Education BLog

For foreign students like African-American Tristan Hampton, working as an expo volunteer provides the perfect platform to network for jobs in a fiercely competitive environment, while also giving him behind-the-scenes access to hidden facets of Chinese society.

"For fresh graduates like me, it's still hard to find jobs. I'm hoping to meet some businessmen and look for potential opportunities," said Hampton, a Chinese major at Shanghai University who speaks fluent Mandarin.

"To be honest, there are much more opportunities in Shanghai than there are in America," he said. "I'm not that worried about finding a job since I'm still young. What I'm planning to do during the expo is send business cards to foreign businessmen, do tours, and schedule trips for them, kind of like a travel agency."

Hampton and his friend Silas Doyle-Burr are among 20 foreigners and 1,000 Chinese volunteers who rotate shifts at the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Center. The center, which opened on Huaihai Road M in May 2008, offers highlights from past expos, such as models of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Crystal Palace in London, and explains the layout and content of the Shanghai Expo.

It also gives young people a chance to liaise with high rollers and the corporate world in a city where only 90 percent of last year's graduates landed a job in 2009. Volunteers, whether foreign or Chinese, also get to build their confidence by dealing with public crowds and walking them through various aspects of the expo. The center on Huaihai Road sees an average of 3,000 visitors a day, or over three times this number at weekends.

"I'm from a small town in Vermont, New England with a population of just over 2,000," said 22-year-old Doyle-Burr. "To think that I would serve 10,000 tourists someday was simply crazy."

Speaking at a national ceremony in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing on the one-year countdown to the 2010 Expo, Shanghai Party Chief Yu Zhensheng described volunteering as "a key opportunity for young people to develop themselves, and a platform to showcase local youth."

Since the main recruitment drive started last May, organizers have been inundated with applications. Some 50,000 people, mostly students, had already filed applications by the time Yu issued his comments in Beijing last year. Sixty percent of them did so online.

The deadline for volunteers passed on Dec 31, but the traffic is huge. Organizers want 70,000 to work on the expo grounds and another 100,000 for the 1,000-odd service centers that will be set up around Shanghai. They are expected to work for at least 14 consecutive days, with only their travel expenses paid for.

But for many, it is a sacrifice worth making, with unique experiences and adventures in store.

The two American students discovered this recently when they were sent to give local police an English lesson, and ended up getting an escort back to their campus.

"It was our first time in a Chinese police station and we were really nervous," said Hampton, adding that it made quite a change from giving tours, selling souvenirs, and telling toddlers not to bite the top off miniature buildings.

The officers soon loosened up and wanted to learn everything about their opposite numbers in the United States, he said.

"They asked us everything about American cops, like whether they carry guns, under what circumstances are they allowed to use guns, etc.

"At the end, they offered us a ride back to campus in their police car. We even turned on the siren when we entered the gate." said Doyle-Burr. "Then we decided to play a little trick." The prank involved getting out of the car pretending to be handcuffed with coats slung over their heads, much to the shock of their classmates.

"All of our friends were asking us the next day what kind of crime we committed, and if we were going to be deported," he added.

The Chinese Ministry of Education urged Thursday local authorities to pay greater attention to the prevention of near-sightedness among students.

"Near-sightedness is still a serious problem among primary and middle school students as some local education authorities and school management do not pay enough attention to the prevention of near-sightedness," Vice Education Minister Chen Xiaoya told local education authorities via a video conference.

According to the latest national health check announced in 2008, 31.67 percent of primary school students had impaired eyesight, while the figure rose to 58.07 percent for middle school students and 76.02 percent for senior high school students. College students topped the list at 82.68 percent.

Experts said inheritance of poor eyesight only accounted for 55percent of the total, while the unhealthy way of using eyes contributed to the rest.

Ignorance of the importance of health and overburden of school work were the major causes of the decline of youngster's eyesight, said Chen Xiaoya.

Chinese students usually have a heavy load of homework and attend numerous training classes after school. Because of this, the country's education authorities had already asked schools to have less classes and provide students with more leisure time.

To curb the situation, the Chinese government has issued a document in 2007, pledging to improve youngsters' eyesight within five years. The document also required schools to organize students to do eye exercises twice daily, to have physical exercises one hour a day, and to check students' eyesight twice a semester.

Chen also required the local education departments to set up record of students' eyesight, and take prevention measures accordingly.

Schools should also join hands with families and communities in the prevention of near-sightedness among students, Chen stressed.

Confucius Institutes around the world are now facing a short of teaching materials due to lack of translators and channels for publication and sale, said Xu Lin, director of the Confucius Institutes Headquarters on Sunday.

Compared with Germany-based Goethe Institute and Spain-based Cervantes Institute, Confucius Institute is lagged behind in aspect of providing effective Chinese teaching materials, Xu said at the closing ceremony of the 4th Confucius Institutes Conference.

She explained that both the Goethe Institute and the Cervantes Institute have their typical teaching materials such as The Sorrows of Young Werther and Don Quixote. "But Confucius Institute do not have any kind of this material."

"Confucian Analects, for example, the most famous masterpiece by Confucius, has not got a translated version that is translated by Chinese and is accepted by world readers," Xu said.

Currently, a total of 282 Confucius institutes have been set up around the world, and there are about 40 million Chinese language learners.

