For almost a decade, the government of Venezuela has had currency exchange controls imposed on the country. Venezuelans have been allowed to apply to exchange money for any number of reasons, including studying abroad. This system has been severely abused by the government as it seeks to impose its will on the people and keep dissidents in control. This is the same government that black balled 2 million of its citizens. Now they have chosen to limit what Venezuelans can study outside of the country: no journalism. No English literature. To be fair, it is not as oppressive as it sounds, but it is certainly more heavy handed than needed.

Hat-tip Daniel at Venezuelan News and Views.

As Lisa Simpson remarked of Mcgill, the Harvard of Canada, “Anything that’s the “something” of the “something” isn’t really the “anything” of “anything”.”

SO is the newsheadlines caught my attention proclaiming that the Yale of China is open. Right here in Shanghai. Well Pudong technically. In an Educational park with 18 colleges. Xing Wei originally in 2001 as a trade school. It hit some financial difficulty. Now it is being transformed to a two year residential college taught in English focusing on the liberal arts experience. Of course, i am not actually aware of any liberal arts school in the US requiring “Intro. to Mao Thought & Theoretical System of China Socialism” as ac ore course, but what do I know? I am intrigued to learn more about “Mental Education and Foundation of Law” as I do believe students would benefit from mental education.

Unclear what the costs would be. Apparently they already have transfer agreements with San Jose State University! I do not believe Yale has such an agreement.

They plan to enroll 300 students this fall.
“We want students who have the courage to pursue their desires, to know what they really want; that’s different from the traditional definition of top students,” college founder and Harvard-educated investor Chen Weiming said. “Many students have the intelligence but most don’t have the courage; people who can think out of the box need to have a lot of courage.”

Learn more:
http://www.xingwei.edu.cn/en/index.html

It happens:

Congratulations, you’re in! Oops, nevermind. That was a mistake.

In an email about financial aid awards, UCLA told 894 high school seniors last weekend that they were admitted to the highly competitive campus. Those students actually remain on the waiting list for the Westwood school.

Source

While I am sure that the Choice will soon enough be giving a more complete picture, here is a longer list of this year’s college admission rates.

• Amherst: 11.9%
• Babson: 29.0%
• Barnard College: 21%
• Boston University: 45.5%
• Bowdoin College: 16.1%
• Brown University: 9.6%
• Claremont McKenna College: 12.4%
• Columbia University: 7.4%
• Cornell University: 16.2%
• Dartmouth College: 9.4%
• Duke University: 11.87%
• Elon: 51%
• George Washington University: 32.7%
• Georgetown University: 16.5%
• Hamilton: 27.1%
• Harvard University: 5.9%
• Johns Hopkins University: 17.7%
• Macalester: 34.7%
• MIT: 8.9%
• Muhlenberg: 45.5%
• Nc state: 48%
• N.Y.U.: : 35
• Northwestern University: 15.3%
• Occidental: 39%
• Olin: 17.4%
• Pitzer University: 15.7%
• Princeton University: 7.86%
• Pomona: 12.8%
• Richmond: 30%
• Rochester: 34%
• Stanford University: 6.6%
• Swarthmore College: 14.1%
• Tufts University: 21.2%
• Uc Berkeley: 19.5%
• University of Chicago: 12.26%
• U. of Florida: 41%
• Umass: 62%
• U. North Carolina: 25.7%
• University of Notre Dame: 22.7%
• University of Pennsylvania: 12.3%
• University of Southern California: 18.2%
• University of Virginia: 27.4%
• Vanderbilt University: 12.02%
• Washington and Lee: 18%
• Washington University in St. Louis: 15.4%
• Wesleyan University: 19.7%
• Williams College: 16.7%
• Yale University: 6.82%

>>> Shaun McElroy 04/05/12 9:39 AM >>>
And, yet again, most selective ever (except at Brown and Columbia, who actually admitted slight more than last year, but still less than 2 years ago):
Babson College: 29.0 Percent
Barnard College: 21.0 Percent
Brown: 9.6 Percent
Claremont McKenna: 12.4 Percent
Columbia: 7.4 Percent
Cornell: 16.2 Percent
Dartmouth: 9.4 Percent
Duke: 11.9 Percent
Elon University: 51 Percent
George Washington U.: 32.7 Percent
Hamilton College: 27.1 Percent
Harvard: 5.9 Percent
Johns Hopkins: 17.7 Percent
Macalester College: 34.7 Percent
Muhlenberg College: 45.5 Percent
N.Y.U.: 35 Percent
Northwestern: 15.3 Percent
Occidental College: 39 Percent
Olin College: 17.4 Percent
Princeton: 7.9 Percent
Tufts: 21.2 Percent
U. of Florida: 41 Percent
U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: 25.7 Percent
U. of Pennsylvania: 12.3 Percent
U. of Richmond: 30 Percent
U. of Rochester: 34 Percent
U. of Southern California: 18 Percent
U. of Virginia: 27.4 Percent
Washington and Lee University: 18 Percent
Wesleyan: 19.7 Percent
Williams College: 16.7 percent
Yale: 6.8 Percent

The challenge of finding the right fit when it comes to your college search is definitely one that gives me a lot of concern. Click on Search and Tips in the categories and you can see I have profiled many tools and techniques for helping you understand yourself and find the right university. While America has many searchable databases, most other countries have few. For Australia, we relied on the uberagent IDP and Study in Australia, neither of which were particularly satisfying. Now the Australian Government gets in the game with My University. This new website allows user an inside glimpse at such items as:

• fees,
• courses,
• course cut-offs,
• lecturer qualifications,
• student satisfaction rates,
• graduate employment outcomes,
• enrolment numbers, and
• student/staff ratios.

