This February, in Rwinkwavu’s training and research center, a combined 30 African medical leaders, Harvard faculty, and health workers (most of them employed by Rwanda’s Health Ministry) came together for a one-week course exploring the challenges of healthcare in impoverished regions. During the week, professors and students went over case studies and carried out field visits all over Rwanda. Six of their students will go on to teach the next session, which will take place in July.

Dr. Paul Farmer, the chairman of Harvard’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and co-founder of Partners in Health, an NGO working in the healthcare sector, says, “Too many people in public health have been socialized for scarcity, the idea that we just have to make do with less…that socialization for scarcity has prevented innovation. That’s really what the course is about: confronting the socialization to scarcity and combating it.”

Creative Commons Love: Hjalmar Gislason on Flickr.com

Now, a new study supports the idea that “tiger mothering” makes kids more prone to depression and anxiety.

Assistant Professor at Michigan State University’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies Desiree Baolian Qin’s study involved close to 500 high-achieving Chinese students who ranked themselves as feeling more pressured and less happy than their Caucasian counterparts.

And wouldn’t you know it? According to Qin, a child’s happiness is pretty important to his or her development.

Qin is an author of two soon-to-be-published papers about the study, one in the journal New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development and the other in the Journal of Adolescence. An excerpt from the former paper:

“In more than half of the families, students talked about education being a ‘family matter,’ causing frequent friction and tension at home. Another area of conflict around education reported by students was that their parents often had very strong emotional reactions to their ‘failures’ in school, including getting angry and yelling.

“Another common source of conflict was parents’ comparisons of their children with others who were academically superior to them, with students recognizing that their parents often used this kind of comparison to motivate them to perform better but admitting it often had the opposite effect.

“Even more concerning,” says Qin, “is that for many children, such constant comparisons can lead to problems with self-esteem and even depression.”

For more details on Qin’s research, please click here.

Creative Commons Love: Verent Chan on Flickr.com

Higher ed financing in Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently below both European and the regional levels, and there is a small number of criteria used to finance higher education institutions. Considering that BiH is currently undergoing the Bologna process implementation, it is necessary to have an adequate financing system in place in order to ensure the quality and success of the process and to secure proper university accreditation and recognition of diplomas.

The EU’s “Reform of Higher Education Financing in Bosnia and Herzegovina” project aims to improve and modernize higher ed financing and create a system that is sustainable and efficient. It will be implemented in two stages over a two-year period: Component one—models of reforms of financing and development of models and piloting—and component 2—development of standards and an action plan for the introduction of mid-term financial planning. It is emphasized that the money was not intended to finance higher education institutions but rather to be used as a support fund for educational authorities in BiH to implement reforms in higher education concerning the financing of public universities.

Creative Commons Love: European Parliament photo on Flickr.com

Security forces and militiamen shot live ammunition. They were dispersing the protest outside of the university dormitory. It’s been reported that at least four students were killed. As many as 200 students have been arrested. The university has suspended all classes for the rest of the current academic year.

The student protest began in March 2011, against President Bashar al-Assad. While tear gas and batons have been used to disperse protests, in the past few days tougher tactics have been adopted. These harsher assaults are being used to re-instill the fear that had once prevented students from starting an uprising. With less fear, the number of students joining the protest has been increasing. “All our lives we were raised to be afraid,” said a university student who’s involved in the relief effort. “But you get to a point where you realize you are strong because you can speak and do.”

Deir Ezzor University and Damascus University also saw an increase in protests on their campuses. In turn, security forces also raided the campuses, arresting a number of people.

The violence continues despite the Syrian government’s agreement to abide by the terms of Resolution 2042 (2012). This peace plan has been negotiated by the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Kofi Annan. The plan included a ceasefire and consent to allow peaceful protests.

Click below to see YouTube video reportedly from the protest at Aleppo University.

Creative Commons Love: FreedomHouse on Flickr.com

Produced by researchers at the University of Melbourne’s Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, the U-21 rankings were made based on data from 48 nations and across 20 criteria in the following four categories: resources, output, connectivity, and environment. The new evaluation system was hailed as a “benchmark for governments, education institutions, and individuals…It 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 institution compete for overseas applicants”

The top ten countries in higher education are: the US, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, The Netherlands, and the UK.

But who’s really winning the race? To find out, take a look at more very interesting details on the rankings here!

Creative Commons Love: Vitor Antunes on Flickr.com

What is the lure of Educity Iskandar for foreign universities?

According to Professor Mark Spearing of the UK’s Southampton University, “Malaysia is the hub of hi-tech industry … Dyson, Rolls Royce, Lloyds Register, and BAE Systems are all interested in working with us and employing our students.”

The full campus is set to open in Fall of 2015.

Creative Commons Love: Steve Cadman on Flickr.com

Share of the Week is the open content stuff so great and awesome that we can’t keep it to ourselves.

Creative Commons Love: Andrew Stawarz on Flickr.com

The study hopes to provide insight into what youth need while allowing the government to understand what improvements can be made. With the results for this year providing less than stellar results, it remains to be seen that the government and the private sector can work to bolster the education system.

YDx manages various brands to aid school campaigns, which increases the potential for new textbooks and lesson plans. The government and the private sector can work together through such means to increase the quality of education and the work force alike.

Creative Commons Love: DFID – UK Department for International Development on Flickr.com

With their flatulence and burps!

In a recently published article in the journal Current Biology, David Wilkinson of Liverpool John Moores University studied the Mesozoic sauropod dinosaurs—the long-necked plant eaters—and their metabolisms. He argues that due to the saurpod’s mass, the food was digested and fermented in their guts with methane-producing microbes for long periods of time. In the end—literally—these dinosaurs would release large amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere.

The study suggests that the sauropods released a significant amount of methane per year-enough so that it is comparable to modern-day methane emission (both natural and anthropogenic). Today, cows are the most well-known animals that produce methane gas, though they release significantly less compared to either the dinosaurs or modern-day emissions. The cows do not release enough gas alone to have the same impact that the sauropods had on the climate.

Wilkinson, however, does not solely blame the sauropods as the source of climate change during the Mesozoic Era. He states that there are other factors that could have influenced the atmosphere. The sauropod dinosaurs merely played a significant role.

Creative Commons Love: Mike Shaver on Flickr.com

The new program will provide 120 grants totaling USD $10.5 million and is part of a five-year plan that will strengthen the relationship between China and Israel and promote joint research projects between the two nations, something that began with a 2007 research agreement.

Director-General of the CHE Professor Manuel Trajtenberg said, “Within that context, the context of increasing our strategic links with China in this area, we have essentially drawn a plan, an initial plan that consists of three elements. One is bringing to Israel and giving scholarships to post-doctorate young researchers; the second is [to] bring to Israel Chinese students to study undergraduate programs and master’s programs; and the third is a collaboration in research.”

For now, the program is primarily for those students studying sciences, but there is room for future growth. According to Professor Trajtenberg, ”Essentially we want to open our universities to Chinese students for all fields according to their interests.”

Creative Commons Love: Nicola Corboy on Flickr.com