Latest news with #SAT
India Today
2 hours ago
- General
- India Today
Inside China's Gaokao: The world's toughest exam?
Only one in 50,000 makes it — but 13 million students still take the Gaokao every year. China's college entrance exam is more intense than the SAT, spans two days, and even attracts 70-year-old retirees. From oxygen tanks to drum-beating parents, this exam is a national event. Watch to find out why. #Gaokao #China #Education #Exams #StudentLife #ViralVideo #HigherEducation #Study #Gaokao2025 #Education
Business Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Times
One system to rule them all: Span to oversee 8 payment schemes including Giro, PayNow, QR code
[SINGAPORE] Banks play a critical role in helping companies as they adapt to a more protectionist global economic order, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who is also minister for trade and industry, and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 'While many businesses are pushing back against the new tariffs, once they have invested in the US, they will have an even greater incentive to ensure that these tariffs will stay on to protect their investments,' said DPM Gan at the Association of Banks in Singapore's (ABS) 52nd annual dinner on Wednesday (Jun 25). While the banks and financial institutions may not be directly affected by tariffs on goods, they may be hit by the slowdown in overall economic activity, including reduced trade-related financial services due to weaker trading activity, DPM Gan said. Hence, banks need to help those companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, that may face cash flow issues due to cancelled or deferred orders as a result of the tariffs. They should also deepen the relationship with their customers, by supporting their growth and expansion into new markets, he added. As geo-economic disruptions are accelerating, other fundamental changes are also happening. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Speaking on the low-carbon transition, DPM Gan noted the need to establish clear, consistent and credible guidelines to drive effective climate-financing action. As a result, the Singapore Sustainable Finance Association will launch a guide to leverage the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy (SAT) to support green and transition financing. The SAT was launched by MAS two years ago to facilitate transition financing, with clear, credible and science-based definitions of what constitutes green and transition activities. The National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School will also be introducing an undergraduate specialisation in sustainable finance to strengthen the talent pipeline, DPM Gan said. The specialisation will equip students with key sustainable finance technical skills and competencies identified by the Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map. NUS intends to enrol about 50 students in each academic year in this programme at the onset, with aims to scale up over time. 'Even though some countries have rethought their climate commitments, particularly in light of the US pulling out of the Paris Accords, the pace of climate change has not slowed down and is, in fact, accelerating,' DPM Gan said. Meanwhile, ABS chairman Helen Wong said at the dinner that Singapore will launch new Electronic Deferred Payment (EDP) solutions – EDP and EDP+ – at the end of July. MAS and ABS previously said they would launch new EDP solutions in mid-2025 to support the transition to e-payments. EDP and EDP+ complement the wider suite of e-payment methods, which will hopefully make for a smooth transition away from cheques, Wong said. More details will be shared closer to the roll-out, she added. CLG to consolidate national payment schemes At the dinner, MAS and ABS also launched a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee to consolidate the administration and governance of Singapore's eight national payment schemes. This follows an earlier announcement in February 2025 to consolidate the schemes, which includes Fast And Secure Transfers, the interbank Giro system, PayNow and the Singapore Quick Response Code. The schemes are currently administered and governed by specific scheme administrators, including the Singapore Clearing House Association, ABS, MAS and the Infocomm Media Development Authority. Called the Singapore Payments Network (Span), the company will aim to be operationally ready by end-2026. Its initial members include MAS and the domestic systemically important banks. It will also have an 11-member board comprising two senior representatives from MAS, five bank and non-bank financial institutions, as well as four independent industry directors. Chia Der Jiun, managing director of MAS, expects Span will set the foundation for the banking and payments industries to collaborate more effectively, to build and facilitate greater resilience and innovation across Singapore's payment infrastructures.
