News2WOWUFEBRUARYAPRIL 2014 A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FOR UNIVERSITIES BY QS ASIA

4th QS-MAPLE to enjoy the patronage of UAE Minister of Higher EducationUAEs Khalifa University will enjoy the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak, Minister of Higher Education, for the co-hosting of the 4th QS-MAPLE conference and exhibition.

Read more on page 44

Taipei Tech wins gold in

FIABCI environmental categoryQS Top 50 Under 50: Out January 30 The first global university rankings report of 2014 was published on January 30, when QS unveiled the second edition of its Top 50 Under 50.

Read more on page 10

www.qsnews2wow-u.com MCI (P) L007/05/2013

Taipei Techs ecological campus design has won another award; this time, its the gold medal awarded by the Paris-based International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) at its World Congress in Taichung City, Taiwan.

Read more on page 13

NTU establishes a new office for research and technology in defence and security

Nanyang Technological Universitys (NTU) premier defence science research laboratory, Temasek Laboratories@NTU (TL@NTU) celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 15, 2014.

Read more on page 25

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.- Nelson Mandela

ISSUE NO

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UniMAP the first Malaysian university to host a major event 12th QS-APPLE in ShanghaiPage 4

A first in Ghana Ashesi Universitys new Faculty of Engineering to allocate 50% of its seats to females Page 32

Female UAEU student receives US patent for her vehicle-without-steering wheel inventionPage 42

QS News-2-WOW-U is a quarterly newsletter published by QS Asia Quacquarelli Symonds, the Singapore-based regional subsidiary of QS Quacquarelli Symonds, producer of the widely respected QS World University Rankings in London. www.qsnews2wow-u.com

Editorial Profile QS News-2-WOW-U features news and views on higher education achievements and developments in Asia, Middle East and Africa that are extraordinary, outstanding and unusual.

Circulation ProfileUp to 5,000 complimentary copies of the print edition are sent to the presidents of universities in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Copies are also distributed at QS events worldwide, including QS-APPLE and QS-MAPLE international higher education conferences, and QS WorldClass globalization seminar.

The online edition is also emailed to our database of over half a million university academics and administrators across the world.

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News2WOWU

WOW News | 2

A US$5 million Climate Innovation Center to be launched in Ethiopia

Indian Institute of Mass Communication

signs cooperation agreements with Australian and

Chilean universities

Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) has signed agreements with two foreign universitiesQueensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, and University Mayor in Santiago, Chilefor faculty exchange and joint research projects, according to Bimal Julka, secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

We will hold fruitful cooperation in terms of faculty exchange and undertaking joint research projects as well as student exchanges once the two-year masters degree programs are launched at IIMC, said Julka, who is also the chairman of IIMC. The possibility of cooperation in a short-term training program for officers of Indian Information Service (IIS) has also been explored, he added.

Stressing on the important role the media plays in peoples lives, Secretary Julka emphasized that mass communication graduates should maintain the highest standards of ethics and morality.

IIMC is a media school funded and promoted by the Indian governmentunder the Ministry of Information and Broadcastingand is amongst the leading institutes for training, teaching and research in mass communication in India. It was established by the government of India in 1965 on the recommendation of a team of internationally known mass communication specialists from UNESCO and the Ford Foundation. The Indian government has granted IIMC the status of institute of national importance, bringing it on par with IITs and IIMs.

The World Bank and Addis Ababa University signed an agreement on the establishment of a new Climate Innovation Center (CIC) in Ethiopia through a US$5 million grant by the bank. The grant agreement was signed by Mr Guang Z.Chen, World Bank country director for Ethiopia, and Dr Admassu Tsegaye, Addis Ababa University president.

The main objective of CICspearheaded by infoDev, a global innovation program of the World Bankis to help local businesses develop climate-friendly technologies, in the hope of creating plenty of new green jobs as well as addressing the climate change issue.

Supported by the government of Norway, UKAid and the World Bank, the center will provide financing as well as mentorship and advisory services to a growing number of local climate innovators and entrepreneurs. Ethiopia CIC, to be inaugurated in the first quarter of 2014, is expected to support up to 20 sustainable climate technology ventures in its initial year, and more than 200 over the next ten years, leading to 12,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The center will be established through a consortium led by the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Center (HoAREC), a regional institution hosted

by Addis Ababa University (AAU), Meta Meta, Climate Science Center and Maxwell Stamp, and it will collaborate closely with the government of Ethiopia to align priorities according to the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) Strategy.

The Ethiopia CIC is part of infoDevs Climate Technology Program (CTP) which is establishing a network of CICs to help countries benefit from more pro-active participation in the ongoing global clean technology revolution, leading to economic gain and job creation, while reducing emissions.

The first CIC was opened in Kenya in September 2012, and has already supported more than 70 innovative, clean tech ventures. Parallel to the establishment of CIC in Ethiopia, other CICs are being established in Vietnam, the Caribbean, India, Morocco, South Africa and Ghana.

At a time when the deep, extensive, long-existing but latent relationships between Arabia and Asia are undergoing a resurgence due to the changing geopolitics of the world, the newly launched Professorship in Arabia Asia Studies at NUS will spur much-needed scholarship and offer important insights into the linkages between Arabia and Asia. NUS president, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, highlighted this at the Endowment Ceremony and Inaugural Seminar of the Muhammad Alagil Distinguished Professorship in Arabia Asia Studies.

The Professorship, established at NUSs Asia Research Institute (ARI), is made possible through a SGD3 million gift from Mr Muhammad Alagil, CEO of

Jarir Investment and chairman of Jarir Group in Saudi Arabia. It aims to promote research in social, cultural, historical and contemporary Arabia-Asia relations, and to provide an authoritative academic view on Arabia-Asia relations. Mr Alagil said: Arabia and Asia share extensive and deep commercial and cultural connections which may have been forgotten or neglected over the past two centuries. In fact, generations of Arabians have always regarded Asia as one of the places for growth, enrichment and adventure. I am heartened to note that ARI at NUS have strong expertise in inter-Asia research and I hope that the gift will contribute towards developing academic expertise in Arabia-Asia studies and generate deeper insights into our deeply connected civilizations.

Thanking Mr Alagil for his generous support, Professor Tan commended him for being a visionary leader who has a broad and far-sighted perspective of global affairs and history, in addition to his extraordinary success as an entrepreneur.

He noted that ARI is at the forefront of the field of inter-Asian research, a

relatively new paradigm of enquiry. In making a global impact, ARI has initiated and partnered some of the most important, internationally renowned agencies on inter-Asian research, including the Social Science Research Council and the Association of Asian Studies, he added.

Besides providing funding for the chaired professorship, the gift will also go towards developing and implementing programs to study and document the historical and contemporary links between Arabia and Asia; enhance the present and future course of Arabia and Asia relations through lectures and publications; encourage participation in research activities by individuals from the Arabian Peninsula; and promote sharing of knowledge among Arabia and Asian institutions.

Professor Prasenjit Duara, director of ARI, said: We are truly grateful that Mr Alagil recognizes the value of our work and has provided us with very strong support through the generous gift. ARI will strive to position Singapore well to take the lead to become the intellectual hub of the study of an emergent network Asia and to consolidate its status as the social and economic hub of Asia. ARI is in the process of selecting a leading global scholar for the chaired professorship by April 2014.

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Singapore Polytechnic sets up first-of-its-kind Perfumery and Cosmetic Science Centre

Professorship in Arabia Asia Studies established with SGD3 million gift

From the left: Mr Mohammad Alagil, Professor Prasenjit Duara, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan (Photo credit: NUS)

Ms Thien Kwee Eng, assistant managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board, and Mr Tan Choon Shian, principal and chief executive officer, Singapore Polytechnic, officially launching the first-of-its-kind Perfumery and Cosmetic Science Centre in Asia launched by Singapore Polytechnic

Singapore Polytechnic launches a new state-of-the-art Perfumery and Cosmetic Science Centre.