In addition to Confucius Institutes, China also launched Air Confucius Institute based on the network of China Radio International in 12 countries. Confucius Institute online also kicked off in 2008 and even since has attracted over 10 million clickers from 149 countries.

Considered as a channel of spreading Chinese culture around the world, the Confucius Institute is also a demonstration of China's rising soft power, Xu said.

"We should make further researches on how to launch Chinese classes in primary and middle schools in local communities, and how to help foreigners learn Chinese culture," Xu added.

Confucius Institutes Conference started in 2006. This year's conference attracted about 1,000 delegates from China and 87 countries and regions.

Top business schools in Beijing have raised their tuition fees by as much as 30 percent, as the city's universities respond to an steady increase in the number of MBA applicants.

Master of Business Administration courses are two-year full-time courses that are increasingly being seen as a solution to worsening graduate employment woes.

Tsinghua University will raise its full-time two-year MBA tuition fees to 128,000 yuan next year from 98,000 yuan. Its international program is also up, to 138,000 yuan from 120,000 yuan.

Peking University is following suit with its equivalent courses climbing to 108,000 yuan from 98,000 yuan, and international fees are now 128,000 yuan from 108,000 yuan.

"The tuition fee has been raised because more valuable courses and higher-quality projects are being added into next year's program. They include more overseas internships and study opportunities," a press officer surnamed Ren from Tsinghua University said.

Despite the average 100,000 yuan for a two-year MBA program, a sharp contrast to the majority of academic masters degrees that sit much lower at 16,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan, many applicants continue to be attracted to the business courses.

"Most of my classmates have worked and saved for more than three years, meaning that we can afford the comparatively expensive tuition fees," Zhang Bo, a 31-year-old chairman of the MBA program students union at Tsinghua University told METRO.

Zhang isn't alone. Numbers of nationwide applicants for the 2010 Beijing MBA admission exam jumped 20 percent from last year to a total of 15,384 people. This is the largest single group of the 258,654 students currently getting ready to take Beijing masters exams on Jan 9 and 10 next year, the Beijing Education Examinations Authority said.

Meanwhile, the likelihood of a successful application is also on the rise. For top-ranking universities like Tsinghua University and Peking University, the latest data reveals that almost one in seven applicants will be admitted to the nation's most prestigious universities.

However, the news is not all positive.

A recent survey by the vocational magazine Staffers shows 70 percent of MBA students set to graduate in summer will find it "very difficult" to get jobs.

And 37 percent who get job offers are discovering that salaries are no higher than when they faced the job market before MBA study.

Ma Zhenhan, a 30-year-old owner of a translation company, questioned the point of MBA programs.

"I wanted to apply for the MBA program next year, but the tuition fee jumped so quickly that it is now out of proportion with the current economical situation," he said.

"I don't see that the job situation improves for graduates and I wonder if it is all really worth it."

Chen Bin, an expert on human resources, said many companies are very cautious about hiring new employees in the current uncertain economic situation.

He added it's estimated more than 60 percent of MBA graduates may earn an annual salary of less than 100,000 yuan, reported by Information Times.

Regardless of the concerns of some, the Ministry of Education reported that 55 colleges have been granted the rights to start MBA programs next year, a massive increase from the current 127.

Indonesia's National Flight and Space Agency (LAPAN) will help launching program of communication satellite to support long distance education held by the Ministry for the National Education, Kompas daily quoted an official as saying on Saturday.

The satellite named after the country's prominent education hero Ki Hajar Dewantara will be connected to 50,000 points (schools).

The agency's head Adi Sadewo Salatun said on Friday that "tele-education satellite" will refer to concept implemented by many countries like India, China and Nigeria.

The Ki Hajar Dewantara Satellite Program will be prepared in three years, starting from system engineering, tele-education infrastructure preparation to the satellite launch and operation.

Currently, the program is still in feasible study phase, which is expected to take six months.

The satellite operation is expected to help solving problem of the lack of skilled educators and experts in remote areas, Adi said.

The infrastructure could provide knowledge dissemination to villages about health, cleanliness and personal development as well as to help professionals in increasing their knowledge.

The ministry allocated 200 million U.S. dollars for the program preparation to the satellite launch.

The tele-education satellite weighted 820 kg will be launched at the geo-stationer orbit or at height of 36,000 km. The equipment will be loaded with 12 transponders, consisting of education, telemedicine, defense and back-up ones.

The eight education transponder will serve interactive class in200 points and non-interactive class in 40,000 points.

Australia announces on Tuesday a funding of more than 433 million dollars (395.58 billion U.S. dollars) that helps students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Social Inclusion Juliao Gillard said Universities will receive around 540 dollars (493.24 U.S. dollars) per eligible student in 2010, and is expected to be 1,400 dollars (1,278.77 U.S. dollars) in 2013, depending on the enrollments. There will also be a 42 million dollars (38.37 million U.S. dollars) as an incentive to enroll more students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Minister Gillard released the Measuring the Socio-economic Status of Higher Education Students discussion paper on defining and measuring socio-economic status of students, which The Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education recommended as well.

The current Australian Government is committed to see 20 percent of all Australian undergraduates to be from low socio-economic backgrounds by 2020 and 40 percent of 25 to 34-year-olds with bachelor level qualification or above, by 2025.　

A picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case, an original Chinese poem composed by high school students bout city life.

