Formation Continue du Supérieur

1 juin 2013

Slashing Higher Ed Red Tape

By Stephen Matchett for The Australian. In a radical policy change, Australia's Tertiary Education Minister, Craig Emerson, is this week releasing a new approach to quality control that meets university demands for a lighter regulatory burden and could gut Labor's own creation, the Tertiary Education Quality Assurance Agency. While Emerson is announcing only a regulatory review, measures included in the announcement make it clear he has heard and understood the concerns of Universities Australia and the Group of Eight, and accepts that an estimated $280 million in annual compliance costs for universities to report to government is unacceptable. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

Scrutiny of QS Rankings

By Elizabeth Redden. Upon signing up for Opinion Outpost, a website on which users take surveys for points that can be redeemed for cash, an untenured philosophy professor took surveys related to toilet paper brands and frozen foods and other sundries. Completing the surveys at $1 to $5 a pop was a good way to make some extra pocket money, explained the professor, who preferred not to be named. Most of the surveys the professor completed through Opinion Outpost did not seem to be particularly high-stakes, but one, in retrospect, was: the QS Global Academic Survey, which counts for 40 percent of the QS World University Rankings, one of three major international university ranking systems. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

The New For-Profits

By Paul J. LeBlanc. Southern New Hampshire University is probably the fastest-growing nonprofit institution in the country, driven by the expansion of our longstanding online program. When it comes to large-scale online programs, for-profit colleges dominate the list, which includes only a handful of national nonprofit players. That may change soon. Eduventures, the marketing research firm, predicts that hundreds of nonprofits will seek to move online more aggressively. A good number of them have been visiting us. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

Strategies for Saudi Student Success

By Elizabeth Redden. Several sessions on Wednesday at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference focused on the rapidly growing numbers of Saudi Arabian students in the United States and the unique challenges associated with these students, who often arrive on campus with low levels of English and math preparation and with cultural values that can complicate their chances for success in an American classroom. Fueling the growth in the numbers of these students has been the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program, administered by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM); the program, which started in 2005, funds 12 to 18 months of language training in addition to undergraduate or graduate degree study, predominantly in science- or engineering-related fields. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

State Systems Go MOOC

By Ry Rivard. Universities from New Mexico to New York will join Coursera in a sprawling expansion of the Silicon Valley startup’s efforts to take online education to the masses. Together, state systems and flagship universities in nine states will help the company test new business models and teaching methods and potentially put Coursera in competition with some of the ed tech industry’s most established players. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

Looking Past China

By Elizabeth Redden. China has in recent years dominated the flow of international undergraduates coming to the United States – but that’s an old story. A session Thursday at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference focused on identifying “the next big thing” (or place) in international student recruitment, drawing on data from the College Board and the experiences of recruiters at two different types of institutions. “China and India have been top of mind,” said Clay Hensley, director of international relations and strategy for the College Board. Saudi Arabia too, where, due to the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program, the numbers of students coming to the U.S. increased by 50 percent last year. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

Faculty Surprise

By Ry Rivard. Some faculty leaders were surprised this week when state systems and flagship universities in nine states announced a series of new business partnerships with Coursera, the Silicon Valley-based ed tech company. The universities plan to work with Coursera, a provider of massive open online courses, to try out a variety of new teaching methods and business models, including MOOCs and things that are not MOOCs. Administrators and the company hailed the effort as new way to improve education. Some administrators said the faculty were involved or were part of the effort and the contracts themselves make clear faculty have some decision-making authority. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

5 Attributes of an Academic Tech Activist

By Joshua Kim. Are you and academic technology activist? How would you define activism in academic technology?
5 Ideas:
1. You Are Interested In the System of Higher Education:
Do you see your professional role as part of a larger effort to improve higher education? Are you interested in questions of quality, access, and costs - and view the role of educational technology and academic technologist as important in addressing today's higher ed challenges? It is a challenge for those of us absorbed in the day-to-day tasks of campus technology issues to develop a strong understanding of higher ed as a system. We are often too busy keeping our heads above water to take the time to learn and think about the larger economic, demographic, cultural, and competitive issues facing higher ed. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

Seeking les Mots Injustes

By Barbara Fister. I have never taken to calling people who use libraries “customers.” Though it is increasingly common usage, it has always seemed the seditious work of a linguistic fifth column that is trying to privatize public institutions one word at a time, or at least imply that non-profit services are chronically inferior to retail operations. “Customer” has so firmly been attached to the word “service” you would think the only model for high quality service is great customer service. Meanwhile, the phrase "public servant" has fallen out of use. To be sure, the traditional word for someone who uses a library, “patron,” isn’t particularly appealing. It sounds sycophantic, as if people bestow a gift upon the library by merely visiting it. “User” evokes a taste for controlled substances. Some librarians have suggested using the word “member” – which sounds both a little naughty and like an invitation-only exclusive club, but at least it emphasizes that the library is something that belongs to its community. Read more...

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1 juin 2013

MOOCs as a Lightning Rod

ByTracy Mitrano. MOOCs in their strict, literal sense have relatively limited potential primarily as branding for institutions and individual professors. Secondarily, they may supplement course material for students in accredited institutions or life-long learning exercises not unlike the offerings of the Teaching Company (except that thus far, they are for free, and include assignments, not just passive listening). Do they have the potential to be more? Lots of people think so, including a group of professors at Harvard, in direct response to California system professors who have objected. Thomas Friedman of The New York Times gets their point, but rather than rue it, he praises it! Read more...

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