23 juin 2013

On Tuesday 18 June, the EU high-level group on modernisation of higher education published and presented its first “report to the European Commission on improving the quality of teaching and learning in Europe’s higher education institutions”.
The group, launched last year by the European Commission and chaired by former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, and to which EUA provided input, makes 16 recommendations to different stakeholders including HE institutions and public authorities. These include a call for mandatory certified training for professors and other higher education teaching staff, more focus on helping students to develop entrepreneurial and innovative skills, and the creation of a European Academy of Teaching and Learning. Read more...

Rethinking Education, a strategy presented by the European Commission last November, calls for focusing on 'learning outcomes' - the knowledge, skills and competences that students acquire. The rapporteur of the European Parliament´s (EP) Draft Report, Katarína Neveďalová (S&D, SK), defends adult education and lifelong learning.
I have summarised the content of the Draft Report to three areas: youth unemployment, partnerships and lifelong learning, Ms Neveďalová said in her presentation in the meeting of the Committee for Culture and Education (CULT) held this week´s Monday, the 17th of June. Read more...

By Andrew Lounder. At least a couple of decades ago, scholars began anticipating the retirement of baby boomers. It was to be a magnificent bursting of the bubble that was created when the U.S. population rapidly expanded in the years following World War II. Years went by, and we watched Dennis Hopper market Ameriprise retirement plans to boomers on TV, by greeting senior citizenship on his own rebellious terms (Mr. Easy Rider was not himself a boomer). We waited. We are still waiting. For those observing higher education faculty, we should go ahead and make ourselves comfortable. Fidelity Investments made headlines this week when it reported its findings from a recent survey on higher education faculty retirement planning, which included, “74 percent of these boomers plan to delay retirement past the age of 65, or never retire at all.” Read more...

By Ronald Roach. In a move to strengthen its influence on higher education reform in the U.S., Washington think tank The American Enterprise Institute announced Thursday the launch of the Center on Higher Education Reform (CHER). The center, which is led by AEI resident scholar Andrew P. Kelly, is expected to “conduct independent, data-driven research and analysis designed to inform policymaking and shape the higher education reform conversation,” according to AEI.
“AEI’s new Center on Higher Education Reform will lead the conversation about how we can make higher education work for all Americans, and to prepare American students to flourish in the decades to come,” AEI president Arthur Brooks said in a statement.
With concerns about the state of U.S. higher education growing nationally, AEI seeks to have CHER become a resource for key decision makers to help them address challenges of rapid increases in tuition, lackluster completion rates, swelling student debt and other issues that raise questions about higher education’s sustainability. Read more...

By James Karuhanga. MPs have endorsed a bill that seeks to have some 10 universities in the country merged to form one institution of higher learning. The Senate is now expected to give its approval on the institution set to be called the University of Rwanda in the next few days. 
Presenting a pertinent report prior to the debate, MP Agnès Mukazibera, Chairperson of the standing Committee on Education, Technology, Culture and Youth, told Parliament that, the law will ease the implementation of the new project. The University of Rwanda, she said, would have legal personality, administrative, teaching, research and financial autonomy and will be run in accordance with the law governing the organisation and functioning of higher education. Read more...

By Wang Wen. The high school graduates who completed the university entrance exams 10 days ago, are now faced with solving another question - which university majors offer the best job prospects? According to MyCOS HR Digital Information Co Ltd, a human resources consulting company in Beijing whose name is short for My China Occupational Skills, this year's majors with the highest job prospects and earning potential are geological engineering, naval architecture and ocean engineering, petroleum engineering, mining engineering and auditing. Those with the lowest include animation, law, biotechnology, mathematics and applied mathematics, physical education, bioengineering and English. Read more...

By Wang Wen. The high school graduates who completed the university entrance exams 10 days ago, are now faced with solving another question - which university majors offer the best job prospects? According to MyCOS HR Digital Information Co Ltd, a human resources consulting company in Beijing whose name is short for My China Occupational Skills, this year's majors with the highest job prospects and earning potential are geological engineering, naval architecture and ocean engineering, petroleum engineering, mining engineering and auditing. Those with the lowest include animation, law, biotechnology, mathematics and applied mathematics, physical education, bioengineering and English. Read more...

By Hal Foster. Within three years Kazakhstan’s universities will have the authority to decide what academic programs and courses they’ll offer, speakers at a recent educational leaders conference said. This autonomy will help the universities respond better to changing student, employer and society demands for skills, according to speakers at the Second Annual Eurasian Higher Education Leaders Forum at Nazarbayev University. But autonomy will not be restricted to academic-program and course selection. Universities will also have the freedom to choose their vice presidents and provosts, to allocate funds the way they want and to own their land, which will help them raise funds. Read more...