Designed to support students in Singapores only diploma course in personal care, the center has three distinct laboratories for students to conceptualize, develop, and even market personal care products, ranging from lipstick to moisturizing creams.

Singapore is quickly becoming a regional hub in the personal care consumer market. By 2017, the Asian market is expected to be a US$16 billion industry.

Besides allowing students to use industry-specific equipment, the

center will also improve the industry relevance of students training.

Singapore Polytechnic has also signed four agreements with local and international industry partners to support sponsorships, internships and industry-based projects.

Jessie Tong, course manager in Diploma in Perfumery and Cosmetic Science at the Singapore Polytechnic, said: Industry support is very crucial for the diploma. We are embarking on (an) applied-learning program, where the students are sent out for internships for a year.

Tiffany Chin, a third-year student in Diploma in Perfumery and

Cosmetic Science at the Singapore Polytechnic, said: Being exposed to all these different equipment and these different products that are already out in the market, I feel that I am more familiar with the business world; and if I were to go into working life, I would be more prepared.

WOW News | 4

University Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) is going to be one of the organizing partners for the 12th QS-APPLE conference and exhibition, to be held in the November of 2016 in Shanghai, China. QS Asia and UniMAP signed the agreement during the 9th QS-APPLE conference that was held last November in Seoul, South Korea. The other organizing partner of this higher education event is Shanghai University.

This is the first time that a Malaysian university organizes a higher education conference outside the country, partnering a Chinese institution. Borderless higher education is becoming increasingly popular, and QS events are pioneering this movement.

It is worth noting that this is the second time a QS event is co-hosted by more than one higher education institution; the 3rd QS-MAPLE was jointly organized by Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and University of Johannesburg (South Africa).

UniMAP the first Malaysian university to host a major event 12th QS-APPLE in Shanghai

UniMAP, 12th QS-APPLE co-host, is a government-funded public university in the northern part of the Malaysian peninsula in the town of Arau, Perlis. According to MyRA, the Malaysian governments official ranking system, UniMAP has been ranked 5th amongst the 20 Malaysian public universities.

UniMAP accumulated US$10 million worth of research grants between 2003 2010. The universitys research products have won gold, silver and bronze medals in more than 20 exhibitions and competitions held in Malaysia and overseas, including in Geneva, Brussels, Warsaw, London, Seoul, and Pittsburgh.

Malaysia has made steady improvements in transforming itself into an education hub and is becoming the higher education destination of many students around the world. The high quality of educational experience at an affordable cost persuades parents to send their children to pursue tertiary education in Malaysia. According to the World Education Service Report, Malaysia is now ranked 11th in relation to preferred destinations for higher education.

In 2010, more than 86,000 international students from Asia and the Middle East chose Malaysia as their higher education destination. Today the enrolment has reached nearly 100,000. Malaysia is expected to have 200,000 international students by 2020, according to the National Higher Education Strategic Plan.

The Sultanate of Oman and the State of Palestine signed an MOU in January 2014, by Dr Rawiyah bint Saud al Busaidiyah, Minister of Higher Education of Oman, and Dr Ali Zaidan Abu Zuhri, Minister of Education and Higher Education in the State of Palestine.

The two sides discussed the exchange of students between the higher education institutions in the two countries, as well as organizing joint higher education exhibitions/seminars and conducting joint researches.

The signing session was attended by two advisors of the Minister, director general of Applied Sciences Colleges and director general of Private Universities and Colleges, as well as other international directors from the Omani side; the Palestinian delegation consisted of presidents and vice presidents of three universities together with the director general of scholarships at the Ministry of Higher Education.

Like other parts of the Middle East, Omani higher education is trying to keep pace with the global higher education development. Last October, The Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA) expressed its firm intention of auditing 80% of higher education institutions in Oman by the end of 2013.

There are a total of 60 registered higher education institutionsunder the ministries of Higher Education, Health and Manpower.

OAAA was established in 2010 and took over the quality audit project, which the former Accreditation Council had started in 2008.

Oman and Palestine to initiate student exchange for the first time

The first ever visit by King Abdullah II to a private university took place on November 26, 2013, when he visited Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) for the official inauguration of the King Abdullah II Faculty of Engineering. During the visit he was briefed on some of the bold initiatives that PSUT intends to take in the near future, such as the establishment of centers of excellence for solar energy, mobile computing, Arabic online content, entrepreneurship, and microelectronics.

On a separate note, the King Hussein Faculty of Computing Sciences of PSUT, which has consistently participated in and won international programming competitions over the past several years, once again proved its supremacy in the Arab Collegiate Programming Competition (ACPC) of November 2013, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. PSUT students won the Solid Programmer award and the Extreme Programmer award; the university was ranked third overall, qualifying to participate in the world finals of ACM-ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Competition), representing the Arab and the Middle East region. The finals will be held at the Ural Federal University, Russia.

ACM (the Association of Computing Machinery) is one of the largest and most prestigious organizations in the world. The mammoth scale of the competitions reach may be judged by the participation in the 2012/2013 event, when 29,863 students from 2,322 universities in 91 countries competed for the bragging rights of being the world programming champions.

PSUT had an eventful 2013 with new and outstanding achievements to its credit, foremost of which was ABET accreditation of four of its programs; three at the King Abdullah II Faculty of Engineering: Communications engineering, computer engineering, electronics engineering; and one program at the King Hussein Faculty of Computing Science: Computer Science. PSUT is the first and only university in Jordan to have received accreditation for these programs by an international body. ABET, which was founded by the Engineers Council for Professional Development (ECPD) in 1932 in the US, has come to be recognized as a worldwide leader in the accreditation of programs through a rigorous review process, to assure quality and stimulate innovation in applied sciences, computing, engineering, and engineering technology education.

WOW News | 6

PSUT the first private university visited by the King of Jordan

TMU grants honorary doctorate to CUHK president

Taiwans Minister of Health and Welfare, Dr Wen-Ta Chiu (center), President Joseph J.Y. Sung (fifth from left), President Yun Yen (fourth from left), Dean Chii-Ruey Tzeng (fifth from right)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) president and vice chancellor, Professor Joseph J.Y. Sung, received an honorary doctorate from Taipei Medical University (TMU). This honor was given in recognition of President Sungs distinguished contributions in the fields of medicine and academia.

During his visit, President Sung also toured Taipei Medical University

Hospital, the College of Medicine as well as other colleges of TMU, and was invited to dinner by the Minister of Health and Welfare (former TMU president), Professor Wen-Ta Chiu. TMUs current president, Professor Yun Yen, joined the dinner together with Dean Tzeng and discussed more substantial cooperation with CUHK to occur in the near future. The two universities are also actively promoting student/staff exchange programs and have enjoyed frequent interactions including exchange programs for medical students, such as clerkships and internships in affiliated hospitals.

TMU has over 30 research teams, most notably its Centers of Excellence for Cancer Research, for Clinical Trials and Research in Neuroscience, for Translational Medicine, and for Biomedical Devices.

TMUs top research focuses are cancer and translational medicine, traumatic brain injury, reproductive medicine, biomedical materials and tissue engineering, and bioinformatics and telemedicine. Other TMU strengths are drug discovery, biobanking, and a joint institutional review board to ensure research quality while helping researchers with timely approvals. The universitys global network of researchers is augmented by English-language graduate programs (masters and PhD) that have attracted hundreds of students from more than forty countries to pursue research-oriented degrees in recent years. These students are encouraged to publish in peer-reviewed journals before they complete their studies.

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WHO WE ARE...

TOP 50 UNDER 50

The first global university rankings report of 2014 was published on January 30, when QS unveiled the second edition of its Top 50 Under 50.

