By David Jobbins. Turmoil in Chile’s universities during 2011-12 may lie behind the relatively poor performance of the country’s universities in the third annual QS University Rankings for Latin America, published on 28 May. More than half of the country's universities – 17 out of 30 – in the top 300 have fallen in the table compared to last year, including four of the top five. Read more...“Worldviews 2013” is less than a month away – 19 to 21 June. We’re delighted to be welcoming distinguished journalists from publications around the world, including University World News, Inside Higher Ed, Times Higher Education, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Maclean's, Al Jazeera, USA Today, US News, J-Source, University Affairs, Futurity and more. The full conference agenda is now online. The impact of new and emerging forms of communication, the internationalisation of higher education campuses and the restructuring of media and academia in the context of financial constraints, are some of the critical issues that these attendees will address, discuss, and debate. Read more...By Nicola Jenvey. The University of KwaZulu-Natal's decision that all new students register for a compulsory Zulu course from next year has thrown the proverbial cat among the pigeons. While details of the initiative – a first for South African higher education – are unclear, the university believes that students must demonstrate bilingualism to earn their degrees. The university is calling it “a watershed moment promoting social cohesion”. The move requires every undergraduate, regardless of faculty, to complete the one-semester language course. Currently, only health sciences students must complete a Zulu module. Read more...By Guillaume Gouges. Mauritius has been showcasing its assets in recent years and is aiming to become a hub for world-class education and a destination for international students and institutions. Board of Investment Chair Ken Poonoosamy spoke to University World News about the Indian Ocean island’s strategies for achieving these goals.ByMilton Obamba. China and Africa have a long tradition of bilateral cooperation. But the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation – FOCAC – in 2000 has revolutionised Sino-African cooperation. FOCAC is an intergovernmental agency established jointly by China and African nations to provide a plan for strengthening bilateral cooperation between China and 50 African member countries. Read more...By Russel Botman. In the light of Africa Day celebrations on 25 May and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity – predecessor to the African Union, or AU – it is timely to look at the role of higher education in ensuring that the continent’s rapid economic progress results in sustained human development. Africa is increasingly being identified as a success story. Analysts have noted that the international discourse has shifted from Afro-pessimism to Afro-optimism. This is largely on the back of the continent’s good economic performance. Read more...By Alecia D McKenzie. Rain, robbery and revelry – these are three of the things for which the 2013 Cannes Film Festival will be remembered. But overlooked in all the headlines about bad weather, stolen jewels and partying stars were the hundreds of film students from around the world trying to find financing and an audience at Cannes. The festival, which took place from 15-26 May in this coastal French city, selected 18 films – 14 fiction films and four animated films – from among a massive 1,550 submitted from 277 film schools. Read more...By Roger Y Chao Jr. Despite global interdependencies and initiatives towards globalisation and regionalisation of higher education, there are still a number of barriers to mutual recognition of higher education degrees and qualifications. Although regional and national quality assurance and qualifications frameworks have been developed and even implemented, challenges brought about by different grading systems across national and regional higher education systems – and even within the same university – need to be investigated and rationalised. Read more...By John Gerritsen. New Zealand has deliberately courted foreign PhD students by subsidising them as if they were New Zealanders, allowing universities to charge them the same fees as locals since the subsidy was introduced in 2006. Recently the country announced a marketing drive backed by millions of dollars to attract more international students. Foreign PhD students are not eligible for government student loans or allowances but, with fees between NZ$5,000 and $6,000 (US$4,100 and $4,980) a year, they are paying less than a fifth what their compatriots are paying for undergraduate and non-doctoral postgraduate study. Read more...ByLukas Baschung. During the past 20 years the number of doctoral students in Swiss universities has almost doubled, from 11,588 in 1992 to 22,716 last year. An important factor in this spectacular growth has been the attraction of a steadily growing cohort of foreign PhD students. Indeed, while they comprised about a fourth of all doctoral candidates in 1992, for the last two years international PhD students have been in the majority. Data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office indicates that foreigners comprised nearly 52% of all PhD students in 2012. Read more.../https%3A%2F%2Fprofilepics.canalblog.com%2Fprofilepics%2F1%2F0%2F1076071.jpg)
