Presseurop |

University | Oxford on the polders (De Volkskrant, Amsterdam)

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:46:41 +0100

Easier and cheaper enrolment plus courses taught in English: for young Brits, studying in the Netherlands is the fashionable new trend for escaping the problems besetting universities back home. (Article)

Schengen | Back to the nation oasis (Die Presse, Vienna)

Fri, 13 May 2011 16:39:39 +0100

Denmark, which has caused a splash with its solo reinstatement of border controls, is leading the dismantling of the EU and the retreat to the nation state. Border controls back up, no foreign students, import restrictions and transit agreements. Sound good? (Article)

Netherlands | University scandal

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:37:31 +0100

“Value of Inholland degrees questioned,” headlines Volkskrant in the wake of revelations that the Inholland University of Applied Sciences has distributed degrees to students who failed to meet required standards. In a report published on April 28, education inspectors have pointed out that four out of five training programmes (including communications and mechanical engineering courses) investigated at Inholland were not up to scratch. The programmes in question offered “alternative end-of-study paths” that allowed students to obtain credits recognised by the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) for work done at home, instead of standard exams. The newspaper also reports that “the level of four of the Inholland programmes was alarmingly low.” The Secretary of state for Education, Halbe Zijlstra, has announced that Inholland and other universities will now be subject to stricter controls, and institutions failing to meet standards will face fines.

(News in brief)

Education | Slovakia, land of doctorate tourism

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:32:18 +0100

Increasing numbers of foreign students are “coming to Slovakia to pick up a title” of doctor, reports SME. The Bratislava daily explains that around ten percent of the students in the country are foreigners, with specialisation by nationality: Germans study management, Czechs law, Austrians economics, and the Poles theology. The Germans are the most numerous. Most are writing their thesis from a distance and paying between three and five thousand euros for an annual course, which is a good source of income for Slovak universities. In a hard-hitting op-ed piece entitled “Academic Prostitution,” SME criticises the ease with which a postgraduate degree can be picked up in Slovakia, where it’s possible to buy one’s exams. “Some countries are geared to sex tourism; Slovakia is becoming a popular stop for those who would obtain satisfaction with an additional title."

(News in brief)

Italy | Universities in revolt

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:30:31 +0100

"Green light to reform, universities in revolt," headlines La Repubblica after the lower chamber approved the law named after Education minister Maria Stella Gelmini that introduces new recruiting rules, including temporary contracts for researchers, aimed at making the system more meritocratic. On November 30 students marched in almost every university city in Italy, blocking motorways and railways stations, with further protests being held by Erasmus fellows across Europe. Opposition parties backed their claims that the bill will cripple education and research. However, Irene Tinagli in La Stampa argues that "the reforms won't hurt universities, but lack of funds will. The battle against cuts is another fight altogether and should not be used as a political football".

(News in brief)

University | Education for all... but who pays? (Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm)

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:23:23 +0100

There is nothing anodyne about the violent student protests in London, writes Dagens Nyheter, now that the controversy surrounding the hike in college fees has raised the question of the cost of university education for the masses. (Article)

United Kingdom | Student rage hits London

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:02:27 +0100

“This is just the beginning,” headlines the Guardian, after more than fifty thousand students marched in the UK capital on 10 November to protest the tripling of tuition fees to as high as £9,000 (€10,572) along with 40% cuts to university teaching budgets. The protest, “by far the largest and most dramatic yet in response to the government's austerity measures,” spiralled out of control as a group of protestors stormed Conservative party HQ. “Demonstrators shattered windows and waved anarchist flags from the roof of the building, while masked activists traded punches with police to chants of ‘Tory scum’” – an expression that harks back to the bitter protests of the Thatcher years. Writing in the London daily, a university lecturer argues “This protest – in both its peaceful and more violent dimensions – is a sign of a country unafraid to fight back, for the first time in a long time.”

