Poland's students go private in force

With the highest private-sector enrolment in Europe, the Polish university system could be a tempting model for Britain's coalition government

After the fall of communism, one aspect of capitalism embraced with fervour in Poland was privatised education. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall there was just one private university, run by the Catholic church. Now more than a third of Poland's students are educated outside the state system.

Around 300 private universities – some small enough to share premises with local schools – educate about 630,000 students a year, the highest private-sector enrolment in Europe. Unlike their fellow students at public universities, they have to pay fees, though both kinds of students are eligible for state-backed loans. And unlike public universities, their institutions do not receive any direct government funding.

It must a tempting model for Britain's coalition government, which has cut funding to universities in England and plans to open up the market to more private providers in the hope that competitive pressure might bring soaring tuition fees down.

Other ex-communist bloc countries have also seen surges in private higher education, but unlike those of its neighbours, some of Poland's private universities have serious academic aspirations. Mainly, private institutions focus on vocational subjects such as economics, management and computer science. But they also have PhD students conducting original research.

Private universities argue that they are quicker to respond to changes in the employment market than the bigger, more bureaucratic public universities. Tischner European University (TEU), which educates 1,100 students in Krakow, has brought in a Chinese language module as part of its English language and literature course.

Spotting niches like this is how private universities can flourish, according to Justyna Wozniakowska, head of TEU's international office: "[We can] be more flexible and think what specialisations are not yet present in the market and might sell."

Wozniakowska argues that private universities, typically small institutions with fewer courses, can tailor their degrees better to the demands of employment.

"What private universities do and what they attract students with, is to give them an exact picture of what they might do after they have finished these studies.

"They get practical knowledge and you will be able to meet business people. The programmes you are doing are designed in collaboration with business. I would say this is the key reason that students [when they] are interviewed give for selecting private schools over a public one."

Despite this business-friendly approach, many Polish employers are still sniffy about the quality of private universities – the suspicion is that students are "buying" their degrees.

Filip-Peter Skora, 26, studying for a master's in international relations at TEU after a bachelor's degree at a public university, disagrees: "The quality is at the same level or higher than public universities. Why? The person who teaches [here] is facing people who have some expectations.

"Our parents thought that everything that is good should be provided by government, so it should be without fees. We are thinking like – hey, if I go to a shop and I buy something, if I pay I can think about quality. For me a fee is a huge effort but I know I'll have quality." Skora pays 3,500 zlotys (£750) a semester with money saved up from part-time jobs.

As a dip in the Polish birthrate shrinks the number of potential students, competition between the private and state sectors is expected to get sharper. Even at Krakow's Jagiellonian University, a public institution which is Poland's oldest university and competes with Warsaw University for the title of the country's best, there is a keen awareness of the challenge.

The public university is far bigger and better known than any private competitor; the Jagiellonian occupies a swath of prime territory in Krakow's elegant city centre; its main administration building is a soaring neo-Gothic pile and it is spending 1bn zlotys of public money on a lavish new science campus. Meanwhile, its private counterpart, the TEU, has a more modest home in two 19th-century townhouses, one of them the former Soviet consulate in Krakow.

Andrzej Mania, the Jagiellonian's vice-rector for educational affairs, is sceptical about the quality of all but a handful of the private universities. But he admits: "Definitely we feel the pressure. We maybe are extremely proud at being so old, big and distinguished a university. We're not afraid in the primitive sense [of private universities].

"But we feel the pressure, especially right now when we have fewer and fewer candidates, we may assume that for some of these candidates it's not important to go to the best school but just a school. It's easier to get acceptance in a private school than in our school."

The rivalry between the sectors may increase if Poland's private universities prove successful in an attempt to win subsidies from the state. They are also lobbying for the introduction of tuition fees in the public sector, in a bid to "level the playing field", according to an academic familiar with the sector.

The threat from private universities creates a useful ally in internal struggles at public universities, Mania says – it helps senior managers prod reluctant colleagues to try new things.

Unlike in Germany, where some private universities have a strong focus on research, Poland's public universities remain the country's reservoirs of academic knowledge and research.

Private universities are primarily teaching institutions, with just 1.8% of their income coming from research, according to 2009 figures. Many of them borrow teaching staff from public neighbours, and their offer is likely to remain narrowly focused on business, social sciences and some of the humanities.

At TEU, Wozniakowska said: "We definitely do have an ambition to become a more research-oriented institution. We have done some research but it is not enough. There is a strong push from the university authorities towards the academic staff to get involved in research projects but it's not yet a fully-fledged programme. This is something that is the major challenge for us."

source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/06/poland-universities-private-public

8 million children still out of school in RTE Act first year - April 1 is the first anniversary of implementation of RTE Act

New Delhi: The Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act which promises free and compulsory education to all children between the age six to 14, on Friday completed a year since its implementation. However, the fact that more than eight million children are still out of school shows that a lot more needs to be done.

