Education World

Archive for June, 2010

The Australian federal government has pledged an extra 360,000 dollars (329,184 U.S. dollars) to help university students get work experience in community legal centers.

The funds will extend the seven partnerships already under way in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.

“Access to practical legal education and experience is important as it not only helps students develop their legal skills, but also increases awareness of social justice and equity issues in the legal system,” federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said later Wednesday.

The funds will provide students with hands-on experience in family law, while also giving them an opportunity to participate in dispute resolution and work in rural areas.

The first think tank on China in Pakistan has made efforts and will do more to promote the bilateral relations between Pakistan and China, said the head of the think tank.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Chairman of the Pakistan-China Institute Mushahid Hussain said a Pakistan-China friendship caravan consisting of 60 people will leave for China in June.

Hussain, also former Information Minister, said that he will lead the caravan from Gilgit area of Pakistan to China’s Kashghar by road to attend the Kashghar Trade Fair to be commencing on June25 and also to promote economic relations and cultural ties between the two countries.

“I would lead the friendship delegation, consisting of businessmen, media men, think tank scholars, experts and cultural specialists, via the Silk Route to China. By traveling via the Silk Route we want to revive the traditional route and highlight its importance as well,” he said.

Turning to the think tank launched on Oct. 1, 2009 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Hussain said the institute focuses on efforts to further strengthen cooperation in the fields of defense and diplomacy, investment, trade and economy, energy, education, culture, youth and women, tourism, academia and media.

About the recent steps the think tank has taken for promoting Pakistan-China relations, he said the Pakistan-China Institute has decided recently to launch the Pakistan-China friendship caravan, to establish a Pakistan-China scholar forum consisting of scholars from both sides, and to launch Pakistan-China research data base.

Hussain said it also decided to link up some Pakistani companies for the biggest Shanghai Expo running from May to October in the Chinese metropolis.

The think tank have engaged different coordinator and assigned duties to them in Karachi, Lahore and Gilgit-Baltistan in various fields like culture, tourism, education and other areas and activities with Pakistan-China friendship forum were also coordinated, he said.

Referring to the current energy crisis in Pakistan, the think tank chief said Pakistan can invite Chinese companies to carry out geological surveys for coal mines, to prepare feasibility report and to dig for coal.

He cited his experience in Urumqi, Xinjiang, where China has developed a very sophisticated technology in wind power and solar power and suggested Pakistan learn from it. He said that China is a leader in cheaper sources of energy.

On China’s role in South Asia and the role of Pakistan-China Institute, Hussain said that the joint statement issued by Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama in Beijing last November is very positive as it seeks peace, stability and security in South Asia.

Hussain praised China’s positive role in South Asia, its commitment to peace and its policy of non-intervention in internal affairs of any other states, saying “China is the holder of universal principle, so we welcome China’s role for peace.”

To promote cooperation for the peace in the region, he said, the Pakistan-China Institute has a plan to organize a seminar in the third week of January in Islamabad, and to invite Chinese scholars for another seminar in June.

He termed China’s investment in Pakistan as unique, saying that the investment has been long-term and strategic. He said it has helped the people of Pakistan in different areas, and it contributed to transfer of technology but there have never been conditions attached whether it’s the heavy industrial complex in Taxila, near Islamabad, Gwadar port, a newly-built port in the south, or Zong mobile.

The Pakistan-China Institute is the first non-governmental, non-party and non-political organization with equal number of experts, scholars and intellectuals from China and Pakistan. It is the first Pakistan-based think tank to promote, strengthen and expand Pakistan-China relations in different fields.

Top private schools have become less affordable over the past decade despite taxpayer subsidies and claims from former Prime Minister John Howard when he introduced the current funding system that fee increases would taper off.

The yearly fees in the top schools of about 11,500 dollars (10,483 U.S. dollars) in 1999 were about 28 percent of the average yearly wage, whereas this year’s fees of about 23,500 dollars (21,422 U.S. dollars) at these schools are about 36 percent of the average salary, The Australian reports Wednesday.