(News in brief)

Belgium | Catholic university drops the C word

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:38:40 +0100

"Change of course for K.U.Leuven,” headlines De Standaard. The Brussels daily reports that the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, one of Europe’s oldest universities, is planning to drop the “Katholieke” (Catholic) from its name. The management of K.U.Leuven wants to distance the institution from the numerous paedophile scandals that have tarnished the reputation of the Catholic Church, and also the Vatican’s stance on scientific ethics, which was highlighted by its criticism of the most recent Nobel prize for medicine. "The Catholic message is not appropriate for the university," explains K.U.Leuven rector Mark Waer, who points out that "a fifth of the students at the institution are foreigners." They need to know that "the Vatican has no influence on the management of the university," which plans to play an important role in genetic research.

(News in brief)

Universities | Estonians see spies everywhere

Thu, 06 May 2010 15:02:13 +0100

“Last month a conference of budding ethnologists and folklorists in Tartu was suddenly disrupted by two policemen,” recounts Eesti Päevaleht. The cops were snooping on a folklore expert from India who had just arrived to do her PhD at the university there. The national authorities are trying to ferret out students and aspiring researchers who may have come to “spy on Estonian research and production”, explains the Estonian daily. The usual suspects are the swelling ranks of Chinese, Indian and Russian students particularly keen on bioengineering, military research and new technologies. Estonia’s education minister is trying to gauge how much access they have to the country’s most sensitive research sectors. The national security services, for their part, vet the students’ applications. “The real problem is scientists who’ve worked at Estonian universities, made discoveries there and have left the country again to start up companies,” elucidates Rein Raud, chief education officer at the University of Tallinn.

(News in brief)

University | Schools feel cost of crisis (Adevărul, Bucharest)

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:10:17 +0100

The education sector in Europe has been hard hit by cuts in budgets, personnel and investment. Some universities, e.g. in the UK, might even have to be closed down. And some leading institutions could soon lose their top international rankings. (Article)

France | Sarkozy loan to create French Ivy League

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:28:33 +0100

On 14 December Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to set up 10 “centres of excellence” in French higher education, involving investment to the tune of €10bn, as part of a €35bn “big loan” from the state. "University of Sarkozy", headlines Libération, explaining that the president is bent on spawning French campuses capable of holding their own with the likes of Harvard and Berkeley. The Parisian daily applauds the ambitious plan to fund these public/private partnership-based “centres of excellence”, touted as future wellsprings of “innovation and jobs”, but doubts that copying Silicon Valley-type models based on geographic concentration will work in France. “None of those hubs was built up from scratch by state decree,” Libération points out. The paper also objects to the “highly scientific, highly economic – in a word, highly utilitarian – cast” of the scheme, wishing the same zeal might be lavished on higher education in the social sciences, psychology, literature and history.

(News in brief)

University | A taste of academia bolognaise (Presseurop, )

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:56:09 +0100

European university reforms keep rocking the Continental campus. For several weeks now, German students have been objecting to the excessive workload and deplorable conditions at university. And the row over the merits and demerits of the “Bologna process” is raging all across the nation’s press. (Article)

Education | Anarchy in the uni (Cafebabel.com, Paris)

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:15:36 +0100

French university reforms saw the birth of revolts and street protests, but also the emergence of alternative higher education projects. Cafebabel reports from self-governing universities that aim to abolish hierachy and reiterate the much-attacked notion that education is an end in itself, and not just about getting a job. (Article)

Austria | Looking for the student billion

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:46:42 +0100

In a movement that is now in its third week, Austrian students once again took to the streets on 5 November to protest against poor conditions in universities and the reform of qualifications required by the Bologna Process. At the same time, authorities were seeking to set aside "another billion for universities," an initiative announced by a front-page headline in Die Presse, which is superimposed on a photo-montage of the main protagonists in the saga: the rector of the university of Vienna, Chancellor Werner Faymann, and the ministers for Research, Finance and the Economy. As funding for universities was the only item to be increased in the 2009 budget, the social-democrat Chancellor has promised that more resources will be made available... but not before 2020, explains Die Presse. However, if the conflict continues, given that the public is largely sympathetic to the students, it may develop into a widespread social movement, warns the Vienna daily.

