New York plans to implement an affordable student  loan programme

NewYork has plans to implement an affordable student loan programme in an effort to make it more competitive with other states. The administration plans to introduce legislation for it in the budget for the next year.

A report was released about New York state’s higher education system which listed the requirements of such a programme in its top ten major recommendations. It also proposes infusion of around US$3 billion for the research and hiring of at least 2,000 new teachers. Academic research is also one of the central focal points of the report.

Quality of teaching tops the list for international students: Study

Quality of teaching is the single most important factor considered by international students when deciding where to study, according to research published by Study Group. Also ranking near the top of the list were personal safety, reputation of the college and country of study, according to the majority of the 671 students surveyed.

The ‘Choice of Destination’ survey was conducted by the International Graduate Insight Group (i-graduate). The respondents were from a variety of countries (including China, Russia and Greece) and studying at one of the UK’s four Bellerbys international colleges. Bottom of the list of 19 factors were the availability of scholarships, future work opportunities and whether their friends studied in the same country.

New British universities could struggle to survive

Newer British universities may disappear because of global competition forcing them to spend more, ratings agency Standard & Poors has warned. It warns of ‘certain universities ceasing to exist’ because of increasing competition from China and India and within the UK. The analysis suggests that more research-intensive universities will be in a stronger position to cope.

‘From a credit perspective, the UK higher education sector has made positive strides over the past few years, but faces increasing risks in the medium-to-long term,’ the report states.

UDcast delivers e-Learning network to universities in Oceania

UDcast, a global provider of enterprise network optimisation and mobile television solutions, has delivered a network acceleration system to the universities in Papua New Guinea. The network was ordered by the Papua New Guinea Academic and Research Network, a consortium of private and state universities.

Papua New Guinea still lags with one of the lowest internet usage ratios in the world — 2.8% among the 6 million citizens. So far, 21 ground sites have been equipped with secure broadband satellite connection. Each site features an UDgateway that provides protocol acceleration, caching and security in conjunction with iDirect VSAT modems.

EduWave Live launched in the Middle East

EduWave Live, an e-learning and educational management solution, was launched in the Middle East with the aim of providing the educational sector in the UAE and across the region with an advanced software platform that will help to enhance the management of the region’s schools and universities, and facilitate country-wide collaboration between teachers, students and educational administrators.

EduWave Live is ITG’s next-generation award-winning, comprehensive e-Learning and educational management solution that is built on the latest collaborative Microsoft technologies. Together, Microsoft and ITG, a Jordanian partner, have designed, developed and will market EduWave Live, a multilingual, comprehensive and user-friendly e-Learning Platform that caters to schools from K-12 onwards and the educational community as a whole.

Teachers in Rwanda to receive ICT training by year end

Teachers in the country will be equipped with ICT and management skills by December this year, Secretary General, Ministry of Education, Justin Nsengiyumva said on the occasion of a week-long training of 45 head teachers in ICT and management in Nyarugenge district.

The training was aimed at easing and speeding up management work that has been affecting these teachers’ performance. With ICT access and knowledge, Rwandan teachers will get Internet connection for research and able to compete globally. The training is being facilitated by a British project known as VVOBFlemish Technical Cooperation which will be in charge until its completion.