Displaying items by tag: university

A gunman has killed at least 14 people and injured another 25 at a university in the historic city centre of Prague. It was the deadliest attack in modern Czech history. Staff and students barricaded themselves in rooms during the attack; videos showed some people jumping to safety from the top of the building, and many fleeing the area in panic. Police say the 24-year-old gunman was ‘eliminated’ following the shootings. Prime minister Petr Fiala said he had cancelled upcoming engagements in light of the tragic events. The gunman, a student at the university, was from a village 13 miles outside Prague. His father had been found dead earlier in the day. The gunman's motives were not immediately known. He legally owned multiple firearms: the Czech Republic has the most permissive gun laws in the EU.

University students in the UK are facing unprecedented rent increases as the value of maintenance loans fails to keep pace. Rents have risen by over 8% since 2022, with some cases seeing increases of up to 27%. The demand for accommodation has soared, with nearly 390,000 more students needing housing in the past decade. Rising operational and development costs, high inflation, and a decline in new bed space delivery have contributed to the increases. The average private sector rent outside London now exceeds £7,600 per year, consuming 77% of the maximum student maintenance loan allowance. Fewer than 10% of beds in major university cities are affordable to students receiving maintenance loans and grants. Rental growth in purpose-built student accommodation has reached 9.4%, exacerbating the affordability challenge. Students are increasingly taking on part-time work to cover expenses, negatively impacting their studies. To address the crisis, there have been calls for increased maintenance loans, rent freezes, and rent controls.

On 16 April university students had a day of action to demand fee refunds because Covid-19 has affected their education. When they signed up for university they were promised sufficient access to facilities, course equipment, and social contact to help them achieve their degrees. But they were limited to internet zoom lectures of variable standard and still expected to pay the full price. The Write Off, Right Now (WORN) group is applying pressure on the government to refund fees because they did not receive value for money. WORN asked students nationwide to ‘take over’ social media to spread the message of the unfair demand for full fees. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson instructed the Office for Students ‘to take swift action where quality and academic standards have dropped’. An online petition, calling for tuition fees to be cut had received over 580,000 signatures in three days.

Thousands of children started school for the first time this week and most settle well into a new routine, but there will be some who do not. Instead, probably on Mondays there will be tears, tummy-aches and tantrums because they are not adjusting well. Children need to feel safe and connected to an adult. Pray for teachers working with reception class children to notice those who are not settling in and make a special effort to reach out to them. Every year thousands of students enrol in higher institutions (universities / colleges) for the first time. Pray for students enrolled far from homes, being independent for the first time without parents or guardians around to assist. Pray that they will be wise in their choice of companions and friends, quickly forming constructive relationships that take them on the paths that God has prepared for them.