2014 Complete University Guide League Table

It's spring and it's time for the first league table of the season. The Complete University Guide and league table for 2014 is now out. The details can be found on the Guide website together with lots of other analysis (including by subject, region and mission group)  and information on careers, fees etc. The main …

Communicating science. Though improv.

A surprising source of help with communicating science. A great story in The Chronicle of Higher Education on an accolade for Alan Alda for his contribution to helping scientists communicate In New York City this week, Mr. Alda is being honored at the university's celebrity fund-raising gala for his central role in creating Stony Brook's …

Quidditch World Cup 2013 update

Pottering in the sun The Huffington Post carries a top sports story on the recent Quidditch World Cup held in Florida: the majority of teams competing at this level have official uniforms names paying homage to the book series, like the Silicon Valley Skrewts and the Melbourne Manticores. Spectators will find many of the same …

MPs with fake degrees

MPs in Pakistan convicted for faking academic qualifications A post back in 2010 noted the planned check of over 1,000 politicians' academic credentials. A law passed a decade ago requires all MPs to hold degrees and, according to a recent University World News report, it does seem that some have been less than totally honest …

2013 International Leadership Conference: Managing Global Universities

A reminder about this forthcoming conference taking place at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. The 2013 event, which takes place from Monday 4 - Thursday 7 November 2013 will mark the third anniversary of the International Leadership Conference. The conference has previously welcomed delegates from the UK, Denmark, China, Colombia, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the US and …

Defining ‘education hubs’

A helpful approach to definition in this rather vague area. An earlier post noted that there were rather a lot of 'education hubs' around the world. This Inside Higher Ed report on the recent Going Global event highlights comments from Jane Knight of the University of Toronto who has sought to define education hubs a …

Students ‘swayed by league tables’

Some rather unsurprising research findings here. The Guardian has a report on the impact of university league tables on prospective students. And in what might be the least surprising research finding of the year to date reports that league tables are influential: Prospective students are increasingly influenced by university league tables when deciding where to …

Latest campus craze? Humans v Zombies

And some have tried to stop this innocent fun... According to The Chronicle of Higher Education , the craze that is the Humans versus Zombies game does continue on campuses, despite the efforts of "killjoys" to prevent it: Napa Valley College officials are the latest to interfere with a popular campus-based game of tag called …

University league tables: buying success?

Australian universities are paying big salaries for rankers   Inside Higher Ed has a report on at least a couple of Australian institutions appointing league table specialists:   Some Australian universities are paying about $100,000 a year each to employ full-time managers dedicated to working with ranking agencies and developing strategies aimed at climbing league …

Broadcasting university performance

Very public reports on institutional performance. Accessible university performance data.   Rather impressed by this Performance Tracker which is concerned with reporting in a very accessible way on the progress of Michigan's public universities: The achievement of Michigan's public universities is a critical factor as we look to participate in the knowledge economy of tomorrow. …

The student body. For sale

On "body commodification". Last year saw a rash of rather prurient press stories about students acting as escorts to help with university fees. Although vastly over-stated there are parallels with some developments recently reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education: The sale of bodily goods or services—"body commodification"—is nothing new among college students. But strides …