Dr. Sam Rany-Cambodia

BY SHERIDAN MAHAVERA Published: 26 June 2014 Employers have complained that many university graduates have a poor command of the English language. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, June 26, 2014.  Employers are becoming increasingly dismayed by Malaysian "generation Y" job seekers who generally have a poor command of the English language and lack communication skills, are too spoiled to handle stress, and in a hurry to climb the corporate ladder yet indifferent to the need for experience. These Gen Y recruits, when compared with previous generations, are also less impressed with job benefits such as medical insurance and bonuses, preferring instead immediate cash rewards for performance, surveys among employers and trade groups have revealed. This damning indictment of today’s 20-something job-seekers’ attitudes is in large part due to an education policy in previous years that de-emphasised the importance of the English language, said

Suvendrini Kakuchi 20 June 2014 Issue No:325   Japanese art and design graduate Toru Shimizu (21) recently returned from a three-month stay in Malaysia studying English. He chose Malaysia to brush up on English mostly because it was affordable. “My plan is to be better prepared in English to be able to study in the United Kingdom, which is where I think I will get a better education to finally find a job in an art gallery,” he explained in an interview on the margins of the International Association of University Presidents, or IAUP, triennial conference held in Yokohama from 11-14 June. Shimizu’s budding career plans illustrate the rise in Asia of students seeking quality education and respected jobs – a major theme at the IAUP conference. One of the sessions focused on the particular opportunities for students provided by the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, Community in 2015. ASEAN will be a single market of 10 Asian

By Korea JoongAng Daily 20 June 2014 Issue No:325   The nominee for education minister was accused of plagiarism yesterday by an opposition party lawmaker, who alleged that the candidate lifted a thesis from one of his students while working as a university professor. Kim Myung- soo , 66, a professor at Korea National University of Education and the president of the Korean Educational Research Association, was tapped on June 13 to serve as education minister and to simultaneously fill the newly established post of deputy prime minister for education, society and culture. Park Hong- keun , a lawmaker with the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), accused the professor of copying in its entirety the 79-page thesis of a master’s student studying under him at the school. He presented two nearly identical theses as evidence, claiming that Kim summarized the thesis of his student, only identified by his surname Jeong, and condensed it into a 24-page pape

William Patrick Leonard 13 June 2014 Issue No:324   The financial relationship between students and their tertiary education institutions partially mirrors a contract. While both sides brings something to the table – tuition in exchange for instructional services with certification upon meeting all requirements – there are important differences. The tuition paid to the institution is relatively easy to quantify in terms of the dollar value at the time of the transfer. The total cost to the student is more difficult to appraise due to two overlooked factors. One, the actual cost to the student sharply increases when the student must borrow money to fully pay the tuition when payable. As tuition fees have and continue to increase annually, more and more students have been forced to fund at least a portion of their tertiary education with debt. The average debt burden is reported to be around US$30,000. With interest accruing over the life of the loan, their tuit

Chiao-Ling Chien and David W Chapman 13 June 2014 Issue No:324   Across Asia, higher education enrolment has experienced explosive growth over the last few decades, from 20 million students in 1980 to 84 million in 2011. To serve this growing enrolment, graduate programmes needed to expand, both to supply more instructors and to upgrade existing instructors’ qualifications in cases where unqualified lecturers were hired to teach in response to increasing numbers of undergraduates. The expansion of graduate education has translated into positive outcomes. In the Philippines in 2002, for instance, only about 8% of faculty members in higher education institutions had doctoral degrees, with another 26% holding a masters degree. In 2012, the proportions had increased to 13% and 41% respectively. From the government perspective, expanding graduate education has an attractive secondary benefit. Many governments see universities as centres of research that will yield p

Combat Journalism: CQR Is reporting on global conflict worth the risk? By Frank Greve Introduction   Chris Hondros, a veteran combat photographer for Getty Images, was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade in Misrata, Libya, on April 20, 2011. Above, he covers fighting in Beirut, Lebanon, on Aug. 21, 2006. (Getty Images) More than 1,000 American and foreign journalists have been killed or seriously injured over the past 20 years covering wars, insurgencies, popular uprisings and other conflicts abroad, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Arab Spring revolutions. As the Internet has spurred the global appetite for minute-by-minute news updates and established news organizations worldwide have shuttered overseas bureaus and cut back their staffs, more and more inexperienced young freelance reporters and photographers and local hires have ventured into harm's way in search of dramatic stories and photos. Meanwhile