Global round-up

Bush plan: more testing

US President George W Bush last week signed into law a bill that will increase the role of the federal government in overseeing schools and make standardised testing more widespread.

Bush's stated plans to be "the education president" were interrupted by the September 11th attack, and the "No Child Left Behind" Act was marked by a low-key ceremony at an Ohio school.

However, the act does represent a significant change in how US public education will be organised. State and local governments have traditionally made most of the rules for running schools, and most schools have been funded locally. Now the federal government is taking a more active role. This also represents a turn-around for Bush's Republican party, which has traditionally opposed strong central-government regulation.

All US students must now be tested in maths and English once each year between grades 3 and 8. Critics view the move as a further boost to a labour-market view of education, in which children are prepared for the workplace by attaining a narrow range of skills. Some teachers say the new law will force them to spend more time teaching students about taking standardised tests.

UK science entry down

Science and engineering were the losers in British university admissions this academic year, official figures have confirmed.

The number of students starting chemistry degrees fell 7.6% in September 2001 compared with the previous year, while entrants to environmental and other physical science courses were down 9.4%, final figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) showed.

Despite these falls, 2001 was a record year for university entry, with new undergraduates up by 5.4 per cent. Major winners were media studies (up 22.1 per cent) cinematics (16.5 per cent) nursing (15.8 per cent) and music (15.3 per cent).