International Universities

International cooperation

2009-07-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

The researchers cooperate with leading international universities:

Delft University of Technology – Department of Product Innovation Management
Stanford University – Center for Design Research
Other established international partners of each university

Cooperation benefits the case companies as it makes it possible to invite experts from the above-mentioned institutes. The best practices and scientific knowledge are also available without delays.

Walden University

2009-07-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

The first Walden University National Day of Service, last September brought alumni, students, faculty, and staff together as a force of positive social change in communities across the United States.

Dr. Altomese Brown ’04, who earned a Ph.D. in Education, organized volunteers to do household chores at a Savannah, Ga., Ronald McDonald House.
Dr. Belinda Moses ’03, who earned a Ph.D. in Education, led a team of alumni who shared tips with underserved teenagers in Detroit on how to prepare for college or vocational careers.
Walden faculty, staff, and administration in Minnesota served meals at People Serving People, a Minneapolis organization that provides housing, meals, and education programs to people in need.
Walden and Laureate Education staff and administration in Maryland cleared debris, planted trees, and helped beautify the urban Jones Falls Trail used by Baltimore walkers and bikers.
Walden and Laureate volunteers in Los Angeles removed non-native plants in the Ballona Wetlands to aid in the restoration of this unique coastal environment.

Our Enemy: Banner Blindness

2009-07-05T05:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is this so called phenomenon banner-blindness. It’s nothing invented by communists. Many webmasters have excessively used several banner layouts. We call them bouncers because either your visitor’s attention bounces away or in worst case, your visitor himself.

Countermeasures against banner-blindness

Avoid web 1.0 layouts i.e. leaderboard or in general horizontal banners
- Superior CTR option: Go for rectangles, they attract a lot of attention
- Design friendly: Anything possible, should just be squarish.
The first impression decides everything, read below.

The first impression decides everything

Opening our website our visitors don’t wait a minute to think whether they should click the ad or not. They subconsciously decide, click the ad, or not and they do so within milliseconds. Using proper placements without a good ad-design can still result in extremely poor-performance. We dedicated several articles to exactly that topic previously on DuoBlogger.

Further Resources

Previous AdSense reviews done by us. Worth a watch, high learn factor.
AdSense millionaire
AdSense tips and resources
Integrating AdSense into Analytics
Blogging and Google AdSense

Florida Green Fee: Legislation Fizzled, But Campus Campaigns Still Sizzle!

2009-07-03T18:13:00.001-07:00

The Green Fee campaign in Florida has already seen so much activity this year! The statewide coalition of schools worked closely with Florida Senator Lee Constantine’s office to present a Renewable Energy Fund Bill in the Florida House and Senate. The bill would have provided the necessary legislation for universities in the state system to implement the Green Fee. Florida and Texas are two of the only states that require students to navigate the legislative process in their quest to create funds to increase sustainability on their campuses. For more info and a nice blog hit for the campaign, see this: New York Times Blog Hit for Florida Green Fee!

The legislation flew through the first two committees, and met strong adversity in the third Higher Education Appropriations Committee. This committee is chaired by Senator Evelyn Lynn, who refused to place it on the agenda, but admitted on the floor that her office had fielded “40 or more calls per day” in support of the Fee. She used our display of Green Fee support as a testament to her overall disapproval for raising student fees. Although this is commendable in the face of the economic challenges we currently face, many students feel they should be given the choice to invest in their energy future to support a green economy. Most would be paying less that $20 per year, and with the current maximum being set at $1 per credit hour, the most a student would pay is $30 per year. A minimal investment considering the current peril of our climate and energy security!

So, what now? Well, all of this excitement has stirred up new campus campaigns and reinvigorated old ones! We are going to have a meeting sometime around August to flesh the plans out, but it looks like we are going to redirect our energies back onto the campus campaigns. Having other campuses join University of Florida and New College as leading institutions advocating for the students will increase the pressure on the state legislature to give the students and their universities what they demand: A Green Fee to Support a Green Future in Florida!

International activities at the University of Alberta

2009-07-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

The University of Alberta collaborates with educational institutions, industry, governments, foundations, benefactors, and alumni around the world in a commitment to offer outstanding programs for faculty and students, as well as enhance research and teaching.

