By Elizabeth Gibney. Groups of universities could raise funding for postgraduate student loans by issuing bonds, a report by the thinktank CentreForum has suggested. The certificates of debt, which guarantee repayment plus interest at a later date, could be used to source money from financial markets for loans, says the study entitled Postgraduate education: better funding and better access. Read more...By , Elizabeth Gibney. Ministers should extend student loans to many more part-time students to remedy a “crisis” in recruitment, a thinktank commission is set to recommend. Led by Nigel Thrift, vice-chancellor of the University of Warwick, the Institute for Public Policy Research’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education will call for sweeping changes to stop the steady decline in part-time students since 2010 when it publishes its final report on 10 June. Read more...
By Luca Marazzi. Thousands pursue PhDs without research funding every year, says Luca Marazzi – it's a challenging but rewarding path. At the peak of the recession in September 2008, I moved to the UK looking for a possible career as an ecologist. I started my PhD in geography at University College London and, hoping to obtain funding, I enrolled full-time. Unfortunately my applications failed, and after less than a year, I chose to shift to part-time status and get a job. There was roughly one college-wide full studentship for every 100 students and research council funding was insufficient. Read more...
By Steve Caplan. The idea of massive open online courses is becoming increasingly popular. Technology can't be stopped, but educators must assure that these courses meet academic standards. These are trying times for researchers across the globe, and I think it matters not whether one is in the UK, US or anywhere else; the lack of funding is impacting science in many ways, and not for the better. Scientists are running scared, funds for research are becoming scarce, labs are closing, tenure is being denied. I do my best not to project negativity to the burgeoning scientists (students and post-docs) in my own lab, but they are bright enough to understand what is going on: they see that a career in science is a never-ending fight to keep going. Ultimately, this is leading to the attrition of talented young scientists from the academic track. Read more...By . With pressure building to have a job lined up post-submission, Victoria McGowan and Erika Brockfeld offer advice to final year PhD candidates on facing their fears – and the future. After years of hard slog you've finally made it to your final year. When people ask you what you're doing, no longer do you launch into a monologue on how your research is going to save the planet; instead dumbing down your work into the shortest soundbite you can think of. Read more...By Richard Adams. Education ombudsman Les Ebdon makes request after data shows affluent applicants outnumber those from deprived areas. Les Ebdon, the access ombudsman for higher education in England, has told universities and colleges to step up their efforts to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds as official data shows affluent applicants outnumbering those from deprived areas by three to one. Read more...
By Ann Yu. TAIPEI, Taiwan - Starting salaries for people with tertiary degrees have dropped in recent years, with pay for holders of master's degrees or above falling the most, according to a survey by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA). The starting salary for a person with a post-graduate degree has dropped NT$682(S$28) from NT$32,321 in 2011. In the past 14 years those holding a bachelor's degree have experienced the biggest drop in starting salary, with a NT$740 difference compared to NT$27,462 in 1999. The average starting salary for a college graduate is currently NT$26,722, while a post-graduate currently receives NT$31,639. Read more...
By Paul Campos. If you want a glimpse into what has gone wrong with higher education in America, look no further than the brilliant career of E. Gordon Gee, who as of July 1st will be the ex-president of the Ohio State University (and of Brown and Vanderbilt, as well as the flagship public universities of Colorado and West Virginia). If he had been born at another time, Gee might have sold patent medicines or swampy real estate or a new political party. Instead, he spent the last three decades selling the ever-bigger business of American higher ed. Read more...
By Mark Kenny. Redirecting money from universities into schools to pump up Julia Gillard's troubled Gonski school education reforms has not impressed voters any more than it has impressed state governments, with one in four saying they may shun the ALP because of it.
By Gareth Evans. Higher education institutions are punching above their weight when it comes to the amount of wealth they creates, says a new report. Universities in Wales continue to “punch above their weight” in their contribution to the economy, new research has found./https%3A%2F%2Fprofilepics.canalblog.com%2Fprofilepics%2F1%2F0%2F1076071.jpg)
