Nibs

The case stems from that of Dany Bidar, a student from France who attended high school in England and then enrolled at University College London. Bidar applied for a national student grant. He received a grant for his tuition, but not for his living expenses. Bidar sued on the grounds of discrimination and won.
No speed limit

On the websites of various student residences, students are debating the decision taken by the university’ information management department to limit the maximum speed of the network in student residences to eight megabits for downloading, and one megabit for uploading. According to TU student Jochem van Dieten, network overseer for Roland Holstlaan and De Van Hasseltlaan, the problem of the slow network will not be solved by the implementation of the maximum speed. For Van Dieten, it’s above all a matter of principle: “The technological requirement regarding the speed of the network was that it must always be able to accommodate the newest applications. This principle has now been abandoned.” In general, Van Dieten is not against a maximum speed, but it shouldn’t be so rigorously applied: “Without limits, the situation is uncontrollable. Students download music and films and that creates problems. Limits are needed, but not between the student and the university, which is the plan now, but between the student and the Internet.”
Techno-starters

The municipalities of Delft and Rotterdam are starting a new project, Awareness, which a spokesman said is focussed on “creating awareness about entrepreneurship, so that a conscious choice can be made between working for a company or starting your own business.” The municipalities want to help students and graduates start their own businesses. Delft has a series of plans in place to help stimulate techno-starters. The Awareness project will cost Delft, Rotterdam and Zuid-Holland province some 1.3 million euro over the coming three years.
U.S. decline

Applications from foreign students to American graduate schools have dropped again this year. A new survey shows international interest in studying at American graduate schools declining for the second straight year, a sign of the continued impact of visa delays and growing competition from foreign universities. The Council of Graduate Schools (CSG) estimates foreign applications to U.S. graduate programs for the upcoming school year are down 5 percent. That compares with a 28-percent decline in applications last year, the CSG said. Following that drop, about 6 percent fewer international students wound up entering U.S. graduate schools for the 2004-05 year. American universities enroll about 215,000 international graduate students, compared to about 350,000 undergraduates, and in many cases depend heavily on them for teaching and research – particularly in engineering and the sciences. Applications from the two largest source countries, China and India, are down 13 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Students from those countries are increasingly being lured by stronger domestic programs or by programs in Europe and Australia that are recruiting aggressively.
Ockels complains

TU Delft Professor Wubbo Ockels, the former Dutch astronaut, has filed a complaint with the Council of Journalists, charging a journalist from the Dutch national newspaper, de Volkskrant, with slander. In the article that Ockels objects to, the journalist wrote about Ockels’ plans for a super-fast bus. The article was entitled, “With Wubbo in the racing bus to Beijing”. Ockels says the article was “misleading” for readers and “unjustifiably damaging to students and TU Delft; moreover the article expresses contempt for projects that I initiated and which are important for society….” Ockels is especially angry about the end of the article, where journalist Broer Scholtens wrote, “His [Ockels’] students were working on something new. In 1997, the astronaut patented an idea for a super airplane, with 200 hundred wings, each measuring 3,000 square meters. The airplane was supposed to float 10 kilometres up and take wind energy from the atmosphere. TU students spent a lot of time working out the project’s calculations. But since 2003, nothing more has been heard about this giga-flyer.”

Student grants

The European Court of Justice ruled that students from other EU countries can receive student grants in the Netherlands, if they have a ‘real connection’ to the Netherlands. The case stems from that of Dany Bidar, a student from France who attended high school in England and then enrolled at University College London. Bidar applied for a national student grant. He received a grant for his tuition, but not for his living expenses. Bidar sued on the grounds of discrimination and won.
No speed limit

On the websites of various student residences, students are debating the decision taken by the university’ information management department to limit the maximum speed of the network in student residences to eight megabits for downloading, and one megabit for uploading. According to TU student Jochem van Dieten, network overseer for Roland Holstlaan and De Van Hasseltlaan, the problem of the slow network will not be solved by the implementation of the maximum speed. For Van Dieten, it’s above all a matter of principle: “The technological requirement regarding the speed of the network was that it must always be able to accommodate the newest applications. This principle has now been abandoned.” In general, Van Dieten is not against a maximum speed, but it shouldn’t be so rigorously applied: “Without limits, the situation is uncontrollable. Students download music and films and that creates problems. Limits are needed, but not between the student and the university, which is the plan now, but between the student and the Internet.”
Techno-starters

The municipalities of Delft and Rotterdam are starting a new project, Awareness, which a spokesman said is focussed on “creating awareness about entrepreneurship, so that a conscious choice can be made between working for a company or starting your own business.” The municipalities want to help students and graduates start their own businesses. Delft has a series of plans in place to help stimulate techno-starters. The Awareness project will cost Delft, Rotterdam and Zuid-Holland province some 1.3 million euro over the coming three years.
U.S. decline

Applications from foreign students to American graduate schools have dropped again this year. A new survey shows international interest in studying at American graduate schools declining for the second straight year, a sign of the continued impact of visa delays and growing competition from foreign universities. The Council of Graduate Schools (CSG) estimates foreign applications to U.S. graduate programs for the upcoming school year are down 5 percent. That compares with a 28-percent decline in applications last year, the CSG said. Following that drop, about 6 percent fewer international students wound up entering U.S. graduate schools for the 2004-05 year. American universities enroll about 215,000 international graduate students, compared to about 350,000 undergraduates, and in many cases depend heavily on them for teaching and research – particularly in engineering and the sciences. Applications from the two largest source countries, China and India, are down 13 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Students from those countries are increasingly being lured by stronger domestic programs or by programs in Europe and Australia that are recruiting aggressively.
Ockels complains

TU Delft Professor Wubbo Ockels, the former Dutch astronaut, has filed a complaint with the Council of Journalists, charging a journalist from the Dutch national newspaper, de Volkskrant, with slander. In the article that Ockels objects to, the journalist wrote about Ockels’ plans for a super-fast bus. The article was entitled, “With Wubbo in the racing bus to Beijing”. Ockels says the article was “misleading” for readers and “unjustifiably damaging to students and TU Delft; moreover the article expresses contempt for projects that I initiated and which are important for society….” Ockels is especially angry about the end of the article, where journalist Broer Scholtens wrote, “His [Ockels’] students were working on something new. In 1997, the astronaut patented an idea for a super airplane, with 200 hundred wings, each measuring 3,000 square meters. The airplane was supposed to float 10 kilometres up and take wind energy from the atmosphere. TU students spent a lot of time working out the project’s calculations. But since 2003, nothing more has been heard about this giga-flyer.”