Denmark, Singapore, Australia: University News

The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest university news from around the world, on 24 June 2013.

Denmark: Government reveals plan to get more Danes studying abroad

Denmark’s minister for higher education has revealed a new 31-part plan to increase the number of Danish students spending time abroad from 17% to 50%, University World News reports. The new plan, titled ‘Increased Insight through a Greater Global View’, includes a proposed loan scheme, which would allow Danish students to borrow an additional DKK100,000 (US$17,000) to cover tuition fees abroad. It also includes strategies to improve students’ foreign language abilities, and stresses the importance of integrating study abroad periods so that students are not delayed from graduating.

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Singapore: First intake of students selected for Yale-NUS liberal arts collaboration

Singapore’s first US-style liberal arts college, a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore, has selected its first intake of students, University World News reports. Some 11,400 students from more than 130 countries applied – with just 157 being successful (slightly more than the planned 150). The plan is to admit an additional 250 students each year, to reach around 1,000. Yale-NUS College President Pericles Lewis said students had been selected for their “leadership potential” as well as academic record.

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Australia: Deakin and La Trobe to offer degree credits via MOOCs

Australia’s Deakin and La Trobe Universities have both announced plans to offer MOOC students the opportunity to gain credits towards a degree, Inside Higher Ed reports. Deakin’s first MOOC, in humanitarian emergencies, is (like all MOOCs) available free of charge. But students can also opt to pay a fee to be assessed and gain credits towards a postgraduate qualification. La Trobe is offering a similar option for its iTunes course on ancient Rome, which will be assessed as the equivalent of a first-year course. Deakin’s deputy vice-chancellor (education), Beverly Oliver, said developing assessments for the online course had been challenging, but had also encouraged the university to experiment with new ways of engaging and assessing students.

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UK: Oxford University medical students to run emergency response vehicle 

Medical students at Oxford University are being trained to run their own emergency response vehicle, BBC News reports. The student-run ‘dynamic response’ vehicle will respond to 999 calls, providing aid to casualties during the time it takes for an ambulance to reach the location. So far 34 volunteer students have been trained, to work in teams of two. One volunteer said, “You do think back to your training, which has been drilled into us in the classrooms over the past five years, but it is a very different experience when you're the one being called out yourself and you know that there's no-one else around apart from your colleague.”

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