(News in brief)

Universities | Free education, a pipe dream? (Der Standard, Vienna)

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:13:36 +0100

Over the last two weeks, Austrian students demanding a free education have taken control of Vienna's universities. But the question of higher education financing should not be a taboo subject, argues economist Andreas Schibany in Der Standard. (Article)

University | Austria, low-cost Mecca for German students

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:20:10 +0100

Austria has voiced concern over another wave of immigration. But this time the influx is coming from the north in the form of 18,000 German students, who have enrolled in Austrian universities, reports Süddeutsche Zeitung. Having been turned away from German universities, which insist on increasingly stringent selection criteria, these "numerus clausus refugees" now account for up 50% of students in certain Austrian institutions. Their presence may also be prompted by an economic incentive now that "Austria has abolished enrolment fees," explains the Munich daily. SZ quotes the Rector of the University of Innsbruck who wonders, "Can we ask the Austrian tax payer to provide university infrastructure for most of Central Europe, which has flooded us with students since we stopped charging fees?" Noting that a similar issue exists in Wallonia, which is attracting large numbers of French students, Berlin wants a European solution to the problem. Vienna needs the matter resolved quickly, because it will shortly come under increased pressure. Germany's decision to reduce the duration of its school curriculum from 13 to 12 years will double the number of German school leavers between 2011 and 2013 – and a sizeable proportion of them will apply to study in Austria.

(News in brief)

University | Europe tops rankings

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:14:56 +0100

Europe has taken over the US role as the educational hub of the world, enthuses Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. The list of 100 top universities published by the Times Higher Education Centre for the first time this year featured more universities from the Old Continent (39) than from the New World (36). Only a year ago the U.S. was clearly in the lead (42 to 36). What’s more, according to data revealed by UNESCO, in 2009 almost 800,000 candidates from outside of Europe took on studies in European universities, while the U.S. has managed to attract a tad over 620,000 overseas students. Why? European universities are cheaper than their American counterparts and focus on those areas of study that are currently in highest demand: bio and digital technologies, the daily points out. Moreover, harsh visa regulations introduced after the attacks of 9/11, effectively discouraged young people from studying in America. It is true that Harvard still tops the list, but it is closely followed by Cambridge University, with the famous Yale trailing behind. The first five also lists two London universities: University College and Imperial College, as well as Oxford University.

(News in brief)

University | English takes over Europe's lecture halls (El País, Madrid)

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:47:43 +0100

The European Higher Education Area arrives is officially launched at the start of 2010, with the aim to harmonise studies across the European space. But in what language? With European universities offering more and more university degree programmes in English, their British counterparts are beginning to worry about losing their “competitive edge”, notes El País. (Article)

Romania | New money spinner with non-EU students

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:15:20 +0100

“Romanian universities are poised to up tuition fees for non-EU students in Romania,” Evenimentul Zilei warns on its front page. The Romanian daily concedes that “new levies are needed for new times” and reminds us that the ceiling on tuition fees was set by the education minister back in 1994. From January 2010 the fees will be calculated in euros, not in US dollars any more, and will jump from $3,800 (about €2,660) a year to €5,000 p.a. for medical school – and to as much as €9,500 for Romania’s highly-reputed film school. At present, counts Evenimentul Zilei, over 10,000 students from outside the EU are enrolled in Romanian universities. They will have to fork out more than in Austria or Italy, to be sure, “but still less than in Switzerland”, where a year’s tuition comes to a whopping €11,000.

(News in brief)

Germany | The PhD giveaway

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:33:11 +0100

The discovery of a traffic in doctoral titles has prompted a wave of indignation in Germany. According to recent revelations in the press, which have led to the opening of a judicial inquiry, approximately 100 professors in a dozen universities are suspected of receiving sums of around 4,000 euros from students in exchange for the award of a PhD and the granting of the title of "Doktor." In most cases the recipients were already employed in companies where they hoped the prestigious title would boost their careers. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wonders "Does the affair really amount to a scandal?" The report in the daily goes on to ask whether "the professors accepted money to take on a task that would usually be considered part of their duties, or if they ignored questions of scientific quality and granted titles without demanding the necessary work?" In conclusion, FAZ argues that the story highlights the problem of "the definition of academic work in a vast universities eager to hold onto their international rankings, which depend on the number of successful graduates."

(News in brief)

Belarus | A university in exile (Cafebabel.com, Paris)

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:26:02 +0100

After being closed down by the goverment in 2004, Minsk's European Humanities University is now based in Lithuania, with some help from the EU. Its aim is to educate the elite that will run the democratic Belarus of the future. (Article)