November Research, Science and Knowledge

Read the articles selected in November 2016

Education at a Glance 2016

Source: http://www.oecd.org/, 15 September

57 million children don’t have access to primary education because of poverty, discriminations, and wars, but which skills are effectively acquired through education do matter too. OECD is set out to ensure that all 15-year-olds have the PISA basic level of proficiency in reading, mathematics, and science.

Theresa May announces £2 billionboost for UK research

by Holly Else

Source: Times Higher Education, 24 November

The UK government will spend £2 billion by 2020 to spur research and development in fields such as robotics, AI, and biotechnology, as part of a strategy of making knowledge a crucial industrial opportunity, and to remain attractive to international talent.

How does PISA assess science literacy?

Source: http://www.oecd.org/ 15 November

Every three years PISA presents a test on science literacy for 15-year-old students to assess students' ability to do a methodic reasoning explaining phenomena and interpreting data scientifically. The results from latest PISA tests will be published on 6 December 2015.

Why the world needs a new model for universities

by Safwan M. Masri

Source: University World News, 18 November

In a more and more global dimension also universities must globalise and Columbia University has spotted a series of centres across the world that serve as delocalised hubs to share the own expertise with institutions and audiences around the world and to enrich the own knowledge.

“Whistled languages” reveal how the brain processes information

by Julien Meyer

Sourcee: Scientific American, 22 November

Linguists are investing a forgotten form of communication, that speaks whistling at a long distance. Reported by Herodotus in his Histories, and still current in the exchanges of about 70 populations worldwide, is interesting also to study how the brain understands language.

After the Brexit referendum: possible outcomes for Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+

Source: http://www.eua.be/, 9 September

Before invoking article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the vote for Brexit doesn’t result in an exclusion of British universities from funding programmes. Even if UK leaves the EU, it would participate as an associate or partner country to Horizon 2020 and to Erasmus under specific conditions or only in certain actions.

US fears decline in international students after Trump election

by Ellie Bothwell

Source: Times Higher Education, 14 November

American academics fear that President Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric will be producing a decline in the number of international students in US universities, which will benefit other countries offering English-language degree programmes.

University of Oxford launches its first Mooc

by John Elmes

Source: Times Higher Education, 15 November

After reaching the first place in the 2016-2017 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the Oxford University has announced its first MOOC, “From poverty to prosperity: understanding economic development” in partnership with US online learning platform edX.

Doit-on enseigner le numérique comme les maths et le français?

by Agathe Charnet

Source: Le Monde, 15 November

Delivering a digital basic education is considered by the French Education Ministry a national priority since the digital belongs to the contemporary writing. Is open the question wether it has to be taught as an autonomous subject or has to be integrated into all subjects.

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Postdoctoral funding schemes in Europe

Source: http://www.scienceeurope.org/, 10 October 2016

A report by Science Europe presents a wide range of funding programmes for postdocs in a variety of fields. Science Europe, a European association of research funders and institutions, aims to promote international mobility helping to design an individual career development plan.

EUA vision for the next EU Framework Programme for Research&Innovation (FP29)

Source: http://www.eua.be/, 3 November

Universities have a leading role in the development of the European society and in strengthening the economic competitiveness. The new EU Framework Programme intends to promote excellence and ethical values in a multidisciplinary and innovative research, with an inclusive societal approach.

Brexit: strong collective European university voice more important than ever

Source: http://www.eua.be/, 3 November

EUA endorses the efforts to continue European collaboration with British universities after Brexit, underlining the importance of UK participation in the programme Horizon 2020, as well as the possibility for European students, guaranteed by the British government, to study in the UK.

German universities “should create brand personalities”

by John Morgan

Source: Times Higher Education, 6 November

Although the German Excellence Initiative has promoted not only competition but also differentiation in the creation of brand personalities by the single institutions in a system where tuition fees have been phased out, German universities fail to make use of their unique qualities in their mission statements to attract talents.

Postgraduate studies: find the best fit

by Kendall Powell

Source: Nature, 2 November

Graduates that look for a university for their postgraduate studies or a Ph.D. programme should look a programme that fits their interests and personality, and look at a school, not for the single star researcher, but for its research environment, that has to involve several professors working in the chosen area.

Do men’s and women’s choices of field of study explain why women earn less than men?

by Dirk Van Damme

Source: http://www.oecd.org/, 28 October

Gender stereotyping related to different fields of the study explain in part the gap in men’s and women’s earning due to the higher wages offered by some sectors stronger than others. But also in a field where gender differences of choices and graduation are not too large, women earn less.

EU funding “skewed towards previous winners”

by Holly Else

Source: Times Higher Education, 1 November

Success rates in competition for funding within the Horizon 2020 programme have reached a historic low for the poorer countries in Eastern and Southern Europe so that the European Commission is thinking about specific measures to connect academics from disadvantaged countries with excellent institutions.

EUA calls for ambitious EU research funding for 2017

Source: http://www.eua.be/, 27 October

After the European Parliament’s vote for an increased Horizon 2020 programme budget, EUA calls on the European institutions to reinforce EU funding for research and innovation, considering cuts related to the extension and increase of EFSI not justified.

Asia’s modern water opportunity

Source: Times Higher Education

Monash University is driving a project that involves a doctoral trainining partnership and represents a new model of collaboration between human studies, engineering and physical sciences for a sustainable water management in the Asian cities.

Young scientists ditch postdocs for biotech start-ups

by Erika Check Hayden

Source: Nature, 1 November

Many scientists in the biotech area after their Phd are starting their companies, which has been made possible thanks to the decreasing costs of these technologies. Academic career is losing its appeal, but doing business with science is not an easy job.

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Pubblicato il : 20/12/2017
Modificato il : 04/04/2019

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November Research, Science and Knowledge

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