The TopUniversities.com guide to higher education news from around the world.
Chinese Ministry of Education threatens to cancel programs with poor employment prospects
Poor graduate employment rates have been a perennial problem in China in recent years, with rapid growth in participation seemingly not in sync with the number of jobs available. It is estimated that at least 25% of graduates are currently not in work, with the total number of graduates predicted to reach 6.8 million next year. China’s Ministry of Education is now seeking to rectify this by threatening to downsize or even close down any course that has employment rates of under 60% for two consecutive years.
It is thought that the reasons for high rates of unemployment include a combination of poor subject choices and the Chinese labour market still being geared towards manufacturing rather than the service industry jobs for which graduates are best suited. Critics of the plan say that it does not take into consideration how relevant the field of employment is, and defend subjects which do not necessarily enjoy high rates of employment but which produce other less tangible benefits. It is thought that popular subjects where employment prospects are mainly damaged through simply producing too many graduates will be treated more gently.
The policy seems to reflect a larger government drive to rein in unsustainable growth in higher education in China, also evident in the curbing of any expansion of universities not approved prior to 2009, and the offer of federal assistance with provincial debts if credible plans to reduce deficits are produced.
Full story: University World News
Degree equivalence agreed by nations in Asia-Pacific region
A motion passed at a UNESCO meeting held in Tokyo last week will see countries in the Asia-Pacific region recognize and treat as equal degrees awarded in other countries in the region. The countries involved include Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Any student completing an undergraduate degree in one of these countries will now be able to apply for graduate study and employment in another on an equal footing (academically at least). The aim of the new policy, which will most likely begin to apply in around a month’s time, is to facilitate and encourage academic exchange between students from these nations. Measures will be taken to avoid poorer quality universities in the region from becoming degree factories.
Full story: Korea Herald
University College London to build second London campus
University College London has announced plans to a second campus at a site adjacent to the 2012 Olympic Games site in the east of London. The primary intention of the new campus is to allow the creation of new research facilities for graduate students, whom provost Malcolm Grant believes will soon make up the majority of UCL’s 23,000 students). The area around the university’s historical central London campus is no longer suitable for this kind of expansion, due to space constraints and the high cost of property.
The new site will also play host to additional accommodation, and will allow a small expansion in the number of undergraduates the university can take on – though all undergraduate provision will remain at the central London campus. The two sites will be connected by a high speed rail link currently under construction in London.
Full story: The Financial Times
Indian ‘meta-university’ proposed by prime minister
Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh has announced plans to set up a nationwide ‘meta-university’. The web-based platform would allow students to share resources and interact with each other virtually. Courses would be provided by universities, with students free to take up courses in different disciplines offered by institutions at which they were not currently enrolled, creating a multidisciplinary environment in which students have the flexibility and freedom to explore their wider interests.
The meta-university would employ the ‘National Knowledge Network’, which connects a number of universities around India by way of a high speed broadband network. However this network is not currently as comprehensive as it was intended to be, with only 11,600 of the 18,419 institutions it was intended to serve currently connected. Another obstacle is a lack of consistency in credit and grading systems, so it would seem the touted plan is still some way off. It has been suggested that a small-scale version will be rolled out in Delhi prior to a national implementation.
A plan made two years ago to allow students at India’s three leading science academies to pick subjects across disciplines has yet to be implanted.
Full story: University World News
Applications for Yale-NUS to open in February
A new liberal arts college in Singapore, the result of a collaboration between Yale (ranked 4th in the world) and the National University of Singapore (28th), will be inviting applications in February 2012, despite not actually opening its doors until August 2013. Around 40 of the opening crop of 150 students will be picked from the forthcoming February round. It is intended that the exclusive school, built next door to the NUS campus, will eventually host around 1,000 students.
Yale reports that interest in teaching posts in the new college has been strong, with over 1,500 applicants thus far. Teaching at the college will follow the American four-year model (two years of broader education followed by two focusing on a major).