Currently, the University of Alberta is undertaking activities in many regions of the world, building a strong international reputation and a truly global university environment.

Studying at the University of Turku

2009-07-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

The University of Turku is a highly international university, where education and research are closely intertwined. The university offers academic education based on high quality and often multidisciplinary research. The University of Turku offers talented and ambitious students and scholars a versatile, inspiring and attractive academic environment and educational setting in which they can develop their potential in full. As a part of a vibrant academic community, our students learn much more than knowledge and skills. The University of Turku offers education for life.

These pages contain information for international students, whether they are seeking a full degree at the University of Turku or an exchange study period abroad. The pages also serve our current international students as well as our international partner universities.

Int'l University Campus Project Launched

2009-07-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

The Songdo Global University Campus project, where students can obtain degrees from foreign universities, was launched on Wednesday. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Incheon Metropolitan Government held a ground-breaking ceremony for construction in the Incheon Free Economic Zone on Wednesday.

The ceremony was attended by some 500 officials and guests including Knowledge Economy Minister Lee Youn-ho and the vice presidents of seven foreign universities such as the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

SGUC is Korea's first joint campus of international universities, chiefly for undergraduate programs. Universities expected to open branches at SGUC include North Carolina State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Southern California, Duke University, the University of Houston, Purdue University, George Mason University, and the University of Delaware, which have already signed memoranda of understanding with the IFEZ Authority.

The IFEZ Authority expects that 10 universities will have open branches with 12,000 students at SGUC by 2012 when construction is completed. Each university will likely apply the same standards for recruitment and curricula to its branch at SGUC as at the main campus. Students will be allowed to study at both SGUC and main campuses of foreign universities.

"Students will receive high-level education from foreign universities in Korea at lower costs than study abroad," IFEZ said. The free zone aims to become an education hub in Asia by filling about 30 percent of the quota with students from Southeast Asia and China.

King Saud University has became one of top 300 international universities

2009-07-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

King Saud University had entered the top 300 of international university by getting rank 292 according to the Spanish Classification for international universities (Webomatrics). King Saud University has stood the first place in Arabic and Islamic world.

The 40th International Universities Power Engineering Conference

2009-06-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

The Lord Mayor, Cllr. Deirdre Clune, and the City Manager, Joe Gavin, photographed with Delegates attending the 40th International Universities Power Engineering conference.

The conference, which runs from 7th - 9th September 2005, is organised jointly by the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Cork Institute of Technology and the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University College Cork.http://www.upec2005.org/

Fulda University

2009-06-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

The International Office is responsible for initiating and implementing international cooperation programmes. The University has cooperation agreements with numerous universities worldwide.

The International Office provides international students with all-round service: from information on admission requirements to help finding accommodations, from counselling on all issues pertaining to the student’s studies to assistance in preparing the return home. The International Office organises Orientation Weeks before classes begin, cultural events and excursions. We also inform and advise German students as to educational opportunities abroad: studies, internships, language course

International University - Vietnam National University HCMC

2009-06-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

International University – VNU is the first international university of Vietnam, and is a public university. Its internationality is reflected in international academic environment of IU – VNU as a whole, including all degree programs, teaching staff, languages of instruction, academic and research infrastructure. International University is currently receiving long-term support from the government and other funding agencies and organizations at all levels – from local national to regional and international.

Eligibility: Second and third year BBA, Computing Science and BSc students are preferred.

WEST COAST UNIVERSITY (WCU) Panama City

2009-06-28T00:56:00.000-07:00

Offices of the West Coast University Inc are located in Panama City of the Republic of Panama to serve the students from the Central, South and North Americas. The Republic of Panama is a sovereign country located between Costa Rica and Colombia, and may be best known because of the Panama Canal. Panama has long been one of the most important financial centers in the world offering a wide range of services for the international trade, finance, commercial and maritime affairs. The environment of Panama as a whole is perfect for work in tropical and marine biology, oceanography, and business studies. Panama is, in addition, a natural for business studies, with many international banks and many corporations operating in the free trade zone. Panama's natural beauty, unspoiled beaches, historic sites, and economic dynamism are available as to extend learning beyond the classroom. The museum of the Panama Canal sets the stage with contemporary history and is complemented by anthropological, art, and science museums.

