EU-DIGEST

EU Education - Erasmus Program

Erasmus is the EU's flagship education and training programme, enabling more than 180,000 students to study and work abroad each year, as well as supporting co-operation actions between higher education institutions across Europe. It caters not only for students, but also for professors and business staff who want to teach abroad and for university staff who want to be trained abroad.

The Program is named after the humanist and theologian Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1465-1536) whose travels for work and study took in the era’s great centers of learning, including Paris, Leuven and Cambridge. Like the man, the Erasmus program places great importance on mobility and furthering career prospects through learning. By leaving his fortune to the University of Basel, he became a pioneer of the mobility grants which now bear his name. Studies show that a period spent abroad not only enriches students' lives in the academic field but also in the acquisition of intercultural skills and self-reliance. Staff exchanges have similar beneficial effects, both for the people participating and for the home and host institutions. In addition to mobility actions, the Program supports higher education institutions to work together through intensive programmes, networks and multilateral projects.

Few, if any, programs launched by the European Union have had a similar Europe-wide reach. Around 90% of European universities take part in Erasmus and 2 million students have participated since it started in 1987. The annual budget is in excess of €440million, more than 4,000 higher education institutions in 31 countries participate

Labels: Education, Erasmus, EU

Playboy ranks University of Miami No. 1 party school in the United States

The University of Miami is the top school for partying in the U.S. according to Playboy Magazine. The University of Florida is No. 4 on the list. "When you combine weather and women, no city in the country is hotter than Miami," said Playboy in announcing the list. "That's why the U garnered our highest Bikini index score. Although Nikki Beach is the most beautiful topless seashore in the country, a recent grad raves about "hard-bodied coeds laying out on the campus lake between classes." The magazine doesn't put out its rankings every year. Its last list was in 2006, when the University of Wisconsin-Madison hit the top spot.

Labels: Education, University of Miami, US

Europe and the Financial Crisis: US High School Students Take on The Euro Challenge

Is the global economy heading from recession to depression? Why did a crisis in US mortgage markets wreak havoc in economies across Europe? The Euro Challenge, an academic contest now in its fourth year, pits teams of high school students against each other as they answer economic and financial questions to showcase their knowledge of everything from ballooning government deficits to rising unemployment. This year, 72 high school teams from nine states (Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois and Pennsylvania) will compete in the Euro Challenge, which fosters a better understanding of the European and transatlantic economy and supports local learning objectives in the field of economics and finance. Regional rounds kick off on March 30 and culminate in the finals at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on April 29. "This year is a very special year for the Euro Challenge," said EU Ambassador John Bruton. "We have more schools and students competing this year than we have ever had since the European Commission’s Delegation to the United States first launched the contest in 2006. And they are competing at a time when daily headlines remind us just how important it is that we all understand the world of economics and finance." Students compete for scholarships awarded by the Moody's Foundation which also sponsors a one-day field trip to Washington DC for the top two teams. "Moody's is proud to be supporting the Euro Challenge as the competition grows into a truly national event," said Fran Laserson, President of the Moody's Foundation. "Economic and financial literacy is key to the development of tomorrow's US and global leaders."

"There is no other program that enables students to learn, first hand, about complex international issues like the one offered by the European Commission,” said Libby Nowak, teacher and coordinator of the Euro Challenge team at the High School of Economics & Finance in New York City.

US high schools interested in competing in 2010 should consult www.euro-challenge.org or contact the competition coordinator, Working in Support of Education, at 212-421-2700.

Labels: cooperation, Education, EU, US

China, EU to jointly build energy institute

The Financing Agreement for the China-EU Institute of Clean and Renewable Energy was signed in Beijing On March 30. It was signed by Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy. The institute will provide education for postgraduate students and a research platform for doctorate students. It also includes an on-job training center. The school is expected to enroll at least 100 students a year.With a contribution of €10 million, the Commission together with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Commerce will establish the Institute, which will be run as a non-profit partnership between a group of leading European academic institutions and one or more leading Chinese academic institutions.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce over the past 20 years China and the EU have conducted more than 70 development cooperation projects, with a total investment of 700 million euros. Of them 52 have been completed, which valued 420 million euros and 21 are under way, which will amount to 280 million euros.The development cooperation framework mainly covers the fields of agriculture, environmental protection, energy, education, trade, justice and governance.