The current Australian government decision to extend the socioeconomic status funding model until 2012 gave non-government schools an estimated 28 billion dollars (25.5 billion U.S. dollars). It was made despite protests from public education unions.

The reaction to the hikes has been muted so far, with parents groups and the Independent Education Union (IEU) noting that the education component of the consumer price index had risen by 5.6 percent in the past year.

IEU federal secretary Chris Watt said teachers’ wages were rising at about 4.5 percent a year and it was possible that schools were facing reduced fee payments and donations from alumni amid the global financial crisis.

“If the increase was of the order of 10 percent, we would say it’s outrageous, but it’s not that much more than the base wage increase plus extra costs,” he said.

China Daily and Beijing Foreign Studies University have agreed to form a partnership because of the growing influence of the Chinese press in the international media.

The two parties signed an agreement on strategic cooperation in Beijing on Wednesday, attended by China Daily Editor-in-Chief Zhu Ling and Vice Minister of Education Hao Ping, who is also the president of the university.

The two sides agreed to work together to train young journalists specializing in global communications. Senior editors from the newspaper will also give “China Daily Brand Courses” to the students at the school.

China Daily will also introduce week-long forums and promotions at the school in a bid to attract more campus readers in China.

China Daily Editor-in-Chief Zhu Ling said talents pools are important to the global newspaper’s efforts to consolidate its identity as “the voice of both the authorities and the public”.

“We would love to share China Daily’s rich journalism resources with elite institutions,” Mr. Zhu said in an address at the signing ceremony.

“Through a comprehensive partnership we aim to improve education levels in Chinese universities and train more Chinese talent in global communications,” he told an audience of about 300 guests.

Vice Minister Hao Ping said China Daily has been “a successful model” among top Chinese media to introduce China to a world readership.

“The partnership between universities and media organizations will provide great opportunities for academic research as well as a public service,” said the vice minister. “The partnership is specifically useful in training sparkling young talent.”

Senior editorial staff from China Daily and officials from the school also attended Wednesday’s ceremony. The school offered faculty certificates to the newspaper’s senior editors.

Move aside matchmakers, stick in a board game between young single men and women and see the sparks fly. Zhang Zixuan reports

In the popular movie Jumanji, the eponymous board game becomes the catalyst for the protagonist Alan to find his love, Sarah, and live happily ever after. Board games are now emerging as the latest facilitators of love and friendship among young Chinese.

And, such games are no longer restricted to chess, checkers, poker, or mahjong, but cover a dazzling range of hundreds of types and categories based on themes and playing methods – from the very basic to the highly sophisticated.

Chen Yi and Guo Luo, founders of the BGhunt board game bar, who organized a board game-themed party on Dec 24 and 25 for Christmas, say: “Board games are very good for eliminating embarrassment.”

They say their games are suited to both men and women and come with detailed instructions.

“They are easy to learn, involve no complicated logical inferences and encourage conversation,” says Guo.

“Take Halli Galli, for example. All you need to do is hit the bell when you see any five fruit patterns of the same kind on the table. The one who gets to the bell the fastest wins,” Chen explains.

The 28-year-old bar manager, who works as an event marketer during the day, makes sure the men and women participating in the game are equally distributed and have adequate opportunities to interact. He also throws in a punishment box containing tasks for those who lose.

“Most tasks are ice-breakers such as ‘Let everybody touch my head’, or ‘Sing a song to the one you like’,” Guo says.

The Christmas parties, he says, turned out to be very successful.

“Most participants exchanged their contact details after the party. At least three pairs are likely to go further,” he adds optimistically.

Chen Yang, a 26-year-old salesman who recently returned to single status, says the China-originated board game Sanguosha played effective matchmaker when it came to his love interest, Lily.

“She was pretty and talked in a very clear and logical way as we worked our way through the game,” he says of his first impressions of Lily.

They exchanged cell phone numbers and MSN chats, after the game, and soon themselves caught up in the romance routines of dinners and movies.

