Regional
News
DENMARK/SWEDEN
Institutions of education in Copenhagen and southern Sweden are traversing
national boundaries and forming a regional organization that will compete
with Europe's largest metropolitan centers in higher education. The
Oresund University has been established as an umbrella organization
for 11 participating institutions. It takes its name from the strait that
divides the Danish capital from Malmo and Lund in Sweden. This strait
has recently been spanned by the $2 billion Oresond bridge. The new bridge
has opened up an exchange of students and academics between the two regions.
Oresund University
intends to facilitate this exchange and bolster the educational opportunities
that smaller institutions cannot afford to promote. Lund
University, the University of Copenhagen
and the Technical University of
Denmark are the major proponents of the new network. By sharing their
resources and creating joint programs, member institutions of Oresund
University have been able to perpetuate failing departments, especially
languages, and expand research and development projects.
Perhaps the
most lucrative advantage of this association will be its collaboration
with the regional biomedical research sector, which they hope will spawn
a center of the biomedicine industry likened to the San Francisco Bay
area's relation to software. More than 25 hospitals and 150 companies
have pledged their support to the project, along with the Royal Danish
School of Pharmacy and the universities of Malmo and Roskilde.
Several obstacles
still face Oresund University, however, including the distance gap that
the bridge was intended to ameliorate. Commuters complain that the trains
across the strait are unbearably slow, while the option of driving across
is hampered by a US$30 one-way toll. Others worry that the new network
of universities will struggle to achieve an equilibrium, because Copenhagen
is by far more prosperous than the Malmo region. Still, as word begins
to spread about the new joint projects, administrators expect Danish and
Swedish students to take advantage of newer, more diverse and comprehensive
educational programs.
—
The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 16, 2001
FRANCE
The new Administrative
Board of the International Association of Universities, based in Paris,
has admitted the following new members:
•
University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
• Yerevan State Medical University, Armenia
• Ama International University, Bangladesh
• National Taiwan University, China, Taiwan
• National Taiwan Ocean University, China
• Universidad del Quindio, Colombia
• Universidad Mariana, Colombia
• Universidad Nordestana, Dominican Republic
• Benha Higher Institute of Technology, Egypt
• Concordia International University, Estonia
• Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Hungary
• Tehran University of Teacher Training, Iran
• Irbid Private University, Jordan
• Pusan National University, Korea
• University of Medicine and Pharmacy (IASI), Romania
Member Organizations:
• Council of Rectors of Higher Educational Establishments,
Armenia
—
IAU Newsletter
ITALY
New reforms have been passed that will put an end to regulations requiring
the completion of a specified number of years of study to earn a degree.
A law established in 1938 has prevented students from graduating early,
even if they have acquired sufficient credits and proven capable of passing
the requisite exams. The new law will allow Italian students to graduate
more quickly and move through courses of study without the burdensome
constraint of a time requirement.
—
The Times Higher Education Supplement
Feb. 23, 2001
MACEDONIA
After days of intense debate, the parliament of Macedonia passed a new
law to establish an Albanian-language university. The university is intended
to serve the large minority of ethnic Albanians in the country, and will
be co-funded by Western European governments, the Council
of Europe and the Soros Foundation.
Many Albanians have criticized the state for not funding the new school,
while others have said that such a school will only underscore and intensify
ethnic partitions within Macedonia. There is currently no other Albanian-language
university in the country, although Kosovar teachers established an illegal
academy in that language in 1994. The new college will be situated in
the vicinity of that academy, in the village of Kalnick.
—
BBC
July 2000
NETHERLANDS
Dutch Education Minister Loek Hermans has announced his support for the
expansion of the Open University in Holland
to incorporate other universities and institutions of higher vocational
education. Within five years, this proposed consortium is expected to
become a top-notch virtual university that will contribute to the country's
growing emphasis on professional education and lifelong learning.
At least
three universities and eight colleges have already committed to join the
consortium, which, in its culmination, will be renamed the Digital University.
—
Cedefop INFO
March 2000
SPAIN
Officials within the Spanish government are formulating critical education
reforms to be presented as the Bill of Quality this summer. In efforts
to increase competition among both students and universities, many are
trying to toughen the baccalaureate degree by implementing a nationwide
final exam. The exam would cover all subjects, and a degree candidate
would have to receive a passing grade to graduate and pursue a degree
in higher education.
In addition,
there is a proposal that universities begin to offer their own entrance
exams, specific to the chosen course of study. While the final exam would
aid the standardization of the baccalaureate in Spain, the new entrance
exams would allow for a school's greater control of selectivity and overall
autonomy.
— El Pais
Feb. 19, 2001
UNITED KINGDOM
The First Minister of Scotland, Henry MacLeish, and the Minister for Enterprise
and Lifelong Learning, Wendy Alexander, recently announced the official
opening of the Scottish University
for Industry. The Scottish government has pledged nearly 40 million
pounds (US$ 57 million) to the new school.
— Times Higher Education Supplement
Jan. 19, 2001
Leeds University will merge with
the troubled West Yorkshire college
Bretton Hall in August of this year. Administrators will introduce
a new school of performing arts at Bretton and augment teaching and research
in the arts. Bretton's fashion and design program will link with textile
studies at Leeds. Officials anticipate an additional 3,000 students at
the school within the next five years.
—
Times Higher Education Supplement
Jan. 5, 2001
Due to plummeting student enrollment, the University
of Lincolnshire and Humberside has decided to withdraw from its Hull
campus and move to Lincoln — changing its name to the University
of Lincoln in the process. School administrators admitted that they could
no longer afford to compete with the University
of Hull.
—
Times Higher Education Supplement
Feb. 2, 2001
The Quality Assurance Agency released
its new qualification
framework in January, setting three "levels" of undergraduate
status: certificate level; intermediate level, including the ordinary
Higher National Degree and the new foundation degree; and honors level,
including the Bachelor of Arts (Honors) and Bachelor of Science (Honors).
Universities are expected to comply with this new structure and nomenclature
by 2003.
—
Chronicle of Higher Education
Feb. 9, 2001
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