Labels: China, Education, EU

English Becomes Lingua Franca at Dutch Universities - by Marlies Hagers

As education becomes an export product, Dutch universities are increasingly switching to English as the language of instruction -- some say that higher education is suffering as a result.The proposal to make English the official language of instruction at Dutch universities was first introduced in 1990 by the country's education minister at the time, Jo Ritzen. If Dutch higher education wanted to continue to pull its weight in the sciences, Ritzen argued, it had to become more international.

Internationalization is the magic word everywhere. Education has become an export product and a university's competitiveness is measured, particularly by the executive boards, by the number of foreign students it hosts. At many faculties, deans are charged with tasks like organizing partnerships and student and faculty exchange programs with universities around the world. "It is part of globalization," says Gerry Wakker, deputy dean of education and internationalization in Groningen. "More and more people are working abroad for a long or short time or they are studying there for a year. We prepare them for that by creating groups of students that are as mixed as possible."

Labels: Education, English Language, EU, The Netherlands

Denmark to host wind energy seminar in Pretoria - by Christy van der Merwe

In promoting wind energy, and its potential to become big business in South Africa, Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Per Stig Moller would open a wind energy seminar in Pretoria on January 23. South African Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica would also be present at the seminar, where Danish companies Vestas Wind Systems, Dong Energy, and Suzlon Wind Energy would make presentations on the global green energy frontier. The one-day international seminar would be hosted by the Embassy of Denmark in Pretoria and the South African Cities Network in cooperation with the Danish energy players.

Denmark developed its wind energy strategies in the 1970s and 1980s, and, at present, renewable energies, largely wind, made up 27% of the country's electricity supply. Wind power has become big business, and Danish companies were viewed as world leaders in wind power production.

Labels: Denmark, Education, EU, South Africa, Wind Turbines

Running on fumes: U.S. must invest in new economies through support for education, research - by Shawn Lawrence Otto

In an effort to shore up the failing economy we've now seen the government pump hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into corporations in what is either the largest socialization of the free market or the largest raiding of the public trust in history, depending on your perspective. This emergency response may stop the bleeding, but it does little to tackle a major cause: inadequate investment in producing new economies as our old ones mature. As a result, we're running on fumes and debt.

And a 2005 Business Roundtable report projects that by 2010, 90 percent of all scientists and engineers will live in Asia. If that projection turns out to be even close, it represents a major shift in the underpinnings of the American economy.

Labels: Economy, Education, US

Labels: Education, EU

Labels: Education, EU

Non-European PhDs In Germany Find Use Of 'Doktor' Verboten - Craig Whitlock and Shannon Smiley

Americans with PhDs beware: Telling people in Germany that you're a doctor could land you in jail. At least seven U.S. citizens working as researchers in Germany have faced criminal probes in recent months for using the title "Dr." on their business cards, Web sites and r¿sum¿s. They all hold doctoral degrees from elite universities back home. Under a little-known Nazi-era law, only people who earn PhDs or medical degrees in Germany are allowed to use "Dr." as a courtesy title.

Labels: Education, EU, Europe, Germany

How can we get our children to "kick the habit" of electronic addiction and to being normal children again?

Alarmed by a study that said teens spend less time with books, which is helping to create a nation of poor readers, English teacher Brenda Durkacs at the Coral Springs High school in Florida challenged her students to step away from the computer keys for a full week as part of a project she began in November to get students to read, react and question.

During this project, she helped her class develop an awareness of technology's sometimes intrusive nature, pointing not just to the number of hours video games, text messaging or television can drain out of a day, but also to serious concerns about how technology can invade privacy.

Many students found it very hard to "kick the habit" because as one of them said "It just feels so natural to use technology for everything".

