Trebling of tuition fees and disillusionment with UK universities cited as reasons for interest in top American institutions The number of UK teenagers applying to Ivy League and top state-funded universities in the US has risen sharply in the past few years, figures show. Data obtained from seven prestigious US institutions reveals that a major drive to recruit UK undergraduates is starting to pay off. One leading headteacher told the Guardian that the growing interest came partly from a belief among parents and pupils that “UK universities were creaking at the limits”. Harvard has received 500 applications from UK students for undergraduate courses this autumn, a jump from 370 last year. Meanwhile, the University of California, Berkeley, has had 166 applications from the UK, up from 130 last year. The university said applications from other European Union students had fallen from 343 last year to 281 this year. Cornell University, which is part of the Ivy League and is based in New York, has seen applications from UK students rise this year to 197 from 176 last year. Some of the universities count only the number of students who enrol on their courses rather than those who apply. Enrolments from the UK to Yale, another Ivy League institution, have doubled in the last five years, with a large spike last year. In 2006, 15 UK students enrolled. This grew to 25 in 2009 and 36 the following year. Enrolments at Columbia, also in the Ivy League, rose from 164 in 2003 to 170 in 2006 and 178 in 2009. At Indiana, one of the top-rated US public universities, there has been a modest rise in UK applications this year – from seven to nine. Other applications from the EU grew to 50 this year from 41 last year. At Princeton, another Ivy League institution in New Jersey, enrolments from the UK have more than doubled in the last five years, from 32 in 2005 to 77 in 2010. In 2009, there were 81 enrolments from the UK. The cost of studying at an Ivy League university for a UK student can reach up to £37,000 ($60,000) a year. Most undergraduate courses last four years. Fees at state-funded universities are substantially lower, but it can be difficult to obtain a place without US citizenship. Despite this, the headteacher of a leading public school, King’s College school in Wimbledon, south-west London, said he had noticed that interest in studying at US universities was growing. Andrew Halls said the near-trebling of tuition fees was one factor: from autumn 2012, universities in England and Wales will be allowed to charge up to £9,000 in tuition fees each year. But Halls also said there was “growing disillusionment” among pupils and parents with what most UK universities could offer. “There is a bit of a sense that UK universities are creaking at the limits,” he said. “Our 13- to 16-year-olds are talking about applying to US universities much more than they used to. There’s a feeling that [if you go to a UK university that is not Oxbridge], you may not get as much teaching as you would like. US universities emphasise the ‘whole man’. They love to hear about students playing the piano and other extra-curricular activities. They want a fulsomeness that Oxbridge and others seem distrustful of. Quite a lot of parents say that it is because of this that they are prepared to make a big financial sacrifice and pay for a US university.” A report on overseas students in the US by the Institute of International Education found that in 2004 there were 8,274 UK students studying in the US. In 2009 this had grown to 8,861. Lauren Welch, head of the advisory service at the US-UK Fulbright Commission, which encourages educational exchanges between UK and US students, said many US universities and colleges saw this year as “an unprecedented opportunity to recruit British students”. “They know that tuition fees are increasing threefold in just one year and that places will be capped on places for UK students, and they want to take advantage of this chance to make students aware of the American alternative.” Welch added that the profile of students who went to study in the US was changing. “They were primarily from greater London and the south-west and attended an independent or international school,” she said. “We are now seeing more and more students apply to the US from state and grammar schools and from a much wider spectrum of the British population.” King’s College school is holding a conference – the American Dream – this September for headteachers and pupils to discuss applying to US universities. Higher education University teaching Student finance Students United States Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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Public and Commercial Services union members to join teachers and lecturers for 30 June walkout A quarter of a million civil servants are to join striking teachers for a mass walkout on 30 June, bringing schools, colleges, universities, courts, ports and job centres to a halt. Up to 750,000 state employees are expected to take part in the strike, over the government’s pension reforms, after members of the Public and Commercial Services union voted by 61.1% in favour of strikes, and by 83.6% for other forms of industrial action, on a turnout of 32.4%. Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS, said the action was principally against cuts but also against the coalition’s public service reforms. “The clear majority in favour of a strike shows that public servants – who provide vital services across the country – are not prepared to stand back while everything they have ever worked for is taken from them,” he said. “The government claims this is about rebalancing pensions, but it has already admitted that the money it saves will go straight to the Treasury to help pay off the deficit in what amounts to nothing more than a tax on working in the public sector. “I have been at every one of the negotiating meetings with the government, and what we’ve been told is that they won’t budge on increasing the pension age, they won’t budge on their plans to double or triple contributions, and they won’t budge on the value of our members’ pensions being slashed. “In reality, the talks are a farce and, faced with mass job cuts, the pay freeze and the biggest raid on pensions in living memory, it’s not surprising that people want to defend themselves.” Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, has repeatedly called on the unions to await the outcome of the pensions talks that are currently under way before striking, calling those going ahead with industrial action “irresponsible and wrong”. But on Wednesday, it emerged that a second headteachers’ union, the Association of School and College Leaders, was also moving towards a ballot for strike action. Three teachers’ unions – the National Union of Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the Universities and College Union – have all said they will strike this month. Nearly every major public sector union has now indicated that it is likely to ballot once the talks conclude this summer. Insiders say negotiations are all but at a stalemate, with ministers and unions failing to agree on even basic principles. It means there could be rolling strike action across the public sector in the autumn, which could profoundly disrupt the work of the state. Maude told MPs during Commons questions that “rigorous contingency plans” were in place should a walkout go ahead. He said: “We are engaging in discussions with the TUC at the behest of the TUC – those discussions are continuing. There’s much still to be sorted out. “It was Lord Hutton, the previous Labour pensions secretary, who recommended these reforms to make public sector pensions schemes sustainable and affordable for the future. That’s what we’re determined to achieve. “Any union or any public servant contemplating strike action at the moment is really jumping the gun – there’s a long way to go on this yet.” He added: “I am sorry that a handful of unions are hell-bent on pursuing disruptive industrial action while those discussions are still continuing, though we have rigorous contingency plans in place to minimise disruption in the event of industrial action.” Trade unions Mark Serwotka Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance Public sector pay Public sector pensions Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The hills are still alive. Austria has decided to yank prime real estate off the market after residents screamed about the nation’s plans to auction off two alpine peaks. “We have suspended the sale to evaluate alternative possibilities,” said a spokesman for the agency that buys state property and manages…
Continue reading …If Moammar Gadhafi wants to win back the ministers fleeing his regime, he could try offering them tickets to the 2012 London Olympics. Yes, right from Believe it or Not, British officials have confirmed that the Libyan Olympic Committee, headed by one of Gadhafi’s sons, has been awarded some 1,…
Continue reading …E Street Band sax player Clarence Clemons is showing signs of progress after suffering a massive stroke , Bruce Springsteen says, encouraging fans to pray for his “beloved comrade.” Clemons, 69, “will need much care and support to achieve his potential once again” and reach greater heights as a rocker, Springsteen…
Continue reading …For tens of thousands of schoolchildren in Japan, this year’s back-to-school kit will include a radiation detector. Officials in Fukushima city, 37 miles south of the Fukushima nuclear complex, say that to address the concerns of parents, the dosimeters will be given to some 34,000 children from nursery school…
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The yakuza is turning its attention from helping disaster victims to winning contracts for the massive rebuilding effort In the aftermath of the devastating March tsunami, Japan’s underworld made a rare display of philanthropy, handing out emergency supplies to survivors, sometimes days before aid agencies arrived. Three months later, however, the yakuza appears to have dispensed with largesse and is instead hoping to cash in on the daunting clean-up effort in dozens of ruined towns and villages. The government and police fear they are losing the battle to prevent crime syndicates from winning lucrative contracts to remove millions of tonnes of debris left in the tsunami’s wake, including contaminated rubble near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that many firms are reluctant to handle. The disaster created almost 24m tonnes of debris in the three hardest-hit prefectures, Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate, according to the environment ministry. So far, just over 5m tonnes – or 22% – has been removed. Those lining up to profit from the clearance operation, which