Nibs

A recent initiative by the Innovation Platform means that people working in the knowledge sector (for example foreign professors and PhD students) can now receive green cards, making it easier and quicker for them to start working in the Netherlands. These ‘knowledge workers’ no longer have to deal with the slow and often frustrating IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Department) visa procedures. Under this green card regulation, a person must earn 45,000 euros per year minimum, although PhD students, post-docs, and university instructors younger than 30-years-old needn’t meet this financial requirement. Foreign students however aren’t covered by this new green card regulation; they receive one-year residence visas, which must be renewed annually. But the coalition of Dutch educational organisations argue that foreigner students are also vital for country’s knowledge economy and that therefore foreign students should also be granted green cards.
Antz

Ants are he latest weapon in the ongoing struggle against traffic jams. These stubborn, hardworking creatures have a knack for finding the shortest route from the ants’ nest to food. When they run into a stone or an anteater, they very quickly plan the shortest route back to the food source. Dr. Leon Rothkrantz of TU Delft’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science studied this behaviour and devised an Ant Based Control algorithm. Based on this algorithm, a new route-planner is capable of adapting to the amount of traffic in the city. This makes it ideally suited for dealing with unexpected traffic jams. In future, such a route-planner will enable drivers to tell a central system where they are, using a satellite connection. Currently, a computer simulation at the university is being ‘fed’ with real traffic data from Berlin.
Irish quotas

Trinity College Dublin is the first university in Ireland to create a quota system. The college will reserve 15% of its places for students drawn from non-traditional backgrounds, that is, students from poorer backgrounds, students with disabilities and mature students. Under the new arrangement, about 350 of the 2,500 first-year places will be given to these students. The new quota system will be implemented next September. The college says this new quota is part of Trinity’s wider social obligation. Tackling educational disadvantage is now a “major priority”, a spokesperson said.
Maoist victory

The Nepal government agreed to demands made by a university student group allied with the country’s Maoist rebels, ending a two-week strike that kept millions of students from attending class. More than 4,000 schools reopened Monday in Kathmandu after the two-week strike ended. The leftist students enforced a strike to demand lower tuition. Almost all private and state schools, including universities, had shut down, fearing rebel retaliation if they stayed open. After hectic negotiations and mediation by Nepalese human rights organizations, an agreement was reached with the pro-Maoist All Nepal National Free Students’ Union-Revolutionary. Private school administrators pledged to reduce tuition fees by between 10 to 15 percent, curtail spending on building construction and maintenance to offset revenue shortfalls, and abolish mandatory ‘re-admission’ fees charged to students if they passed examinations and moved on to another class.

Flashback

The TU Delft student team Nerds (Nuon Energy Research Delft Students) has won the Energy Flashback 2050 competition, beating a team from the University of Groningen in the final, which was held at Nuon’s headquarters in Amsterdam. The competition involved the student team being locked in a think-tank for 36 hours. Nuon showed the students a vision of an ideal future, and the students had to then determine which social, political, economic and technological developments were needed to create this ideal future. The jury found that the Delft team was superior in fundamentally grasping the problem, presenting its conclusions convincingly and in having a clear vision of when the proposed changes must be implemented.

Green Cards

A coalition of Dutch educational organisations sent a written proposal to Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, requesting that foreign students and guest researchers be granted work and study green cards. A recent initiative by the Innovation Platform means that people working in the knowledge sector (for example foreign professors and PhD students) can now receive green cards, making it easier and quicker for them to start working in the Netherlands. These ‘knowledge workers’ no longer have to deal with the slow and often frustrating IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Department) visa procedures. Under this green card regulation, a person must earn 45,000 euros per year minimum, although PhD students, post-docs, and university instructors younger than 30-years-old needn’t meet this financial requirement. Foreign students however aren’t covered by this new green card regulation; they receive one-year residence visas, which must be renewed annually. But the coalition of Dutch educational organisations argue that foreigner students are also vital for country’s knowledge economy and that therefore foreign students should also be granted green cards.
Antz

Ants are he latest weapon in the ongoing struggle against traffic jams. These stubborn, hardworking creatures have a knack for finding the shortest route from the ants’ nest to food. When they run into a stone or an anteater, they very quickly plan the shortest route back to the food source. Dr. Leon Rothkrantz of TU Delft’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science studied this behaviour and devised an Ant Based Control algorithm. Based on this algorithm, a new route-planner is capable of adapting to the amount of traffic in the city. This makes it ideally suited for dealing with unexpected traffic jams. In future, such a route-planner will enable drivers to tell a central system where they are, using a satellite connection. Currently, a computer simulation at the university is being ‘fed’ with real traffic data from Berlin.
Irish quotas

Trinity College Dublin is the first university in Ireland to create a quota system. The college will reserve 15% of its places for students drawn from non-traditional backgrounds, that is, students from poorer backgrounds, students with disabilities and mature students. Under the new arrangement, about 350 of the 2,500 first-year places will be given to these students. The new quota system will be implemented next September. The college says this new quota is part of Trinity’s wider social obligation. Tackling educational disadvantage is now a “major priority”, a spokesperson said.
Maoist victory

The Nepal government agreed to demands made by a university student group allied with the country’s Maoist rebels, ending a two-week strike that kept millions of students from attending class. More than 4,000 schools reopened Monday in Kathmandu after the two-week strike ended. The leftist students enforced a strike to demand lower tuition. Almost all private and state schools, including universities, had shut down, fearing rebel retaliation if they stayed open. After hectic negotiations and mediation by Nepalese human rights organizations, an agreement was reached with the pro-Maoist All Nepal National Free Students’ Union-Revolutionary. Private school administrators pledged to reduce tuition fees by between 10 to 15 percent, curtail spending on building construction and maintenance to offset revenue shortfalls, and abolish mandatory ‘re-admission’ fees charged to students if they passed examinations and moved on to another class.

Flashback

The TU Delft student team Nerds (Nuon Energy Research Delft Students) has won the Energy Flashback 2050 competition, beating a team from the University of Groningen in the final, which was held at Nuon’s headquarters in Amsterdam. The competition involved the student team being locked in a think-tank for 36 hours. Nuon showed the students a vision of an ideal future, and the students had to then determine which social, political, economic and technological developments were needed to create this ideal future. The jury found that the Delft team was superior in fundamentally grasping the problem, presenting its conclusions convincingly and in having a clear vision of when the proposed changes must be implemented.