washingtonpost--2019-10-16--Hits and misses in the House higher education bill

Under the current student loan plan, borrowers can have their monthly payment capped to a percentage of their earnings, with the balance forgiven after 20 to 25 years. Existing plans allow borrowers to pay nothing if they lack discretionary income, meaning they lack any earnings above 150 percent of the federal poverty line ($18,735 for a single person).  House Democrats would increase the repayment threshold to 250 percent, about $31,225 for an individual, in 2019. And after 20 years of payments, including months when the payment is zero, the borrower would have the balance forgiven. Those changes could result in the federal government forgiving more debt.  In a review of the bill, policy analysts at the think tank New America said raising the threshold “establishes a higher baseline that ensures borrowers have the resources needed to provide for necessities like food and housing.”  Under the proposed measure, participants’ income would be automatically recertified on an annual basis, rather than requiring borrowers to manually provide the information to remain in the program. Borrowers routinely fall out of repayment plans when they fail to verify their income every year, often resulting in higher monthly payments until the issue is resolved. House Democrats would also automatically enroll people who are more than 120 days delinquent on their loans into the income-driven plan, a change that could ensure borrowers avoid default.  Colleges with long-standing participation and track records of helping students with children graduate would be eligible for more money when appropriations for the program exceed $140 million a year. Schools could receive up to 20 percent of their annual grant award as a bonus.  To make the bonus effective, the Education Department would need to update the way it measures whether students benefiting from the program are continuing their studies or graduating. A recent Government Accountability Office report noted that the existing calculation fails to include students who transferred from a community college to a four-year institution.  The sudden loss of housing, not having enough to eat or even car repairs can derail students from remaining in college and earning a degree. Schools have been experimenting with emergency grants for years to retain students pushed to the edge of dropping out by an unforeseen hardship.  The bill also changes the allocation formula of the supplemental grant program to direct money to colleges based on the percentage of low-income students, not how long the school has participated in the program.  Pell Grant increase: House Democrats want to boost the maximum Pell Grant award for low-income students by $500 and tie increases to inflation so the value of the grant doesn’t diminish. This would result in a total award of $6,695 for fiscal year 2021 and an estimated award of $8,305 by fiscal 2029, according to the bill.  The purchasing power of Pell, the primary source of federal grant aid for millions of students whose families typically earn less than $60,000 a year, has waned amid rising college costs. The maximum Pell Grant now covers 29 percent of the cost of attending a four-year public university, compared with 79 percent in 1975 and 42 percent in 2001, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  “This bill makes a down payment on college affordability through increasing Pell, but ultimately we’ll need much larger investments in the program to make college affordable for low-income students and families,” said Wil Del Pilar, vice president of higher education at the Education Trust, an advocacy group.  House Education Committee aides say the boost to Pell should be viewed in the context of other increases in grant aid that, taken as a whole, would drive down the cost of college for low-income students.  The measure contains no provision to cap the fees collection agencies can charge or prevent states from suspending a defaulted borrower’s professional license. Although the federal government offers ways to resolve a default, borrowers can still face fees of up to 25 percent of the loan balance.


thinkprogress--2019-01-07--Education Department plans to release proposals deregulating higher education

The Trump administration plans to release a draft of proposals to further deregulate higher education on Monday. The Education Department reportedly intends to reduce the responsibilities of accreditors for colleges and universities — effectively gutting consumer protections for college students.  The department is taking aim at protections for students receiving distance education, the credit hour standard, and oversight of faculty communication with students.  Antoinette Flores, associate director for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress, said the proposals may seem insignificant and technical, but the targeted regulations are “the building blocks for consumer protection” in higher education. She said the department is reducing oversight of accrediting agencies and transparency requirements of institutions. (Editor’s note: ThinkProgress is an editorially independent newsroom housed at theCenter for American Progress.)  “The department is saying this is all about innovation. What it’s doing is it’s making it very easy for non-accredited, unvetted institutional providers to access federal student aid money. It’s making it very easy to become an accreditor with no experience,” Flores said.  The department’s proposals will go through negotiated rulemaking beginning on January 14. During this time, Congress is preparing for conversations over the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which will touch on many of the issues the department’s proposals focus on. Flores said it seemed odd for the department to push these sweeping changes now, when Congress is set to consider these same issues in public hearings.  One of the biggest changes that the department proposed was to get rid of the prohibition on colleges that receive federal funds outsourcing more than 50 percent of their programs to non-accredited providers. Flores said this would be like Purdue University giving all of its operations for a program to a for-profit college chain.  “That means students could potentially be buying something and getting something else entirely and it’s not really clear who is providing the education,” she said. “They don’t really have any restrictions or oversight on these kinds of agreements so a school could outsource its programs to a coding boot camp that the federal government, states, and accreditors have zero oversight of or accountability for. It’s kind of like a shell game.”  It would also eliminate the Obama-era credit-hour definition and would let colleges and accreditors decide on how to evaluate a student’s progress. That means, for example, that schools can inflate credit hours and charge students significantly more money, something Flores said has happened in the past.  There would also be a rewrite of the “regular and substantive interaction,” which requires distance programs, like online learning, to ensure there is “regular and substantive” instructor and student interaction.  “When you eliminate that, it basically means that institutions can provide online textbooks, jack up charges, and students are getting a low quality option for more money,” Flores said.  The rulemaking would also drop some restrictions on religious colleges. This means accreditors can’t do anything about colleges that don’t meet accreditation standards as long as it is a “result of an institution’s adherence to its religious mission in any of its policies and practices,” according to Politico.  Many of the targeted regulations were created around the time of the 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, and were focused on ensuring for-profit colleges didn’t commit abuses, Flores added. President George H.W. Bush said the law would “crack down on sham schools that have defrauded students and the American taxpayer.”  Since Betsy DeVos took control of the Education Department, the department has taken many steps to deregulate higher education, particularly in ways that benefit for-profit colleges and harm students defrauded by for-profit colleges. The department dismantled a team investigating for-profit colleges. It moved to cancel the gainful employment rule, which restricted educational companies’ access to student loan dollars if they didn’t prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation, as well as the borrower defense to repayment rule, which created a process for students to seek cancellation of loans if their schools defrauded them. The department announced for-profit colleges no longer have to follow requirements to post median earnings on websites and has introduced proposed rules to replace Obama-era regulation of for-profit colleges.  There is a possibility, however, that the department’s most recent proposals will falter as some of their previous efforts to deregulate higher education have. In September of 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss ruled that DeVos’ actions to stall protections for defrauded students were illegal. Moss said her decision to move forward without a rulemaking process was “procedurally invalid” and “arbitrary and capricious.”  DeVos did not have better luck in the courts when it came to creating a new system for defrauded students to receive relief. In October of 2018, U.S. District Judge Sallie Kim certified that more than 100,000 students defrauded by Corinthian Colleges make up a class to bring a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos after the department created a new tiered system that would prevent some defrauded students from receiving full loan forgiveness. The department also missed an important deadline to overhaul rules regarding for-profit colleges, including the gainful employment rule.  “I think what we’ve learned from borrower defense and gainful employment is that this department does not exactly have a great track record for doing these things successfully,” Flores said. “They’re riddled with errors and problems so I would kind of expect that to be the same here.  Flores added, “They aren’t really including states here at the negotiating table and a lot of these regulations impact state laws. It’s kind of unprecedented in recent regulatory history for the department not to have a seat for states or attorneys general or consumer advocates.”


