Attack at elite India university injures dozens

NEW DELHI — Dozens were hurt at a prestigious Indian university on Sunday in what police said were clashes between rival student groups but which an opposition politician blamed on a student organisation linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Unverified videos on social media appeared to show a group of several masked attackers roaming the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi wielding batons as students screamed. 

"Today evening, 2 groups clashed with each other and some students are injured," a senior Delhi police officer told journalists.

"The university administration has requested the police to enter (the campus)," the officer said, adding, "Things are under control right now." 

Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India, called the attack a "collusion" between the JNU administration and "goons" of a student group linked to Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"It is a planned attack by those in power, which is afraid of the resistance provided by JNU," Yechury said.

The BJP distanced itself from the incident and Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student organisation blamed for the violence by the opposition, said that 25 of its members were injured during the campus attack. 

"This is a desperate attempt by forces of anarchy, who are determined to use students as cannon fodder, (to) create unrest to shore up their shrinking political footprint. Universities should remain places of learning and education," the BJP said on Twitter.

An official at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi said that most of the injured at the hospital were undergoing treatment for "lacerations, cuts and bruises." 

"The brutal attack on JNU students & teachers by masked thugs, that has left many seriously injured, is shocking," tweeted Rahul Gandhi, a leading politician of the main opposition Congress party.

PROTESTS OVER FEES 

The incident is the latest in a series of violent clashes that have killed at least 2 dozen people amid protests over a controversial new citizenship law Modi's government passed in December. 

The law allows New Delhi to grant expedited citizenship to minorities from 3 neighboring Islamic countries who entered India by Dec. 31, 2014, but critics say it marginalizes Muslims in the country as part of Modi's larger Hindu nationalist agenda.

The Delhi police last fought street battles with JNU students in November after protests broke out over fee increases at the top university.

JNU student organizations dominated by leftists have since staged demonstrations demanding a rollback of the fee increase while facing accusations of obstructing administration officials.

Many linked the Sunday clash to simmering tensions since the fee hike, while others criticized police and the university administration for failing to protect students from masked attackers on campus.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called on police to "immediately stop violence and restore peace."

"How will the country progress if our students will not be safe inside (the university) campus?" he asked in a tweet.

FEARS OF EVICTION 

The prestigious university counts top Indian politicians including Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and this year's Nobel economics prize winner Abhijit Banerjee among its alumni.

Jaishankar took to Twitter to condemn the violence, saying, "This is completely against the tradition and culture of the university."

The security presence was increased throughout the campus as India's home minister, Amit Shah, called on Delhi police to investigate. 

Elsewhere in the city, simmering tensions peaked outside Jamia Millia Islamia University, where hundreds of mostly young people have been protesting over the last few days against the citizenship law.

Messages circulating on social media and messaging apps called for more protesters to gather at the site overnight, as they feared police could evict them forcefully.

Agence France-Presse 

9-year-old Belgian prodigy set for university degree

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands—Like many other 9-year-olds, Laurent Simons likes TV and his pet dog. But he also wants to make artificial organs, and is about to get the qualifications to set him on his way.

The Belgian boy will in December receive a degree in electrical engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, which will make him one of the world's youngest graduates.

Far from being fazed by his achievements, which also saw him complete the course in just 9 months instead of the usual 3 years, Laurent says it's "normal"—although he adds too that it's "cool."

"I'm currently studying electrical engineering. It's about designing circuits and things like that. So chips, actually," the mop-haired youngster told AFP in the Dutch capital Amsterdam.

He adds that "I really like karting. And I like playing with my dog and watching Netflix."

His teachers run out of superlatives to describe him.

"Laurent's qualities are all simply extraordinary," says Sjoerd Hulshof, program director for electrical engineering at the university, a course that itself is considered particularly difficult.

The boy is "the quickest student we've ever seen. And he's not just hyper-intelligent, but very nice," Hulshof told AFP.

'BEING A CHILD'

While Laurent is studying in the labs of the university, his best friends are playing tag in the playground of his old school in the Belgian coastal resort of Ostend.

Laurent, wearing a rollneck jumper, jeans and trainers, himself says that "I don't really miss primary school, but I still have friends there."

He was raised in Ostend by his grandparents until the start of this year, as his parents Alexander and Lydia were "busy with work" in the Netherlands.

Starting school at 4, he completed primary in a year and a half. It has taken him just 5 years to go through primary and secondary school and university.

