Nibs

Van Den Eijnden is currently still working as a deputy director-general of the Ministry of Home Affairs. He used to work for the Ministry of Education, where he was the director of international policy. His predecessor Pieter van Dijk will take early retirement. Van Dijk has been the Nuffic chairman since 1991.
US grad drop

Graduate schools in the US this year saw a 28% decline in applications from international students and an 18% drop in admissions. About 88% of all US graduate schools reported a decline in international applications. Factors contributing to the drops included changes to the visa application process after 9/11, a perception that the US is now less welcoming of foreigners and increased competition from universities abroad. US institutions like to enroll foreign students because foreign undergraduates pay higher tuition fees and many universities depend on foreign graduate students to teach classes and staff research labs. If such students enroll elsewhere, “we lose the opportunity to influence a new generation of foreign leaders,” said Stephen Dunnett, vice provost at the University at Buffalo. Applications from China, India and Korea, the countries where the majority of the US’s international applications come from, dropped 45%, 28% and 14% respectively from last year to this year. The number of admitted students from China dropped 34%; from India, 19%; and from Korea, 12%. Engineering applications fell 36%.
Red

The University of Tilburg has gone into the red. Reports show that the university will have a deficit of 77,000 euro at the end of the year. “We had counted on a small surplus,” a university spokesperson said. Higher external expense for maintenance services is partly to blame. “We couldn’t have foreseen that. And we have used a lot of temporary workers. Those things combined have put us on the wrong side of the red line,” the university spokesperson added.
Greed

Complaints about the ‘culture of greed’ at the Ministry of Education turn out to be well-founded. Senior civil servants have enriched themselves with 1.4 million euro in questionable bonuses and salary scales that were too high. The secretary of education has promised to take action, but opposition leaders reacted skeptically. One Ministry of Education civil servant had said in a radio interview that the bonuses were justified in order to find qualified managers, and that he had no intention of changing this approach. Education Secretary Maria van der Hoeven tried to convince parliamentarians that there was no real disagreement between her and this civil servant, which caused one opposition member to remark: “This sounds like the Nijs monologues.” Annette Nijs was the undersecretary of education who tried to convince Parliament that there was no disagreement between her and Secretary Van Der Hoeven, notwithstanding remarks made to the contrary in an interview. Just 24 hours later, Nijs was forced to resign.
Hot dogs

A hot dog vendor outside Canada’s Ryerson University regularly donates a day’s earnings for student scholarships. Ernie the Hot Dog Guy’s grants are then paid to needy students. For 12 years, the popular hotdog seller has set aside a day each semester when he gives all his earnings, usually about $1,250, to the school for student aid — called ‘Ernie the Hot Dog Guy’ bursaries. The local government then super-sizes these donation through its Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund program, thus doubling Ernie’s frankfurter fund for the year to $10,000. The grants are then given to low-income students. To Ernie, a retired engineer who has kept his real name private since starting to sell hot dogs 22 years ago, there’s no doubt how much students need money. “Here at Ryerson, a lot of students are self-dedicated immigrants whose families don’t have a lot of money, but they’re working really hard to get an education and the student loans aren’t enough,” said the sidewalk chef.

Nuffic

Starting in January 2005, Sander van der Eijnden will be the new chairman of Nuffic, the Dutch organization for international cooperation in higher education. Van Den Eijnden is currently still working as a deputy director-general of the Ministry of Home Affairs. He used to work for the Ministry of Education, where he was the director of international policy. His predecessor Pieter van Dijk will take early retirement. Van Dijk has been the Nuffic chairman since 1991.
US grad drop

Graduate schools in the US this year saw a 28% decline in applications from international students and an 18% drop in admissions. About 88% of all US graduate schools reported a decline in international applications. Factors contributing to the drops included changes to the visa application process after 9/11, a perception that the US is now less welcoming of foreigners and increased competition from universities abroad. US institutions like to enroll foreign students because foreign undergraduates pay higher tuition fees and many universities depend on foreign graduate students to teach classes and staff research labs. If such students enroll elsewhere, “we lose the opportunity to influence a new generation of foreign leaders,” said Stephen Dunnett, vice provost at the University at Buffalo. Applications from China, India and Korea, the countries where the majority of the US’s international applications come from, dropped 45%, 28% and 14% respectively from last year to this year. The number of admitted students from China dropped 34%; from India, 19%; and from Korea, 12%. Engineering applications fell 36%.
Red

The University of Tilburg has gone into the red. Reports show that the university will have a deficit of 77,000 euro at the end of the year. “We had counted on a small surplus,” a university spokesperson said. Higher external expense for maintenance services is partly to blame. “We couldn’t have foreseen that. And we have used a lot of temporary workers. Those things combined have put us on the wrong side of the red line,” the university spokesperson added.
Greed

Complaints about the ‘culture of greed’ at the Ministry of Education turn out to be well-founded. Senior civil servants have enriched themselves with 1.4 million euro in questionable bonuses and salary scales that were too high. The secretary of education has promised to take action, but opposition leaders reacted skeptically. One Ministry of Education civil servant had said in a radio interview that the bonuses were justified in order to find qualified managers, and that he had no intention of changing this approach. Education Secretary Maria van der Hoeven tried to convince parliamentarians that there was no real disagreement between her and this civil servant, which caused one opposition member to remark: “This sounds like the Nijs monologues.” Annette Nijs was the undersecretary of education who tried to convince Parliament that there was no disagreement between her and Secretary Van Der Hoeven, notwithstanding remarks made to the contrary in an interview. Just 24 hours later, Nijs was forced to resign.
Hot dogs

A hot dog vendor outside Canada’s Ryerson University regularly donates a day’s earnings for student scholarships. Ernie the Hot Dog Guy’s grants are then paid to needy students. For 12 years, the popular hotdog seller has set aside a day each semester when he gives all his earnings, usually about $1,250, to the school for student aid — called ‘Ernie the Hot Dog Guy’ bursaries. The local government then super-sizes these donation through its Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund program, thus doubling Ernie’s frankfurter fund for the year to $10,000. The grants are then given to low-income students. To Ernie, a retired engineer who has kept his real name private since starting to sell hot dogs 22 years ago, there’s no doubt how much students need money. “Here at Ryerson, a lot of students are self-dedicated immigrants whose families don’t have a lot of money, but they’re working really hard to get an education and the student loans aren’t enough,” said the sidewalk chef.