The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 24 January 2013.
Cornell University veterinary students to train on robo-pets
Making the leap from theory to operating on real animals can be a daunting prospect for veterinary students – not to mention pet owners. News that Cornell University’s veterinary school is teaming up with its Center for Advanced Computing in order to develop robot dogs and cats on which students can train will therefore be welcomed by many! At present, students train on fairly basic robot animals, but more hi-tech versions which will react more like real pets are currently in development, reports NBC News.
Canadian government expands fast-track residency program for international students
An immigration program which allows international graduates of Canadian universities fast-track residency in the country has been expanded, reports Hindustan Times. Canada Experience Class, as it is known, will now be open to 10,000 people a year. The program is open to students who have studied in Canada for at least a year, and worked there for the same length of time.
Money issues key for US students, study finds
Two-thirds of students who began studying at US universities in 2012 have said that the economic situation in the US significantly affected their choice of university, reports Inside Higher Ed. The figure, derived from Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) research, also looked at issues like the political inclination of students (nearly half of students identify as ‘middle of the road’) and choices of discipline (business was the most popular, with 14% intending to major in the subject). Money came into play in other ways too, with 75% of students indicating that their reason for attending university was to earn more money, and 81% listing being very well off financially as a key personal goal.
Educators draft digital ‘Bill of Rights’ for online students
A group of prominent online educators, led by free online course pioneer Sebastien Thrun, has drawn up a ‘Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in the Digital Age’, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education. The bill sets out what the group believes students should demand from online education providers, covering things like how personal information is used and collected, and openness about how providers operate. These issues are considered to be important at present due to the increasing prominence of free online courses, known as MOOCs (massive open online courses).
Yale applicants embrace Yale-NUS campus
Around one-third of applicants to Yale College this year have also applied to Yale’s liberal arts campus in Singapore, run in collaboration with the National University of Singapore, reports The Yale Daily News. The admissions departments at both institutions are run completely separately, so whether or not students have applied to both will not be taken into consideration. Yale-NUS is a small liberal arts college, with a class size of 150, which welcomed its first students in 2012. Just under 30,000 prospective students applied to Yale in total, with 9,200 opting to apply for Yale-NUS.
