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    The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search. Most medical school graduates leave school with a significant amount of student debt, and their debt burden tends to be higher if they attended private medical schools. But private medical schools vary widely in price. Among ranked private schools in the 2018 Best Medical Schools research and primary care rankings, the cost of tuition and fees for the 2016-2017 school year ranges from $32,663 per year at Baylor College of Medicine to $63,890 per year at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. At the 10 least expensive ranked private medical schools, tuition and fees for the 2016-2017 school year were slightly more than $43,700 on average compared with the typical price at a private medical school, which was nearly $53,900 annually. Six of these 10 schools were ranked in the bottom one-fourth in the medical school rankings, and are labeled Rank Not Published. Below is a list of the 10 ranked private medical schools with the lowest tuition and fees in 2016. Two of these schools offer discounts to in-state residents – the Baylor College of Medicine and the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. The prices given for the schools in this article are the full-freight rates paid by out-of-state students. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. U.S. News surveyed 170 medical schools for our 2016 survey of research and primary care programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    The Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary, could be close down. CEU was founded in 1991 and has 1,440 students from 117 countries, many of whom on a scholarship, and has operated in Hungary for 25 years. Many of the social science degrees offered at the CEU rank among the world’s top 50-100, while it is also one of the leading research institutions in Hungary. The management of the private university says that the Victor Orban administration has introduced legislation that makes its operation impossible. The law proposed by the Orban government suggests that any foreign University must be subject to an intergovernmental agreement and can only operate in Hungary if it has a campus in the country of origin. CEU is registered with New York State but does not have a campus in the United States. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Orban view George Soros as a political foe. Even if setting up a campus in the United States within a year would be possible, an intergovernmental agreement to ensure the continued operation of the CEU would be impossible. Speaking to Bloomberg on Wednesday, the President of CEU, Professor Michael Ignatieff, made clear that “the bill is a threat to our continued existence in Hungary.” However, the Education Secretary Laszlo Palkovics says the proposed legislation will be applied to 28 foreign universities operating in Hungary and is not targeting the CEU alone. “This is not an anti-CEU investigation and not against Mr. Soros,” Mr. Paklovics told the BBC.
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    Arizona Summit Law school, a troubled for-profit institution owned by the InfiLaw System, has been placed on probation by its accrediting body, the American Bar Association. The association’s move was announced on Monday and followed Arizona Summit’s affiliation with Bethune-Cookman University, a nonprofit historically black college in Daytona Beach, Fla. Arizona Summit Law in Phoenix is the second school owned by InfiLaw to be placed on probation for failing to meet A.B.A. accreditation standards. Sterling Partners, a private equity firm in Chicago and Baltimore, is an investor. The first, Charlotte School of Law in Charlotte, N.C., lost its eligibility for federal student aid in January as a result of the probation. Its enrollment has declined sharply, and the school has said it is trying to restart federal aid and is exploring affiliation with a nonprofit college in a Northeastern state. At Arizona Summit, the bar association found that admissions practices, academic programs, and graduation and bar exam passage rates were below par. These deficiencies, according to a statement by the A.B.A. Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, “have resulted in the law school now being in a position where only immediate and substantial action can bring about a sufficient change to put the law school on a realistic path to being in compliance within the time allowed” by the bar association’s rules. Only 24.6 percent of Arizona Summit graduates who took the Arizona state bar exam for the first time in July 2016 passed, an exceptionally low rate. Charlotte School of Law reported nearly the same passage rate for its graduates who took the North Carolina bar exam last month. The bar association said that because the situation at Arizona Summit was critical and urgent, it could have hearings this year to consider any additional remedial action or sanctions “up to and including withdrawal of the law school’s approval.” The probation decision was made by the bar association’s Council of the Section of Legal E
