SCIENCE & EDUCATION

For a small islands nation, Fiji has too many universities that are creating waste and un-necessary duplication of roles and courses, a Fiji-born lawyer and former diplomat has said, writes Samisoni Pareti for Islands Business.And Ravindran Robin Nair, who held the rare distinction of serving as a lawyer and diplomat for the governments of the country of his birth, Fiji, and his adopted country Australia, is proposing major changes to the focus and structure of the three universities currently based in Fiji - the University of the South Pacific (USP), University of Fiji (UOF) and the Fiji National University (FNU).

AUSTRALIAN universities are so chronically under-funded in their teaching activities that every domestic undergraduate is effectively subsidised to the tune of $1200 by international student fees. That almost matches the commonwealth's own subsidy for domestic law and business students of $1765 a year.Glyn Davis, vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne, yesterday warned that this reliance meant that crashing international student numbers risked undermining the Gillard government's policies to dramatically boost domestic university participation.

A hard-hitting review of engineering research in Irish universities and its potential for making a contribution to economic development was recently published by the Irish Academy of Engineering, writes Professor John Kelley for the Irish Times.The figures show that in the four years from 2005 to 2009, the last government spent EUR1.35 billion (US$1.9 billion) of public funds on research in universities, with 85% allocated to the disciplines in sciences, 8% to engineering and 7% to other, mostly arts, disciplines.

Dutch universities are planning to introduce a range of measures, including compulsory attendance at lectures, in an effort to boost standards. As well as making lectures and exams compulsory, universities want to reduce the number of retakes and increase student selection.

South Korea will digitize all textbooks for elementary, middle and high school students by 2015, the government said Wednesday.The plan for "smart education," which requires about 2.23 trillion won (2.07 billion U.S. dollars), aims to materialize instructional methods customized to each student's level of ability, according to a report submitted to President Lee Myung- bak by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the President's Council on "Information Strategies."Under the plan, digital textbooks will be introduced in elementary schools in 2014 and will be expanded to middle and high schools the following year, the government said.

Two English universities are actively considering becoming private institutions, research suggests.This would mean they would no longer get direct funding for research or teaching from the government. The government has said it wants to open up the system to private providers of higher education.The two universities, which have not been named, took part in a survey of vice chancellors by management consultants PA Consulting Group.

Colleges charging less than £6,000 a year in tuition fees will be free to recruit more students under government proposals that could lead to a new generation of polytechnic-style institutions teaching vocational skills.A forthcoming white paper is expected to herald the expansion of employer-focussed education in courses ranging from engineering and social care to zoology and graphic design.Further education colleges could form a new generation of polytechnics – although the term is unlikely to be revived – offering a "no frills" alternative to the classic university experience of spending three years away from home.

Multilingualism advocates say there is considerable evidence that university students and academics are keen to learn an African language as part of their courses, writes Dianne Hawker for the Independent Online.A group of academics who call themselves the South African Interest Group on Multilingualism plan to meet in September to discuss ways in which universities and academics can promote the use of and instruction in African languages at university level.

The Vision 2030 directorate has called for a well-planned elevation of tertiary colleges to universities, even as orders for elevation of Narok, Kisii and Dedan Kimathi colleges to fully fledged universities by Commission for Higher Education (CHE) seemed certain. The CHE has also earmarked five other mid-level colleges to be elevated to university-college status, bringing the number of such institutions to 20.They include Kibabii Diploma Teachers, Kirinyaga Institute of Technology, Garissa Teachers Training, Taita Taveta and Machakos Teachers Training.

Insead has joined forces with L’Université Panthéon-Assas, the Sorbonne law school, to launch a business law degree from September in Paris and in Singapore, where both institutions have campuses.The one-year LLM International Business Law (Droit International des Affaires) is organised around 16 seminars, eight in law and eight in business. The degree is intended for those with a masters degree in law or business and at least four years professional experience. The degree will prepare them to handle large-scale transactions such as cross-border mergers, major acquisitions, stock-market operations, financial engineering and leveraged buyouts.

