EU plans institute to rival MIT

The European Commission said on Wednesday that it would push ahead with plans to establish a new flagship European Institute of Technology (EIT), despite widespread opposition from within the academic community.At a press conference in Brussels, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said that an EIT would be "a great, inspiring project for the European Union," which would attract the best minds, ideas and companies from around the world.Barroso first proposed the idea of an EIT in February last year, and since then the Commission has consulted experts and the general public about the concept. Now that process is over, the Commission said today that it had decided to recommend that the European Union (EU) establish it.The new institute would allow resources and talent that exist across the EU to be pooled, according to European Commissioner for Education Jan Figel. Figel said at the press conference that it would also offer...