newsweek--2019-01-16--How Gen Z Entrepreneurs Are Leaning Into Higher Education

Today’s college students—dubbed Generation Z—are beginning to make their mark on the workplace with a distinctly unconventional and often irreverent approach to problem-solving. In my day-to-day interactions with our students, I find that this group doesn’t only ask “Why?” they ask “How can I fix that?” And their curiosity, independence, energy and assertiveness are transforming the entrepreneurial space.  These post-millennials are less like the bumbling geeks from the cast of the HBO comedy “Silicon Valley” and more in the spirit of a focused problem-solver like a young MacGyver, who would rather invent and innovate as a means to learning and discovery.  What’s energizing to a university president like me is watching this transformation take place as more and more undergraduates are partnering with public institutions and fueling the next wave of ingenuity.  A 2011 survey by Gallup found 77 percent of students in grades 5 through 12 said they want to be their own boss and 45 percent planned to start their own business. Today, many of those students are now in college.  For example, when I first met Hunter Swisher as an undergraduate plant pathology student at Penn State, he was busy turning scientific turfgrass research that he learned about in class into a commercial product and startup company.  Swisher saw commercial potential in his professor’s research and worked closely with him to transfer that knowledge into a possible viable product. Swisher connected with the university’s startup incubator and vast alumni network, put in the work, and became a CEO of his own small business before he walked across the stage at commencement in 2016. Today, his company Phospholutions has five employees and counting and their treatment is being used on more than 50 golf courses in 10 states.  Swisher is not alone in pursuing his entrepreneurial dreams while still in college. He is just one of many entrepreneurs starting their own companies by leveraging resources at their colleges and universities.  Penn State, Indiana University, University of North Carolina, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, Ohio State and other leading public institutions all have thriving entrepreneurial centers that are available to all students, as well as community members and businesses. Penn State alone has opened 21 entrepreneurial spaces across Pennsylvania, and in just two years, we’ve engaged with more than 4,500 students.  Moving scientific discoveries into a breakthrough business opportunity is powering economic growth and creating jobs. Consider that nationally—in 2017 alone—the Association of University Technology Managers reported:  Undergraduate students at public universities are fueling this trend  Traditionally, higher education has focused their investment on faculty entrepreneurs, hoping to find a breakthrough like the next Gatorade (University of Florida) or Lyrica (Northwestern University). Since universities don’t own the rights to undergraduate intellectual property, there has been less incentive to support these efforts.  While we universities are taking a risk on students without a guaranteed immediate return on investment, we think the potential outcomes – for example in alumni support and building our local economies – are worth it.  With their minds set on this entrepreneurial future, a common narrative has emerged that students are skipping college to start their own businesses. In reality, 8 in 10 students believe college is important to achieving their career goals. Sixty-three percent of those same students—all between the ages of 16 and 19—said they want to learn about entrepreneurship in college, including how to start a business.  Land-grant and public institutions are contributing the practical education that can contribute to economic growth and development. Indeed, generally speaking talent-driven innovation was identified as the most important factor by the Deloitte-U.S. Council on Competitiveness.  Through skills training and engaged entrepreneurial experiences, students are realizing the profound impact they can have by solving a problem as well as overcoming obstacles, failures and flops—all under the umbrella of university guidance and resource support.  Research and education have always opened doors that benefit the nation we serve. Today, public colleges and universities are well-positioned to transform our economy and infuse it with innovation and energy. As chair of the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities (APLU) newly formed Commission on Economic and Community Engagement (CECE), I’m working with universities and our government partners to identify key areas crucial to maximizing the impact of public research universities.  By the end of this year, tens of millions of Generation Zers will enter the workforce. The challenge for higher education will be how to help the world of business to better harness the many talents, energy and inquisitiveness that Generation Zers bring to the table. The many partnerships that universities have formed with entrepreneurial students serve as an important first step toward this goal.  Editor’s note: this piece has been updated to reflect accurately Phospholutions’ current commercial agreements.  Eric J. Barron is president of Pennsylvania State University. This article is republished from the Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.


bbcuk--2019-10-13--The Swansea University class with Olympic athletes

A group of seven former Olympians is set to be the last students to take on a degree at a Welsh university before the course moves to Belgium.  The course - a master's in sports ethics and integrity at Swansea University - aims to teach future sports administrators about anti-doping, illegal betting and child protection.  The class of 26 has won two Olympic gold medals, three silvers and a bronze, and one student holds the fifth-longest standing world record in athletics history.  That man is Kevin Young, a 400m hurdler whose time of 46.78s at the 1992 games in Barcelona has still not been beaten. • Tokyo 2020 Olympics: With one year to go what are the key stories to watch? • Naomi Osaka: World number three to give up US citizenship to represent Japan at Olympics  "I can't believe that was 27 years ago" he said.  "It seems like yesterday I was standing on the podium and it's crazy my record has stood for so long.  "As athletes we're always looking to recreate the buzz of nights like that, and it can be pretty depressing once you're retired, but this sort of course is - not the same feeling - but a good feeling, being able to give something back to the sports which gave us so much."  He is joined in his class by silver medal-winning swimmer Allison Wagner, Grenadian runner Alleyne Francique, taekwondo artitst Sharon Jewell, Australian luger Hannah Campbell-Pegg, middle-distance runner Nikki Hamblin from New Zealand and five-time Olympian Bosede Kaffo, who represented Nigeria in table tennis five times.  The course is part of the EU's Erasmus Mundus scheme and aims to launch the students into "high-level sporting administration and governance careers".  Over two years the students will take modules at five partner universities across Europe, but coming to Wales has been a surprise for some of the former athletes, with Mr Young thinking the course was online.  "I packed in a hurry, I thought to bring my medal to show people, but didn't think to pack a coat," he added.  But despite the downpours he has enjoyed other parts of Welsh culture, namely an early morning trip to the pub to watch Wales beat Australia 29-25 in the Rugby World Cup in Japan.  But there will not be any more Olympians coming to Wales for the course in future years.  Prof Mike McNamee, who runs the course, said: "With the spectre of hard Brexit on the horizon we have had to negotiate with our partners in Belgium to take over the coordinating role.  "It's great that I'm still the programme director and based here in Swansea University, but Swansea has had to surrender its lead role, which is a tragedy because we conceived of the entire programme."


theirishtimes--2019-01-01--New technological university Irelands largest third-level body

New technological university Ireland’s largest third-level body

Ireland’s first technological university has been formally established by law and is now the country’s largest third-level institution.  Technological University Dublin officially came into being on January 1st and has 28,000 students and more than 3,000 staff.  The main campus for the university – formed from the merger of Dublin Institute of Technology, IT Tallaght and IT Blanchardstown – will be in Grangegorman.  However, it will continue to operate out of existing campuses at Tallaght and Blanchardstown.  Last month, a senior UCD academic, Prof David FitzPatrick, was appointed as president of TU Dublin. His term of office officially began on January 1st.  He was principal of UCD’s college of engineering and architecture, and dean of engineering, as well as provost of the Beijing-Dublin International College, a joint venture between UCD and Beijing University of Technology.  Prof Fitzpatrick is likely to face a daunting challenge in fulfilling the combined potential of the three separate institutions.  Staff across all three colleges, for example, have been guaranteed that they will not be reassigned to another of the merging institutions, which limits the potential for change.  The move to create technological universities in Ireland follows a trend across Europe to create larger third-level institutions with greater scale, strength and expertise.  Critics, however, say the move amounts to little more than a nameplate change and claim the criteria required to secure technological university status have been “dumbed down”.  A number of other institutes of technology form part of three other separate groups in Munster, Connacht-Ulster and the southeast which are bidding to also become technological universities.


truepundit--2019-11-15--FBI: University of Michigan researcher stole technical data, sent to brother ‘linked to Iran’s nucle

FBI: University of Michigan researcher stole technical data, sent to brother ‘linked to Iran’s nuclear weapons industry’

