Archive for the ‘University’ Category

University of Texas Affirmative Action Case Back on US Supreme Court Agenda

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

Race in university admissions will once again take center stage in the United States’ highest court Wednesday, when it starts hearing a case by a white student denied a spot at the main campus of the University of Texas.

The U.S. Supreme Court returns to the issue of affirmative action in higher education for the first time since its 2003 decision endorsing the use of race as a factor in admissions. This time around, a more conservative court is being asked to outlaw the use of Texas’ affirmative action plan and possibly to jettison the earlier ruling entirely.

The justices will be looking at the University of Texas program that is used to help fill the last quarter or so of its incoming freshman classes. Race is one of many factors considered by admissions officers. The rest of the roughly 7,100 freshman spots automatically go to Texans who graduated in the top 8 percent of their high school classes.

The challenge to the University of Texas program comes from Abigail Fisher, who filed a lawsuit with another woman when they were denied admission there in 2008. They contended the university’s race-conscious policy violated their civil and constitutional rights. By then, the two had enrolled elsewhere.

The other woman has since dropped out of the case and the state has said that Fisher is a senior at Louisiana State University whose impending graduation should bring an end to the lawsuit.

The simplest explanation for why affirmative action is back on the court’s calendar so soon after its 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger is that the author of that opinion, Sandra Day O’Connor, has retired. Her successor, Justice Samuel Alito, has been highly skeptical of any use of racial preference.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, a dissenter in the 2003 decision, probably holds the deciding vote, and he, too, has never voted in favor of racial preference.

As a result, said Supreme Court lawyer Thomas Goldstein, “No matter what the court does, it is quite likely that the UT program is going to be in big trouble.” (more…)

Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

HKUST – A dynamic, international research university, in relentless pursuit of excellence, leading the advance of science and technology, and educating the new generation of front-runners for Asia and the world.

Since its official opening in October 1991, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has established itself as an intellectual powerhouse, energizing the community’s transformation into a knowledge-based society, and securing a place on the academic world map in record-breaking time.

An innovator in research and teaching, HKUST is the only science and technology research university in Hong Kong, and the only one to offer an all-PHD faculty. Its groundbreaking work in science, engineering, business, humanities and social science is successfully pushing back the boundaries of the information age. Such advances are assisted by the University’s top-class facilities.

Locally, the University is active in society through science camps, online courses for secondary school students, and lifelong learning programs; just some of the activities that bring HKUST and the community together. Nationally, alliances with Mainland universities and collaborative work with municipal governments are setting the pace for future cooperative efforts.

Globally, connections with leading institutions are actively pursued through academic partnerships with the world’s top universities, and memberships in such organizations as the Association of East Asian Research Universities and Association of Pacific Rim Universities.

HKUST brings forward the vision of the future. On its award-winning Clear Water Bay campus, the life to come is being shaped today. (more…)

University of East Anglia scientists research storms

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Researchers from the University of East Anglia have been flying into storms across the UK to help predict weather more accurately.

In a specially-adapted passenger jet, the group has measured the properties of high winds and rain which have hit the country in recent weeks.

The project aims to improve forecasting techniques.

The condensation and evaporation of water in storms is thought to influence how the weather develops and moves.

The research is led by the Natural Environment Research Council’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS).

Prof Ian Renfrew
Prof Ian Renfrew, from the University of East Anglia, said storm research from the flights is vital

Along with 16 aircrew, the scientists change flight direction as the storm builds. (more…)

University of Texas President Ends Tough Year With Yet Another Battle

Friday, December 16th, 2011

For William C. Powers, 2011 has been a year full of upheavals.

Certain issues were foreseeable for the president of the University of Texas at Austin, the state’s largest and arguably most prestigious public university. State lawmakers were heading into a legislative session with budget axes at the ready, and nationally there were questions about the value of higher education.

Then, in early February, when he should have been testifying at the Capitol about the university’s financial needs, Mr. Powers suffered a pulmonary embolism. He was in the hospital for a week.

It was the first struggle in a year marked by high-profile battles involving Mr. Powers — to some, the university’s very own Dumbledore; to others, a particularly large bee in the bonnet of higher education reformers.

“How you do in challenging times is more important than how you do in easy times,” Mr. Powers said Wednesday in an interview with The Texas Tribune, acknowledging that the last 12 months fell into the challenging category.

Most recently, on Dec. 8, Mr. Powers abruptly demanded — and received — the resignation of Lawrence Sager as dean of the School of Law. Mr. Powers, who had formerly held the post, said the move was necessary to quell unrest among a deeply divided faculty. “You can’t have a unit be productive, frankly, both on the teaching and on the research side, if there’s not a sense of common enterprise,” he said. “And for whatever reason, that has broken down.”