Business Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Times
Banks critical to help companies in more protectionist global economic order: Gan Kim Yong
[SINGAPORE] Banks play a critical role in helping companies as they adapt to a more protectionist global economic order, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who is also minister for trade and industry, and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 'While many businesses are pushing back against the new tariffs, once they have invested in the US, they will have an even greater incentive to ensure that these tariffs will stay on to protect their investments,' said DPM Gan at the Association of Banks in Singapore's (ABS) 52nd annual dinner on Wednesday (Jun 23). While the banks and financial institutions may not be directly affected by tariffs on goods, they may be hit by the slowdown in overall economic activity, including reduced trade-related financial services due to weaker trading activity, DPM Gan said. Hence, banks need to help those companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, that may face cash flow issues due to cancelled or deferred orders as a result of the tariffs. They should also deepen the relationship with their customers, by supporting their growth and expansion into new markets, he added. As geo-economic disruptions are accelerating, other fundamental changes are also happening. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Speaking on the low-carbon transition, DPM Gan noted the need to establish clear, consistent and credible guidelines to drive effective climate-financing action. As a result, the Singapore Sustainable Finance Association will launch a guide to leverage the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy (SAT) to support green and transition financing. The SAT was launched by MAS two years ago to facilitate transition financing, with clear, credible and science-based definitions of what constitutes green and transition activities. The National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School will also be introducing an undergraduate specialisation in sustainable finance to strengthen the talent pipeline, DPM Gan said. The specialisation will equip students with key sustainable finance technical skills and competencies identified by the Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map. NUS intends to enrol about 50 students in each academic year in this programme at the onset, with aims to scale up over time. 'Even though some countries have rethought their climate commitments, particularly in light of the US pulling out of the Paris Accords, the pace of climate change has not slowed down and is in fact accelerating,' DPM Gan said. Meanwhile, ABS chairman Helen Wong said at the dinner that Singapore will launch new Electronic Deferred Payment (EDP) solutions – EDP and EDP+ – at the end of July. MAS and ABS previously said they would launch new EDP solutions in mid-2025 to support the transition to e-payments. EDP and EDP+ complement the wider suite of e-payment methods, which will hopefully make for a smooth transition away from cheques, Wong said. More details will be shared closer to the roll-out, she added. CLG to consolidate national payment schemes At the dinner, MAS and ABS also launched a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee (CLG) to consolidate the administration and governance of Singapore's eight national payment schemes. This follows an earlier announcement in February 2025 to consolidate the schemes, which includes Fast And Secure Transfers, the Inter-bank Giro system, PayNow and the Singapore Quick Response Code. The schemes are currently administered and governed by specific scheme administrators, including the Singapore Clearing House Association, ABS, MAS and the Infocomm Media Development Authority. Called the Singapore Payments Network (Span), the company will aim to be operationally ready by end-2026. Its initial members include MAS and the domestic systemically important banks. It will also have a 11-member board comprising two senior representatives from MAS, five bank and non-bank financial institutions, as well as four independent industry directors. Chia Der Jiun, managing director of MAS, expects Span will set the foundation for the banking and payments industries to collaborate more effectively, to build and facilitate greater resilience and innovation across Singapore's payment infrastructures.
New York Post
3 days ago
- Science
- New York Post
Educators warn that AI shortcuts are already making kids lazy: ‘Critical thinking and attention spans have been demolished'
A new MIT study suggests that AI is degrading critical thinking skills — which does not surprise educators one bit. 'Brain atrophy does occur, and it's obvious,' Dr. Susan Schneider, founding director of the Center for the Future Mind at Florida Atlantic University, told The Post. 'Talk to any professor in the humanities or social sciences and they will tell you that students who just throw in a prompt and hand in their paper are not learning. ' 11 The MIT study used EEG scans to analyze brain activity in the three groups as they wrote their essays. Researchers at MIT's Media Lab found that individuals who wrote essays with the help of ChatGPT showed less brain activity while completing the task, committed less to memory and grew gradually lazier in the writing process over time. A group of 54 18- to 39-year-olds were split into three cohort — one using ChatGPT, one using Google search and one 'brain-only' — and asked to write four SAT essays over the course of four months. Scientists monitored their brain activity under EEG scans and found that the ChatGPT group had the lowest brain engagement when writing and showed lower executive control and attention levels. 11 Dr. Susan Schneider says heavy AI use is degrading her students' thinking skills. Over four sessions, the participants in the study's Chat GPT group started to use AI differently. At first, they generally asked for broad and minimal help, like with structure. But near the end of the study period, they were more likely to resort to copying and pasting entire sections of writing. Murphy Kenefick, a high-school literature teacher in Nashville, said he has seen first-hand how students' 'critical thinking and attention spans have been demolished by AI. 