Nigeria: Senate Pledges Support for Noun - AllAfrica.com

Funmi OgundareLagos

With the support of the senate commission on education, National Open University of Federal Republic Of Federal Republic Of Nigeria (NOUN) would achieve greater high that would ensue to the overall development of Nigeria .

The Acting Frailty Chancellor of the University, Prof. Vincent Bustle Tenebe have said.

Tenebe, who made this comment during the visit of the President on Senate Committee on Education, Senator Joy Emordi to the institution's caput business office in Lagos , said the university would set up a council with the purpose of generating revenue.

He noted that the Senate Committee had appropriated a sum of N1, 499,524,300 in 2006 for working capital undertakings but unfortunately the undertakings were never presented at the Federal Soldier Executive Council (FEC).

The situation, Tenebe said have caused the establishment an inability to pay for contracts already commenced, its inability to commence work on many survey centres all over the state such as as Damaturu, Calabar, Gombe and Markurdi.

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In his words, "We shall not be able restitute the Abeokuta survey Centre because the ministry stopped the Ogun state authorities from renovating the Centre in that, the sum, of N113,213,818 was already included in the 2006 noun working capital awaiting the federal Executive Council (FEC) consideration and approval", he said.

In her response, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, SenatorJoy Emodi promised to throw her weight behind the undertakings adding that without the National Open University (NOUN), the state would not be able to ran into up with the Education For All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the federal government.

I am really impressed with what I have got seen so far. We desire to be portion of the success narrative because of its strategical importance. For us to undergo this, it is in the involvement of the development of instruction in Federal Republic Of Nigeria ", she said. Emordi who commended the establishment for some of its applaudable undertakings such as as establishing a farm in Kaduna , was conducted unit of ammunition to see some of its installations on ground.

Franklin's Brad Hook will play baseball at the University of South Alabama

By Michael Pointer

John Hope Franklin -- Brad Hook states he establish nearly everything he wanted at the University of South Alabama.

Brad Hook, shown on the hill against Greenwood in March, led Franklin's pitching staff last season, but he's projected more than as a first baseman when he goes to the University of South Alabama. - Emmett Kelly Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson / The Star

"Academically, they have got engineering, which I wanted to study,'' said the John Hope Franklin High School pitcher/first baseman. "They have got baseball game tradition. They've done well the last few years.

"I liked the warm weather, and they play a batch of great competition. They had the full package.''

Hook signed an NCAA missive of purpose with the Mobile, Ala., school on Thursday. He just finished his senior football game season at John Hope Franklin and is expected to be one of the top baseball game participants in the Capital Of Hoosier State country next spring.

South Heart Of Dixie also have a record of success with Indiana players.

Adam Jenny Lind (Anderson Highland) played at the school and now is a starting outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Jeff Merce Cunningham (Vincennes) plays in the Centennial State Rocky Mountains organisation after being chosen in the 7th unit of ammunition of the major conference bill of exchange last June. Merce Cunningham put the South Heart Of Dixie record for place runs last season with 22.

"They told me they had a couple of left-handed hitters from Hoosier State that had done pretty well down there,'' Hook said. "I could be the third.''

Hook was Franklin's top hurler last season, but South Heart Of Dixie managers undertaking him more than as a first baseman.

He played for the elite Hoosier State Bulls traveling programme last summer. One of his managers was Quinn Moore, a former South Heart Of Dixie pitcher. That also may have got helped him acquire noticed, Hook said.

Hook was a three-year starting signal caller for the football game team, and he admits he will lose that sport.

"Baseball is what I always trained for,'' he said. "From November until about the beginning of August, it was always baseball.''

