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EDUCATION

Merkel to deliver Harvard commencement address

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be the commencement speaker at graduation ceremonies for Harvard University in May of next year, the university announced on Friday.

Merkel to deliver Harvard commencement address
A graduate at Harvard, considered the most prestigious university in the U.S.

“Angela Merkel is one of the most widely admired and broadly influential
states people of our time,” Harvard president Larry Bacow told The Harvard Gazette.

“Over her four terms as Germany's chancellor, her leadership has done much
to shape the course not only of her nation, but also of Europe and the larger world,” Bacow said.

“She continues to play a central role in confronting some of the great
challenges of our era, and I very much look forward to welcoming her to Harvard next May and to hearing what is sure to be a memorable address,” he said.

Merkel will be the principal speaker at Harvard's 368th commencement on May 30th, 2019.

Merkel, 64, has been in power since 2005 and is not expected to step down
until 2021. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a close Merkel ally, won a tight race
on Friday to succeed her as party leader.

SEE ALSO: Merkel loyalist wins CDU vote to succeed her

Previous Harvard commencement speakers include Kofi Annan, Oprah Winfrey, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and three former German chancellors – Helmut Kohl, Helmut Schmidt and Konrad Adenauer.

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EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

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