WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Just before graduating from the University of Michigan, Calvin Schemanski began his start-up. With two classmates, he got free office space on campus and $7,500 in funding from the university’s student startup accelerator, TechArb. The project, a restaurant recommendation app called MyFab5 using a “favorites” formula, is now preparing a national launch. The project is among ...

For two decades, U.S. universities have raced to build campuses abroad to burnish their reputation and attract foreign students. Now, controversies and stumbles at high-profile projects have led some to reconsider expansion. Among the setbacks: faculty dissent at New York University and Yale University, construction delays at Duke University’s campus in China and lackluster enrollment at Persian...

Authors of seven high school history textbooks, which have been accused of conservative bias along with another right-wing textbook, said Sunday they won’t comply with Education Ministry orders to revise their texts. Education Minister Seo Nam-soo said last week that the ministry will conduct an in-depth review of the eight recently licensed textbooks and order them to make revisions if necessar...

Kyohak Publishing Co. said Thursday it may not publish its controversial Korean history textbook amid protests over its content. The textbook authored by conservative scholars was accused of distorting historical facts, sparking disputes among progressives. Criticism of the book was especially focused on the depiction of Japan’s colonial rule (1910-1945), which described it as making a positive...

The government will simplify the state-managed Korean language proficiency test and increase the number of exams conducted every year in an effort to increase foreigners’ access to the Korean language and the test, authorities said Thursday. Test of Proficiency in Korean, a test for non-Korean natives interested in attending school and working in South Korea, measures one’s ability to understand...

The number of South Korea’s primary and secondary school students has fallen 3.6 percent over the past year amid the country’s chronically low birthrate, data showed Wednesday. According to the data by the education ministry, the number of elementary, middle and high school students combined came to 6.52 million as of April, down 240,000 from a year earlier. Elementary schools saw the largest d...

South Korea plans to conduct a pilot program to use digital textbooks at hundreds of elementary and middle schools around the country during the 2014 school year, the education ministry said Wednesday. Digital social studies and science textbooks are being developed for third- and fourth-year students of elementary schools and first- or second-year middle school students, it said. Some 150 elem...

All South Korean high schools will offer free education by 2017, the government said Tuesday, in line with President Park Geun-hye's pledge to tackle education issues ahead of her inauguration. Under the plan, the government will gradually increase the number of local high schools providing free education starting next year, making all schools offer expense-free education by 2017, according to t...

South Korea ranked second at an international youth mathematics competition held in Colombia earlier this month, Seoul’s Science Ministry said Monday. South Korea claimed five medals, including four gold medals, at the International Mathematical Olympiad held in Santa Marta, Colombia from July 18 to 28, and finished in second place out of 97 countries, according to the ministry. Last year, Sout...

College costs are driving decisions about which schools to attend, what to study and even where to live, according to a report from loan giant Sallie Mae. Parents no longer foot the largest portion of the bill, according to the lender‘s annual survey. That role goes to grants and scholarships, with student loans coming in third. While the recession has largely passed, economic worries have not ...

Fourteen percent of South Korean primary and secondary school students are addicted to smartphones, more than twice their Internet addiction rate, a poll showed Wednesday. According to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, 240,000 or 14 percent of the 1.7 million fourth-grade elementary school students and first-grade students of both middle and high schools polled ...

The operator of the main U.S. college admission test has decided to cut the number of its tests administered in South Korea after a recent revelation of pervasive cheating surfaced, its website showed Tuesday. The number of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) dates offered in the country will be cut from six to four for the 2013-2014 academic year, while the SAT Subject Tests, the U.S. national admis...

South Korea is pushing for overseas Korean schools to admit non-Korean students as part of efforts to nurture talent well-versed in Korean culture and boost the competitiveness of the schools, the education ministry said Wednesday. Under a revised bill submitted to the National Assembly, schools reserved for Korean nationals and compatriots in foreign countries can fill up to 30 percent of their...

South Korea’s high school students sleep as little as five hours a day, according to research data released by Gyeonggi Educational Research Institute on Monday. A GERI survey attempted to identify the average sleeping hours of Gyeonggi Province students through data gathered from 11,834 students from 212 elementary, middle and high schools in the province. According to the data, more than 80 p...