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Leave a commentPennsylvania State University System Merges 6 Schools Into 2
Six of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities will be consolidated into two new institutions under a unanimous vote Wednesday by the State System of Higher Education’s governing board.Bloomsburg, Mansfield and Lock Haven universities in northern Pennsylvania will form one institution; California, Clarion and Edinboro universities in western Pennsylvania the other. The change will be phased in, starting later in 2022.They will have new names that have not been selected, but the plan is to keep all six campuses open with their own identities and brands, including existing sports teams. Both new institutions will have their own presidents and top administrators.The universitymore
Leave a commentOn Australian Campuses, Chinese Students Fear Beijing’s Surveillance
Chen Yun, a Chinese student at the University of Melbourne, has always been curious about different political systems. After she arrived in Australia, she started posting on social media about the push for democratic reforms in China.Then came the harassment. She started receiving emails warning that she should be “careful” because if she returns to China, someone would “give her a lesson.”“I thought I could talk about whatever I want after coming here. I thought I could show my support for democracy but I didn’t expect I actually don’t have that freedom,” she told VOA Mandarin, asking to use amore
Leave a commentNew Zealand Students to Build High-Performance Skis, Skateboards Using Leaves, Plants
New Zealand students have developed sustainable materials made from cabbage tree leaves and flax that could soon be used to make high-performance skis, kayaks and skateboards. Their plan is to use them to replace traditional fiberglass and carbon fiber. Skateboards need to be tough. Two students at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, Ben Scales and William Murrell, believe they can make them even more durable by using fiber from plants. After experimenting in their garage workshops, they created new, natural composite materials. Scales, who is 21 and studies product design, says their first version is looking good. “The prototype is a harakeke bio-composite skateboard. So, it is 25 percent harakeke fiber and 75 percent recycled polylactic acid, which is a plastic derivedmore
Leave a commentPandemic Halts Schooling for Afghan Students
Students in Afghanistan have lacked access to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, as schools have remained closed and the virus has not been controlled.”The real tragedy is that over 3,000 students in Kabul who come from poor families simply do not have the ability to pursue online education during the pandemic when schools are closed,” said Aziz Royesh, a teacher and founder of the A doctor fills a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center, in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 11, 2021.Not all have internet, electricityStudents in big cities such as Kabul and Herat havemore
Leave a commentBlack Teen Runs Hoops Around Spelling Bee Competitors
An African-American teenager from Louisiana has won the National Spelling Bee, only the second Black competitor to win the prestigious annual contest.Zaila Avant-garde, 14, jumped and twirled with joy upon being declared the winner after nailing the spelling of “murraya,” a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian citrus trees.“I was pretty relaxed on the subject of murraya, and pretty much any other word I got,” Zaila said.Zaila said she hopes to inspire other African Americans who might not understand the appeal of spelling or can’t afford to pursue it. The only previous Black winner of the bee was also themore
Leave a commentProtester Faces Uphill Battle to Promote Hong Kong Awareness
Alex Lee has embarked on a cross-country bike trip — beginning in Los Angeles, California, and headed to Boston, Massachusetts — in hopes of inspiring the next generation of pro-democracy advocates in China.He is spreading his message in the U.S., Lee noted, because the free press is likely to report on his journey, and there are many Chinese people in America. He also wants to show Americans there are Chinese people like him who do not stand with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), he said.Lee, 36, grew up in a small coastal city near Beijing, with limited free access tomore
Leave a commentUS Withdraws Unpopular Student Visa Rule
The Biden administration has withdrawn a highly unpopular proposed rule for international students that would have set student visas to shorter fixed terms.The proposal would have required international students to apply for visa extensions to complete their studies. Public comments about the proposed rule, published late last year, complained that the cost of application fees and related requirements would burden foreign students and scholars.Also, if students had been from a country with a visa overstay rate above 10% or a country on the U.S. State Department’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list, they would have been limited to a fixed two-yearmore
Leave a commentChinese Social Media Giant WeChat Shuts LGBT Accounts
China’s most popular social media service has deleted accounts on LGBT topics run by university students and nongovernment groups, prompting concern the ruling Communist Party is tightening control over gay and lesbian content.WeChat sent account holders a notice they violated rules but gave no details, according to the founder of an LGBT group, who asked not to be identified further out of fear of possible official retaliation. She said dozens of accounts were shut down about 10 p.m. Tuesday.It wasn’t clear whether the step was ordered by Chinese authorities, but it came as the ruling party has tightened political controlsmore
Leave a commentCambodian Cadets at American Military Academies Lose US Funding
Cambodia’s government is stepping in to pay tuition for six Cambodian cadets whose scholarships at four U.S. military academies were rescinded amid increasingly strained ties between Phnom Penh and Washington. “Following Cambodia’s curtailment of cooperation in several areas of traditional bilateral military-military engagement, the country lost its eligibility for the U.S. military service academy program,” said Arend Zwartjes, the U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Phnom Penh, in an email to VOA in mid-June. The students, called cadets at military academies but referred to as midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, were selected for the scholarship program bymore
Leave a commentTuition Decreases, Donations Bring Students Relief