Panama City provides many art events, including theatre, dance, and music. With only short trips, students can find themselves watching sea turtles lay their eggs, trodding on the 'gold road' by which the Spanish brought ore from Peru, or visiting the Sand Blast Islands, where Indians maintain their ancient language and government.

Location:

50th Street, Global Plaza, Suite H1,

Panama City, Republic of Panama.

XAVIERS INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

2009-06-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

XAVIERS INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY is an Autonomous University Since 1965 & First Online University of India since 1994 , which has got International accreditation by the World Online Education Accrediting Commissions-U.S.A , Unicef International Accreditation Agency for Online Universities ( I.A.A.O.U. ) and the Universal Council for Online Education Accreditation ( U.C.O.E.A.) . We are one of the leading Online Universities catering to the Educational needs of thousands of Working Adults and Students through a comprehensive Certificate / Diploma / Bachelor / Master / M.Phil / Ph.D Degree program in all major disciplines . Xaviers International offers a truly diverse range of majors under its various Degree programs, allowing you to get recognition for your life-long Learning without attending regular classes and Studying by means of Off-Campus Centers . All the majors and courses we offer are frequently reviewed and new majors are constantly being added in order to reflect the ever-expanding range of professional fields in today’s world.

Gizella Park Budapest

2009-06-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

The Gizella Park development is located in the up and coming area of District 9. International universities are located nearby, providing great opportunities for rentals. The area contains numerous trendy bars and cafes, appealing further to the younger market, which are a focus in this district. The local municipality are investing large amounts into re-developing the area, also making District 9 a popular choice for re-location. Capital appreciation is estimated at around 12% and rental yield around 6%. 30% deposit which is balanced on completion. Large amounts of money are being spent re-developing district 9. The city can be reached within 15 minutes.

The house includes apartments that can be approached from the 4 staircases through smaller inner corridors. Among these, the apartments established in the loft are two-storied, with attractive galleries and are also lighted by dormer windows. On the general floors traditional, 1-3-room apartments of a practical ground plan will be built.

Gizella Park with its unique conditions offers solutions for all kinds of housing demands: from the one-room studio apartments throughout the medium sized homes up to apartments satisfying the claims of big families and generations living together.

This price is based on a studio (35.94 square metres) and includes a balcony (9 square metres)

Development Features:

Country: Hungary
Region: Budapest
Location: District 9
Type: Studio
Size: 35.94 square metres
Price: from €51,775

Reasons To Invest:

Budapest’s most up and coming area
International universities nearby
Located within the popular green belt area
Rental yield an estimated 6% per annum
Aproximately 12% capital appreciation
3 minutes from a tram stop

University of Lodz

2009-06-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

The Faculty of Management was created at the University of Lodz in 1994. From this time it experienced significant growth. When it was created, the Faculty employed 89 academic teachers – there are 123 today. The growing number of students is another proof of development. – the number of students has increased from 2050 to nearly 3600 (a 76% growth). It is a mission of the Faculty to provide education at an academic level as well as to carry out research in management-related sciences, according to the best European and world-wide practice, in co-operation with foreign partners. The Faculty develops broad international cooperation with several partners around the world. There is a group of several scientists mainly in the Department of City and Regional Management that develops research and educational activity in the area of social entrepreneurship and its meaning to local and regional development and prosperity.

Xaviers International University

2009-06-20T19:22:00.001-07:00

International University of Southern Europe

2009-06-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the International University of Southern Europe!

We are a young and dynamic international university offering flexible international business and language studies at the undergraduate and graduate level in a truly unique cross-cultural, and English-speaking environment.

Various study programs and specializations are offered:

International Undergraduate Degree Programs (IUGDP)

International Graduate Degree Programs (IGDP)

International Business Certificates (IBC)

Asia-Europe Institute

2009-06-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Programmes

The Asia-Europe Institute offers a range of International Masters degree programmes tailored to the academic background and career needs of students. These programmes offer a number of unique characteristics that will appeal to students from Asia, Europe and the rest of the world.

