Where are China’s youth headed in a crowded job market?

Very recommendable! High youth unemployment seems to be serious issue in China for the past 10 years or longer! Graduating from a university is no longer a guarantee of a good employment.

This has been reported multiple times in recent years.

(153) Where are China’s youth headed in a crowded job market? - YouTube

British Kids Are Skipping Top Colleges for White-Collar Apprenticeships

We have seen similar headlines for other Western countries and over the past 10-20 years or so.

A recurring theme in Western news reporting! Is it different this time?

British Kids Are Skipping Top Colleges for White-Collar Apprenticeships - WSJ (behind paywall) "College no longer feels like a good deal for high-school graduates, so they are heading straight into the workforce"

University of Houston cuts over 40% of core curriculum, including climate change and LGBT studies courses

Good news! Good riddance! Maybe these cuts go too far, but perhaps the indoctrination with these subjects also went on too far and for far too long!

Hopefully, other US universities will follow!

"... The UH System Board of Regents unanimously approved the core changes Thursday and certified that they complied with a 2025 state law that strengthened the power of governor-appointed regents and diminished faculty influence on campus. ..."

University of Houston cuts over 40% of core curriculum classes

The Educated Republic: Scott Atlas on Thomas Jefferson

Recommendable!

"... Jefferson composed his own epitaph, listing three achievements: author of the Declaration of Independence, author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. He did not mention his two terms as president. Most people find that omission curious. I find it clarifying. Jefferson believed the university mattered more to the republic’s survival than anything he accomplished in office. ...

A republic whose citizens cannot reason, evaluate evidence, or resist manipulation is not genuinely self-governing—it is a republic in name only. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization,” he wrote in 1816, “it expects what never was and never will be.” The university was not a cultural amenity or tool of job certification. It was the mechanism by which free government reproduces itself across generations. ..."

The Educated Republic: Scott Atlas on Thomas Jefferson "He believed self-governance would falter without universities that enshrined free inquiry."

Thomas Jefferson (Source)

Chart of the day

Studieren in Österreich ist spottbillig (z.B. Studiengebühren)! Auch für Ausländer! Ist studieren in Deutschland generell auch immer noch so billig an öffentlichen Universitäten?

Quelle

University of Chicago Law School Limits Laptops as AI Transforms Work

How to integrate ML & AI into higher education is a huge challenge.

(652) Law School Limits Laptops as AI Transforms Work - YouTube

How Harvard University intends to deal with grade inflation by implementing an A grade cap

First of all, why did this elite university have a grade inflation problem in the first place!

I am not sure this is helpful! This is like treating the symptoms and not the cause!

"20% The A’s allowed per Harvard course, plus an additional four A’s to account for smaller courses with more variability. Faculty voted to approve the A-cap as part of a yearslong effort to curb grade inflation. The change comes despite a sharp backlash from students."

"Professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) have approved a proposal to cap the number of A’s awarded to Harvard College students, part of a broad proposal aimed at reducing grade inflation.

Starting in the fall of 2027, courses will limit A grades to 20 percent of enrollment, plus an additional four A’s per class.

Voting was conducted by email over the past week, and the results were announced on Wednesday morning. Faculty members voted 458 to 201 to approve the grading cap ..."

Wall Street Journal What's news

Harvard Faculty Approve a Cap on A Grades "Reforms to reduce grade inflation will take effect in the fall of 2027."

A cap on A grades is not exactly Veritas!

The US Education Department will resume garnishing the pay of borrowers who default on their student loans

Good news! Bravo!

"The Trump administration had said the collections would start in the summer, but the process was slowed, in part by the government shutdown. Over three million federal student-loan borrowers haven’t made a payment in more than 270 days, according to department data. Wage garnishment typically begins after that. Until past due payments are paid in full or the default status is resolved, up to 15% of wages could be deducted from borrowers’ paychecks."

The Wall Street Journal What's news

Why Indian Students Are Facing Record Visa Rejections in e.g. Canada, the US, and Australia

Recommendable! Apparently, there were some, serious fraudulent activities involved on part of Indian students.

A New Headache for Honest Students: Proving They Didn’t Use AI

What a conundrum! Signs of our times!

Maybe we need new forms of assignments or tests to assess the performance of students! How about proficiency in using machine learning and AI?

"Students are increasingly facing challenges in proving their innocence against false accusations of using AI tools for assignments, as AI-detection software can mistakenly flag human-written work, leading to significant academic consequences."

How Students Are Fending Off Accusations That They Used A.I. to Cheat - The New York Times

Last Week in AI

Liverpool University to open campus in Bengaluru, India

Good news! Other universities will follow!