Consider 370 colleges for GIA: Panel

BHUBANESWAR: After two-day deliberations on the modes for providing axis grant to private colleges, the Cabinet sub-committee on Higher Education have recommended the State Cabinet to see the lawsuit of 370 eligible colleges.Of the 630 colleges waiting for grant-in-aid, the lawsuit of 370 colleges was considered as they fulfilled the criteria for getting the grant till June 1, 2002. While 268 are junior colleges, the remaining 102 are grade colleges.The sub-committee have additional suggested to see the lawsuit of 10 Sanskritic Language colleges offering Shastri grade and 28 pre- 1994 let-out colleges for consideration of axis grant.Nearly 153 talks of 114 private colleges are deprived of Government grant although these colleges are covered under GIA while the other instruction staff are enjoying the benefits.The sub-committee meeting chaired by Rural Development Curate BB shot Harichandan also recommended regularization of services of about 1,200 college instructors who fulfilled the statuses of Orissa Education (Amendment) Act, 1994 and the regulations thereafter to supply GIA.As the sub-committee meeting on Wednesday remained inconclusive, it met here on Thursday.Describing the meeting as meaningless, secretary full general of Sikhyak Mahasangh Abani Baral said the Government cannot supply any grant to colleges unless they frame in fresh regulations under the Orissa Education (Amendment) Act, 1994.The BJD-BJP Government had repealed the regulations framed under the 1994 Act for providing GIA to Asset Two and grade colleges on February 5, 2004. It have to frame in regulations under the Act afresh for giving GIA to private colleges before taking any decision. The Government is trying to befool the private college teachers, he said.The panel also considered the lawsuit of five blocks where not a single college exists. There are private colleges in 96 blocks but none have Government aid.The sub-committee recommended the Government to see the lawsuit of these blocks on precedence basis.Finance, Higher Education and ST/SC Development Ministers Prafulla Ghadei, Samir Dey and Chaitanya Prasad Majhi respectively are the other members of the subcommittee.

UTPA presents proposed tuition and fee increases to students

EDINBURG — University of Texas-Pan American pupils could pay more than in tuition, parking and certain fees next school twelvemonth if the state O.K.s an administrative proposal. UTPA leadership are considering elevation terms to maintain up with the university's expenses, like hiring new mental mental faculty and improving buildings, a planning commission told students, faculty and staff during one of two forums Tuesday. The university desires to go a Prime Minister research installation and spread out its academic programs, but it necessitates to restitute and spread out edifices and engage more than mental faculty to recognize those goals. The projected additions include raising the designated tuition more than $26 per semester recognition hr to $108.60 for the adjacent school year, and to $125.90 for the 2009-10 school year. It also names for additions in parking, repast programmes and lodging costs, as well as new fees for certain academic programs. Among the new fees are a $30 fee per course of study for a master's grade in nursing, a $20 fee for field surveys in occupational therapy and a $50 fee for the educational pathologist and school psychological science program. The planning commission also is suggesting increasing the upper limit course of study loading for pupils from 14 recognition hours a semester to 15 recognition hours so that they can acquire the most out of their instruction and alumnus within four years, not dragging out the disbursals of an education. The university's Cost of Education Committee, made up of faculty, students, staff and a parent, developed the proposal. Tony Matamoros, president of the university's pupil authorities association and the committee's co-chairman, told the grouping that UTPA's disbursals have got risen considerably over the past respective old age but state support have not caught up. The biggest share of the university's funding, about 31 percent, come ups from tuition and fees. Matamoros reminded the grouping that the program is preliminary and have to travel through the university president's business office and, ultimately, the University of Lone-Star State Board of Regents for approval. Some pupils said while there is a great demand for more than professors and resources at the university, raising tuition could ache rather than aid some students. "Tuition for most of us is a hardship," said one pupil in the crowd, noting that many pupils are struggling to acquire an instruction while working 40 hours a week. Nidia Garcia, a 19-year-old fresher studying instruction and kinesiology, said she understands the university's demand to raise fees and tuition. "To really look at it, the terms make not increase so much. It's really not that bad," Garcia said after the forum. ____
Jennifer L. Berghom covers instruction and general duty assignments at The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.

Now the other Google founder is planning a secret wedding

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(11-12) 23:29 Pacific Time San Francisco --
Google Inc. co-founder Larry Page is planning to marry his girlfriend, Lucy Southworth, at a ceremonial next calendar month that is steeped in secrecy.

The event is scheduled for the weekend of Dec. Eight at an unrevealed location, The History have learned.

Page, 34, founded Google while a Leland Stanford University computing machine scientific discipline doctorial pupil and is now among the world's wealthiest individuals, with a luck around $20 billion. He is, by a broad margin, Silicon Valley's richest bachelor.