A considerable movement in the upper reaches of the table is that three of last years top 20Warwick, Lancaster and Macquariewere already 49 years old and will no longer be eligible for the ranking. The universities concerned and others that will drop out of the ranking over the next few years were established in the 1960s, as governments, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, set about expanding access to higher education.

The QS Top 50 Under 50 was created to draw attention to the achievements of institutions that consider themselves at a disadvantage when competing with longer-established universities in the normal rankings. The well-

entrenched reputations and extensive facilities enjoyed by universities dating back a century or more help them to dominate the QS World University Rankings and others like them. Only three universities under 50 years old appeared in the QS top 100 in 2013.

Younger universities have welcomed an additional opportunity to demonstrate their quality. Some were established only in the 1990s.

The Top 50 Under 50 kicked off a busy rankings season, with the QS World University Rankings by Subject following this month. There may be a further increase on the 30 subjects ranked last year, which ranged from the humanities to the sciences and included vocational subjects such as education.

Harvard dominated the 2013 subject rankings, although the Massachusetts

WOW News | 10

QS Top 50 Under 50: Out January 30

The team of FPT University (FU) won a ticket to the world finals of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC), to be held in Russia in June 2014. This is considered one of the best results of Vietnamese teams since their participation in this contest.

The regional round of ACM-ICPC, held in Da Nang City, included 250 of the finest students and faculties in information technology disciplines from 71 universities, colleges and academies nationwide and 15 international teams from Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia.

Finishing 8 out of 10 tasks, FPT University and Peking University (China) ended the round with

Institute of Technology proved its strength in engineering and technological subjects. The addition of agriculture brought in a variety of new institutions, including the University of California, at Davis, which topped the ranking, as well as featuring among the top ten universities under 50 years old.

Polling has already begun among academics and employers for the tenth anniversary edition of the QS World University Rankings, which will be published in the autumn. Last years record totals of 62,000 academics and 28,000 employers responding to the two surveys may well be exceeded this year.

Before then, regional rankings will be published for Asia and Latin America, and the inaugural BRICS ranking will be updated.

the same result; however, Peking Universitys team won the first prize as they spent less time on the tasks. Becoming the second ranking in the regional round and the first ranking among Vietnamese teams, FUs team officially becomes Vietnams representative to compete with more than 120 teams from 91 countries and territories in the ACM-ICPC finals.

Since 2006, Vietnamese teams have been ranked among the top 100 universities in the ACM-ICPC world finals, which definitely makes a significant contribution to the improvement of Vietnams IT training position in the world.

ACM-ICPC, renowned as the oldest, largest and the worlds most prestigious programming contest held annually,

gathers thousands of students with expertise in programming and algorithms from around the world to pit against one another. In 1977, the contest was held for the first time in the US under the auspices of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Since 1989, it has been expanded for IT students all over the world.

FPT University qualifies for the ACM/ICPC World Finals 2014

With Support of These Partners,Taipei Technologist Arein Good Hands.

10% CEO and Presidents of Taiwan Listed Stock Companies Are Our Alumni

National Taipei University of Technologywww-en.ntut.edu.twoia@ntut.edu.tw

TOYOTA

1 0 0 Y e a r s o f E x c e l l e n c e C u l t i v a t i n g E n t r e p r e n e u r s o f T o m o r r o w

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Taipei Techs ecological campus design has won another award; this time, its the gold medal awarded by the Paris-based International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) at its World Congress in Taichung City, Taiwan.

The Green Gate of Taipei Tech has won numerous honors, including the Taiwan Real Estate Award and Taipei Urban Landscape prize. FIABCI judges praised the Green Gate design for its eight-story high glass fiber tree trunks, climbing vines, and watering system, which brought this widely recognized green landmark to life.

Regardless of the fact that Taipei Tech is located in an urbanized downtown area within Taipei, its Green Gate main entrance, along with the water-recycling bioswale for fish and rooftop eco-way station for birds, has created an eco-friendly urban habitat for animals in the city, allowing their ecological network to function properly.

Thriving greeneries with the watercourse, bioswale, and clever plant arrangements, brick walls no longer exist. Instead, Taipei Tech opens its arms to embrace not only its students on campus but commuters of the public transportation systems nearby, the dwellers of the neighborhood, and the bigger Taipei City alike. People can all enjoy a refreshing break to ease their hectic schedule. Taipei Tech is becoming an oasis in the urban jungle.

Among the proud celebrators of this fantastic outcome, Dean Jen Hui Tsai was especially gratified with the outcome as he recalled the mental obstacle he had to overcome in other peoples minds.

It is easy to break down a physically existing wall but it takes much more effort to break down the mental wall that stands firmly in peoples mind!

said Dean Tsai. It took him three years of patient persuasion and slow but steady communication to finally reach the outcome of removing the school walls that kept Taipei Tech campus and Zhong Xiao East Road apart. Yet it only took three months to complete the entire construction and rebuild the new eco-landscape. Of course, all would not have succeeded without the support of the Ministry of Education and the university authorities.

After successfully convincing conservative minds with the much acclaimed opened campus, Dean Tsai did not stop there. He proceeded with his concept of eco-architecture and green design, brought in the element of public art to the new campus landscape at Xinsheng South Road, and created the Green Gate. As splendid as his previous accomplishment, the Green Gate immediately caught local and global attention as it stood thriving, affecting the city with its flourishing and prosperous momentum.

Dean Tsai expressed his viewpoints on the integration of theory and practice. He pointed out that many campus landscape designs obtained inspiration from student projects and were finalized by concrete implementation. Teaching from the book is obviously pointless without hands-on practice and implementation. Combining

theory and practice creates a more dynamic and diversified platform for talents to be nurtured and to grow. Taipei Techs successful example of a reformed and elevated green campus also shows the world that with determination and action, an insightful design will most definitely come to life as a mind-blowing, significant piece of art.

Another green initiative of the university is the Taipei Techs Institute of Environmental Engineering and Management (IEEM) that is training engineers and environmental management specialists to help solve the ever increasing number of environmental problems, meet the needs of industries and improve the living standards. Originally a part of the Department of Civil Engineering, the IEEM branched out, established itself as an independent institute in 2000 and launched its PhD program in 2012. In the IEEM, research is conducted in the areas of resource recycling, heavy metal mercury, carbon footprint, and indoor air quality.

Taipei Tech wins gold in FIABCI environmental category

Winter Abroad at Yonsei

President Mahinda Rajapaksa inaugurated Sri Lankas first nanotechnology research center and nanoscience park in Homagama. Supported by the government as well as the private sector, the countrys first nanotechnology park lies on a 20-hectare land in Pitipana, Homagama in Colombo district.

Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) together with the Ministry of Technology and Research laid the foundation of the parknamed Nanotechnology Centre of Excellence (NCE)in June 2012. NCE will provide all businesses with the opportunity to develop new products through

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Sri Lankan president inaugurates 1st nanotechnology park

HCT heralds new paperless age of learning with e-textbook revolution

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) is the first higher education institution in the UAE to convert its campuses into fully wireless, e-learning environmentsmoving towards a totally paperless teaching system.

This idea was first put into action with HCT co-launching the Federal Mobile Learning Initiative in September 2012, which saw HCT adopting iPads and mobile devices for 50% of its total student population. From September 2013 onwards, all Foundations Programme students, as well as first-year Bachelor of Applied Science students, have been using iPads as their learning devices.

The objectives of implementing mobile learning technologies in HCTs classrooms include: Engaging digital and mobile native, young students in learning; providing students with anytime, anywhere learning; facilitating reflective and self-paced learning engagement for a variety of learners and learning styles; and improving student retentioncreating life-long learners through a sustainable learning environment.

As a result of its mobile technologies learning environment, HCT has seen marked improvements in student successes, as well as in retention and pass rates. Student retention rate improved from 66% in the 2011 academic year to 81% in 2012,

and continues to grow. The student progression rate (percentage of students who passed all courses in one year) improved from 40% in the 2011 academic year to 59% in 2012resulting in a significant improvement of 19%.

