A team of surgeons in Hamburg has successfully implanted the Synapse, the first “brain pacemaker” created by biotech company 3Win in Niel, Antwerp province. 3Win is the first company in Europe to develop a deep brain stimulator. The stimulator treats movement disorders caused by Parkinson’s disease, among others, by providing electrical impulses when connections between brain cells go wrong. The surgeons implanted the neurostimulator, or pacemaker, in the chest of a German man, whose movement disorders have almost completely disappeared.

The Catholic University of Leuven, known as KULeuven, has decided to hold on to the “K”, which designates its Catholic identity. An official statement will be made on 22 December, following a debate that has lasted a year and a half. The “K” first came under scrutiny in 1969.

Flemish universities have agreed to postpone the extension of master studies in certain degrees, mostly human sciences, until 2015. Originally, they determined that from 2014 these degrees should take two years instead of one. But students protested against the measure, as the current firstyear bachelor students were not informed at the start of the school year. Flemish minister of education Pascal Smet will make the final decision in April next year.

The Catholic education system is demanding special care for so-called “unteachable” youth, a hardcore of problem children, mostly living in disadvantaged city areas. Mieke Van Hecke, director-general of the Flemish League of Catholic Education, has said that such children interrupt the functioning of ordinary schools and require a specific approach through separate programmes. Flemish minister of education Pascal Smet acknowledges the problem and will evaluate the services available.