From champagne to handbags and designer frocks to yachts, the growing consumer demand for luxury goods has resulted in a growing number of management programmes to train managers to work in these industries.In September Skema, the French business school created through the merger of Ceram and the Lille School of Management just a few years ago, will launch its Masters in Luxury and Fashion Management on its China campus in Suzhou in September. The programme is already taught on Skema’s Sophia Antipolis campus. Dean Alice Guilhon says the demand from students in China has been tremendous.But companies are also looking for such programmes, she says. “There’s a lot of demand from French (luxury) companies who want to be present in Shanghai. It’s a good opportunity for us to feed the market.”

Beginning this academic year, Environmental Science will be a mandatory subject at graduation level. On June 7, a Government Resolution (GR) to this effect was issued. The Supreme Court had earlier directed universities across the country to introduce a subject on environment and also directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to consider the feasibility of making such a course compulsory. Many universities did not implement the guildelines at the time citing infrastructure issues.

Students are increasingly turning to universities in the United States amid growing competition for places on British degree courses. Harvard University – ranked the best in the world – has seen the number of applications from Britain rise by more than a third in just 12 months, figures show. Other elite Ivy League institutions, including Yale, Columbia and Cornell, have also reported an increase in demand. It is believed that the cap on places for home students at English universities – coupled with the prospect of £9,000 fees from next year – is fuelling the rise. The disclosure comes just a week after one of Europe’s leading universities – Maastricht in the Netherlands – reported a 10-fold rise in the number of applications from Britain.

Korean university students are denied quality education services even though they are paying exorbitantly high tuition fees, according to an OECD survey that ranks the country last among member countries in terms of college education environment. Korean universities have 32.7 students per professor on average, more than double the OECD average of 15.8. The number is 16.9 in the U.K., 16.2 in France, 15 in the U.S., 14.4 in Mexico, 11.5 in Germany, 10.4 in Japan, and 8.5 in Sweden.

The number of British teenagers applying to one of Europe's leading universities has risen dramatically this year. Maastricht University in the Netherlands has seen a tenfold increase with more than 400 applications from UK students compared with just 35 at the same time last year. A key factor in the rise is the cost of studying at Maastricht: only £1,526 a year, compared with £3,240 at present at English universities.

The sites for the first four research centers for the Israeli Centers for Research Excellence (I-CORE) program were announced by the Education Ministry on Tuesday, part of a multi-year plan to strengthen Israel’s position as a global leader in academic research and stem the brain drain of Israeli academics. Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) said Tuesday that the selection of the four centers is “a landmark in the process of establishing Israel as a world center in advanced research.” Program is part of plan to strengthen Israel's position as global leader in academic research, stem the brain drain of Israeli academics.

India today proposed to host an Indo-German higher education summit this year to explore issues like mutual recognition of qualification and joint research programmes.The proposal was discussed at length during a meeting between HRD minister Kapil Sibal and visiting German minister of education and research Annettee Schavan here.The education summit, which could be held between November and December this year, will also explore possibilities of development of junior faculty, doctoral and post-doctoral programmes, said a statement issued by the HRD ministry.

China will launch a national project to promote the building of a digital library network in the next five years.The project aims to build a nationwide digital library network with the National Digital Library of China at the center, integrating local libraries, said a statement jointly issued by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.The focus of the project will be promoting the construction of an interconnected digital library platform and a group of widely-spread resource libraries that provide multi-media library services for the public, the statement said.The services will be available in public libraries and through the Internet, mobile phones and mobile televisions.

As various countries sell themselves as student destinations during the annual meeting of Nafsa: Association of International Educators, Japan is assuring conference attendees that it remains a safe place for study abroad, despite the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that struck the island nation in March.While concerns linger about radiation leaking from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant some 150 miles northeast of Tokyo, representatives from Japan are reminding people at the conference here that the problems affected only a small part of the country.Aside from glossy brochures and pamphlets highlighting academic programs and cultural benefits, the Japan Student Services Organization is handing out a public statement from Japan's minister of foreign affairs, declaring that the country is "open for business."

University of Limerick, University College Dublin, Dublin City University and University College Cork have all signed up to offer courses under a new programme to be announced this week offering higher education opportunities for those out of work.The Government will announce the creation of 6,000 part-time higher education and training places for the unemployed this week as part a plan to get people back to work.The three-year “Springboard” initiative is aimed at skilled workers who have lost their jobs and who are living on benefits.It will offer them the opportunity to access free higher education and training without affecting their right to receive welfare payments.