A major milestone for HCT occurred in the 2013 academic year, where it implemented e-textbooks compatible with mobile devices, including iPads. This project is considered the worlds first implementation of e-textbooks, under which 150,000 e-texts are being distributed through a structured learning platform accessible to all registered students from anywhere on their mobile devices.

HCT is in the process of providing all of its courses by way of e-textbooks, at no cost to the students and HCT can confidently claim that outside the USA, this is the largest e-text implementation. HCT is the only post-secondary institution in the world with campus-based education to go fully e-text-based. These initiatives are facilitating an anytime, anywhere learning environment for the students, where they have access to e-texts from day one of the college, irrespective of any changes in their schedule, program etc.

It is also worth noting that HCT recently signed an MOUelectronically, harnessing the institutes innovative educational practiceswith QS Asia Quacquarelli Symonds at a

ceremony held at the Abu Dhabi Mens College.

The agreement lays the framework for various activities between HCT and QS, including co-hosting future QS events in the region and conducting a comprehensive audit of HCT using the QS Stars methodology. At the ceremony, the vice chancellor of HCT, Dr Tayeb Kamali, said: HCT trusts to take back an even better appreciation of the Higher Colleges of Technology, CERT Technology Park and our long-term commitment to world-class education, applied research and innovation.

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) is the largest higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 20,000 male and female Emirati students attending 17 campuses around the country. It provides students with hands-on, job-focused skills that are driven by national and international workforce needs. HCT offers business and industry related project-based career programs in a culture-oriented environment, using innovative, cutting-edge technologies with a learning-by-doing approach.

a collaborative and innovative process, taking them from research through development towards commercialization.

The Ministry of Technology and Research of Sri Lanka took initiatives to launch the nanoscience project together with the industrial sector in early 2008. The Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (Pvt) Ltd was established in April 2008 as a private company under the Companies Act. The institute has been engaged in developing applications for nanotechnology in collaboration with the private sector partners since August 2009.

Addressing the occasion, the President stressed that schools and universities are no longer the sole providers of knowledge, and there are alternatives that provide the people with ample opportunity to fully utilize the knowledge of science and technology for national development. The President also pointed out that opening the doors of nanotechnology to the future generation is an important step the government has taken.

President Rajapaksa also emphasized the importance of creating an environment that piques the curiosity of the youth and said that technology should be introduced into the stream of the schools, as a significant element in the field of education.

Dr Tayeb Kamali and Ashwin Fernandes signing the MOU

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Russian universities enjoying bigger funding

Following British Petroleums (BP) five-year-long successful partnership with Baku-based Qafqaz University, the operator of the largest oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan presents eleven world-class laboratories to the university in an effort to support the development of the countrys workforce potential through training, partnership and sponsorship of educational initiatives.

The laboratories are designed for the Mechanical Engineering Department of the university, and cover areas such as aerodynamics and fluid mechanics; mechanical vibrations and noise control; machine dynamics; machine tools; non-destructive testing; thermal sciences and heat transfer; internal combustion engines and automotive; materials-metallographic; upgrade of materials; automatic control; and design and rapid prototyping.

Since 2009, when the two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding, BP has established a chemical engineering department with five world-class laboratories, as well as a mechanical engineering department. The eleven labsworth US$1.3 millionwill be the latest contribution of the multi-national oil and gas company to Qafqaz University, making the total investment amount to over US$2.5 million.

In addition, BP has committed to inviting students from the new departments to apply for internships in the company, as well as inviting BP experts to contribute to the universitys engineering programs through sharing their knowledge and experience in seminars and conferences.

Qafqaz University was founded in 1993, by decree of the Azerbaijani Republics National Assembly and approval by the Cabinet of Ministers. Following the independence of Azerbaijan Republic and the establishment of Qafqaz University, Turkish businessmen began their voluntary contributions to the educational services of Qafqaz University through Cag Educational Corp. The university was the first and continues to be the only prominent and prestigious foreign private university active in Azerbaijan.

Qafqaz University is the first and the only educational institution authorized by the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan to have a distinguished status privilege in applying its own curriculum. Education systems and programs of Turkish and Western universities are taken as a model in preparing the curricula. In doing so, education structure of the credit system was put into practice for the first time in Azerbaijan. The university offers BA, MA, MSc, MBA program and doctoral programs.

BP invests US$1.3 million to establish world-class laboratories in Baku According to a recent report by the

Times Higher Education, national universities in Russia have been enjoying significantly bigger funding by business investors in recent years.

Russian universities have been placed in the 11th position globally, in terms of money secured from industry per academic; the survey found that the Russian academics secured US$36,400 per researcher, up from US$25,000 in 2009.

Private investment at the Moscow State University (MSU) has doubled since 2009, accounting for nearly 25% of the universitys RUB19 billion (US$570 million) budget. The growing trend is true for Russias most prestigious economics

universitythe Higher School of Economicswith a total budget of ~US$3045 million, 10% of which comes from private investment.

According to a spokesperson for the Moscow Engineering and Physics InstituteRussias leading engineering universitythe increase in private funding in recent years has facilitated the development of composite nuclear fuel pellets and high-performance neutron-absorbing materials for nuclear power plants. Major private investors in Russian universities actively engaged in scientific research are financial conglomerates and business groups, such as AFK Systema and Lukoil.

According to Michael Tokarev, executive director of the Oil and Gas Center of Moscow State University, oil companies in Russia prefer to buy off-the-shelf technologies rather than invest in basic research; Lukoil, for instance, is estimated to be paying nearly US$22 million annually to Russian universities for their work.

There is a clear trend that private businesses, especially IT and high-tech giants, as well as oil and gas producers, have significantly increased investments in Russian universities,

says Andrey Ivanov, chief operating officer of JetBrains, one of the worlds leading software firms.

Despite the significant growth in private investment in Russian universities, the nation still lags behind other countries in this respect with only 1% of the GDP, compared with 3% in the US and Western Europe, according to Denis Manturov, Russias Trade and Industry Minister.

air conditioning (including heating), windows, furniture, bathrooms etc.

In order to improve the quality of teaching, the universities are planning to send their personnel abroad to obtain international experience and learn best practice.

Institutions also plan to allocate more resources towards evaluating the teachers, hosting conferences on teaching etc. Another area of improvement under consideration is raising teachers salaries for them to feel extrinsically, as well as intrinsically, rewarded.

Lastly, the textbooks need to be improved as there are evident errors in quite a number of them. For instance, history textbooks are not accurate enough, math exercise books have the wrong exercises, and science and foreign language textbooks are outdated. Improvements will also include online aspects like web applications etc.

WOW News | 18

Uzbekistan higher education undergoes major reforms

Two scholars from the University of Kufa win the 2013 Higher Education Award for ScienceTwo researchers from the University of Kufa (UOK) received the 2013 Higher Education Award for Science during a ceremony held by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research at the Great Hall of the University of Baghdad.

The president of the UOK, Professor Akeel Abed Yaseen, won third place in the nanotechnology major for his marked research entitled The Absence of the Nano-particles Siri Material from the Toxic Effect on the Human Eye Lenses, which was carried out in collaboration with researchers from American, British and Chinese universities. The research dealt with the possibility of using nanotechnology in the protein changes of the eye and using it in the human optical lenses, utilizing the technology as a carrier for medical signs since these substances are unique for their absence of toxic effects.

Meanwhile, Dr Sundus Yaseen Hassan from the Faculty of Education for Girls won the second place in the mathematics major for her marked research entitled Studying the Polyhedral Zarnik Limits in

a Circle Radius of One Unit. The research studies the polyhedral Zarnik limits with the kartezih and polar coordinates. The study concludes that these variables represent an integrated basis, and that are perpendicular with one another and the calibrator.

