Worldcrunch
Sweden was early in shifting to digital, but also in reversing itself to limit technology from classrooms because of poor student performance. Some ask how useful is digital learning. But it also poses the question: is “digital de-escalation” even possible?
A growing research field known as “the science of science” promises to be essential for rebuilding trust in scientific research and navigating an uncertain future.
Maoism seduced universities worldwide in the 1960s and 70s, harming tolerance and academic excellence in the process. Today, that fascination has morphed in countries like Colombia into awe of China the superpower, which is equally unnerving.
Most of us can accept that animal experiments are ok before allowing new drugs on the market. But allowing such animal testing is important even when no specific application is at stake. They are also crucial for understanding complex biological processes to help treat diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and depression.
Interest in professional military service is growing among Gen Z in Poland, a frontline state in the Ukraine war. But is this generation, who spent much of their coming of age indoors during COVID-19, really ready to fight?
Millions have been spent to catch plagiarism and AI with tools from education company Turnitin. Is the tech worth it?
U.S. Congressmen and Iranian opponents want to know why Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a veteran official of the Tehran regime is working at Princeton University, when he is suspected of involvement with terrorist activities.
Located between Marrakech and Casablanca, the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University is trying to replicate the recipes that have made the United States’ Silicon Valley successful, fusing research and business — with special attention given to green energies and food sovereignty.
For more than 20 years, the Greek NGO Archipelagos has been monitoring the unique ecosystems and desertified areas of the Aegean Sea, the arm of the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey. A ride along on the association’s main ship, the Aegean Explorer, reveals the effects of climate change, plastic pollution and industrial fishing.
Sweden recently announced that the country’s schools will remove digital technology from classrooms because of poor student performance. Some ask how useful is digital learning. But it also poses the question: is “digital de-escalation” even possible?
In Oulu, Finland, near the Arctic Circle, 500 researchers at the 6G Flagship laboratory are already outlining the next generation of mobile technology, due to arrive by 2030. Nokia’s homeland wants to turn the page on 5G, which failed to win over the industry.
Thanatology or the study of death has entered Italian academia, led by the University of Padua, which is taking an interdisciplinary approach to our fascination with mortality.
The Iranian regime’s repression of students and universities has reached one of its highest point in the post-revolution era, as authorities are determined to nip any unrest in the bud, and push on with plans to make society even more repressively Islamist.
While certain figures from ancient mythology are sometimes held up as LGBTQ ancestors – such as the Greek gods Apollo and Zeus, there is plenty of lesser known history about same-sex attraction and gender variance beyond a strict male-female binary.
The Canadian-born psychologist Jordan B. Peterson is one of the most prominent opponents of what’s been termed: left-wing cancel culture and “wokism.” As part of his mission , he serves as chancellor of Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia, a picturesque setting for a unique experiment that contrasts with his image of provocateur par excellence.
For some Haitian students, navigating dangerous, dilapidated roads or catching a rider with a stranger is the only way to get to class.
With technological advances happening every day, the future of universities lies in the conversations we have about human interaction, technology and ethics.
A woman in China who falsely accused a man of filming her on the subway has sparked an avalanche of vitriol against her. There are now fears that the case will stop the many real victims of secret filming from coming forward and fighting back.
The Iranian regime has been trying different methods to encourage people to have children. Most have failed, for economic reasons.
The proposed UGC guidelines are ill-conceived and populist, and hardly take note of the educational and financial interests of foreign universities.
For years, Vladimir Putin’s regime has been pushing its agenda into schools. With the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the pressure on the education system has intensified on a massive scale. Here’s a peek inside the means of control over students’ minds.
On social media and at universities, with sarcastic videos and graffiti, young people are showing they are sick and tired of Zero COVID policies. People are still waiting to see how the Xi Jinping regime might react.
The inclusion of caste in its anti-discrimination policy by the California State Universities is as a major triumph for activists.
The big Spanish electricity and oil companies sponsor numerous research chairs at top universities: Is this cynical ‘greenwashing’ or innovative collaboration for the energy transition?
Even as it celebrates this year’s literature prize going to Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah, Africa is again completely absent from the list of Nobel winners in science. In research as elsewhere, money is the key.
Brexit has doubled the cost of studying in the UK for Europeans, which means many more students are heading to Dutch universities, which offer multiple programs in English. That’s caused hundreds to arrive at universities in the Netherlands this month without promised housing.
BEIJING — On March 14th, Zhang Yuqing, a Chinese student studying in Chicago, finally made his way back home to Beijing. He had prepared ten N95 masks and a hand sanitizer for the trip that involved several airport connections and dozens of hours of travelling. As a volunteer of the “Million Masks North America Support […]
BEIJING — It’s that time of a year again when an ever growing number of Chinese students are leaving to study abroad. These young people attract a lot of attention, often envied by their peers around them. Labeled as the “Fu-er-dai”, meaning “the second-generation rich brats,” some live a “luxurious and decadent life” overseas, while […]
GAZA CITY — Their world doesn’t extend much beyond this piece of sidewalk that never seems to change. Glued to their white plastic chairs, Khaled, Mohammed and Abdel Rahman spend their time talking about everything and nothing while fiddling with their smartphones. There’s no 3G coverage, so their only connection to the rest of the […]
High education levels and salary expectations have created something of a disconnect between South Korean job seekers and employers.
Once again, life imitates art. In his masterpiece 1984, George Orwell wrote, “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.” This quote has proven particularly relevant in recent weeks as activists in the West suddenly […]
Congratulations to all those 2017 graduates out there. It couldn’t have been easy! Elsewhere, we have gathered some examples of the wackiest college courses from around the world. If you could go back to school, which one would you pick? [dailymotion //www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x5oefjq expand=1] Take 5 – Wacky College Courses by Worldcrunch
Kazakhstan-born computer engineer Alexandra Elbakyan is now an international copyright outlaw. Her Sci-Hub website offers free access to millions of academic publications, a direct challenge to the entire publishing and academic establishment.
BERLIN — During the last school year, some 18,000 young Germans began year-long adventures abroad, thrust into complete independence: suddenly, they were on their own, in a new environment, surrounded by strangers who spoke a language the students had only experienced from inside the safety of a classroom. Psychologists from Friedrich Schiller University in Jena […]
LYON — In 2012, you could still catch sight of “yoyos” hanging from the jail cell windows. A yoyo, in French prison jargon, is a cord inmates throw through window bars to reach another cell and retrieve various objects. At the Saint-Paul and adjacent Saint-Joseph penitentiaries, in downtown Lyon, inmates could even get stuff from […]
How impeccably dressed and well-behaved these students appeared when we visited the University of Coimbra in central Portugal. The university, the country’s oldest, is also well known for its annual Queima das Fitas, a massive and sometimes rowdy “burning of the ribbons” student festival that lasts for eight days each spring.
More and more universities around the world offer so-called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). With top Munich universities using the online education provider Coursera, doubts grow over security and the selling of customer data.
BEIJING — A few days ago, a video showing Zhou Huzhen, the board chairman of Hebei College of Science and Technology, captured the attention of the Internet. The inevitable existential questions followed: Are Chinese universites bona fide educational institutes? Or are they really there just to maintain the power of the status quo? Zhou Huzhen […]
For maladies from stress to unexplained itching and bulimia, hypnosis is increasingly establishing itself as a therapeutic tool among bona fide medical professionals.
In countries that once invested in free public university systems, higher education is increasingly becoming an investment option turned over to the private sector. This is not necessarily a bad thing.