Latest news with #Fergusson
Indian Express
05-05-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
HSC results 2025: Educationists raise concerns as passing percentage in arts stream drops by 10% in 4 year
There has been a significant drop in the number of students who passed arts stream in the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination as the passing percentage fell to 80.52 per cent this year. Last year, the passing percentage rate was 85.88 per cent, 84.05 per cent in 2023 and 90.51 per cent in 2022, indicating that the passing percentage in arts stream has dropped 10 per cent in four years. Hrishikesh Soman, former principal of the Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce, told The Indian Express, 'It is a matter of concern. Why are so many people failing in the arts stream in the 12th standard? Many factors have to be checked and verified such as teaching methodology, sincerity of the students, and overall attitude of the junior college.' Soman said that it was difficult to exactly point out the reason behind this pass percentage. 'You can't really draw a conclusion without the relevant data but it is possible that students scoring poorly in Class 10 have chosen arts. Over a period of time, this could have resulted a drop in the passing percentage, as the Class 12 exam is more difficult. Science and commerce are the streams that probably high scorers are opting for.' He added that for colleges like Fergusson or Symbiosis, where the cutoffs are relatively high, the arts stream does not face such an issue. On the possible improvement measures that could be taken to address this issue, Soman said, 'There is no short term solution. With the National Education Policy being implemented gradually, we have to wait for a couple of years. Because in NEP, not just the content but the methodology is also going to change. So, with its proper implementation, there is a possibility of a change in the overall arts stream.' Mahendra Ganpule, former head of Maharashtra School Principals Association, attributed the drop in the passing percentage to lack of student interest in arts careers and coaching industry in the science stream. 'There is no seriousness about a career in arts, and just to complete higher education, people are enrolling in it. There is not much awareness about careers in arts field…The quality of teachers is similar in science and maths, but the external coaching and tie-ups in these subjects help the students. However, there is not much thought about this in arts stream.'
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
《暗黑破壞神4》第8賽季可能會延期？系列總監暗示「老朋友」將回歸
Blizzard（暴雪）《暗黑破壞神4》（Diablo 4 ）原先承諾 1 年 1 部資料片，卻在不久前提到第 2 部資料片需要等到 2026 年。然而最近暴雪《暗黑破壞神》系列總監 Rod Fergusson，通過社群更表明連開發中的第 8 賽季都比預期還要久。 相關新聞：暴雪打破《暗黑破壞神4》每年一部資料片承諾，第二部要2026才上線 Rod Fergusson 在個人社群 X（推特）上發文提到，《暗黑破壞神4》第 8 賽季開發時間會比他們最初預期的要多出幾個星期，提到團隊正在努力開發下一個賽季的大型更新，還暗示玩家敬請期待，因為一位「老朋友」將會和大家見面。 目前 Fergusson 的說法並沒有確定第 8 賽季是否會延期，畢竟《暗黑破壞神4》第 7 賽季才剛推出 1 個多月，距離結束也還有一段時間。許多網友也都開始好奇，Fergusson 暗示的「老朋友」到底會是誰：「二代的聖騎士 Marshall Carthus？」、「朋友...迪亞布羅算是老朋友嗎？」、「希望這位老朋友能帶回排行榜」 Hey everyone - In the spirit of serving the game, not the plan, Season 8 will take a couple of weeks longer to bake than we initially anticipated. The team is hard at work on some great updates coming in the next season, so stay tuned. Looking forward to seeing an old "friend". — Rod Fergusson (@RodFergusson) February 27, 2025
CBC
26-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
U of M defence, security experts urge Canadians to watch what Trump does, not what he says
As Donald Trump continues to muse about making Canada the "51st state" and prepares to impose tariffs on Canadian goods, the U.S. president is moving Washington closer to Moscow. If you find this topsy-turvy state of affairs bewildering, you're not alone. Trump's desire to hold talks with Vladimir Putin about ending the Russia-Ukraine war — and the U.S. vote on Monday against a United Nations resolution to blame Russia for the invasion — has shocked the director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Defence and Security Studies. "The Trump administration has decided that it can trust and align itself with adversaries more so than allies — and that's concerning for all allies," Andrea Charron said Tuesday in an interview. Trump's move to thaw U.S. relations with Russia have left NATO allies in Europe considering how they can reduce their reliance on the United States for defence. Canada, however, has fewer options, given our geography and the deeply integrated nature of North American defence. In this regard, Charron has some advice for Canadians: Don't assume Trump's overtures to Putin will mean the worst for the future of NATO or Canada's close, 85-year-old military alliance with the United States. At least not yet. "One of the things we've learned from the first Trump administration is he makes a lot of pronouncements, but then we have to sort of wait and see how he follows through," Charron said. "This might be the start of a bromance between Trump and Putin, but the proof is going to be in the pudding about, 'OK, well, what is it then that Russia can supply to the U.S.?'" In a theoretical one-for-one swap, Russia doesn't have much to offer the United States as a strategic or economic replacement for Canada, its closest military and trading partner. James Fergusson, a senior scholar at the U of M's Centre for Defence and Security Studies, said Trump's overtures to Moscow harken back to the periods during the Cold War, when the U.S. and Soviet Union held talks to ensure they could peacefully co-exist. Like Charron, Fergusson said Canada-U.S. defence is too integrated to be disentangled, even when there are tensions between Ottawa and Washington. "I don't think we're at this stage of a complete realignment. Certainly the emotional rhetoric that we've seen coming out of this government and elsewhere implies this is where we're headed down the road," Fergusson said Tuesday in an interview. Instead, he suggested this moment in history provides Canada with the impetus to follow through on longstanding commitments to increase defence spending, particularly when it comes to surveillance of the vast Canadian Arctic. "This is a great irony: Trump is going to be good for us. We may finally have to get our house in order," Fergusson said. Fergusson urged Canadians to pay more attention to what Donald Trump does, compared to what the mercurial president says he will do. "Don't be emotional, be practical and be objective as we can," he suggested, describing the rising nationalism in Canada as understandable but not useful when it comes dealing with Trump. "The rhetoric won't help the relationship. We know how he responds to these things," he said. "We have got to try to be more mature than him." While Canada's close military alliance with the United States dates back to the Second World War, the two nations have had disagreements about defence over the decades. During the Cuban missile crisis, Canada initially refused to support the U.S. naval blockade of Cuba or allow the U.S. to place nuclear-armed Bombers on Canadian soil. Canada also declined to support the Vietnam War or the U.S. invasion of Iraq during the Second Gulf War. In this context, Canada's full-throated support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and the potential U.S. support for a ceasefire that could allow Russia to maintain its Ukrainian holdings is only the latest difference of opinion, as disorienting as it may be. It would be rash to assume this disagreement means the United States can no longer belong to NATO, Charron said. "I think the allies are prepared to do a lot of bending to keep the U.S. as a member," she said, adding there have been other problematic members of the 32-member NATO alliance, most notably Hungary and Turkey. "It's not perfect. There are certain members that do more than others. There are certain members who are more helpful than others. But together, that alliance is stronger than any one adversary out there."
