"In an Era of Campus Cutbacks, Performing-Arts Centers Keep Going Up" A hugely encouraging story in The Chronicle of Higher Education about the fact that institutions are still building arts centres, depsite the financial climate: It's an irony Shakespeare could write a play around: Officials of California State University at Northridge spent 10 years planning … Continue reading Art for Art’s sake?
Month: March 2011
International world rankings – where do you stand? Going Global 2011 §2
International world rankings - where do you stand? A belated note on one of the sessions at Going Global earlier this month. This session, on league tables, was for me most enjoyable session but sadly there really was insufficient time for debate. The outline looked good: As with the economic shifts we have seen over … Continue reading International world rankings – where do you stand? Going Global 2011 §2
Sorbonne goes global in Abu Dhabi
The Sorbonne Abu Dhabi has been formally inaugurated. It all looks very impressive: Welcome to Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi; your first step towards an international prestigious degree. Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi is a higher education institution that attracts not only the best students from the UAE, but also the best students from all over the Middle … Continue reading Sorbonne goes global in Abu Dhabi
Value of iPads for teaching and learning?
iPads: "Bane or Boon"? An earlier post commented on the use of iPads in the classroom. The Chronicle of Higher Education notes two contrasting reports of the value of iPads for teaching and learning, the one referred to in the previous post and the other in the FT. The latter was much more positive about … Continue reading Value of iPads for teaching and learning?
World Education: The New Powerhouse – Going Global 2011 §1
Some comments on Going Global 2011 - World Education: The New Powerhouse? I was fortunate to be present at the British Council’s Going Global Conference in Hong Kong earlier in March. There were about 1,000 delegates there and as might be expected for this kind of event many of the presentations were high level and … Continue reading World Education: The New Powerhouse – Going Global 2011 §1
More Guns on Campuses
The freedom to bear arms - in class Piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that legislators in nine US states, including Florida, Texas, Michigan, and Arizona, are considering laws that would restrict institutions' campus anti-gun policies: Proposals to bar campuses from banning weapons have been common since the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, … Continue reading More Guns on Campuses
WikiLeaks for Higher Education
Because you can never have too many distractions... The Chronicle of Higher Education has a report on the launch of "UniLeaks": WikiLeaks, scourge of governments worldwide, now has a copycat for academe. And the new group is itching to publish your university’s deepest secrets. Its Web site, UniLeaks, debuted this month with a pair of … Continue reading WikiLeaks for Higher Education
New Guardian Higher Education Network
New online Guardian HE offering The Guardian has just launched its new Guardian HE Network, which looks rather nice: it's an online space where higher education professionals can talk to one other, get advice and insight from peers and industry experts and grapple with the challenges that face the whole sector. With so many changes … Continue reading New Guardian Higher Education Network
US Universities Producing the Most Interns
Internship League Table US News and World Report carries a piece on a mildly interesting league table of the US universities which produce the most interns. The table below highlights the 10 national universities with the highest percentage of 2009 graduates who worked as interns at some point during their studies. University of Pennsylvania 2,831 … Continue reading US Universities Producing the Most Interns
True Crime on Campus §7
True Crime on Campus §7 More challenging situations for our dedicated Security team: 22:55 Security attended Rutland Hall after the Porter requested assistance. A student had left their hall to have a cigarette and his friends had turned the tap on in his room causing it to leak into the room below. The student in … Continue reading True Crime on Campus §7
Universities forging ‘strategic alliance’
More significant university collaborations Following the recent announcement about the collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the University of Birmingham there have been some interesting developments in Wales. WalesOnline carries a piece about a new 'strategic alliance' between Bangor and Aberystwyth: Bangor vice-chancellor Professor John Hughes said the university would continue to develop its … Continue reading Universities forging ‘strategic alliance’
Age matters
For university rankings, at least QS Intelligence unit has a diverting posting on the influence of age on university “performance” As this post puts it, the world is changing, fast and HE is part of it In Saudi Arabia there are 28 universities, 22 of which were founded after the turn of the millenia. Economies … Continue reading Age matters
Funding the Effort to Send More Students to China
The US wants more students to go to China An opinion piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education suggests a new approach to supporting US students studying in China: During his 2009 visit to Shanghai, President Obama made a public promise to sharply increase the number of Americans studying in China. That promise became the … Continue reading Funding the Effort to Send More Students to China
Code of practice needed to “halt degree course mis-selling”
Should universities stop using NSS data to promote courses? An interesting article by John Holmwood on the questionable validity and reliability of the National Student Survey - he argues that universities and others should not therefore use the outcomes of the NSS in league tables or promotional material. Furthermore, he argues that a code of … Continue reading Code of practice needed to “halt degree course mis-selling”
Registrarism 