GPA v Degree Class: a “Goldilocks” solution?

As UK looks at GPA, US considers degree class There has been a debate in UK Higher Education for the past few years about the merits of moving away from traditional degree classifications to a US style Grade Point Average (GPA). A recent piece in the Guardian notes the arguments for moving to GPA in …

True Crime on Campus §38: back to school

Autumn brings even more True Crime on Campus As autumn arrives and students return to campus our outstanding Security staff are ready for any eventuality: 2315 Patrol Security Officers spoke to a member of the Public who had fallen off his bike while cycling on a footpath adjacent to the Orchard Hotel. The male stated …

A campus facilities arms race?

It's all about the aquatics apparently I've posted before about the growth of luxury student accommodation in the US. Now the Education Advisory Board has a report on what it says amounts to a recreation facilities arms race on US campuses: Auburn University has a 45-person paw-print shaped hot tub, Pensacola Christian College has a …

The Promise of Personalized Education

Is this the future of student support? There has been a lot of talk of late about learner analytics and the potential benefits in terms of tracking student performance and identifying and intervening where they are at risk of dropping out. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story on a number of companies who …

Applying to uni via video

Better than qualifications? The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting story on the use of videos in university applications. Whilst some institutions have been encouraging students to submit videos as supporting information, it seems at least one has now gone further and is offering students the opportunity to provide them as the primary selection …

Outsourcing student recruitment

Australian colleges trust to agents Very surprised by this piece in @insidehighered which notes that agents have expanded their reach into domestic higher education recruitment in Australia: When the Australian Skills Quality Authority examined 400 college websites during last year’s marketing audit, as many as 70 turned out to belong to brokerage firms rather than …

Excess Baggage

Luxury Transport for Students Lots of coverage in the media for this new service offering Luxury Transport for Students. New students are urged to become VIFs – or Very Important Freshers – and take advantage of these new ways of getting to university: We are stepping up the game, we are changing the way students …

Dialogue through technology

Dorm Room Diplomacy   Intrigued to learn about the activities of an organisation called Dorm Room Diplomacy which gets groups of students together from around the world, via videoconferencing, to engage in dialogue aimed at promoting greater international understanding: Founded by students at the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, Dorm Room Diplomacy fosters intercultural dialogue …

True Crime on Campus §37: long hot summer

Even More True Crime on Campus It may be summer but our always vigilant Security staff are still on duty to ensure that every unlikely situation is dealt with: 08:05 Security reported an altercation between a driver and a cyclist at the end of the road leading up to the West Entrance Gatehouse on University …

The new University of Life

Some people are just too smart for university Must admit to being immensely irritated at the so-called 'UnCollege' proposition> And, having seen Dale speak recently at Going Global my annoyance has not decreased. This seems to be the story of UnCollege:   Dale was unschooled for grades six through twelve and enrolled at Hendrix College …

Spy kids

GCHQ accredits UK master's degrees for 'cyber spies'     Was very much taken by this thrilling news. Of course we have had Professional Body accreditation for many years and more recently courses supported by Asda and other supermarkets. But this is a little bit different. Not least in the sense that GCHQ is not …

Mobile students

Student mobility in and out of the UK The British Council has produced this nice graphic on student mobility in and out of the UK: This new interactive animation shows how the UK as a provider and host of internationally mobile students has evolved over recent years. From 2002 onwards differences in gender, age, level …

Video game scholarships

League of Legends becomes a varsity sport Inside Higher Ed has a story about an Illinois university which has decided to make 'League of Legends' a varsity sport and award a number of scholarships to boot: In the latest blow to the nerd-jock distinction, an Illinois university has added video games to its varsity sports …

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 …

Singalonga Higher Ed

Lyrical challenges at the University of Utah   Inside Higher Ed has a diverting piece on the changes being made to the University of Utah's 'fight song' to address some of the lyrical challenges of the original: The line “our coeds are the fairest” will be replaced with “our students are the finest” and the …