New league table amusement

An outstanding new table from the École des Mines de Paris The École des Mines de Paris is proposing a new international classification of higher education institutions with regard to the performance of their training programmes, based on the professional future of their alumni. The criterion chosen for this new classification is the number of …

UK students: understretched or just efficient?

UK students spending less time studying than elsewhere in Europe A new HEPI report on a survey of 15,000 students finds that they averaged 26 hours of class contact and private learning. The BBC coverage provides a helpful list of findings: Vice-chancellors' group Universities UK said length of study provided no information about degree quality. …

Degree awarding powers for private company

Degree awarding powers for BPP College According to their website: BPP College of Professional Studies (“BPP College”) today announced that the Privy Council has approved the grant of degree awarding powers to BPP College (which comprises BPP Law School and BPP Business School). BPP College is owned by BPP Holdings plc, a publicly quoted company …

Last league table of the season?

The Sunday Times has now (23 September) published its University Guide. The full breathless analysis can be found here and the ranking details (which, excitingly, enable you to compare two institutions by removing all of the other ones) elsewhere. The use of a survey of Secondary Heads and Academics to rate subjects is interesting but …

Another winning QA idea: international standardisation

From the Chronicle Quest for International Measures of Higher-Education Learning Results Raises Concerns By AISHA LABI A fledgling international effort to develop comparable assessment standards for measuring how much students are learning at higher-education institutions throughout the world is provoking concern from several quarters, even though the project is still in its preliminary stages. The …

Different views on internationalisation

Following a recent debate on UK universities in China where different views and experiences were shared on whether or not this was all a terribly good idea, a handy summary is provided by a newly spotted HE blog which looks rather interesting. The piece can be found here. The health club v country club argument …

Education exports worth £28 billion

From the Guardian This total, which dates back to 2003-04, shows that education is worth more to UK exports than financial services or the car industry, according to a British Council report. The Guardian, which also has links to the report, observes: A total of £28bn in 2003-04 was earned from overseas students by a …

Just the ticket – more US university rankings

The Wall Street Journal's blog ("The numbers guy") has an interesting piece on the addition of a couple of new rankings by US News. The new ones are: best black colleges, and best of the highly ranked schools that are easier to get into. “We do have others in the works,” the magazine’s editor, Brian …

Discounts for arts degrees?

Interesting story in the Guardian reporting on a presentation at BERA conference. I've not seen the research so there isn't a huge amount to go on here: The government's policy of expanding university education has reduced the value of arts and humanities degrees and lower tuition fees should be charged in these subjects...while degrees still …