According to the Canberra Times, students can also discover “It also provides information on each university’s services and amenities - from childcare places, car parking, bus routes, supermarkets, banks and pubs on campus to student welfare services, clubs and societies.” My initial playing around reveals two challenges:

1) It is unclear if international students will get accurate information as it has only two categories–domesteic and Commonwealth

2) You need to know your ATAR score

Running with Medicine as the searchword came up with 36 results. Clearly something is not right. Granted some have medical in the title like Bachelor of Medical Radiation Science (Nuclear Medicine) at University of Newcastle, but it really makes me wonder who did the programing if a Bachelor of arts in Communication & Media Studies n.e.c. from Southern Cross University can show up on the list?

The website allows you to compare up to 8 universities at once, but the information provided is basic: ATAR scores and fees. Really? this is what 1.5 million bought you? So I would say the course search is a bust as is.

The university compare feature is more robust:

• graduate outcomes
• student demographics
• staff demographics
• staff student ratio
• campus locations
• and most importantly student satisfaction by subject area.

Let’s see where this will go.

I was investigating Hampshire college, a place renowned for innovative curriculum, portfolio based assessment, designing your own major etc. and discovered this assocition of really cool colleges:

• Alverno College
• Daemen College
• The Evergreen State College
• Fairhaven College at Western Washington University
• Hampshire College
• Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at University of Redlands
• Marlboro College
• The New College at the University of Alabama

  New College of Florida

  Pitzer College

  Prescott College

• Richard Stockton College of NJ

What brings this group of 9 colleges together?

CIEL was first conceptualized by relatively like-minded campuses, particularly in their shared philosophy of progressive education and commitments to highly student-centered, heavily collaborative teaching and learning, experimentation, innovation, and interdisciplinary and experiential learning. They are schools whose history and practice indicated a willingness to take risks, schools that have taken leadership positions in higher education that involved advancing their practice beyond campus borders, while maintaining a certain humility about their role. However, they are also schools that are different enough so that faculty, staff, and administrators could learn from each other.

Higher education has witnessed a significant shift toward identifying, implementing, and evaluating the most effective educational practices by focusing directly on the teaching and learning process. CIEL member institutions are at the forefront of such innovation, showing particular success in student engagement. They are leaders whose experiences can be adapted to other colleges and universities to improve student learning and institutional culture.

More specifically:

Members of CIEL share an institutional-level commitment to progressive educational practices in the Deweyian tradition. While most colleges and universities have innovative programs, often on the margins of traditional practices, CIEL schools put innovation and experimentation at the core of their mission, organization, and everyday work. Though each school is distinct, each shares a commitment to the following goals and practices:

• • interdisciplinary teaching and learning
  • experiential education
  • an emphasis on collaborative learning and team teaching
  • active student engagement and reflection
  • a robust approach to assessment that is embedded in the learning process through such approaches as narrative evaluation and electronic portfolios,
  • a deep commitment to diversity in its student, faculty, and staff populations as well as in its academic programs
  • a globalized curriculum with extensive opportunities for international study
  • individualized learning with a heavy emphasis on self-sponsored study,
  • a deliberate and seamless integration of theory and practice, particularly through community service and involvement
  • a commitment to teaching and learning for social responsibility and social justice

Interested in more innovative colleges and interesting ways to approaches to education? Be sure to check out this wiki which has a great history section as well as a more expansive list of colleges.

Cardiff University has a contest with the winner receiving free tuition for life–as many courses and degrees the student wants. It is unclear how the contest will work, but there will be challenges:

To earn this once-in-a-lifetime prize you’ll really have to show you’re capable of setting the world alight by thriving in various challenges. Each one, more difficult than the last, will test you for the type of qualities we expect our students to have, such as passion, commitment and intelligence.

Could this have anything to do with the fact that applications are down a whopping 15% over last year?  True, Welsh student applications are down only 10%, but still the university wants to thrive-which happens to be the name of the competition.

Dartmouth gives us a round up of early applications to the Ivies:

Ivy Apps

The decreases are easily understood once you put the 7700 applications Princeton and Harvard received.

Yet another college affirms that admission decisions can be made without test scores like the SAT or ACT as Clark University goes test optional for fall of 2013. Clark joins other national universities such as Wake Forest, NYU and many other top notch liberal art schools.

Clark’s decision to institute a test-optional policy follows an extensive study by the Office of Admissions and the Clark faculty. “By taking a holistic view of a student’s capabilities, character and promise, we can give more weight to his or her four-year academic record — strength of the high school, the rigor of the curriculum, grades, class rank, writing skills and outside-classroom activities,” commented Don Honeman, dean of admissions and financial aid. “This approach will allow us to better identify those students who will thrive at Clark and beyond.”