That’s the word a “senior company official” used to describe the potential fallout from an Iranian-American researcher at the University of Michigan who stole confidential files about a secret aerospace supercomputer and sent them to his brother in Iran, where the brother works on nuclear missiles, according to the FBI.  Federal agents arrested Ypsilanti engineer and UM employee Amin Hasanzadeh late last month on charges of interstate transportation of stolen property, fraud and misuse of visas, permits or other documents – the former for sending trade secrets to Iran, and the latter for lying about serving in the Iranian military.  Hasandzadeh appeared last week for a bond hearing in Detroit, where a judge denied a request for bail pending trial.  The Detroit News reports: He is charged with stealing technical data from an unidentified company in Metro Detroit and sending it to his brother, who is linked to Iran’s nuclear weapons industry.  Hasanzadeh, an Iranian military veteran, was allegedly involved in a yearlong plan to steal confidential data about a secret project involving an aerospace industry supercomputer, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.  The 42-year-old, a lawful permanent resident in the U.S., allegedly started sending trade secrets and important files on the company’s top projects to his brother less than a week after starting with the company. – READ MORE


breitbart--2019-12-06--University of Scranton Refuses Recognition for Turning Point USA Group

Administrators at the University of Scranton are allowing the school’s student government to ban Turning Point USA (TPUSA) from campus. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is calling on the university to uphold its students’ First Amendment rights.  After University of Scranton’s administration promised a group of conservative students that their TPUSA organization would be recognized on campus, administrators instead sided with the school’s student government, which decided to ban the conservative student group, according to a statement by FIRE on Thursday.  FIRE is now calling on the university to “defend students’ right to form political groups free from political discrimination,” adding that the school “must respect its students’ ability to hold viewpoints that members of the student government may deem unpopular.”  “Yikes, nope, denied,” said University of Scranton student government president in response to a social media post about creating a TPUSA group on campus, according to FIRE, which added that the president further implied that even if the conservative students received enough student government support to become an officially recognized group, he would unilaterally veto the vote.  After allegedly being told in October that TPUSA Scranton had been approved, student government members later rescinded approval in a closed-door meeting, whereafter they told TPUSA members that they did not, in fact, approve the conservative group.  According to FIRE, the school’s student government said that TPUSA Scranton had won a majority vote, but that they needed two-thirds — a super-majority — of student government’s approval in order to become an officially recognized student organization on campus.  “It is irrelevant whether the threshold vote required is a simple or a two-thirds majority,” said FIRE attorney Katlyn Patton in a letter to the university administration. “The two-thirds majority requirement simply allows a smaller faction to refuse rights based on viewpoint. In either event, the result is impermissible at an institution that promises its students freedom of expression.”  “Becoming a recognized student group at the University of Scranton should not be a popularity contest,” she added. “The rejection of TPUSA Scranton after several hours of discussion and a secret meeting is a clear result of viewpoint discrimination — and FIRE will defend all students, regardless of political ideology, who want to express their views by forming a student organization.”  While the University of Scranton is a private school, FIRE noted that the university is still “both morally and contractually bound to honor the explicit promises of freedom of expression it makes to its students.”  The organization further noted that the university’s “Statement of Philosophy” states that “[f]reedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom of the individual must be preserved.”  “While our goals on campus were to promote political activism, engage in friendly discussion, and even participate in community service, it was made clear that our voices have been silenced,” said student Noah Kraft, the prospective treasurer of TPUSA Scranton.  FIRE said that it first wrote the university president, Scott R. Pilarz, on November 13, and received a response from the school on November 26, informing the organization that the school will be refusing to defend its students’ rights.  “It’s a shame that the University of Scranton’s administration has failed to recognize that some members of our student Senate have abandoned the idea of representing the interests of their constituents,” said student Cody Morgan, the prospective president of TPUSA Scranton.  “Instead, they used the power of their office to push their own political agendas and ideologies, which are in no way reflective of the majority of the student body, to suppress the voices and ideas of students who share opposing viewpoints,” he added.  While many universities allow their student governments to have a certain degree of autonomy, school administrators have also been known to intervene and override resolutions that may involve student government members exuding their personal political biases through the decisions that they make regarding their conservative peers.  Earlier this year at Texas State University, for example, the university president reiterated the importance of free speech in a statement elaborating on why the school will not allow its student senators to ban TPUSA from campus, despite the student government voting to do so.  You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.


breitbart--2019-12-15--91-Year-Old Grandma Graduates from University of Alabama

A 91-year-old grandmother in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, achieved a lifelong goal Saturday after putting it off for the past 73 years.  Jaqueline Baird Tucker began her college education in 1946 but left school because she wanted to start a family, according to WBALTV.  Her granddaughter, Elisabeth, knew she had always regretted not finishing her degree, so she wrote a letter last year to the University of Alabama and asked if they could help make Jaqueline’s dream come true.  Since then, she has worked tirelessly to be able to walk across the stage on graduation day to receive her bachelor’s degree in Human Environmental Sciences, which she did Saturday afternoon.  “The University of Alabama will award some 2,280 degrees during fall commencement Dec. 14,” the university’s website read.  “With a beautiful campus, dozens of challenging academic programs, expert and world-renown faculty and numerous opportunities for service and growth, The University of Alabama is a place where legends are made.”  In May 2018, a similar instance occurred when 87-year-old Patricia Cassity graduated from the university with a bachelors of science from the College of Human Environmental Science, according to CBS 42.  Patricia had left school without finishing her education in 1947, just one year after Jaqueline did the same.  “In my last quarter, I decided to bolt and get away from all pressure and restraints and parents telling me what to do, and that age, I thought I knew more than they did so I went to Alaska to work for the U.S. Air Force,” she said.  Patricia also married and raised a family but that did not mean she felt no regret over not getting her degree.  So when her husband passed away, she decided to go back to school.  “They had to get transcript out of the archive and I thought that will take forever. Is it in the attic in a box? Or down in the basement? They were able to pull it right out,” Patricia recalled.  To her surprise, she had already completed the coursework required for the degree but was never told.  “It’s hard to put into words. It’s closure for 70 years I thought about it and it’s really happening,” she commented, adding “I’ll probably get a job and say I’m a college graduate.”


dailyheraldchicago--2019-11-11--Officials: Indiana University's online enrollment is growing

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University officials say enrollment in online courses has soared during the past decade across the school's campuses even as overall student enrollment has dropped.  School research shows total enrollment of degree-seeking students at IU campuses fell by nearly 5% from the fall of 2011 to the fall of 2019. But The Herald-Times reports that the number of students taking at least one online course has more than doubled during the same time.  IU's online education director Chris Foley noted that most students who take online classes are undergraduates and typically in their early 20s.  Administrators say IU must continue to prioritize growth in its online space as students' expectations change and the university prepares for a decline in the number of high school graduates.


eveningstandard--2019-01-15--UK university in social media blackout - and urges students to do same

A UK university is taking the “unprecedented step” of switching off its social media channels to encourage students to do their own digital detox.  De Montfort University, in Leicester, is going on a social media blackout between Wednesday and Monday.  The university is trying to draw attention to the impact of “unrestrained” social media use on mental health. During the five-day period, it wants students to join in the experiment to see if it makes a difference.  Vice-chancellor Prof Dominic Shellard said: “I have been really struck and shocked by the degree to which their over-engagement with social media is having a negative impact on their mental health.  “The last thing we are doing at night is flicking through our Twitter feeds. We wake up in the middle of the night and we are looking at our Instagram.  “Some of us, me in particular, have lost the ability to sit quietly for three minutes and not be flicking through their phone.”  He added: “We are going to use it [the blackout] as an experiment to see if it makes any difference.”


eveningstandard--2019-09-21--London Interdisciplinary School Applications set to open for new revolutionary university tackling

London Interdisciplinary School: Applications set to open for new revolutionary university tackling today's real world problems