They are budding poetrographers who produce poemographs and recently took part in a contest combining photos and poems in Chinese calligraphy.

The poems' calligraphy, its shapes and meanings, amplify a photograph, which also amplifies the poems. Traditional Chinese painting frequently was combined with poetry.

The competition theme: living in cities and the sense of belonging. Poetry is superimposed on the photos of architecture and urban scenes, creating another dimension of seeing and feeling.

Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong student winners in a poemography competition were recently announced at Pei Mansion Hotel in Jing'an District.

"We encourage students to break the boundaries of art media to explore, experience and express their observations about their city and their sense of belonging," says Alvin Kong, Swire Properties general manager for Shanghai and eastern China at the awards ceremony. The six-month competition was an art and education project, "Art Talents Pop Up! Poemography Exp," sponsored by the Swire Organization for Youth Arts (SOYA).

More than 200 students from around 50 high schools used their cameras and pens to observe and express their feelings about urban life.

The first prize was awarded to the work "Yi" ("Memory") created by Gu Yanliang and Huang Xiaoling from Shanghai No. 1 Middle School.

The two girls together wrote the poem that merges confused dreams and reality and looks to the future. The photograph is a night scene in Zhujiajiao watertown in Qingpu District. The images of old buildings are reflected in the canal, creating a mirror-like double image.

"The light reflected in the water is so attractive but it also confuses us. It's hard to tell reality from imagination, just as we sometimes feel in life," says Gu who likes reading poetry, writing poems and taking pictures.

"The activity gave us a good opportunity to express are feelings about life," says Huang.

Students attended workshops and discussions with professional photographers, poets, scholars and artists. Top poemographers are taking part in cultural exchanges among Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.

"Poemography" is the first art and education program launched by SOYA in the three cities.

"We hope that by participating, students in different cities can interact with each other," says Kong.

Macao's oldest university, the University of Macao, is expecting a booming future as its new campus will be built in three years, said its rector Prof. Wei Zhao Tuesday.

The new campus will cover an area of 1.09 square km on Hengqin Island, which is about 200 meters away from Macao but under the administration of neighboring Zhuhai city of Guangdong Province.

The new campus will be isolated from the rest part of Hengqin Island. A tunnel will be built to connect the two campuses so that the students and faculty will not need to go through the border procedure between Macao and the mainland, Zhao said.

"It will settle the problem the university long had," Zhao said. "The shortage of land had restrained it from further development."

The university, now having nearly 6,600 students, only occupies about 0.05 square km of land in Macao.

Each student only takes up 8 square meters of land in average, far below the national standard of 67 square meters.

This June, China's top legislature gave the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) jurisdiction over part of the land on Hengqin Island, assigned for the university's new campus, under a lease for 40 years.

"It was a good example of flexibility and vitality of the policy of 'one country, two systems,'" Zhao said.

With the new campus, the university will be able to hold 10,000 students.

"We will have more departments and programs. It will not only be a good opportunity for our university but also for Macao," Zhao said.

"Macao considered the construction of the new campus as an opportunity to improve local higher education service," said Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of Macao SAR in his report on the work of SAR government on Nov. 18.

In the past decade since Macao returned to the motherland, the region's higher education has improved with the economic growth.

The region, with an area of less than 30 square km, now has ten universities and colleges, according to the Tertiary Education Services Office of Macao SAR.

Ten years ago, about 8,500 students studied in colleges in Macao and the figure rose to 32,000 this year, while the number of the faculty increased from 738 to 1,951.

More than 70 percent of the teachers in Macao's public-funded universities has the doctor's degree.

With more investment, the number of students covered by the government scholarship in the 2008-2009 academic year doubled from the 1999-2000 year, enabling more children in poor families to go to college.

"Higher education is no longer a privilege for the elite but gradually becomes the service to common people," Zhao said.

A smart new computer program designed by a South African local PC boffin could be used to predict crowd behavior at stadiums during next year's World Cup, the Cape Argus newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The innovative program, designed by Johannesburg computer programming student Kieran Ekron, 22, has won him a place in the finals of a global technology competition in Poland next year.

The program is set to provide stadium managers and designers with critical information about potential problems in and around stadiums.

Ekron competed against more than 2,400 computer programming students from across the country to win the South African leg of the Imagine Cup 2009, a Microsoft-sponsored technology competition which pits the world's best student programmers against each other.

Ekron's Sim Stadium application was judged the best entry in the final of the competition at the Silverstar Casino in Krugersdorp this week.

Sim Stadium is a research project aimed at simulating the dynamics of a football stadium before, during and after matches.

The focus of the project is on modelling the behavior of the spectators at a football stadium.

Spectator behavior -- such as finding the right seat, buying refreshments and going to the bathroom -- can all be modelled, Ekron said on Tuesday.

While the program was a long way from being ready for the industry, it could possibly be used for the World Cup, he said.

"The program, for instance, would be able to simulate what happens during a riot at the stadium, and how long it will take security personnel to get there."

Ekron said he was very happy that his project came out tops.

"I didn't expect this to happen, because the first day of judging didn't go too well."

Of the potential for Ekron's program to be used by stadium management and the police during the World Cup, 2010 organizing committee spokesperson Rich Mkhondo said it was a possibility.

"Security for the World Cup is a national issue, but if we are approached by him, we will consult our partners - the police, Interpol, the government and other agencies - to consider the viability of such a project," Mkhondo said.

