Listening to Students (not all of them though, obviously)

DIUS has developed its 'listening to students' approach with a new(ish) blog: Listening to Students Whilst very early days and not a lot of content yet it strikes me as a fair effort to find one route to engage. How diligent the Ministers will be in recording their conversations and the issues raised will be …

Scandals of Higher Education

Is this the future for UK HE? Scandals of Higher Education - The New York Review of Books A really interesting and hard-hitting review article from the New York Review of Books of a set of recent publications on US higher education. Two fundamental questions here: what is higher education actually for? And who is …

University of Cambridge: Happy 800th

The University of Cambridge is 800 years old this year. It's got an 800th Anniversary Website which details the extraordinary achievements over the centuries and a big programme of events. Happy 800th!

Using E-Book Readers- interesting experiment

Northwest Missouri State University Tries E-Book Readers, With Mixed Results According to the Chronicle 240 students at Northwest Missouri State University recently swapped their printed textbooks for Sonys e-book readers, which came loaded with assigned texts. But the students quickly discovered that the gadgets have limitations. Students were initially fascinated with their readers, said Dean L. …

iPhone giveaway leads to worries

Diverting piece in the Chronicle about the impact of new technologies on student behaviour and the campus experience: Abilene Christian U. Will Continue iPhone Giveaway. The giveaway seems to have had an impact on the way students relate to each other and they are now obsessed with their devices: The university's unusual effort to give …

Degrees by email

Really super email offer just came my way: "Show what you know with a degree" was the subject line. WHAT A GREAT IDEA! We provide a concept that will allow anyone with sufficient work experience to obtain a fully verifiable University Degree. Bachelors, Masters or even a Doctorate. For US: 1.718.989.xxxx Outside US: +1.718.989.xxxx "Just …

Guardian Education Notebook: Thanks for that

The Grauniad, in December, ran this lovely Notebook item in which I was honoured to have my name misspelled: We know universities are cash-strapped, but isn't it going too far to suggest they generate money by building alumni cemeteries, golf courses and breweries? Dr Paul Geatrix, Nottingham University's registrar, claims he was "joking" when he …