• Universitas 21 ranking of national higher education systems 2013
• US: First Lady Michelle Obama speaks of 'hunger' for education
• US: Camp means community service for many young people

• Maharishi University of Management professor honoured by the Sierra Club
• Study abroad: Maharishi University of Management announces programmes for 2013-2015
• Celebrities join forces to bring Transcendental Meditation to 1 million at-risk youth

• Low-income US students getting less college aid than better off ones: study
• US preschools see sharp drop in funding - study
• South Sudan's gender gap still too wide

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Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Universitas 21 ranking of national higher education systems 2013
19 May 2013 - Following on from the successful 2012 project, U21 has now published the 2013 Rankings report, which gives an overview of higher education systems across the world. The project aims to highlight the importance of creating a strong environment for higher education institutions to contribute to economic and cultural development, provide a high-quality experience for students and help institutions compete for overseas applicants. Overall, in the 2013 Universitas 21 Ranking of Higher Education Systems, the top five countries were found to be the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, and Denmark. (more)

US: First Lady Michelle Obama speaks of 'hunger' for education
18 May 2013 - First Lady Michelle Obama spoke passionately about the importance of education to the African-American community in a commencement address Friday, urging more than 600 graduates of Bowie State University to honour the school's history and to pass their commitment to education on to future generations. (more)

US: Camp means community service for many young people
17 May 2013 - A survey done by the American Camp Association found that 48 per cent of responding resident camps include some type of community service. An ACA survey this year found 16 per cent added new options in the past two years. Peg Smith, the association's chief executive officer, said the value of such experiences to kids between the ages of 12 and 17 is great as they sharpen leadership and problem-solving skills while 'creativity is at an all-time high'. (more)

US: University of Southern California receives $70 million donation to help young innovators
16 May 2013 - The new Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy at the University of Southern California will offer a curriculum aimed to help young innovators create the next iPod or Facebook. USC President C. L. Max Nikias said that the donation was the largest gift from the entertainment industry to American higher education. (more)

South Africa:Gordon Institute of Business Science number one African business school
13 May 2013 - The annual UK Financial Times Executive Education rankings, a global benchmark for providers of executive education, has once again ranked the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) as the top South African and African business school for 2013. Professor Nick Binedell, dean of GIBS, said, 'We are pleased to have again been ranked in line with prestigious business schools across the world. This year it is encouraging to see another South African school ranking in the world's top fifty; we congratulate Stellenbosch Business School on this achievement.' (more)

Tunisia sets good example in education
10 May 2013 - Tunisia has set a good precedent for developing countries by meeting its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for education, says South Africa's Trade and Industry (dti) Deputy Minister Elizabeth Thabethe. The MDG for education is to ensure that by 2015, the majority of children all over the world are able to access and complete a full course of primary schooling. The deputy minister also praised the North African country for investing in its people. (more)

Natural resource revenues could nearly double school access in developing nations - UN study
7 May 2013 - Developing countries rich in natural resources can make huge gains towards universal schooling if they managed resource revenues better and devoted a significant share to education, according to a United Nations study released on 7 May. The study, entitled 'Turning the Resource Cures into a Blessing for Education', finds that revenue from natural resources could enable these countries to reach over 11 million out-of-school children. 'This is an investment in future generations that should be seized now,' UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said. (more)

Reading increases empathy, Canadian study says
7 May 2013 - A recent report suggests people who read more may have better social skills than those who don't. A recently released report commissioned by the National Reading Campaign (NRC) titled Towards Sustaining and Encouraging Reading in a Canadian Society found that reading increases empathy, academic development, and even civic engagement. (more)

US survey: Mothers lead way in discussing family finance
7 May 2013 - Who's better at getting a family to talk about money matters, mom or dad? A survey by a financial services company found that mothers clearly have the upper hand over fathers in getting the discussion started with their adult children. While all families are different, moms are often the ones who encourage conversation about such important topics as financial security in retirement, caring for an elder, and estate planning, according to survey results released Tuesday by Fidelity Investments. (more)