'It's especially a problem with essays, and it's a fight every assignment,' he told The Post. 'I've caught it about 40 times, and who knows how many other times they've gotten away with it.' 11 Eight researchers affiliated with the MIT Media Lab complex carried out the study over four months. Andy Ryan/ MIT 11 Experts are concerned that students who grow up with AI could have their thinking skills especially stunted. – In the MIT study, the 'brain-only' group had the 'strongest, wide-ranging networks' in their brain scans, showing heightened activity in regions associated with creativity, memory and language processing. They also expressed more engagement, satisfaction and ownership of their work. 'There is a strong negative correlation between AI tool usage and critical thinking skills, with younger users exhibiting higher dependence on AI tools and consequently lower cognitive performance scores,' the study's authors warn. 'The impact extends beyond academic settings into broader cognitive development.' Asked to rewrite prior essays, the ChatGPT group was least able to recall them, suggesting they didn't commit them to memory as strongly as other groups. 11 High-school literature teacher Murphy Kenefick fears his students wouldn't even care about the study's findings. Courtest of Murphy Kenefick 11 Nataliya Kosmyna of MIT Media Labs was the lead researcher for the study. MIT The ChatGPT group also tended to produce more similar essays, prompting two English teachers brought in to evaluate the essays to characterize them as 'soulless' — something teachers all over the country say they are seeing more regularly. Robert Black, who retired last week from teaching AP and IB high school history in Canandaigua, New York, said that the last two years of his 34-year career were a 'nightmare because of ChatGPT.' 'When caught, kids just shrug,' he said. 'They can't even fathom why it is wrong or why the writing process is important.' 11 Researchers and experts are especially concerned about the degradation of critical thinking skills in young people due to AI usage. Gorodenkoff – 11 The MIT study found that subjects within the ChatGPT group tended to produce more similar essays, prompting two English teachers brought in to evaluate the essays to characterize them as 'soulless' Inna – Black also points out AI has only worsened a gradual trend of degrading skills that he attributes to smartphones. 'Even before ChatGPT it was harder and harder to get them to think out a piece of writing — brainstorming, organizing and composing,' he told The Post. 'Now that has become a total fool's errand.' Psychologist Jean Twenge, the author of '10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World,' agrees that AI is just one additional barrier to learning for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. She points out that international math, reading and science standardized test scores have been on the decline for years, which she attributes to pandemic lockdown and the advent of smartphones and social media. 11 Dr. Jean Twenge says that smartphones and now artificial intelligence pose a threat to youth learning. 11 Dr. Jean M. Twenge is author of the forthcoming book '10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World.' 'With the addition of AI, academic performance will likely decline further, as students who regularly use AI to write essays are not learning how to write,' Twenge told The Post. 'When you don't learn how to write, you don't learn how to think deeply.' The MIT study study was spearheaded by Media Lab research scientist Nataliya Kosmyna, who told Time Magazine that 'developing brains are at the highest risk.' While Toby Walsh, Chief Scientist at the University of New South Wales AI Institute in Sydney, Australia, acknowledges that the study's findings are frightening, he also warns educators against outright banning it. 11 AI professor Toby Walsh says that educators need to learn to integrate AI carefully. 'We have to be mindful that there are great opportunities. I'm actually incredibly jealous of what students have today,' Walsh said, recalling his 15-year-old daughter recently using an AI voice to ask her questions in French as a study aide. 'I don't think we should be banning AI,' Walsh said. But, he added, 'the concern is that AI surpasses human intelligence, not because AI got better but because human intelligence got worse.' Kenefick, meanwhile, imagines his students 'wouldn't care' about the study's findings: 'They just want the grade. They see no real incentive to develop any useful skills. It's very troubling.'
News18
3 days ago
- Business
- News18
NSE IPO Update: Exchange Offers Record Rs 1,388 Cr To SEBI To Settle Co-Location Case
Last Updated: NSE IPO: NSE proposes a Rs 1,388 crore settlement to SEBI for co-location and dark fibre cases. SEBI chief confirms no IPO obstacles. NSE IPO: The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is seeking to resolve the longstanding co-location and dark fibre cases with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) by proposing a payment of Rs 1,388 crore, according to a report of Economic Times. This marks the highest settlement offer by any entity to date. Settlement Details NSE has proposed Rs 1,165 crore to settle the co-location case and Rs 223 crore for the dark fibre issue, as per documents reviewed by ET. The co-location case involves allegations that certain brokers gained an unfair advantage by placing their servers closer to NSE's trading system within its co-location facility, enabling faster access to data and trades. This raised concerns about market manipulation and lack of fair access. SEBI's initial order in 2019 imposed significant penalties, which NSE contested before SAT. Although SAT ruled leniently, SEBI has appealed to the Supreme Court, where the case is still pending. The dark fibre case involves allegations that between 2009 and 2016, NSE provided certain brokers with preferential access to co-location facilities via unauthorised 'dark fibre" links. These private high-speed network lines allegedly allowed these brokers to trade faster than others, giving them an unfair edge. About the Author Business Desk Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 25, 2025, 11:46 IST