Mr. Powers and Stefanie A. Lindquist, the interim dean of the law school, are now trying to calm the waters. Mr. Sager’s abrupt departure put an uncomfortable spotlight on the strained personal relationship between the two men, and it has also drawn scrutiny of the role private foundations play in the university’s finances. (more…)

University of Missouri to limit lecture recording

Friday, November 18th, 2011

From videotaped lectures to podcasts, universities are rushing to embrace the digital revolution. Yet even as some schools invite the public to view course material online, they’re starting to grapple with how to keep classroom discussions out of the wrong hands

At the University of Missouri, a leaked classroom video that went viral in the spring and triggered an uproar on conservative media has prompted what may be the first restrictions on students recording lectures since the advent of portable tape recorders more than 50 years ago. Under the new policy, students must first obtain written permission from their professors and classmates.

Administrators say they want to make sure that students and faculty don’t discover their conversations posted online or become afraid to talk openly. The new policy “protects the sanctity of the classroom for our students so they can freely discuss their thoughts and opinions,” said Steve Graham, senior associate vice president for academic affairs for the four-campus Missouri system.

But some Missouri professors are crying foul. They say the restrictions are impractical and contradict the public university’s goal of promoting shared knowledge.

“…We are public, taxpayer-funded faculty, and so we should think long and hard about any sort of restrictions on the rights of our students to record us as we work,” said Charles Davis, a journalism professor and former executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

The proposal, which awaits approval by campus attorneys, is a response to a video of a labor studies lecture by University of Missouri-Kansas City professor Judy Ancel. Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website obtained a leaked copy and edited hours of classroom lectures to suggest that she and a classroom colleague advocated union violence. (more…)

两岸四地大学排名:清华、台大并列第一

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

据最新两岸四地大学排名结果显示,清华大学(北京)和台湾大学并列第一,香港大学位居第三,第四到第十名依次是:清华大学(新竹)、香港科技大学、香港中文大学、北京大学、交通大学(新竹)、中国科学技术大学、浙江大学。前十名大学中大陆的有4所,台湾和香港各有3所。大陆、台湾、香港高水平大学呈现出齐头并进、各具特色的发展局面。澳门特别行政区排名最高的是澳门大学,排在第72名。

排名指标体系
由于历史的原因,两岸四地的高等教育体制差异较大,因此,只能选择那些共同适用于两岸四地大学实际情况、具有跨地区可比性的指标。根据我们从事国际性大学比较与排名的经验和对国内外主流大学排名所采用的指标的研究和分析,我们在世界大学学术排名(超级链接)所采用的指标体系的基础上,又增加了数个同时适用于两岸四地教育状况的指标,形成了包括人才培养、科学研究、师资质量和学校资源4大类13项指标的指标体系。为了更好地体现大学的水平和质量,我们对所有与规模有关的指标都同时使用了绝对数和相对值。在指标权重的安排上我们遵循了《高等教育机构排名的柏林原则》(超级链接)中要求优先考虑产出指标的原则,对于7项产出指标各分配10%的权重,对于另外6项投入和过程指标各分配5%的权重。计算单项指标得分时,令表现最好的大学的该项指标为100分,其它按其与最高值得比例得分,一所大学的总得分由各单项指标加权得出。 (more…)

Students in Japan to return to MTSU

Friday, March 18th, 2011

The ongoing nuclear threat that followed a 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan led MTSU officials on Thursday to request nine undergraduate students studying abroad to return home, according to the university.
At least one of the students has returned already.

“We are always going to be sensitive to the response and welfare of our students and make sure they are safe wherever they are in the world,” said Brad Bartel, MTSU provost. “We have reached a point where we urge these students to come home for their own good.”

Suggested by Bartel and fully supported by university President Sidney A. McPhee, MTSU plans to provide funds for airfares of the students who agree to return as soon as they can book a flight.

MTSU students have been attending Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata, Nagoya Gakuin University, Saitama University, Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka and Tokyo University in Tokyo. Eight of nine students had a year-long commitment.

Rhonda Waller, director of the Education Abroad and Student Exchange Office at MTSU, said eight study-abroad students from Japan at MTSU this semester have indicated their immediate family members are OK. She said her office has been communicating with the MTSU students and their families by phone, e-mail and Facebook.

The move is necessary for safety concerns, according to Michael D. Allen, vice provost for research and dean of the College of Graduate Studies at MTSU. (more…)

Universities Will Compete to Build a Campus on City Land

Friday, March 18th, 2011

The next engineering school in New York City could be a satellite campus of a university in Finland, South Korea or California, judging by the responses city officials received to their call for ideas on how to raise New York’s profile in the realm of technological innovation.

