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Volume 12, Issue 3  
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REGIONAL NEWS
Schools of higher learning for adults largely accommodate students who fail national college and university entrance exams. Applicants who fall into this category and are looking to enter undergraduate programs must possess a high school diploma and have at least two years of work experience. However, those who have been designated as “model workers” by the state can be recruited into adult higher-learning institutions without taking the exams.
The national entrance examinations encompass the full educational spectrum and include the arts, humanities, sciences and special skills.
— China Daily
The Chinese Ministry of Education has authorized these institutions to offer a nonacademic adult-education program in Hong Kong from which students can earn a certificate of completion.
The institutions are not authorized to award other academic certificates, and students cannot earn credits for course work completed in this program. Moreover, these courses are not equivalent to the baccalaureate courses offered at the Shanghai campus.
Hence, the Ministry of Education has blacklisted this program as a “credit degree mill” and advises evaluators to be on the lookout for transcripts from the East China University of Science and Technology that were issued in Hong Kong.
— Correspondence from the Ministry of Education
Under the new scheme, universities will be assessed according to examination results, quality of research and student-teacher ratios. Athletic and cultural achievements will also be taken into account. The UGC will also be watching closely to see whether universities stick to the academic calendar and administer exams on time.
The purpose of the UGC plan is to get Indian universities to work for their funding instead of automatically depending on government subsidies. Hence, institutions of higher education will have a clear incentive to enhance their performance levels.
According to UGC officials, the current system, which allows universities to project their financial needs for each year, has resulted in excessive waste and inefficiency. It is not unusual for funds to be used for purposes other than what they were earmarked for.
The plan has been greeted with mixed reactions. While some institutions have applauded it, many state universities are concerned that such a move would result in a two-tiered university system in India. Others feel that the real reason behind the UGC scheme is not so much to improve the quality of higher education, but to decrease government funding for universities with the aim of making them more self-sufficient.
— The Times Higher Education Supplement
Commercial University Limited, Daryaganj, Dehli
While some of these schools have been in operation for the past 10 years, none of them is recognized by the UGC. The UGC further reports that it does not recognize degrees awarded by these institutions and that holders of such degrees will not be considered eligible for graduate programs in any legitimate university.
— University News
The university offers degree programs in business administration, computer science, economics, English, fine arts and Islamic studies. It hopes to attract women throughout the Muslim world and will endeavor to establish links with institutions in other countries.
— Chronicle of Higher Education
Since then, both universities have announced the following curricular reforms:
1) Undergraduate curricula are being restructured to allow students to take classes outside their chosen fields of specialization.
2) Measures have been taken to develop assessment criteria other than relying solely on written examinations.
3) Efforts are also underway to bring more creativity and thinking skills into the curriculum.
Another objective is to expand graduate enrollments and increase research output, particularly in the science and engineering fields. To help achieve this goal, talented Singaporeans as well as non-nationals working overseas are being actively recruited to embark on research and development careers in Singapore.
The government has also announced that a local “science hub” is under construction and should be fully operational within 15 years. The facility will house research institutes, including branch campuses of Johns Hopkins University and the French business school INSEAD.
Finally, local universities are aiming to bolster foreign enrollments by launching recruitment drives in Southeast Asia, as well as in India, China, South Africa and Mauritius.
Additional efforts to improve higher education in Singapore also included upgrading two fine-arts colleges: the La Salle-SIA College of Fine Arts and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. The government stated that these reforms would better enable the country to “compete in the next century as a creative nation with additional sets of skills and capabilities.”
— International Higher Education
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The Ministry of Education announced that adult higher-learning institutions recruited an estimated 900,000 students through the national entrance exams held May 8 and 9. According to ministry statistics, the number of students recruited this year is about the same as last year.