A new revolutionary London university, which aims to tackle real world problems, will open applications next week for its first ever student intake in September 2020.  The London Interdisciplinary School is launching a university model that connects academic theory to practical problem solving for some of the world's most pressing issues.  LIS has already partnered with Virgin, the Metropolitan Police, Jacobs and McKinsey as well as being backed by The Funding Circle and smoothie giant, Innocent. These will also offer students paid placements on London living wage.  Its single degree, Interdisciplinary Problems and Methods, will make connections to many subjects on the way to solving a global crisis.  Plastic pollution, ageing in society, childhood obesity, climate change, supply chains, and knife crime are just some of the topics explored.  "Poetry is neuroscience. There is creative combinations everywhere," says the university's Academic Lead Carl Gombrich - a former UCL professor for Interdisciplinary Education, who successfully launched its cutting-edge Arts and Science degree.  Co-founder and CEO Ed Fidoe, who left McKinsey in 2012 to set up School 21 in Stratford, also said: "Take fast fashion - you need to understand materials, economics, aesthetic and design.  "But you also need to know about social media and technology, as well as ethical behaviour like not wearing an item once then throwing it away.  "Only through understanding all these different disciplines, do you start to understand fast fashion."  Mr Gombrich also pointed out that world has changed so much in the last 20 years because of the internet, yet most universities have not adapted from the 19th Century model.  "With students, they still chop and put them into boxes," he said. "But you can learn poetry, then equally learn machine learning and data science.  "What we are seeing now is that students, more than ever, feel a connection to what is going on in the real world but are in an academic environment that is not necessarily connecting to it."  "The big difference with traditional universities is that you are problem-based and have to learn these interdisciplinary methods, which are quantitative and qualitative," Mr Fidoe added.  The LIS campus location will be announced later this year, although bosses say it will be located in London's Zone 1 or 2, with students living as close as possible to "create a community".  For 2020, pupils can apply directly to the school on a yet-to-be confirmed date next week until January - so it can be in addition to their UCAS five.  The entry requirements are focused on diversity with no grade minimum bar set for grades.  The university looks at the context of education, personal background and family to understand the individual's achievement given their starting point in life.  On Saturday, the school is holding one of its themed "Discovery Days" in Whitechapel, where 40 school pupils get to grill the team about job prospects, the student set-up and how the degree works.  They will also do an interdisciplinary workshop to approach problems surrounding fast fashion.  The university has already been flooded with interest from sixth formers around the country.  One prospective student, Tiffany Pethick said: ""Why am I excited to apply? To be frank, the global problems we face scare me. And what scares me even more? The little that is being done to tackle them.  "LIS poses as a breath of fresh air - a place where like-minded people can tackle current problems in a stimulating and creative environment. I want to offer solutions, rather than complaining about what we already know."  Meanwhile Zeynep Sahin said: “I believe a person is more than a few letters on a piece of paper, and those letters shouldn't be the sole decider of our futures.  "LIS is really the university that looks at the individual rather than the grades and makes you believe that we are finally breaking out of the traditional university and education system."  Edward Walker added: “The main reason for my interest in LIS is that I don't want to limited to studying the world from one perspective. It's important to consider every component and viewpoint to truly understand and solve an issue.”


eveningstandard--2019-11-15--Nine-year-old set to become youngest ever university graduate

A nine-year-old boy is about to become the youngest ever university graduate if he completes his electrical engineering degree next month.  Laurent Simons, from Amsterdam, who has an IQ of at least 145 and a photographic memory, is close to finishing his studies at the Eindhoven University of Technology, which he started in March.  His tutor, said Laurent, who finished secondary school aged eight, was three times more intelligent than his next cleverest student.  This will smash the world record held since 1994 by Michael Kearney, who graduated from the University of Alabama aged ten.  Laurent wants to continue his studies in California because of the weather, but his father Alexander is keen to consider moving to the UK at the University of Oxford or Cambridge.  His father, a 37-year-old dentist, told the Telegraph:"Oxford and Cambridge are also in the major league and it would be very much more convenient for us."  Laurent, who enjoys science and mathematics, hopes to become a heart surgeon or an astronaut when he's older.  Sjoerd Hulshof, education director of the TUE bachelor's degree, told CNN: "Special students that have good reasons for doing so can arrange an adjusted schedule. In much the same way we help students who participate in top sport."  "Laurent is the fastest student we have ever had here. Not only is he hyper intelligent but also a very sympathetic boy."


france24--2019-01-20--Taking universal out of university Why foreign student fees challenge Frances education model

Taking universal out of university: Why foreign student fees challenge France’s education model

