Netherlands, Ireland, US: University News

The TopUniversities.com guide to the latest university news from around the world, on 30 May 2013.

Netherlands: Scholarships & internships to attract foreign tech students

Dutch universities are hoping to attract more top international tech students by offering scholarships and internships, Eurogates reports. The plan is one of the proposals announced by a new collaboration of educational institutions, businesses, unions and government agencies, formed in response to a shortage of graduates in technical fields. Currently only about 7% of international students in the Netherlands are enrolled on technical courses, and most do not stay on to work in the country after graduating.

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US: High-achieving low-income students ‘missing’ from top colleges

A new research paper from academics at Stanford and Harvard reveals that the vast majority of high-achieving students from low-income families in the US do not apply to any selective colleges. Titled ‘The Missing “One-Offs”’ and available via Brookings, the paper focuses on low-income students with SAT and ACT scores within the top 10% of all students. The authors found that, despite the availability of financial aid, very few of these high-achieving low-income students applied to selective universities, and that universities’ outreach programs are often failing to reach far enough.

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Ireland: Three new technological universities approved by government

Plans to create three new technological universities have been approved by the Irish government, The Irish Times reports. These universities are to be created by merging existing institutes of technology in Dublin, and also in the southwest and southeast of Ireland. The plan is based on the recommendations of a report published last year, which also proposed grouping all of Ireland’s public universities and colleges into regional clusters.

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China: Contributions to Nature-branded science journals up 35%

Chinese publications in Nature-branded journals increased by 35% in 2012 compared to 2011, Nature reports. According to the Nature Publishing Index, researchers based at Chinese institutions had more than 300 papers published in the 18 primary research journals within the Nature brand last year. This is twice 2010’s number and a huge increase from 2000, when just six papers had any co-authors from Chinese institutions. Within China, cities with the highest contribution rates were Beijing, Shanghai, Hefei, Hong Kong and Wuhan.

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