Mercer Quality of Living Survey 2014 -15

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  --- They've partially updated their findings.  See below.

 

The Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranks 221 cities from Vienna to Baghdad on quality of life.^[1]
In 2010, Vienna won the title as the highest ranked city, followed by Zurich (2), Geneva (3), jointly Vancouver (4) and Auckland (4), and Düsseldorf (5). Vienna was again the highest ranked city in 2011, followed by Zurich (2), Auckland (3), Munich (4) and jointly Düsseldorf (5) and Vancouver (5). The quality of living survey is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments.

The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based upon internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries. In this case, Luxembourg is top, followed by Bern, Helsinki and Zurich, all equally placed at number 2.

The survey traditionally shows a strong dominance of German speaking cities in its top ranks.

Scoring      The cities — 221 in total — were evaluated on 39 factors including political, economic, environmental, personal safety, health, education, transportation and other public service factors. Cities were compared to New York City which was given a base score of 100.   

        Vienna, Austria

 

Zurich, Switzerland

 

Düsseldorf, Germany

 

Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

Berlin, Germany

 

Copenhagen, Denmark

 

Stockholm, Sweden

 

2015 Rank	2014 Rank	2012 Rank	2010 Rank	City	Country	Index 2010
1	1	1	1	Vienna	Austria	108.6
2	2	2	2	Zurich	Switzerland	108.0
8	8	8	3	Geneva	Switzerland	107.9
5	5	5	4	Vancouver	Canada	107.4
3	3	3	4	Auckland	New Zealand	107.4
6	6	6	6	Düsseldorf	Germany	107.2
7	7	7	7	Frankfurt	Germany	107.0
4	4	4	7	Munich	Germany	107.0
	10	10	9	Bern	Switzerland	106.5
10	10	10	10	Sydney	Australia	106.3
9	9	9	11	Copenhagen	Denmark	106.2
	12	13	12	Wellington	New Zealand	105.9
	11	12	13	Amsterdam	Netherlands	105.7
	14	14	14	Ottawa	Canada	105.5
		22	15	Brussels	Belgium	105.4
	15	15	16	Toronto	Canada	105.3
		16	17	Berlin	Germany	105.0
		17	18	Melbourne	Australia	104.8
		19	19	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	104.6
		19	20	Stockholm	Sweden	104.5
		21	21	Perth	Australia	104.2
	23	23	21	Montreal	Canada	104.2
		17	23	Hamburg	Germany	104.1
		24	24	Nuremberg	Germany	103.9
		32	24	Oslo	Norway	103.9
		26	26	Canberra	Australia	103.6
34	34	35	26	Dublin	Ireland	103.6
		32	28	Calgary	Canada	103.5
		25	28	Singapore	Singapore	103.5
		27	30	Stuttgart	Germany	103.3
		28	31	Honolulu	United States	103.1
		29	32	Adelaide	Australia	103.0
	27	29	32	San Francisco	United States	103.0
		29	34	Paris	France	102.9
		32	35	Helsinki	Finland	102.6
		37	36	Brisbane	Australia	102.4
		35	37	Boston	United States	102.2
40		38	39	London	United Kingdom	101.6
		39	38	Lyon	France	101.9
		44	40	Tokyo	Japan	101.4
		41	41	Milan	Italy	100.8
		48	41	Kobe	Japan	100.8
		49	41	Yokohama	Japan	100.8
38		40	44	Barcelona	Spain	100.6
41	43	44	45	Lisbon	Portugal	100.3
		42	45	Chicago	United States	100.3
		43	45	Washington DC	United States	100.3
51		49	48	Madrid	Spain	100.2
		44	49	New York City	United States	100.0
		44	50	Seattle	United States	99.8
		-	49	Pittsburgh	United States	-

The German Education System: March 2015 series, WGBH

WGBH SERIES:  GERMAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

Four-part series focusing on what we can learn from Germany.  (Thanks to David Aubin for sharing the link.)


Part 1. How can we CONTROL THE COSTS of higher education?  (Is this even desirable?)

