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International
Five new schools have been granted EQUIS accreditation.
Five new schools were EQUIS (European quality improvement
system) accredited on 28th November 2001. The Curtin
Business School of Australia; the Ecole d’administration
des entreprises, Getulio Vargas foundation, Sao Paulo of Brazil;
the Judge Institute of Management Studies of the University of
Cambridge, United Kingdom; Cap University Business School of South
Africa and the Ecole de Science de Gestion of Quebec University,
Canada. This brings the number of third level EQUIS accredited
establishments up to 52. This is the first time either a Brazilian
or an Australian establishment have been honoured with this title.
EQUIS is currently facing a rise in demand, notably from American
and Australian establishments, to be accredited with this international
and intercultural approach. 35 establishment applications are
currently being processed.
Contact: EFMD, Anne-Sophie, Press relations manager, +32 2 629
08 29, www.efmd.be
Quebec
The medicine faculty of the University of Sherbrooke is becoming
a collaboration centre for the World Health Organistion, correspondence.
The medicine faculty of the University of Sherbrooke was appointed
as a collaboration centre by the WHO. It is the only one in Canada
and other French that has been designated with such a responsible
task. This mission consists of developing human resources in the
health care field and then sharing this experience with several
other fields, notably those associated with adapting health systems
to the needs of people and the community, modifying training and
medical practices, and the setting up of partnerships with intermediaries
in the health sector.
Two programmes are already in place: one programme on cardiac
health in association with CHU, (University hospital centre) of
Sherbrooke University and its local partners, and one French speaking
training programme in assocation with the New-Brunswick province.
Several other programs will be launched within the next few months
across Quebec. The results of these actions will be distributed
throughout the WHO’s network.
Contact: University of Sherbrooke, paul Grand’Maison, vice-dean
of the faculty of Medicine, pgmaison@courrier.usherb.ca
Australia
The newly appointed Minister for Education, Science and Training,
a previous professor of medicine, is considered as ‘moderate’.
NEW
MINISTER: Brendan Nolan is the new Australian Minister for Education,
Science and Training. A well known past professor of endocrinology
at Flinders University and previous president of the Australian
Medical Association. He is renowned for being rash and unpredictable.
The directors of the pedagogical sector hesitate to make a comment
on his nomination. Some believe him to be ‘a person with
whom you can have a discussion’. In one of his first interviews
as Minister, Brendan Nelson reconfirmed the governmental opinion
that it would like all the educational sectors to see their finance
increased within five and a half years. ‘The challenge is
enormous but I do not believe that one can say that a monetary
benefit is a solution in itself’.
APPLICATIONS. The number of applicants for the 2002 University
entry rose considerably in each country, it is feared that there
will not be enough places for everyone, even if the government
has promised to finance 28,000 extra places over a five year period.
In Victoria State, the number of admission requests increased
by 10.1%. The committee of Vice chancellors of the university
regret the obvious lack of places, but for him, ‘it is an
equally good sign that demand continues to rise, as this means
that higher education in Australia will still be considered as
quality education by future students.
THE AUSTRALIAN, 28/11/2001
New Zealand:
Fraud statements concerning loan programmes for students.
Fraud: In New Zealand, the loan programme for students will
be more severely controlled following fraud revelations: students
had seen offers on computers, mobile phones, or holidays abroad,
to entice them to sign up but these offers were never followed
through. The fraud amounted to over 35 million New Zealand dollars
(16.4 million euro) and equally concerns the Plymouth ‘practical
education training centre’, a ‘second chance’ establishment
that welcomes students who have failed. More than half of the
4000 students in enrolment on distance learning courses would
have the advantage of a loan without ever handing in any homework
or would have left with computers offered by the centre. In relation
to the latter, there are a lot more than merely 6 isolated cases.
According to the minister, there were around 700 suspect cases.
THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 24-28/11/2001
Belgium:
a portrait of the student population. Moroco: a colloquium
on higher education relations-businesses
STATISTICS (1). An inquiry brought about by a collaboration
between ULB (Université libre de Bruxelles) and UCL (Université
catholique de Louvain) made out a portrait of the student French
community population in Belgium over the 1974-1998 period. More
feminine, the majority attracted by Humanities and shorter study
programs, registered a lower success rate in the first year of
studies. Since 199, less than 40% of students have come from secondary
school, this rate is falling to 30% for students, with more and
more are coming from higher education non-university streams (1998
figures). The success rate for foreign students oscillated to
around 37% (compared to 30% between 1974 and 1984).
The low education levels at School only lead to more difficulties
at university. The success rate in Humanities appears to be higher
than in Science and Health Science, with the exception of Applied
Science. In general, women get higher points than men (6 points
in the difference).
