By Clifford Coonan. Irish colleges establish series of links with Chinese institutions on trade mission.
Chinese parents prize education probably above all other gifts they can hand on to their children, and are keen for their kids to study abroad at the best universities.
Australia and the US have been wooing Chinese students, with strong degrees of national identity helping sell the product.
Ireland has a way to go. Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn was in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai last week with an Enterprise Ireland trade delegation of more than 15 educational institutions, including University College Cork. Read more...

International student recruitment is complex, costly and competitive. But universities can keep ahead by staying connected with overseas graduates, says Nik Miller.
Once a docile adjunct that in some small way contributed to fundraising, alumni engagement programmes are now adding institutional value in their own right. Smart institutions are investing, looking towards their growing alumni communities overseas to boost their international efforts. The cost of undervaluing (or underestimating) graduates' contributions in this area is becoming clear. In a recent report commissioned by the Higher Education Academy (HEA), colleagues and I outlined a range of programmes designed to engage alumni to support international activities. The case studies are categorised under three headings: promoting student employability; enhancing international recruitment; and supporting academic developments. Read more...

By Lincoln Tan. Big changes recommended after audit following Beijing fraud turns up anomalies. A report has found Immigration New Zealand to be lacking in risk management governance after a lapse last year that led to 300 student visa applications with fraudulent documents being approved.
The audit, commissioned when the fraud was discovered at the department's Beijing branch, found the agency to be without a single governance body with oversight of its risk management framework and that risk processes were being implemented differently at various branches.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers study - released to the Herald under the Official Information Act - which looked at systems, structures and governance arrangements across Immigration NZ also found poor communication between divisions. Read more...

By Linda Nguyen. Phil Jacobson thought getting a business degree would help open doors on Bay Street. He didn’t expect it would also help him become a big wig on Main Street.
“I figured, out of all the undergrad possibilities that were out there, a business degree would position me as the most well-rounded coming out of school,” said the 22-year-old president and co-founder of mobile app PumpUp.
“So I could either start something or get a great job and just have those good skills.”
After graduating last summer from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Jacobson decided that his dream wasn’t to get poached by a big financial firm. Instead, he wanted to continue working for himself.
And he’s not alone.
Although there are no statistics on how many university students become employers or self-employed after graduation, in recent years, Canadian universities have begun to update their curriculum to support an increasing number who want to work for themselves once they finish school. Read more...

Universities hold the keys to economic vitality, says Doug Rothwell, and Michigan is shining a light on exactly how.
In today's knowledge economy, there is growing recognition that colleges and universities are powerful stimulants of economic growth. The talent, research and development, and economic activity they produce are valuable public goods worthy of both private and public investment. The obvious question, however, is this: how can colleges and universities show they are delivering healthy investment returns? We think we have the beginnings of an answer: Michigan's performance tracker for public universities. As a roundtable of business leaders located in the US midwest, Business Leaders for Michigan asked higher education and economic partners what we'd expect to see in a credible investment report. We came up with about 30 different measures of productivity, efficiency, affordability, access, and economic impact. Read more...

The launch of UCL Academy has not been without fire, says Michael Worton, but the chance to shape curriculum and collaborate with educational colleagues was too good to miss.
Today sees the opening of the UCL Academy, the first school in England with a university as sole sponsor. It is early days, but I believe that the close relationship already enjoyed by school and university is bearing fruit. Yes, staff and students of our two institutions are benefiting from the links, but with time I think our respective sectors will also gain from the new approach to teaching and learning being pioneered. Read more...

Enquête sur l’utilisation des CVthèques auprès des candidats
Découvrez l’enquête réalisée par Opensourcing sur l’utilisation des CVthèques par les candidats.
Nous apprenons que plus de la moitié des candidats mettent à jour régulièrement leurs CV sur les différents sites (3,5 en moyenne) où ils les ont créés.
Seulement 7% des profils ne sont pas à jour.
Les CVthèques les plus prisées par les candidats en recherche de poste sont Montser (pour la génération Y), Cadremploi pour les candidats avec expériences et l’Apec pour les seniors.
Parcourez cette infographie et pour en savoir plus consultez les résultats détaillés de cette étude.