News in Brief

“But there is a lot to be gained from this. Making knowledge accessible to all is the best way to prove that we are taking ourselves seriously when we say that half of the Dutch population must be able to work and think on a level of higher education.”
Top rank

Of the three Dutch universities of technology, TU Delft ranked the highest in a ranking of the world’s best universities, compiled by Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University. TU Delft had a shared ranking of 203 to 300 on the world ranking, and 80 to 123 on the European ranking. This was the highest ranking of the three Dutch technological universities. Last year TU Delft was ranked equally with the University of Twente, but this year Twente dropped to a 301 to 400 ranking, which it shares with the University of Eindhoven. Harvard and Cambridge ranked numbers one and two on the list. The University of Utrecht was the highest ranked Dutch University: it ranked number 41 on the Shanghai list and number 6 in Europe. The Chinese ranking is based on the number of articles a university publishes in leading journals and on the number of awards its alumni and researchers have won.
Shaw prizes

Four prominent scholars received Shaw Prizes worth $1-million each. This international award honors breakthroughs in academic and scientific research. This year’s winners include astronomer Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, whose team discovered more than 110 extra solar planets; and Professor Sir Michael Berridge of Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK, for his discoveries on calcium signaling in the regulation of cellular activity. Professor Andrew John Wiles of Princeton University was awarded the Shaw Prize in mathematics for his proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.
Cultural Centre

As of this academic year, the TU Delft Cultural Centre has started a special supplementary course program for the university’s foreign students. The program on offer this year will include courses in photography, acting and performance. The times that these courses will be offered are flexible. This year’s special supplementary program is a test run: International students are invited to offer suggestions for an expanded course selection for next year’s programs.
Rent

A recent TU Delft International Relations Office survey has revealed that many foreign MSc students found the rents for student housing to be much too high. This ‘Exit Research’ survey questioned MSc students who studied at TU Delft from 2003-2005. Approximately 150 students took part in the survey, of which 81 students were Chinese. 82 percent of all surveyed had rented rooms from Duwo for short or long periods of time. 94% said the rents were too high. Nearly three-quarters of the students said they would have preferred living in shared student houses than in single apartments. 70% said they mostly socialized with other foreign students while at TU Delft. Indonesian and Latin American students especially expressed the desire to socialize more with Dutch students. Further, approximately three-quarters of the students said they felt at home in the Netherlands after three months. For 67 percent of the respondents, the fact that the TU Master’s programs are offered in English was the main reason why they came to the Netherlands to study.
Just curious

The first undergraduate course on gay studies ever offered at a Chinese university has drawn far more applicants than the 100 available seats. Sun Zhongxin, associate professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University organized the course, which will focus on health, legal and social issues related to homosexuality. Ms. Sun said the new course’s popularity stemmed from ignorance about gay issues in China: “The students don’t know much about homosexuality and really want to know more.” China stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness in 2001.

Open university

The Open University plans to make all its study materials freely available on the Internet. “This will only cost the Dutch government 12 million euro per year,” said Thijs Wöltgens, chairman of the university board. “But there is a lot to be gained from this. Making knowledge accessible to all is the best way to prove that we are taking ourselves seriously when we say that half of the Dutch population must be able to work and think on a level of higher education.”
Top rank

Of the three Dutch universities of technology, TU Delft ranked the highest in a ranking of the world’s best universities, compiled by Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University. TU Delft had a shared ranking of 203 to 300 on the world ranking, and 80 to 123 on the European ranking. This was the highest ranking of the three Dutch technological universities. Last year TU Delft was ranked equally with the University of Twente, but this year Twente dropped to a 301 to 400 ranking, which it shares with the University of Eindhoven. Harvard and Cambridge ranked numbers one and two on the list. The University of Utrecht was the highest ranked Dutch University: it ranked number 41 on the Shanghai list and number 6 in Europe. The Chinese ranking is based on the number of articles a university publishes in leading journals and on the number of awards its alumni and researchers have won.
Shaw prizes

Four prominent scholars received Shaw Prizes worth $1-million each. This international award honors breakthroughs in academic and scientific research. This year’s winners include astronomer Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, whose team discovered more than 110 extra solar planets; and Professor Sir Michael Berridge of Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK, for his discoveries on calcium signaling in the regulation of cellular activity. Professor Andrew John Wiles of Princeton University was awarded the Shaw Prize in mathematics for his proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.
Cultural Centre

As of this academic year, the TU Delft Cultural Centre has started a special supplementary course program for the university’s foreign students. The program on offer this year will include courses in photography, acting and performance. The times that these courses will be offered are flexible. This year’s special supplementary program is a test run: International students are invited to offer suggestions for an expanded course selection for next year’s programs.
Rent

A recent TU Delft International Relations Office survey has revealed that many foreign MSc students found the rents for student housing to be much too high. This ‘Exit Research’ survey questioned MSc students who studied at TU Delft from 2003-2005. Approximately 150 students took part in the survey, of which 81 students were Chinese. 82 percent of all surveyed had rented rooms from Duwo for short or long periods of time. 94% said the rents were too high. Nearly three-quarters of the students said they would have preferred living in shared student houses than in single apartments. 70% said they mostly socialized with other foreign students while at TU Delft. Indonesian and Latin American students especially expressed the desire to socialize more with Dutch students. Further, approximately three-quarters of the students said they felt at home in the Netherlands after three months. For 67 percent of the respondents, the fact that the TU Master’s programs are offered in English was the main reason why they came to the Netherlands to study.
Just curious

The first undergraduate course on gay studies ever offered at a Chinese university has drawn far more applicants than the 100 available seats. Sun Zhongxin, associate professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University organized the course, which will focus on health, legal and social issues related to homosexuality. Ms. Sun said the new course’s popularity stemmed from ignorance about gay issues in China: “The students don’t know much about homosexuality and really want to know more.” China stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness in 2001.