By Jan Petter Myklebust. After seven years, the European Research Council, or ERC, grant scheme has become a ‘gold standard’ for science in Europe, and the ‘jewel in the crown’ for 4,556 recipients in the Seventh Framework Programme, or FP7 (2007-13). Read more...
17 novembre 2015
Top institutions dominate in fierce ERC grant battle
The massive refugee crisis demands a proper response
By Hans de Wit. On 18 September 2015 Philip Altbach and I wrote a University World News commentary about the slow reaction by higher education to the refugee crisis in Europe. Since then both the crisis itself and the response by universities and higher education organisations in Europe and beyond have escalated rapidly, the latter a positive sign of the commitment and engagement of the higher education community. Read more...
Widening access to study abroad
By Andrés Castro Samayoa, Marybeth Gasman and Paola 'Lola' Esmieu. Higher education leaders and policy-makers strive to adapt college models to the global interconnectedness of the 21st century. Take, for example, the Civic and Global Learning component of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, or NILOA, Degree Qualifications Profile which calls for students’ abilities to “face a social, economic and information world that knows no borders, that is buffeted by environmental changes, and that requires both the knowledge and the experiences that will enable them to become genuinely interactive and productive”. Read more...
The next step in soft power
By Rachel Brown. Amid the flurry of press coverage surrounding President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States in September, his gift of a dawn redwood tree to be planted on the campus of the Global Innovation Exchange, or GIX, programme in Seattle received little attention. Read more...
Opening a Pandora’s box
By Roger Chao Jr. Since the opening up of its economy and its democratisation process, Myanmar’s government has understood the importance of education, including higher education, in supporting the country’s national development plans especially in sustaining economic development. Read more...
Asia is Japan’s internationalisation blindspot
By Jeremy Rappleye and Edward Vickers. Japan needs more gurobaru jinzai (global talent)! Or so we are constantly told these days. Politicians portray global talent as individuals whose knowledge of foreign cultures and languages will connect Japan with the outside world, restoring the country’s competitiveness and strengthening its international relationships. Read more...
Graduates who move overseas will have to repay loans
By Claire Shaw. University graduates who move overseas for more than six months will now have to pay back their student loans. Read more...
Staff promotion not tied to internationalisation
By Nicola Jenvey. Only 8% of United States higher education institutions have guidelines specifying international work or experience as a consideration for faculty promotion and tenure decisions, according to a study by the American Council on Education, or ACE. Read more...
Universities launch drive to oppose rising xenophobia
By Brendan O'Malley. The member universities of the German Rectors’ Conference, or HRK, have launched a national initiative to oppose xenophobia in Germany, against a backdrop of the refugee crisis and a steeply rising number of incidents of verbal and physical racial attacks in recent months. Read more...
University autonomy vs public accountability in HE act?
By Sharon Dell. The famously imprecise line between institutional autonomy and public accountability is under the spotlight in South Africa as Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Blade Nzimande prepares to amend the Higher Education Act in a process that will become public in the new year. Read more...