Spectator: On the demise of British universities

Recommendable!

"Britain prides itself on its universities – one sector where we still believe we lead the world. But, as David Butterfield reveals in this week’s cover piece, we are living off past glories and our most prestigious seats of learning are in crisis. Students are coddled not challenged, intellectual endeavour is dulled, mediocrity indulged. What we are witnessing is the steady infantilisation of education, he says. The brightest students sense they are part of a diminished spectacle but are unable to express their dissatisfaction. Our best writers concur. Philip Womack observes how undergraduates struggle to cope with basic reading lists (even ones featuring children’s literature) while Charles Moore laments the demise of the personal statement."

Spectator

Indian Institute of Technology in Abu Dhabi: New Delhi's Education Push with Palki Sharma

Good news! Bravo! India, a rising superpower!

The number of American private, nonprofit four-year colleges that closed in the past 10 years: > 500

Bad news! That is a serious loss of diversity! 

But in the age of aging, shrinking populations, online education etc. this is not unexpected.

"The number of private, nonprofit four-year colleges that closed in the past 10 years. That’s three times what it was in the previous decade, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. The closures impacted at least 1.25 million students. Rising higher-ed costs are partly to blame; fewer students mean less tuition money to collect. With dwindling federal Covid-19 aid and a lower birth rate, analysts and educators expect the pace of closures to continue."

A New Problem With Four-Year Degrees: The Surge in College Closures - WSJ "Universities have buckled under the strain of tuition losses as the number of college-bound students continues to decline"

PM Modi to Inaugurate New Nalanda University Campus with Palki Sharma

Very recommendable! One of the oldest universities of India and with international students. What a history! India wants to spend 6% of GDP on higher education. India aims to become a global center of learning!

IIT Bombay Struggles to Place 36% Students with Palki Sharma

Supposedly bad news or hype? I strongly presume this is only a temporary mismatch. These young IT professionals will find a job soon. If there is indeed an oversupply of such graduates, it will be more difficult and other job choices may have to be considered. Or is an academic degree worth the money?

OpenAI signs up its first higher education customer, Arizona State University

Just the beginning! Ready for takeoff!

"OpenAI has its first higher education customer: Arizona State University (ASU).

Today [1/18/2024], ASU announced that it’s collaborating with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot, to the university’s researchers, staff and faculty.

Starting in February, ASU will run an open challenge to invite faculty and staff to submit ideas for ways to use ChatGPT — focusing on student success. new avenues for research and streamlining organizational processes. ..."

OpenAI signs up its first higher education customer, Arizona State | TechCrunch

A new collaboration with OpenAI charts the future of AI in higher education (Source: ASU)

Wissenschaftsfreiheit - Basta, Bologna!

Tolle Schlagzeile! Habe die Details zu dieser Bologna Reform nicht mehr parat, kann mir aber gut vorstellen, dass es ein Windei oder eine Salami der Bildungsbürokraten und vieler dusseliger Professoren war!

Wissenschaftsfreiheit - Basta, Bologna! | Cicero Online Vor 25 Jahren wurde an den Universitäten der Bologna-Prozess gestartet. Er hat ein Hochschulsystem geschaffen, in dem Konformität der Weg zum Erfolg geworden ist. Gefördert wird derjenige, der sich den Drittmittelgebern anpasst.

In the 2020-21 academic year, there were 382 American university students in China, down from about 12,000 the preceding year

Will Western foreign students come back like before the global Covid-19 pandemic?

"382 Number of American university students in China in the 2020-21 academic year, down from roughly 12,000 in 2018-19. Now, with China reopening its borders, the question is whether they will come back."

Americans Encounter Hurdles to Studying in China Even as Covid Restrictions Ease - WSJ

India opens its doors to first foreign universities in the GIFT city

This is big news! India, the up and coming superpower is moving and modernizing way faster than an elephant! The GIFT city keeps on giving!

"For the first time, the Indian government has granted approval for foreign universities to set up campuses in the country, as part of a nationwide push to foster multidisciplinary research. Two Australian universities, Deakin University and the University of Wollongong, were the first to reveal plans to open international campuses. The announcement was timed to coincide with a four-day visit to India by the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese. ...

The two Australian universities will set up operations in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), a planned ‘smart city’ on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, home state of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. In October 2022, Gujarat became the first Indian state to publish regulations for the operation of foreign-university campuses.

In January, the country’s University Grants Commission, which oversees higher-education institutes in India, released draft national regulations for foreign universities. ..."

India opens its doors to first foreign universities