4 Philippine universities remain among top 200 Asian schools

Four Philippine universities out of the country’s more than 2,000 institutions of higher education made it again to the Top 200 Asian universities list of consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. (QS) for 2010.

Leading the Philippine schools is the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, which tied Taiwan’s National Central University at the 58th spot. Ateneo rose from the 84th spot that it occupied last year.

State-run University of the Philippines fell in rank from 63 to 78, while University of Santo Tomas ranked 101st, an advance from its former 144th spot.

De la Salle University suffered the worst blow among the four Philippine universities, falling from the 76th spot to land at 106th.

In measuring quality, QS used the following criteria: Asian academic peers (30 percent), papers per faculty (15 percent), citations per paper (15 percent), student-faculty ratio (20 percent), Asian employer review (10 percent), international faculty (2.5 percent), international students (2.5 percent), inbound exchange students (2.5 percent), and outbound exchange students (2.5 percent).

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OFWs younger, better educated than local workers

MANILA—Filipino temporary migrant workers tend to be younger and better educated than their domestic counterparts, and they also tend to be women.

These are some of the major findings of a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). Entitled “Philippine International Labor Migration in the Past 30 Years: Trends and Prospects,” the study was undertaken by PIDS senior research fellow Dr. Aniceto Orbeta Jr. and research analyst Michael Ralph Abrigo.

“Around seven of every ten temporary migrant workers are of ages between 24 to 44 years old and half of them have at least some tertiary education...with majority of temporary migrant workers being women,” the study said.

The study noted that the number of Filipinos leaving the country for work shot up from around 36,000 workers in 1975 up to more than 1.2 million in 2007.

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Importance of education, information technology in nation-building cited

SIRUMA, Camarines Sur—President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, during a recent visit
to this town, spoke of the importance of education and technology as a means for achieving national progress.

“Ang malakas na edukasyon ay dapat kasama ng malakas na backbone ng teknolohiya [Strong education should have a strong backbone that is technology],” Arroyo said.

Along this line, the President ordered the Department of Education to include this Camarines Sur town in the list of municipalities where a school satellite broadband facility will be set up so students can have Internet access. “This is my recuerdo [remembrance] to you," she told Siruma students and residents.

The President said that students worldwide use the Internet as a tool for accessing information needed in their studies, and she added that she wants Siruma students to have this same opportunity.

The Arroyo administration continues promoting the spread of information technology nationwide as it believes this will help move the nation forward. 

"We musn't stop while there are places like Siruma where technology is needed," the President said. 

Because of the government’s commitment to address the problem of poverty, 100,000 schools had been constructed and P2 billion had been spent in the improvement of the educational system in the nine years of the Arroyo administration.

Malacanang Press Release

Pinoy scientists call on President Arroyo

MANILA (PNA)—Filipino international awardees in science and technology recently presented to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo their awards that brought honor to the country.

The awardees who called on President Arroyo were Dr. Lourdes Cruz, Dr. Virgilio Malang, Yasmin Esperitu Malang and Engineer John Judilla.

“We are proud to present this award to the President,” said Dr. Cruz, the first Filipino winner in the prestigious L’Oreal-Unesco award for her discovery of the marine snail toxin which can serve as powerful tool to study brain function.

Judilla is the lead developer of the mechanical anti-terrorist robot or MAC which won in the first World Cup for Computer-Implemented Inventions held in China in 2008.

Malang, who came with his wife Yasmin, invented a light beer fortified with multi vitamins. His invention paved the way for health conscious individuals to have an alternative to regular beer.

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President Obama bemoans “diversions” of iPad, Xbox era

HAMPTON, Virginia— In his latest critique of modern media, US President Barack Obama lamented Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy.

Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing with political horse-race coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.

“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,” Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.

“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations—none of which I know how to work—information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” he said.

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Sign language fosters better speech
By Sanne Specht, Mail Tribune

OREGON—Mercedes Delacruz still doesn’t know why her daughter wasn't talking. But she does know learning sign language unlocked the door to understanding her 7-year-old's wants, needs and desires.

“I am so grateful,” Delacruz said. “It really helps.”

Delacruz, along with about 20 other parents, enrolled in a sign language program at Swindells Center of Southern Oregon designed to help them communicate with their speech-delayed but nonhearing-impaired children.

The free classes, funded by a grant from the West Family Foundation, teach the visual language as a bridge between children who are slow to speak for a variety of reasons and their parents and teachers, said Kathy Keesee, Swindells resource coordinator.

Delacruz and the other adult students learned about 200 signs during a three-month period that included a six-week intensive course focusing on basic requests, food preferences and some primary language skills, she said.

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English is a second language for 1 in 6 primary school children

Nearly one million pupils in England speak another language at home.

One in six primary school children does not speak English as a first language—twice as many as a decade ago.

