The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 9 May 2013.
Global: Billionaire gives students US$100,000 to skip university
For the third year, Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of PayPal and investor in Facebook, has chosen a group of students to receive US$100,000 each to skip university. However, they won’t just be putting their feet up. The 22 students are expected to use the money, spread over two years, to start their own businesses. Applicants came from 49 countries, with the successful 22 coming from the US, Germany, the UK, India, Canada, China and Singapore. So far, the 41 previous recipients of Thiel’s funding have secured US$34 million in funding for their businesses, reports Forbes. Thiel, by the way, is a graduate of Stanford, where he also lectures on startups…
UK: Work starts on U$700 million Swansea University science campus
Construction work on a new £450 million (US$700 million at today’s exchange rates) Swansea University science campus has officially begun. The campus will contain teaching and research facilities for the university’s engineering, business and economics, mathematics, and computer science departments. It will also include a research and testing facility run with car and airplane manufacturer Rolls Royce. The 69 acre campus is due to be completed in 2015, and is expected to contribute £3 billion (US$4.66 billion) to the local economy over the next decade. Funding is coming in part from the European Union, and the land was donated by oil giant BP, reports the BBC.
India: New degree format agreed
Despite student fears, Delhi University’s Academic Council has moved a step closer to adopting four year degrees by approving 54 different courses which would make up the new format, 11 of which will be compulsory foundation courses. The council also voted to allow changes to the syllabi to be made every year, and students to take minors in two subjects. If a student produces six papers on one of their minors, they would be eligible to do a master’s degree in that discipline. The departments of history and sociology have not yet put their new courses forward, reports The Hindu.
US: Return on investment ranking released
Payscale.com has released its annual ranking of US universities by return on investment. The ranking looks at how much it costs to do a degree at a university, as compared to how much its graduates earn over the course of the next 30 years. The top ranking university this year is Harvey Mudd College, a liberal arts institution in California. Notably, the world’s number one university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, comes in at 4th. As well as the overall ranking, a list of regional, subject and focus-specific rankings have been complied.
View the QS World University Rankings >
US: Chuck D to receive honorary doctoral degree
Chuck D, of influential rap group Public Enemy (‘Don’t Believe the Hype’, ‘Fight the Power’) is set to receive an honorary doctoral degree from Adelphi University, where he studied fine art as an undergraduate in the late 70s and early 80s. Prior to making it as the front man of one of world’s best-loved hip hop acts, Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, as his mother calls him, played an instrumental role in expanding the university’s radio output. He will receive the degree when he speaks at the university’s commencement ceremony later this month, reports The Huffington Post.