Daily Higher Education News: 22 January 2013

The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest higher education news from around the world, on 22 January 2013.

St Hugh’s College, Oxford sued for discrimination against poorer students

An applicant who was rejected from one of Oxford University’s constituent colleges because he was not deemed to possess sufficient financial means to support himself during his studies is suing the college in question for discrimination, reports The Guardian. Damien Shannon was accepted to St Hugh’s College to study a graduate course in economic history, but could not demonstrate that he had access to £21,000 (roughly US$33,300 at the time of writing), the amount the college stipulates students require to cover their living costs and fees while enrolled. The total cannot contain prospective earnings from part-time employment. St Hugh’s contends that the requirement is in place to ensure students can complete their courses without suffering the distractions of financial difficulties, but Shannon has argued that this is discriminatory against students who are not in possession of such large sums of money – an issue may international students will surely be familiar with.

University of Toronto developing ‘skin printing’ machine

A research group at the University of Toronto has made significant progress towards the development of a machine that could help people to re-grow skin after they’ve lost it as a consequence of disease or an accident, reports Global Toronto. The machine will ‘print’ engineered cells onto a special sheet on which new skin can grow, which will act as a bridge between areas of natural skin. It is hoped the human-testing stage will be reached in three to five years.

Xiamen University to become first Chinese institution to open foreign branch campus

Xiamen University is to open a branch campus in Malaysia, making it the first Chinese university to establish a physical presence overseas, reports Bangkok Post. The branch campus is intended to open its doors in 2015, and have a student body of around 10,000. Xiamen University was founded by in 1921 by Tan Kah Kee, a Chinese businessman based in Malaysia.

Hungarian student protestors win concessions from government

Plans to charge all students of Hungarian universities tuition fees have been sidelined by the country’s minister of human resources as a consequence of sustained pressure from student groups. Government scholarships will now be offered to all faculties, with a minimum admission exam threshold set, beyond which students will be entitled to funding. Further issues will be discussed at a roundtable discussion in the near future, reports People’s Daily.

Chinese universities a long way from de-politicization, says university president

The de-politicization of Chinese universities is still a long way away, in the opinion of Zhu Qingshi, president of South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC). Universities in the country still lack the independence to carry out research projects and teach as they see fit, he proclaimed, with administrators still having a disproportionate influence on academic affairs. SUSTC, which opened its doors in March 2011 (although it wasn’t officially recognized until April 2012), is run comparatively autonomously, and is considered to be a pioneering institution in Chinese educational reform, reports China.org.cn.