CONTENTS

REGIONAL NEWS
Africa (cover page)
The Americas
Asia-Pacific
E. Europe & NIS
Middle East
W. Europe

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Book Review: The Globalization of Higher Education

RESEARCH
Symposium Explores International For-Profit and Online Education

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Asia-Pacific

Asia’s Top Universities In April, Asiaweek magazine presented its 1999 ranking of the region’s best universities. The listing was compiled using an extensive databank on such things as faculty qualifications, research output, student-per-teacher ratios and Internet access for 114 leading multi-disciplinary institutions and science and technology schools across Asia.  Multi Disciplinary 1) Tohoku University (Japan) 2) Kyoto University (Japan) 3) Seoul National University (South Korea) 4) University of Hong Kong 5) Taiwan University 6) National University of Singapore 7) Chinese University of Hong Kong 8) University of New South Wales (Australia)  9) Yonsei University (South Korea) 10) University of Melbourne (Australia)  Science and Technology  1) Korea Advanced Inst. of Science and Technology 2) Pohang University of Science and Technology (South Korea) 3) Tokyo Institute of Technology 4) Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi 5) Indian Institute of Technology, Madras  Last year the leading 65 Asian universities spent a combined total of $15 billion. In 1997, total spending by these universities was only $13.7 billion due to forced budgetary cutbacks following the onset of the Asian crisis.  Further information can be found at the Asiaweek Web site.

AUSTRALIA

The Melbourne JD program is accredited by the Council of Legal Education and plans to have a strong international focus. Students will be recruited both interstate and overseas, and are likely to be working professionals in business, medicine, teaching or engineering. 

Professor Michael Tilbury, co-director of the course, said the program’s main objective is to prepare students to deal with emerging areas of law created by globalization. Comparative law and international law will be required subjects. 

The first 24 students will be admitted into the program in January 2000, with the next group of students coming in May. 

CHINA

More recently however, the rising cost of education is further discouraging children from attending school. In Lijiagou, for instance, school fees have risen from $2.50 to $7.50 per year, which is a considerable sum in a region with an annual per capita income of $50.

In short, education is increasingly becoming a luxury in rural China with many more boys attending school than girls. All together, only 20 percent of girls and 40 percent of boys are enrolled in Lijiagou schools. The story is much the same in other rural districts across China, where economic factors are keeping children out of the classroom. Since the government stopped subsidizing primary education 10 years ago, school fees have increased dramatically. 

On one hand, the government’s vigorous campaign to achieve 100 percent enrollment by the year 2000 has boosted attendance levels in some of the county’s more prosperous areas. But in much of rural China, most children are still not attending school. 

In an effort to improve the situation, organizations like Project Hope, run by the China Youth Development Foundation, and the Spring Bud Project for Girls, run by the Women’s Federation, have solicited charitable donations to subsidize schooling. Their endeavors have been successful in many of the areas where they operate. 

The Communist Youth League (CYL) estimates that the total revenue spent on education in the province of Guyuan is less than $2 million a year for a population of half a million people and 408 schools. The more than $3 million shelled out each year to pay teachers does not begin to cover the costs of classroom supplies and building upkeep. 

According to a report soon to be published by the CYL, less than 60 percent of boys and 50 percent of girls attend school there. Similarly, central government statistics show that 25 percent of students in Ningxia drop out after only one year, and less than 50 percent go beyond the sixth grade — the last year of elementary school. 

Until a decade ago, it was possible for gifted children in the countryside to enter one of China’s free regional universities, which in turn would give them access to secure government jobs. Today, however, universities in China have started to charge tuition beyond the reach of most rural families. Compounding matters, the country’s state sector is on the decline, which means fewer jobs for college graduates. 

INDIA

Delhi University has authorized the Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust to conduct the bachelor of science honors course in physiotherapy this academic year. 

As a result of the partnership, Amar Jyoti is the first voluntary organization in India to receive authorization from Delhi University to run a professional course. 

In preparation for the course, the Charitable Trust opened the Amar Jyoti Institute of Physiotherapy in October. 

Institutions of higher education in India are fast learning that the World Wide Web can transcend national boundaries to reach students and scholars millions of miles away. Here is a sampling of schools that now have Web sites: 

India’s institutes of technology (IITs) have the most web sites, owing largely to their access to the world of high-tech. IIT Delhi is located at www.iitd.ernet.in. IIT Bombay has a site at www.iitb.ernet.in, while IIT Kanpur is at www.iitk.ac.in. A good search engine should provide links to many other IIT web sites. 

Most of India’s engineering colleges now have Web pages that can be accessed for information about admissions and courses. The Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani (Rajasthan), one of the country’s best known engineering schools, has an official site at www.bits-pilani.ac.in. In Northern India, the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, which is rated as one of India’s best government-run engineering schools, is located at www.pals.org. Hayana Engineering College maintains a site at www.hecollege.com, while the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow, can be found at www.ietlucknow.com. The Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College, Allahabad, which is considered by many to be one of the best regional colleges in India, has its site at www.mnrec.ernet.in. 

The Indian Institute of Railway Electrical Engineers maintains a web site at www.irieen.com, the Bengal engineering College, Shibpur, which recently celebrated its 140th anniversary, can be found at www.becs.ac.in. 

Many of the country’s Southern colleges are also online now: the Bangalore Institute of Technology is at www.bitbangalore.org, and the Centre for Electronics Design Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, maintains its site at www.cedt.iisc.ernet.in. Sardar Vallabhbhai Regional Engineering College (REC) in Surat, Gujarat, has a Web page at www.svrec.ernet.in. 

REC, Calicut, Kerala is at www.reccal.ernet.in. The Anna University, Chennai maintains its site at www.annauniv.org, while Annamalai University is at www.aunet.org. 

A more extensive listing of Indian engineering colleges can be found at www.indiaedu.com/engineering.

LAOS

The project has received funding from the Asian Development Bank, the Australian government and the government of Laos. In addition, the Ministry of Education plans to use funds allocated by Save the Children, Norway, to improve schools in the countryside. Such measures will include upgrading teachers’ skills, introducing a multi-grade teaching system, in addition to establishing cluster schools and early childhood development programs.