In a restaurant in the backstreets of Beijing, 12 Pakistanis and Afghans studying at the China University of Communications tell scary stories of their arrival in China. But any ill feeling about those early days has long since dissipated. They agree that apart from some taxi drivers, the Chinese are very helpful. Friendly relations between […]
From hot dogs, to automobiles, to diesel fuel, Americans have been touched by plenty of German inventions. Kindergarten (‘children-garden’) is one of them. The programme for educating youngest children through play and social interaction, meant to ease transition from home to formal schooling, was first brought to America in the 1850s and spread quickly. Kindergarten […]
In my last Letter from London I discussed the continuing and accelerating decline in the financing and quality of tertiary education in the UK, and promised to examine some of the fundamental principles on which our higher education system is based.
For a start, there is nothing sacrosanct about the three-year university course. The private University […]
Concern about corruption in South African higher education has mounted in the aftermath of the murder of a senior scholar who tried to blow the whistle on academic fraud. Gregory Kamwendo, dean of arts at the University of Zululand, was shot and killed outside his home in May last year. Two men appeared in court […]
A US-style controversy over freedom of speech on campus has gripped Germany after a philosophy professor invited two far-right speakers to give talks as part of a seminar series. Marc Jongen, an MP and culture spokesman for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, was set to speak at the University of Siegen on December […]
Students who attended single-sex schools feel more anxious and stressed when participating in mixed-gender activities at university, according to a study. The research, based on an analysis of students at a co-educational college in Hong Kong, has led to suggestions that universities should introduce specific support for learners who attended all-male or all-female schools.
Academics worldwide are facing threats of secret recording and denunciation online by their own students, a sign that tactics used by far-right activists in the US are being adopted more widely.
In the US, websites such as the Professor Watchlist — which purports to challenge those who “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in […]
Good preschool education helps get kids from poor families ready for school proper and do better in standardised tests, but it is expensive. Average preschool per capita spending in the US in 2017 was about $5,000 (Rs.3.5 lakh), a drop in real terms compared with 2002. Seven states had no government programme at all.
Leaders of the US ‘free college’ movement are hoping to ride a wave of grassroots reforms to put the issue at the heart of the national debate ahead of the next presidential election.
With total student debt in the US totalling $1.5 trillion (Rs.105 lakh crore), the large Democratic field of potential challengers to Donald Trump […]
In my January despatch in which I expressed cautious optimism about the UK’s secondary education reforms that are at last tackling the disastrous exam grades inflation of the past three decades, I noted that nothing is being done about similar problems in higher education, and the desperate financial situation of many British universities. These two […]
As we enter 2019, Britain is evaluating the outcome of the first public secondary education examinations following the reforms of former education secretary Michael Gove who resigned his office in 2014.
Our two main examinations are the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the Advanced Level (A Level). The GCSE is taken at the end […]
Avanti House in Stanmore, north London, is one of a new generation of religious schools. Some 94,000 children in England now attend a non-Christian religious school, up from 64,000 in 2011. Over the past two decades, the number of Jewish schools has more than doubled and the number of Muslim ones has roughly sextupled. Although […]
Increasing tuition fees for international students in France — a move described as a “paradigm shift” by university presidents — is a key plank of the country’s plan to double overseas enrolments in a decade. France, along with some other continental European countries such as Germany, has traditionally set nominal or non-existent tuition fees for […]
Leading universities in Denmark are set to close several degree programmes and switch the medium of instruction from English to Danish in response to a government drive to reduce international student numbers.
Aalborg University has announced that it will close seven degree programmes, change the medium of instruction from English to Danish in six and put […]
Hangzhou, a city south-west of Shanghai, is freighted with meaning for Shi Yigong. His grandmother, a Communist, was jailed there by the Nationalist Chiang Kai-Shek government in the 1930s and died 18 days after giving birth to his father in prison.
Personal links drew Shi to Hangzhou when he chose a location for the first private […]
Canada’s reputation for tolerance and inclusion is increasingly being tested on campuses in the wake of the country’s international student boom, a conference heard. The number of international students at Canadian universities increased by 11 percent in 2017, with learners thought to be increasingly shifting their attentions north from a US perceived to be more […]
After five months in solitary confinement, his final court appearance lasted barely five minutes. On November 21, a court in Abu Dhabi convicted a British academic of espionage and sentenced him to life in prison. Matthew Hedges (31), a doctoral candidate at Durham University, travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) early last year to […]
After five months in solitary confinement, his final court appearance lasted barely five minutes. On November 21, a court in Abu Dhabi convicted a British academic of espionage and sentenced him to life in prison. Matthew Hedges (31), a doctoral candidate at Durham University, travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) early last year to […]
Readers of EW, which does so much to promote the quality of education in India and expose government failures, may be unaware about the great education mess in the UK. Recent media headlines in London are depressing.
Britain lagging behind in global education league’. ‘Private school pupils get nearly five times as many top grades in […]
A major study has concluded that teaching standards are lower in the US’ most prestigious universities than in the country’s less celebrated higher education providers. For the paper, published in Higher Education, 60 higher education experts were sent to observe 587 courses at nine US institutions, ranging from some of the most prestigious in the […]
Singapore’s schools have long been reputed for didactic teaching, rote learning and academic brilliance. Their pupils lead the rankings in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a triennial test of 15-year-olds around the world, and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which measures ten and 14-year-olds.