"We applaud his findings and creative innovation, and won't turn down any initiative that could help us make the World Cup safe."

Other big winners at the Imagine Cup came from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in the Eastern Cape.

Team Abantu Developaz won the development category with their project EASy (Education Assist System), a website that helps pupils and teachers prepare their daily academic activities up until the final exams.

Team Solo won the Game Design and Development category with Engage, a multiplayer arcade space shooter game that supports up to four players. Engage can be played on both a Windows PC and XBox platforms across a Local Area Network (LAN) or the Internet.

Ekron will represent South Africa at the global Imagine Cup finals in Warsaw next year. Now in its eighth year, the Imagine Cup challenges the world's best student programmers to create applications to solve real-world problems. More than 200 000 students from 100 countries entered the competition this year.

The head of Microsoft's developer and platform team, Clifford de Wit, said the judges had been "blown away" by the high calibre of the projects, and the levels of innovation displayed.

"These represent the next generation of technology and business leaders in South Africa. Their creativity and innovation demonstrates how technology can make a difference in people's lives in the way we think, work and communicate," he said.

"Students are the ones who get to engage with technology and make it real for us. Those aspiring to become technology leaders need to continue getting their hands dirty playing with technology and pushing the boundaries of innovation," he said.

Hong Kong students' performance in assessment projects showed that the students' Chinese level has been improved, according to an official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) here on Wednesday.

Kenneth Chen, Acting Secretary for Education told legislators that Hong Kong students' reading ability is consistently higher than the international standard.

According to 2007-2009 data, there is a continuous increase in the percentage of day school first attempters in the Certificate of Education Examination Chinese Language obtaining Level 2 or above, from 71.6 pct in 2007 to 73.3 pct in 2009.

"The percentage of day school first attempters in Advanced Level Examination Chinese Language and Culture obtaining Grade E or above have also continuously increased from 94.1 pct in 2007 to94.7 pct in 2009," Chen said.

He added that only certain candidates had written wrong Chinese characters in public examinations.

However, he also pointed out that Hong Kong students still have room for improvement and the government will continue to further improve the curriculum.

U.S. universities are concerned about Chinese students' cheating on entrance exams across the country, said a professor.

"Anything from China is suspect in the United States now in the education realm," said Steven Dickinson, a China-based lawyer and former law professor at the University of Washington who worked with the school's admissions office to select international candidates.

The problem stems not necessarily from the students themselves but rather from the resources Chinese rely on to study for admissions tests, like the Graduate Record Examinations and the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).

In 2008, 98,510 Chinese students went to study in the U.S., growing 21 percent over 2007, a report by the Institute of International Education said. China was the second largest source of foreign students in the U.S. after India.

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which distributes the GMAT exam, sued Passion for copyright infringement after it posted "live" test questions from GMAT exams online and distributed PDFs from test books.

A Beijing court ordered Beijing Passion Consultancy Ltd on Nov. 23 to pay a fine of 520,000 yuan for copyright infringement and publicly apologize for its actions.

Passion, a company that has trained around one third of Chinese students applying to the top 10 American business schools, said on Tuesday that it was sorry for selling GMAT materials without authorization.

After testing materials were removed, the traffic of Passion's website dropped by 70 percent in the past week, according to Internet traffic monitoring website Alexa.com.

Chinese students frequent a number of websites that reportedly hire staff to pose as test-takers and post reconstructed "live" questions from the exams for free online. Some of the proxy test-takers have employed hi-tech gadgets, including cameras and microphones, to obtain exam material.

"They will hire people to take the test and then steal the test book," Dickinson said. "Or they will get even more nasty and get an insider to send the text book that is coming out next and then get the answers to certain tests."

Even with GMAC's litigation against Passion, many other test-prep websites exist providing materials to Chinese students facing stiff competition to get into foreign schools.

The European Union (EU) signed an agreement worth 10 million euros (14.4 million U.S. dollars) on Friday with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to aid its education program.

UNRWA Commissioner General, Karen Abu Zayd, and the EU Representative Christian Berger signed the agreement, said a joint statement issued by UNRWA and the EU.

The new fund represents a crucial response to the UNRWA's financial crisis, and will enable it to maintain the current high level of educational activities throughout this school year, according to the statement.

UNRWA's education program provides basic education for refugee children in line with the educational systems of host countries, as well as vocational and semi-professional skills training.

The current financial outlook and chronic budget shortfalls have restricted the UNRWA's ability to maintain its education services.

"It is with great pleasure that I accept this generous donation, which will go towards the program that UNRWA sets as its highest priority and on which we spend more than half of our regular budget," said Abu Zayd.

Abu Zayd also took the opportunity to make a wider appeal to the international community.

"UNRWA must not be made to play a continuing zero sum game," she said, adding that "it is a source of deep regret that I leave office as Commissioner General in just a few days time, with the agency in a financial crisis that is both chronic and acute."

Berger said, "This agreement demonstrates the EU's support and appreciation for UNRWA, until we reach a settlement of the conflict, and a just and agreed upon solution."

"The agreement will help maintain the level of services at the current high standards," he said.

"We have already funded UNRWA with 66 million euros for the General Fund, but we hope that this agreement will contribute partially towards solving the cash flow problem," said Berger.

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states.