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    The Rwandan Ministry of Education has temporarily suspended the operations of four universities and courses in six other universities as part of a strategy to deal with sub-standard educational offerings. The move follows recommendations of an audit report on the quality of education in the higher learning institutions in the country, the findings of which indicated that the institutions in question had either inadequate staff or teaching facilities. These institutions have been given six months to address the inadequacies and comply with the higher education requirements before they are allowed to resume normal operations. Rwanda has 35 universities, two of which are public (the University of Rwanda and the Institute of Legal Practice and Development) and 33 of which are private. ‘Irregularities’ A total of 16 universities, including those affected by suspensions, were issued with letters asking them to correct “irregularities” and comply with the ministry’s requirements. Among those universities which have been told to suspend courses are two international universities: the Open University of Tanzania and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology of Kenya. The audit was carried out in all higher education institutions – public and private – in October last year by international external auditors. The audit report is yet to be made public. The four suspended universities are Rusizi International University, Sinhgad Technical Education Society-Rwanda, Mahatma Gandhi University and Nile Source Polytechnic of Applied Arts in Huye district. Suspension of courses The six other universities which have been told to suspend undergraduate courses include the University of Technology and Arts of Byumba, the Open University of Tanzania, the University of Gitwe, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Institut Catholique de Kabgayi and Institut d’Enseignement Superieur de Ruhengeri. Some of the suspended courses include medicine and surgery, science in medical laboratory and te
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    Senate Democrats want Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to explain why she’s delaying the implementation of an Obama-era rule aimed at ensuring career-training programs, specifically those at for-profit colleges, actually prepare students for good-paying jobs. In a letter to DeVos this week, Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Patty Murray (Wash.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) called the department’s gainful employment rule a critical protection for both students and taxpayers. On Jan. 9, the department released final debt-to-earning rates for career training programs required by the rule finalized under Obama in October 2014. Under the rule, the estimated annual loan payment of a typical graduate would have to be at or below 20 percent of his or her discretionary income or 8 percent of his or her total earnings to be considered a program that leads to gainful employment. Programs that exceed these levels would be at risk of losing their ability to participate in taxpayer-funded federal student aid programs. Late last week the department gave schools more time to appeal their ratings, which are generated using earnings data from the Social Security Administration and debt information from the department’s records and the school. Final appeals, originally due March 10, are now due July 1. But Democrats argue the rule was generous to begin with, giving schools three opportunities to appeal their rates. “According to a Department spokesperson, the delay was also due to ‘a question about whether schools can provide data to a third party,’” the senators wrote. “It is unclear how this question could not have been solved through follow-up guidance rather than a delay.” DeVos is also giving Gainful Employment Programs until July 1 to switch to a new format in meeting the requirement to disclose information about their programs, including graduation rates, tuition and fee amounts, typical student debt upon graduation and what a graduate is likely to earn. The senators asked DeVos how long
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    RANCHI: The state higher and technical education department plans to provide aid to private engineering and polytechnic colleges to develop infrastructural facility and increase the gross enrolment ratio of the higher education institutes. . . Sources in the higher education department said the government plans to provide up to Rs 6 crore to private engineering colleges and around Rs 3 crore to private polytechnic institutions to help them upgrade their laboratories and use smart technologies in their classrooms. There are 11 private engineering colleges and 16 private polytechnic colleges in the state. . . Department secretary Ajay Kumar Singh said, "The funds will be given to the existing colleges in instalments. An amount of Rs 2 crore and Rs 1 crore will be given as first instalment to engineering and polytechnic colleges." . . The department has laid down a host criteria for the institutes to be eligible for the aid: The institutes need to be recognised by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and have their financial statements of past five years audited. The colleges also need to be affiliated to state board of technical education. . . The second instalment will be given to colleges only if it is accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA). . . Once the grant is provided to the colleges they will have to ensure that students from the state are enrolled in 60% of the total seats for a span of five years. . . The department will also provide land to new colleges planning to set up their campuses in state if they get AICTE recognition. . . "The national gross enrolment ratio is 23.6% while the state ratio is 13.4% only. We aim to increase this ratio to up to 30% by 2018, and for this we want more private colleges in the state," Singh said. .