The Higher Education Award for Science is the first of its kind in Iraq, developed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to encourage the scientific research movement and enrich the efforts of the Iraqi researchers. More than 300 researchers from various Iraqi universities participated in the contest. The evaluation criteria were as follows: The impact factor of the scientific magazine in which the scientific research was published, the economic benefit envisaged from the scientific research, and the scientific value of the research.

Awards were distributed to six basic sciences (mathematics, chemistry, physics, earth and environmental science, life sciences, and nanotechnology). In the coming years, the competition will include medical and managerial sciences as well as humanities.

In spite of being at the initial stages, reforms have already started to incur sensible costs; although the expenses have been split between the government and institutions. As a result, tuition fees rose by an average of 26% in 2013 and 10% the year before. Apart from the direct costs, inflation is the indirect factor that drives up the overall expenditure.

The publics reaction toward the higher cost of higher education has been both positive and negative. Some say they cannot afford higher education while others believe a few hundred dollars extra per year is negligible, when their children can have a better quality education.

Educational reform in Uzbekistan is expected to maintain its momentum, with the government planning to allocate more funds and parents having to share some of the burden.

The Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education is taking firm initiatives to improve Uzbek higher education in three aspects: Quality of facilities, quality of teaching, and quality of textbooks and other teaching materials. As a country in transition to a market economy with 42% of the population being 17 or younger, it is necessary to find new ways to improve education, according to the Ministry.

The facilities are the first target as most of them lack basic equipment

Effat University (EU) launched its Visual and Digital Production (VDP) program in the 4th quarter of 2013a unique undergraduate program that is the first of its kind to be offered for females in Saudi Arabia.

The new program, which is the result of the collaboration between Effat University in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and the School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) at the University of Southern California (USA), was established to cater to the growing need in the market for specialized professionals that can handle the new forms of media. It, in turn, supports the countrys mission to contribute to the global economy, with a special attention to information economy by sustaining new forms of communication, art and culture.

The program has four tracks: Production, Animation, Screenwriting, and Interactive Media. The Production Track focuses on the production of still images, video and sound, with attention to cinematic and televisual expression, as well as to newer forms of web-based and mobile storytelling. On the other hand, the Animation Track explores both traditional and digital techniques with an emphasis on the diverse roles animation currently plays within the larger digital media ecosystem.

The Screenwriting Track, however, helps students investigate fundamental formats, including the narrative feature, documentary feature, television drama, as well as emerging formats, including short-form storytelling for mobile devices and trans-media storytelling, while the Interactive Media Track explores the creative media forms that invite user interaction, including game design.

Summer training is also offered where students work with local media production companies to gain hands-on experience.

The first batch of the VDP program consists of 25 students, who need to earn 129 credit hours over a minimum of 8 semesters in order to graduate.

The curriculum is intended to help them, and other future batches, not only gain the creative skills required, but also ensure their employability in the creativity sector by means of the practical knowledge they acquire. All graduates are expected to be employed in the areas of film production, television production, journalism, social media expression, visual communication, and public relations.

The president of Effat University, Dr Haifa Reda Jamallail, said

We are proud to be pioneers in providing a unique program like the VDP that caters for the needs of the market, upholds international standards of learning and teaching, and helps in graduating qualified, sophisticated, and responsible members of the community.

This is not the first time that Effat University has offered unique programs to the Saudi market. The University was the first to offer undergraduate degrees in architecture and electrical and computer engineering for females; entrepreneurship and operations and information management; as well as a masters degree in Islamic financial management.

Effat University offers a unique Visual and Digital Production program for females in Saudi Arabia

University of Tehran develops academic

ties with Middle East Technical

University

Tehran University president, Professor Farhad Rahbar, signed an MOU with the president of Middle East Technical University, Professor Ahmet Acar, in mid-December 2013. In addition, the president of North Cyprus Campus of METU (representative of METU), Professor Turgut Tumer, met with Professor Delvar, associate dean for international relations of College of Engineering, and both parties exchanged ideas on developing academic ties. METU is one of the leading universities in Turkey, in the area of engineering and natural sciences, in particular.

The University of Tehran has been recently ranked as Irans top and the worlds 100th university in civil engineering, according to an international survey conducted by National Taiwan University (NTU) in 2013, which emphasizes the quantity and quality of scientific publications.

On another delightful note, the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) listed the University of Tehran as the countrys top domestic college of science and named two UT professors, Professor Ali Akbar Mousavi Movahedi and Professor Ali Akbar Sabouri, as the leading scientists in the field of biochemistry and biologyfor the first time.

Main gate of University of Tehran

WOW News | 20

The SKKU International Summer Semester (ISS)

Suke Kyu Lee, Vice President of International Affairs, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), discusses how SKKU developed Koreas leading international summer program.

I understand that SKKU has launched an extremely successful international summer program beginning in 2008. As the vice president of International Affairs, what would you attribute to SKKUs success? Well, of course it took a lot of planning accompanied by efficient execution on the part of all the staff of the Office of International Affairs. I should also mention that the ISS would have never been conceived if it wasnt for the visionary leadership of the president of SKKU, Professor Jun Young Kim.

The summer semester was initially envisioned by President Jun Young Kim, as an initiative to internationalize the university. Since its inception in 2008, the program has continued to grow exponentially and by 2013 the number of participating students reached 1,698, from 86 universities and from 34 countries. SKKU ISS is one of the most diverse summer school programs in Asia at present.

What are some of the factors that led to the success of SKKU ISS?SKKU ISS is a thematic program focusing on sustainable human development that brought together leading scholars from around the globe to discuss this issue from their diverse disciplinary perspectives.

Unlike other summer programs in Asia, SKKU ISS sought to ensure student diversity. When I talk about diversity, I am referring to not only the unique cultural backgrounds of the students but also their areas of study. Furthermore, we are a leader in bringing young international students from other countries to focus on some of the most pressing problems facing global society.

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In addition we recruited leading scholars from outstanding universities like University of Cambridge, Leiden University, University of British Columbia (UBC) and UC Berkeley.

The program is offered as a unique integrated experience in that the students learn not only within the context of classroom, but also in a dynamic metropolitan area which is home to 13 million people.

Striking the right balance between study hard and play hard is the hallmark of SKKUs social and academic culture.Finally, the Humanities and Social Sciences campus is the original site of ancient SKKU, which was founded in 1398. It is located at the heart of Seoul, an area surrounded by Koreas modern and historical urban landscape.

What sort of outcomes do you think the SKKU ISS has achieved?The ISS has had a great impact on the universitys internationalization and global publicity. For example, our ISS students return to their home universities and talk to faculty, students and family about their positive experiences. This has resulted in a dramatic increase of inbound student exchange mobility. And in fact, students from the ISS in many instances are returning to complete graduate studies at SKKU.

Thank you very much, Vice President Lee. Do you have any additional comments you would like to make?Building on the success of ISS, we are preparing to launch other short-term winter programs such as International Winter School (IWS).

It will be a 3-week unique academic program dedicated to helping students understand the forces that have shaped and continue to transform Asias most dynamic metropolis, Seoul.

I would like to thank QS Asia for its great efforts towards promoting Asian higher education.

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and Advanced Materials. TL@NTUs latest discovery of bendable ceramics was published recently in one of the worlds top academic journals, Science.

TL@NTU was established to develop technology that delivers effective solutions to enhance the defence of Singapore. It has grown from three research programs and 10 scientists, to 15 research programs and over 200 researchers and staff today.

To advance the strong partnership that NTU already has with MINDEF through the many collaborations over the past two decades, Professor Andersson announced today the establishment of NTUs Office of Research and Technology in Defence and Security, which will consolidate NTUs expertise and capabilities in this vital sector.

Our aim is to create a new peak of research excellence in defence science and facilitate the development of key in-country defence and security capabilities, said Professor Andersson. It will also serve as NTUs main interaction point with MINDEF and we will continue to work closely with MINDEF to strategically identify future critical research areas, capabilities and educational opportunities.