"In the end, it's about finding a balance for the child so that he enjoys life, being a child and being mischievous," says Alexander, 37, a Belgian dentist who has a practice in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.

"His grandfather and his grandmother, who raised him, told us already: he is very intelligent, more than the others... Then, when he was old enough to go to school, they kept doing tests on him from higher levels," adds Lydia, 29, who is Dutch and works as a dental assistant for her husband.

'I'VE ONLY JUST STARTED'

They are now selling the Rotterdam surgery so they can "completely dedicate" themselves to Laurent, who must be taken to university every day because he is too young to go by himself.

"He can't take the train himself," says Alexander, whose Amsterdam home features a huge black and white artwork of the faces of himself and his son.

His parents admit they "don't understand at all" the subjects that come so easily to Laurent, whose closest companions apart from his dog are his laptop and a book on integrated circuits.

Laurent says his goal now after receiving his degree in December is to "make artificial organs to prolong life."

The reason? He wants to help heart patients—like his grand-parents.

"I still have to see how I'll do it. I've only just started."

His parents are now already in contact with universities in the United States as they eye another degree for their son.

Aware of the media attention that has recently surrounded his son, Alexander says his son is growing up in a healthy environment unlike "singers and pop stars."

"If, one day, we realize he's becoming big-headed, that he's becoming pretentious or arrogant, we'll put his feet back on the ground."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Student lay dead in New Zealand university dorm for two months

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A teenager lay dead in his campus dorm room for up to two months, a New Zealand university said Thursday, with the young man's body only discovered after fellow residents complained of the smell.

The remains of the first year University of Canterbury student were so badly decomposed that specialist disaster investigators were brought in to identify them.

"Clearly there's been quite a big failure here," New Zealand Education Minister Chris Hipkins said.

"And if that means that things need to change to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again in the future, then we will do that."

The 19-year-old, who has not been publicly identified, was described by friends as a "good and confident guy," but who would sometimes "go off the grid for a week or so."

The undergraduate began his course in July -- the start of the academic year in New Zealand -- having opted to live on Canterbury University's leafy campus in Christchurch.

Single rooms at the halls of residence where the student's body was found cost NZ$17,000 (US$10,000) a year, the university's website says, boasting they offer a "close knit community."

The halls of residence is run by Campus Living Villages (CLV) -- a company that operates student accommodation with more than 45,000 beds in the US, the UK and Australia, as well as New Zealand, according to its website.

"The thing that haunts me is how did we miss him?" CLV managing director John Schroder told reporters.

"I'm very perturbed. If indeed the young man was deceased for as long as he was… then I would say that is a failing on our part and we have to adjust our processes and systems."

Local media reported the dead man's stepfather had raised concerns with police after being unable to contact the student via friends.

"It's not right, it's just not right on any level," one outlet quoted a family member as saying.

Canterbury University vice-chancellor Cheryl de la Rey said it was an "extremely distressing time" for students and staff coming to grips with what had happened, adding an independent investigation into the death will be launched.

"Despite the comprehensive pastoral care programs in place, for us it is inconceivable to imagine how these circumstances could have occurred," she said in a statement.

De la Rey promised an independent investigation into the circumstances of the death. When questioned on national radio she said she had no explanation for the student's family.

"I am deeply sorry, I and the university will do all we can to answer these questions," De la Rey said.

Hipkins added the government would wait for the outcome of investigations launched by the police and coroner, before looking at whether regulations governing student accommodation needed to change.

The university, one of New Zealand's oldest, has more than 17,000 students.

Undergraduates pay around NZ$6,500 a year in fees.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Biggest US college fraud bust nets actors Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin

BOSTON - Federal authorities arrested dozens on Tuesday for a $25 million scheme to help wealthy Americans, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and some CEOs, cheat their children's way into elite universities, such as Yale and Stanford.

The largest college admissions fraud scam unearthed in US history was run out of a small college preparation company in Newport Beach, California that relied on bribes to sports coaches, phony test takers, and even doctored photos depicting non-athletic applicants as elite competitors to land college slots for the offspring of rich parents, prosecutors said.

"These parents are a catalog of wealth and privilege," Andrew Lelling, the US attorney in Boston, said at a news conference. "For every student admitted through fraud, an honest, genuinely talented student was rejected."

William "Rick" Singer, 58, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges related to running the scheme through his Edge College & Career Network, which charged from $100,000 to as much as $2.5 million per child for the services, which were masked as contributions to a scam charity Singer runs.

