Handheld devices are widely applied to support open and distributed learning, where students are diverse. On the other hand, customization and personalization can be applied to accommodate students’ diversities. However, paucity of research compares the effects of customization and personalization in the context of handheld devices. To this end, we developed a customized digital learning system (CDLS) and personalized digital learning system (PDLS), which were implemented on the handheld devices and tailored to the needs of students with diverse cognitive styles. Furthermore, we conducted two empirical studies to examine the effects of cognitive styles on the use of the CDLS and PDLS. More...

The Science and Technology Committee examined the opportunities and risks of ‘big data’. The inquiry looked at whether the Government is doing enough to ensure that UK entrepreneurs can benefit from the data revolution, while looking at issues around data protection and privacy.
Opportunities and risks of big data. More...

When deciding where to go to college, students ask several important questions: How much will it cost? What academic programs are available? Will it prepare me for my future? What colleges and universities are nearby? While most research and policy conversations understandably focus on helping students answer the first few, this last question about geography and place is too often overlooked.

In Education Deserts, Nicholas Hillman and Taylor Weichman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison explain that place still matters. They argue that place matters even more for today’s college students, many of whom work full-time, care for dependents, and have close social ties to their communities. More...

Le laboratoire d’innovation et de prospective ressources humaines (LI-RH), installé le 10 mars 2014, est le fruit d’un partenariat entre le centre de formation au management du ministère de la Défense (CFMD), le commissariat général à la stratégie et à la prospective (CGSP), la direction générale de l’administration et de la fonction publique (DGAFP),  l’institut de la gestion publique et du développement économique (IGPDE) et France Stratégie. Son objet : "identifier les sujets innovants relatifs aux pratiques de ressources humaines et mutualiser les connaissances et les données en vue de la publication de travaux communs par l’ensemble des partenaires", incluant l’analyse comparative avec le secteur public à l’international. More...

Nearly 40 percent of the students entering 2- and 4-year postsecondary institutions indicated their intention to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in 2012. But the barriers to students realizing their ambitions are reflected in the fact that about half of those with the intention to earn a STEM bachelor’s degree and more than two-thirds intending to earn a STEM associate’s degree fail to earn these degrees 4 to 6 years after their initial enrollment. Many of those who do obtain a degree take longer than the advertised length of the programs, thus raising the cost of their education. Are the STEM educational pathways any less efficient than for other fields of study? How might the losses be “stemmed” and greater efficiencies realized? These questions and others are at the heart of this study. More...

Deux ans après la votation populaire sur l'initiative contre l'immigration de masse, les hautes écoles mettent en garde contre les conséquences de l'initiative de mise en œuvre et publient un manifeste collectif sur l’importance de la formation et de la recherche suisse. Non seulement la formation et la recherche sont en jeu, mais également l'économie et la prospérité de la Suisse. 
Si l'initiative de mise en œuvre était adoptée le 28 février 2016, cela aurait des conséquences tragiques pour la formation et la recherche en Suisse. La Suisse violerait ainsi des engagements en matière de droit international et dérogerait à l'accord sur la libre circulation des personnes. Les négociations déjà ardues engagées avec l'UE pour les accords sur la recherche seraient considérablement entravées. Dans le pire des cas, l'UE pourrait recourir à la clause dite guillotine et résilier tous les accords – en particulier celui concernant la coopération scientifique et technologique. 
Si la Suisse ne parvient pas à un accord avec l'UE d'ici fin 2016, elle sera définitivement exclue des accords européens sur la formation et la recherche. Les conséquences économiques seraient désastreuses. More...

The research brief looks at undergraduate admissions to Oxford and Cambridge, particularly from a widening participation perspective. The report finds that the application processes both universities go through to select their undergraduates can differ significantly from college to college.
At the moment, tests vary by college at Cambridge – where many subjects have different tests at different colleges – and by subject at Oxford; Oxbridge Admissions identifies almost 400 different possible tests beyond A levels that prospective students could have to take.  Both universities have seen increases in the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds over recent years, but there is still a significant way to go before access is equitable for all. More...

As part of a wider project to build a comprehensive picture of the research and innovation landscape, the Research Councils are working with key organisations to identify a wide range of datasets and how they can be better exploited to help maintain and develop the UK’s excellence in research and innovation.
The High-Level Landscape Mapping Group, made up of representatives from the Research Councils, Innovate UK, HEFCE, and others, published a report in February 2016 as a first step in refining and bringing together datasets that can be used and exploited further to inform strategic decision-making and enable funders to identify how future funding could be targeted to achieve the best value for money. In order to exploit areas where the UK could have increased global comparative advantage, we need to improve the UK’s capability to identify where existing and emerging research excellence can be coupled with innovation strength.
The UK Knowledge and Research Landscape: A report on available resources. More...

As the number of European Union Member States has increased and the competences of the Union have widened, some Member States have on occasion been exempted from joining their partners in new fields of integration. Whilst the single market and its ‘four freedoms’ remain at the heart of the Union, it has found ways to allow the majority to move forward, notably in the fields of Economic and Monetary Union and Justice and Home Affairs, without all Member States taking part. The graphics below illustrate the differing arrangements for Member States’ participation in EMU and JHA. This is variously known as differentiated integration, variable geometry, multi-speed or à la carte Europe. Even if some see the current situation of the United Kingdom as further entrenching the practice, the Union has always maintained the possibility for non-participating Member States to re-join their partners. Furthermore, new Member States do not immediately participate fully in certain policy areas, such as the euro area. More...