Mobility Really Matters

The Imperfect University: Staff getting on their bikes (an updated version of a post from a while back) One of the things professional services colleagues sometimes complain about is that whereas  academic staff can be promoted in post - and indeed can progress all the way from lecturer to professor in the same academic department …

Graduate Programme for University Leadership Now Recruiting

An outstanding programme for graduates looking to develop careers in university management. Recruitment for this year's round of Ambitious Futures, the Graduate Programme for University Leadership, has recently gone live: The university sector is one of the most innovative, vibrant and exciting environments in which to build your future career. If you're looking for a …

Knowing Your History

Know your history. Given the current running of The Changing University: Inside Nottingham NOOC I thought I would reflect on university histories. Given their nature it's often struck me as rather surprising that universities and their staff tend not to have a well developed sense of institutional history. Research matters to universities but they tend …

Ghana gets tough on Honoraries

In Ghana, the Accreditation Board is "mad" at honorary degree awards Ghana News reports that the country's Accreditation Board is "mad" at honorary degree awards by unqualified institutions: The conferment of honorary degrees is the prerogative of degree awarding institutions so mandated. Therefore accredited private tertiary institutions operating under the mentorship of chartered, degree-awarding universities …

Graduation 2014: Latest

Updates from the Ceremonial Front Line I recently provided a summary of a series of posts related to graduation (reproduced below): A recent post on graduation challenges including Decanal difficulties with names and a failed graduand backflip. The surprising news that swimming was not part of graduation requirements any more for one US university. The …

Honorary Degree: serious or celeb 2014

Who are this year's lucky winners? A post some time ago on Honorary Degree recipients noted that almost all of them fall clearly into one of two categories: they are either serious or celeb. Back in 2013 I provided a handy list of recent Honoraries for further analysis. Basically, if you are a serious academic, …

Betting the farm

A very big gamble The Chronicle of Higher Education has an extraordinary piece about how one investment manager gambled away $13.1 Million of her university’s money: Over a series of three contracts, Ms. Prizevoits signed over more than $8-million of the 96-year-old university’s money in 2008 to a Florida-based company called Betts and Gambles Global …

It’s graduation time again

It's gown and mortar board season Having realised that I've written quite a few posts on graduation in the past, and being short of something new to say as our graduation season kicks off this week, I thought I would bring together a few recent pieces on this most special of university occasions. So, here …

Big bucks for students with big ideas

A big prize for University of Pennsylvania graduates The Philadelphia Enquirer has a good story about an initiative at the University of Pennsylvania for graduates who want to change the world: Graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a strong desire to change the world and an excellent plan for how to do it?A new …

Needed: More Money, Money, Money

Higher Education needs more and better fundraising. And fundraisers A new publication from HEFCE.on developing the HE fundraising workforce: This report was commissioned by HEFCE to address one of the recommendations in 'Review of Philanthropy in UK Higher Education: 2012 status report and challenges for the next decade' (the Pearce report), specifically the future development …

The Imperfect University: rational admissions – it’s time for PQA

A brighter future for university admissions? It will be some time before all of the results are in but it does look at this stage as if this year's admissions round has been a little less turbulent than last year's. The mood across many universities seems to be one of some relief after a period …

University of Nottingham: Gig central

The University has hosted some impressive acts down the years. It has been quite a long time since the University of Nottingham hosted really big bands. But the history, mainly from the early 70s before the advent of the Boat Club and Rock City, is surprisingly impressive: Some gigs took place in the Sports Centre, …

The Graduate Programme for University Leadership

An excellent programme for graduates looking to develop careers in university management. Recruitment for the Graduate Programme for University Leadership has recently gone live and the pitch is a good one: The university sector is one of the most innovative, vibrant and exciting environments in which to build your future career. If you're looking for …

The Imperfect University: Know Your History

Know your history. For my 700th blog post here I thought I would reflect on university histories. Given their nature it's often struck me as rather surprising that universities and their staff tend not to have a well developed sense of institutional history. Research matters to universities but they tend not to prioritise maintaining their …

‘University of Nike’ in Oregon

A huge investment in university sport.   The New York Times has a report on the opening of a hugely expensive new facility to enhance the University of Oregon's football programme. It comes courtesy of a sizeable donation from one of the founders of Nike. The Football Performance Center, which was unveiled publicly this week, …