"I was essentially buying or bribing the coaches for a spot," Singer said as he pleaded guilty to charges including racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. "And that occurred very frequently."

John Vandemoor, a former Stanford University sailing coach who worked with Singer, also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy.

It was the latest in a series of scandals that have rocked the high-stakes, high-stress world of admissions to top colleges. Prosecutors in Boston in recent years have also charged Chinese nationals with cheating on entrance exams, while the College Board, which administers the SAT tests, was rocked in 2016 by a security breach that exposed hundreds of questions planned for tests.

Some 300 law enforcement agents swept across the country to make arrests in what agents code-named "Operation Varsity Blues." Huffman and Loughlin were due to appear in federal court in Los Angeles later on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have so far named 33 parents, 13 coaches, and associates of Singer's business.

Other parents charged include Manuel Henriquez, the chief executive of specialty finance lender Hercules Capital; Gordon Caplan, the co-chairman of international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher; Bill McGlashan Jr., who heads a buyout investment arm of private equity firm TPG Capital; and Douglas Hodge, the former CEO of the investment management firm Pimco.

Representatives for the companies and for Huffman and Loughlin either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

The alleged masterminds of scam and parents who paid into it could all face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Huffman, a former best actress Oscar nominee who is married to actor William H. Macy, starred in ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

Loughlin, best known for her role in the ABC sitcom "Full House" and the recent Netflix sequel "Fuller House," is married to clothing company founder Mossimo Giannulli, who was also charged in the scheme.

'HELP THE WEALTHIEST'

On a call with a wealthy parent, prosecutors said, Singer summed up his business: "What we do is help the wealthiest families in the US get their kids into school ... my families want a guarantee."

Prosecutors said it was up to the universities what to do with students admitted through cheating.

Yale University and the University of Southern California (USC) said in separate statements that they were cooperating with investigators.

"The Department of Justice believes that Yale has been the victim of a crime perpetrated by its former women's soccer coach," Yale said in a statement.

The coach, Rudolph Meredith, resigned in November after 24 years running the women's soccer team. Meredith, who accepted a $400,000 bribe from Singer, is due to plead guilty, prosecutors said. His lawyer declined to comment.

Prosecutors said the scheme began in 2011 and also helped children get into the University of Texas, Georgetown University, Wake Forest University, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Part of the scheme involved advising parents to lie to test administrators that their child had learning disabilities that allowed them extra exam time.

The parents were then advised to choose one of 2 test centers that Singer's company said it had control over: one in Houston, Texas, and the other in West Hollywood, California.

Test administrators in those centers took bribes of tens of thousands of dollars to allow Singer's clients to cheat, often by arranging to have wrong answers corrected or having another person take the exam. Singer would agree with parents beforehand roughly what score they wanted the child to get.

In many cases, the students were not aware that their parents had arranged for the cheating, prosecutors said, although in other cases they knowingly took part. None of the children were charged on Tuesday.

Singer also helped parents stage photographs of their children playing sports or even Photoshopped children's faces onto images of athletes downloaded from the internet to exaggerate their athletic credentials.

Wake Forest said it had placed head volleyball coach Bill Ferguson on administrative leave after he was among the coaches accused of accepting bribes.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators heard McGlashan of TPG Capital listening to Singer tell him to send along pictures of his son playing sports that he could digitally manipulate to make a fake athletic profile.

"The way the world works these days is unbelievable," McGlashan said to Singer, according to court papers.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Hollywood stars among dozens charged over college entrance scam

NEW YORK -- "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman and fellow Hollywood actress Lori Loughlin were among dozens indicted Tuesday in a multi-million dollar scam to help children of the American elite cheat their way into top universities.

The accused, who also include chief executives, financiers, the chairman of a prominent law firm, a winemaker and fashion designer, allegedly cheated on admissions tests and arranged for bribes to get their children into prestigious schools including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California, federal prosecutors said.

They paid a bogus charity run by Californian William Singer more than $25 million over seven years both to arrange for people to fix SAT and ACT entrance exams for their children, and also to bribe university sports coaches to recruit their children, even when the children were not qualified to play at that level.

The case sparked outrage across the country, especially among parents who stress about the intense competition for places in universities and, more broadly, about privileged behavior among the richest Americans.

In all, 50 people were charged: 33 parents who paid to give their kids undeserved entry into high-end college life; 13 university sports coaches and test organization operators; and Singer and three others who operated the fraudulent scheme.