Releasing the RTE report card in the capital on Friday, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said: "It's unfortunate that 81,50,619 children in the age group of six to 14 are still out of school. We have to bring all those children to school."

The report which analyzed the overall primary education scenario of the country, said that the total enrollment in the primary level in 2009-10 was 13,34,05,581 while in the upper primary level it was 5,44,67,415.

The percentage of girls enrolled in the primary level was 48.46 percent while in the upper primary level it was 48.12 percent.

The total number of elementary schools, government and aided, in 2009-10 was 11,20,968. And the total number of teachers was 44,77,429.

"21 percent teachers were found to be without professional qualification and nine percent schools were with a single teacher," Sibal said, citing the report.

"It was found that 508,000 additional teachers are required and in 2010 we approved the recruitment of 455,000 teachers," he added.

According to Sibal, the real problem now is no longer access to education but its quality.

"Access to education is no longer the real problem now, it's quality of education and for that we have set parameters under the RTE Act like infrastructure in schools, pupil-teacher ratio and professionally qualified teachers," he said.

The student classroom ratio across the country was found to 32:1. As many as 93 percent schools were found to have drinking water facility, 59 percent with girls toilet and 47 percent with ramps for the benefit of physically disadvantaged children.

Some of the not so encouraging figures came as far as the notification of rules in the states was concerned - 15 states had notified the rules and only 11 had constituted state commissions for protection of child rights, meant to monitor implementation of the Act.

"However the level of commitment in the states is good. This is just the first year, things will be even better next year," Sibal said.

Sounding excited about the latest census data, Sibal went on to say that India will be completely literate by the year 2020.

"The Millenium Development Goal says that India should achieve literacy rate of 72 percent by 2015 but we have already gone ahead of that figure. The census datasays that our literacy rate is 74.4 percent," he said.

"What is even more encouraging is that the female literacy rate has gone up by 12 percent," he added.

source:http://www.indiaedunews.net/Today/8_million_children_still_out_of_school_in_RTE_Act_first_year__-_April_1_is_the_first_anniversary_of_implementation_of_RTE_Act_13789/

HRD ministry to launch massive higher education survey

New Delhi: The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has decided to launch a huge survey on the state of higher education in India, owing to the inadequacy of information that is available about the subject.

The ministry has assigned the task of conducting the survey to the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). The survey will be completed in one year's time. 

An official from the ministry said that the higher education sector in India has been marred with a lack of reliable data which has hindered the implementation of policy initiatives that are required. 

"The information on Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) does not get updated properly keeping in mind the increasing intervention of the private sector in higher education," he said.

The decision to carry out the huge task of conducting the survey was taken by a task force that was headed by a senior official from the HRD ministry. The collection of the data will begin in a short period and the NUEPA will be seeking assistance for the survey from educational institutions throughout the country.

The main aim of the survey will be to collect and provide reliable information regarding higher education in the country. The survey would be covering all public and private institutions of higher education.

The institutions to be surveyed would include universities, deemed universities, institutions of national importance and other institutes of university level, general and professional/technical such as medical, engineering, dental, veterinary, computer, management, agriculture, pharmacy, law, teacher training, etc.

Other institutions that would also be included in the survey are colleges and institutes that offer post secondary education like polytechnics and industrial training institutes.

The HRD ministry official said that the survey of the institutions would give the government a clearer perspective about the higher education sector in India. 

The exercise will be based loosely upon the model of survey of elementary education that is conducted by the NUEPA every year.

The official further added that once the ministry had a basic data of the higher education in the country, it had planned to update the information on an annual basis the way that it is done for elementary education.

The information that will be collected in the survey would include data on the basic profile of institutions like management, affiliation status, courses offered, income and expenditure, enrollment, faculty, etc.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/HRD_ministry_to_launch_massive_higher_education_survey_13746/

India asks US to prevent exploitation of foreign students

New Delhi: India on Wednesday said it expected the US to prevent its universities from exploiting foreign students, as has happened in the case of Tri-ValleyUniversity in California in which about 1,500 Indians face an uncertain academic future.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, in a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, said the government was confident that the "unfortunate development" in the Tri-Valley University would not affect the "excellent cooperation" between India and the US in higher education, under which over a lakh Indian students are studying in American universities.

