Scientists at three Swedish universities have managed to muddle through the genetic code for fir trees, seven times larger than the human genome, with potential benefits for the Swedish forestry industry. … Read More
Karolinska joins free online-course community
Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet has signed up to offer free online courses, joining a network of 27 universities worldwide that reach nearly a million students. … Read More
Scandal ousts Stockholm economics school head
The president of the Stockholm School of Economics, one of Sweden’s most prestigious universities, has been forced out in response to a scandal over his hiring of a high-ranking official who’d been convicted of insider trading. … Read More
Spanish teachers, students mobilize in national anti-austerity protests (PHOTOS)
Organizers for Thursday’s demonstrations, which led to mass actions in the capital Madrid as well as Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza, reported up to a 70 per cent turnout by Spain’s teachers, though the country’s education ministry put the figure at 20 per cent. Protesters, many wearing the green T-shirts that have come to be identified with the education-advocacy movement, marched towards the Education Ministry, calling on head minister Jose Ignacio Wert to resign. Thursday’s action was said to affect all levels of education, and union pickets were visible across schools and universities throughout Spain. The trigger for the latest demonstrations was a set of changes to the country’s education system, set to be approved on Friday, that would enact new grading systems, enact further funding cuts and place more emphasis on Catholic religion courses.According to Almudena Cabezas, politics professor at Madrid’s Complutense University who spoke with the Associated Press, the new round of defunding would render an already strained education system inoperable.”Teachers are working in very limited conditions with less time and fewer teachers than before,” said Cabezas.”Pupils are being harassed with tax increases and are having to cancel enrollments. Also, administrative staff are having their salaries reduced and are being fired… so I think we have every reason to be here today,” she added.Having been in recession for the last four years, the cuts are only the latest austerity measure brought forward by the country’s ministry, which is still struggling to lower deficit levels to within European Union limits through a program of combined funding cuts to public programs and tax raises. The Education Ministry’s budget has already been cut by 14 per cent between 2012 and 2013, and the Platform for the Defence of Public Schools, which brings together students, teachers and administrators, has further been incensed in various regions by claims that new reforms would boost Spanish-language instruction at the expense of regional dialects.Historically, the country’s various regions have been prickly in their defense of regional languages, such as Catalan and Gallego, which were historically banned during its long dictatorship under Francisco Franco. Critics point to a conservative government educational agenda, which seem to be embedded within a larger aim to reduce the education system’s costs. … Read More
29 Shocking Facts That Prove That College Education In America Is A Giant Money Making Scam
Yes, college graduates do make more money and they do have a lower unemployment rate. But most of them are also burdened by absolutely suffocating levels of student loan debt that will haunt them for decades. … Read More
Scandal rocks Stockholm School of Economics
The Stockholm School of Economics, one of Sweden’s most prestigious universities, has been hit by scandal after a high-ranking official was sacked when it emerged he’d been convicted of insider trading in Greece. … Read More
‘US, European leaders in denial about human cost of austerity’
Scientists at Oxford and Stanford Universities have brought to light the negative effect austerity measures have on health. They say spending cuts and mass lay-offs across Europe and North America are fueling a spike in suicide and depression. The academics behind the study believe the global financial crisis has caused as many as 10.000 to take their own lives. Stuckler, who is leading the research into the impact of austerity economics on public health, says that health and education are the best channels to speed up the economic recovery, therefore cuts in the those sectors should be avoided.RT: The situation was already extremely difficult for millions of people because of the economy. Why have you singled out austerity as a factor?David Stuckler: What we’ve seen in studying recessions over the past century and with the focus on the present crisis is that recessions hurt. But when politicians with deep cuts to vital social supports, they can turn those recessions lethal. In the worst case we’ve seen Greece – after it cut its malaria prevention budget we saw the return of outbreaks that the country has kept under control over the past four decades. We’ve seen HIV infection spike by 200 per cent at a time when the HIV budget was cut. Similarly, we’ve seen across Europe austerity breed a series of epidemics – from suicide to foregone access to healthcare to tuberculosis outbreak and even dengue fever.RT: According to your theory countries that did not pursue austerity cuts, like Iceland, should be doing much better in health terms than those that did, is that the case?DS: That’s a very good point because Iceland suffered the worst banking crisis in history – all of its biggest banks failed and its debt jumped to over 800 per cent of GDP. But its people voted against austerity and instead shored up support in its health system. No one lost access to healthcare and, in fact, this country, which was once the happiest society in the world, again in 2011 was ranked as the happiest society in the world. RT: 10,000 is a lot of people. What do you think is the likely reaction from governments around the world to that and how do you think they should react?DS: So far Europe’s leaders have been in denial about the human cost of the austerity policies that have been pursued across Europe and pursued in North America, with the sequester recently passed. What we need to do is take into account the health effects of economic policies. Had austerity been run like any other drug trial it would’ve been discontinued because of its deadly side effects. RT: Many leaders claim by making these cuts it is the only way to end the crisis. Are you of the same opinion? DS: First, the tuberculosis outbreaks, for example, that New York suffered in the mid-1990s ended up costing millions to control. So austerity in health is a false economy. But also we’ve looked at something called the fiscal multiplier this is the effect of government spending on the economy. It’s been subject of much debate lately. And what we’ve found is that investments in health and education as well are two of the best channels with large and positive fiscal multipliers that boost employment and spending power and help spur recovery. If you are going to make cuts there are other areas that have less damaging effects on the economy. So there’s a case in economic argument for protecting health, not only for its long-term social and health benefits, but also as strategy to spur recovery. … Read More