After decades of tuition increases at U.S. colleges and universities that have led to increased student debt and pushback from students and their families, some schools are reducing costs. At the University of Michigan — ranked among the top public universities in the U.S. — free tuition will be extended at its Flint and Dearborn campuses. Called the Go-Blue guarantee, the offer applies to new full-time students residing in Michigan with a 3.5 grade-point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale, with a family income of $65,000 or less or assets of less than $50,000. The University of Michigan has 6,666 international students,more
Leave a commentNCAA Expands Income Opportunities for Student-Athletes
U.S. college athletes nationwide are now allowed to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness, the NCAA announced Wednesday.The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s board of directors voted to overturn an increasingly controversial rule that prohibited athletes from leveraging their popularity for business pursuits, marking a historic shift toward an era of increased financial opportunities for student athletes.The policy is set to take effect Thursday, the same day 12 states will enact laws legalizing such opportunities. As momentum behind the legislation built, the NCAA scrambled to avoid a piecemeal adoption of rules, which could have created a recruitingmore
Leave a commentYoung YouTubers, TikTokkers Create Channels of Revenue
Some content creators on social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube report making millions of dollars for videos on subjects like eating the spiciest foods, dancing to popular music or doing something potentially dangerous but somehow hilarious to millions of viewers.Really? “You know, everyone wants to make a lot of money doing something that they love to do. It’s like a dream job,” said Max Reisinger, a recent high school graduate from Chapel Hill High School in North Carolina who has attracted nearly 400,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. “That’s how I viewed it when I started,” he said.In his second yearmore
Leave a commentChinese Students in Australia Call Out Intimidation from Officials at Home
Human Rights Watch says Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities have been so intimidated by authorities back home they are self-censoring their actions and behaviors.The organization issued a report Wednesday highlighting incidents of harassment directed at Chinese students, based on interviews with 24 students from mainland China and Hong Kong, who expressed pro-democracy views. They said their pro-Beijing classmates threatened to expose their addresses and other personal information online, a process known as doxxing, or report their activities to the Chinese Embassy.The report also mentioned three cases where police in China warned family members about a student’s activities in Australia.more
Leave a commentCOVID Prompts Universities to Forgo Standardized Tests
Even before the COVID pandemic shutdown, some colleges had announced they would no longer consider standardized tests like the SAT and ACT for admission. But as Anush Avetisyan reports COVID may have permanently altered the role these tests play in student admissions.Camera: Sergey Sokolov …
Leave a commentCOVID-19 Leaves Long-Term Scars on Europe’s Youth
European borders and economies are opening up this summer, thanks to falling coronavirus cases and rising vaccination numbers. But experts warn the pandemic’s scars could be long term and profound—especially for young people, a generation Europe cannot afford to lose. Things are looking up for young Parisians. Bars and restaurants have reopened, also schools and universities, for the last weeks before summer vacations. Young people having coffee in Paris. France reopened bars and restaurants mid-may as coronavirus cases dropped. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)At a community room with other students, Sorbonne University student Katarzyna Mac is studying for final exams. She is grateful thatmore
Leave a commentInvestigated, Not Interviewed, for US Student Visa
“Are any of your family members involved with the Taliban?” was among the many probing questions the U.S. Consulate asked me when I interviewed for my F-1 visa to study in the United States.That’s not unusual in Afghanistan, where the U.S. and my country have been allies in fighting the Taliban since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks that brought down four planes, destroyed New York’s World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and killed almost 3,000 people. The answer to the question was no, and six years ago, I came to study in the U.S. at age 17 at amore
Leave a commentHarvard Admissions Case Challenges Who is a Minority
The Supreme Court recently asked the Biden administration for its input on a Harvard University admissions lawsuit. For VOA, Connor Smith has more. …
Leave a commentKentucky to Allow College Athletes to Earn Off Likeness
Kentucky’s governor signed an order Thursday allowing the state’s college athletes — including players on the nationally renowned Kentucky and Louisville men’s basketball teams — to make money through the use of their name, image or likeness.Gov. Andy Beshear said he wielded his executive authority as a matter of fairness for college athletes, adding that for decades companies and institutions have profited off them.”Those athletes deserve to be compensated for their image and likeness,” the Democratic governor told reporters. “Think about what image and likeness is? It’s your name. It’s what you look like. It is intrinsically yours. And whilemore
Leave a commentHealth Care Job Opportunities Spike in US After Pandemic
The fastest growing jobs in the fastest growing field — STEM, or science, tech, engineering and mathematics — are in health care. “Health care is still booming,” said Marisa Streelman, the national director of the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses, a professional association for nurses in the U.S.“Cybersecurity in healthcare, physical security, system improvements, telehealth, and the need for monitoring in the home and community health,” Streelman said, are some of the jobs in health care that are experiencing swift growth.Among the top 30 fastest-growing professions are medical and health services managers, physician assistants, speech pathologists, substance abuse and mental healthmore
Leave a commentSTEM Jobs Lead List of Fastest-Growing Occupations
The number of STEM jobs — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — have sped past the number of non-STEM jobs by three times since 2000. And experts say there might not be enough graduates in those fields to fill the jobs. “Look around at how many times a day you touch a computer, tablet, phone … these industries are accelerating so much that these high school kids will have jobs that don’t even exist yet,” said Kenneth Hecht, the leader of the National STEM Honor Society, an membership program that engages students from kindergarten into their career in STEM project-based learning (NSTEM). STEM covers both high-tech and long-established professions. For example, STEM jobs in demand include those in cloudmore
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