The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Surge In Chinese Students Reflects Ties Between US And China

President Obama announced plans last month to "dramatically expand" to 100,000 the number of U.S. students who study in China over the next four years, calling such exchanges "a clear commitment to build ties among our people in the steady pursuit of cooperation that will serve our nations, and the world." But Sun, who grew up in China's Jiangxi province, is part of a surge already taking place in the other direction. Last year alone, 98,510 Chinese graduate and undergraduate students poured into U.S. colleges and universities, lured by China's emphasis on academic achievement and the prestige of U.S. higher education. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-12-08-1Achinesestudents08_CV_N.htm?csp=34

USC Enrolls The Most Foreign Students

For the eighth consecutive year, USC enrolled the highest number of foreign students of any U.S. university last year, a new report shows. USC, which recruits strongly in Asia, had 7,482 international students in the 2008-09 school year, according to the study by the Institute of International Education with support from the State Department. In all, USC enrolls about 34,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Read more at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-usc17-2009nov17,0,2821327.story 

New Wave Of Chinese Students Welcomed To US IHEs

American universities are enrolling a new wave of Chinese undergraduates. While India was, for the eighth consecutive year, the leading country of origin for international students — sending 103,260 students, a 9 percent increase over the previous year — China is rapidly catching up, sending 98,510 last year, a 21 percent increase. The growing share of undergraduates would change the face of the Chinese students’ presence in the United States. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/education/16international-.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

China Extends Its Influence To US IHEs Through Culture Centers

Although the students are doing their work at a state school on Florida's Gulf Coast, the center they are studying in is part of a global outreach by the government of China called the Confucius Institute. The cultural and language centers have sprung up around the world, hosted at universities eager to boost their Mandarin offerings as China's economic influence grows. The Confucius Institute at South Florida is one of nearly 60 such centers in the United States, and 396 globally in 87 countries. They fill language instruction needs at a time when many universities are grappling with budget cuts. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2009/10/30/china_expands_language_institutes_at_us_colleges/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Education+news

Russian Academic Freedom

Word spread this month among the faculty members of St. Petersburg State University: According to a document signed on Oct. 1, they have to submit their work to administrators for permission before publishing it abroad or presenting it at overseas conferences. The order, which was circulated internally and made its way onto a popular Internet forum, says professors must provide their academic department with copies of texts to be made public outside Russia, so that they can be reviewed for violation of intellectual property laws or potential danger to national security. Read more at;
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/europe/28petersburg.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

University In Pakistan Demands More Of Our Attention

When the Taliban attacked the International Islamic University in Pakistan this week, many were shocked that militants were targeting an Islamic school. In fact, the double suicide bombers were going after a university that is at the forefront of changing the way Islamic and Western knowledge are brought together in the Muslim world. The University was carving out a much-needed space in Muslim intellectual, and through it political, life through its bringing Muslim and Western traditions into dialogue. Yet it was receiving, and continues to receive far less attention from scholars, commentators, or policymakers than the fully American-style universities being opened across the Persian Gulf. Read more at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1023/p09s03-coop.html

Japanese University Plans Biggest Manga Library Ever

In a move to promote serious study of Japanese manga, a university in Tokyo plans to open a library with two million comic books, animation drawings, video games and other cartoon industry artifacts.Tentatively named the Tokyo International Manga Library, it would open by early 2015 on the campus of the private Meiji University, and be available to researchers and fans from Japan and abroad. "Manga has been taken lightly in the past and there has been no solid archive for serious study," said Susumi Shibao, a library official at the university told AFP by telephone. "We want to help academic studies on manga as part of Japanese culture." Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gJAzSuC3AOKkfxHPbRwOEBevmQKg

Iraqi University Closes To Deal With Gang Problem

Mustansiriya University, one of Iraq’s most prestigious universities, was temporarily closed this month by the prime minister in an effort to rid it of a shadowy student gang accused of murdering, torturing and raping fellow students, and killing professors and administrators. During Iraq’s war, universities like Mustansiriya have not been spared. Since 2007, bombings at the institution have killed or maimed more than 335 students and staff members. Dozens of students and professors have been killed, and a 12-foot-high blast wall has been built around Mustansiriya. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/world/middleeast/20university.html

Canadian IHEs Looking Better To U.S. Students

More American students are finding worth in Canada's higher-education system, where costs are lower than many private schools in the United States and in some cases similar to costs at flagship state schools, such as Pennsylvania State and Rutgers Universities. During the last decade, the number of American students at Canadian universities has more than doubled, says the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, to 8,200 in 2007-08, up from 3,312 a decade ago. The Canadian Embassy in Washington expects there will be as many as 10,000 this year, making the United States the second-largest exporter of students to Canada behind China. Canadian colleges are recruiting more aggressively; last week they launched a five-city tour in Baltimore. Read more at:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20090928_More_U_S__students_picking_Canadian_universities.html

How Much For That Doctoral Degree

German prosecutors were investigating 100 professors across the country on suspicion they took bribes to help students get their doctoral degrees, authorities said Saturday. The investigation focused on the Institute for Scientific Consulting, based in Bergisch Gladbach, just east of Cologne, which allegedly acted as the intermediary between students and the professors, said Cologne prosecutor's spokesman Guenther Feld. According to the two publications, students paid between $5,700 to $28,500 to the company, which promised to help them get their doctorate degrees through its extensive contacts within university faculties. Read more at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32522189/ns/world_news-europe/