On Thursday, the city announced that it had received 18 expressions of interest in establishing a research center from universities and corporations around the world. Struggling to compete with Silicon Valley, Boston and other high-tech hubs, officials charged with developing the city’s economy have identified several city-owned sites that might serve as a home for the research center for applied science and engineering that they hope to establish.

The list of institutions that responded includes the Abo Akademi University in Finland, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, as well as schools in England, India and Switzerland. American schools as far away as California and as close by as Manhattan and Hoboken, N.J., also indicated that they were interested. (more…)

University of Michigan won’t tap endowment to recoup state aid cuts

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

The University of Michigan will not tap its $6-billion endowment to help make up an estimated $47-million cut it is expected to receive in state aid next year, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman said today.

However, Coleman, speaking outside a state House subcommittee hearing on public university budgets, declined to say whether the university will raise tuition to make up for the cuts. She said that decision was still under consideration.

Coleman was one of four university presidents who spent today before House and state Senate appropriations committees explaining the impact the cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder would have on their institutions.

Oakland University President Gary Russi told a Senate subcommittee that previous budget cuts resulted in higher tuition hikes than he would have liked. “We’ve done a lot with what resources we have,” he said. “It is getting harder to address financial aid.”

The presidents argued against further cuts. “You’re going to make heart-wrenching decisions,” Ferris State University President David Eisler said. The state has made a “decade-long disinvestment in students,” he said.

The governor’s proposed budget would cut 15% from each university’s state appropriation. It would also shift funding from the general fund to the school aid fund. (more…)

深圳大学——特区大学 窗口大学 实验大学

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

深圳大学

深圳大学坐落深圳市南山半岛,面临后海,遥对香港,环境优美,是经济特区十大历史建筑之一,荣获全国校园建筑设计一等奖。学校占地约3.1平方公里。

1980年,中国创办深圳经济特区;1983年,深圳经济特区创办深圳大学。

教育部高度重视特区大学建设,两院院士张维教授首任校长;清华大学为主,援建建筑、电子类学科;北京大学为主,援建中文、外语类学科;中国人民大学为主,援建经济、管理类学科。

社会各界热情支持特区大学建设。香港企业家邵逸夫、于元平、胡应湘、梁国勋,南太集团、三星集团、杜邦公司和深圳18家大型国有企业与一批校友企业捐资助学。

深圳大学的历史使命是:以改革为动力,建设一所为经济特区提供骨干人才和高端人才培养、高端智力服务、高端科技成果的特区大学;一所走上国际、能够与世界各国高等院校平等交流互相观照的窗口大学;一所努力创新办学体制、积极探索现代大学制度的实验大学。
建校27年,深圳大学紧随深圳特区快速腾飞。

1995年,通过国家教委本科教学合格评估。
1996年,经国务院学位委员会批准,获硕士学位授权。
2006年,经国务院学位委员会批准,获博士学位授权。
2007年,通过国家教育部本科教学优秀评估。
特区大学用最短的时间形成了从学士、硕士到博士的完整人才培养体系。

学校坚持本科立校。适应本科教育大众化,秉持有教无类、因材施教、厚积薄发、经世致用的教育教学理念,树立并践行办学以育人为本,育人以素质为本,素质以做人为本;以素质教育为基础,专业教育为主干,积极推进教学改革,精心锻造教学特色,努力提高教学质量,培养素质高、基础好、上手快、转型快的事业骨干和创业、创新型人才。

学校创新人才培养模式。按院系招生,支持学生自选专业。实行学分制,八年弹性学制,主辅修制,双专业、双学位制,文理互补学分制度,课外创造发明学分制度,国内外学校学分互换制度。学生在校期间将进行体质与心理健康、英语口语、信息技术应用、普通话等五项基本素质和技能测试。

学校重视学生就业,鼓励学生创业。投入专项资金建立学生创业园,与企业共建学生就业实践基地,为学生提供全程化的就业指导教育和自主创业培训;建立、健全就业信息数据;充分利用经济特区、“珠三角”优良的就业环境,积极举办校友企业的校园专场招聘会,全力打造良好的就业服务体系和有特色的大学生创业平台。在全校师生的共同努力下,学校近几年的总体就业率达98%以上。

学校形成了“视野开阔,注重实际,热衷创新,崇尚竞争”的人才培养特色,涌现了马化腾、史玉柱、周海江等一批杰出人才。他们锐意进取,勇于探索,为深圳经济特区、为国家做出了贡献。 (more…)