US: Items from Hemingway's Cuba home go to JFK Library
6 May 2013 - A new partnership will allow US scholars and the public to get a fuller view of the trove of books and records Ernest Hemingway left at his home in Cuba where he wrote some of his most famous works. Cuba and a private U.S. foundation are working together to preserve more of the novelist's papers and belongings that have been kept at his home near Havana since he died in 1961. On Monday at the US Capitol, US Representative James McGovern of Massachusetts and the Boston-based Finca Vigia Foundation are scheduled to announce the digitization of 2,000 Hemingway papers and materials. The digital copies will be transferred to Boston's John F. Kennedy Library. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

For more news and knowledge in the field of education visit: Excellence in Action

Maharishi University of Management professor honoured by the Sierra Club
17 May 2013 - Dr David Fisher, head of the Sustainable Living programme at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, was recently presented with an award of appreciation for outstanding achievement by the Southeast Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club. He was honoured for his vision and leadership in the field of sustainable living. His achievements include founding the Sustainable Living degree programme and helping to spearhead the new Sustainable Living Center. (more)

Study abroad: Maharishi University of Management announces programmes for 2013-2015
15 May 2013 - Maharishi University of Management announces its Study Abroad schedule of programmes for the next several years. Programmes are open to both MUM students and those from other colleges and universities. The initial course offerings focus on sustainability. Course leaders are faculty from MUM supported by world-class experts at each site. Programme locations include Costa Rica, Hawaii, Colombia, and Bhutan. (more)

Celebrities join forces to bring Transcendental Meditation to 1 million at-risk youth
13 May 2013 - David Lynch and Russell Brand joined forces to help bring the Transcendental Meditation technique to one million at-risk youth, during the premiere of the renowned filmmaker's new documentary, Meditation, Creativity, Peace, in Los Angeles, California, last month. The documentary chronicles Lynch's 16-country tour of European and Middle East film schools in 2007 when he addressed tens of thousands of students about his creative process, filmmaking, and his 40-year practice of Transcendental Meditation. (more)

Belgium: Consciousness-Based Education expert tours five cities
12 May 2013 - Dr Ashley Deans, an expert with many years experience in the field of Consciousness-Based Education, recently toured Belgium speaking on its benefits for both students and educators. Dr Deans' five-city tour started in Brussels with a well-attended press conference, and went on to visit the major Belgian educational centres and cities of Leuven, Ghent, Hasselt, and Antwerp, returning at the end to Brussels. (more)

MUMTV presents webcast of Women's Wisdom Weekend at Maharishi University of Management
12 May 2013 - A Women's Wisdom Weekend, sponsored by the Women's Institute at Maharishi University of Management, and Wise Women Lead, an MUM student club, took place over Mother's Day Weekend in the Argiro Student Center on the campus in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. MUMTV webcast live the Saturday afternoon discussion of what it means to be a leader as a woman in the world. (more)

Maharishi School students receive science honours at science fair
10 May 2013 - Four students from Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, recently won awards at the Eastern Iowa Science and Engineering Fair (EISEF). Awards for their projects included recognition from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the American Meteorological Society, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the US Air Force. (more)

Training leaders around the world
8 May 2013 - Jim Bagnola is a corporate educator, international speaker, and executive coach; his client list reads like a directory of Fortune 500 corporations and top government agencies. In the course of programmes he offers in leadership development, Mr Bagnola has introduced many of his clients to the Transcendental Meditation technique as an effective means to reduce stress and develop their full potential. A graduate of the MA in Maharishi Vedic Science programme at Maharishi University of Management, he has been a guest speaker in numerous classes at MUM and Maharishi School through the years, and this May is teaching his first course at the university on leadership. (more)

MIU alumnus turns hobby into successful online business
7 May 2013 - Eric Rusch, a 1982 alumnus of Maharishi International University (later Maharishi University of Management), launched his own business in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, because it is ideally suited to his business and personal needs. Eric has practised the Transcendental Meditation technique for 38 years, which has helped him handle the pressure. 'Having the time to meditate is like a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle, and going to the Dome is like going on a vacation,' he said. (more)

The advantage of Consciousness-Based Education for career success

5 May 2013 - Steve Langerud, a nationally recognized workplace consultant who has counselled thousands of students and alumni on career issues, believes that Maharishi University of Management students are uniquely positioned for career success. He has seen that employers are 'hungry' for the very qualities that Consciousness-Based Education cultivates, such as critical thinking, creativity, clarity, problem solving ability, relationship building, and collaboration. (more)

