University news roundup
This article was originally published in German. The English version is an automatic translation and may contain errors. The German original is authoritative.
Ongoing increase in housing costs The FAZ reported on 11.04.2017 on a study by the IW in Cologne, according to which price developments for student accommodation were significantly above the inflation rate. The authors of the study attribute this to the insufficient number of suitable new buildings.
Digital note-taking unfavourable Ecudemic reports on a study by Michigan State University. According to it, those taking digital notes would achieve worse test results regardless of motivation. Added to this is the distraction caused by the temptations of the internet. The authors attribute this, among other things, to the fact that the faster writing speed means that abstraction is lost during note-taking. Digital work in lectures does gain ground, however, once teaching applications for student engagement are used.
Student self-governance gone wrong That academic self-governance offers pitfalls and is a lively playground for group dynamics horror stories is well known to those familiar with the matter. Another example of this is provided by Emde in April at the journalism department of Leipzig University. There, no more students are being enrolled there for the time being due to allegedly too great quality deficiencies.
University in Nuremberg What Erlangen has, Nuremberg would also like to have: a more diverse and sustainable population and economic structure through local students. That is why, according to SZ, the Bavarian cabinet wants to decide by July whether to establish its own technical university in Nuremberg in competition with the University of Erlangen, or whether a larger part of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg should relocate to Nuremberg, or whether a new institute should be created.
Young German universities world-class German universities are not bad – but in globally recognised rankings they are rarely found in the top tier. This is different now in the "Young University Rankings 2017" by Times Higher Education. It compares universities founded in the last 50 years. The University of Ulm and the KIT, i.e. the University of Karlsruhe, are in positions eight and nine. Congratulations! In addition to universities from East and Southeast Asia, three other European universities are also represented: the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne from Switzerland, Maastricht University in the Netherlands and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna from Pisa. So if you are planning a trip with academic added value: these are three very impressive destinations.
Exam papers lost in the post In Bremen, the state examination civil law exam of 36 students went missing in the post. The unlucky students were offered either to receive the average grade of their other partial exams as their exam grade or to retake the exam, according to Der Spiegel. That such things do not happen for the first time is evidenced by the embarrassing end of a seminar held at RWTH Aachen by Armin Laschet until 2014: here too the exam papers disappeared in the post, and the students only had clarity about their grade after a year.
Hungary's government anti-intellectual The Hungarian government is seeking via legislation to close the Central European University, which is substantially financed by George Soros. With a law that requires foreign universities to have a seat in their country of origin, Hungary is specifically targeting the university financed by the person born in Budapest in 1930. The CEU is one of Hungary's most renowned universities, which is undoubtedly why several European governments have already shown willingness to host the university. The liberal university is a thorn in the side of the national-conservative government. The governments' plans led to demonstrations with hundreds of thousands of participants; many international scientists – including 17 Nobel Prize winners – protested. Die Zeit reports under the title "Political Vandalism".
Long-term students At Hamburg University, a student has been enrolled in archaeology for 88 semesters. One of his fellow students has been there for 79 semesters, a computer scientist for 76 semesters. This is reported in Bild.
Tuition fees Baden-Württemberg introduces fees for international students (€1,500 per semester) and students in a second degree programme (€600 per semester).