"The government expects the United States would take steps to prevent such (Tri-Valley) universities from exploiting foreign students. The government would also advise Indian students to exercise due diligence in applying to foreign universities," he said soon after the Question Hour ended.

"I am confident that this unfortunate development will not affect the excellent cooperation between India and theUnited States in higher education, which includes the presence of over 100,000 Indian students at US universities, and who enjoy a strong reputation for academic accomplishments and responsible conduct," he added.

Krishna said while India recognized the right of every government to investigate and prosecute fraud, it has asked the US government that all Tri-Valley students, who are themselves victims of fraud, should be given adequate time and opportunity to transfer to other universities or adjust their status. And, if they desired so, they should be allowed to return to India honorably.

Noting that the US government had closed Tri-Valley University last month foralleged immigration fraud and other irregularities, Krishna said the university was authorized in February 2009 to admit a limited number of foreign students, but had not enjoyed state accreditation.

Its 1,500 Indian students constituted 95 percent of enrolment at the university and they were there on valid visas or authorization.

"US authorities had questioned a number of Indian students and 18 of them were initially detained and then released with radio monitoring devices on their ankles, pending completion of their investigations for possible involvement in irregularities," he said.

Krishna said India had strongly protested the radio collars as "unacceptable", which should be removed immediately and the US authorities had begun progressively removing them.

The US authorities, he said, have also assured that innocent students would have adequate opportunity to readjust their status or transfer to other universities.

Assuring that the government and the Indian embassy and consulates general in the US were fully engaged in addressing the welfare and academic future of the affected students, the minister said the Indian mission had got in touch with most of the students despite them being dispersed across the US without registering their new contact details.

The embassy and consulates "have provided all possible assistance to them, including through direct meetings, by organizing a free legal aid camp and issuing appropriate guidance and advisories", he added.

Krishna said that he personally took up the matter with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had also conveyed India's concerns to American authorities during her visit to the US.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/International/India_asks_US_to_prevent_exploitation_of_foreign_students_13579/

A College Opts Out of the Admissions Arms Race

In an era in which universities are expected to draw more and more applicants each year — as if they were Fortune 500 companies being forced to show annual profits — Ursinus College, a liberal arts institution outside of Philadelphia, would seem to have little reason to celebrate this year.

Applicants for this fall’s freshman class have plunged by 1,700 — or nearly a third — when compared with last year at this time.

And yet, Richard DiFeliciantonio, the university’s vice president of enrollment, said in an interview on Monday that the drop was not only welcome but deliberate, after a five-year period in which Ursinus saw its applications nearly triple.

“You know as well as I that those numbers aren’t real,” Mr. DiFeliciantonio said by phone from the school’s campus in Collegeville, Pa. “People count anything that moves as an application. Everyone is going up 10 percent every year for 20 years. It’s absurd.”

“At some point,” he added, “the credibility of those numbers is questionable.”

Mr. DiFeliciantonio readily admits that Ursinus, until this year, was only happy to let itself be swept up in the admissions arms race.

Like a baseball player choosing to bulk up on steroids, Ursinus came to the conclusion in 2005 that it needed to get bigger.

Specifically, the college wanted to increase its freshman class by about 100 — to just under 550 — in part to bring in students who might fill classes in new disciplines like biochemistry, environmental studies and the performing arts.

To do so, Mr. DiFeliciantonio hired a direct-marketing firm from Virginia called Royall and Company, and its initial recommendations were that Ursinus waive its $50 application fee and its essay requirement. The results were immediate: in one year, from 2005 to 2006, applications to Ursinus more than doubled, to 4,413, from 1,725. Two years later, they grew yet again, by another 40 percent, to 6,179.

To the outside world, Ursinus was suddenly red-hot in popularity. While emphasizing that Royall had done exactly what Ursinus had asked it to do, Mr. DiFeliciantonio said he had become increasingly uneasy with the shaky foundation on which the school’s growth was built.

Mr. DiFeliciantonio’s main concern was that every year Ursinus received more of Royall’s “fast track” applications and offered admission to more applicants, but the percentage who accepted the offer — known as the yield — went down steadily. For example, in 2005, the year before it brought on Royall, the yield was about 30 percent — meaning that of the 1,290 high school seniors offered admission, about 420 enrolled.

But by last year, the yield figure had plunged to 13.5 percent.

“That meant almost 87 percent we admitted weren’t going to come,” Mr. DiFelciantonio said.

So how did Ursinus manage to consciously slim down this year?

For one thing, it ended its relationship with Royall last spring. For another, it restored the essay questions to its application, including one that asked applicants to respond to the Mark Twain quotation, “Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.” Applicants were also required this year to submit a high school term paper graded by one of their teachers — the better for Ursinus to verify that the applicant’s writing elsewhere in the application was genuine.