Brenda Durkacs got the idea last year when a friend e-mailed her an analysis from the National Endowment for the Arts. The study showed that as young people read less, their comprehension skills deteriorate. Part of the problem is that there are so many things vying for students' leisure time. Instead of picking up a book, students now turn on the computer, DVD player or iPod — maybe all three simultaneously, the study said.

As part of her program Brenda Durkacs had her students document every text-message, phone call and download they used for one week in November. During this exercise some students even found out they played Xbox, used the computer and watched the TV at least 10 hours if not more a day.

Soon Brenda Durkas got the class even more interested to abstain from using the electronic equipment after she made them read Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's science fiction novel, where books are burned, critical thought suppressed and television reigns supreme.

It was extremely difficult to for us to "kick-off" some of the students said, but despite their urges to check e-mail, they realized the benefits of occasionally disconnecting. Some students voluntarily deleted their MySpace accounts, put down their video games and turned off the television. Instead, they started playing football, soccer and other sports, but best of all many picked up reading again.

One student commented "If you can't read, then you can't write. And if you can't write, then you can't express yourself", as she looked up from a copy of 1984, the class' current assignment about the technological balance between personal privacy and state security.

In another assignment the students had to read George Orwell's novel about the peeping eye of "Big Brother". Following that assignment the students were told to chart the technology they could identify in their own local area, which was used to watch, spy and track them. Their lists quickly filled with items such as security cameras at the gym, toll-road transponders, ATM camera's, and personalized spam e-mails. As the program progressed the students also realized that they had been ignorant to the fact that all privacy is relative. Computer systems can match images caught by security cameras against digital mug shots of criminals. The ink from some color printers acts as a digital license plate, helping identify the machine. Some of them also heard for the first time that the US federal government and other countries in the world have secret wiretap programs.

For a generation of students who have been growing up on-line, logging off for a week seems almost impossible. Our hat goes off to salute Brenda Durkacs and her class of freshmen at Coral Springs High School in Florida. They managed to survive seven days of writing with ballpoint, pencils and paper, reading books, chatting face-to face and actually going outside to play. It is an example we should also follow in Europe, where the addiction of kids to electronic games and a host of other electronic gadgets has also gone totally out of control.

Labels: Addiction, Computer Games, Computer industry, e-mail spam, Education, electronic equipment. reading skills, EU, Europe, US

Turkih PM Erdogan in Favor of Turkish Schools, Universities in Germany

During a meeting with Merkel and school students from Berlin on Friday, Feb 8, to discuss problems of young migrants such as language barriers, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he was in favour of integration and against assimilation. The Turkish leader said he supported integration efforts but people's differences must be accepted. "In Germany, it should be possible for high schools to be set up where the teaching is in Turkish," Erdogan said, adding he also favored the idea of Turkish-language universities in Germany. Germany is home to Western Europe's biggest population of Turks -- about 2.5 million people.

Note EU-Digest: Erdogan's plan which has met with scepticism in Germany makes no sense at all. The priority of Turks or any other foreign national who choses to immigrate to a EU nation should be that he or she needs to assimilate and learn the language of their new home country. EU governments should not get involved in subsidizing schools which are based on providing immigrants the opportunity to stay connected with their culture, language or religion.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Education, Germany, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Learning Dutch lessons on teen pregnancy - by Laura Donnelly

Holland has the lowest rate of children born to teenage mothers across Western Europe - six times lower than Britain's statistics at the opposite end of the league table. When teenagers do fall pregnant, those in the Netherlands are slightly more likely than their counterparts in the UK to have abortions. But the gap between the number of births to teenage mothers is better explained by the lower levels of sexual activity in Holland before the age of consent.Liberal campaigners in Britain point to Holland's permissive health policies, including compulsory sex education in schools from the age of five, as being key to its success. But advocates of the Dutch approach say the practical demonstrations are just a tiny part of their agenda, which encourages teens to discuss the moral and emotional implications of sex. Typical debates include reasons to have sex, what to say if a boy refuses to wear a condom and how to maintain self-respect.

