12 novembre 2012

By Carole Cadwalladr. Publishing, music, shopping, journalism – all revolutionised by the internet. Next in line? Education. Now US academics are offering world-class tuition – free – to anyone who can log on, anywhere in the world, is this the end of campus life?
Two years ago, I sat in the back seat of a Toyota Prius in a rooftop car park in California and gripped the door handle as the car roared away from the kerb, headed straight towards the roof's edge and then at the last second sped around a corner without slowing down. There was no one in the driver's seat.
It was the prototype of Google's self-driving car and it felt a bit like being Buck Rogers and catapulted into another century. Later, I listened to Sebastian Thrun, a German-born professor of artificial intelligence at Stanford University, explain how he'd built it, how it had already clocked up 200,000 miles driving around California, and how one day he believed it would mean that there would be no traffic accidents.
A few months later, the New York Times revealed that Thrun was the head of Google's top-secret experimental laboratory Google X, and was developing, among other things, Google Glasses – augmented reality spectacles. And then, a few months after that, I came across Thrun again. More...

The number of international students enrolled in U.S. colleges climbed 6% to a record 764,495 last year, propelled primarily by continuing increases of students from China and a recent surge from Saudi Arabia, a report released Monday says.
The number of U.S. students earning academic credit abroad also continues to increase but at a slower rate, the report says. In 2010-11, 273,996 U.S. students studied abroad, up 1.3% from the previous year. About 14% of U.S. students earning bachelor's degrees this year studied abroad by the time they graduated, says the non-profit Institute of International Education (IIE), which tracks student mobility data. More...

Foreign enrolments at US universities grew 6% to 764,495 this year, according to the latest Open Doors report from the Institute of International Education, bringing an estimated $21.81 billion to the economy—up from $20.23 billion the previous year.
It was driven by a big rise in interest from China and Saudi Arabia (up 23% and 50% respectively), as well as in English programmes as a route to university. The number of Americans studying abroad was also up.
“This year we broke records in three categories… Number one was international students coming to the US… Number two were US students studying abroad. And I think the key news is that the positive economic impact really continued to increase,” commented US assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural Affairs, Ann Stock. More...

By Tamar Lewin. When Michele Fitzgerald and her daughter, Jenni, go out for dinner, Jenni pays. When they get haircuts, Jenni pays. When they buy groceries, Jenni pays.
It has been six years since Ms. Fitzgerald — broke, unemployed and in default on the $18,000 in loans she took out for Jenni’s college education — became a boomerang mom, moving into her daughter’s townhouse apartment in Hingham, Mass.
Jenni pays the rent.
For Jenni, 35, the student loans and the education they bought have worked out: she has a good job in public relations and is paying down the loans in her name. But for her mother, 60, the parental debt has been disastrous. More...

By LEBOGANG SEALE. Johannesburg - Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has again admitted the government has failed to improve the quality of education to bridge gaps between schooling, tertiary education and the job market. Nzimande conceded this while presenting his draft skills development plan to the Human Resource Development Council in Pretoria on Friday.
The 46-member council - launched in March 2010 and comprising ministers, their deputies, representatives from tertiary institutions and the private sector, among others - is chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. More...

By Nathan Heller. From the post-World War 2 era until the late eighties, Japan stood unrivaled as the premier electronics and automobile exporter in the world. From Sony to Toyota, the quality and reliability of Japanese products set a standard to which many western manufacturers still aspire.
The success of these Japanese products are owed in part to the uncompromising nature of their creators. Both in work and in life, the Japanese value repetition, and it is this repetition that fuels their success. Consistency leads to mastery. This philosophy of constant refinement does not seem to spill over into other areas of Japanese life, however. Historically, higher education has been a closed system in Japan; high school students spend the majority of their waking hours cramming for the infamous entrance exam--an arbitrary test of cognitive ability. Once accepted into a college or university, the student gets on the career fast track, majoring most often in business or engineering.. More...

By Peter Walker. Former poet laureate says ministers take short-term view of higher education to detriment of UK's cultural life. The former poet laureate Andrew Motion has condemned the government's "mercantile" approach towards universities, which he says forces them to "earn their keep", in an attack before the launch of a new campaign against the effects of excessive market forces on higher education. Motion, now professor of creative writing at the University of London's Royal Holloway college, one of his many roles, said ministers were taking a short-term view of how universities should work, to the detriment of prosperity in the future and the wider cultural life of the nation.
Motion is among an eminent group of 65 academics, writers and broadcasters who have founded the Council for the Defence of British Universities, which is officially launched on Tuesday. They include winners of the Nobel prize and Fields medal, current and past British Academy presidents and eight Order of Merit members, among them household names such as Sir David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins, Dame AS Byatt, Alan Bennett, Lord Bragg and Michael Frayn.
The group has been assembled by Sir Keith Thomas, the historian and former British Academy president, who believes government policy means the purpose of universities is "distorted by the attempt to create a market in higher education". More...

