The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 26 March 2013.
Europe: EU wants to speed up visas for foreign students
The European Commission is urging faster visa processing for foreign students coming to study in the EU’s 27 countries, SwissInfo reports. The Commission has proposed a 60-day limit for decisions on student visa approval, in an attempt to standardize and simplify the process across all EU members. Education commissioner Androulla Vassililou said, “It is vital that we attract the brightest and best researchers and students because they contribute to a successful knowledge economy in the EU.” If accepted by EU governments, the 60-day visa schedule could take effect from 2016.
East Asia: Ambitious plans to increase international student numbers
Together, mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea have ambitions of being host to more than a million international students by 2020, University World News reports. Each of these countries has set a target that means at least doubling its current number of international students – and all are investing heavily in developing their higher education sectors.
Russia: University rectors ordered to declare income
Russia’s education minister has announced that all heads of state-funded education institutes will be required to declare their income, RT reports. Declarations are to be submitted by the end of April, and published on universities’ websites by the end of the year. Earlier this year, anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International had suggested that heads of publicly funded institutions should be required to declare their earnings.
New Zealand: Government website bans foreign students from sex work
While prostitution is no longer illegal in New Zealand, an official government website has included “commercial sexual services” in a list of occupations which international students are banned from, Yahoo! reports. Immigration site nzstudywork.com stated that foreign students “can't work as a prostitute, act as an operator of a New Zealand prostitution business or invest in a prostitution business”.
China: University accused of collaboration with army ‘cyber spies’
Faculty members at one of China’s leading universities have been accused of collaboration with a Chinese army unit alleged to have been involved in cyber-espionage, Reuters reports. It’s claimed that faculty at Shanghai Jiao Tong University co-authored research papers with members of an army unit which has been accused of being involved in cyber attacks on Western commercial targets.