HE News Brief 13.07.10

by Abby Chau

A gay-friendly university ratings and Abu Dhabi's ambitious goals for 2018 - here are this week's news stories:

• At the Saudi Arabia and Japan: A Dialogue for the Future Seminar held recently in Tokyo, the two nations heralded the need for further educational collaboration. According to the Saudi Ambassador to Japan Abdul Aziz Tukistani, Japan is the second largest trading partner of Saudi. Full Story: Arab News
• As a new fiscal year begins in the states, public colleges are experiencing a tough time as federal stimulus money dries up. Hawaii slashed their educational budget by 26%, and Florida has laid off 21 tenured and 34 tenure-track professors after $82 million was cut from their budget. Full Story: USA Today
• Executive Director of Strategic Affairs Rafic Makki delivered Abu Dhabi's Higher Education Strategic Plan recently. Under the Economic Vision 2030, the country plans to move away from oil based revenue and develop a research and knowledge-based workforce. The government plans to invest 1 billion dollars to accomplish this Vision with the goal of having two Abu Dhabi universities ranking on a global Top 100 by 2018. Full Story: University World News
• Lobby Group Stonewall has published a new universities ratings guide which analyses gay-friendly universities. Measuring 125 institutions using 10 indicators, Stonewall rated marks for LGBT initiatives such as availability of counselling and a strong anti-harassment policy. Birmingham, Cambridge, and King's College did extremely well, scoring nine out of the ten indicators while Huddersfield and Strathclyde poorly performed, with only two points. Full Story: Guardian