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| August 2006 | Volume
19, Issue 4 |
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REGIONAL
NEWS FEATURE PRACTICAL INFORMATION FROM THE ARCHIVES
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Regional
News
Europe
GreeceUniversity Reforms Move Forward Despite Widespread Protest
Departments at most universities across the country have been closed for a period and many final exams have been boycotted or disrupted. Also opposed by many of the protestors are measures to fully recognize private universities, which until now issue credentials that are not recognized by government authorities; Greece is the only country in Europe without provisions for the recognition of credentials from private institutions of higher education. By recognizing private universities, it is hoped that more students would stay in the country for tertiary studies. As it stands, Greek students are among the most mobile in Europe, with nine percent of students traveling abroad to study. The reform measures would also bring an end to the student-for-life phenomena by limiting the number of times students can retake exams in a subject and limiting the number of years they can take to earn a degree. A very low percentage of students currently graduate in the four to five years it is supposed to take to complete a first degree. Some estimates put failure rates as a high as 80 percent in some subjects, and students can retake exams as often as they like. With education being fully funded by the state, some argue that there is no incentive for students to pass their exams. This has led to fear among many student agitators that these reforms are a harbinger for the introduction of tuition fees, a movement that is beginning to pick up speed across Europe — a continent that has long been a bastion for state-sponsored higher education. — Athens News ItalyBologna Bringing Faster Graduation Rates
The new three-year laurea was introduced in compliance with the provisions of the Bologna declaration, which, among other things, requires that all signatory countries (45 currently) introduce a harmonized degree structure based on a three-year first degree and a two-year second degree. The details of the study reveal that 64.4 percent of students who began their studies under the new system were on schedule last year in their progress toward a degree. In 2002 the figure for all first-degree candidates was 13 percent. The study also found that the average graduating age of students has dropped four years to 24 since 2001, when the new three-year degree was introduced to replace the four-year laurea. — The Chronicle of Higher Education The Netherlands
Universities of Technology to Form Single Federation
— 3TU SwedenForeign Students Flood Swedish Universities as Domestic Enrollments Drop
As a proportion of total new enrollments in academic year 2004-05 foreign students accounted for over 20 percent, an increase from eight years ago when foreign students accounted for just nine percent of the freshman class. New enrollments of international students last year were 16,400 from a total of 81,800. The same study found that due to budgetary reasons the number of Swedish students — who do not pay tuition fees — entering tertiary studies had decreased after several decades of growth. The number of students entering graduate studies has fallen the most, with a drop of 25 percent in two years. — The Local Swedish Universities Strive for Greater Autonomy
The association also called on the private sector to up its funding of research at universities. With no academies or industrial-research institutes in the country, practically all scientific research is conducted at universities, the vast majority of which are public. To help accomplish this, the association has called for a change in the law to allow tax deductions for corporate or private donations to universities for research projects. The release of the manifesto has been timed to influence the debate in the upcoming general election scheduled for the fall. — The Chronicle of Higher Education SwitzerlandVoters Approve Reforms to Centralize Regulation of Universities
The amendments affect all levels of the education system and according to proponents will bring greater transparency, standardize quality standards, and increase student mobility. Traditionally, the individual cantonal governments have had overall responsibility for educational affairs, and the country’s ten universities are controlled and financed largely by the canton in which they are located with additional income coming from the federal government and those cantons that do not have a university in their jurisdiction. Now the ten universities will join Switzerland’s two technical institutes, in Zurich and Lausanne, by falling under the direct authority of the federal government. The new measures come as Switzerland begins to finalize reforms that it has undertaken to meet the requirements of the Europe-wide educational harmonization project known as the Bologna process. The constitutional amendments will provide the necessary legislative backing to changes that have already been undertaken as part of the Bologna reforms, in addition to additional changes that still need to be undertaken. — The Chronicle of Higher Education United KingdomAdmissions Service Rates Baccalaureate as Tougher than A Levels, Government Disagrees
According to the UCAS weighting, a relatively modest score of 35 points (from a maximum of 45) on the IB is the equivalent to four and a half A grades at A-level. The average sixth-form student in Britain takes three to three and a half A-levels, and A grades on all those would be enough to secure a place at most academically selective universities. An IB score of 38, the average achieved every year by more than 200 pupils at Sevonoaks, one of the first private schools to adopt the exam, was judged to be equivalent to five A grades at A-level. Oxford and Cambridge typically ask for 40 points, equivalent to five and half A grades. Currently 87 schools have adopted the IB which is comprised of three subjects at higher level and three at lower. Students are also required to write an extended essay, take a course in the theory of knowledge and fulfill the requirements of a component called “creativity, action and service.” In related news, the Cambridge exam board is getting ready to roll out a refined version of the Pre-U exam, its alterative qualification for students looking to get into top universities. From 2008 the Pre-U exam will involve studying three subjects over two years, with final exams and an extended essay. Unlike AS or A-levels, it would not be modular and split into two parts, nor require everyone to do certain subjects like the IB. The Pre-U exam is being launched in response to complaints from teachers and universities that A-levels no longer prepare students adequately for university studies. — The Telegraph New University Degree Caters to Need for China-Savvy Professionals
The new Greenwich masters program comes on the heels of criticism from business leaders in Britain that their employees lacked the language and communication skills necessary to successfully conduct business with the Chinese. Recent research released by the Hay Group, a British management consultancy, found that while China is the UK’s largest export market, only 500 students a year graduate with degrees that require significant Chinese-language training. — The Guardian New University Officially Opened
— BBC
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Greek students and lecturers have been hitting the streets and blockading university departments en masse this summer to protest proposed changes to the country's higher education laws. Students are fearful that the proposed reforms would undermine Greece’s publicly financed system of higher education. They have also been strongly opposing proposed changes to the asylum laws that prevent police from entering university grounds. 
