Education

Nibs

Survey The Netherlands is fairly well known among non-EU students who want to study in Europe. One in ten prospective students said that they were familiar with higher education in the Netherlands.

But for the Chinese, the figure is much higher. Some 70 percent of prospective students surveyed in China said that they knew something about Dutch higher education. These were the findings of a survey of 20,000 students from China, India, Mexico, Brazil, Russia and Thailand. The countries of choice for these students were Great Britain, Germany and France. For the smaller countries, “there was little or no interest,” the researchers said, “although this seems to be changing for the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands.” For the students that ultimately chose to study in the Netherlands, half of them said that they had preferred to study in another country, such as the US or UK, but that strict immigration laws and higher tuition fees deterred them from doing so.
Campus theft

At Delft’s higher education institutes . primarily TU Delft . last year there were 237 reported thefts and burglaries, according to a ‘crime meter’ published in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper. For burglaries, Delft ranked number two in the country: TU Delft was victimized by a criminal gang and security was extremely lax, a police spokesman said. The thieves mainly stole personal belongings and electronic goods from students. The TU and police expect improvements: The university has upgraded its security and the police arrested a gang thought responsible for many of robberies.
Chip fraud

The good name of one of TU Delft’s Chinese partner universities has been brought into disrepute. Leading researcher and former chancellor Chen Jin of Shahgai Jiao Tong University’s Microelectronics School apparently lied about a ‘new’ chip he developed. The chip was meant to help make China independent of western imports. But apparently Chen copied the design from another company. The fraud came to light following an anonymous tip. The Chinese national press agency reported that Chen must return his research funds: approximately 12 million euros.
The egg

It’s a question that has long baffled scientists and academics: What came first, the chicken or the egg? A team made up of a geneticist, philosopher and chicken farmer claim to have found an answer. It was the egg. The reason: genetic material doesn’t change during an animal’s life. The first bird therefore that evolved into what is now called a chicken must have first existed as an embryo inside an egg. Professor John Brookfield, an evolutionary genetics specialist at the University of Nottingham, said the pecking order was clear: the living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it would develop into. “Therefore, the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg,” he added. “I would conclude that the egg came first.” The same conclusion was reached by his fellow ‘eggsperts’, Professor David Papineau, of King’s College London, and chicken farmer Charles Bourns. Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, agreed that the first chicken came from an egg and that proves there were chicken eggs before chickens.
Sailing

At the international Holland Regatta held in Medemblik, sailor and TU Delft third-year Maritime Engineering student Wilco Stavenuiter and his sailing partner Jeroen van Catz finished in sixth place in the 49-class. Next week the sailing duo will participate in World Championships in Aix-les-Bains, France. If their boat finishes in the top 16, Stavenuiter and Van Catz will be given the B-classification. In order to reach the Olympic Games, however, the TU sailors will also have to achieve the A-classification.

Survey

The Netherlands is fairly well known among non-EU students who want to study in Europe. One in ten prospective students said that they were familiar with higher education in the Netherlands. But for the Chinese, the figure is much higher. Some 70 percent of prospective students surveyed in China said that they knew something about Dutch higher education. These were the findings of a survey of 20,000 students from China, India, Mexico, Brazil, Russia and Thailand. The countries of choice for these students were Great Britain, Germany and France. For the smaller countries, “there was little or no interest,” the researchers said, “although this seems to be changing for the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands.” For the students that ultimately chose to study in the Netherlands, half of them said that they had preferred to study in another country, such as the US or UK, but that strict immigration laws and higher tuition fees deterred them from doing so.
Campus theft

At Delft’s higher education institutes . primarily TU Delft . last year there were 237 reported thefts and burglaries, according to a ‘crime meter’ published in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper. For burglaries, Delft ranked number two in the country: TU Delft was victimized by a criminal gang and security was extremely lax, a police spokesman said. The thieves mainly stole personal belongings and electronic goods from students. The TU and police expect improvements: The university has upgraded its security and the police arrested a gang thought responsible for many of robberies.
Chip fraud

The good name of one of TU Delft’s Chinese partner universities has been brought into disrepute. Leading researcher and former chancellor Chen Jin of Shahgai Jiao Tong University’s Microelectronics School apparently lied about a ‘new’ chip he developed. The chip was meant to help make China independent of western imports. But apparently Chen copied the design from another company. The fraud came to light following an anonymous tip. The Chinese national press agency reported that Chen must return his research funds: approximately 12 million euros.
The egg

It’s a question that has long baffled scientists and academics: What came first, the chicken or the egg? A team made up of a geneticist, philosopher and chicken farmer claim to have found an answer. It was the egg. The reason: genetic material doesn’t change during an animal’s life. The first bird therefore that evolved into what is now called a chicken must have first existed as an embryo inside an egg. Professor John Brookfield, an evolutionary genetics specialist at the University of Nottingham, said the pecking order was clear: the living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it would develop into. “Therefore, the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg,” he added. “I would conclude that the egg came first.” The same conclusion was reached by his fellow ‘eggsperts’, Professor David Papineau, of King’s College London, and chicken farmer Charles Bourns. Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, agreed that the first chicken came from an egg and that proves there were chicken eggs before chickens.
Sailing

At the international Holland Regatta held in Medemblik, sailor and TU Delft third-year Maritime Engineering student Wilco Stavenuiter and his sailing partner Jeroen van Catz finished in sixth place in the 49-class. Next week the sailing duo will participate in World Championships in Aix-les-Bains, France. If their boat finishes in the top 16, Stavenuiter and Van Catz will be given the B-classification. In order to reach the Olympic Games, however, the TU sailors will also have to achieve the A-classification.

Editor Redactie

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