The UNRWA's budget for 2010 and 2011 stands at 1.23 billion dollars. In 2009, emergency appeals for the West Bank and Gaza amounted to 456.7 million dollars, with an additional 370.7 million dollars required for Lebanon. (1 euro equals 1.44 U.S. dollars)

Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the University of Macao's (UM) new campus on Hengqin Island Sunday afternoon, starting the construction of the new campus, which was expected to be completed within three years.

Hu arrived in Macao on Saturday to attend the celebration activities marking the 10th anniversary of Macao's return to China.

The following are some basic facts about UM's new campus on Hengqin Island:

An island of 106.46 square km, Hengqin is situated in the south of Zhuhai, a coastal city of China's southern province of Guangdong. It is separated from Macao by the Pearl River Estuary.

Hengqin is currently under the jurisdiction of Guangdong's Zhuhai city, but, on June 27, 2009, the ninth session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress passed a bill to give the Macao SAR jurisdiction over 1.09 square kilometers of land located on the eastern coast of the island, where UM's new campus will be built. The passage of this bill means that the government of the Macao SAR will exercise jurisdiction over the new campus zone according to the laws of the SAR.

The university's jurisdiction over the new site would expire on Dec. 19, 2049, but could be longer or shorter with the consent of the State Council, according to Zhou Bo, vice director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.

Being a prestigious public school in Macao, the UM currently occupies a hilly strip of no more than 0.05 square km, and it has just over 6,600 students due to limited land.

According to the UM, the new campus site is just across a narrow water channel from Macao, and a tunnel will be built under the channel to enable 24-hour commuting between the campus and Macao. Faculty, students, staff, visitors and Macao SAR residents will be able to access the campus conveniently through the tunnel without going through any border control.

With a larger area, the new campus will have a minimum accommodation capacity of 10,000 students and better education and research facilities.

Hundreds of college graduates yesterday attended interviews to be volunteer teachers of Chinese in Thailand, the Philippines and other Asian countries.

As many as 380 people turned out at the Minzu University of China for the recruitment drive organized by the Beijing Center of the Promotion of Chinese Overseas. This brings the total to almost 700 youths over the past two weekends.

Recruiters say they'll pick 300 people from Beijing to join between 1,000 and 1,500 people nationwide to teach Chinese in neighboring countries, starting next May, to meet the ever-increasing demand for Chinese teachers in foreign countries.

An official of the volunteer center of the Office of the Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), told METRO that Chinese teachers are in great demand because learning Chinese is now part of compulsory education in many primary schools in Asian countries such as Thailand.

"I heard from some education officials in the Thai government that they can't start Chinese teaching without Chinese teachers and volunteers," she said. Chinese teachers can be found in almost all the elementary schools in Thailand, according to her.

An official with the Beijing International Center for Chinese Language, said those who passed the interview would go through a five-month training period organized by Hanban. Successful candidates would then become volunteers and teach Chinese to primary and middle school students in Thailand, Philippines and other neighboring countries.

Each volunteer would receive $800 in subsidies, with accommodation and medical insurance covered by the recipient school. Volunteers who perform well will be recommended to continue their graduate studies of teaching Chinese at universities when they return, she said.

The official added that the basic requirement for candidates is that they have to have a bachelor's degree, pass a Chinese-level test and a College English Band Four exam. Candidates were tested on Chinese grammar, pronunciation, blackboard writing and English.

Those with skills such as singing Chinese songs or dancing were preferred, she said.

Huang Ping, 24, a graduate from Yunnan University that majors in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, was one of the candidates. She said being a volunteer in a foreign country would not only improve her communicative skills and English but also expand her international experience.

"I feel that teaching foreigners Chinese is like spreading Chinese culture to foreign countries. It is a great job," she said.

"I've sent out 40 CVs recently but only got a couple of responses. The job market has been severely hit by the financial crisis, but I really hope I can get this chance."

Li Qianqian, 26, currently teaches Chinese in Thailand. She said Chinese teachers are very welcomed by Thai students.

"My students are very friendly. They are very enthusiastic about learning Chinese. Apart from the hot weather, I have nothing to complain about," she said.

The Chinese government has recently taken a series of intensified measures to expand the influence of the Chinese language worldwide.

There are 282 Confucius Institute branches worldwide in 88 countries and regions. More than 250 organizations and institutions are in the process of applying to set up institutes.

Between 2009 and 2013, up to 3,000 scholarships will be given to foreign candidates to study teaching Chinese as a foreign language around China, according to Hanban

South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on Tuesday that English-teaching robots will be used at local schools in the country.

The ministry said robots with English-teaching abilities will be used at local schools in the city of Masan and Daejon till February next year on a trial basis, in an attempt to better serve students in provincial cities.

The ministry introduced two types of robots for this project, an "autonomous" unit with voice-recognition features and a "tele-presence" unit that a teacher can remotely control and communicate through a built-in camera and microphone with the students.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology led the implementation of this plan with the backing of the South Korean government which spent 400 million won (about 337,000 U.S. dollars)for additional research and development in related areas.

Pre-schoolers in the Subei Mongolian Autonomous County in northwest China's Gansu Province will receive free education starting from next year, local officials said on Monday.

The move will turn Subei into the third county in the province to provide 15-year free education, from kindergarten to high school, while most regions in China stick to a nine-year compulsory education covering only primary and junior high schools.

