Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Bryn Williams-Jones, Jean-Christophe Bélisle Pipon, Elise Smith and Renaud Boulanger. As the executive editors of an open-access journal called BioéthiqueOnline (launched in 2012), we enthusiastically support the initiatives of the federal (e.g., CIHR) and provincial (e.g., Quebec) funding agencies to encourage open-access publication of academic research findings. We subscribe to the view that research funded by Canadian taxpayers should be made publicly available with the briefest delay, and not locked up in pay-to-access journals with high subscription fees. We think that advocating in favour of accessibility of research findings is about ensuring the free flow of ideas and knowledge among the scientific community, being publicly accountable and making the best out of limited resources. But, we also think that bona fide OA publishing needs a little bit of financial support from these same agencies. More...

By Rosanna Tamburri. Move by NSERC, SSHRC would align them with CIHR and funding councils in other countries.
Canada has moved a step closer towards making publicly funded academic research freely available to everyone, not just to those who have access to pricey journal subscriptions. Two of the major federal funding agencies, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, said they are considering adopting a mandatory open-access policy for peer-reviewed journal articles that result from research they fund. More...

By Sharon Aschaiek. A new LinkedIn tool may help higher education institutions more effectively share achievements, attract students and promote their brand – but it has yet to pass the test with Canadian universities.
LinkedIn University Pages enable prospective postsecondary students to explore universities worldwide in a one-stop shopping approach. Followers can stay current about an institution’s news and activities, ask questions about programs, see the career outcomes of alumni, and view profiles of notable graduates. More...

By Susan O'Doherty. I am writing from Beijing.
That sentence gives me goose flesh. When I was growing up, on suburban Long Island, a trip to visit my grandparents in Florida was exotic. My parents were conservative both politically and behaviorally, and were somewhat xenophobic. (They grew more adventurous after my father retired, and in fact visited a China in the 1980s, but their travels consisted of organized tours in which a bunch of smug Americans observed quaint natives from a distance.)
We travel as often as we can, but I have to admit this trip panicked me a little. Read more...

By Marcelo Knobel. Since unveiling the 2012 PISA assessment of 15-years-old results in early December, 2013, I have been considering writing about these data and their implications for higher education in Brazil. However, I must confess that many discussions and analysis that appeared in the media and some specialized blogs have overwhelmed me. In a few words, the results of the PISA are disastrous: Brazil performs below the average in mathematics (ranks between 57 and 60), reading (ranks between 54 and 56) and science (ranks between 57 and 60) among the 65 countries and economies that participated in the assessment. Read more...