“Most of our customers belong to the post-80s generation, who are facing a critical moment in their lives,” says Guo.

Zhang Haitao, a registered member of the board game bar, believes playing board games are much more effective than blind dates or speed dates. “It (playing board games) offers more common topics for discussion and opportunities for communication, and is less structured and embarrassing.

“In an unfamiliar city, playing board games can build friendships quickly,” says the 26-year-old newcomer to Beijing from Anhui province.

Jirawute Choungsirakulwit from Thailand believes the way players make decisions and investments by using tools, tokens, cards, and how they work with team members, can reveal a lot about their attitudes in real life: “Some people really care about winning or losing, some love playing the role of leader, while others just enjoy the whole process.”

The 25-year-old Thai was drawn to board games when he came to China two years ago, to learn Chinese. “My roommate is a super fan of board games, and he taught me how to play games such as Puerto Rico and Mr Jack,” he says. “We have since become very close friends.”

Unlike in Western countries, playing board games is still relatively new in China.

Since late-2008, however, it has seen a boom, becoming hugely popular with white-collar workers, who are generally well-educated and have good foreign language skills, especially in the big cities.

“Board game bars draw people with similar education and interests together and is more effective than pubs,” says Guo.

According to wanzhuoyou.com, which describes itself as the “No 1 professional board game media in China”, there are more than 700 board game bars in Shanghai, but only a tenth of that in Beijing but with a relatively higher-end positioning.

Speaking of the boom, Guo says, “Young urbanites are usually either party animals who go out every night, or stare at a computer screen all day long with no physical interaction.

“For those falling in the second category, it becomes even more difficult to find the other half, or even a friend.

“After working hard all day, they just want to get away from the computer for a while, and find a healthy, face-to-face way to make friends.

“And that’s exactly what board games are all about

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping Saturday called for further deepening China-Australian comprehensive cooperative relationship as he arrived in Melbourne for a five-day official visit.

Great achievements have been scored in bilateral cooperation in economy, science and technology, cultural exchanges and judicial communications, and both sides have kept close coordination on major international and regional issues, Xi said in a written speech upon his arrival.

“Further deepening China-Australian comprehensive cooperative relationship is in the fundamental interest of both countries and peoples, it also benefits peace and development of the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large,” he said.

Later Saturday, Xi discussed with Victoria State Premier John Brumby ways to strengthen cooperation between the state and China.

Xi said exchanges and cooperation at state and provincial level are important to bilateral ties. In recent years, friendly cooperation between Victoria State and China has achieved positive results, especially in trade and education.

He suggested that joint efforts be made in technological cooperation, especially the hi-tech sector such as the research and manufacturing of clean energy automobiles.

He also called for more extensive people-to-people and cultural communications, citing the Shanghai World Expo as an ideal opportunity for strengthening mutual understanding between the two peoples.

Premier Brumby said Victoria and China have a longtime friendship and cooperation between the two sides, which has enjoyed strong momentum of development in recent years.

Xi is scheduled to meet with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Monday and both will address a Sino-Australian economic forum in the Parliament.

Australia is the last leg of Xi’s four-nation tour, which has taken him to Bangladesh, Laos and New Zealand.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived in the city of Melbourne Saturday afternoon, starting his five-day official visit to Australia.

The following are some notable remarks by Xi during his activities Saturday in Melbourne.

“Further deepening the China-Australian comprehensive cooperative relationship is in the basic interest of both countries and both peoples, it will also benefit the peace and development of the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large.”

“I believe, my visit will further consolidate mutual trust, deepen the friendship between the two nations and expand substantial cooperation on a wide range of fields, so as to push the China-Australia comprehensive cooperative relationship to a higher level.”

“Exchanges and cooperation at state and province level are important to bilateral relations. In recent years, friendly cooperation between Victoria state and China has achieved positive results, especially in trade and education sectors.”

“Joint efforts can be made in technological cooperation, especially the high technology sector such as the research and manufacturing of clean energy automobiles.”