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    March 19, 2017 - Higher Education Relevance Quality Agency (HERQA) is discussing with private higher education institutions to introduce a new directive which will regulate them and possibly penalize them in case of breaches, according to the Reporter. The directive, which was prepared by the Agency last year, was tabled to stakeholders including owners, presidents and associations of private higher education institutions for a final discussion. The discussion was meant to receive comments regarding the directive. “Once we receive comments from the interested parties we will take them into consideration,” Tarekgne Geressu, communication head of the Agency told The Reporter. The draft directive gives the Agency the power to penalize institutions that don't follow regulations under civil and criminal law. “The latest one is more detailed and specific than the zero draft,” Solomon Tadesse,” head of legal department at the Agency, said. In addition, we added a list of principles along with the misconducts and penalties, he said. It categorizes the misconducts along with their corresponding penalties. In this respect it listed 15 misconducts and their corresponding penalties. The penalty varies from issuing a warning letter to cancellation of licenses. Irregularities include opening branches and offering different programs without the permission of the Agency, registering students who do not fulfill the academic requirement and receiving students beyond the permitted enrollment by the Agency. The Agency, which has its offices only in Addis Ababa, oversees around 111 colleges, universities, university-colleges and institutes scattered across the country
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    BOND University at Robina has been listed in the prestigious global top 20 universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings of the Best Small Universities in the World. The private, not-for-profit university placed number 20 in the global ranking thanks to its personalised teaching philosophy and outstanding student experience which translates to extraordinary student satisfaction ratings. The Best Small Universities list acknowledges universities with an unparalleled reputation for delivering personalised learning and creating an environment that fosters a strong sense of community. It is topped by the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) which is also ranked this year as the second best overall university in the world, behind Oxford. Bond University is the only university in the southern hemisphere to be included in the global top 20. Bond University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Tim Brailsford, said the ranking was recognition of Bond’s never-ending and priority focus on the students and their learning experience. “Our point of difference has always been creating an environment that focuses on a personalised approach to learning and a student’s education, so that each and every student has the opportunity to realise their ambition; and this global ranking is recognition that we are delivering on our promise,” he said. “There are some truly outstanding universities in this list and we are quite humbled to be included in such company. “For one of Australia’s youngest universities we have come a long way in a very short period of time.” Bond was also recently ranked as Australia’s number one university for student experience for the 11th consecutive year in the 2017 Good Universities Guide. Business student Alice Ringelstein said she chose to study at Bond because of its smaller size, which enabled her to spend more one-on-one time with her teachers and gain the most out of her experience. “The small class sizes at Bond have given me the opportunity to participate in stimula
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    Taylor’s University is ranked no. 29 in the world for Hospitality & Leisure Management Taylor’s University today achieved a global milestone through recognition in the QS World University Ranking by Subject results which positioned the university as number one in Malaysia and top 30 in the world for Hospitality & Leisure Management. Taylor’s University placed alongside renowned universities in Asia, including Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for the top 5 ranking for the subject. Taylor’s University Vice Chancellor & President, Professor Michael Driscoll shared his elation over this accomplishment, sharing that this accolade further solidified Taylor’s strong standing in this area. “As Taylor’s University moves to the next chapter towards balanced excellence, this accomplishment provides us with a stronger foundation as we continue to attract the best talents, collaborate with the best partners globally and produce the best graduates who make a difference in their communities, wherever they are in the world. This international recognition reflects our perseverance and dedication to provide the highest of quality undergraduate teaching and learning, and a testament of our outstanding academic reputation, employer reputation and our research capability in this particular field,” shared Professor Driscoll. He added that this achievement is indeed an important milestone for Taylor’s, a young, dynamic and ambitious university, in line with its aspiration of becoming one of Asia’s top 100 universities by year 2022. In addition to the recognition for hospitality and tourism management subjects, Taylor’s is also the only private university in Malaysia to receive recognition for the subject of Art & Design, making it to top 200 in the world and top 2 placing in Malaysia, alongside Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) made it to third placing for this subject in Malaysia. These accomplishments signal that the quality of the teachin
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    177 Private Colleges Fail Education Dept.'s Financial-Responsibility Test "According to a Chronicle analysis of data released on Tuesday, 177 private colleges that grant degrees failed a U.S. Education Department test for financial responsibility in the 2014-15 academic year. That's 18 more than the previous year," according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. "Of the institutions that failed, 112 are nonprofit, and the remaining 65 are for-profit. In the previous year, 93 of the 159 failing institutions were nonprofit. The department considers an institution’s debt and assets, among other factors, in giving it a score ranging from -1 to 3. Scores lower than 1.5 are considered failing. The department’s methodology in devising the scores has drawn sharp criticism in the past from some higher-education groups. The latest scores cover the institutions for fiscal years ending between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. Several of the colleges have closed since the 2014-15 academic year. Some, like Dowling College, in Oakdale, N.Y., previously failed the financial-responsibility test, while others, like Saint Joseph’s College, in Rensselaer, Ind., passed it." NASFAA's "Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented. Publication Date: 3/10/2017