Réunion des représentants des pôles de compétitivité
Nicole Bricq a rencontré, le 7 novembre, Jean-Luc Beylat, Vincent Marcatte et Agnès Paillard, représentant les pôles de compétitivité, afin de préciser leur implication en matière de développement à l’international de leurs PME.
Les pôles de compétitivité ont un rôle important à jouer pour renforcer le nombre de PME à l’export. En effet, l’innovation, favorisée par les pôles de compétitivité, est un facteur de réussite à l’international: 60% des entreprises qui innovent exportent.
Le pacte national pour la croissance, la compétitivité et l’emploi présenté mardi par le gouvernement fixe aux pôles de compétitivité l’objectif prioritaire de maximiser leur impact économique pour davantage de croissance des entreprises et d’emplois.
A l’issue de cette rencontre, les pôles de compétitivité ont confirmé leur engagement à mettre en place des plans d’action à l’international ambitieux et volontaires pour leurs PME innovantes, identifiant les pays cibles, définissant des actions collaboratives à l’étranger et fixant des objectifs chiffrés à trois et six ans.
Par ailleurs, les pôles de compétitivité se mobiliseront pour nouer des partenariats avec leurs homologues européens et accroître ainsi l’attractivité de la France.
Enfin, les pôles de compétitivité se sont engagés à faciliter le portage par les grands groupes des VIE (Volontariat international en entreprise) recrutés par les PME des pôles à l’international. Le nombre de VIE sera augmenté de 25% en trois ans dans le cadre du pacte national pour la croissance, la compétitivité et l’emploi.
Les pôles de compétitivité, moteurs de croissance et d'emploi, mobilisent les facteurs clefs de la compétitivité: http://competitivite.gouv.fr.
V.I.E en bref
LE V.I.E : DES COMPÉTENCES EXPORT POUR VOTRE ENTREPRISE
Le Volontariat International en Entreprises (V.I.E), instauré par la loi du 14 mars 2000, permet aux entreprises françaises de confier à un jeune, homme ou femme, jusqu’à 28 ans, une mission professionnelle à l’étranger durant une période modulable de 6 à 24 mois, renouvelable une fois dans cette limite.
Vous pouvez confier tout type de mission aux Volontaires
Commerciales ou techniques, les missions sont décidées par l’entreprise: études de marchés, prospection, renforcement d’équipes locales, accompagnement d’un contrat, d’un chantier, participation à la création d’une structure locale, animation d’un réseau de distribution, support technique d’un agent...
Vous pouvez choisir votre V.I.E dans notre vivier
UBIFRANCE met à votre disposition en permanence un vivier riche de très nombreux candidats aux profils et formations très variés, ayant souvent une première expérience de l’international. Candidats motivés et formés au plan professionnel, ils sont ingénieurs, informaticiens, commerciaux, techniciens, contrôleurs de gestion... Grâce à la souplesse de la formule V.I.E, vous adaptez votre équipe terrain à vos projets, dans le monde entier.
Nous vous aidons à trouver un profil spécifique
Nous vous apportons un soutien opérationnel en pré-sélectionnant pour vous les candidats les plus adaptés à votre projet export.
Vous êtes exonérés des démarches liées à la gestion du personnel à l’international
La gestion administrative et juridique du V.I.E est déléguée à UBIFRANCE qui s’occupe pour vous des aspects contractuels, du versement des indemnités et de la protection sociale du volontaire. La formule V.I.E exonère votre entreprise de tout lien contractuel direct (le contrat est passé entre UBIFRANCE et le jeune volontaire). Bénéficiant d’un statut public, le volontaire est placé sous la tutelle administrative de la Mission Economique, près l’Ambassade de France dans son pays d’affectation. Vous pilotez bien sûr en direct son activité opérationnelle.
Vous bénéficiez d'avantages financiers
Le contrat V.I.E bénéficie d’aides nationales et régionales: crédit import export et contrat d’assurance-prospection COFACE, prise en charge subventionnelle d’une part importante du coût du V.I.E. dans de nombreuses régions françaises. PME, nous vous proposons des solutions d’accompagnement spécifiques.
Pour que l'accès à la formule V.I.E soit le plus simple possible, UBIFRANCE met en place des solutions d'accompagnement adaptées aux problématiques des PME. En savoir plus...
Comment faire une demande de V.I.E?
Contactez nos conseillers V.I.E au 0 810 659 659 (prix d’un appel local) afin de définir précisément votre projet. Vous pourrez ensuite formuler votre demande d’affectation d’un V.I.E.