AEI offers four International Masters programmes in the following subjects :

q ASEAN Studies (IMAS)

q Information Management (IMIM)

q Regional Integration (IMRI)

q Small-and-Medium Enterprises (IMSMEs)

In addition, the AEI also conducts the Ph.D programme which is research driven.

All the existing teaching/learning programmes reflect a number of unique characteristics that further the aims and objective of enhancing higher education cooperation and exchange: partnership; an international outlook; and high quality staff.

Partnership

Each of the International Masters programmes had been established in joint partnership with leading institutions in Asia and Europe. This has resulted in close coordination over all aspects of course design, management, delivery and evaluation, as well as the validation of joint degrees and joint recognition. Our International Masters programmes will be committed to developing new partnerships with leading international universities.

An International Outlook

Few university institutions in Southeast Asia are as truly international as the AEI. We study not only Malaysian or Southeast Asian areas of interest, but those of other countries, many of them in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. The student community at the AEI is one of the most internationally diverse in the region, with students from more than 20 countries having already studied in our programmes. This mix encourages a truly global and international approach to intellectual discovery and academic life at the AEI which cannot be matched elsewhere.

Experienced High Quality Staff

Each of the International Masters programmes is taught jointly by the AEI’s academic staff and Visiting Professors, all of whom have global reputations. This ensures that the AEI’s students have the benefit of learning from leading scholars who bring with them outstanding pedagogical practice and research insights. In addition to their teaching duties, Visiting Professors add considerable value through frequent dialogue with the University’s local faculty, the promotion of collaborative research, and other public outreach activities.

The AEI’s staff and Visiting Professors are regularly sought out as advisers, consultants, and commentators, becoming actively engaged in the practical impact of the subject they teach and research. As a student, you will also benefit from the constant stream of national and international politicians, business leaders, civil servants, and academics who visit the AEI to consult staff and to give lectures.

Helping You Fulfil Your Aims

At postgraduate level, study at the AEI generally takes two forms – taught Masters Programmes based on lectures, seminars and tutorials; and research programmes, where you prepare a thesis based on your research. Taught programmes lead to the award of an International Masters degree; research programmes normally lead to the University of Malaya degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D).

International Networking

2009-06-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

The school is linked to the following international scientific networks and international organizations: "International Academy for Production Engineering - CIRP" with a forum for the exchange of scientific results for up-and-coming researchers as well as the CIRP Virtual Research Lab and working group "New Paradigm". There is also a co-operation within the EU program MANUFUTURE, the EU 7th Framework Program, High-level Groups; the Strategic research agenda; Coordinated Actions; Specific Support Actions. There is a close relation to many leading scientists in Europe, the US, Brazil, Japan, China and Southeast Asia including the exchange of students and up-and-coming researchers and scientists. Stuttgart International Conference for aME. Within the framework of the Graduate School an international congress with a two-year frequency focusing on the subject of advanced Manufacturing Engineering will be organized in Stuttgart. The professors, doctoral candidates, guest researchers and invited guest lecturers present the latest research results to the network of science and industry on an international level. The concrete output of these conferences is being published in conference proceedings. The feedback from the conference discussion forums flows back into the research work of GSaME.

International Summer School ISS
The ISC offers the doctoral candidates a 14-day event with international top-class professors and experts from industry. The event takes place every second year and may contain seminars, lectures and case studies. Moreover, the ISC promotes the already existing international cooperations and the development of new international co-operations. The CEO is responsible for the organization, marketing and realization of the ISC.