MUM Sustainable Living students learn construction skills, build frame for 'tiny house'
2 May 2013 - Students in the Sustainable Living programme at Maharishi University of Management will graduate with a very practical skill: the knowledge and ability to build their own 'tiny house'--a growing trend of building very small houses that minimize energy and environmental footprints. During a recent course, which covered much of what an architecture student would learn in the first semester of an architecture programme, students learned elements of building, principles of structure, and drafting skills, and the class as a whole built the frame of a tiny house. The course is part of the building-and-built-environment track of the Sustainable Living programme. (more)

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Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Low-income US students getting less college aid than better off ones: study
9 May 2013 - Low-income students are increasingly bypassed when colleges offer applicants financial aid, as schools compete for wealthier students who can afford rising tuition and fees, according to a public policy institute's analysis of US Department of Education data. The study by The New America Foundation said that colleges, in their quest to advance their US News & World Report rankings, are directing more financial aid to high-achieving applicants in a bid to elevate the profile of their student population. While the federal government issues guidelines on distribution of its grants, it doesn't regulate aid from an institution's coffers. Colleges have fiercely fought efforts by lawmakers to force greater transparency in financial aid practices. (more)

US preschools see sharp drop in funding - study
29 April 2013 - Enrollment in US preschools stalled over the past year as states recovering from the recent recession struggle to fund early education for the nation's youngest students, researchers said. In a report released on Monday, education experts pointed to a record drop of more than half a billion dollars in state funding in the 2011-2012 school year from the prior year. The report also found that for the first time in a decade, the percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled did not grow. Overall, 1.3 million children attended state-run preschools in 2011-2012. Overall, state funding per child fell by more than $400 to $3,841 per child on average in 2011-2012, the first year such funding dropped below $4,000 per student, the report said. Few states met the institute's 10 benchmarks to assess quality such as teacher training, learning standards, and class size, in large part due to funding cuts, the report said. (more)

South Sudan's gender gap still too wide
8 March 2013 - Years after the end of South Sudan's war with Sudan, the country's women still find themselves on the front line -- this time, battling abuse, child marriage, and a dowry system that commodifies them from birth. 'You can't speak to people about going to the police if they don't even think it's wrong,' said Paleki Matthew, who runs the NGO South Sudan Women's Empowerment Network (SSWEN). Marriage itself can set the stage for abuse. The age of consent in South Sudan is 18, but the 2010 Sudan Household Health Survey indicates about 38 per cent of girls are married before that age; this figure rises to 54 per cent for the poorest households. Additionally, many members of the police and judiciary still practice early marriage, reinforcing the tradition. 'It's tradition itself which puts the women in a very submissive position. If you see agriculture, you see all the processes are being done by women -- from farming to selling at market. But when it comes to money, the men control everything,' said Teresa Aduong. (more)

US young men, minorities, worse off in hunt for college degrees: study
1 March 2013 - Wide racial and gender gaps persist among young Americans when it comes to earning a college degree and getting a job, according to fresh data from a 14-year government survey released on Friday. The study of about 9,000 25-year-olds -- part of the so-called 'millennial generation' -- found 30 per cent of such young women in the United States had earned a bachelor's degree compared to 22 per cent of men. Those women who had at least a bachelor's degree were more likely to be employed than similarly educated men and spend less time out of work, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics said. The agency, which is part of the US Department of Labour, also found large educational differences by race. At age 25, blacks and Hispanics were twice as likely as whites to be high school dropouts, while whites were more than twice as likely to have earned a bachelor's degree, the survey showed. While 30 per cent of whites had graduated from college by their mid-20's, only 14 per cent of blacks and 12 per cent of Hispanics had done so, it found. That gap translated to a wide disparity for employment, especially among those with the least education. (more)

Class of 2012: Diploma dilemma for Europe grads
7 January 2013 - As globalization intensifies competition and a devastating economic crisis swells youth unemployment, European educators, industry, and governments across the continent are slowly coming to acknowledge that Europe's universities, many founded during the Middle Ages, are failing to prepare students for the demands of the 21st century world. The failure of Europe's universities is also reflected in their weak showing in the most closely-watched barometer of university performance -- Shanghai Jiaotong University's annual ranking of the world's universities, which places only two European universities, Oxford and Cambridge, in the top 20. Much of the blame can be placed on Europe's economic crisis, but experts say the problem also lies with the universities themselves, which are often accused of imparting theoretical abstraction with little practical application in the real world. Data from the EU Commission show the disparity that exists between the EU and the United States in terms of spending on university education: total spending in the European Union accounts for 1.3 per cent of GDP, compared to 3.3 per cent in the United States. On a per student basis, that translates to annual spending of euros 8,700 in the EU versus euros 36,500 in the US. (more)

