Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Tom Newcombe. Universities and colleges are twice as likely to use zero-hours contracts than other workplaces, according to a freedom of information request.
The request, made by the University and College Union (UCU), found 61% of further education colleges and 53% of UK universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have teaching staff on zero-hours contracts.
The request found five institutions had more than 1,000 people on zero-hours contracts.
The union said despite the large numbers of colleges and universities using zero-hours contracts, only a small number said they had policies on them. More...

By B.Khash-Erdene. Student representatives of Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST), led by B.Myagmardorj, President of MUST’s Student’s Union, announced at a press conference held yesterday that they will demonstrate outside the offices of the administration of MUST, speaking out against the unjustified increase in tuition fees.
“Although the Student’s Union of MUST, which represents the voices and views of students, made numerous requests and demands to the board of directors of MUST to listen to the views of its students on the matter of an increase in tuition fees, they did not want to listen,” said B.Myagmardorj.
“In this academic term, tuition fees increased by 13.9 percent and the annual rent for student dormitories increased by 70- 150 percent. But students study in lecture halls with rain water dripping through the roof, and they are equipped with laboratories and instruments only to be heard of and looked at, but never to be held and used, like museum pieces. Students live in dorm rooms covered in mold and dust, that are so freezing cold in the winter that students have to wear their coats at all times. The only change we see and feel at the university is the heavy burden of an increased tuition fee,” he added. More...

By Nontobeko Mtshali. As university application deadlines for first-year entrants start drawing to a close, the Department of Higher Education and Training is readying itself to provide alternatives for the hundreds of thousands of prospective students who’ll be left out in the cold.
The number of applications received by many of the major universities have already far exceeded the number of spaces available - despite the fact that there are still four weeks to go before deadline at the end of September.
In Gauteng, Wits University has received more than 34 000 first-year applications. The institution, however, can only accommodate 5 500 first-year students. Read more...

By Katherine Donnelly. A HIGHER education boss has questioned whether third-level colleges are doing enough to welcome foreign students, as new figures show a fall in numbers coming to study in Ireland. The number arriving from abroad on full-time courses has dropped in the last five years from just under 12,000 to below 10,600 – and continues to fall. The decline, which follows a decade of growth up to 2008, flies in the face of a Government campaign selling Ireland as a world-class education destination. Higher Education Authority (HEA) chief executive Tom Boland (inset) said "the stagnation" in full-time international student numbers "is a cause for worry". More...