Thirteen of those accused, including Huffman, were arrested and slated for arraignment late Tuesday in Los Angeles. Others appeared in courts in Boston, New York, Connecticut and elsewhere. Loughlin was not arrested because she was in Canada.

None of the universities or the companies who run the tests were implicated, and none of the students involved were charged.

"These parents are a catalog of wealth and privilege," said Andrew Lelling, the US attorney in Boston, Massachusetts where the case was announced.

"Every year hundreds of thousands of hard-working, talented students strive for admission to elite schools," he said.

"There can be no separate college admission system for the wealthy, and, I'll add, there will not be a separate criminal justice system, either."

PREYING ON PARENTAL ANXIETY 

The scheme aimed to take advantage of the two years of the anxiety s parents across the United States often endure as they put high school-age children through the standardized tests needed to gain entry into heavily competitive colleges and universities.

Even legally, wealth plays a role. Parents who can afford to pay heavily for test preparation and have their children take the tests two or three times to better their scores.

In this case, however, Singer arranged for someone to take the test for the students, or paid insiders to fix their scores.

And, in a second part of the scheme, the "side door" operation, Singer would create bogus athletic profiles for the students and manage payoffs to university coaches in minor sports like soccer, crew, water polo and sailing so that the student could be accepted on that basis.

The payments were made to Singer's fake Newport Beach, California charity, Key Worldwide Foundation, and to non-profits managed by the coaches, which allowed the parents to deduct the payoffs and bribes from their taxes.

Singer agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges and assisted investigators in obtaining evidence against his customers and co-conspirators.

NOT 'SHAMELESS' 

Parents paid as little as $15,000 and as much as $6 million to benefit from Singer's operation.

Huffman, 56, and her husband William Macy, the star of Showtime's hit series "Shameless," paid $15,000 for their first daughter to perform well on the test, but decided not to do the same with their second daughter. Macy was mentioned in the case but not charged.

Loughlin, the 54-year-old star of "Full House," and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli allegedly paid $500,000 to gain their two daughters entry into University of Southern California as coxswains for crew teams -- a sport they hadn't participated in before.

Gordon Caplan, co-chairman of New York law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, allegedly paid $75,000 to have his daughter's test grades fixed.

And William McGlashan, an executive at the huge investment group TPG Capital who specialized in technology investments, allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for both testing and being placed in University of Southern California as a student athlete.

"What is going to happen when they see his application, he'll be flagged as an athlete," Singer told him in a phone conversation recorded by investigators.

"But once he gets here, he just goes, he doesn't go to athletic orientation, He goes to the regular orientation like all my other kids just did... and everything's fine."

Coaches, including the women's soccer coach at Yale University and the sailing coach at Stanford University, took between $200,000 and $400,000 to accept the students onto their teams.

Some attempted to ply the sport and then quit; some claimed injuries and never joined the teams, others, Lelling said, "simply never showed up" to play.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fil-Am reveals secret to getting into Stanford

SAN FRANCISCO – Filipino American Jerold Yu is one of the young emerging leaders to come from the South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco.

As an active member of the community, Yu has been advocating for many issues such as the increase in minimum wage, fair housing, and non-violence.

He says this passion and love for his community was his ticket into one of the best universities in the country, Stanford University.

“I don’t have the highest grades but I tried hard in school,” said Yu. “Fortunately Stanford was able to see that and accept me. So I feel really grateful for that.”

According to a recent report in the Stanford Daily, Stanford received its largest pool of applicants for the 2015-2016 school year with 42,487 applications.

Only 2,144 or 5.05 percent were accepted, making Stanford the hardest school to get into in 2015.

Yu, who came from Quezon City in 2002, was also one of two graduating seniors who received a $2,500 scholarship from the Your Filipino Professional Association (YFPA) to use in his first year of college.

YU nabbed his scholarship with his 3.5 and higher grade point average and an essay on the impact of his extracurricular volunteer work in the Filipino community.

Yu is a part of the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) and is a core member of the youth-led Youth Organizing Home and Neighborhood Association (YOHANA) which strives to mold future leaders through leadership-building and political awareness.

“The South of Market has really helped me become who I am today and I just feel like I want to give back,” said Yu. “I’m not the most confident public speaker but I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help out my community.”

Yu will be entering Stanford this fall alone without any friends from high school or home but he says he is motivated to study hard and do his best because of the Filipino community he represents.

