Monthly Archive for January, 2010

China Spends as Uncle Sam Tightens the Purse Strings: Forum Reveals Key Divergence in Approaches to Academy Funding

Published
by
jenna
on January 25, 2010
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

From John Morgan in Times Higher Education

China and other Asian countries are responding to the global recession with massive public investment in higher education while Western nations cut university budgets, an international conference has heard.

Among the speeches at the World Universities Forum in Davos, Switzerland were two that highlighted contrasting government and public attitudes to higher education in China and the US.

Linda Katehi, chancellor of the University of California, Davis, looked at the future of the state’s publicly funded university system in the wake of a 20 per cent budget cut over the past year.

She warned that without increased federal and state investment, America’s public research universities faced the “shrunken, caste-bound future of the privatised university”.

David Strangway, who co-chaired the Task Force on Innovation and Environment for the China Council on International Co-operation on Environment and Development, presented a contrasting vision of higher education investment in China, particularly in the low-carbon economy.

To read more…

Indian Assault Response Decried

Published
by
jenna
on January 14, 2010
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

From Andrew Trounson and Christian Kerr in The Australian

Australia is in denial on racially motivated attacks against international students and has failed to take action to deal with the issue, an internationally respected Australian academic has told a major conference in Switzerland.

Melbourne University professor Simon Marginson, delivering a keynote address to the World Universities Forum in Davos, said the Australian government was trying to spin itself out of crisis following this month’s murder of Indian accountancy graduate Nitin Garg in a west Melbourne park. “The Australian government is in denial,” Professor Marginson told the high-powered meeting of academics. “Racist targeting is involved (in the attacks). Indian students do have a special problem. And there isn’t enough official and civil concern about international student security in Australia.”

Garg’s unsolved murder has sparked diplomatic, government and public protests in India, further weakened one of Australia’s most important education export markets and prompted a defensive response from Australia’s political leaders and Victoria Police.

To read more…