International exchange
The Universität Stuttgart has been very attractive for international top scientists in the past and has vast experience of hosting guest professors. The comprehensive network of GSaME is based on an inner circle network of the local core institutes and co-operation partners and surrounded by the outer circle of international universities as shown in the graph. The international orientation and openness of the Graduate School is mainly supported by the outer circle representing excellent international universities. The internationality of the Graduate School will be supported by three main actions:

Invited guest lecturers: For specific topics the Graduate School will invite international experts (high ranked persons from science and industry) These lectures are completely integrated in the course system of the Graduate School. Additionally there will be an exchange of lecturers. The lecture will be concentrated to a one or two weeks duration. The lectures have to be structured and assessed according to the Bologna ETCS system.
Integration of guest researchers: We also offer a stay, between half a year and a year, to a visiting guest researcher. GSaME will collaborate with selected highly distinguished universities. Guest scientists of these universities will have the possibility to do their research, covering the core research fields of GSaME at the Graduate School and to participate in all its events. Apart from the Stuttgart international conferences for aME, focused symposia, workshops and meetings on specific topics of GSaME are planned.
International exchange of doctoral candidates: Doctoral candidates will have the possibility to stay abroad within the network of international universities of GSaME. This will be financed by the respective industry partner. The requirements regard the affiliation of the international university to the Bologna ECTS system.
All international universities placed in the outer circle have signed a letter of intent for international co-operations with GSaME. These co-operations are managed directly by the related professors and institutes and supported by GSaME.

The American Schools of Oriental Research The ASOR Blog RSS Feed

2009-06-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

Creating a Digital Archaeology Community around the Mediterranean

Over the past five years, there has been a synergy of archaeological research that focuses on the application of information and digital technologies for advancing research and public outreach. One of the centers of this confluence of archaeology and computer science is researchers working in the Mediterrean lands. As part of an effort to foster a community of shared archaeological research - that takes advantage of the ever growing mass of digital data including settlement patterns, artifact collections, photographs and other materials, the MedArchNet (Mediterranean Archaeology Network) was established last year as an effort to create a cyberinfrastructure for archaeology around the Mediterranean basin. MedArchNet will be a series of interconnected digital archaeology atlases for different parts of the region delivered on a Google Earth plaform. The first ‘node’ is the DAAHL - Digital Archaeology Atlas of the Holy Land (http://daahl.ucsd.edu/DAAHL) which already has thousands of sites from Israel, Jordan and Palestine available. MedArchNet - DAAHL is an ASOR sponsored project and we are excited by our partnership with Oystein LaBianca, the new chair of ASOR’s Committee on Archaeological Policy. Working together with CAP and the excavation directors, we hope to bring the more than 60 ASOR affiliated excavation projects into DAAHL to help promote collaborative research and getting these projects known to the general public in the United States and around the world. A few days before the November 2008 ASOR meetings in Boston, around 30 archaeologists from Jordan, Israel, Norway, the UK, Italy, and the USA gathered in San Diego for 3 intensive days to launch the MedArchNet project. Below is an article by Tiffany Fox about the meeting and its goals.

First International MedArchNet Workshop Paves the Way for Online Archaeological Community

San Diego, CA, Dec. 10, 2008 — Together with their counterparts abroad, archaeologists and computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego are one step closer to creating a seamless, highly detailed online network that links temporally diverse archaeological sites around the Mediterranean region.

Representatives from 14 international universities and several non-governmental agencies held a recent workshop at the UC San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) to discuss the future of the Mediterranean Archaeology Network (MedArchNet). When complete, MedArchNet will serve as the most up-to-date source of data for Mediterranean archaeological sites dating from remote prehistory to the early 20th century.

The workshop brought together key researchers who control the archaeology settlement pattern datasets for Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula — the areas (along with Southern Lebanon and Syria) that comprise MedArchNet’s first node, the Digital Archaeological Atlas of the Holy Land (DAAHL). Funding for the workshop was provided by the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), Equinox Publishing Ltd (London), the Cotsen Intitute of Archaeology at UCLA and the UCSD Judaic Studies Program.

Professor Tom Levy, associate director of Calit2’s Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) and co-principal investigator on the project, says the most exciting aspect of MedArchNet is the prospect of creating “portal science” for the archaeology community working in the southern Levant.