France’s decision to hike tuition fees for international students more than tenfold has triggered a standoff with universities and revived a debate about the role of state-funded higher education and its responsibility to the French-speaking world.  When Abdalah Faye looked beyond his native Senegal for a place to pursue his university studies, there was only ever one destination on his mind: France, the former colonial power and traditional destination for expatriate students from the West African country.  “France and Senegal share a common language, a common history, our education system is copied on the French, we value French diplomas more than our own, and France is home to many of my fellow countrymen,” said the 27-year-old politics student, listing the reasons that brought him to France.  And then there’s the money issue. Higher education in France has long been much cheaper than in other Western countries – in fact almost free, for foreigners and French nationals alike.  “France is the country that gives everyone an equal chance,” said Faye, who is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), west of Paris. “That includes the children of farmers from the remotest corners of Senegal, who couldn’t possibly think of studying in America, Canada or elsewhere.”  Home to centuries-old universities such as the Sorbonne in Paris, as well as leading business schools, France is the world's top non-English-speaking destination for students, though it ranks well behind the United States and Britain, and is now trailing Australia too. The number of foreign students at French universities fell by 8.5 percent between 2011 and 2016 and the country has seen increased competition from Germany, Russia, Canada and China.  In order to address the “shifting balance of power” in global education, France’s government has unveiled a plan, dubbed “Welcome to France”, to lure more international students. Measures include simplifying student visa regulations, offering more English-language courses and improving accommodation, in an effort to increase the number of foreign students from roughly 300,000 today to more than half a million by 2027.  But the revamped “welcome” will come at a cost for international students, who have so far enjoyed near-free higher education, just like French and EU nationals. When the new academic year begins in September, non-EU students will see their annual fees for a bachelor degree jump from €170 ($195) to €2,770, while the cost of a master’s or doctoral degree will go from the current €243 per year to €3,770 – a 1,600% increase.  Announcing the measures back in November, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe stressed that France would still “subsidise two thirds of the cost of studies" – averaging at just over €10,000 per year for each student. "And the fees will remain well below the €8,000 to €13,000 charged by the Dutch or the tens of thousands of pounds paid in Britain," he added.  But that is small comfort for the likes of Faye, who already struggles to make ends meet while working the maximum 20 hours per week authorised for foreign students.  “I never took a cent from my family back home,” Faye told FRANCE 24. “I already have to skip classes to work so that I can afford my food and rent. There is no way I can afford the fees as well.”  The decision to massively increase tuition fees has been described as a “paradigm shift” by France’s Conference of University Presidents, an umbrella organisation representing the heads of France’s 75 universities. The conference has been cautious in its response, welcoming many of the government’s measures while warning that top students from abroad should not be priced out of the system.  The body also warned that the prospect of increased income from fees should not be used as a pretext for a decline in state funding – a persistent concern in a country attached to the principle of publicly-funded education.  The response from individual university presidents has been more critical, with several openly defying the government. By mid-January, seven universities had announced they would not charge international students higher fees in the forthcoming academic year, prompting a rebuke from the higher education minister, Frédérique Vidal, who stressed their “duty of obedience and loyalty” as civil servants.  French universities are allowed to waive fees for up to 10 percent of their students, meaning they will have some leeway to refuse to apply the increased fees without actually flouting the law.  Some university heads pointed to a lack the information and consultation surrounding the reform, noting that the government’s top-down approach contradicted its stated aim to strengthen universities’ autonomy in what remains a highly centralised system.  “There was no discussion with the academic world,” lamented Nathalie Dompnier, president of Lyon 2 University. “We discovered the figures in November and received no explanation for the increase in fees and how it was calculated. […] We don’t know what financial support measures will be put in place, so we will not implement the fee increase.”  Others decried a measure that “discriminates” against foreign students and introduces a form of “selection by money”.  “France honours itself by showing it can welcome students from poor backgrounds, we must not turn back on this principle,” said Nadia Dupont, an administrator in charge of training at the University of Rennes-II, in western France.  Supporters of the hiked fees say there is a principled case for ensuring foreigners contribute to funding a costly education system.  “In so far as state higher education in France is essentially financed through public funds and thus by taxpayers, it is appears logical to ask for a contribution from the students (and parents) who do not pay taxes,” writes Professor Jérôme Caby of the Sorbonne Business School in Paris.  However, a study commissioned in 2014 by Campus France, a government body in charge of promoting French universities abroad, has shown that foreign students have a beneficial impact on the local economy: while the state spends €3 billion each year on their education, they contribute €4.65 billion to the French economy.  As Daniela Susanibar Rosas, a law student at Paris-1 University, told the FRANCE 24 Debate show: “We work here, we pay rent, we move the economy – there are small cities in France that work only because they are student cities.”  Jean-Claude Lewandowski, an education specialist, said the fees hike will only be successful if the reform meets three conditions: a huge expansion in bursaries and loans, a sweeping cut in administrative obstacles (notably visa restrictions and access to housing), and better integration of newcomers.  “Aside from the issue of tuition fees, foreign students are often poorly welcomed in France,” Lewandowski wrote on his blog, citing expensive accommodation, run-down campuses and a lack of communication with local students and staff members. In this respect, he added, the prime minister’s promises to ease visa restrictions, expand scholarships, and offer newcomers more French-language classes signal a positive step.  Critics of the hiked fees have been less than impressed with the prime minister’s suggestion that foreigners regarded free education as being cheap in quality – and that the top students would therefore look elsewhere.  “Philippe thinks that introducing higher fees will make France more attractive because international students associate price with value,” writes education expert Juliette Torabian in the Times’ Higher Education Supplement. Whereas “research suggests that international recruitment is most sensitive to perceived quality of teaching and institutional reputations. While universities in some countries charge higher international fees, they also provide students with a high return via their good reputations with employers and the quality of their facilities, accommodation and pastoral and academic support.”  Analysts at the OECD say raising tuition fees can be a “double-edged sword”, sometimes leading to a steep decline in the number of international applicants. While New Zealand was able to offset higher fees with a generous scholarship policy and expanded working rights for foreign students, a dramatic increase in fees for foreigners in Sweden in 2011 coincided with an 80% slump in applications from abroad.  “A reduction in the number of international students can potentially harm a tertiary education system, as international students do not only bring their financial contribution, but also a diversity of perspectives and cultures that improves the educational experience of all students,” write OECD analysts Daniel Sanchez-Serra and Gabriele Marconi.  “Discrimination by nationality can also harm the student experience by creating divides between students,” they add.  In some cases, attempts to discriminate between national and foreign students have actually brought the two closer together – in protest.  Last year Belgian students successfully rallied against plans to charge higher fees for international students, forcing the government to back down. Similarly, since Philippe’s announcement in November, French students have staged a number of protests – the largest drawing crowds of several hundred – to denounce an “unfair and discriminatory measure” and express their “fraternity” with foreign students.  Much of the criticism levelled at the government’s plan revolves around the universal mission that education is invested with under France’s republican tradition, a mission that underpins the extensive network of French schools scattered across the globe. In this case, it is coupled with an element of post-colonial responsibility, or guilt, towards former dominions.  In a Le Monde op-ed signed by more than 60 professors and lecturers, French academics said the fees would inevitably lead to a decline in the number of African students – who currently account for 45% France’s of international students – enrolling in the country’s universities, noting that the vast majority would no longer be able to afford higher education in France.  By denying African students “a dignified welcome, France gives up on its privileged relationship with the African intellectuals, engineers and executives of tomorrow,” the authors wrote, lamenting a measure that will accelerate “France’s loss of credibility on the continent”.  Already Africa’s brightest minds are being lured to China, India and Middle Eastern countries where “Islamist ideologies hold sway”, they said, adding: “France’s decision to turn its back on African youth signals the abandonment of the universalist […] message carried by French social sciences on the African continent.”  According to researchers Lama Kabbanji and Sorana Toma, of the Institute for Development Research and the University of Paris-Saclay respectively, the introduction of tuition fees is in line with a decade-old policy of “chosen immigration”, which has resulted in a relative decline in the number of immigrants from poorer countries and students from Africa.  Lawmaker M’jid El Guerrab, who represents French nationals in West and North Africa, including Senegal and Morocco, said such measures would only increase the “Francophobic” sentiment witnessed among youths in his vast constituency, and the sense that “they are unwanted” in France.  “For some Moroccan families, the fees announced by Edouard Philippe are the equivalent of a year’s salary,” El Guerrab told Jeune Afrique, noting that less than 1% of Moroccan students in France currently benefit from scholarships. “French universities will therefore become the exclusive preserve of the wealthy, and this selection by money is not in line with our republican tradition.”  For Faye, the Senegalese student, the new government policy reflects changing attitudes in France, and a hardening stance on immigration in particular.  “France no longer wants to give privileged access to people from its former colonies, it wants wealthier students,” he said, adding: “But the wealthy don’t come to France – they go to America.”


npr--2019-05-28--After Tumult Over Nassar Scandal Michigan State University Gets A New President

After Tumult Over Nassar Scandal, Michigan State University Gets A New President  Michigan State University's board of trustees unanimously voted to name Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr. the 21st president of MSU during a special meeting on Tuesday morning. His term begins Aug. 1.  Stanley has been president of Stony Brook University in New York since 2009.  The appointment comes after more than a year of instability in the university's presidency. In January 2018, Lou Anna Simon resigned after serving 13 years as MSU's president. Her departure came hours after Larry Nassar, a former MSU sports doctor, was sentenced to a 40- to 175-year prison term for sexual abuse. Simon is charged with two felony and two misdemeanor counts. She is accused of lying to investigators about when she knew of Nassar's sex crimes. Her preliminary hearing started in February and will continue in June.  Former Michigan Gov. John Engler then served as interim president of MSU. In January, his tumultuous term as the school's interim president came to an end following heavy backlash to comments he made to the Detroit News regarding survivors of Nassar's abuse.  Stanley earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences at the University of Chicago and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1980.  Stanley subsequently spent many years researching infectious diseases. According to Stony Brook University:  Prior to joining Stony Brook University as president, Stanley was vice chancellor for research at Washington University.  Stanley is married to Ellen Li, a biomedical researcher and gastroenterologist. They have four children.  MSU's Executive Vice President for Administration Satish Udpa has been serving as MSU's acting president.


globalresearch--2019-09-24--American Torture Techniques Were Developed At McGill University