Labels: Education, EU, Healthcare, Netherlands

Dutch students protest against what they consider as pointless classes - by Perro de Jong

Demonstrations by students who complain that they spend too much time in the classroom sounds a bit ludicrous. However, last week a union which represents high school students (LAKS) eloquently pointed out that what is truly ludicrous is a recent government recommendation to enforce a law which requires students to spend 1,040 hours at school. For one, there is a severe shortage of both qualified and unqualified teachers, so students often find themselves sitting in classrooms where they have nothing to do. Unless one argues that blindly following rules which make no sense at all is the most valuable educational lesson for a future career in public service.

But the Netherlands is not France. Compared to the lot of young people in the Paris suburbs, there is actually little to complain about - no harrowing poverty or lack of prospects. And the fun of rioting without a cause appeals to some students. There will always be people who riot because it's exciting, and looks tough on websites such as YouTube and Hyves. It remains to be seen whether things will calm down, or whether the violence will escalate further.Note EU-Digest: Students should always be able to protest, but violence and destruction must not be accepted and should be stopped with all the means available to the riot police in the Netherlands. Parents of children who have joined these protests should also make sure that they warn their children that they will be punished, not only by government authorities, but also by them if they get involved in violence.

Labels: Education, EU, Netherlands

Solution for EU to accelerate research and development: How the Open Source Movement Has Changed Education: 10 Success Stories

Recently, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that the OCW program, a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and self-learners around the world, is online and will be completed by 2008. The OCW provides open access to course materials for up to 1,550 MIT courses, representing 34 departments and all five MIT schools. The goal is to include materials from all MIT courses by next year. MIT provides just one of the 10 open source educational success stories. Open source and open access resources have changed how colleges, organizations, instructors, and prospective students use software, operating systems and online documents for educational purposes. And, in most cases, each success story also has served as a springboard to create more open source projects.

Note EU-Digest: Open Source education is an excellent way for the EU to accelerate the improvement of its resource and development base and educational curriculum methodology. Education should not be privatized , but open to everyone for as little cost as possible. The Open Source system in connection with the Internet seems to present an ideal opportunity."

Labels: Education, EU, Internet, Open Source

Foreign students contribute 14.6 billion dollars to U.S. economy - by Tamar Lewin

While foreign students at American colleges and universities are most often singled out for their scientific and cultural contributions, they are an increasingly important economic force as well, according to a new report from the Institute of International Education. In the last school year, the report found, international students' net contribution to the U.S. economy was nearly $14.5 billion - up a billion dollars from the previous year, the largest increase to date.

"These are foreign people buying an American product, and the Department of Commerce says international education is our fifth-largest service export, bigger than medical services," said Allan Goodman, president of the institute. "It's a huge factor in a lot of cities.

Labels: Economy, Education

Multiculturism as a Failed Cure

The Netherlands: Multiculturism as a Failed Cure - by John Crace

"what also emerges from this study is the thinness of the line between difference and prejudice. “We found that views typically held by otherwise tolerant Dutch people—that Muslims treated women badly and were too authoritarian with their children—were counterbalanced by Muslim attitudes towards the Dutch,” says Sniderman. “Muslims believed the Dutch were disrespectful towards women and failed to discipline their children properly. So this wasn’t about prejudices held by religious fanatics on both sides; it was a genuine conflict of values between two communities. It was the focus on these differences, through the pursuit of multiculturalism, that tipped the balance towards prejudice in some cases.” Sniderman is too cautious to generalize from his data, but he will concede there are parallels that can reasonably be made between Britain and the Netherlands, particularly in regard to faith schools. “The Dutch always pursued a segregated education policy of different schools for Protestants and Catholics,” he says, “and it seemed obvious for them to apply the same principles for Muslims.

“Yet the evidence proves this hasn’t worked. The biggest predictor of integration and social mobility in the Netherlands is the ability to speak Dutch, and kids at Muslim schools are not learning the language as well as students in other schools. The result is that second-generation Muslim immigrants are actually becoming worse off than their parents, a situation that can only cause more problems. And if the British government continues to promote faith schools, it could well find itself in a similar predicament.”

