The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 29 November 2012.
Rutgers severs ties with Adidas
Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, has cut its ties with sportswear manufacturer Adidas after the multinational company refused to pay severance to workers following the closure of a factory in Indonesia. The move came after protests by the Rutgers United Students Against Sweatshops activist group. Adidas is no longer licensed to use the university’s logo or name on its products, and Rutgers will no longer carry any Adidas stock after the current batch is sold out, reports Philly.com. In related news, students at 30 universities in the UK have held a naked protest to draw attention to the issue of sweatshop-made clothing being used for official university merchandise, reports The Guardian.
78-year-old man graduates after 60 years out of education
Gerald Nathanson, a taxi driver from near London, has graduated from Birkbeck University with a BA in British History at the age of 78, reports London24. He was initially forced to stop his education after the outbreak of the Second World War, and had not been in full-time education for 60 years before he commenced his degree four years ago. Nathanson was also awarded the Darkin Prize, given to students who have made a particularly large effort in gaining their degree.
Domestic applications to UK universities fall for second year
Applications from UK students to British universities have fallen from 133,357 at this point last year to 120,194 this year, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) figures show – a drop of 8.4%. This, The Guardian reports, is the second consecutive year that the figure has dropped, with the 2010 figure standing at 157,116. The drop has been ascribed to an increase of the maximum tuition fees chargeable by UK universities to £9000 (around US$15,000), despite a loan system that means students pay nothing until they are in gainful employment. The number of EU students, who pay the same fees, has also fallen by 0.8%, while non-EU applications have fallen by 0.9%.
‘Reply-allpocalypse’ at New York University
When attempting to forward an email from the bursar’s office to his mother, a New York University student inadvertently pressed reply all, sending his email to the other 40,000 recipients of the original email. This led to a flurry of light-hearted university wide emails from students when they realized what had happened, reports MSN News. The reply all option was available due to an oversight by an employee working in the Student Resource Center, who used the wrong list to send out the bursar’s email.
Student group holds ‘die-in’ in support of Palestine
A University of Minnesota student group called Students for Justice in Palestine have held a ‘die-in’ in response to recent events in the Middle East, reports Minnesota Daily. Around 30 students lay on the ground in freezing temperatures for half an hour on Northrop Mall at the heart of the university’s campus to draw attention to the plight of Palestinians. The group does not represent all of the university’s students’ views, however, and earlier in the week a Pro-Israeli group held a rally in the same location.