One executive order in particular, planned for the near future, is poised to resurrect one of the darkest chapters in recent American history. I’m talking about the potential reopening of CIA “black sites”—secret prisons where detainees were systematically tortured during the War on Terror.  In 2009, President Obama ordered that these black sites be closed, consigning the episode, perhaps prematurely, to history—alongside a long list of past American crimes.  Accompanying it on that list is a similarly chilling episode that played out right here in Montreal, but which has since been largely forgotten.  Nestled cozily at the foot of Mount Royal, in the middle of the McGill University campus, is the Allan Memorial Institute. Sixty years ago, the now-weathered building was an unlikely accomplice to a series of human experiments designed to study methods of drug-induced mind control.  It was the height of the Cold War. The American military was convinced that the Soviets were brainwashing its captive soldiers. Afraid of conducting research on U.S. soil, the CIA worked to set up human experiments in Canada and found willing collaborators at McGill University.  The experiments were part of a top secret program called MKUltra, covertly funded by the CIA and headed by the psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron, former head of the Canadian Psychiatrists Association. The project was part of a broader initiative by the U.S. government to counter alleged Soviet advances in the field of psychological manipulation.  Project MKUltra eventually ceased. All evidence of its existence was quietly tucked under the rug. It was only in the late 1970s, when a trove of previously classified information was released through a Freedom of Information Act request, that the full extent of the crimes committed at the Allen were revealed. The findings were grim.  Over the course of seven years, Dr. Cameron and his team committed ghastly affronts to human dignity. Patients would enter seeking help for standard mental health issues—postpartum depression, anxiety, even marriage counseling— and would be made to sign contracts giving Dr. Cameron full discretion over what treatments they received.  Patients had near-lethal amount of electric shock treatments applied on a daily basis. Megadoses of drugs such as LSD were administered regularly. Patients were subject to full sensory deprivation techniques—taking place in horse stables converted into solitary confinement cells—in an attempt to break down their senses of time and space. They were put into induced comas that lasted for weeks at a time. While patients were comatose in what were referred to as “sleep rooms,” Cameron would place tape recorders beneath their pillows and play statements on a loop.  The result was that the victims—many of whom were involved unwittingly—were reduced to inert, vegetable-like states, leaving them with no memory at all of their lives before and during the experimentation.  Dr. Cameron, who at that time was the president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, pioneered a procedure called depatterning, which was to become the basis for his research at Allen Memorial. Cameron theorized that, using the techniques mentioned, a person’s brain could be completely wiped and reprogrammed. He justified the torture by hypothesizing that it could cure schizophrenia and other mental disorders.  In the end, Project MKUltra failed to produce a Manchurian Candidate. Cameron was unable to forge a new human being from the empty shells he created. Yet while it failed in its stated goals of brainwashing subjects, the research conducted did serve the American military. It created scientific torture techniques that would be used in the U.S.’s military campaigns.  In the 1980s, as America was sponsoring dirty wars against real and imagined communists in Latin America, the CIA trained anti-communist governments and right-wing paramilitaries in torture techniques. Through a Freedom of Information request, the press got a hold of a CIA document called Kubark Counterintelligence Interrogation, which formed the basis of these trainings.  The Kubark manual—originally written in 1963, the year MKUltra ended—is a 128-page document that makes multiple references to experiments at McGill University, notably those involving sensory deprivation. It describes how to place subjects into stress positions, how to use electric shock, and other torture techniques used to break down resistant sources of information.  These are the same techniques that were later used by the U.S. armed forces in the CIA’s black sites during the War on Terror.  Much like the proposed reopening of those black sites today, the MKUltra project was the result of an unfounded sense of paranoia and fear and came with a tremendous human cost.  And if Trump is willing to forage these sordid depths once again, it begs the question: what role will Canada play this time? It actively developed the torture techniques used against America’s real and phantom enemies during the Cold War—will Canada continue to turn a blind eye?  The filmmaker Chris Marker once said, “Nothing sorts out memories from ordinary moments. It is only later that they claim remembrance, when they show their scars.” I have long had a feeling that inanimate objects also retain such memories.  If so, the weathered walls of the Allan Memorial Institute would have a lot to divulge to all of us, for they have witnessed, first hand, the true banality of evil. Maybe then we would be cured of our willful amnesia.


mercurynews--2019-06-19--Fremont tech university in compliance over job placements accreditor says

Fremont tech university in compliance over job placements, accreditor says

Los Gatos: Freeway shooting is third in 24 hours


activistpost--2019-04-30--To Prevent a Robot Apocalypse We Must Study Machine Behavior

To Prevent a Robot Apocalypse, We Must Study “Machine Behavior”

Experts have been warning us about potential dangers associated with artificial intelligence for quite some time. But is it too late to do anything about the impending rise of the machines?  Once the stuff of far-fetched dystopian science fiction, the idea of robot overlords taking over the world at some point now seems inevitable.  The late Dr. Stephen Hawking issued some harsh and terrifying words of caution back in 2014:  Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, warned that we could see some terrifying issues within the next few years:  The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most. Please note that I am normally super pro technology and have never raised this issue until recent months. This is not a case of crying wolf about something I don’t understand. The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. Unless you have direct exposure to groups like Deepmind, you have no idea how fast — it is growing at a pace close to exponential. I am not alone in thinking we should be worried. The leading AI companies have taken great steps to ensure safety. They recognize the danger, but believe that they can shape and control the digital superintelligences and prevent bad ones from escaping into the Internet. That remains to be seen… (source)  Last week, a team of researchers made a case for a wide-ranging scientific research agenda aimed at understanding the behavior of artificial intelligence systems. The group, led by researchers at the MIT Media Lab, published a paper in Nature in which they called for a new field of research called “machine behavior.” The new field would take the study of artificial intelligence “well beyond computer science and engineering into biology, economics, psychology, and other behavioral and social sciences,” according to an MIT Media Lab press release.  Scientists have studied human behavior for decades, and now it is time to apply that kind of research to intelligent machines, the group explained. Because artificial intelligence is doing more collective ‘thinking,’ the same interdisciplinary approach needs to be applied to understanding machine behavior, the authors say.  “We need more open, trustworthy, reliable investigation into the impact intelligent machines are having on society, and so research needs to incorporate expertise and knowledge from beyond the fields that have traditionally studied it,” said Iyad Rahwan, who leads the Scalable Cooperation group at the Media Lab.  This is particularly concerning, especially considering we already know that AI can hate without human input and that robots have no sense of humor and might kill us over a joke.  “We’re seeing an emergence of machines as agents in human society; these are social machines that are making decisions that have real value implications in society,” says David Lazer, who is one of the authors of the paper, as well as University Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Computer and Information Sciences at Northeastern.  We interact numerous times each day with thinking machines, as the press release explains:  We may ask Siri to find the dry cleaner nearest to our home, tell Alexa to order dish soap, or get a medical diagnosis generated by an algorithm. Many such tools that make life easier are in fact “thinking” on their own, acquiring knowledge and building on it and even communicating with other thinking machines to make ever more complex judgments and decisions—and in ways that not even the programmers who wrote their code can fully explain. Imagine, for instance, a news feed run by a deep neural net recommends an article to you from a gardening magazine, even though you’re not a gardener. “If I asked the engineer who designed the algorithm, that engineer would not be able to state in a comprehensive and causal way why that algorithm decided to recommend that article to you,” said Nick Obradovich, a research scientist in the Scalable Cooperation group and one of the lead authors of the Nature paper. Parents often think of their children’s interaction with the family personal assistant as charming or funny. But what happens when the assistant, rich with cutting-edge AI, responds to a child’s fourth or fifth question about T. Rex by suggesting, “Wouldn’t it be nice if you had this dinosaur as a toy?” “What’s driving that recommendation?” Rahwan said. “Is the device trying to do something to enrich the child’s experience—or to enrich the company selling the toy dinosaur? It’s very hard to answer that question.” (source)  What hasn’t been examined as closely is how these algorithms work. How do they evolve with use? How do machines develop a specific behavior? How do algorithms function within a specific social or cultural environment? These issues need to be studied, the group says.  There is a significant barrier to the type of research the group is proposing, however:  But even if big tech companies decided to share information about their algorithms and otherwise allow researchers more access to them, there is an even bigger barrier to research and investigation, which is that AI agents can acquire novel behaviors as they interact with the world around them and with other agents. The behaviors learned from such interactions are virtually impossible to predict, and even when solutions can be described mathematically, they can be “so lengthy and complex as to be indecipherable,” according to the paper. (source)  And, there are ethical concerns surrounding how AI makes decisions: Say, for instance, a hypothetical self-driving car is sold as being the safest on the market. One of the factors that makes it safer is that it “knows” when a big truck pulls up along its left side and automatically moves itself three inches to the right while still remaining in its own lane. But what if a cyclist or motorcycle happens to be pulling up on the right at the same time and is thus killed because of this safety feature? “If you were able to look at the statistics and look at the behavior of the car in the aggregate, it might be killing three times the number of cyclists over a million rides than another model,” Rahwan said. “As a computer scientist, how are you going to program the choice between the safety of the occupants of the car and the safety of those outside the car? You can’t just engineer the car to be ‘safe’—safe for whom?” (source) The researchers explain that it will take experts from a host of scientific disciplines to study the way machines behave in the real world, as a press release from Northeastern University states. “The process of understanding how online dating algorithms are changing the societal institution of marriage, or determining whether our interaction with artificial intelligence affects our human development, will require more than just the mathematicians and engineers who built those algorithms.” What do you think? Do you think artificial intelligence will eventually make humans obsolete? What do you think that will be like? How and when will it happen? Please share your thoughts in the comments. Dagny Taggart is the pseudonym of an experienced journalist who needs to maintain anonymity to keep her job in the public eye. Dagny is non-partisan and aims to expose the half-truths, misrepresentations, and blatant lies of the MSM. This article was sourced from The Organic Prepper. Provide, protect and profit from what is coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


