either plagiarizing their dissertations or paying someone to do it for roughly the cost of a midsize sedan.