Students distressed by NYPD surveillance

Students at Columbia University, New York, are upset by under cover surveillance the New York City Police Department has been conducting on Muslim student groups, according to the Washington Post.

As of Feb. 25 students were left unsure of whether the surveillance was stopped.
On Feb. 24 NYPD Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the police are going to continue what they need to do to protect the city.

New York city Mayor, Michael Bloomburg, said the police department’s monitoring of Muslims was “legal,” “appropriate,” and “constitutional.”

The NYPD also monitored Muslim student groups at other universities such as Yale and the University of Pennsylvania.

Surveillance included police following college websites and blogs, keeping track of where Muslims lived, worked and played, and an undercover officer going rafting with a student group.

Police cited a dozen accused or convicted terrorists that were connected to Muslim student groups in their defence.

Kenya bans universities with diplomas and certificates

Kenya is preventing universities from offering certificates and diplomas to try and increase the quality of higher education.

Universities will only offer degrees and colleges will offer the other qualifications.

The government action stems from recommendations from a government taskforce made up of educationists that have been told to realign the education system with Kenya’s new constitution.

The action could fix the current relationship between universities and colleges, which has almost gotten rid of the college subsector.

The ban is part of a reform agenda. Kenya wants to increase access to education by improving its tertiary education system.

Amount of degrees in U.S. increase

The census bureau released figures Feb. 23rd, from their annual current population survey, regarding post secondary education in the United States.

The figures show, as of March 2011, 30.4 per cent of all American adults hold undergraduate degrees and 10.9 per cent hold graduate degrees.

These amounts have increased over the last decade — 26.2 per cent of adults held an undergraduate degree and 8.7 per cent held a graduate degree 10 years ago.

The gap between women and men holding degrees has decreased from a male 3.9 per cent advantage in undergraduate degrees and a 2.6 per cent advantage in graduate degrees to 0.7 per cent for both types of degrees.

The amount of Hispanic Americans holding degrees has increased from 11.1 per cent to 14.1 per cent and the amount of black Americans from 15.7 per cent to 19.9 per cent.

The survey also shows that 50.3 per cent of Asian Americans have undergraduate degrees and 19.5 per cent have graduate degrees.