By Bode Gbadebo. The National Universities Commission (NUC) has unveiled the identities of the illegal “universities” with known addresses operating in the country. The commission disclosed this yesterday at the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) headquarters during a joint press conference on the activities of the operators of the illegal “universities” across the country.
According to a release signed by the NUC deputy director (legal), Moses Awe, and made available to LEADERSHIP, 41 illegal universities have so far been identified with fixed addresses and have been published on NUC website.
Meanwhile, the ICPC also disclosed at the briefing that it had commenced a nationwide joint operation with security operatives, beginning yesterday, to close down the premises of the 41 identified illegal “universities”, with the aim of seizing their properties, making arrest of operators and prosecuting the culprits. Read more...

Blog Educpros de Michel Abhervé. L’UQAM à Montréal recrute des professeurs et le simple lecture de l’annonce met en évidence combien nos pays sont différents. Dans le poste concernant la gestion des entreprises collectives (organisations à but non lucratif, coopératives, organisations non gouvernementales, etc.), nous notons deux particularités (pour nous).
D’abord quant au statut: alors que pour nous l’Université des fonctionnaires et des contractuels de droit public, au Québec il est mentionné que le traitement sera établi « selon la convention collective UQAM-SPUQ ». Suite de l'article...

By Marc Mcilhone. The European Union (EU) has agreed on additional funding to further develop the modernisation of higher education as well as the international cooperation capacity of higher education institutions in Tunisia under the Erasmus Mundus and Tempus programmes. This will be achieved by providing more scholarships to Tunisian students, researchers and academic staff to study and to perform research in the EU as well as through the setting up of cooperation projects between European and Tunisian universities. Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, said on this occasion: “With today’s decision, the EU is highlighting the importance of people-to-people exchanges and intercultural dialogues. In addition to the efforts already made to provide EU support for economic recovery and growth, to create new jobs and to reduce regional discrepancies in Tunisia, the EU is now also enhancing its support for quality education for Tunisian young people. The knowledge and skills they will acquire through this programme will help them to be active members of their transforming society.” Read more...

By Angeli Mehta. Australia has confirmed substantial cuts of A$3.8billion (£2.4 billion) to higher education in this week’s budget. The cuts have been unveiled over the past six months and Catriona Jackson, chief executive of advocacy group Science & Technology Australia, warns that they are ‘really going to get in the way of research’. In total, Australia slashed spending by A$43 billion, ‘which means universities are taking nearly 10% of the cuts: that’s an awful lot’, she adds.
The funding squeeze includes 2% efficiency savings, roughly A$30 million per university. ‘This is money universities had already factored in, so it’s inevitable that research will be impacted,’ says Jackson. The money saved will contribute to major school reforms, which are ‘incredibly important, but it’s a continuum … there’s no point in coming out of improved schools to an impoverished university sector’. Read more...

By Inge Ignatia de Waard. Thanks to the Ol'daily my attention got grabbed by an article from Elsua (Luis Suarez - an KM/IBM social media pioneer). In his reflective blogpost on the industrialization of social media in the enterprise. His words rang a bell, as I am also caught between automating my (not corporate, but as I see it my personal brand) social media stream, because I feel I am not putting out as much as I want to. But after reading his blogpost, I realized the output is not why I started using social media, it is indeed the conversation, the network, the exchange of ideas ... the dialogue. I need to meet with others, discuss ideas, meet new viewpoints, feel what is out there to grow myself or at least to see other directions. Some poignant issues raised by Elsua:
Why do we have to keep up with that constant urge towards busyness (and bursting online activity) vs. pause, reflection and adding relevant value where it may apply into the overall conversation? Haven’t we learned that social networking tools are just not another marketing channel, but purely a conversation amongst peers on a common interest and with a strong urge to connect further along? Have we forgotten how for a conversation to take place out there in digital channels both parties need to be present and for real? providing value and being silent are two sides of the same coin, that is, you. Read more...

By  Reihan Salam. In a new report on the Pell Grant program, Stephen Burd of the New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program outlines how many U.S. colleges and universities design their policies to enroll as many affluent students as possible. Alex Holt of New America summarizes Burd’s findings: Burd uses data, many of which are available through our Federal Education Budget Project database, on Pell Grant enrollment and net price for the lowest-income students at thousands of individual colleges. The analysis shows that hundreds of public and private non-profit colleges expect the neediest students to pay an annual amount that is equal to or even more than their families’ entire yearly earnings. As a result, these students are left with little choice but to take on heavy debt loads or to behave in ways that are demonstrated to reduce the likelihood of earning their degrees, such as working full-time while enrolled or dropping out until they can afford to return. Only a few dozen exclusive colleges meet the full financial need of the lowest-income students they enroll. Nearly two-thirds of the private institutions analyzed charge students from the lowest-income families, those making $30,000 or less annually, a net price of over $15,000 a year. Read more...

Remember, MOOCs have become a manufactured consent.
I'm not at all surprised to hear the accusation that revisionists have been sanitising the Wikipedia article on MOOCs - taking out the references to the early developers. It was recently revealed here in Australia, that this may be common practice for public relations service now.
Actually, I was quite hurt when the MOOC article was started on Wikipedia, neglecting to take the history that up until then was being recorded in the Networked Learning article. Hurt, but not surprised. Read more...