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    It might just be career government lawyers doing their jobs, and doing them well, until the Trump Administration can catch up and work its malevolence, but in court papers filed today, the Trump Justice Department defended the Obama Administration’s gainful employment rule, a measure aimed at curbing predatory abuses by for-profit colleges. The rule penalizes expensive career college programs that, year after year, leave graduates with debts that, based on their earnings, they cannot afford to repay. “The public interest is served by allowing the Department to go forward with implementing the GE regulations,” Justice Department lawyers wrote on behalf of their client, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who is being sued by an association of cosmetology schools. The association’s somewhat risque argument is that many hairdressers and other beauty professionals do not report all their tip income to the IRS, and thus their graduates actually are doing better than the gainful employment calculations give them credit for. Revised under pressure from industry lobbyists, the Obama Administration’s rule is not very strong, but it does endanger some of the worst-of-the-worst college programs. The operators of those programs, who have been raking in billions in taxpayer money, want to make sure they can still act with impunity, even though their abuses have ruined the lives of countless veterans, single moms, and other students. There are good cosmetology schools, as well as other types of career schools. The gainful employment rule aims to channel resources and students to those quality, affordable schools, and away from the kind of for-profit colleges that law enforcement agencies are investigating or prosecuting for fraud. But given: that Donald Trump was previously the proprietor of his own predatory for-profit real estate “university”; that Trump crony Newt Gingrich and congressional Republicans have aggressively advocated for the for-profit college industry; that DeVos has been invested in for-profit education
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    AGRA: Acting on a directive from chief minister Yogi Adityanath to curb the menace of mass cheating in the ongoing UP Board examinations, a team of invigilators led by Agra University vice-chancellor conducted a surprise raid at a private college and caught the owner red-handed while assisting students in copying. The raid was conducted on Wednesday evening by a four-member team at Manish Sharma College on Deori road under Sadar police jurisdiction. The private college is owned by Prashant Sharma. Talking to TOI, professor Luvkush Mishra, a team member, said, "It was astonishing to see that the owner of the college was acting as the center superintendent for examinations in the college. There was no principal or invigilators in the college." According to university norms, only principal, center superintendent and invigilators are allowed during exam hours. "Acting as the centre superintendent, Prashant was signing and collecting the answer-sheets that were mostly blank. After examination hours, he gave those blank answer sheets to the boys he had hired and dictated answers to them," said professor Mishra. The team found several bundles of answer sheets at Prashant's office that were not sealed after the exams. Arvind Dixit, VC of Agra University, said, "After conducting the exam, the answer sheets must be sealed within half-an-hour in the presence of invigilators and centre superintendent. However, we found several bundles that were not sealed." The team members said that after the boys had filled up the sheets, Prashant placed it between the bundles and sent it to the respective centres. On Wednesday , the team seized all the answer sheets and urged the regional higher education officer to take strict action against the accused. In order to conduct the remaining examinations, the VC has allotted four invigilators and a center superintendent from Agra University to Manish Sharma College. According to an Agra University official, CM Aditya Nath Yogi had called a high-level meeting of university VCs on Tuesday an
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    The right-wing government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is taking steps that could cause a popular American university in Budapest to close. Under a bill submitted to the Hungarian Parliament late Tuesday, non-EU universities issuing diplomas in Hungary would be required to have a campus in their home country. Central European University — which was founded in 1991 by liberal philanthropist and investor George Soros and is widely considered to be the top private university in Hungary — does not have a campus in the United States, even though it is registered in New York state. Students from scores of countries are enrolled in the university's English-language, graduate and post-graduate programs. Orban and the Hungarian-born Soros have a strained relationship, even though the prime minister received a scholarship from the Soros foundation that allowed him to study briefly at Oxford. Hungarian officials say the legislation doesn't have anything to do with Soros or CEU, even though the new requirement doesn't affect Hungary's 27 other non-EU universities, which all have campuses abroad. They say the changes are needed because foreign-funded universities are operating outside the law. But many Hungarians, and certainly Orban's critics in and outside of the country, believe the legislation is a clear attempt to shut down CEU. If the legislation passes, the law would take effect in September and CEU would have to open a campus in the United States by Feb. 15, 2018, if it wants to stay open. That is something the university says "would have no educational benefit and would incur needless financial and human resource costs." The bill "is a threat to our continued existence in Hungary," Michael Ignatieff, CEU's president and rector, told reporters at a news conference. He vowed to fight back, adding: "This university is not going to close under any circumstance and we won't be pushed around." Ignatieff met with Hungary's education minister Wednesday night in Budapest to try to resolve the conflict, CEU
