The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest university news from around the world, on 7 August 2013.
US: Stanford University develops software to help students spend less
Students at Stanford University spent over US$100,000 between July 2010 and June 2011 on course materials that were in fact already freely available through the university, reports Inside Higher Ed. This prompted the university to develop software originally created for copyright clearances into a spin-off called SIPX. This allows faculty to compile digital reading lists, and easily check the lists against what’s available, before students start making purchases.
UK: Bath Spa University signs deal to boost number of overseas students
Bath Spa University in the UK is aiming to increase its non-European student numbers from 196 to around 2,000 over the next four years, reports The Independent. In pursuit of this target, the university has signed a deal with a US-based student recruitment agency. Reporter Richard Garner argues that this is “symptomatic of the headlong rush throughout the UK to take in more international students”, citing fears of falling student numbers due to higher education fees, and the boost international students bring to the economy.
Singapore: Students begin training at Singapore’s newest medical school
Singapore’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, formed through a partnership between Nanyang Technological University and Imperial College London, welcomed its first intake of students this week. Students will study a newly developed MBBS program, jointly awarded by the two universities, with innovative elements including access to more than 200 e-lectures, and South East Asia’s first Anatomage Table – a tool which displays life-sized 3D anatomy images.
Brazil: University researchers plan to test new AIDS vaccine
The Medicine Faculty of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil has developed an AIDS vaccine called HIVBr18 which will be tested on animals later this year, reports the International Science Times. Researchers say the vaccine could prevent HIV from developing into AIDS by keeping the viral load low enough to prevent immunodeficiency or transmission. A two-year monkey trial begins next month. This research follows a series of advancements in the field, including trials of a new HIV treatment begun earlier this year at Denmark’s Aarhus University.