Comments:

• 
  

  ustjojo • a day ago

  
  

  p.s. Essen is NOT a small suburb of Cologne but rather a vibrant city of its own. In fact, it has a population of over 500,000. ... This story... is really very good at its core.

  
  
• 
  

  justjojo • 2 days ago

  
  

  Some information valuable and interesting and on the mark, while other information was misleading or downright false.
  •  In my 8+ years studying at two different German Unis, I rarely sat in classes with more than 20 students in them. In fact, most of my seminars and courses had anywhere from ten to twenty students, many of whom I got to know quite well over the years.
  • There is definitely student housing at all German universities (Studentenwohnheime) - perhaps not exactly the same as in America but existent nonetheless. I lived in a wonderful dorm at the Uni in Bonn. All the students on each floor shared a kitchen which provided the opportunity to get to know other students very well.
  • I also had the experience at both the Uni in Bonn and in Hamburg where I spent several years studying linguistics that I got to know my professors and even met with them outside of the Uni setting.
  • As a professor now at a state college I can guarantee you that the professors in Germany make similar salaries and probably put in fewer hours than their American colleagues. They also get more sabbaticals than we do.
  --- But yes, the German Unis lack many of the bells and whistles and definitely all the administrative bloat!

Part 2.  What CAN'T WE MATCH IN THE USA in comparison with higher education in Germany?

Part 3.  Germany produces happy, successful and even "ARISTOCRATIC" BLUE COLLAR WORKERS, -- rather than so-called cultural misfits in the USA: those people who don't dream of going to college.

Try a paid apprenticeship!  A company WILL PAY YOU ~ $1200/month to learn to be a good employee.  Once your 3 year training period is over, most apprentice-graduates will then get hired by their host company -- and salaries starting at US$ 60,000 aren't unheard of.  Compare that 4 year period with being a US college student for 4 years, paying even $60,000/year x 4 for a diploma:

                                     Year 1      Year 2      Year 3      Year 4           Total
German Apprenticeship     $14,400    $14,400   $14,400    $60,000     $103,000            INCOME!
USA  4 year University      $22-60K  $22-60K  $22-60K  $22-60K    $88,000-240,000  in DEBT  

Part 4.  How TALENT AND ABILITIES ARE CHANNELED in Germany, which keeps kids engaged and productive.

The beginning part of this report shows a strong American bias.  Most often, parents who attended university themselves are going to wish that for their children, too.  But the system succeeds as is in many ways, since it tends to support kids at the pace at which they are currently developing.  Should a student develop to the point of wanting more of a challenge, those separate educational tracks can merge.

Comment:

Martin Holzner • 12 hours ago

great report, but they forgot to mention one important detail: the decision what track a student goes on is not final. There are many options to change track later on. Kids that start slower can develop at their own pace, and switch later on ...  

 A further point is that the Realschule and the Hauptschule are merging into a Gesamtschule (or inclusive school) so that


 

Rhode Island's Anthem (2008) by Charlie Hall

Melody by Maria Day Hyde of North Kingstown -- Any interest in learning this for GAPP?



Rhode Island's It for Me --   Written by Charlie Hall
Music by Maria Day Hyde  --  Arranged by Kathryn Chester

I've been to every state we have,
and I think I'm inclined to say
that Rhody stole my heart:
You can keep the forty-nine.

Herring gulls that dot the sky,
blue waves that paint the rocks,
water rich with Neptune's life,
the boats that line the docks.
I see the lighthouse flickering
to help the sailors see.
There's a place for everyone:
Rhode Island's It for Me.

REFRAIN    Rhode Island, oh Rhode Island
                    surrounded by the sea.
                    Some people roam the earth for home;
                    Rhode Island's It for Me.

I love the fresh October days,
the buzz on College Hill,
art that moves an eye to tear,
a jewelers special skill.
Icicles refract the sun,
snow falling gracefully.
Some search for a place that's warm:
Rhode Island's It for Me!

REFRAIN
The skyline piercing Providence,
the State House dome so rare.
residents who speak their minds;
no longer unaware!
Roger Williams would be proud
to see his colony,
so don't sell short this precious port:
Rhode Island's It for Me!