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    DAYS could be numbered for independent private colleges playing hide-and-seek with government with regards to the implementation of the new curriculum for primary and secondary education is concerned. Many of the country's private colleges are either resisting or finding it difficult to implement the syllabi, with some of them having completely abandoned the local examination body -- the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council -- in favour of Cambridge International Examinations. Officials from independent colleges surveyed by the Financial Gazette recently are of the view that implementing the new curriculum would be costly for their institutions because it requires additional staff to cover the new subjects that are part of the new syllabi. It would also entail that their teaching staff go through re-training while relevant learning material would have to be acquired. But Primary and Secondary Education Deputy Minister, Paul Mavhima, said government would clampdown on all institutions defying its directives. He outlined what he called two issues characterising independent colleges' terrain. "Firstly, there are some institutions in this sector that are operating without any form of registration and many of these institutions have approached us and pleaded for the formalisation grace period to be extended. "Secondly, there are some registered independent colleges that, for one reason or the other, are not implementing the new curriculum, but recruiting trained teachers. "Now all the institutions choosing to operate without registration risk facing closure, if they do not put their paperwork in order," said Mavhima. Christian College of Southern Africa principal, Tichaona Zinhumwe, said the way the new curriculum was structured requires them to change the way they have been enrolling students. "This poses challenges because we do not have adequate facilities to accommodate these students. Some of the subjects require space and most independent colleges are located in city centres so it will be difficult to
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    According to a Chronicle analysis of data released on Tuesday, 177 private colleges that grant degrees failed a U.S. Education Department test for financial responsibility in the 2014-15 academic year. That’s 18 more than the previous year. Of the institutions that failed, 112 are nonprofit, and the remaining 65 are for-profit. In the previous year, 93 of the 159 failing institutions were nonprofit. The department considers an institution’s debt and assets, among other factors, in giving it a score ranging from -1 to 3. Scores lower than 1.5 are considered failing. The department’s methodology in devising the scores has drawn sharp criticism in the past from some higher-education groups. The latest scores cover the institutions for fiscal years ending between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. Several of the colleges have closed since the 2014-15 academic year. Some, like Dowling College, in Oakdale, N.Y., previously failed the financial-responsibility test, while others, like Saint Joseph’s College, in Rensselaer, Ind., passed it.
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    Ratings agency dings small university for spending big after a new president took over. As focus shifts to a budget deficit, question becomes whether Drew can cut spending while growing enrollment. MaryAnn Baenninger inherited a budget deficit when she came to Drew University in the summer of 2014. The next year, the small private university’s deficit grew. And that was by choice. Drew spent more as Baenninger sought to put money into the university’s campus, students and employees. The university issued its first raises in about five years. It hired a respected enrollment guru and increased its financial aid spending. It renovated the dining hall. The spending was a change for Drew, a pricey university to the west of New York City in Madison, N.J., which had been preparing for budget cuts following several years of dropping enrollment before Baenninger arrived. But, according to Baenninger and members of her administration, the spending helped to keep talented staff and faculty members from leaving, improve student retention and increase applications from prospective students. “We were losing kids on the food, for God’s sake,” Baenninger said. “Our salaries were going downhill. Now they’re going up.” Recently, however, the spotlight has shifted to Drew’s deteriorating financial situation. Moody’s Investors Service drove home that point this month by downgrading Drew’s bonds for the second time in 15 months. Moody’s dropped one series of bonds from Ba3 to B2 and two others from Ba3 to B3, sinking them farther into junk territory and signifying that they are highly speculative. Moody’s pointed to operating deficits that are expected to last longer than previously projected, along with a competitive student market constraining possibilities for short-term revenue growth. It said Drew has no more unrestricted liquidity left and would have to rely on loans and distributions from temporarily restricted endowment assets for working capital. Moody’s also assigned a negative rating outlook. “The negative outlook reflect
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    The Bihar Legislative Council today passed seven bills including the Bihar Private University (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which paved way for running private universities from rented premises in the state. State Education minister Ashok Choudhary introduced the bill proposing to allow private universities to function from rented premises with a built up area of 5,000 sqm up to two years till construction of permanent infrastructure. Countering BJP member Vinod Narayan Jha's assertion that not a single university has shown interest in opening its campus in Bihar, Choudhary said the state government has received 14 proposals for setting up universities. Out of them, the government has set up a committee to look into the Detailed Project Report of 12 proposals. Three universities would start running their courses soon and the government has decided to allow such universities to run their academic activities from rented accommodation for two years if they fulfil all requisite criteria, he said. "Our aim is to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in universities. So, we