is expected to take three years , include homegrown gangs and Chinese crime syndicates, according to the June edition of Sentaku, a respected political and economic affairs magazine. The magazine recounts the story of a leading Chinese gangster who, accompanied by a national politician, visited the mayor of Minamisoma – a town near Fukushima Daiichi, where a partial evacuation order is in place – hoping to win contracts to remove radioactive waste that, according to police, could have ended up at disposal sites in China. The man, named in the article as Mr X, had reportedly ingratiated himself with the local authorities by handing out free food to people living in evacuation centres. The mayor had no knowledge of the man’s underworld connections, the magazine said. “If they help citizens, it’s hard for the police to say anything bad,” said Tomohiko Suzuki, a journalist who has written several books on the Japanese underworld. “The yakuza are trying to position themselves to gain contracts for their construction companies for the massive rebuilding that will come.” An unnamed senior gangster countered in the Weekly Taishuu magazine: “It takes too long for the arm of the government to reach out here so it’s important to do it now. Our honest sentiment right now is to be of some use to people.” In the days after the tsunami, the wealthiest yakuza gangs reportedly sent dozens of trucks loaded with water, nappies, instant noodles, blankets and other supplies worth an estimated half a million dollars to the stricken region. The race to profit from the operation to remove what is left of wrecked buildings and gain a share of the reconstruction budget is expected to intensify in the coming months. Officials have said that the removal of debris should come under central government control, and the names of “antisocial” individuals have been forwarded to local authorities. But given the sheer quantity of debris, and the manpower required to remove and dispose of it, few believe Japan’s most powerful yakuza gangs will be kept out altogether. The police’s job has been complicated by the emergence of yakuza front companies that, without time-consuming investigations, are impossible to distinguish from legitimate businesses. As Sentaku notes: “It appears to be an uphill battle to prevent the yakuza and other crime syndicates from benefiting from the multitrillion-yen reconstruction projects.” Traditionally, construction has been a dependable well of cash from which the yakuza, with an estimated nationwide membership of 80,000, has supped long and often. “The nexus of massive construction projects, bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen and yakuza are as revealing about Japan as they are about Italy and Russia,” Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University in Tokyo, wrote in his recent book, Contemporary Japan. “In Japan, the yakuza cut on construction projects is estimated at 3%, a vast sum that keeps them afloat, given that during the 1990s the public works budget was on par with the US Pentagon’s budget and remains quite high despite huge cutbacks.” It is not the first time the yakuza has revealed its usually well-hidden philanthropic side. After the western port city of Kobe was struck by an earthquake in January 1995, members of the locally based Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s biggest crime syndicate, were among the first to hand out food and water to survivors. Japan Organised crime Japan disaster Natural disasters and extreme weather Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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Industrial action on capital’s Tube set to disrupt network from 19 June after talks over sacked driver break down Talks aimed at averting a series of strikes by London Underground workers in protest at the sacking of a driver have broken down. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union accused Tube bosses on Wednesday of refusing to discuss the reinstatement of the driver, Arwyn Thomas. He has taken a claim of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal, with the result due by the end of the month. The union is planning a series of strikes starting on Sunday evening, which will hit Monday morning commuters as well as those travelling to the Wimbledon tennis championships. Both sides met at the conciliation service Acas for two hours, but the RMT said the talks had broken down and the strikes were now set to go ahead. The action is set to take place from: • 9.01pm on 19 June to 3am on 20 June; • 9.01pm on 27 June to 11.59am on 28 June; • midday on 29 June to 11.59am on 30 June; • midday to 9pm on 1 July. London Transport Trade unions guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is blasting what could be the most stunningly racist, sexist campaign ad in history. The web ad, produced by the ultra conservative Turn Right USA PAC , features machine-gun toting black ganstas’ ordering “bitch” and “ho” Democratic candidate for Congress Janice Hahn to give them money…
Continue reading …Move over, boasting bank robbers —some new contenders for stupidest Facebook criminals have arrived. Police say Philadelphia mother Eley London, 20, sought and found a hit man on Facebook after an argument with her ex-boyfriend, reports the New York Daily News . “I will pay somebody a stack to kill my…
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