REFRAIN  x2

Grammatik Unterricht

Hier kann man GRAMMATIK und viel mehr finden.

http://www.german-grammar.de/

Danke, Kalena!  Jetzt wissen wir warum du so klug bist!

Religionen in Deutschland: Islam?

Earlier this month, Dr. Sadiqu al-Mousllie, accompanied by his family and a few members of their mosque, stood in downtown Braunschweig, Germany, and held up signs that read: "I am a Moslem. What would you like to know?" in an effort to promote dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Courtesy of Sarah Mousllie

Sadiqu al-Mousllie sees humor as a good way to fight growing anti-Islam sentiment in Germany.

He lives in Braunschweig, in western Germany. Earlier this month, he decided to go downtown and hold up a sign that read, "I am a Moslem. What would you like to know?"

"This is a bridge of communication," the Syrian-born German says. "Some people dared to ask, some others not, so we went to them and give them some chocolate and a say of our prophet to know what Muslims are thinking about."

Mousllie, 44, says he hopes to do it every other week.

Several members of his mosque — including his Danish wife, Camilla, and their 17-old daughter, Sarah — joined him on the first outing.

The teen says many passersby were curious about her and her mother's Islamic headscarves.

"The weirdest question I got was if I'm showering with my hijab," Sarah says. "And I'm just — no, I don't shower with hijab, how should I do that? No one showers with their clothes on."

Born in Syria, Mousllie (shown here with his 17-year-old daughter, Sarah) came to Germany more than 20 years ago and is now a German citizen.Soraya Nelson/NPR

Her mother, who converted to Islam, says many Germans are equally confused about her being Muslim.

"They don't know ... where do I belong," says Camilla Mousllie, 42. "Some are confused and ask: Are the Danish people Muslim?"

But Sarah says she doesn't mind answering strange questions if it can help put to rest any misconceptions about Muslims and open up a dialogue with non-Muslims.

Their community in Germany is under increasing scrutiny after several recent threats and fatal attacks linked to Islamic extremists in Europe. The scrutiny sparked criticism from German Muslim leaders, who say it's is unwarranted and alienates Muslim citizens who've worked hard to integrate into German society.

Misinformation and discrimination, the dentist says, often hit Muslim children — including his own — the hardest.

Born in Damascus, Mousllie came to Germany nearly a quarter century ago to study; he eventually settled here and became a German citizen.

His five children, who were born in Germany, are Danish citizens like their mother, but they largely identify as German, Mousllie says. So when his son was in fourth grade and was told he didn't belong, the boy was upset.

"A friend of his in the class, he told [my son]: 'You are not a real German because your name is not German,' " Mousllie recalls. "That was a very bad situation for him. I felt it was like a world falling down for himself because he felt, well, am I part of this country or not?"

In recent years, Mousllie says he's been asking himself the same question.

At his specialty dental practice, Mousllie says he is treated like any other German. Outside the office, it's another matter.

"It's getting more difficult because a lot of Islamophobic themes are coming, people now mixing Islam and terror, so we have to explain a lot," he says.

Also alarming, Mousllie says, is the rising number of incidents against Muslims and mosques around Germany, including an attack three months ago in Braunschweig on a Syrian-born woman wearing hijab whose foot was run over by a car.

"You keep thinking what about my children, what about my family, how it's going to be in two years," he says.

Mousllie says watching democracy in Germany inspired him to fight for similar freedoms in his native Syria, and he serves as the German representative of the opposition Syrian National Council.

At home in Germany, as the Lower Saxony spokesman for Germany's Central Council of Muslims, Mousllie says he's tried to get authorities to help reduce tensions, including by not using what he and others in the Muslim community view as inappropriate words — for example, Islamism — when talking about extremists.

His efforts suffered a setback on Feb. 15 when Braunschweig authorities canceled a famous annual Carnival because of what Police Chief Michael Pientka called an Islamist-related terror threat.

"We know we have an Islamist scene here," Pientka told reporters, adding that from now on, the authorities would be watching it more closely.