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「News of the Week」India’ New Citizenship Bill

WSJ – Modi Defends India’s New Citizenship Law as Protests Persist

[The new Citizenship Bill was passed in Dec 9]

The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed in December, creates a legal loophole for persecuted religious minorities who belong to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian religious communities — but not Islam — eligible for citizenship.

Dots to connect: India’s slow-down -> IMF world economic outlook, potential nationwide registry, access to the web, etc.

 

「Video of the Week」David Rubenstein Conversation With BlackStone Chairman & CEO Stephen Schwarzman

MIT’s new college of computing was formed on Sep 11 2019, enabled by Schwarzman’s $350 million donation.

And Schwarzman’s new book is out – What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence

Online Higher Education (1)

US Higher Education

According to The Condition of Education 2019 by National Center for Education Statistics (NCES):

  • Undergraduate Enrollment
    • In fall 2017, total undergraduate enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions was 16.76 million students.
    • Between 2000 and 2017, total undergraduate enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions increased by 27 percent (from 13.2 million to 16.8 million students).
    • By 2028, total undergraduate enrollment is projected to increase to 17.2 million students.
    • Percentage enrolled in any distance education course grew from 30.8% to 32.9% ▲
    • Percentage enrolled exclusively in distance education grew from 12.8% to 13.3% ▲
  • Post-baccalaureate Enrollment
    • In fall 2017, some 3.0 million students were enrolled in post-baccalaureate degree programs.
    • Between 2000 and 2017, total post-baccalaureate enrollment increased by 39 percent (from 2.2 million to 3.0 million students).
    • By 2028, post-baccalaureate enrollment is projected to increase to 3.1 million students.
    • Percentage enrolled in any distance education course grew from 32% to 34% ▲
    • Percentage enrolled exclusively in distance education grew from 15% to 16% ▲

NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. Distance education is a broad definition here but is an approximate to online education.

We can see that:

  1. Online education is one of the fastest growing forms of higher education.
  2. Around 1/3 of those enrollments have used online courses.
  3. Online degree programs have grown at least to 13-16% – as many programs will require on-campus immersions to some extent.

Another report by Wiley Education Services said by the 2020/21 school year, online programs are expected to account for 26% of all higher education market share.

It also lays out some headwinds & tailwinds.

Source: Wiley

To be continued

「What’s News In China」Alibaba + Vanguard, First Index Option In Mainland China, China’s Most Valuable Brand

Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) affiliate Ant Financial and Vanguard, the $5.9T U.S.-based asset manager, formed a joint venture to bring a streamlined and broadly available investment advisory service to retail consumers in China. // prnewswire

China’s first mainland stock index options will debut on China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFE) on Dec. 23. The options are tied to the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange-based CSI 300 Index and the minimum account threshold is RMB500K. It is the fourth risk management hedging tool for the mainland stock market. Previous options included CSI 300 Stock Index futures, CSI Smallcap 500 Index futures and SSE 50 Index futures. // YiCai

Moutai/Maotai is the most valuable brand in China. Hurun released its Most Valuable Chinese Brands list on Dec 12 – Kweichow Moutai ranked top with RMB 640 billion brand value. It maintained the title for the second year running. Maotai /Moutai is a brand of baijiu; the company booked over RMB 22 billion revenue and RMB 10 billion net income in 2019Q3. // AsiaTimes

 

Opioids (4)

New Treatments

Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR-181)

  • NKTR-181 is a new chemical entity (NCE) designed to relive pain without inducing high levels of euphoria, minimising the likelihood of addiction and abuse. Due to the potential of NKTR-181 to address the urgent problem of prescription painkiller abuse, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted NKTR-181 a Fast Track designation for the treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic pain in May 2012.
  • March 20 2017, Nektar Therapeutics announced positive results from the SUMMIT-07 Phase III study testing the efficacy of NKTR-181 in the management of moderate-to-severe chronic lower back pain.
  • Human Abuse Potential of Oral NKTR-181 in Recreational Opioid Users: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Crossover Study
  • May 2019, spinning off into a new subsidiary, Inheris Biopharma
  • July 26 2019
    • FDA Delays Advisory Committee Hearing For NKTR-181
    • Jefferies’ David Steinberg says he now expects a 1-year delay for the entry of the drug and lop off 30% of its peak revenue — trimming that to $350 million.
  • Q3 earnings Call, Nov 6 & Jefferies London Healthcare Conference, Nov 20
    • FDA informed us that they can now reschedule product-specific advisory committee meetings. We now anticipate adcomm for NKTR-181 within the next several months
  • https://seekingalpha.com/article/4303473-nektar-therapeutics-nktr-ceo-howard-robin-q3-2019-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single