Qi Ling, director the Subei education bureau, said that local government regarded the measure as "one of the real work" to benefit local residents and had allocated 200,000 yuan (about 29,300 U.S. dollars) for it.

Earlier this year, the Aksay Kazak Autonomous County and Sunan Yugur Autonomous County in Gansu adopted the same measure.

With farming and animal husbandry as the main economic pillars, all of the three counties are scarcely inhabited. In Subei, for instance, there are only 13,000 people scattered in a land area of70,000 square kilometers. The population in Sunan and Aksay is 35,000 and 10,000 respectively.

There are no senior high schools in Aksay and Subei due to the small number of students, while parents there have to send their children to nearby cities such as Jiuquan and Dunhuang for high-school education.

To ease local residents' financial burden, Qi said the government not only paid for tuition fees but also granted living and transportation subsidies for students until they graduate from high schools.

Ha Deng, an official with the Education Department of Gansu Province, said that the policy adopted by the three counties aimed to encourage parents to send their children to school.

FIFA President Joseph Blatter has reiterated the world soccer body's commitment to a better future for every child through access to education, local media reported Saturday.

In his New Year message to football fans, Blatter said the soccer governing body's mission was not only to develop football.

"It is our duty to make a positive contribution to the creation of a better future," he said.

According to him, FIFA's 1GOAL Education for All campaign was to use football as a platform to improve access to education and health care for children and the young around the world.

The world soccer chief said the concept of education for every child could be taken for granted in many parts of the world, but the reality sometimes is very different.

He said the eyes of the world would be turned to Africa next year when South Africa would host the first World Cup in the continent. Blatter said football could be used to build bridges between people and contribute positively to society by inculcating values such as solidarity, respect and fair play.

He said FIFA established Football for Hope four years ago as the cornerstone of its corporate social responsibility to support, advise and strengthen sustainable social and human development programs in the areas of health, children's rights, education, anti-discrimination and social integration.

He described the outgoing year as a successful and exciting football year that featured top-class FIFA competitions. He said the football family stood together and cooperated to stage the competitions.

Africa hosted three of FIFA's competitions in 2009.

The competitions are the FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in South Africa in July, the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt in September and the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria in October/November.

"One of the final, and most spectacular, events in the annual FIFA calendar is the FIFA World Player Gala and once again, we honored the best male and female players, who are the key element and most important figures in our game," Blatter said.

The FIFA chief added that he was looking forward to sharing another memorable 12 months with all soccer fans in the world in 2010.

Top private schools have become less affordable over the past decade despite taxpayer subsidies and claims from former Prime Minister John Howard when he introduced the current funding system that fee increases would taper off.

The yearly fees in the top schools of about 11,500 dollars (10,483 U.S. dollars) in 1999 were about 28 percent of the average yearly wage, whereas this year's fees of about 23,500 dollars (21,422 U.S. dollars) at these schools are about 36 percent of the average salary, The Australian reports Wednesday.

The current Australian government decision to extend the socioeconomic status funding model until 2012 gave non-government schools an estimated 28 billion dollars (25.5 billion U.S. dollars). It was made despite protests from public education unions.

The reaction to the hikes has been muted so far, with parents groups and the Independent Education Union (IEU) noting that the education component of the consumer price index had risen by 5.6 percent in the past year.

IEU federal secretary Chris Watt said teachers' wages were rising at about 4.5 percent a year and it was possible that schools were facing reduced fee payments and donations from alumni amid the global financial crisis.

"If the increase was of the order of 10 percent, we would say it's outrageous, but it's not that much more than the base wage increase plus extra costs," he said

South Korea is keeping a close eye on Japan's reported plan to publish a revised education handbook, which Seoul suspects might claim disputed islets as its territory, according to Yonhap news agency Thursday.

It has yet to be confirmed if the education guideline for Japan's high school teachers, slated to be unveiled on Friday, includes territorial claim of the long-disputed islets.

But the South Korean government would immediately issue a statement and hold a press briefing if the handbook turns out to contain description of the islets, known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, local media reported.

Territorial disputes over the lonely islets, lying halfway between the two countries, have continuously caused diplomatic ire in the two countries in the past.

In the latest row between the two sides, Seoul last year summoned its ambassador to Japan back to South Korea after Japan claimed territorial sovereignty over the rocky outcroppings in its education guidebook.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said on Thursday that Australia's international student sector was in crisis and billions of dollars were at risk amid the escalating violence against foreign students.

She said racism should not be ruled out as a potential cause for recent attacks on Indian students and called on the government to take action as the impact of the attacks was already being felt across the international education sector.

"While the recent attacks are subject to a formal police investigation, to simply rule out the possibility that racism was involved is neither good leadership nor smart diplomacy in an environment of increased violence," Hanson-Young said.

"The government's hear no evil, see no evil approach is doing little to allay the fears of international students, their parents and their communities," she said.

However, Immigration Department spokesman Sandy Logan said claims of racism and violence against foreign students were not necessarily to blame for the drop in visa applications.

He indicated the Immigration Department had tightened its scrutiny of applications and had been rejecting a higher number of applications from India.

"It was a targeted series of checks as a result of analysis which suggested the risk was most significant in India, Mauritius, Nepal, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Pakistan," he said.