US: Allergies, extra weight tied to bullying
24 December 2012 - Kids who have food allergies or are overweight may be especially likely to get bullied by their peers, two new studies suggest. Not surprisingly, researchers also found targets of bullying were more distressed and anxious and had a worse quality of life, in general, than those who weren't picked on. Bullying has become a concern among parents, doctors and school administrators since research and news stories emerged linking bullying -- including online 'cyberbullying' -- with depression and even suicide. Studies suggest between one in ten and one in three of all kids and teens are bullied -- but those figures may vary by location and demographics, researchers noted. (more)

Plight of teen prompts education debate, protest in China
22 December 2012 - China's 230 million migrant workers have been the oarsmen of the world's second-biggest economy, but have long been treated as second-class citizens with unequal access to education, health, and other services tied to official residence status. Millions of children whose parents belong to China's vast migrant workforce are barred from taking senior high school or college entrance exams where they live by half-century-old policies on household registration, or hukou. Their only choices are pursuing a vocational education, or moving to their ancestral vilages. The hukou system has split China's population in two for decades, affording different privileges and opportunities to urban and rural residents. It is a major challenge for China's new economic policymakers under Premier-in-waiting Li Keqiang as they try to push urbanisation as an engine of growth. (more)

Jordan: Syrian child refugees who work - culture or coping mechanism?
17 December 2012 - More than half the Syrian refugees in Jordan are under 18, and while the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) does not have any figures, it says it has observed a 'tendency' of Syrian children working in Za'atari refugee camp. Established in July 80km north of the capital Amman along the border with Syria, the camp is now home to at least 42,000 Syrians. Children there try to sell everything from cigarettes and sweets, to vegetables and clothes. Samir Badran, UNICEF's public information officer in Jordan, said some of the working children are the family's only breadwinners, their fathers either dead or still in Syria. For some refugees, children working is more a long-standing tradition than a by-product of conflict-induced desperation. 'I see children hanging around the camp and when I ask them, 'why don't you go to school?' they say they either have to work or that they would not be enrolled at school in Syria anyway,' said an aid worker who spoke on condition of anonymity. And the practice is not limited to the refugees. In Jordan, some 30,000 children work, mainly in shops, cafes, and restaurants, according to a 2007 study by the Public Statistic Department and the International Labour Organization. (more)

British aid fails to improve Nigerian schools
20 November 2012 - Britain has failed to make major improvements to schools in Nigeria despite spending millions of pounds on the West African state's education system, a British aid watchdog said on Tuesday. Britain has spent 102 million pounds ($162 million) in the past seven years on a project to increase the number of girls in school and another that gave advice on how to improve the quality of education -- but to little effect, the group said. Western development projects in Africa have been criticised for years as wasteful, ineffective, encouraging dependency, and undermined by corruption, though donors say they bring tangible results. The London-based ICAI, which scrutinises British overseas aid and reports to parliament, gave Britain's education programmes in Nigeria its second lowest rating. It said the schools British money was currently going to, were hampered by a lack of good teachers, poor infrastructure, and unpredictable state funding. (more)

US troops' kids early victims of Congress budget inaction
20 August 2012 - Amid all the hand-wringing in the US Congress over 2 January spending cuts that would wallop military and domestic programs, children of American soldiers already are feeling the pinch of a budget mess. Already gone are baseball, swimming, and cross-country running programs, as well as positions that went unfilled when some staffers retired. Districts whose boundaries are identical to the military bases they serve, are particularly hard-hit by budget cuts because they contain no private real estate upon which to draw property taxes. The stressed school systems are one more instance of a country struggling to keep up with the needs of military families, worn down by a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The budget cuts being felt now in public schools serving the military and Native Americans are just a taste of what schools across the country will experience starting in September 2013, altogether, as many as 80,000 jobs could be lost in one year, the National Education Association estimates. (more)