“For us, this refers to establishing an online community of archaeological researchers who can share large datasets by being members of the cyberinfrastructure,” he remarks. “For researchers working in the Mediterranean lands which have seen so much turmoil throughout history, ‘portal science’ allows us to transcend borders, work closely together, and examine large datasets such as ancient settlement information (including the whole range of artifact assemblages from pottery to coins) that would be impossible using traditional methods. What was most valuable about the workshop was that for the first time we were able to bring an international group of some of the best archaeologists working in Israel, Jordan and Palestine in one room — and for two solid days — who have all expressed willingness to in-put and share data in DAAHL.”

Collaborating with Levy as PIs on the project are Arizona State University Affiliated Professor Stephen Savage, who is director of the Geo-Archaeological Information Applications (GAIA) Lab, and Chaitan Baru, division director of science research and development for UCSD’s San Diego Supercomputer Center. Savage says the team plans to fashion DAAHL (which already contains 17,000 archaeological sites) as a “database without borders” that could eventually be expanded to include archaeological sites in Egypt and beyond.

“DAAHL will function as an entrepot into the larger datasets available to researchers,” he elaborates, “but in a way that will facilitate cross-border research and cooperation. Since the current international borders in the Middle East were drawn in the 1920s following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, it follows that the archaeological periods in the DAAHL are best studied from a regional perspective that is not restricted to resources located in only one modern nation state. The DAAHL is designed to do just that.”
Once DAAHL and MedArchNet are fully established, they will represent robust tools for “mining” stories and narratives of archaeological research in the Mediterranean lands. Data (including high-resolution 3-D and multispectral images of artifacts) will be stored in a secure central facility, accessed and displayed over the Internet by way of a Google Maps/Google Earth interface, and visualized via emerging technologies such as museum-quality HIPerSpace tiled display walls. MedArchNet will also provide both OpenContent data and drill-down capabilities to access archived digital photographs and other digital collections that might require more limited access.

Professor Aren Maeir of the Institute of Archaeology at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University says that as the project progresses, he will “try to gently cajole, push and even drag more Israeli archaeologists to join the program.”

MedArchNet is an excellent combination of cutting edge — or even ‘bleeding edge’ — technology and archaeology, in which true inter-regional cooperation can be manifested,” he enthuses. “It will make archaeological knowledge, on may levels, accessable and understandable in a truly digital medium, and will provide an excellent resource for teaching.”

In addition to school teachers, the network will be made available to everyone from travel agents to public policy makers and state-of-the-art researchers, and could eventually serve as a model for similar cyberinfrastructures in other cultural areas of interest, such as anthropology.

“In terms of world cultural heritage, I think the MedArchNet cyberinfrastructure will provide an important model for other regions in the world,” Levy says. “Once we have it up and running, scholars, researchers, government administrators and the public will see how powerful a tool it is not only for archaeological research, but for all realms of material culture from all periods of time and all places where people are interested in world cultural heritage. For example, we are very interested in partnering with the National Folklore Support Centre for India in Chennai. They have thousands of interviews and videos dealing with traditional culture in India. The same cyberinfrastructure that we are building for MedArchNet could be adapted to the needs of our colleagues in India.”

In the meantime, MedArchNet will be of tremendous benefit to archaeologists in the Middle East, especially now that the project has secured crucial funding from WUN and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), the umbrella organization for North American archaeologists working in the Middle East.

Explains Levy: “Now that ASOR has sponsored MedArchNet/DAAHL, we are working closely with Oystein LaBianca, the new chair of ASOR’s Committee on Archaeological Policy (CAP), to invite the directors of the more than 60 North American archaeological research projects to join, participate and contribute data. This is especially important because ASOR CAP affiliated projects undergo a peer-review process to insure that their research designs, data collection methods, and publication plans are of the highest academic standard. By bringing ASOR affiliated projects to MedArchNet/DAAHL, we will have an unusually robust database for archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean.

While Levy acknowledges that “the only way to maintain excellence in the research is to have experts involved,” he also notes that facilitating such a large collaboration poses inherent challenges. Several of those challenges were discussed during the workshop, with some participants expressing concern about the sheer number of archaeological sites involved, and others pointing out that not all archaeological sites are currently marked on Google Earth. Still others called into question the possibility of establishing effective editorial quality control, while some warned that the “the politics of map-making” and the difficulty of interpreting data on different scales would complicate the effort. Also posing some controversy was a discussion about the establishment of a common working language — not an easy feat among researchers who span a multitude of nationalities.