The numbers who normally speak English as a foreign language topped half a million for the first time—putting teachers under “significant” pressure, a teaching union warned.

Across all schools, nearly one million youngsters aged four to 18—around one in seven—are non-native speakers.

The figures triggered warnings that schools are being put under increasing strain as they battle to accommodate a wide range of languages spoken by pupils.

In parts of London, English is not the first language for more than three-quarters of primary pupils.

A study by Reading council found this year that pupils in the town speak 127 different languages between them.

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UK publisher releases list of “70 all-time best children’s books”

A list of 70 children’s books said to be the best of all time has been compiled by publisher Puffin.

Fantasy classics Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland make the lineup for babies to teens, compiled for the publisher's 70th anniversary. The pirate adventure Treasure Island and the tear-jerking classic Watership Down also feature.

The classic counting book The Very Hungry Caterpillar tops the list of best bedtime books. This title by Eric Carle sells a copy every 30 seconds somewhere in the world, according to Puffin.

The list is divided up into categories including mischief and mayhem, weird and wonderful, and best blood and guts.

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Singapore center to train Chinese teachers for English-speaking students
             
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen has urged teachers to respond quickly to a wider spread of language abilities among future cohorts of students, even though the weighting of mother tongue in PSLE will not be cut.

In a letter to mother tongue teachers, Dr Ng said his ministry plans to do more—not less—for the subject in schools.

The Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL) has been tasked to train teachers to teach Chinese to a new generation of students who are more comfortable with English.

Over the next few months, it will increase the number of courses.

Dr Chin Chee Kuen, executive director, SCCL, says: “Our focus is on training up the child's oral proficiency, making it the foundation for the student to progress on to other skills like reading and writing.”

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Children to get laptops in a new deal

KAMPALA—The East African Community (EAC) has signed an agreement with the One Lap per child initiative to avail laptops to children in the region.

Juma Mwapachu, the secretary general of the East Africa Community, signed the deal.

"If you want to build a knowledge economy, you must have a computer literate population, starting from primary and secondary school children, all the way to university,” he said. “This is a very ambitious project that we will have to partner with other people and institutions to mobilise the resources required to meet our objectives by 2015."

Matt Keller, the vice-president of the project, said Tanzania had ordered for 30,000 laptops, while Rwanda is looking at 120,000. “This will help to get children to learn how to think critically and analytically to become problem solvers,” she said.

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Demand for MBAs in the Russian language

The world’s third most-spoken first language and, more importantly, its most popular second language, English, is often, somewhat ironically, labeled the lingua franca of the business world.

But not all Russia’s businesspeople are English speakers, and learning a language to study for a master of business administration degree can be time-consuming. “When I was looking at studying, I had a choice: either study language or an Executive MBA,” said Vladimir Verbitsky, first deputy director of the Russian Institute of Directors.

As a result, Verbitsky, an independent director at several Russian firms, opted to look for a Russian-language program. Having originally decided on a course at a Russian institution, he changed his decision on finding a Western business school offering EMBA courses in Russian.

Lecturers at Western business schools have a deep understanding of business practices, Verbitsky said. Although Russian lecturers have a great grasp of the subject, they were brought up in a completely different environment “World outlook is very important in business education,” he said.

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To boost English proficiency, newspaper provides 10,000 copies to Tamil schools

In a bid to enhance English language proficiency among Indian pupils, the Penang state MIC has come forward to sponsor 10,000 copies of The Star to 10 Tamil primary schools in Seberang Prai.

State MIC chairman Datuk P.K. Subbaiyah said the sponsorship, a joint venture with the Mak Mandin Tamil School Ex-Students’ Association would see The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (NiE) programme run over 10 Wednesdays from May 5 to July 21.

“We hope our humble sponsorship cannot only help enhance the pupils’ command of the language, but also help them widen their general knowledge,” he said at the presentation ceremony at SJK(T) Mak Mandin in Butterworth recently.

Subbaiyah said there were cases where Indian pupils missed getting straight As in public examinations because of their failure to obtain a distinction for the English language.

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City students shine at English Olympiad

NAGPUR—Two students of Bhavan’s Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir (BVM) have excelled in the International Olympiad of English language 2010.

Sakshi Shivhare, a Standard IX student has secured the first rank, while Gunjan Varma secured the fourth rank, in the all India Olympiad. The same contest also saw Ayush Nayyar, a Standard IV student of Centre Point School, securing the all India 232nd rank and 55th state rank.

The Olympiad is conducted by the Educational Society of English Language, New Delhi. The first 500 rank holders all over India are awarded a certificate of merit by the organization. Sakshi, Gunjan and Ayush have also been awarded certificates. Ayush and Sakshi have also been awarded gold medals for securing the first position in their schools, while Gunjan secured a silver medal.

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