iFacts (Pty) Ltd’s Post

"Occupiers have no right to interfere with Jewish professors and students, or anyone else, going about their lawful business, simply because the occupiers, displaying their virulent anti-Semitism, blame Jews in Canada for the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza. That’s as vile as blaming Muslims in Canada for the terrorism of Hamas. For those reasons, the University of Toronto and other Canadian universities where these encampments are now entrenched, should have broken them up the moment the occupiers arrived on campus to create them. Having failed to do so, it is still better to act now than to do nothing. This is not about suppressing free speech, it is about trespassing...no university should cave in to them in order to get the occupiers to leave, because the occupiers have no right to be where they are, in the first place. Imagine if every group with an axe to grind about Canadian foreign policy was setting up encampments on university property, including occupiers who do not even attend the university in question and who, in some cases, are professional agitators.   It’s time to dispense with the myth that these university encampments — which have been occurring across North America — are spontaneous outbursts expressing concern about the Israel/Hamas war. They are organized political theatre and the longer they are allowed to remain on university campuses, the harder it will be to remove them." https://lnkd.in/gDpiVG_M

The number of foreign students in Georgia is reaching unprecedented levels. Recent data shows that 17.2% of students in Georgia come from abroad, up from 4.9% in 2015. For comparison, the proportion of foreign students is about 10.3% in Sweden and around 18% in Czechia. In the 2023-2024 academic year, Georgia had 30,700 foreign students, marking a 22.5% increase from the previous year. The majority of these students come from India, with significant numbers from Jordan, Israel, and Egypt, while European students are less represented. Academic programmes in healthcare, social sciences, business, and law are the most demanded by these foreign students. A commentary by Tamta Jijavadze. Read here: https://buff.ly/4cZ6clg

"Knowing who one’s premier is, or (better) whether education is a provincial or federal concern, is important. But these institutions do more than simply impart factual knowledge about our laws, institutions, or history. They also cultivate intellectual and moral habits of civility and deliberation that democratic citizenship requires and that are lacking in our politically polarized age...By learning to think together in seminars, students learn the habits of intellectual humility and civility that come from engaging and even befriending persons with ideas and interpretations very different from their own." Great piece here!

If you recall, The Chronicle of Higher Education posted an article titled “Scholars who Study the Middle East Are Afraid to Speak Out - link: https://lnkd.in/eNqgCiWG This is a prime example of what the article states as “The policing of campus discourse around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is nothing new, of course. There is a long history of external groups such as Campus Watch and Canary Mission mobilizing pressure on allegedly anti-Israeli professors. For years, campuses have repeatedly been disrupted by controversies, intense moments of polarization, clashes between students, and 𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨-𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬.” Shame on Indiana University Bloomington administration for succumbing to political pressure from the likes of Jim Banks. Having known both Professor Sinno and congressman Banks I can assure you of Professor Sinno’s impeccable integrity. Something I can’t say about the congressman however https://lnkd.in/e8-VcxrU

🇬🇪 The number of foreign students in Georgia is reaching unprecedented levels. Recent data shows that 17.2% of students in Georgia come from abroad, up from 4.9% in 2015. For comparison, the proportion of foreign students is about 10.3% in Sweden and around 18% in Czechia. In the 2023-2024 academic year, Georgia had 30,700 foreign students, marking a 22.5% increase from the previous year. The majority of these students come from India, with significant numbers from Jordan, Israel, and Egypt, while European students are less represented. Academic programmes in healthcare, social sciences, business, and law are the most demanded by these foreign students.

I am a Birkbeck, University of London student and the "Mature Student Officer" in the Student Parliament. Universities are designed to promote #dialogue, open #discussions, #integration among different #cultures, and spread #knowledge. Everybody must be and feel safe to come, enjoy and study at the university, regardless of his/her background, culture, and beliefs. Some people have expressed to me that they do not feel safe when coming to the university recently. It is quite astonishing that in the last meeting of the Birkbeck Students' Union Student Parliament, we spent most of the time talking about support for Palestine, the creation of new student officers for this topic, listening to external supporters of Palestine and starting a commission to check the connection between the university and Israel. I am deeply concerned about what the Parliament is doing. In my view, this is beyond the scope of the Parliament itself. The Parliament must focus on the well-being of all students at the university, highlight what needs improvement, and be vigilant in case any injustice or abuse against students is taking place. In the last meeting, the Parliament decided to create a Palestinian and a Jewish representative. I believe those decisions were made without carefully considering the implications. Furthermore, this decision was made in the last meeting, and in September, a new election of the members will take place. I think the Parliament can't make a very delicate decision in a matter of minutes without considering all the implications and having a proper discussion, not only among the members of the Parliament but also with the students. If the Student Union and the Parliament fail to discern their role at the university, they risk representing only a fraction of the students or even just themselves, rather than the student body as a whole. I firmly believe that the Parliament should reconsider the decisions made in the last meeting and steer clear of engaging in matters unrelated to university life. The union's role should be centered on serving all students and fostering unity and understanding, rather than advancing divisive actions and ideologies. In summary, I urge the Parliament to refocus on matters directly related to university life and ensure that decisions are made with careful consideration and extensive discussions among all the members.

Latest from the Greek business world, Prime Minister Mitsotakis calls for the establishment of non-state universities, reiterating the commitment to modernization and no longer remaining hostages to the past. As a contrasting viewpoint, Androulakis criticizes the legislation on non-state universities, terming it as a "mimicry of reform". Debate is further fueled as Famellos asserts that Higher Education is not a commodity. Amidst such contention, a bomb threat is received at the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection. A tumultuous week for Greek businesses indeed with reforms and challenges aplenty. #GreekBusiness #Reform #HigherEducation #Mitsotakis #Androulakis #Famellos

🎉 Immensely proud to maintain our standing in the Top 100 universities in the world for Anatomy and Physiology! This great news is part of the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject. Onwards & upwards! 🌍🏅 #uOttawa #MedEd #MedEducation #MedicalEducation #Top100 #AnatomyPhysiology #QSWorldRankings

Check out the article about our 3+1 program with the Univeristy of Gjkova in Kosovo! https://lnkd.in/gvMa8Pgi Ferdi Kamberi University of Northern Iowa

👏💯👍 for this doctoral student. A true scholar in the making. His future is bright. "The vocation of the intellectual is to let suffering speak, let victims be visible, and let social misery be put on the agenda of those in power." (Cornel West) #gazagenocide #israelpalestineconflict #academia #academic #highered #highereducationleadership #university #Education #students #protests #Gazaencampments