INDIA: State sets sights on first vocational university
The Maharashtra state government is considering setting up a vocational university that would be the first of its kind in the country, said minister for higher and technical education Rajesh Tope, reports The Times of India.
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ASIA: Regional universities agree on network deal
Eleven universities in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam signed an agreement last week during a University Presidents’ Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to develop a collaborative network in the region, reports Viet Nam News.
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CHINA: Phd quantity surpasses quality
With a rapid increase in the number of Chinese graduates enrolling in PhD programmes in the past decade, it seems the quality of education doctoral students receive is falling short, writes He Dan for the official agency Xinhua.
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AUSTRALIA: Universities face political uncertainty
Geoff Maslen
The most boring federal election in living memory turned into a cliff-hanger last weekend with the nation’s vice-chancellors not alone in waiting anxiously on the outcome. For the first time in 70 years, the nation faces a hung parliament and a first-time government seems likely to lose office – and with it the higher education policies that offered universities funding certainty for the next three years.
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GLOBAL: Social science and rankings
The number of social science publications in international journals is much lower than those for the natural sciences and medicine. So the natural sciences and the medical fields dominate university rankings while the strength of universities’ social sciences scarcely contributes to their position, says Anthony FJ van Raan, a professor of science studies and Director of the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University.
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LATIN AMERICA: Rise of the social sciences
Universities are crucial actors in the evolution of the social sciences in Latin America, say Hebe Vessuri, head of the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research’s Center on Science Studies, and Maria Sonsiré López who also works at the centre in Caracas. This can only be understood by taking into account the changing relationship between public universities and the state, and the conflicts and social movements involving universities.
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KENYA: Why academics do not publish
Kenya is a good illustration of the effect on scholarly output of lack of resources and capacity in higher education, say the editors of the World Social Science Report 2010 in a discussion of why Kenyan academics do not publish in international refereed journals.
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ASIA-PACIFIC: Social science transcends boundaries
In his discussion of social sciences and the Asia-Pacific region in the World Social Science Report 2010, John Beaton says the main issues are employment, social mobility and equity, security and safety, education, population, health, globalisation, adaptation to climate change and the governance required to manage these matters.
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ARAB REGION: Academic freedom curtailed
The social sciences in the Arab region are shaped by severe socio-political, economic and environmental challenges, instability and by diverse and divergent research policies, agendas and funding programmes at the national and regional levels, say Seteney Shami and Moushira Elgeziri.
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GLOBAL: Worlds apart but on same map?
In spite of the impact social scientists have had around the world, Gudmund Hernes says humans face crises that tax their understanding and their capacity to cope. The President of the International Social Science Council describes the influence of social science as a “mixed blessing” and says social scientists’ foresight has been poor at key junctures in recent times.
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