Enrollments of Indian students in Australia have fallen 46 percent over recent months and international student enrollments are down by 20 percent, figures that will impact the nation's 15 billion Australian dollar (13.8 billion U.S. dollar) higher education sector.

A new U.S. research has found a higher rate of autism in neighborhoods with lots of college graduates.

Researchers at the University of California in Davis (UCD) identified two groups that are more likely to have autistic children -- highly-educated and older parents.

Using data on about 2.5 million births in California in a five-year period, researchers identified 10 autism clusters, or geographical areas in which there was a higher than usual incidence of children diagnosed with autism.

The rate of autism in the clusters was about twice that of the surrounding areas, according to the study appearing in the Jan. 6 online issue of Autism Research.

The parents' educational attainment was classified into one of four levels: less than 12 years of school, high school graduate, some college (13 to 15 years) or 16-plus years of school (college graduate or advanced degree).

Parents who lived in the areas where autism was more prevalent were more likely to be college graduates or hold advanced degrees than parents who lived outside the clusters, said the study.

Mothers and fathers who were older when their child was born were also more likely to have autistic children, but parental age was not linked as strongly with autism as educational attainment, said the study's lead author Karla Van Meter, who conducted the research when she was a doctoral student in public health sciences at UCA. Van Meter is now an epidemiologist with the Sonoma County Department of Public Health.

"It confirms what we already knew, which is that highly educated parents are more likely to have children with autism," said Van Meter.

The researchers identified 9,900 children born between 1996 and2000 who were diagnosed with autism by age 6.

Just why there appears to be a link between parents' educational level and autism is unclear, but theories abound.

"Nobody really knows for sure, but some think there may be something genetic going on, some believe better-educated parents are more successful in seeking services for their children or may have different expectations for the kids, some believe there could be some physical or chemical exposure in those households," Van Meter said. "It could be all of the above or some combination of factors. All are being studied."

Though the data did not include information on household incomes, areas with highly-educated residents also tend to be higher-income areas, the researchers said.

Andy Shih, vice president for scientific affairs at Autism Speaks, said that highly-educated parents tend to know more about autism, are more successful in getting their children treatment and are more likely to have the resources to move to be closer to treatment centers. The clusters tended to be near regional autistic treatment centers, the study found.

"The unanswered question is, 'What about the parents who don't have the means to move to a place where there are better services, or who don't have the information on early signs of autism?'" Shih said. "This study points to a potential health disparity in our population."

Autism is the neuro developmental disability that's marked by impaired social and communication skills, and repetitive behaviors.

The Australian federal government has pledged an extra 360,000 dollars (329,184 U.S. dollars) to help university students get work experience in community legal centers.

The funds will extend the seven partnerships already under way in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.

"Access to practical legal education and experience is important as it not only helps students develop their legal skills, but also increases awareness of social justice and equity issues in the legal system," federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said later Wednesday.

The funds will provide students with hands-on experience in family law, while also giving them an opportunity to participate in dispute resolution and work in rural areas.

Amid tough job market, students apply in record numbers.

In one of the coldest weekends this winter, classrooms where applicants sat for an entrance exam to postgraduate courses were hot spots.

The three-day examination starting Saturday attracted a record number of applications. Most applicants finished their tests Sunday, but some take additional tests today.

The fever for the exam - where 1.4 million appeared - reflects a sluggish job market amid the global economic downturn, experts said.

"When the economy is down, people hide in schools and wait till the world is warmer," said Ge Xiaoling, professor of mechanics at East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai.

Enterprises shed 8 percent of the jobs during the hard times, with unemployment hitting a six-year high in cities, according to the Society of China Analysis and Forecast 2010 published last month by Social Sciences Academic Press.

The job losses in cities have hit college graduates the most, the report said.

The crisis is compounded with more than 6.3 million students graduating from universities nationwide this year, according to the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Many, especially fresh college graduates, consider graduate school a buffer zone to put off the pressure on jobs.

Economics, management, law and computer sciences are the most sought-after courses.

A third of college students who graduate this year believe further studies would translate into better career options, according to a recent poll, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"I will get more credits in my job application after another three years in school," said Zhu Shujun, a senior student at Jiangsu Polytechnic University.

"It means more time to prepare for my accountancy exam and get more internships."

Yang Hui, 24, an administrative employee in Shanghai, said failure to get a good job has pushed her to apply for a higher degree.

"I don't like my current job but I am not qualified enough to get the job I really want," said Yang.

"I hope people will find me more capable after graduate school."

But getting into graduate school is not easier than getting jobs.

The candidates are competing for 465,000 seats, which means only one in three examinees would succeed.

"This is even harder than the college entrance exam," said Ma Li, 22, after finishing the morning session on the second day at University of International Business and Economics (UIBE).

"Now, we have to do everything on our own, like collecting information on schools and looking for exam materials," said Ma, who wants to major in finance, which he thinks offers better job prospects.

Working while preparing for the exam is even more grueling, said Zhu Jiajia, 24, a lecturer in English at Shanghai Institute of Technology. "I sleep only five hours a day," said Zhu, who started preparing for the exam in the summer.

However, whether the postgraduate degree is worth the effort has generated debate even among employers.

"All my postgraduate students have found jobs at a salary of around 7,000 yuan ($1,025)," said Ge Xiaoling, professor of mechanics.

