Daily Higher Education News: 13 February 2013

The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 13 February 2013.

Wikipedia editors needed!

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking more volunteers to contribute to its huge collaborative encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. Students in particular are being targeted through partnerships with universities, in which students are set the task of creating or updating a Wikipedia page, Yahoo! reports. Wikimedia executive director Sue Gardner says she believes there is still lots of material to be added to the site, and promises the foundation is working on making the editing process easier and more accessible.

More US colleges offering health cover for sex-change surgery

A growing number of US universities are extending student health insurance plans to include cover for sex-change surgery, The New York Times reports. When Brown University extends its plan in August, it will be the 36^th US college to include gender reassignment surgery in its student health insurance – compared to none just six years ago. An additional 25 colleges cover hormone therapy for students, and 20 include at least some part of sex-change treatment in staff insurance plans.

New tool to highlight Australian universities’ strengths and weaknesses

A new profiling tool which will highlight Australian universities’ perfomance on a range of criteria is planned for launch in April, Inside Higher Ed reports. The tool, based on the EU’s U-Map project, will use publicly available data to chart and compare universities across five categories: teaching and learning, research, student profile, knowledge exchange and international presence. Leo Goedegebuure, among those involved in the project, says results so far have shown a surprising amount of variation between institutions.

Delays to Duke’s China campus

Duke University’s China campus has been postponed pending further construction work, The Daily Tar Heel reports. The US college had planned to open the new Duke Kunshan University early next year, but Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, has confirmed that this will not be possible. He added that the delay would be used to strengthen the taught and research-based programs offered at the branch campus.

UK university’s ‘Safer Sex Ball’ axed

Exeter University’s annual Safer Sex Ball has been cancelled due to student welfare concerns, The Huffington Post reports. The event has been running for more than 20 years, with the aim (as its name suggests) of promoting safer sex. But the Students’ Guild has voted to axe the event, following the release of CCTV footage from December’s ball showing two students engaging in sexual activity.

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