14 avril 2013
Scholars increasingly use online resources, survey finds
By Jennifer Howard, The Chronicle of Higher Education. Scholars continue to get more comfortable with e-only journals, and they increasingly get access to the material they want via digital channels, including internet search engines and more specific discovery tools provided by academic libraries. (This is an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education, America’s leading higher education publication. It is presented here under an agreement with University World News.)When it comes time to publish their own research, though, academics still seek out journals with the highest prestige and the widest readership in their fields, whether or not those journals are electronic and make articles free online. Read more...
Cambridge v-c on universities and the poorest billion
By Geoff Maslen. Do the world’s leading universities have a role to play in alleviating the plight of the 1.3 billion people living with extreme poverty and hunger on incomes of less than US$1.25 a day while a further five billion people live on less than $9 per day? The question was raised last Thursday by Cambridge University Vice-chancellor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz. Delivering the Richard Larkins Oration at Monash University in Melbourne, Borysiewicz put forward a powerful argument that yes, universities could do something to tackle global poverty because its consequences were a blight on individuals, society and the planet. Read more...National consultation drafts 78 proposals for HE
By Jane Marshall. Priority for science, technology, engineering and mathematics was among 78 proposals made at a conference of the National Consultation on the Future of Higher Education held in Dakar, Senegal, this month. Another of the recommendations – to increase student fees – led to violent demonstrations in the capital. The conference, attended by academics, unions, parents’ associations, politicians, business leaders and civil society representatives, agreed on recommendations on issues including governance, funding, research and innovation, education quality, internationalisation and opening higher education to the market. The conference, known as CNAES and held from 6-9 April, based its debate on proposals in the steering committee’s preliminary report, itself based on regional consultations, to rescue the higher education sector from its current crisis, reported Ndarinfo of Saint-Louis. Read more...Foreign students flock to ‘illegal’ Cyprus universities
By Maina Waruru. Kenyans are among many African students whose dreams of a quality education in Cyprus might have been shattered. Internal politics in Cyprus have spilled over into the international and African higher education scene, fuelling confusion among parents and prospective students attracted to opportunities for top-notch education in the divided country. Universities in secessionist north Cyprus, a region not recognised by the international community except Turkey, have been advertising places at various ‘quality’ institutions, precipitating a spat with the country’s missions abroad. The universities, including Cyprus International University and East Mediterranean University, both in the north Turkish-recognised region, have been luring students – mainly in Africa – with the promise of top-quality, affordable education. But the universities are not accredited by south (Greek) Cyprus, which is recognised by the United Nations, posing a major dilemma for students, who are uncertain about whether they will be able to enter the job market with qualifications from universities in north Cyprus. Read more...
London Met welcomes back foreign students
By Peta Lee. In a welcome move, London Metropolitan University has reopened its doors to foreign students. Last August, in a controversial decision, the UK Border Agency stripped the institution of its right to sponsor the visas of international students, affecting several thousand students. In announcing the decision last week to reinstate the enrolment of these students, the government said recent inspections had showed “the university has made the necessary improvements to its monitoring of students' attendance and immigration status”.At the time, the UK Border Agency, which has since been abolished and brought back into the Home Office, claimed that London Met was not meeting its responsibilities. Read more...
Surprise winner in higher education research ranking
By John Gerritsen. New Zealand's latest evaluation of tertiary institutions' research has thrown up an unexpected winner. The Performance Based Research Fund results published today show that Victoria University of Wellington has the highest average score for its researchers, with the University of Auckland second and the former top University of Otago dropping to third. In the previous ranking, six years ago, Victoria was placed fourth, and its Deputy Vice-chancellor (Research) Professor Neil Quigley says the improvement is the result of a careful strategy to strengthen the quality of research at the university. Read more...Universities call for relief from excessive regulation
By Geoff Maslen. Australia’s universities are groaning under the weight of excessive government regulations and are demanding that regulatory demands be reduced or eliminated. The 39 public universities estimate that they spend A$280 million (US$292 million) a year complying with requirements set down by various federal and state departments. The peak body, Universities Australia, says a typical university spends more than A$1 million in meeting not even half the reporting obligations of just one government department. Read more...Ireland the most educated country in EU, says Eurostat
By Keith Nuthall. Ireland has the most higher education graduates per head of population of all 27 countries of the European Union, a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat has revealed. Looking at the proportion of people aged 30-34 who had completed tertiary education, Eurostat said that in 2012, 51.1% of Ireland’s residents had degrees. This was followed by Cyprus (49.9%), Luxembourg (49.6%) and Lithuania (48.7%). Meanwhile, the lowest proportion of higher education graduates was found in Italy (21.7%), Romania (21.8%) and Malta (22.4%). Regarding Europe’s other large countries, the proportions were 47.1% for Britain, 31.9% in Germany (which retains a strong tradition of technical education), 43.6% in France, 40.1% in Spain and 39.1% in Poland. Read more...Universities to step up international efforts – Survey
By Alan Osborn. Europe’s universities are already relatively international in character and most have strategies in place to step up their international efforts further, according to a new survey of members by the European University Association (EUA). The universities are keenly awaiting the European Commission’s proposals for an internationalisation strategy, believing this could sharpen awareness of the merits of such a policy among their own leaderships and help focus individual efforts. In total, 180 complete responses from 175 higher education institutions in 38 countries on the state of internationalisation in higher education were received by the EUA. Read more...Are university rankings too powerful?
By Alan Osborn. A new report by the European University Association, or EUA, on global university rankings confirms what most higher education leaders will have known for some time – the dramatic growth in the number and scope of rankings tables in recent years has begun to shape the ways in which higher education is developing worldwide. The EUA report, Global Universities and their Impact – Report II, says that besides increasing the pressure on universities – and the risk of overburdening them – the rankings “are also now beginning to impact on public policy making”.The new publication was released at the association’s annual conference at Ghent University in Belgium last Friday. Read more...