The new office will bring under its wing all the defence-related centers and laboratories in NTU, including TL@NTU and the Electromagnetic Effects Research Laboratory. Dual-purpose research programs, involving research that has both defence-related and non-defence applications will also be featured prominently.

Nanyang Technological Universitys (NTU) premier defence science research laboratory, Temasek Laboratories@NTU (TL@NTU) celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 15, 2014. Gracing this milestone event was guest of honor, Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Defence. TL@NTU, the focal point of contact between NTU scientists and Singapores Ministry of Defence, was set up in 2003 in partnership with Singapores Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).

NTU president, Professor Bertil Andersson, said the strong partnership between NTU and MINDEF has yielded much invaluable mutual benefits to both parties, with many of the completed joint projects transiting to useful research outcomes in defence applications.

Im proud to say that there are now more than 120 ongoing defence and security technology projects at NTU, which has secured a total funding of about SGD130 million, said Professor Andersson.

Over the past decade, TL@NTU has seen several achievements, including the prestigious Defence Technology Prize in the area of Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits, won by a joint research team from TL@NTU and DSO National Laboratories.

Other areas of research and breakthroughs include Radar Systems

(Right to left) NTU Provost Freddy Boey, Minister Chan Chun Sing, NTU President Bertil Andersson, NTU Chief-of-Staff Lam Khin Yong, and Chief Defence Scientist Quek Tong Boon, viewing the Singapore-made Terrex armored infantry vehicle, which is being tested at the reverberation chamber at NTUs Electromagnetic Effects Research Laboratory. (Photo credit: NTU)

25 | WOW News

Qatar University commits US$56 millionto a new five-year research roadmap

Led by a visionary leadership, QU has embarked on a number of plans to build a research profile: An increased budget of US$56 million that will provide optimum resources, facilities and equipment for the wide range of research activities; the establishment of a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art research complex; and six new research centersthree of which are dedicated to social sciences and humanities.

In 2013, QU committed itself to a research roadmap for the next five years, which will see interdisciplinary research projects centered on four priority areas of excellence: Energy, environment and resource sustainability; social change and identity; population, health and wellness; and information, communication and technologies (ICT).

QUs wide-ranging collaborative research activities have strengthened its partnership with leading organizations in Qatar, in the region and beyond. In this regard, the organization signed a number of agreements for research, training and sponsorship support. It also established 15 chair positions that will further enhance its academic and research portfolio.That will lead to research activities and opportunities that benefit national students, in order to prepare them for future placement in the professional sectors in Qatar.

A research-intensive public university, NTU has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering; Business; Science; Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; and its Interdisciplinary Graduate School. It has a new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London.

The university has been making a rapid ascent up the global academic rankings. NTU is now the fastest-rising Asian university in the worlds top 50 universities that are under 50 years old, and is globally ranked 2nd in this categoryQS Top 50 Under 50.

NTU establishes a new office for research and technology in defence and security

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzaddin Waddaulah, the sultan of Brunei Darussalam and chancellor of Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB), graced the ITB Convocation 2013, held on November 28, 2013. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, senior minister at the Prime Ministers Office, was also present at the event.

The convocation ceremony marked the graduation of 62 graduates from the inaugural intake of ITBs undergraduate degree programs and 368 graduates from Higher National Diploma programs in ITBs niche areas of engineering, business and computing.

ITB chancellor urged the university to step out of its comfort zone and strive to become one of the top technology and engineering universities in the world. The chancellor also said ITBs small size could be an advantage in terms of providing relevant human resources, as it would be easier to implement and plan its initiatives. His Majesty cited the example of the

California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which he said was a small engineering institution that had become one of the top higher education establishments in the world. Pasadena-based Caltech only has around 2,000 students.

The Brunei government also aims to achieve a 60:40 ratio between science and literature graduates vital for the countrys development plans. To achieve this, ITB has to offer programs that can attract and encourage more students to take up science.

ITB began offering undergraduate degree programs as a university in 2009. Now, ITB offers 20 undergraduate degree programs, as well as graduate programs leading to masters and PhD, in the areas of engineering, business and computing.

ITB was set up as a higher learning institution in 1986, offering BTEC HND programs in engineering, business and computing, aimed at producing para-professionals for the industry.

ITBs ethos is based around the idea that effective instruction, hands-on approach and industry-based programs endow students with fundamental knowledge, competence and marketable skills.

This guiding principle has helped ITB to produce graduates who are highly valued by local employers and readily accepted by universities in the United Kingdom (UK), Australia and other countries where ITB students further their studies.

ITB was upgraded to a university in 2008, and tremendous development has taken place since then, including expanding the portfolio of programs offered, establishing strategic partnerships with industries and universities, embarking on the process of programs accreditation by professional bodies, and the strengthening of research.

27 | WOW News

Brunei Darussalam Sultan graces ITB for the first time

ITB graduates at the convocation

University of Johannesburg strengthens African and global footprint

Professor Ihron Rensburg (left), vice chancellor and principal (UJ), and Professor Doknan Danjuma Decent Sheni, vice chancellor (PLASU).

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the Plateau State University (PLASU) from Bokkos, Plateau State, Nigeria, signed an MOU on January 15, 2014.

The MOU facilitates academic cooperation and collaboration through the scholarship of teaching and learning programs, as well as research and development projects. In addition, UJ will enroll PLASU staff for studies that PLASU have deemed crucial for their development.

University of Johannesburg is strengthening its African footprint; it has remarkably enhanced its engagement in East Africa by forming new partnerships with Makerere University, the University of Dar es Salaam, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

UJ has been equally active in the western part of the continent: The university established partnerships with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Kumasi Polytechnic; the University of Ghana, Lagon; the University of Education, Winneba; and the University of Cheikh Anta Diop.

UJ has also made great efforts to shine internationally; among the biggest and most recent is co-hosting 3rd QS-MAPLE in Johannesburg in May 2013, in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

The University of Johannesburg was established in 2005 and is one of the largest residential universities in South Africa with 48,000 student enrollments per year. In such a short span of time the university has produced more than 60,000 graduates, contributing greatly to the nations human resource development.

Wits Business School (WBS) and the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) signed a three-year partnership agreement for student exchange.

The partnership will also facilitate joint academic activities, including the exchange of staff for lecturing or research purposes. The agreement was signed by Professor Tomasz Szapiro, SGH rector, and Professor Andrew Crouch, deputy vice chancellor: academic, of Wits University.

It is worth noting that this agreement is SGHs first partnership with a South African institution, which is expected to strengthen the economic ties between South Africa and Poland.

Witnessing the occasion, the Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, said:

We thank the Polish government for investing in South Africas education. This bilateral agreement will go a long way in opening doors for our learners and making sure that we produce world-class graduates.

Dr Adam Gordan, the acting head of WBS hopes the collaborative research, conducted in multicultural and international teams, will contribute to the better understanding of the processes that are shaping the world economy.

On another delightful note, Wits University was the only African university to be ranked in the recent

Global Employability University Ranking report published in the New York TimesWits was ranked 139th.

More than 5,000 recruiters from top companies in 30 countries voted on the employability of the graduates of universities around the world.

Wits also fared well in producing alumni millionaires, according to a study compiled for Spears Magazine, which has placed Wits in the 57th spot globally. The university came in ahead of Brown University (62), the London Business School (63), Stanford Business School (67), Monash University in Australia (73) and the University of Cape Town (79).

The study also lists the subjects that have produced the highest number of millionaires: Engineering, MBA, economics and law.

WOW News | 28

QS and Interfax Group launch the worlds first BRICS university rankings

Appointed by Interfax Group, a leading information provider in Russia and emerging Eurasian nations, QS produced the worlds first university ranking of the BRICS countries in mid-December 2013.

