Conferences are an inescapable part of academic life. They have many positive virtues – such as air miles and a chance to polish your reputation in public. But let’s be honest, they can be irritating. Put on your misspelt name badge and consider a few of the downsides – and then you can suggest your own least favourite items on the agenda.
Read more: BBC News: What makes a conference really irritating?
There are women walking through Accra’s crowded streets performing remarkable balancing acts. They have pyramids of fruit, water bottles and coils of clothing carried in bundles on their head. Their backs are ram-rod straight, their footing certain even in the steaming wet heat of Ghana’s rainy season. But there are other bigger balancing acts facing young women in this West African country. How do they stay in education and avoid pressures such as early marriage and leaving school without any of the basic skills needed for work?
Read more: BBC News: Lessons in girl power in Ghana’s schools
Online university courses have been caught up in US trade sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Sudan, so that students in those countries have been blocked from many free courses from US universities. Coursera says it has been “working closely with governing authorities to navigate licences and permissions” and, as a result, “Iranian learners will now regain access to the majority of Coursera’s courses”.
Read more: BBC News: Iran’s students to have US online courses
The maths skills of teenagers in parts of the deep south of the United States are worse than in countries such as Turkey and barely above countries such as Chile and Mexico.
Read more: BBC News: US ‘in denial’ over poor maths standards
Providing an education for children in such sparsely-populated rural areas is one of China’s major challenges. While the economic and social development of these rural regions has been remarkable, China’s coastal cities are racing ahead at an even faster pace.
Read more: BBC News: Rural China’s tough lessons in resilience
The report, based on the latest data which is from 2011, shows that there are still 57 million children who do not even get the first basics of schooling. More optimistically, this represents an almost 50% drop in out-of-school children since 2000.
