World watch

Trieste
A court ruled this week that 21 foreign-language lecturers at the University of Verona should have their status as lettori restored after they contested their downgrading to technical staff under a change in Italian law in 1995. They were each awarded 47 months' pay arrears. The university was ordered to pay legal expenses totalling €50,000 (£31,000).

Addis Ababa    
The University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia has reopened after last week's disturbances in which 40 people died. Student demands for the removal of police from the campus have not been met.

Libreville    
Striking lecturers at the Omar Bongo University in Gabon are refusing to return to work until three months' pay arrears are paid.

Minsk
Belarusian police this week detained at least 25 students who were demonstrating against the authoritarian president Alaksandr Lukashenka.

Brussels   
European Union undergraduates are being invited to submit proposals for science projects relating to subjects including aids for disabled people and new medicines from natural resources, as part of a competition. Winners of the Archimedes prize could be awarded a grant of €50,000 (£31,000). The final date for applications is July 31.

Bologna   
Graduate employment in Italy is rising, according to a survey by Alma Laurea, a Bologna-based consortium of 18 universities. More than 60 per cent of 1999 graduates found employment within a year of graduation, compared with 56 per cent in 1998 and 52.5 per cent in 1997.

Seoul
The South Korean government is concerned about the number of Korean school-leavers who enrol at South American universities to obtain an "easy" degree. It said it considered Brazil's University of Sao Paulo to be the only high-quality university in South America.

Copenhagen
Henrik Tvarn, rector of the University of South Denmark, Odense, has been appointed administrative director of Folketinget, the Danish parliament.