The QS University Rankings: BRICS has received support from ministries of education and higher education institutions around the world. As one of the most trusted independent university ranking organizations, experienced in both global and regional rankings, QS was Interfax Groups natural choice of partner for the project.

The new ranking was fostered by Russias Ministry of Education; following President Vladimir Putins announcement (May 2012) to have at least five of the countrys universities in the top 100 in global university rankings by 2020.

BRICS

Interfax Group was chosen out of five bidders to launch two pilot rankings. The first includes only universities from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); the second ranking is a BRICS nation ranking, which includes the universities of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa; this is a joint project between QS and Interfax Group.

Zoya Zaitseva, project director for QS University Rankings: BRICS says, The BRICS nations are investing heavily in higher education, research and development as they recognize that creating knowledge and nurturing talents is essential to fuel the growth of their rapidly-expanding economies. The new ranking will increase their visibility and allow these universities to become more recognized on a global level.

Dr (Mrs) Indu Shahani, member of the University Grants Commission, India and visiting faculty member at the UC Berkeley and NYU Stern, said there is a strong belief among academics that this will create a new benchmark for young students as well as help raise

the profile and global visibility of good Indian universities. She adds:

BRICS nations are accustomed to research studies in economic and political areas but this kind of educational research-based initiative is a first and should be well received by Indian universities.

Results of the first QS University Rankings: BRICS were published on www.topuniversities.com on December 17, 2013.

Warsaw School of Economics signs its first partnership with a South African institution

Solomon Islands National University (SINU) signed an MOU in mid-November 2013 with Taiwans Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU) to build up a firmer medical and educational relationship. Dr Ching-Kuan Liu, the president of KMU, accompanied by Dr Cherng-Jye Jeng, dean of the Office of Global Affairs, visited SINU campus and signed the MOU with the vice chancellor of SINU, Dr Glynn Galo.

The agreement aims to strengthen academic exchange and explore more potential between the two universities. KMU is the first sister university of SINU since its formal establishment. It is expected that the MOU will bring in plenty of medical and academic resources along with Taiwans higher education to locals in the coming future.

Dr Galo hoped that, through the agreement, SINU can train its staff in quantitative and qualitative research methods, exploration in wider research fields, medical training and medical degree programs.

President Liu echoed Dr Galo and pointed out that the nursing education program will be the focus in the initial stage. Based on mutual benefits and trustworthiness, SINU and KMU are initiating the exchange of medical education, along with infectious disease control and public health of the collaboration. Most importantly, both will benefit from faculty and student

exchange, the certificate programs and the research resources sharing. KMU looks forward to establishing medical related courses and an overseas campus in Solomon Islands in the future.

In fact, KMUs affiliated hospital, KMUH, has been sending mobile medical groups to Solomon Islands twice a year since 2005, which prompted KMUH and the National Referral Hospital of Honiara (NRH) to become sister hospitals in 2006. In addition, KMU Taiwan Students Without Borders (TSWB) volunteer group from colleges of medicine and dental medicine also went to Solomon Islands with staff from the universitys three affiliated hospitals (KMUH, KMHK and KMTTH).

The local Taiwan authority is optimistic: I believe that faculty and students at SINU need a stronger hand for study and KMU is going to be the best partner, said ROC (Taiwan) ambassador, Roy Wu.

Qassim University promotes academic and research activities through collaboration agreements

SINU and KMU sign the 1st MOU for medical and educational collaboration

Qassim University recently entered into collaborations with various universities, institutes and industries in order to promote its academic and research activities: A service contract was signed with The Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University for training the Optometry faculty members of Qassim University and providing scientific consultancy in academic and research areas. The Pennsylvania College is well known for its rich knowledge and experience in the field of optometry.

Qassim University also signed an agreement with Wright State

University for academic and research collaboration with College of Medicine and College of Applied Medical Sciences at Unayzah. In addition, the university signed a contract with Peking University Health Science Center in China to facilitate faculty exchange. With this contract, the faculty of College of Medicine at Qassim University will have the opportunity to enrich their knowledge through interaction with the experts from Peking University.

Furthermore, an agreement has been signed with Durham University, UK, for academic and research collaboration and administrative guidance for implementing the strategic initiatives of Qassim University. The agreement covers faculty and student exchange as well.

Lastly, Qassim Universitys College of Business and Economics (CBE) entered into an agreement with Unayzah Investment Company (UIC)

for establishing and supporting Small and Medium Enterprises in the region. The Community Partnerships Unit at CBE will work closely with UIC to identify budding entrepreneurs and provide guidance and support in various areas like finance, technology adoption, business planning and operations.

Dr Obaid Al-Motairy, the dean of CBE expressed that this collaboration is expected to give a strong boost to the SMEs in the region. CBE also entered into a collaborative agreement with the College of Business at California State University, Bakersfield, USA, to facilitate academic and business research cooperation. The activities will involve joint research projects, collaborative running of courses, and faculty and student exchange. Dr Obaid is optimistic that these initiatives will not only enhance the reach of CBE to the other institutions and industry, but the learning from the collaborative projects will also bring about qualitative improvement in the business education in the region.

WOW News | 30

WOW News | 32

Ashesi University in Ghana has introduced Faculty of Engineering to the university. According to Dr Patrick Awuah, founder and president of Ashesi University, 50% of the students to be admitted into the new school will be females.

It is time women are given the platform to take up challenging courses and careers to help the society towards further development,

said Dr Awauh at the ground-breaking ceremony for work to start on the construction of the Ashesi Faculty of Engineering.

Also present at the ceremony was the CEO of CENIT Energy, Mrs Eunice Britwum, who said the role of engineers is critical in meeting the Millennium Development Goal and

Kenyan institutions to interconnect through a US$22.5 millon KENET network

A first in Ghana Ashesi Universitys new Faculty of Engineering to allocate 50% of its seats to females

The worlds largest chemical company, BASF, will open its Asia-Pacific research and development center at the Suwon campus of Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU).

BASF had announced last year in March that it will relocate the Asia-Pacific headquarters from Hong Kong to Seoul, making Korea the global center of BASFs electronic materials operations.

BASFs new Asia-Pacific headquarters at Sungkyunkwan University Suwon campus will house around 40 researchers focusing on developing high value-added chemicals, semiconductors, displays and LEDs.

On a separate note, SKKU President Jun Young Kim invited his counterpart in the World Bank, President Jim Yong Kim, to host a panel discussion with the theme of the future direction of the world economy, competitiveness and innovation of Korean higher education, nurturing global leaders, and the role of global citizen.

The panel discussion was held on December 4, 2013, at the Law building of Humanities and Social Sciences campus of SKKU. Professor Sook-jong Lee from the Graduate School of Governance also joined as the third panelist of the talk. The discussion was followed by a Q & A session for students to freely exchange ideas.

SKKU Samsung Library

Worlds largest chemical company

to relocate its Asia-Pacific

headquarters to South Korea

that engineers are responsible for the technological advancement of every country, and Ghana is not an exception.

Ashesi University is a co-educational institution whose goal is to educate African leaders of exceptional integrity and professional ability.

Separately, the government of Ghana has made a decision to convert the nations polytechnics into universities, which is expected to take off next year; the government is still reviewing the paradigm shift.

The Kenyan government through the ICT Authority and the Kenya Education Network Trust (KENET) has officially launched the KENET Networka US$22.5 million basic internet bandwidth service that will interconnect all higher education institutions in Kenya by setting up cost-effective high speed access to the internet for students and academia.

Meoli Kashorda, executive director of KENET, says the network will promote the use of ICT in teaching, learning and research in higher education centers that will lead to students and the faculty keeping up with current trends in their specific area.

When KENET was started in 1999 by research institutions and universities, the purpose was to create academic communications for themselves. Through the network they were able to take advantage of their numbers to provide affordable internet to the member institutions, added Kashorda.

