This blog, by David Hall-Matthews, managing director at Publish What You Fund is about the data revolution, specifically concerning aid transparency. This is the 17th post in ODI's blog series on ‘What kind of ‘data revolution’ do we need for post-2015?’ This post is also a part of the Wikiprogress series on Data and Statistics and Post-2015.
Transparency is a key pillar of sustainable development: an essential piece of the puzzle to enable effectiveness, accountability and social change. And in recent years, information on aid spending has slowly become more available and open.
The basic principle that aid information should be publicly available is now accepted as an essential component of international development. Nowhere has that been seen more prominently than the discussions around the post-2015 Development Goals. More...

By Laura Tucker. 2013 saw a lot of changes in the world of higher education; there were cuts, tuition hikes, boosts in technological facilities, and more cuts. With governments and education sectors across the globe trying to regain stability after a turbulent five years of financial insecurity, 2014 sees a continued effort from all sides to remain prosperous even if this comes at the expense of students themselves.
There is good news to be had, however, if a little harder to come by amidst all the news of high costs and hardship for students. Advancements in online education facilities at established schools will continue, providing more opportunities for students to enhance their research and their studies in general, and, in some regions, 2014 will offer more graduate jobs than there’s been in almost a decade. More...

By Michelle Navarre Cleary. In an era of soaring concern over student loan debt, the idea of awarding students credit for what they already know or can learn on their own is taking center stage, dubbed a top education trend of 2014. By putting the focus on outputs—on what students know and can do—so-called “competence-based” programs increase transparency and do away with rigid credit and classroom time requirements, saving students both time and money—often tens of thousands of dollars on the way to a college degree. Read more...

Par Sophie Quinton. Expect an increased emphasis on teacher effectiveness, technical education, and more.
A number of education trends made their mark in 2013, from massive open online courses to evaluating colleges based on their graduation rates. The underlying forces that drove change this year aren't likely to change anytime soon: declining public funding, changing demographics, advancing technology, and a tough job market.
Here are five trends we'll be watching next year, with special attention to how they affect minority and at-risk students. More...

By David Price. For 150 years, formal education has adopted an ‘inside-out’ mindset – schools and colleges have usually been organised around the needs of the educators, not the learners. In areas such as research, this is nothing to be embarrassed about. Ground-breaking inventions and pioneering new thinking often arise from the selfishness that informs so-called ‘blue-sky’ research. Defending such freedoms from the external drive for practical and commercial implementation has often encouraged a necessary insularity.
The new landscape presents a significant upheaval. Inventors and researchers are increasingly working independently outside academia, finding collegial collaboration in the Global Learning Commons. Learners also find themselves in the driving seat because formal education is no longer the only game in town for those eager to learn. How colleges and universities adapt to the customization and personalization of education will largely determine their survival. Let me explain. The challenge presented by Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is a high-profile example, but not the only one, of a desire for us to ‘hack’ our own learning. The development of MOOCs has been likened to the creation of online music stores. More...

Future Directions for Higher Education in Wales
Future Directions Conference 2014 - Global Graduates: Enabling Flexible Learning
We are delighted to announce that the second Future Directions conference will take place on 2-3 April 2014. Bringing together individuals and groups engaged in enhancing the student learning experience, the conference will feature a series of keynote lectures, paper, poster and workshop sessions. More information will be available soon.
Future Directions encompasses the quality enhancement work being carried out in the Welsh HE sector, which aims to enhance specific areas of the student learning experience through encouraging academic and support staff and students collectively to share current good practice and to generate ideas and models for innovation in learning and teaching. The Future Directions work is planned and directed by the Future Directions Steering Group which is coordinated by the HEA. To find out who represents your institution or sector organisation, you can view the Steering Group membership list here.
The theme and work strands were showcased at the Inaugural Future Directions Conference – Graduates For Our Future on 26 April 2012 at Glyndŵr University.

By Jack Uldrich. Global futurist and keynote speaker at this year’s EAIE Conference in Istanbul, Jack Uldrich, shares his predictions of the future facing higher education with this excerpt from his forthcoming book, Foresight 20/20. Using a fictional dialogue between a father and his daughter, Jack aptly demonstrates the growing divide between generations and their expectations of learning, painting a vivid picture of higher education in the near future. More...