The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 4 April 2013.
US: Circus troupe performs at University of Minnesota to relieve student stress
The University of Minnesota has come up with a novel way of reducing student stress: a circus! A troupe from Kentucky called Circus Mojo performed seven half-hour shows for students at the university as part of its Cirque De-stress event, reports Minnesota Daily. As well as just providing a way to give students a break from the rigors and challenges of student life, the event was intended to introduce them to the mental health resources available at the university. One of things we liked most about this was a troupe member running around in a German gym wheel pretending to be late for class – although maybe it would relieve stress even more to give students German gym wheels of their own…
UK: Oxford University students contribute to scholarship for Gazan student
Students at Jesus College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, have clubbed together to contribute towards a scholarship fund for a student from Gaza called Rawan Yaghi. The scheme, which will see each participating student contributing £3.90 a term (US$5.90), was set up by a student called Emily Dreyfuss in order to help more Gazans study at the prestigious university. In addition to this, the university has agreed to waive around 60% of her fees, with the remainder of her living costs being covered by various charities. Rawan will be studying linguistics and Italian, reports the BBC.
Japan: Majority of high school students have no interest in studying abroad
A survey carried out the Japan’s Ministry of Education has revealed that nearly 60% of the country’s high school students have no desire to study outside of their home country, reports The Nikkei. The most commonly cited reasons were language issues (an issue for 58% of respondents), financial hardship (38%) and general concern about living abroad and not being able to make friends (34%). The country is currently making efforts to improve both incoming and outgoing student mobility. Many of the country’s prefectures offer financial support and information to encourage students to study abroad, while the University of Tokyo is altering its academic calendar to more closely match that used in the West.
US: Debt and prescription drug abuse among biggest challenges facing students, says Bill Clinton
Debt and the abuse of prescription drugs are among the biggest issues in modern higher education, said Bill Clinton during a call with student leaders and reporters earlier this week, reports The Huffington Post. He went on to imply that online delivery might help with the former, suggesting that a “less expensive delivery system” might be the only sustainable solution. With regard to the latter, he cited reports of increasing numbers of students abusing prescription drugs, and emphasized the importance of universities communicating the dangers of mixing prescription drugs and alcohol. The former US president was speaking before the sixth Clinton Global Initiative University, an annual program intended to engage ‘future leaders’.
US: Stanford joins edX
Stanford University has announced that it will be joining edX, a massive open online course (MOOC) platform run jointly by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The California-based institution currently offers free online courses through its own small platform and through Coursera, another MOOC platform started by two professors at the university. It will continue to offer courses through the latter, but a university spokesperson commented that collaboration rather than rivalry would be the best way forward went it came to free online course provision.