Over recent months we have been developing our plans to deliver highly focused and evidence-informed projects which will support the sector in our shared drive to inspire teaching to transform learning. We can now confirm we have received the funding to do this.
Our funding, which has been reduced in line with many parts of the sector, has resulted in us bringing forward our existing plans to become financially self-sufficient. More...

The Higher Education Academy (HEA) and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) have announced plans for a joint project to explore how directed independent learning is promoted in UK universities and colleges. The work will look at how courses are designed and delivered to do this most effectively.
Professor Philippa Levy, Deputy Chief Executive (Academic) at the HEA, said: “This important project will help the sector to understand what is needed to help students study independently and how those working in higher education institutions can support them.
More information about the project can be found here. More...

Fifty members of Canada’s international education community gathered on March 20, 2014 in Ottawa to applaud the publication of Knowledge, Engagement and Higher Education: Contributing to Social Change. This volume is the fifth report in the series Higher Education in the World of the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi). See more...

RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal launches a call for papers for the next Special Section on 'MOOCs: Game Changer or Passing Fad?
The Universities and Knowledge Society Journal (RUSC) is an open-access e-journal jointly published by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC, Spain) and the University of New England (UNE, Australia) that comes out twice a year, in January and July.
RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal launches a call for papers for the next Special Section on 'MOOCs: Game Changer or Passing Fad? '
Call for papers open for the next Special Section on 'MOOCs: Game Changer or Passing Fad?' See more...

This post is an invitation to join the Wikiprogress Latin America online discussion on "Civil Society and Actions to Promote Well-being". You're invited to share your knowledge and experiences regarding well-being programmes in Latin America.
We invite you to leave your comments in Spanish, Portuguese, English or French in the section entitled “Contribuye” of the discussion webpage. To participate, click here.
Here is the link to the page: http://bit.ly/1gl42wf and the hashtag in Twitter is #SociedadCivilYAcciones. More...

By David Crosier and Andrea Puhl. "Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it" – Salvador Dali
It took 199 years to build the Tower of Pisa. Only 5 years after construction had started, the tower began to sink. It had been built on too weak a foundation, set in unstable soil. Although beautifully planned and designed, the project was flawed from the beginning. Yet, just because of its flaw and tilt, the tower of Pisa has become one of the best-known monuments worldwide, and teaches us at least two important lessons: foundations matter, and perfection does not equal attraction.
In recent years, the name "Pisa" has become associated with another giant: an international test of educational performance organised by the OECD. Indeed you could say that PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is now the main reference for assessing student performance in mathematics, reading and science worldwide. By extension, PISA is often treated as a means to rank the effectiveness of national education systems. More...

The Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU) has produced a new report on student mobility to and from Norway.
With regard to higher education, the report shows that the 2012/13 academic year saw more Norwegian students travel abroad than ever before. However, if we take into account the growth in the overall student population, the proportion travelling abroad is broadly the same as ten years ago.
SIU report (in Norwegian only). More...