20,000 schools to install rooftop solar in Pakistan
The government of Pakistan’s second largest province, Punjab, has affirmed its commitment to the installation of rooftop solar power systems on around 20,000 schools.
Education
New York grants free tuition for all state colleges
New York just became the first state in the nation to make tuition free for middle class students at both two- and four-year public colleges.
The U.S. formally passes the Higher Education Act into law, making student loans widely available for the first time
Federal student loans were first offered in the U.S. in 1958 under the National Defense Education Act. However, they were only available to select categories of students, such as those studying engineering, science, or education. Low-income student loans only became more broadly available in the 1960s under the Higher Education Act of 1965, which also increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships, and established a National Teachers Corps.
José Batlle y Ordóñez brings a wide array of modern reforms to Uruguay
He was elected to the presidency for two terms, from 1903 until 1907 and from 1911 to 1915. He remains one of the most popular Uruguayan presidents. He is known for introducing unemployment compensation, eight-hour workdays, and universal suffrage, as well as free High School education.
The school lunch movement begins in Europe
The first school lunches were thought to be served in 1790 in Munich, Germany, by an American-born physicist, Benjamin Thompson, also known as Count Rumford. In Munich, Thompson founded the Poor People’s Institute, which employed both adults and children to make uniforms for the German Army. They were fed and clothed for their work, and the children were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Years later, Thompson would feed 60,000 people a day from his soup kitchen in London.
Elena Cornaro Piscopia becomes the first woman ever to receive a university doctoral degree or PhD
The Venetian was proclaimed Magistra et Doctrix Philosophiae at the University of Padua thus becoming the first women known to have received an academic degree from a university and the first to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree.
Harvard College is founded
Harvard University is now the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Its influence, wealth, and rankings have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Universidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino, the first university in the New World, is founded
Founded during the reign of Charles I of Spain, it was originally a seminary operated by Catholic monks of the Dominican Order. Later, the institution received a university charter by Pope Paul III’s papal bull.
The University of Cambridge is founded
Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world’s fourth-oldest surviving university.
The University of Oxford, oldest in the English-speaking world, is founded
There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.