activistpost--2019-12-12--Day 2: Academic Backing Of Technocracy

Day 2: Academic Backing Of Technocracy

Dr. Francis Schaeffer was an historian, Christian philosopher and one of the greatest thinkers of the last century. In Episode X (the final segment) of his video series, How Should We Then Live?, he stated that society was falling into a moral abyss with no fixed absolutes to provide form and structure for living. To replace that necessary structure and thereby avoid utter societal chaos, he accurately and clearly recognized that such absolutes would be supplied by an increasingly authoritarian, technocratic elite. (Yes, Schaeffer actually used the word “technocratic”.)  In other words, as people lost the ability to self-regulate their own life and behavior, someone or something would step into the vacuum and do it for them.  A younger contemporary of Schaeffer was Zbigniew Brzezinski, who wrote Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era when he was a political science professor at Columbia University in the late 1960s. Brzezinski was the polar opposite of Schaeffer in that he eschewed Christianity, Christian philosophy and even the existence of God.  Brzezinski came to virtually the same conclusion as Schaeffer (for entirely different reasons) when he wrote,  Such a society would be dominated by an elite whose claim to political power would rest on allegedly superior scientific know-how. Unhindered by the restraints of traditional liberal values, this elite would not hesitate to achieve its political ends by using the latest modern techniques for influencing public behavior and keeping society under close surveillance and control. Under such circumstances, the scientific and technological momentum of the country would not be reversed but would actually feed on the situation it exploits. (emphasis added)  Since Schaeffer was an avid reader, he likely had read Brzezinski’s work, but I can find no proof of that. He did, however, read Daniel Bell’s seminal 1973 book, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting.  Bell had received his PhD in sociology from Columbia University in 1961. We know he was well acquainted with Brzezinski’s work because he thoroughly critiqued it in his own book.  There are two reasons that I bring up Bell: first, he was a self-professed apologist for Technocracy and second, Schaeffer held up Bell’s book toward the end of Episode X and quoted from page 480:  Bell was indeed a big thinker in the same vein as Brzezinski; both were Technocrats and both were educated at Columbia University where Technocracy was originally conceived in 1932. Bell, however, was much more direct than Brzezinski when he wrote,  It was Bell who first popularized and developed the concept of the “post-industrial” society:  Bell’s 489-page “essay in social forecasting” presented the big picture of the future. It was ominously written in the same year (1973) that the Trilateral Commission was co-founded by Brzezinski and David Rockefeller.  Now, I had already cited Bell’s works in both of my books on Technocracy, but I had fallen short in examining who or what might have stimulated Bell to write his book in the first place. This became my 2019 surprise as I picked up my own copy of Bell’s The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (the same edition that Schaeffer referenced above) and read its Preface more carefully:  My greatest debt, institutionally, is to the Russell Sage Foundation and its president, Orville Brim. A grant from the foundation in 1967 at first released me from one-third of my teaching schedule at Columbia, and allowed me to organize an experimental graduate seminar at Columbia on modes of forecasting. The foundation also subsidized my research in the next few years. In 1969-1970 I spent a sabbatical year as a visiting fellow at the foundation, where this book began to take shape. (emphasis added)  Essentially, Bell was employed by the Russell Sage Foundation as he fleshed out his book.  The Russell Sage Foundation, launched in 1907, is one of the oldest foundations in America. It started as an ultra-progressive champion of “social sciences” and has been continuously connected to the most progressive elements of the global elite ever since. Its website currently states,  Not surprisingly, the historical archives of the Russell Sage Foundation are housed at the Rockefeller Archive Center in New York.  The academic support for modern Technocracy is obvious and easily traced. The literature is pointed and definitive: they all envisaged a technocratic elite rising to dominate populations.  Given this vision, it is no surprise that the Trilateral Commission sprang forth in 1973 to “make it so” – with “Captain Brzezinski” at the helm as its first Executive Director.  You can read more from Patrick Wood at his site Technocracy News & Trends, where this article first appeared.  Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit.  Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


aljazeera--2019-01-09--North Koreas Kim ends China visit as Trump summit looms

North Korea's Kim ends China visit as Trump summit looms

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has left Beijing, ending a trip to China seen as preparation for his expected summit with US President Donald Trump later this year.  Kim arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday for his fourth visit to Pyongyang's key ally, reportedly visiting a factory and meeting President Xi Jinping.  The North Korean leader's motorcade was spotted arriving at the Beijing central railway station early on Wednesday afternoon, and Kim's train departed shortly after for the day-long ride back to the border, according to news agencies.  The unannounced trip was largely shrouded in secrecy. Beyond confirming Kim's presence in Beijing, neither North Korea or China provided any details on the visit.  Kim spent one hour with Xi on Tuesday - believed to be the North Korean leader's birthday - and the two later dined with their wives at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.  The discussions focused on Kim's expected meeting with Trump, Yonhap said.  In a New Year speech, Kim warned that Pyongyang may change its approach to nuclear talks if Washington persists with sanctions.  Relations between China and North Korea had deteriorated in recent years over Pyongyang's nuclear activities, but Kim has made sure to keep Xi informed about his dealings with the US and South Korea as ties appear to have warmed.  "In order to resist the high pressure of the US, he must communicate with Xi in advance to see what steps he can take to deal with Trump," Beijing-based independent political commentator Hua Po told the AFP news agency.  "Kim needs the support of Xi so as to ask the US to make substantial steps, such as providing assistance to North Korea and normalising relations with North Korea," Hua said.  Kim chose China for his maiden official trip abroad last year before holding meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump.  Trump said on Sunday that the US and North Korea are negotiating the location for their next summit.  Discussions between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal have stalled since Kim and Trump's high-profile summit in Singapore in June where they issued a vaguely-worded declaration about denuclearisation.  The US insists that United Nations sanctions must remain in place until North Korea gives up its weapons, while Pyongyang wants them eased immediately. China also wants the sanctions to be relaxed.  "For North Korea itself, 2019 is his strategic turning point. If he wants to shift his focus to the development of the economy, he needs China's cooperation," said Lu Chao, a North Korea expert at China's Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.  "China will also introduce some successful experiences to Kim to help North Korea achieve economic transformation and realise the denuclearisation of the peninsula as soon as possible," Lu added.  In his New Year speech, Kim focussed on his country's economy, saying that improving people's lives was his top priority and tackling energy shortages was an urgent task.  The visit coincided with negotiations between US and Chinese officials in Beijing to resolve a bruising trade war between the world's two biggest economies.  Some analysts say China could use its cooperation on North Korea as a bargaining chip in the US trade talks.  But Hua said Kim's visit would have a "limited" effect on the trade negotiations.  "The Sino-US trade negotiations are a matter between China and the US. The weight of North Korea is limited and cannot play a decisive role," he said.


