Trademarking the obvious in Higher Education

You might be sued for using some pretty common HE phrases Slate has an amusing piece on universities and colleges which have trademarked seemingly everyday Higher Education phrases such as "student life" and "fast-track MBA". According to the piece various institutions have been granted federal trademark registrations on the phrases, presumably to stop other people …

Universities unable to regulate guns on campus

More crimes about guns A post here a couple of years ago noted the challenges US universities were facing in trying to address guns on campus. More recently there was news in a survey on US students' views on carrying concealed weapons which highlighted what seemed to be quite a large proportion of students who did not …

Guns on (US) Campuses

Should we be pleased? Students Oppose Concealed-Carry Gun Policy on Campuses The Chronicle of Higher Education has a report on a new survey which suggests most students are against the idea of people being allowed to carry concealed guns on campus. As state legislatures continue to debate whether to allow people to carry concealed firearms …

The Office of Fair Trading targets universities

The OFT is investigating universities' terms and conditions. The Office of Fair Trading, apparently at the request of the National Union of Students, has started an investigation into whether some of the sanctions imposed by universities on students, which may prevent them from progressing or graduating if they owe the university money, are unfair in …

Faking it: China’s Diploma Mills

Report Reveals 100 Fake Universities (and wild chickens). A blog post last year noted the case of a non-existent university in the USA. Now there is an interesting report on China's Diploma Mills which has shown up a large number of fake institutions in the country: As China’s notoriously difficult college entrance exam, the feared …

The Imperfect University: Free Information?

Freedom of Information costs. But does anyone really benefit? "You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop. There is really no description of stupidity, no matter how vivid, that is adequate. I quake at the imbecility of it." These are the words Tony Blair addresses to himself in his memoirs while reflecting on his government's introduction …

Speaking with difficulty

New advice from the Charity Commission sows some confusion. The Charity Commission has recently published some new guidance which is intended to help trustees protect their charities against "abuse by extremists." This guide/toolkit though seems to offer a particular challenge to universities which are subject to legislation on external speakers dating back to 1986 which …

How to take over the world

A handy guide to global domination KPMG have produced a useful guide to universities looking to expand their international activities. Its Guiding Principles for Global Expansion offers some sensible advice for universities looking to develop their global operations and highlights a range of motivations for doing so: Higher education institutions around the world are responding to …

David Willetts on internationalisation via sharing university statutes

An interesting idea? At the recent HEFCE Annual Conference the Universities Minister, David Willetts, delivered a wide-ranging speech which included a couple of interesting points on internationalisation: Since becoming universities minister, I have worked hard with UUK's excellent international office and of course the British Council in forging partnerships with other countries: with China, India, …

The Imperfect University: Do we need a level playing field?

On the issue of a "level playing field" for universities For the next, slightly briefer, piece in the Imperfect University series, I thought it might be interesting to pick on a topical issue which nevertheless has wider relevance and also serves to highlight some of the imperfections inherent in higher education. Following the White Paper, Putting …

The Imperfect University: Reviewing Higher Education in Scotland

Report of the Review of Higher Education Governance in Scotland  As we have seen in the previous post in this series on regulation, governments, although they will often talk the language of freedom and autonomy, cannot help but get themselves involved in the regulation of higher education. However, Scotland is different and higher education in …

ICO: private email accounts are subject to FOI

New regulatory joy from the Information Commissioner's Office The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published some exciting new guidance making it clear that information held in private email accounts is subject to the Freedom of Information Act: Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham said: “It should not come as a surprise to public authorities to have the …

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 …

Universities ‘must be vigilant’ on campus extremism

Promoting academic freedom and tackling extremism A new report from UUK is concerned with issues around freedom of speech, academic freedom and extreme views on campus. It's a good report (but I was on the working group so perhaps biased) and received some straightforward coverage from the BBC News: The updated guidance from Universities UK …

Pakistan’s politicians in fake university degree scandal

Fake university degree suggestions in Pakistan The Daily Telegraph has reported that Pakistan's Supreme Court has asked the Elections Commission to examine the degree certificates of almost all the country's 1,100 elected officials: The investigation has also reopened a question about whether President Asif Ali Zardari ever graduated, as he claims, from a London business …