In the premises of an refugee camp constructed with around seventy mud houses, idle adults and children playing, swinging and flying kites, were unaware of any refugee day, but they did hope to return to their homes back in Afghanistan.

“I want to go back to Afghanistan but there is a war going on so I can not. I have been there once and I miss my country,” 25- year-old Abdul Qadir told Xinhua after showing around the camp in the southwest outskirts of Pakistani capital Islamabad.

Qadir, who came to Pakistan 18 years ago from the northern Afghan city of Mazar Sharif, now lives with some twenty family members, including his nephews and niece, in five mud rooms in the refugee camp.

As his father is too old to work, Qadir and his elder brothers have to journeywork in nearby grocery market for about 150 rupees a day (1 U.S. dollar equals 84 Pakistani rupees).

The camp rarely has electricity supply and a tent school where the children study in hot weather has no fans or even no seats to sit at all. Elders of the camp consider it is a waste of time for these children because in such hot weather and with this substandard education these children can not compete the life style out of this camp.

Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping met with John Brumby, Premier of Victoria state later Saturday.

Xi Jinping, who is visiting Australia at the invitation of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, said his visit aims to enhance mutual trust and friendship, promote extensive exchanges and cooperation and he is to meet Australian leaders and friends of different sectors during the visit.

Xi said exchanges and cooperation at state and province level are important to bilateral relations. In recent years, friendly cooperation between Victoria state and China has achieved positive results, especially in trade and education sectors.

Xi said the Chinese government and relevant provinces and cities in China attach great importance to further exchange and cooperation with the state of Victoria.

He said joint efforts can be made in technological cooperation, especially the high technology sector, research and manufacturing of clean energy automobiles. The two sides can make the most of their high level of complementary properties of trade and investment relations and at the same time deepen cooperation in agriculture.

People-to-people relations are also important, Xi said, adding that the two sides need to further encourage education and travel by having more university-level exchanges, training, visiting scholar programs, technological and educational cooperation.

Xi said this year’s Shanghai World Expo, the year of Australian culture in Beijing as well as next year’s China year in Australia are providing opportunities for more people-to-people exchanges and links. He said with joint efforts, friendly cooperation between Victoria and China will provide genuine benefits to the peoples.

Premier Brumby gave Vice President Xi a warm welcome for making Melbourne the first leg of his visit to Australia. Brumby said, given cooperation in extensive areas, relations between Australia and China enjoy a strong trend. The existing cooperation in energy, resources, mineral, culture, education and travel has been very fruitful.

The Nepali government has started cracking the whip on what it terms “useless” foreign trips by government officials through misuse of foreign as well as domestic resources, local media reported on Saturday.

According to myrepublica.com report, the government has asked donor agencies in Nepal to cooperate over this matter.

Sources familiar with developments informed that both the government and donors were compelled to take steps to curb a growing trend of en mass foreign trips by government officials, a majority of them with donor money.

“It is a joint collaboration of the government and donors to stop ‘disturbing misuses’ of resources meant for the poor of Nepal, ” said a source. The steps include denying visas and concurrence letters even for visits under programs that donors had earlier agreed to.

In this regard, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently communicated with major donor agencies and foreign embassies in the capital to raise its concern over foreign visits and their impact on national coffers.

“It is disturbing that a large number of government employees, including senior officials, are using all possible means to make meaningless foreign trips at a time when they were supposed to be spending their energies formulating plans and programs for the coming fiscal years,” said the source.

In a series of recent developments, the World Bank declined to issue no objection letters to 40 officials from the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction who were planning to visit Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka in three different groups. All three visits were supposed to be funded with World Bank money earmarked for the Emergency Peace Support Program.

Peace Ministry Secretary Punya Prasad Neupane confirmed to myrepublica.com that the World Bank withheld concurrence letters for the trips after MoF raised objections.

Last month alone, 29 officials from the Ministry of Education went abroad. Currently, nearly two dozen officials from the Ministry of Health are abroad.