The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 26 April 2013.
New Zealand: Students from NZ win Robotics World Championships, again
Students from New Zealand have taken the top prize in the annual VEX Robotics World Championships for the fifth year running, the country’s Massey University reports. Held in California this year, the contest featured 420 teams from 24 countries, made up of more than 15,000 school and university students. Massey’s Dr Johan Potgieter said, “Our engineering students and academic staff work closely to mentor these teams, and it’s great to see them consistently do well in such a big competition.”
India: Language learning ‘turf war’?
A sort of ‘turf war’ over language learning is developing in India – or at least this is the opinion expressed by G Haragopal, a professor of political science at the University of Hyderabad. Speaking in relation to the ‘German in 1,000 schools’ project, which aims to make German language learning available to a million Indians by 2017, Haragopal said, “The British did the same thing with English and now other European countries have woken up to the trend of making their languages accessible here, which in turn results in more students applying to universities there and possibly working for their companies." French is currently more widely available than German.
South Africa: Skull discovery prompts research into ‘racism in science’
The discovery of a forgotten skull, in storage at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University, has led to a research project exploring the topic of ‘racism in science’, University World News reports. The skull was found with some hair- and eye-color charts and a case bearing the name of Eugen Fischer, one of the Nazi Party’s leading racial scientists. The university has formed a team of researchers to investigate the role science has played historically in race-based policies, and says the project will include both PhD research and overseas collaborations.
UK: League table shows Oxford has most super-rich alumni
According to a new league table, Oxford University counts the most “ultra high net worth” individuals among its alumni – even more than close rival Cambridge, The Telegraph reports. The research from Wealth-X focuses on individuals with a net worth of at least $30 million, after accounting for shares, properties and other assets. The top five UK universities with the most super-rich alumni are: Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial College London and London Business School.
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Hong Kong: Fewer teens expect to complete university than in rival education hubs
Figures from the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that less than half of 15-year-olds in Hong Kong expect to complete university, compared to more than 80% in South Korea and more than 70% in Singapore. This could in part be due to the relatively low number of Hong Kong students who gain admission to public universities – just 18%, compared to more than 80% in South Korea and 26% in Singapore, South China Morning Post reports.