“I’ve been part of the Filipino community all my life because living here in the South of Market, there’s a lot of Filipino families living here and I just feel very humbled just to have all these other families proud of me and I meant not know them personally but it’s a great feeling to represent other Filipinos out there,” said Yu.

Yu plans to study computer science and ethics in society at Stanford. He hopes to secure a career in technology and to continue to fight injustice in the community that he loves.

Read more on Balitang America.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

3 Unconventional Ways to Graduate College with Less Debt

The cost of college tuition has increased so much in recent years that the value of a college diploma is now in question. However, despite the cost, a college degree is still a prerequisite to getting hired in many fields. To companies, college is more than just the diploma; it is a valuable life experience. By graduating, you are demonstrating that you are self-motivated, can manage your time effectively, work well with others, speak and write clearly and possess many other fundamental skills that employers seek when filling open positions.

 In addition, college is not just about figuring out what you want to do, but who you want to be and how to get there. So, before deciding that the cost of tuition puts college out of your reach, read on for some unconventional ways to get a degree without incurring an unmanageable price tag.

Do your homework and get hired FIRST

Recent high school graduates oftentimes don’t realize that many large employers will finance all or part of your education as part of your benefits package. That’s right; a college education courtesy of your employer. This option means you will be busy, working and taking classes in your spare time. However, chances are if you are reading this article you were planning on working while attending school anyway. Rather than take the first restaurant server job you're offered, do your homework and find a job in a company that values educated employees. An added bonus is that by the time you graduate, you'll have years worth of solid work experience - a quality that many recent college graduates lack and could put you ahead of the competition for your dream job.

Taking this idea one step further, if you can find a staff job at a college that allows employees to attend classes, working on campus will make this process very convenient and you'll be able to get more involved in the typical college experience. 

Start smaller

Start your college career at a community college. More and more community colleges and universities are teaming up to make transitions from one to the other natural and seamless.  The classes will be small, the experience less overwhelming and the tuition rates are often half the cost of a university. When you finish your two year degree, transfer to the university for another two years and by the time you are finished, you’ll have a bachelor’s degree for a fraction of the cost your fellow graduates paid (or will pay depending on their loan situation).

Start earlier

If you are still in high school, check to see if your school has reciprocal agreements with colleges that allow you to take college courses while in high school for little or no cost. You could graduate high school with college credits without shelling out a dime.

A college education is an investment that doesn't have to be a burden. Don’t let short term financial realities affect your long term goals.

source: infobarrel.com

Ateneo student kidnapped inside campus

MANILA – A kidnapping incident took place inside the campus of the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City last month, a university official confirmed.

In a statement dated November 29, ADMU Vice Presdent for Administration Fr. Nemesio Que, SJ said a student of the Loyola Schools was abducted inside the north car park of the campus between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. last November 21, Thursday.

The university did not release any more information about the student, but assured that the latter is now in safe condition after being released.

"We wish to assure the University community that the student was released, unharmed, and that no ransom was paid. By God's grace, our student has returned to the campus and now attends classes," Que said.

Que said that in the wake of the incident, the university is putting in place immediate and short-term measures while studying more long-term policies.

He added the university has decided to install additional lighting and deploy more roving guards in the parking areas.

Likewise, stricter rules will also be enforced in the entry and exit of people and vehicles on campus. Some alternate entry points will also be closed.

"For this reason, we earnestly request the full cooperation of each member of the Ateneo community as we implement additional measures. Let us all remember that as a community, it is incumbent upon us to do our part," Que said.

Que appealed to everyone to "report any suspicious characters or behavior to the university's Security Office at 426-6001 loc 4111; mobile 0999-992-5715; or the ADSA Hotline 0920-914-2372. May I also remind all students, faculty and employees to wear their ID cards at all times."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

All clear after university bomb threats

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University were reopened after shutting down Friday due to bomb threats, university officials said.

University of Texas officials said in a statement the school received a phoned-in bomb threat "from a male with a middle eastern accent, claiming to have placed bombs all over campus," and that the bombs would be detonated in 90 minutes. The school president was notified and a decision was made to close the campus, the Austin American-Statesman reported Friday.

The order "Immediately evacuate ALL buildings and get as far away as possible" was posted on the University of Texas website, USA Today reported.

The campus reopened at noon after authorities determined there was no threat, a university spokeswoman said. Although buildings were reopened, classes were canceled for the day.

