Protests of UC Budget Cuts

On Nov. 23 hundreds of students from across California gathered at UCLA to protest the proposed state budgets cuts and to call for a solution of the rising tuition. This past September Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved a reduction of UC funding by $15 million. Also, in May there was a 7.4 percent increase in student fees for the 2008-2009 school year.

Students expressed that, as public universities, the UC schools should offer equal education to all people, not just the wealthy. The protest ended with a unity march in which students sang songs and cheered.

Business Competition at USC

The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies will be offering a New Venture competition for all USC students or faculty willing to compete. The competition is for business ideas that are ready to be launched.

The competition will be divided into undergraduate and graduate categories. The first place winner from each category will receive $20,000 and six months of free rent for their businesses at the Los Angeles Technology Business Center in Altadena.

Five thousand dollars will be given to the runner-up. Participants must prepare an executive summary based on careful research, with an aim to use the prize money to start their businesses.

Application deadline is Jan. 30. Participants will have about two months to work on their summaries and exhibits.

New Software for Brain Aneurisms

Ronald Reagan University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center has started to use new computer software to help doctors get a glimpse of their patient’s futures. The software is used to reconstruct 3D aneurisms. The program simulates blood flow direction, speed and friction, which can help in predicting when the aneurism might burst.

Doctors say that the software gives the patients more control when they are first diagnosed with an aneurism. George Mason University is the only other center using the software under a federal grant.

USC Leads in International Student Enrollment

For the seventh year in a row, USC takes the No. 1 spot among U.S. universities for international student enrollment. In the 2007-2008 academic year, USC had 7,189 international students and enrolled its largest-number ever in the 2008-2009 academic year. NYU comes in second and Columbia third.

The school had a 19 percent jump in the number of students that came from mainland China, most likely due to the USC’s international presence, its reputation as a top university and help from expanding alumni groups in China’s biggest cities that helped with recruiting interested students.

The school boasts students from 115 countries. Indian students make up the largest part of the student population with 1,571 students, and China comes after with 1,015. Almost 73 percent of the international students were enrolled in USC graduate programs in the 2007-2008 academic year. —Devon Klug