In the popular imagination, school summer holidays conjure up a picture of carefree youthful exploration. But many parents rely on the term-time services that schools give their offspring, such as supervision and meals. Come the holidays, they can suddenly find their schedules and budgets stretched. Researchers also say that the long break often sets back […]
Most people in the UK believe international students should be allowed to stay in the country for two or more years after graduation, a new poll has revealed. The survey results were released by Universities UK (UUK) as it called on the government to allow foreign graduates to stay on for up to two years […]
Phil Cotton, vice chancellor of the University of Rwanda, often has to say “no” to well-meaning potential benefactors. “Lots of academic colleagues want to send me stuff they don’t need — old textbooks or out-of-date medical equipment that will last only a short time,” explains Cotton about turning down the offers from leading universities in […]
At Bush house in central London, formerly the home of the BBC’s World Service, finishing touches are being applied to King’s College London’s swanky new campus, which will be inaugurated come September. The building’s Portland stone exterior and marble interior, capped by a rooftop café with a fabulous view, make it a grand home for […]
The theme of this first London Letter is inspired by the editorial and cover story in the June issue of EducationWorld concerning the belated recognition by educationists of the importance of so-called “life skills”, alongside the teaching of academic and technical subjects. Valuable life skills cover a wide spectrum, but the most essential — and […]
Australia is poised to overtake the UK as the second most popular global destination for international students, according to a new analysis. The research, based on international student enrolment figures from round the world, says that it’s likely that Australia has already outstripped the UK in terms of the number of overseas students from outside […]
The schoolhouse in Vorsino stands next to the village chapel. Inside, a teacher is standing and reading to pupils who sit obediently in rows.
In another classroom, a different scene unfolds. Ogabek Masharipov, a 23-year-old with Teach for Russia, a programme that sends young college graduates to teach in rural schools, banters with pupils and begins […]
“Drawing on your political knowledge, explain why the Communist Party should exercise leadership over the country’s economy, armed forces, schools and all aspects of society.” So reads an essay question in this year’s gaokao, China’s university entrance exam which was held in early June. The exam is notoriously tough, but political flattery can help. Examinees […]
Eventually “all learning is going to happen digitally,” according to Jeff Maggioncalda, chief executive of online learning platform Coursera. But Maggioncalda isn’t rehearsing the tired trope that massive open online courses offered by the likes of Coursera will drive traditional universities out of business. Instead, he predicts that learning on university campuses will increasingly happen […]
When Omar returned home after 40 days in a boot camp run by Islamic State, it was obvious something had snapped. Once a quiet boy and a fan of SpongeBob SquarePants cartoons, 12-year-old Omar had become aggressive. He told his mother to stop wearing make-up, refused to greet her female friends and became angry when […]
Academics and students are warning of a major crisis in Venezuelan higher education as the country slips deeper into political chaos. Problems of inadequate funding, low salaries and limited access to journals are fuelling a brain drain of scholars right across Latin America, according to recent reports. But sector leaders say that, at a time […]
In his final engagement before resigning as finance minister last year, Emmanuel Macron, now the president of France, visited one of the country’s most prestigious higher education institutions. “He spoke to each and every start-up based at our business incubator centre, discussed their projects, and they all took selfies with him,” Jacques Biot, the president […]
China has been producing almost twice as many papers on artificial intelligence as the next highest-placed country in terms of publication volume for the field, a data analysis for Times Higher Education has shown. Data from Elsevier’s Scopus database provided to THE illustrate China’s huge drive on research in the area, with researchers in the […]
Emerson College seems a curious place for flyers promoting white supremacist organisation American Vanguard to appear. The university, in the heart of Boston, usually regarded as a liberal city, is ranked friendliest in the country towards gay and lesbian students.
These and other reasons may be precisely why it was targeted, says the university’s president Lee […]
South Korean universities are among world leaders when it comes to publishing research with industry, according to new data.
The Pohang University of Science and Technology, founded by Korean steel company POSCO in 1986, tops a table of universities publishing the highest proportions of their research output in collaboration with industry produced by Clarivate Analytics for […]
The UK college owned by FTSE 100 company Pearson Llc is aiming to be a “boutique university” that is limited in size, with plans to help the wider company implement its “strategic direction” in education rather than compete directly with universities. Roxanne Stockwell, principal of Pearson College London, spoke to Times Higher Education after the […]
China has long oscillated between the urge to equip its elite with foreign knowledge and skills, and an opposing instinct to turn inward and rebuff such influences. In the 1870s, the Qing imperial court ended centuries of educational isolation by sending young men to America, only for the Communist regime to shut out the world […]
When Aziz Amir was a young man, his mother died from an infection which should have been easy to treat. “She didn’t go to a hospital because she didn’t want to show herself to a male doctor,” says Amir, a trained cardiologist who now owns a private hospital in Kabul. Determined to give more Afghan […]
US university leaders have an “obligation” to lobby against proposed laws allowing the carrying of concealed weapons on college campuses, says the outgoing president of George Washington University.
In a podcast interview with Times Higher Education, Steven Knapp, who announced in early June that he will stand down as president of the institution next year, said […]
IIT Delhi organised its 11th Alumni Day on Sunday under the theme ‘Engage, Enrich, Empower: Celebration of an Emotion’ that brought together alumni, students, and .....Read More
Prayoga Institute of Education Research, an established DSIR institution in Bengaluru, and The Sports School, India's pioneering integrated sports institution that integrates academics with professional .....Read More
