The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 17 April 2013.
US: Secretary of State says international students deterred by guns
Speaking in Tokyo, US Secretary of State John Kerry said international students in some countries, including Japan, were being put off studying in the US due to fears about gun violence. Kerry said this was the impression his staff members had gained after conversations with local parents, PressTV reports. According to data from the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Centers for Disease Control, the US has an average of 87 deaths and 183 people injured by guns every day.
Europe: Report shows women still underrepresented in universities
A recently released report from the European Commission shows that while progress is being made, women remain significantly underrepresented in top university positions, Science reports. The report includes a ‘glass ceiling index’, indicating how difficult it is for women to reach full professorship in different countries, as well as statistics on the percentage of female PhD graduates, researchers and university managers. A particular area for concern is the especially low percentage of women in science and technology fields.
Australia: More universities offering ‘therapy dogs’
Australian universities are among the latest to offer an unusual, but highly popular, form of stress relief to their students: therapy dogs. Bond University and Australian National University have both held ‘puppy days’, where students are encouraged to spend some time with specially loaned dogs as a way of unwinding from the pressure of studies, Herald Sun reports. The idea has already taken off at a number of universities in the US and Canada, including Yale, Harvard and Dalhousie.
UK: Cambridge students perform play in theater toilets
Audience members will have to perch on sinks or lean against the hand dryer while watching a play being performed by Cambridge University students next week, Cambridge News reports. Director Isolde Penwarden, an undergraduate student, said the play Troubled Sleep was “just begging to be set ‘on location’ in the toilets – immersing the audience in the same unwelcoming space as the characters”. Just 30 minutes long, the play tells the story of two young women from Spain, one of whom has moved to Ireland and taken a job cleaning toilets.
US: Decreasing demand for political scientists
Data from the American Political Science Association (APSA) suggests that US universities and colleges are likely to hire fewer political scientists this year, Inside Higher Ed reports. Academic job openings in the field reached their lowest point for two years at the start of 2013, with job openings in international relations also experiencing a downturn. However, APSA also says data gathered since January paints a more promising picture for those seeking junior-level positions in the field.