ICDE and the LangOER network in partnership with the Nordic OER network are organizing a workshop for a small group of leading world experts in post-secondary education to be held in Oslo on Monday, 28 April. The event will seek to assess the situation for open educational resource around the globe with particular reference to less used languages.

Definitions

Less used languages are languages such as Norwegian, Swedish, Greek, Xhosa and Zulu which find themselves needing to contend with a fast evolving educational landscape currently dominated by English. Less used languages also include regional and minority languages.

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are defined by UNESCO as any type of educational materials in the public domain or with an open licence. The nature of these open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them.

Scope

Focus on:

• What is the situation when it comes to OER and less used languages?
• What issues arise from that situation  - and how could they be met?

Also with reference to:

• How can OER enhance the position of less used languages on a global scale?
• What policies are favourable to the uptake of quality OER and quality open educational practices in less used language communities?

The workshop will provide input to a working policy paper on OER and challenges and opportunities for less used languages in a global, European, Nordic and national perspective. More...

Students have a mixed level of identification with the notion of themselves as ‘consumers’, and they continue to value excellent teaching, research published today into the impact of policy changes on student attitudes and approaches to learning in higher education shows.
The research, by Michael Tomlinson of the University of Southampton and funded by the HEA, reveals that the majority of students in the study spoke of having greater rights and stronger grounds for appraising and questioning the provision they received, but that the notion of actively consuming higher education did not seem to capture the majority's approaches. More...

The South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum (SAHECEF) met at the University of Western Cape, in Cape Town, on 3 and 4 April 2014. There were 60 leading community engagement advocates and academics involved across South African universities, including the advisor to the national Minister of Higher Education and Training. More...

Studies of British and American students have shown that university rankings are less important than other factors in the choice of a university. However, a recent study has discovered that this is not true for international students who are thinking about studying in the UK and Australia.
A survey of nearly 14,000 prospective international students by Hobson’s, a higher education advice group, and the Parthenon Group has found that tuition fees, global institutional rankings and subject rankings were very important and that “student experience” and contact time with faculty were of less significance.

Sources
HOBSONS
QS Intelligence Unit
Times Higher Education