Asia

Afghan scholars fear creeping closure of universities by Taliban

Apr 21, 2022Apr 21, 2022 awouniversity

Recent measures prevent women from participating in academic conferences or graduation ceremonies From Times Higher Education. Source: iStock Academics in Afghanistan fear that the semester just finished could be their last before the Taliban closes universities ahead of major reforms. The country’s fundamentalist regime, which took over nine months ago, has already put its stamp on higher education. It has forced out female faculty members and segregated students by gender, establishing physical barriers between men and women and changing schedules to divide them into separate classes. In recent weeks, women have been banned from attending academic…

Korean universities hit with overseas recruitment bans

Apr 14, 2022Apr 14, 2022 awouniversity

Government ‘shifts blame’ for visa overstayers to universities, in blow to regional institutions wrestling with declining domestic population South Korea’s government has sanctioned universities with overseas students who have overstayed their visas, in effect cutting off international student enrolment for institutions struggling to address falling domestic demand caused by demographic decline. After 18 universities were slapped with one-year bans preventing them from seeking visas for foreign students, scholars said officials were unfairly punishing higher education providers. “In the wake of this situation, it will be difficult to avoid criticism that…

Malaysia Lincoln University delegation proposes varsity in Nigeria

Apr 7, 2022Apr 7, 2022 awouniversity

By Moyosore Salami A delegation from Lincoln University, Malaysia led by Nigeria Ambassador to Malaysia, Dr. Hajara Ibrahim Salim, recently visited the Executive Secretary (ES), National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed mni, FMR, FNAL, to intimate him of their proposal to establish a private branch campus in Kumo, Gombe State. Receiving the delegation, Prof. Rasheed stated that he had been looking forward to having the interface with the team. He expressed delight at the interest by the Malaysian University now that the Commission had commenced a review of…

Hope for end to campus violence as student unions return to Pakistan

Mar 10, 2022Mar 10, 2022 awouniversity

Supporters say student engagement could lead to a ‘less radicalised’ student body, but fear more political meddling in institutional decisions From Times Higher Education Source: Getty Plea for power: youth across Pakistan have rallied to bring back student unions Decades after Pakistan’s government outlawed student unions, one of its provinces has brought them back – a move supporters hope will spread to the rest of the country, promoting a culture of peaceful political engagement. Last month, officials in Sindh province – home to Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, as well as…

Top Chinese graduates opt to stay at home for postgraduate study

Mar 2, 2022Mar 2, 2022 awouniversity

Proportion of leavers going overseas for further courses on a downward trend that predates pandemic Jing Liu/Times Higher Education Source: Getty The number of graduates of leading Chinese universities pursuing further study overseas is on a downward trajectory that predates the pandemic and has accelerated through it, possibly signaling a major shift in the global mobility of academic talent. Times Higher Education analysis of graduate employment reports published by China’s 10 top-ranked universities, as rated by THE, indicates that the proportion of students enrolling with a foreign institution after graduation has declined…

Singapore universities to launch new courses in green, digital subjects

Mar 1, 2022Mar 1, 2022 awouniversity

By Moyosore Salami The National University of Singapore (NUS) and other local universities is set to launch new courses this year in areas such as data analytics and sustainable urban development with t he aim to help students keep pace with workplace transformation. Professor Bernard Tan, NUS senior vice-provost (undergraduate education), said: “The overall goal of all our education reform efforts is to advance a university curriculum that prepares students well for a Fourth Industrial Revolution world and workplace.” Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said that globally, there is a huge demand…

Industry-focused universities tackle Chinese skills gaps

Jan 31, 2022Jan 31, 2022 awouniversity

Privately backed institutions seen as new model for higher education development From Times Higher Education Source: Getty China’s new crop of privately backed, industry-focused universities could help meet skills gaps and jump-start innovation, academics said. At the end of last year Chinese businessman Cao Dewang came one step closer to establishing his institution when he signed an agreement with the city government of Fuzhou to build a university for developing applied research and technical talent. The Fuyao University of Science and Technology is one example of a handful of such…

Five universities in the eastern Seoul area gather to share innovation ideas

Oct 20, 2021Oct 20, 2021 awouniversity

– A colloquium was held to discuss how to improve the educational environment through digital innovation Source: Communications Team /University of South Korea News On Friday February 19, 2021, five universities located in the eastern Seoul area—Kyunghee University, Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Hanyang University—signed an innovation sharing and exchange agreement, whose purpose is to improve the quality of contact-free education in the ‘new normal’ we are living through by sharing their innovative digital education content and technologies with one another. The event was held in…

SNU Secures Class Operation Safety in the Fall 2021 Semester by Increasing Rapid COVID-19 Testing

Aug 21, 2021Aug 21, 2021 awouniversity

Seoul National University News SNU collected through direction communication with the students the opinions of the SNU members to enhance the effects of education, and determined the basic principle for the classes in the second semester of the year 2021 as “implementing face-to-face classes within the scope of the governmental disease-prevention guidelines and the available resources of individual colleges (graduate schools),” preparing the second semester with substantial disease-prevention measures including the increase of the rapid PCR test applications. Rapid PCR testing currently operated in SNU The rapid PCR testing, which…

“Heaviest Black Hole Collision” Might be a Boson Star Merger

Feb 26, 2021Feb 26, 2021 awouniversity

Chinese University of Hong Kong Release/ 25 Feb 2021 An International Team of Scientists, Including a CUHK Student, Discovers the “Heaviest Black Hole Collision” Might be a Boson Star Merger An international team of scientists led by the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics and the University of Aveiro, including an undergraduate from the Department of Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), has proposed the collision of two exotic compact objects known as boson stars as an alternative explanation for the origin of the gravitational wave signal…