KENET has managed to decrease the monthly cost of US$5,000 for 64GB of bandwidth to US$200. It has also become the first African National Research and Education Network (NREN) to implement eduroam by setting up services in ten universities within the KENET community. KENET is also using the National Fibre Broadband Initiative (NFBI) infrastructure to provide its services in remote areas.

QS Ad 297x210 2013 edit.indd 1 2013/10/09 10:58 AM

City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently set up two specially designed learning spaces on its campus in support of the Discovery-enriched Curriculum (DEC) that will give students the chance to create, test and communicate ideas for more creative and interactive learning. The new facilities are the Gateway Education Laboratory and the Discovery-enriched Curriculum labs. The HKD4 million Gateway Education Laboratory (GE Lab) is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and supports around 200 Gateway Education courses that are designed to support interactive teaching and learning activities. This new GE Lab provides a venue for students from science and non-science disciplines to get their hands wet and transform their dream designs into prototypes, said Professor Cheng Shuk Han, director of the Office of Education Development and Gateway Education. We believe the equipment we installed in the lab will let students experience the thrill of seeing their ideas come to life, she added. The GE Lab is one of several university initiatives that support DEC, which is designed to motivate and ignite a passion for knowledge and discovery among students.

The 170 m2 GE Lab provides: Two 3D printers and one 3D scanner, which allow students to transform innovative designs and models into physical objects; a digital Show-and-Tell Studio comprised of cameras and a 70-inch presentation touch panel that allows students to showcase their discoveries and display them online, and practice their communication skills; a scanning electron microscope which magnifies micro objects up to 60,000 times, encouraging students to explore the micro and nano world; and two 40-inch interactive table panels each with a 52-point touch sensor which allows a group of students to engage

in interactive teaching and learning activities. Under the four-year curriculum, students need to complete 30 credits of GE courses, which make up 25% of the total credits required for graduation.

The GE Lab will complement the existing labs in the College of Science and Engineering, the language labs and the facilities in the Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre to enrich student learning, according to Professor Cheng. The university has also set up three new Discovery-enriched Curriculum (DEC) Labs under the Department of Computer Science, which have transformed traditional lecture halls to highly re-configurable learning spaces to facilitate more blended learning and flip classroom teaching. The new reconfigurable learning-spaces are equipped with easily arrangeable chairs, walls with writable surfaces that also double as multi-media display surfaces, flat-panel TVs, wireless computing devices and motion capturing sensors. The DEC Labs are the answer to keeping learning and teaching competitive with global market needs, helping to prepare students for a knowledge-based society in the 21st century. Students can dynamically form groups of ad hoc sizes to share, collaborate, test and realize their innovative ideas during the discovery process, said Dr Andy Chun Hon-wai, the chief information officer. A teaching and learning questionnaire conducted by the university shows very encouraging feedback from the students. They described the lab sessions as fun and exciting and providing a chance to make discoveries by themselves.

The DEC Labs enhance students interests and know-how on computing. Most importantly, the Labs help to nurture an inquisitive mind in the students,

said Professor Sam Kwong Tak-wu, head of the Department of Computer Science. 1,200 to 1,400 students will benefit from the new learning spaces every year, added Professor Kwong.

Students and Professor Cheng (second from the left) discuss their research ideas in the GE Lab

35 | WOW News

CityU sets up two new innovation-oriented facilities

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public@just.edu.jowww.just.edu.jo

Main Features

Colleges

Comfortable and Largest campus in the region covering over 11 Km2

Recognized for its science-based, technology focused academic programs JUST is a home to more than 24,000 students, 25% of them are international students representing 61 different countries. Its reputation for quality is based on excelence in teaching, research an services to Jordanian society. Several programs are unique to JUST and are not available at any other university in Jordan. English is the language of instruction. A home to one of the largest hospitals in the region A home to nanotechnology center Nuclear Engineering program

MEDICINE ENGINEERING COMPUTER AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLIED MEDICAL SCIENCES DENTISTRY PHARMACY NURSING SCIENCE AND ARTS AGRICULTURE VETERINARY MEDICINE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Jordan University of Science and Technology

J U S TTowards a WorldClass University

Nha Trang University (NTU) has been actively engaged in enhancing its international collaboration agreements. In late October 2013, Rector Dr Vu Van Xung met with HE Mr Ng Teck Hean, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Singapore in Vietnam to discuss the possibility of future cooperation, especially in scientific research.

The following week, HE Mr Garmiliel Munquamble, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Mozambique, paid a visit to NTU. The two sides discussed the possibility of cooperation in both undergraduate and graduate education and scientific research, especially in the the field of fishery.

On November 11, 2013, NTU leaders and a delegation of Newcastle University discussed the cooperation of the two institutions in exchanging students, lecturers and other academic programs.

NTU also welcomed Mr Ole Hens, commercial counselor of the Norwegian embassy in Vietnam, who met with the vice rector, Dr Trang Si Trung, to discuss cooperation opportunities for technology providers from Norway and investors in utilization of rest product raw materials of shrimps, Tra fish, and other marine species.

37 | WOW News

Vietnams Nha Trang University expands international portfolio

Nha Trang University (NTU)

JUST and the University of Al-Farabi sign agreementmarking twenty years of cooperation

Dr Abdullah Malkawi from JUST and Dr Jalm Mutanov from the University of Al-Farabi at the signing ceremony

Dr Trung had previously met with a delegation from Far Eastern Federal University to sign an agreement with the Russian university for faculty exchange and a joint program in shipbuilding and repair. NTU and Far Eastern Federal University officially started cooperation in December 2011 and have been implementing a number of mutual agreements with positive results since.

NTU has also enhanced its cooperation ties with Ulsan University, Korea, where it will continue sending its shipbuilding engineering students.

To mark the twentieth anniversary of ongoing relations between Jordan and Kazakhstan, Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) signed a cooperation agreement with the University of Al-Farabi. The aim of the agreement, which was signed by the university presidents, Dr Abdullah Malkawi (JUST) and Dr Jalm Mutanov (University of Al-Farabi), was to enhance prospects of cooperation between the two sides in the training of students and in developing a number of joint academic programs in all fields of science and research, through the sharing of experiences.

The parties also discussed possibilities of admitting Kazakh University students at JUST through exchange programs. In addition, the parties addressed prospects for cooperation between JUST and other Kazakh academic institutions and universities, and ways to strengthen relations in various fields; especially in scientific research.

The University of Al-Farabi president, Dr Jalm Mutanov, gave a speech to the Deans Council at JUST, and shared the experiences of his university with QS World University Rankings and how his institution managed to be ranked 300th among the worlds top 500 universities.

Dr Mutanov added We in Kazakhstan are seriously considering sending our students to study at the Jordan University of Science and Technology owing to its academic reputation, especially in scientific, medical and engineering disciplines.

During the meeting with the Kazakh delegation, Dr Malkawi said that JUST is seeking to become a global university in the coming phase leveraging its state-of-the-art infrastructure and many positive attributes of upholding academic integrity, indicating that the university now has in its ranks students from around 55 nationalities. President Malkawi further briefed the delegation about the establishment and development of JUST, mainly in the scientific and medical research fields.

On another delightful note, a faculty member of JUST was delegated to receive Nobel Peace Prize 2013 on behalf of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Dr Awni Al-Otoom, a recognized chemical weapons inspector, was selected to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the OPCW along with its director general, Mr Ahmet Uzumcu. Dr Al-Otoom, who has been recognized for his efforts in dangerous situations, recently participated and contributed to the destruction of chemical weapons production facilities in Syria. Dr Al-Otoom, currently seconded to OPCW, is a faculty member with the department of chemical engineering at Jordan University of Science and Technology.

Abu Dhabi University (ADU) continued its streak in innovative achievement when it was awarded Best Supporting University for Entrepreneurship in the UAE and the Arab world during the Mohammed Bin Rashid Award for Young Business Leaders in its 8th cycle.

Organized by the Mohammad Bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium