The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 10 December 2012.
Unemployment high among young urban graduates in China
Research for a study of unemployment in China has revealed that 16.4% of university graduates aged 21-25 and based in cities were unemployed, reposts Caixin Online. The equivalent figure for those in the same age bracket who didn’t complete middle school stands at 4.2%. The survey was carried out by the Chinese Household Finance Survey Center of Chengdu's Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. However, if all age groups are taken into consideration, the unemployment rate for graduates, at 2.8%, is the lowest of all groups.
New University of California logo sparks backlash
A new logo recently adopted by the University of California has sparked an outcry, with nearly 40,000 signing an online petition to protest the change. The new simplified logo is designed to be more easily reproducible and work at smaller sizes than the previous crest, which depicted an open book and the words, “let there be light”. The original logo will still be used on letters from the president and official documents, reports NBC Bay Area.
Police clash with student protestors in Sudan
Police forces have clashed with student demonstrators, using batons and teargas to break up a third day of protests over the murder of four students in Sudan last week, reports Reuters. Around 600 students were involved in the protest, which took place in Neelain University in the country’s capital, Khartoum. The protestors blame the deaths on the government, supporters of which broke up a demonstration against tuition fees in which the four victims were involved.
UK National Union of Students accuses payday lenders of exploitation
The UK’s National Union of Students (NUS) has spoken out against payday lenders, accusing them of targeting and exploiting vulnerable students, reports The Huffington Post. One of the key issues, the NUS claims, is that as part of their advertising campaigns such companies suggest that universities are unlikely to provide hardship loans and grants to students. This, they claim, is not the case, and by encouraging students to opt for short-term loans with extremely high rates of interest instead, they are acting irresponsibly.
Student organization aims to break dreidel-spinning record
The Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University in upstate New York will aim to enter the record books on Monday evening by getting enough people together to simultaneously spin over 700 dreidels (a four-sided spinning top associated with the Jewish holiday of Chanukah). The tops will have to remain spinning for at least 10 seconds for the record to stand, reports CNY Central.