opened the door for private institutions. At present, the state's GER is 13.9 per cent against the national average of 24 per cent. The government intends to push that up to 30 per cent by 2020," he said. State Parliamentary Affairs minister Shrawan Kumar introduced the Bihar State Legislature (Members' salaries, allowances and pension) (amendment) Bill, 2017 which was passed by the legislative Assembly yesterday. An amendment has been proposed in the preamble of the State Legislature (Members' salaries, allowances and pension) (Amendment) Act to incorporate provision of pension for retired members of the bicameral state legislature. The House passed Bihar Farmers and Rural Areas Development Agency (Repeal) Bill, 2017, the Patna University (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Bihar State University (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Bihar Appropriation Excess Expenditure Bill, 2017. The Legislative Council also passed the Bihar Protection of Interest of Dep
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    More than 150,000 students qualify for university admission annually, but only 27,000 can be accommodated in state-run universities, State Minister of Higher Education Mohan Lal Grero said. He said others, numbering around 130,000 were left out and some of them opted for vocational education and related areas in the governmental institutions. The Minister was addressing a seminar organised by the Agriculture Faculty of the Peradeniya University, under the theme ‘Peradeniya University and Sri Lanka Food Industry-the inter relationship’ as part of its diamond jubilee commemoration of the University at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Institute, Colombo. That was the reason the government had decided to support private higher education sector, Grero said. The government would introduce a loan scheme for students who had financial problems to enrol in higher education institutes in Sri Lanka. "If we have quality higher educational institutions within the country foreign exchange can be saved," Grero said. The minister said they would also focus on further developing the state education sector. The government was planning to increase state university intake by 15% by 2020. According to its policy the main target was to increase the intake up to 50,000 students by 2020, Grero said.
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    President Donald Trump´s threat to deport millions of illegal immigrants – half of them Mexicans – has triggered an unprecedented campaign by the Mexican government and universities. A raft of measures announced in recent weeks seek to reincorporate returning migrants into the country´s education system and labour force while defending those who wish to remain in the United States. Trump has vowed to deport as many as three million illegal immigrants, with those with criminal records at the front of the queue. However, there is growing fear among the hundreds of thousands of university students and workers who are beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA programme – which grants temporary legal status to certain immigrants who arrived as minors – following the detention of several DACA holders in recent weeks. A recent series of menacing tweets by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, suggesting that even DACA holders could be subject to deportation, has sparked further alarm. Mexicans represent roughly 5.8 million of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. They include an estimated 400,000 Mexicans known as Dreamers, for the proposed federal Dream Act that sought to provide legal status for young immigrants. Many have little or no support system in Mexico and some don´t even speak Spanish. In response, the Mexican government is seeking to ease the repatriation process for hundreds of thousands of migrants, particularly students. New legislation On 17 March, the Mexican Congress approved new legislation that streamlines the application process to schools and universities for returning migrants. The changes to the federal Education Law empower private colleges to revalidate transcripts from other Mexican or foreign institutions. Even more significant, students who studied abroad no longer need to present an apostille – a diplomatic notarised seal – along with their transcripts, a process that can take weeks and cost hundreds of dollars. The feder
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     
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    After leaving Somalia at the height of the civil war to work in universities in Italy and Canada, Professor Mohamed Ahmed Jimale returned to the ravaged Somalian capital of Mogadishu in 2012 with the idea of reviving the Somali National University, or SNU, where he had graduated in 1983 and taught as a lecturer in the faculty of veterinary sciences. He was approved as rector by the new central government in 2013 and the university opened in 2014 with six faculties. In this interview, Jimale speaks about the state of higher education in Somalia and the challenge of running a university in what is still an unstable and often hostile environment, and about his hopes of helping poorer Somalis to attain the kind of education that launched his own career. UWN: What does it take to run such a university? MAJ: It’s not easy at times. Finding students is difficult, as is finding the right calibre of academic and support staff. Our university is tuition-free, therefore whoever gets admission here must earn it first by passing their high school exams and our pre-admission exams, which many students fail. At the level of academic staff, the higher education labour sector in Somalia is still young and it is tricky getting the right personnel to run the university. Another challenge is that we depend on the government for funding, which is not constant or predictable due to other competing national budget priorities. There are those who hold a myth that a tuition-free government university like ours is the preserve of high-ranking government officials and their children or you have to be influential or come from powerful families to get admission. We have had to battle with and demystify [this], making it clear that the university is open to all Somalis. The only ticket required is good grades. The final challenge is how to bring back our seven campuses with limited resources and cater for swelling numbers. UWN: What kind of assistance have you received from foreign universities? MAJ: One of the major problems we
    7 years ago by @prophe
     
     

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