aljazeera--2019-01-31--Venezuelas Guaido lays out broad vision for the country

Venezuela's Guaido lays out broad vision for the country

Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido presented the opposition's broad vision for the country's future on Thursday, as the political crisis in the country deepened.  "We have a plan, well thought out, structured," Guaido said at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences in the Central University of Venezuela on Thursday, noting that "it is the sum of many sacrifices".  The "National Plan" focuses on the opposition's vision for the economy and oil resources, but it also tackles public services, security, governability and society.  Guaido said there would be something for everyone in society to do as Venezuela moved forward, including the military.  "The armed forces also have a role in the reconstruction of the country," he said.  Last week, Guaido swore himself in as interim president before a crowd of his supporters. The proclamation came after the opposition-controlled National Assembly declared President Nicolas Maduro's second-term "illegitimate".  Maduro accuses Guaido of leading a US-backed coup and says the United States, among other countries, are waging an economic war aimed at removing him from power.  In Thursday's speech, Guaido divided the plan into three phases: the "cessation of the usurpation", the establishment of a "transitional government" and free elections.  According to Guaido, the priorities include the coordination of humanitarian assistance, the restoration of public services and an effort to tackle people's dependency on subsidies.  Guaido indicated that there would be no dialogue with Maduro or anyone in his government.  "We will never lend ourselves to false dialogues in any place," he said, adding that protests would continue throughout the country. "The organised, systematic and sustained protests will continue until this dictatorship falls."  Translation: Today we present #PlanPaís. The route for the country we want to build together. We have the agreement, the will and the professionals to immediately address the problems of Venezuelans, Guaido wrote on Twitter.  Towards the end of his speech, Guaido said that agents of Special Action Forces (FAES) were at his home.  "I will hold you responsible for any threat that you could make to my 20-month old daughter," Guaido said.  The US, which backs Guaido, has warned of "serious consequences" if Maduro's government harms him.  Guaido later appeared at his building with his wife and daughter, saying "they will not intimidate this family".  Neighbours said men who identified themselves as belonging to the FAES arrived at the gate of his apartment building in a white four-wheel drive.  There was no obvious police presence by the time journalists arrived at Guaido's house.  The political fight between Maduro and Guaido has drawn in foreign powers.  On one side of the tussle for control of Venezuela - an OPEC (The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member, with the world's largest oil reserves but in dire financial straits - Guaido and Western backers led by the US are insisting on an immediate transition and fresh elections.  On the other, Maduro, with backing from Russia, China and Turkey, says he will remain for his second six-year term despite accusations of fraud in his reelection last year and the economic meltdown.  Maduro, who first took office in 2013, has faced waves of protests in recent years as he presided over a collapsing economy, with hyperinflation and chronic food shortages. He enjoys the support of the military and some Venezuelans.  Some three million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015, according to the UN.


aljazeera--2019-02-20--Abortion rights campaigners flood the streets of Buenos Aires

Thousands of women rallied in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires on Tuesday to relaunch a campaign for legal abortion after an abortion rights bill suffered a setback in the Senate last year.  Waving green handkerchiefs, women chanted and held banners that read, "We all abort, the rich girls stay quiet, and the poor die."  Campaigners aim to keep the debate alive in the civil society and to push for new legislation.  "Today, there is a social decriminalisation of abortion. We had positive results in the Congress [last year]," an activist told the AFP news agency.  "Unfortunately, the Senate is not responding as representatives of the people, but is responding to the conservative hierarchies of each province."  A new bill will be submitted to the government on International Women's Day - March 8, AFP reported.  Translation: This will become law! #Safeandlegalabortion #legalabortionnow  Abortion is legal in Argentina only in cases of rape or when the pregnancy poses a risk to a woman's health.  Rights groups have also criticised a requirement for a judge's permission, which often results in lengthy delays or denial of the procedure.  Last year's bill sought to legalise elective abortion for pregnancies of up to 14 weeks.  Momentum for new legislation grew after President Mauricio Macri said he would not stand in the way of the debate.  Argentina's abortion rights movement, backed by feminist groups, argue that legalisation would end unregulated abortions that government data show as one of the leading causes of maternal deaths.  Despite Tuesday's mass protest, it is unclear whether the government will promote a debate during an electoral year that has divided the country, and normally leads to mass demonstrations.  "We are still here, fighting and resisting because within that Congress there are people who do not know anything about what women go through in the most humble neighbourhoods because there is another way to access abortion but it does not have to be done like that," professor and activist Antonella Castiglione, told the Reuters news agency.  "Abortion has to be legal at hospitals so that no woman dies because of an illegal, unsafe abortion, in very poor conditions."  More than 60 percent of Argentinians - especially young people - are in favour of legalising abortion, according to a poll by the social sciences faculty of the University of Buenos Aires.  An estimated 500,000 unsafe abortions are performed annually in the South American country.  Argentina recorded 245 cases of maternal mortality in 2016, according to official figures quoted by the website Infobae. Of these, 43 were due to abortions or miscarriages.


aljazeera--2019-03-20--Muslim countries urged to press China end crackdown of Uighurs

Doha, Qatar - A group of visiting Uighur Muslim scholars originally from China's Xinjiang province has urged Muslim-majority countries to press China to end its "cultural war" against their ethnic compatriots.  According to a United Nations panel, more than one million Uighurs and other Muslims are held in what rights groups and activists call mass detention centres in the remote western region - a charge denied by Beijing.  During a visit to Qatar's capital, Doha, leaders from the Turkey-based Society of the Muslim Scholars of East Turkistan (SMSET) accused Beijing of engaging in systematic human rights violations of Uighurs in a bid to erase their cultural and religious heritage.  "The Chinese government is waging a cultural war against our people by trying to force us to abandon our Muslim faith and our heritage to become atheists and communists like the majority Chinese society," the SMSET's Abdel Khaleq Uighur said on Tuesday.  In January, China passed a new law that sought to "Sinicise" Islam within the next five years, the latest move by Beijing to rewrite how the religion is practised. Sinification is a process of melting non-Chinese communities into the majority Han Chinese culture.  No major Muslim country has publicly condemned China for the alleged mass incarceration of Uighurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities except Turkey, which has called on China to shut the camps. Beijing calls the camps "reeducation centres".  The Uighurs, whose homeland is in the heart of the ancient Silk Road, say Beijing sees their presence as an obstacle to its economic development and westward expansion through its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).  Launched in 2013, the massive investment drive aims to finance and build infrastructure in some 80 countries around the world, including in the Middle East and parts of Eurasia.  "With high-speed rail and other upgraded land transport developments, China strives to promote land and maritime trade simultaneously between China and the Middle East," Wang Jian, a professor of history and international political economy at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said in a paper published in 2017.  Mohamad Mahmoud, of the SMET, argued that China's promises of vast wealth and economic development from its BRI projects have prevented Muslim-majority countries from addressing the crackdown on Uighurs.  "I hope that Muslim countries can overcome their fears of China and address its gross human rights abuses against our community," he said.  According to a 2018 Amnesty report, open or even private displays of religious and cultural affiliation, including growing a beard, wearing a veil or headscarf, regular prayer, fasting or avoidance of alcohol, or possessing books or articles about Islam or Uighur culture can be considered "extremist" under the regulation.  Last week, the Chinese government published a lengthy policy paper outlining and defending its policy against the Uighurs as "deradicalisation" measures. The paper admitted the arrest of 13,000 Muslim Uighurs since 2014.  Responding to government claims of "terrorism and radicalism" in the region, Mahmoud said the Chinese government claims are not true.  "Our people are not seeking separation and there is no terrorism or armed insurgency in East Turkistan," he said.  "The only terrorism in the region comes from the Chinese government itself," added Mahmoud.