North Dakota State University in Fargo ordered employees and students off its campus at 10:15 a.m. after a bomb threat as well. Fargo Police Department Lt. Joel Vettel said federal authorities responded to the threat.

A university official said the campus had been swept and classes were to resume at 2 p.m., CNN reported.

source: upi.com

UP breaks ground for BGC campus

The University of the Philippines on Tuesday officially broke ground for the development of a professional schools campus at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, an alumnus of the State University, led the groundbreaking ceremonies. The new UP Professional Schools campus will be developed on a 4,300-square-meter lot on the northeast side of the BGC. It will rise alongside schools already in the area, such as the British School Manila, the International School Manila, and the Manila Japanese School.

The professional schools campus will primarily host post-graduate students and programs for UP's colleges of law, business, and engineering, as well as from its school of statistics.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremonies - which was attended by UP President Alfredo Pascual, Bases Conversion and Development Authority President and CEO Arnel Casanova, and Senators Franklin Drilon and Edgardo Angara, a former president of UP - Vice President Binay said, "we shall soon have in the heart of this great metropolis, a new UP campus sparkling with modern structures dedicated solely to post-graduate professional studies.

He singled out the BCDA for working with UP in the realization of the new campus. The development at the BGC was also facilitated by Senators Frank Drilon and Ed Angara, "who will never allow themselves to be outdone when it comes to any project involving the University of the Philippines," Binay said.

The Vice President said the Professional Schools development "is something that makes every UP alumnus stand a little taller and more upright - even those who share my physical size and height."

"In the not too distant future, when we speak of great scholars of the law, we would be speaking no longer of erudite men and women who had gone to Yale or Harvard or some distinguished graduate school abroad. We would be speaking rather of distinguished scholars who have honed their legal expertise in our UP Graduate School of Law in Global City or Taguig," Binay added. "But in speaking of what I hope this new UP campus can accomplish, I hope no one among us will want to suggest that UP Taguig or UP Global City will simply add to the number of university campuses in the Philippines. I would ask all of us to make sure that this new campus will add strength -the greatest strength if possible - to our universities, and to the way our society values, uses and reproduces knowledge."

At the same time, the Vice President said: "I would further ask all of us here, as well as our friends who are not here now, to make sure that such strength - or the development of such strength - is supported adequately with all the resources within our reach... In a country like our own, a great part of these funds will come not as a gift of personal or corporate philanthropy from a single source. A great part will come from many sources, in response to our own dedicated effort, individually and collectively, to find generous donors like the BCDA to make sizeable, self-renewing and long-term endowments."

source: interaksyon.com

Susan Boyle Receives Honorary Degree From Scottish University

Looks like another one of Susan Boyle's dreams has come true.

The former Britain's Got Talent winner received an honorary doctorate from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland Friday in recognition for her "contribution to the creative industries," according to Scotland's Daily Record.

And while the "I Dreamed a Dream" crooner didn't sing at the ceremony, she was all smiles as the university's founding chancellor, Sir Tom Farmer, presented her with the degree.

Boyle previously studied for a certificate in caring at the university.

Congrats!

source: eonline.com

UC Irvine anchors $12.5-million research center funded by Intel

UC Irvine is home to a new $12.5-million research center funded by chip maker Intel Corp., the company announced Tuesday.

The center, called the Intel Science and Technology Center for Social Computing, applies social science and humanities to the design and analysis of digital information. It opened June 1 but was announced Tuesday by Justin Rattner, Intel chief technology officer, in San Francisco.



"Technology is profoundly entangled with our everyday lives. As researchers, we can't get a handle on what's going on by looking at technical factors alone," said UC Irvine professor Paul Dourish, who will co-lead the center. "We have to study them in concert with human, social and cultural aspects."

UC Irvine is the research hub, with four other campuses participating. The university will receive $5 million over five years, with an additional $7.5 million being split among the other universities.

Experts from those schools, which include Cornell University, Indiana University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and New York University, specialize in anthropology, media studies, digital humanities, philosophy and computer science, among other disciplines.

Each year, the research center will explore a new defining theme, the first being restoring "materiality" to information. Researchers will explore the "connection of information to the physical world," Dourish said.

Intel researchers will work with dozens of faculty members and graduate and doctoral students in the campus labs. The research will not be owned by Intel but will instead be public, open intellectual property, the university said.

The grant is under the company's larger $100-million program to increase research at universities in the country and abroad.

source: latimes.com