There was a higher employment rate for postgraduate students than undergraduates last year, said Yang Yong, who is in charge of recruitment at a top university in Beijing.

He said only one out of 20 law graduates of the 2009 class found a job in Beijing courts while 12 of 52 postgraduates got a job.

But bachelor-degree holders can also be competitive and team players, said Su Qixin, learning specialist at Unilever's HR department.

A total of 35,000 people have obtained the professional certificate of social work in 2009 after passing a nationwide test, which would help improve the country's social services evaluation system, Minister of Civil Affairs Li Xueju said Thursday.

The training of professional social workers was within the framework of the national talent development, Li said at a national civil affairs work meeting Thursday in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.

Pilot projects had been launched in 260 units in 163 places, Li said, without elaborating.

Social work was a universal profession committed to preventing and resolving social problems with expertise, to help others and promote social justice.

Professional social services are considered to be conducive to resolving at the grassroots social problems that have emerged in China along with the country's rapid economic and social development.

Social workers usually serve in fields of social welfare, social assistance, social charity and community services.

Li said the ministry would launch more projects this year in training social workers and sending them to rural, poor and border areas.

The first nationwide proficiency test for social workers was held in June 2008, emphasizing theories and practical solutions to social problems.

The ministry also revealed at the meeting that up to 1.5 million vagrants and beggars had received aid in the past year, 10percent of whom were under the age of 18.

Brazil will distribute 150,000 laptops to 300 schools in the country in 2010 through the project "One Laptop per Student", local media reported Thursday.

The project, which will cost the federal government 82 million reais (47.6 million U.S. dollars), has been stalled since 2008 when products made by Comsat, winner of the government bidding, failed evaluation tests by Brazil's Ministry of Education.

In the government's final appointment, the CCE company, runner-up in the bidding, will replace Comsat and is set to provide the first 3,000 laptops to be used for teachers training in 30 days. Each laptop will cost about 550 reais (319 dollars).

Schools will begin receiving the computers after carrying out training for teachers on notebook use and achieving wireless Internet access.

The project is now carried out in schools in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Sao Paulo, Tocantins and the Federal District.

The government is also working on ways to facilitate the purchase of school-use laptops in other parts of the country. In December 2009, an interim injunction granted tax exemption for computers to be used in Brazilian schools.

Student grateful to US university, wants to change one-way help.

A Chinese graduate's record-setting $8,888,888 donation to his school at Yale University has stirred wide debate at home. While some say it's up to Zhang Lei to do as he likes, others question why he didn't donate to his alma mater in Beijing.

Yale President Richard Levin and School of Management (SOM) Dean Sharon M. Oster were in Beijing last week with Zhang when he announced his donation. They were taking part in a panel discussion called "Investing in the Middle Kingdom".

Levin said: "This truly extraordinary and auspicious gift reflects the deep commitment to Yale that Lei Zhang shares with so many fellow graduates of the School of Management. Lei's generosity also represents a significant step toward the realization of the SOM's new campus."

The donation will primarily help build the new SOM campus, while a portion will provide scholarship support for the International Relations Program at Yale's new Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, as well as fund a variety of China-related activities at the university.

Opinions at home have been split in online forums since the story broke a few days ago. On pinggu.org, a forum run by Renmin University of China where Zhang was enrolled as a student of International Finance in 1989, netizens including alumni of the university have taken sides.

Some asked why Zhang, who graduated from Yale less than 10 years ago, chose an overseas institution rather than his Chinese university for the donation. But a larger group of online users voiced support for Zhang's move and said there is still room for improvement regarding management of universities in China.

A prominent analyst urged people to be more tolerant toward the donation.

"We should look at this news from an international standpoint," said Chi Fulin, professor and president of China Institute for Development and Reform. Chi said although Yale is the recipient of the fund, the donation will also benefit China.

"It will promote more Sino-US exchange programs, and more Chinese will be involved in these exchanges." He said that China also has received a lot of support and funding from overseas donors, and Zhang's move should be regarded with "respect, understanding and encouragement".

In terms of cultural and educational exchanges between China and the United States, financial aid provided by the US government is rather limited, and a larger part of it comes from non-government organizations. "China should also try to attract more donations through such channels in the future," he said.

According to Yale's website, the SOM graduate was born in Central China in 1972. At the age of 17 he scored the highest in the university entrance exam out of about 100,000 students in his province before being enrolled by Renmin University.

Zhang said Yale changed his life and taught him the spirit of giving. In his profile he wrote: "Yale has been helping China for more than 100 years. Many Chinese leaders were educated at Yale. But the relationship has been one-way for too long and I want to help change that."

Su Jing, who graduated from Yale with a master's degree in environmental law and policy in 2008, shares the view.

"I would consider donating to Yale too once I'm more financially successful. It taught me so much such as networking and world values," Su told China Daily, adding that Chinese universities should improve their alumni network to let the graduates know that they are not forgotten.

Zhang, who graduated from the Yale School of Management in 2002, worked for the Yale Investments Office under Chief Investment Officer David Swensen. In 2005, Zhang founded Hillhouse Capital Management Ltd, a Beijing-based investment fund that manages $2.5 billion.

The Yale SOM seeks to raise $300 million by 2011 to ensure its "leadership in 21st century management education", according to the official website. One of the 11 other donors listed on the site is Laura Cha from Hong Kong, former vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulation Commission.