STATISTICS (2) Between 1974 and 1998, the numbers of those
going to University increased form 37500 to 50800 students, until
1995, and then fell to 48500 in 1998. This movement is not due
to a rise in the total numbers in secondary education but to the
rate of those in the passage to higher education. The origin of
the recent back up observed at University is as a result of a
growing tendency for youths, on leaving secondary School, to enter
short third level courses as opposed to longer ones. In the non-university
higher education stream, the total numbers continue to rise, having
crept from 49000 to 72000 students, between 1988 and 1998. With
a higher tendency towards shorter (+2500 units per year) rather
than long courses.
Algeria
Week long strikes to take place every three months beginning
2002
PROTEST: The CNES (Conseil national des enseignants du supérieur)
has decided to launch a strike of one week each trimester as of
January 2002, on top of the demonstration on 26th November.
The strike coincides with the exam period. A signed protest will
be made public shortly. The union has out rightly denounced the
logic of the riot, which has already been organised, according
to it, in certain university campuses where unprecedented scenes
of violence have been recorded. According to the Union, some professors
have even been confined by students at the Political Science Institute
of Algeria because of stories about grades. The authorities consider
the increasing flow of students to be catastrophic. Instead of
celebrating and marking out the field to welcome students, the
public authorities have adopted the policy of fleeing in advance,
it believes. The CNES also sees, in the law concerning the orientation
of higher education, an ‘underhanded privatisation’
of the university, indicating that some private computer institutes
have installed themselves as part of the University of Constantine.
LE MATIN, 28/10/2001
Morocco
Colloquium on relations between third level and businesses
Businesses- A colloquium, which took place on 3rd
October 2001 between the employers and the Minister of Higher
Education in Morocco, came to a decision on the collaboration
between the two parties, who according to the representatives
of the State have become widespread. This has mainly to do with
the participation of companies in the construction of new diplomas.
Thus, the faculty of Judicial, Economic and Social Sciences of
Casablanca developed a DESS in insurance law in collaboration
with the federation of this sector. At El Jadida, multinationals
such as ABB and Nestlé participate actively in the creation
of courses which could also allow their employees to benefit from
further study and initial study for students. The objective of
this meeting was furthermore to define ‘new study courses
which are more suited to the needs of the labour market’.
L’ECONOMISTE 30/10/2001
FRANCE:
Alcatel launched a world partnership program with research
organisations, universities and schools
Alcatel has just launched a world partnership research program
aimed at ‘reinforcing its innovative efforts and competitive
advantage’ in developing more concrete relations with universities
and research institutes. The research in collaboration will allow
the Alcatel partners the opportunity to collaborate with the entire
research community of the world, while the company will have access
to enter into their laboratories. Objective: to develop activities
for scientific development and technology to benefit the two parties.
Seven establishments have already joined the programme : INRIA(
Institute National de recherche en informatique et automatique),
the STIC department ( Sciences et technologies de l’information
et des communications) of the CNRS, the Heinrich-Hertz Institute,
the number one German research organisation on ‘photonical’
network, the university of Stuttgart, the university of Texas,
Dallas, North Carolina State University, and Sarnoff Corporation
of Princeton. The French GET ( Groupe des écoles de télécommunications)
should announce its membership in the near future, while discussions
are taking place with IMEC of Louvain, ‘the largest independent
research centre in Europe in terms of development activities and
degrees in the electronic field. A budget of 0,5 to 1million euro
should be devoted to each partner.
Contact: Jacques Magen , director of foreign affairsat Alcatel
Research and Innovation, research_partners@alcatel.com
Website for the program: www.alcatel.com/technologies/research_partners/areas.htm
INDIA
Clergy influence higher education
The suppression of some passages in history books for the new
program resulted in strong reactions from historians, who believe
that the suppression marks obscurantism and bigotry. The suppressed
passages concerning the ‘vedic’ period which among others,
explain that cows were an essential part of the patrimony and
were regularly eaten at the ‘royal court’. Another passage
questions, because of the lack of archaeological proof, the existence
of Rama and Krishna. The government believes that there is no
explanation as to why archaeology should be considered to be more
important than literature from the period. Historians see in this
argument further proof of the influence of the clergy on education.
HINDUSTAN TIMES, 24/11/2001
Co-operation between India and Europe
that concluded an agreement to improve the bilateral co-operation
in science and technology, in particular on up-to-date technology.
This agreement takes into account India’s strong points in
sectors such as TIC, biotechnology and new energy. It envisages
the set up of joint research projects based on a share of freight,
as well as the shared use of advanced research material. The Indo-European
co-operation has been regularly developed since 1985.
THE HINDU, 24/11/2001
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