“MedArchNet will work like a kind of ‘switchboard’ for directing people to different kinds of archaeological data and projects throughout a given region,” Levy points out. “Because so many scholars and institutions have spent their life-times and tremendous resources on carrying out archaeological research in a given area, one of the biggest challenges is to develop protocols and assurances to maintain the ‘brand’ those individuals and institutions in relation to their research and output. Insuring ‘brand recognition’ and copyright for all those contributing to MedArchNet/DAAHL is an issue we are working on now.”

The next step for Levy and his team will be to collect small DAAHL-related datasets from the scholars who attended the workshop, which include representatives from the University of Bergen, Israel’s Tel Aviv and Bar-Ilan Universities, the University of Sheffield and Jordan’s Friends of Archaeology organization. The workshop participants will also be asked to contribute a short research paper about their work in relation to MedArchNet for publication in a book to be published by Equinox.

“This will add a great deal to our existing database and demonstrate how approximately 30 researchers can work together,” Levy says. “The book will serve as another ‘gateway’ to MedArchNet. At the same time, we are applying for funds from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and other sources to build this cyberinfrastructure project. I’m pleased to say that the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) has already pledged a significant sum to help us build the first digital atlas node outside of the southern Levant — one for the Aegean region. So we will be extremely busy over the next year.”

Aside from the immediate benefits to the archaeological community, Savage says he expects that MedArchNet will also promote peace and understanding in the region.

“As the project expands beyond the initial Holy land Node, we envision these benefits spreading around the Mediterranean, which is still the scene of ethnic and religious conflict,” he remarks. “Because of its emphasis on building archaeological datasets without borders, MedArchNet and DAAHL will serve as a beacon to scholarly cooperation and contact. By doing so, we can contribute greatly to the stability of the region, and hence, to the world at large.”

Annan, global university leaders examine higher education’s benefits to society

2009-06-11T23:26:00.000-07:00

Princeton NJ — United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and an international group of university leaders and scholars convened at Princeton for a Feb. 14-15 colloquium examining the benefits that higher education institutions bring to society.

The second annual Secretary-General’s Global Colloquium of University Presidents, chaired by Annan, brought together representatives of some 20 institutions from around the world. The attendees explored common issues facing leading international universities and solutions to global public policy challenges by focusing on two topics: “The Social Benefits of the Research University in the 21st Century” and “Innovative Sources of Funding for Public Goods.”

Annan created the colloquium to enhance the United Nations’ relationships with universities, to seek the expertise of scholars on major problems facing the world and to examine key challenges in educating future generations of global leaders.

“The colloquium served two important purposes—to bring together university presidents from all over the world so that we have an opportunity to get to know each other better and to explore common problems that we face,” President Tilghman said following the event.

Tilghman chaired the sessions focused on universities’ societal benefits, leading wide-ranging discussions that included representatives of institutions from the United States, India, Australia, Korea, Belgium, France, Turkey, Mexico, China, Argentina, Palestine, Thailand, Germany, Uganda, South Africa, Israel and England.

“It is well understood that universities provide a private good to the students who graduate from them, but it is less appreciated that universities also serve a public good,” Tilghman said. Responding to a challenge from Annan, the university leaders discussed ways for better communicating the value that higher education offers to society, including solving real-world problems.

Tilghman noted that universities serve society by producing an educated citizenry “in both the narrow sense of producing individuals technically trained in medicine, law, engineering, architecture, etc., as well as the more general sense of educating individuals who are broadly knowledgeable about the world and have the ability to think critically.”

“They also generate new knowledge and understanding; create social mobility; provide ‘safe havens’ where ideas and issues can be debated without fear; both protect and conserve the cultural traditions of their societies and add to them by the support of the arts; and promote international understanding through student exchanges and courses in international and regional affairs,” she said.

“These ‘goods’ play out differently, and with different emphasis, in different countries, and this was helpful to understand. On the other hand, there was general agreement about a lot of issues,” Tilghman said.

The colloquium will produce a report summarizing the major findings and recommendations that reflect the views expressed during the meetings.

