Developing the alternative global university ranking

U-multirank - The European alternative An update on U-Multirank: "a multi-dimensional global university ranking". This is a European Commission-funded feasibility study into developing an alternative approach to rankings: The objective of the project is to develop a feasible transparency instrument that can contribute to enhancing the transparency of institutional and programmatic diversity of European higher …

“Doubling foreign enrolments is ‘unbelievable’ aim”

So, are international student numbers set to double? According to Times Higher Education: English universities are relying on "unbelievable" plans to increase international student numbers by up to 100 per cent in four years as government policy leads to fears of volatility in home student numbers. Durham University plans for a 97 per cent increase …

Nottingham shortlisted in THELMAs 2011

THE Leadership and Management Awards 2011 Shortlist Announced Times Higher Education has published the shortlist for the 2011 THELMAs Having sifted through almost 200 entries from 95 different institutions, we can now unveil the shortlist for the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards 2011. The shortlisted entrants are competing in 16 categories ranging from …

Pushing Paper – in praise of administration

Or, in praise of memoranda. A special post to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Association of University Administrators (AUA), currently enjoying their annual conference here at the University of Nottinghsm. A very good piece on paper pushing in Lapham’s Quarterly: Why is there no Norton Anthology of Paperwork? Though the trove of Franz Kafka …

Pride and Prejudices: Problems with National and International League Tables

Presentation from AUA Conference 2011 Thank you to all who attended this session on 19 April 2011 As promised, here is the presentation:

2012 Complete University Guide League Table

First league table of the season The Complete University Guide and league table is now out. The details can be found on the Guide website together with lots of other stuff (actually there really is a surprising amount of useful information in here). Rank 2012 Rank 2011 Institution 1 (2) Cambridge 2 (1) Oxford 3 …

Regulation, Regulation, Regulation

More Regulatory Woes In University Governance: Questions for a New Era, Professor Malcolm Gillies looks at a whole set of issues around university governance. A previous post noted his suggestion about a greater involvement of alumni but he suggests that they will become more important than the state, at least in governance terms, because of …

Ranking in Latin America

New Latin American league tables emerging The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on a league table developments in a number of Latin American nations: The growing influence of university rankings has reached Latin America, with governments, news media, and private researchers drawing up domestic versions that they say are important for the institutions and students …

Twitter banality = academic credibility?

Professors With Personal Tweets Get High Credibility Marks A piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on an experiment at a US college to investigate students' views of their teachers' use of Twitter. The article also highlights a number of academics using Twitter in creative ways to support their teaching. It's a small and …

True Crime on Campus §8

True crime on campus §8 A selection of some more interesting security reports: 2210 Report that eggs had been thrown at a Shuttle Bus whilst it was passing Cripps Hill. Security attended, the area was checked, no one was found. The remains of eggs were found and a number of plants had been ripped in …

Should more alumni take governance roles?

A new report on governance: "University governance - questions for a new era" This is an interesting pamphlet from HEPI written by Professor Malcolm Gillies who has clearly been on the receiving end of a fair bit of governance. One of his core suggestions which is picked up by Times Higher Education is that alumni …

Still the End of the Campus Novel?

Why aren't there any good campus novels these days? Inspired by an article in the Guardian by David Lodge about Pnin by Nabokov I wrote a brief piece some five years ago on "The End of the Campus Novel?". With the possible exception of Zadie Smith's On Beauty, have there been any decent campus novels …

Another world ranking – this time for Islamic universities

A new ranking for Islamic universities University World News has a story about another international ranking, this time for Islamic universities: The Iran-based Islamic World Science Citation Center has launched a new classification system for Islamic universities, using the criteria of research and education performance, international cooperation and scientific impact. The first phase of the …