The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 15 May 2013.
UK: No increase in tuition time despite nine-fold tuition hike over seven years
A study by Which? and the Higher Education Policy Institute has found that tuition time at English universities has not increased since 2005-06, despite domestic and EU students now paying nine times as much a year (different rules apply in different regions in the UK). With fees now standing at £9,000 (around US$13,700) a year as compared to the £1,000 (US$1,500) students paid seven years ago, it was expected that there would be an increase in contact hours. However, the study has revealed that the key difference is that students have to do more part-time work. Figures do vary between universities, reports The Telegraph, with students of some institutions receiving over 10 hours more teaching time those at others.
US: Princeton photo competition contest reveals beauty of science
The Art of Science competition, held every year at Princeton University, aims to celebrate those moments of beauty that come up unexpectedly during the process of scientific research. Images in this year’s contest, the theme of which was connections, include a photo of worms on a plate of bacteria taken on a smartphone, a photomicrograph of crushed birch wood and a graphic mapping out the differences between Princeton’s arts and plasma physics departments’ websites. First prize in the contest went to a visualization of Earth’s wind patterns in red and blue. The US$500 prize kitty is appropriately divided between the first, second and third prize winners according to the Golden Ratio. You can view a slideshow of this and previous year’s contests here.
South Korea: Entire country’s SATs cancelled due to suspected cheating
Only China and India send more students to the US, so the news that SAT exams, due to be held earlier this month, have been cancelled for the entirety of South Korea will come as shock to many. This is the first time the US university entrance exam has been suspended for an entire nation, reports The Huffington Post. The cancellation was due to suspected widespread cheating, with several test preparation centers having been found in possession of questions from the test. Several staff members at these test centers have been barred from leaving the country.
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US: University of Arizona wows with graduation light show
The University of Arizona has raised the bar for graduation ceremonies with a spectacular lightshow, featuring a Jumbotron (it’s a really big screen) video mash up, for which students were invited to contribute their photos using an Instagram hashtag (#beardownlife) and special photo booths set up around the university. The ceremony took place at the Arizona Stadium, with an estimated 22,000 in attendance. You can see a video of the ceremony by following the link to the Huffington Post article below.
UK: Oxford University to set up US$152 million scholarship fund in name of Margaret Thatcher
Oxford University's Somerville College, at which Margaret Thatcher studied chemistry in the 1940s, is to set up a £100 million (around US$152 million) scholarship fund in the name of the former UK prime minister, who died in April. Ten scholars will be chosen each year, with the focus being on those who come from less privileged backgrounds (Thatcher herself was famously the daughter of a greengrocer), reports The Telegraph. In the 1980s, the university voted against awarding Thatcher an honorary degree in opposition to her government’s education policy. She was the first post World War II UK prime minister to study at Oxford to be denied the honor.