Note EU-Digest: "Mr. Sniderman hits the nail right on the head - if religious organizations or private entities want their own schools they should pay for the cost of setting them up and running them - certainly not the Government. Integration of immigrants into a society begins at having them fully participate in their new country's educational system, not by categorizing them on the basis of religion or economic standing.

Labels: Education, EU, Multiculturism, The Netherlands

British students 'are least hard-working in Europe' - by Richard Gardner

Britain is in danger of losing its reputation for providing a world-class university education because its students work far fewer hours than students in the rest of Europe, a report published today warns. Students on media studies courses are the least hard-working, spending less than 20 hours a week on their work, the report says, adding that women tend to work harder than men. The report also shows that more than a quarter of the overseas students at all UK universities say they are getting "poor" value for money on their courses, possibly as a result of receiving far less tuition than their counterparts on the Continent, according to the report's authors.

Labels: Education, England, EU

Let’s make Europe happen!

A Summer University is usually a two-week event organised by an AEGEE antenna involving about 20 to 60 students from all over Europe. Summer Universities are organised by young volunteering people for young people. The activities carried out during a Summer University range from academic activities such as classes of foreign languages, different courses on technical themes to multicultural activities such as summer student parties and sport activities. It is the largest volunteer-based mobility programme in Europe exerting its influence in Europe for 20 years now and involves more than 6,000 youths from 40 European countries outstretching from Portugal to Azerbaijan, and Finland to Malta. Born in 1988, the Summer University Project (SU) has been developed by AEGEE-Europe as the chief tool in promoting European integration among young citizens. The year 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of the Summer University, making it the longest-lasting project in AEGEE history as well as the largest volunteer-based one in Europe.

All interested youths and students who would like to experience cultural exchange at its best are kindly requested to email AEGEE-Valletta on: aegee@um.edu.mt

Labels: Education, EU

Education exchange initiative to mark 50 years of the EU - by Pam Caulfield

Minister for Europe marks the 50th anniversary of the European Union by launching a major new education initiative. The UK will mark the 50th anniversary of the European Union by launching a major new initiative to develop learning partnerships between UK schools and their European counterparts.

Through Learning Together, information will be made available to schools across the UK about the range of opportunities to develop learning partnerships and do joint projects with European schools.

Labels: Education

Our children aren’t failures, we are - by William Rees-Mogg

THERE is no better test of a nation’s civilisation than the treatment of its children. That makes the report of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef, particularly shocking for Britain. If Unicef has got it right, Britain comes bottom in children’s well-being out of 21 industrial nations, some of them much poorer than ourselves. The Netherlands, where schooling is more relaxed, more varied and more stable, comes top.

The specific comparisons are shaming. British children are more than twice as likely to have had under-age sex than the Polish, eight times more likely to have used cannabis than the Greeks, four times more likely to have been drunk than the French, seven times more likely to have had a baby than the Japanese and are twice as likely to be overweight as the Poles.

Labels: Education

EU to pour 7.5 billion Euro into scientific research

The European Union is to pour 7.5 billion Euro (USD 100 billion) into its scientific research council over the next six years, it was announced in Berlin on February 27. Opening the inaugural conference of the European Research Council, (ERC) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said serious shortages of trained personnel loomed in areas such as energy and climate.

Merkel said the European Union needed an additional 700,000 researchers, with Germany lacking engineers in particular. She pointed to Germany as an example of lagging performance in higher education.

Labels: Education

Europe: a Tower of Babel

Don't fear the Polish plumber, says Slovak Ján Figel', European Commissioner for Education, Training and Culture

'Life is change. Europe is a moving target.' Ján Figel' , 47, has been in post since the end of 2004. He stresses civilian responsibility for creating Europe, since 'Europe won't change without her 500 million citizens.'

Strengthening the Bologna process (the reform process for European higher education), and improving school and university systems are some of the good moves that Figel' has made as Commissioner. The budget for the Erasmus programme is due to triple from 1 billion Euros for the last 6 years to 3 billion Euros for the next 7 years. 'Universities were closed in the era of totalitarian regimes. We mustn't forget this important history lesson, so we can reconnect with the Europe of invention and Renaissance, that of openness to knowledge.'

Labels: Education