Many current and former Google employees are expected to go to the wedding, along with Richard Branson, laminitis of the Virgin concern empire, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, according to beginnings familiar with the invitee list. Former Frailty President Aluminum Al Gore was also invited but said he can't do it because he will be receiving the Alfred Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremonial in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 10.

"Larry Page allowed that, on the listing of excuses, that was acceptable," Al Gore said in an interview.

But Al Gore said he's hoping to do an visual aspect at the wedding ceremony using one of the basics of the modern, high-tech world: picture conferencing.

It's known that Southworth was a biomedical information science doctorial pupil at Stanford, although it is ill-defined whether she have graduated. She have dated Page for well over a year.

A Google spokesman declined to comment.

Rumors of Page's wedding ceremony were published in The Chronicle, followed last calendar month by a more than elaborate business relationship in a Luck magazine blog, but the publication quickly removed the post. The point suggested that the ceremonial was to be held abroad because attendants were asked to convey a passport. A spokeswoman for Luck did not supply inside information about why the posting was deleted.

Six calendar months ago, Google's other founder, Sergey Brin, married longtime girlfriend Anne Wojcicki, a biotech entrepreneur. They successfully kept the ceremony, held in the Caribbean, a secret until after the wedding ceremony was over.

Google later invested $3.9 million in Wojcicki's company, 23andMe.

Southworth and Page are poised to go participants on the international societal scene by virtuousness of his wealthiness and connections. They've been seen at political parties around the Bay Area, including a dinner for Amour Propre Carnival editor Graydon Howard Carter and his wife, Anna, hosted by jet-setter Denise Nathan Hale at the Ritz-Carlton inch October 2006, and in Film Industry at the Amour Propre Carnival post-Oscar political party in February this year.

Hale, who numbers Princess Michael of Kent, State Of Israel Philharmonic music director Zubin Mehta and histrion Michael Caine among her friends and have watched many a high-profile marriage come up and go, gives Southworth and Page high Marks - and hope.

"They are a very-well matched couple," Nathan Hale said. "She's stunning and bright, and he's very attractive and bright."

"What else make you want? They're very much in love, and they're going to be the adjacent great couple to make great things together. It's a great combination."

Google releases developer tools for its operating system, offers $10 million in awards for top programmers. B2

Chronicle staff author Cecilia Lope De Vega contributed to this report. E-mail the authors at , and .

Rural China's office politics

On the outskirts of the chief town in one of China's bottom counties, a series of deluxe edifices is slowly rising up from the earth.

These half-finished structures will eventually house the assorted authorities sections of Gushi county in Henan province.

But the local authorities is being criticised because it is disbursement a big ball of the county's yearly budget on the edifice projects.

It is just this sort of state of affairs Peking wanted to avoid when it banned local authorities from edifice munificent business offices earlier this year.

Gushi, Henan's most thickly settled county, is predominantly rural, with nearly 90% of its 1.6 million people living in villages.

Although China's economical roar have got reached the county, husbandmen have not benefited as much as urban residents.

Low life standards

Villagers' norm income last twelvemonth was just 3,251 kwai ($436, £209).

Even the local authorities paints a blue image of life criteria for ordinary people, reporting that a 3rd deficiency safe imbibing water.

In respective southern areas, husbandmen are being relocated because of a deficiency of clean water, no electricity and mediocre conveyance links.

Many local people have got had to go forth their small towns and traveling to China's flourishing large metropolises to happen work, sending the money they gain back place to relatives.

Despite this poverty, the local authorities is edifice itself a series of new, expansive business office edifices on the outskirts of the county town.

The centre-piece is the "administration service centre", a mammoth chemical compound made up of six blocks built around a cardinal square.

According to the Economic Information Daily, a national state-run newspaper, it is costing more than than 100 million kwai to build.

The same newspaper states the county's yearly gross is just 260 million yuan.

And the local government's chief business office is not the lone new populace edifice going up on the western border of town.

There is a museum, dedicated to tracing local people's roots, and a nearly-finished office for the agency of labor and societal security.

A new edifice for the land and resources disposal is also planned, and the local People's Depository Financial Institution of People'S Republic Of China subdivision looks like the United States Washington building.

'Exaggerated budget'

Not surprisingly, local functionaries are loath to speak about the projects.

