Education BLog

A career bridge in a recessed world

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:27:00 -0000

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.

Education authorities urged to protect students' eyesight

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:25:00 -0000

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.

Indonesia's space agency prepares educational s

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:24:00 -0000

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.

MBA fees in Beijing jump as students increase

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:24:00 -0000

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.

Confucius Institutes short of teaching materials: expert

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:24:00 -0000

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.

Australia announces funding for students with low socioeconomic backgrounds

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:23:00 -0000

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.　

Macao's higher education expected to boom with more land given

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:22:00 -0000

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.

Poetic snapshots combine words and photographic

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:22:00 -0000

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.

HK Students' Chinese level improved

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:21:00 -0000

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.

S African student's computer program causes stir

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:21:00 -0000

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.

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Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:15:00 -0000

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