By Michelle FlorCruz on September 06 2013 9:56 AM Many of China’s colleges and universities are becoming increasingly competitive, and according to a British study, they are attracting global talent and putting themselves on a global map of top institutions that’s been long dominated by American universities. A new study by British-based Times Higher Education has ranked the…
Australia-China scientific collaboration productive
By Xu Haijing CANBERRA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — Dating back to 1960s, when Australia and China were yet to establish diplomatic relations, scientists from both countries had already started paying visits to each other. Half a century later, this relationship is described by Australian Chief Scientist Ian Chubb as scientifically productive and mutually beneficiary. Professor…
World rankings of universities
This week, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University released its latest annual Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The United States continues to dominate global higher education rankings with 17 universities in the top 20 and 149 in the top 500. Australian universities have been steadily improving. This year five institutions are in the top 100,…
Engaging Brazilian science
By Eugene Sebastian A couple of weeks ago the Australia Trade Commission – Austrade – reported dramatic increases in Brazilian Government’s ‘Science without Borders’ (SWB) scholarship students to Australia. The latest scholarship rounds, saw a total of 3231 applications to study in Australia in 2014, a 150 percent increase compared to the last call. Austrade…
India’s R&D Plans
By Eugene Sebastian India‘s new Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy was released in January 2013. It envisions placing India among the top five global scientific powers by 2020. It proposes to use STI for faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth with a focus both on STI for people and people for STI. It plans to boost innovation through research…
China’s looming graduate bubble
China faces a graduate bubble driven by rapid expansion in its higher education sector. Chinese graduates are finding it difficult to gain employment. In 1997, 400,000 students graduated from four-year university programs. Today, Chinese schools produce more than 3 million per year. Carl Minzner, from Fordham Law School argues that a rush to open universities…
When it comes to innovation, Asia trails behind
When it comes to innovation, Asia trails behind Europe and North America according to the latest Global Innovation Index 2013. Only two Asian economies, Hong Kong (ranked 7th) and Singapore (ranked 8th), were listed in the top 10. Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, UK and the US topped the rankings. The Asia Wall Street Journal attributes North…
Indonesia: Asia’s Next Big Opportunity
The Boston Consulting Group has a new report examining Indonesia’s rising middle-class and affluent consumers. Indonesia’s middle class is growing in size and purchasing power. With a population of 248 million, it is already the fourth-largest in the world. Its middle class expected to double to 141 million by 2020. During that period, some 8…
Opportunities in India’s transforming R&D landscape
Over the next decade India’s research and development (R&D) sector is expected to undergo major changes as the Indian government progressively reforms and scales up public investments into science and technology. India’s rapidly changing R&D sector will create new opportunities for Australia as it seeks to advance its strategic relationship with India. India’s young demographic…
The world’s most and least ethnically diverse countries
If you called up two people at random in a particular country and ask them their ethnicity, what are the odds that they would give different answers? The higher the odds, the more ethnically diverse the country. Five Harvard economists and social scientists set out to measure ethnic diversity and have mapped out the results….
China Changing: What does it mean for developing countries
Three decades of rapid growth and structural change have transformed China into an upper-middle-income country and global economic powerhouse. China’s transformations over this period wielded increasing influence over the development path of other countries, either directly through bilateral trade and financial flows or indirectly through growth spillovers and terms of trade effects. Looking ahead, as…
Education Trends in Japan and Korea
Below are some interesting education trends in Asia reported in the recent OECD Education Indicators 2013. Japan Teachers spend longer hours in school compared to other OECD countries. In 2011, public school teachers in primary to upper secondary education worked for 1 883 hours, more than the OECD average of 1 671 hours at primary…
Australia is preferred destination for many international students
According to the latest OECD indicators on education, the most significant feature of the tertiary education landscape in Australia is the large proportion of international students. Australia is a key destination for students from around the world, hosting more than 6% of the world’s foreign students. This figure places Australia as the third most popular…
5 ways to engage Asia’s innovation century
By Eugene Sebastian A couple of months ago, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade called for submissions that would help inform its whole-of-Australia approach to developing country strategies with the five Asia Pacific priority countries: China, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. Nearly 250 submissions were submitted. One submission from Monash University…
Pivoting towards an Asia’s innovation century
By Eugene Sebastian Australian universities have a huge role to play in helping Australia build effective relationships with Asia. If there is one significant opportunity to further strengthen Australia’s link with the region it is through the pursuit of research and innovation collaborations. Traditionally, Australian universities have focused most of their research attention on Europe…
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