Cao Benguo, an functionary with the county's promotion department, was visibly uncomfortably when asked about the strategy by the BBC.

You should inquire the county leadership why they are building these epicurean edifices while we dwell like this

Local farmer

He said the undertakings would convey together all authorities departments, currently scattered around the county town, in one place.

"It's very inconvenient if people don't cognize where to happen us," he explained, although the current authorities central office is in the town centre.

He added that the mass media had overdone the budget for the work.

It is only costing 30 million yuan, Mister Cao said, although he did not state whether this was for one edifice or all of them.

He declined to reply any additional inquiries about the scheme.

Local anger

Farmers living in Banliyuan village, about one-half an hour's thrust South of the county town, cognize small of the edifice projects.

"We are just farmers. We make not cognize anything," said villager Hu Xinghua.

But they are angry at a local disposal they state makes small for ordinary people.

One ailment Centres on a re-afforestation project. Villagers state they have got got completed the work, but have yet to acquire their money.

Most local people dwell on less than a $436 (£209) year

They also kick that their small town have few facilities.

Water is drawn from a well and some places make not have got electricity.

"You should inquire the county leadership why they are building these epicurean edifices while we dwell like this," said one farmer, pointing to the bedraggled places around him.

Local people could perhaps be forgiven for knowing small about the new authorities edifices - the undertaking is not being trumpeted by county officials.

In a keynote address delivered earlier this year, Fang Bo, the caput of the county government, promised to finish 10 major undertakings in 2007.

He promised to construct schools, clinics and old people's homes, as well as gap roads, cleaning up H2O stores and preparation one thousands of workers.

But there was no reference of the new authorities buildings.

Mr Bo also promised to "oppose luxury and waste, and concentrate limited fiscal resources to finish large things, practical things".

Construction halted

Opposing luxury was one of the grounds why earlier this twelvemonth Peking sought to curtail the amount spent on local authorities offices.

New regulations came in after a series of dirts involving corrupt local functionaries who built munificent business office blocks that appeared to be more than like five-star entertainment venues.

Officials have got kept quiet about the edifice project

Perhaps Peking have belatedly enforced its new ordinances in Gushi because work on many of the county's new authorities business offices have now stopped.

Rusty staging environments the centre-piece building, workers have got disappeared and eminent Cranes sit down idle.

Local building workers supply another ground for the interruption in work - they state the county have run out of money.

But whatever the reason, it almost certainly have nil to make with the sentiments of ordinary people in the county.

A chief at one of the few authorities building land sites that are still working gave voice to the aweary surrender expressed by many local people.

"When ordinary people talk out, it doesn't add up to anything," he said.

University will offer online education degree

[oas:casperstartribune.net/news/casper:Middle1]

The University of Equality State will offer a new, statewide simple instruction grade programme through Wyoming's seven community colleges beginning in the autumn of 2008.Students will take online and compressed picture courses of study to finish the last two old age of the university's instruction program, earning them an simple instruction grade with an early childhood instruction endorsement.The programme was designed to pull people who already have got associate's or bachelor's degrees, are currently working in instruction or are looking to change careers, said Pat McClurg, dean of the university's College of Education.It's also a good tantrum for aged pupils with households who can't travel to Laramie or Casper, said Alan Buss, caput of the College of Education's simple and early childhood instruction department. The University of Wyoming-Casper College also offers a four-year degree in simple education.

"This programme was not designed for the traditional student, 18-years-old, coming out of high school," Kiss said.Those pupils can certainly use for the program, Kiss continued, but it's not an alibi for pupils to just remain at home.The programme must inscribe 35 pupils for the fall, or it won't be offered. If registration ends are met, the programme volition run a full two old age before enrolling another social social class of students.Students will likely have got intensive weekend class Sessions because of educational methods social social classes that necessitate some hands-on and face-to-face interaction with instructors.There are also a set of requirements for pupils wishing to use to the program, but pupils can replace some classes they've already taken for the requirements.Coordinator of the programme Sharyn Polley said that such as applications will probably be considered on a case-to-case basis."Having an associate's grade or bachelor's grade is not enough," Polley said.Polley encouraged those interested in applying for the programme to reach her astatine (307) 587-9974 or at .Reach Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@trib.com.