In other words, Ursinus has become that rare college that has made it harder for students to apply — and thus ensuring that those who submit applications are more likely to consider attending if accepted.

Sometimes when a college’s stream of applications slows, its ranking can suffer in U.S. News, the publication that drives at least some of the arms-race mentality. Ursinus says its ranking never really ticked up much during its recent boom — it has tended to hover around No. 70 among national liberal arts institutions, Mr. DiFelicantonio said — but it is now willing to take a hit in those standings, if that means saving the time of applicants and admissions officers alike.

“We’ve taken a bit of a leap,” said Mr. DiFeliciantonio, adding that he was unaware of another college that had taken a similar step, at least not in recent years. “I hope our yield pops up, ideally to 16-17 percent. If it does, we’ll have a class of about 460.”

“And that,” he added, “would be just fine.”

source:http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/ursinus/?ref=education

A College Opts Out of the Admissions Arms Race

In an era in which universities are expected to draw more and more applicants each year — as if they were Fortune 500 companies being forced to show annual profits — Ursinus College, a liberal arts institution outside of Philadelphia, would seem to have little reason to celebrate this year.

Applicants for this fall’s freshman class have plunged by 1,700 — or nearly a third — when compared with last year at this time.

And yet, Richard DiFeliciantonio, the university’s vice president of enrollment, said in an interview on Monday that the drop was not only welcome but deliberate, after a five-year period in which Ursinus saw its applications nearly triple.

“You know as well as I that those numbers aren’t real,” Mr. DiFeliciantonio said by phone from the school’s campus in Collegeville, Pa. “People count anything that moves as an application. Everyone is going up 10 percent every year for 20 years. It’s absurd.”

“At some point,” he added, “the credibility of those numbers is questionable.”

Mr. DiFeliciantonio readily admits that Ursinus, until this year, was only happy to let itself be swept up in the admissions arms race.

Like a baseball player choosing to bulk up on steroids, Ursinus came to the conclusion in 2005 that it needed to get bigger.

Specifically, the college wanted to increase its freshman class by about 100 — to just under 550 — in part to bring in students who might fill classes in new disciplines like biochemistry, environmental studies and the performing arts.

To do so, Mr. DiFeliciantonio hired a direct-marketing firm from Virginia called Royall and Company, and its initial recommendations were that Ursinus waive its $50 application fee and its essay requirement. The results were immediate: in one year, from 2005 to 2006, applications to Ursinus more than doubled, to 4,413, from 1,725. Two years later, they grew yet again, by another 40 percent, to 6,179.

To the outside world, Ursinus was suddenly red-hot in popularity. While emphasizing that Royall had done exactly what Ursinus had asked it to do, Mr. DiFeliciantonio said he had become increasingly uneasy with the shaky foundation on which the school’s growth was built.

Mr. DiFeliciantonio’s main concern was that every year Ursinus received more of Royall’s “fast track” applications and offered admission to more applicants, but the percentage who accepted the offer — known as the yield — went down steadily. For example, in 2005, the year before it brought on Royall, the yield was about 30 percent — meaning that of the 1,290 high school seniors offered admission, about 420 enrolled.

But by last year, the yield figure had plunged to 13.5 percent.

“That meant almost 87 percent we admitted weren’t going to come,” Mr. DiFelciantonio said.

So how did Ursinus manage to consciously slim down this year?

For one thing, it ended its relationship with Royall last spring. For another, it restored the essay questions to its application, including one that asked applicants to respond to the Mark Twain quotation, “Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.” Applicants were also required this year to submit a high school term paper graded by one of their teachers — the better for Ursinus to verify that the applicant’s writing elsewhere in the application was genuine.

In other words, Ursinus has become that rare college that has made it harder for students to apply — and thus ensuring that those who submit applications are more likely to consider attending if accepted.

Sometimes when a college’s stream of applications slows, its ranking can suffer in U.S. News, the publication that drives at least some of the arms-race mentality. Ursinus says its ranking never really ticked up much during its recent boom — it has tended to hover around No. 70 among national liberal arts institutions, Mr. DiFelicantonio said — but it is now willing to take a hit in those standings, if that means saving the time of applicants and admissions officers alike.

“We’ve taken a bit of a leap,” said Mr. DiFeliciantonio, adding that he was unaware of another college that had taken a similar step, at least not in recent years. “I hope our yield pops up, ideally to 16-17 percent. If it does, we’ll have a class of about 460.”

“And that,” he added, “would be just fine.”

source:http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/ursinus/?ref=education