“We intend to prepare a document that captures both the agreement and the differences,” Tilghman said. “Given that every university needs to defend and explicate the important roles that it plays in society, this is a very good outcome of the meeting.”

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University delivered the colloquium’s keynote address Feb. 14 on “Innovative Ways for Financing Global Public Goods,” the other main theme of the gathering. Kemal Dervis, administrator of the United Nations’ global development network, chaired a series of talks among faculty experts from the participating universities that addressed the economic and political merits of various public funding proposals.

In addition to Princeton, sponsoring institutions included Columbia, New York and Yale universities, the University of Pennsylvania and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

SUMMER STUDY IN SHANGHAI, CHINA

2009-06-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

at Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China

MAY 26 - JUNE 27, 2008

Program Highlights

Students can earn nine hours of academic credit in 5 weeks by studying Chinese Language/Studies Program at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) in Shanghai, China.

The program offers:

International Trade course (equivalent to Marshall University’s ECN 420/520-I)
Chinese language courses
Elective courses in Calligraphy, Shadow Boxing (Tai ji quan), and Chinese films
Lectures on Chinese Culture, History, Economy and Education
Visits to scenic spots and cultural sites of Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou.
On-campus accommodation with interaction with Chinese students and other international students at SISU

A Marshall University program coordinator will accompany the group and provide supervision, assistance, and orientation.

Program Dates and Length

May 26 - June 27, 2008 (5 weeks)

Students enrolled in the program should schedule to arrive in Shanghai on Friday May 23 or Saturday May 25, 2008 and return to U.S. after Friday June 27, 2008.

Subjects

International Trade and Chinese Language/ Chinese Studies

Eligibility

Marshall University undergraduate and graduate students
Completed Economics 250 (Principles of Microeconomics) or Equivalent

Costs

$2,388 (not including airfare)
The fee includes tuition, housing, excursions and weekend trips, visa fee and service, the International Student ID Card (ITIC) which includes basic travel accident and sickness insurance and an all-in-one public transportation card in Shanghai

Hosting Institute
Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), Shanghai, China

International Universities Rankings

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According to the Times Higher University Ranking, the University of Amsterdam ranks 48th in the world top 200. UvA improved its position in the last years since in 2003 rank over the 100th position. UvA is also the best ranked Dutch university. The second one is the University of Delft in the position 63rd , Leiden University third in the 84th position and Utrecht University in the 89th position
According to Topuniversities.com, UvA ranks 12th in the European ranking. The UvA website claims that they are in the 4th position but I couldn’t find it in the official release of the ranking neither in any other place on the web that confirms that. Anyway, that is almost impossible due to the amount of BIG universities in UK that rank always better than the UvA. (Click on the image to enlarge)

WELCOME TO BULGARIA AND TO

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INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

I am delighted that you have chosen to study at International University College (IUC), and I hope that our website will provide useful information about life and study in Dobrich, Bulgaria.

The International University College has been firmly established as a modern business school offering value-oriented high-quality education. The college is striving to successfully fulfil its mission, pooling academic knowledge, providing vocation-oriented training and managerial expertise in fields such as international tourism, marketing, international business and management, agricultural economics and information technologies.

Over the years, the International University College followed the international tradition in all its different perspectives: international academic partners, international educational programmes, international joint and double degrees, international placements and careers for its students, English language of teaching, and, last but not least, international students.

On behalf of all the staff of International University College, I wish you success in your studies and hope that you will have great time with us.

Good luck!

Assoc. Prof. Todor Radev
Rector

NTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
3, Bulgaria street, 9300 Dobrich
Telephone: +359 (0)58 655 620, +359 (0)58 655 640
Fax: +359 (0)58 605 760
E-mail: icollege@mail.bg ,
www.internationaledu.org

International University College is an institution of higher education accredited by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers and chartered by an Act of the Bulgarian Parliament (The State Gazette, issue 44/12.05.1999). IUC offers three bachelor degree programmes, three of them taught in English and delivered in cooperation with universities from the Netherlands and Great Britain, awarding international and Bulgarian degrees. International University College is truly international because: