Formation Continue du Supérieur

By RFI. France's lower house on Thursday approved a plan to allow more courses to be taught in English at French universities, despite concerns that such a move might undermine efforts to promote the French language. The full bill is expected to be approved in the Assembly and the upper house Senate, where the ruling Socialists and their allies have majorities.
The vote followed two hours of heated debate, with lawmakers from the main right-wing opposition UMP saying the measure threatens France's identity. Read more...

In their efforts to boost rankings and achieve world-class status, many Chinese universities have implemented hiring and publishing policies that risk undermining collegiality among faculty members. From John Anthony Pella Jr. and Li Wang from Zhejiang University in The Chronicle of Higher Education: The high value placed on foreign degrees has shaken up the job market. It has become easier for foreign-trained Chinese scholars to return home and get jobs at prestigious universities; and non-Chinese academics have an even easier time. By contrast, the chance for a domestically trained scholar to work at a prestigious university is dwindling, even if they get their doctorate from one of China’s top institutions. Read more...

By Renat Tashkinbayev. Nursultan Nazarbayev has suggested to transfer some of Kazakhstan's public universities to foreign corporations and national companies for management, Tengrinews.kz reports.
“I suggest to consider transferring a part of the public educational facilities into discretionary management of foreign investors and local companies. They should be autonomous educational facilities made along the model of the international university in Astana and Kazakhstan's intellectual schools. The private owners will take part in forming their curriculums, methods and attraction of foreign professors,” Nursultan Nazarbayev said at the meeting of the Foreign Investors Council. Read more...

By Alejandro Chafuen. Think tanks and the academy, in all likelihood, were united at birth.   When Plato started his famous academy, his goals included deep philosophical discussions and leadership training.  His academy lasted approximately nine centuries (400 B.C.-529 A.D.).  The oldest university within Western traditions, the University of Bologna was started in 1088 out of the demands and needs of a collection (a university) of foreign students. Read more...

By Issa Yussuf. Zanzibar — EVERY year more and more students and employees are applying for loans to go for higher education, yet the government cannot sponsor all the applicants.
The situation has prompted Zanzibar government to identify alternatives so that all Zanzibaris, who qualify and need to study further, do so.
The increasing number of applicants is probably the biggest challenge facing the Zanzibar Higher Education Loans Board (ZHELB) since it was established in 2011, with the main objectives of sponsoring Zanzibari students and hunt for scholarships worldwide. Read more...

By Matthew Lynch. Visit the website of your favorite college or university, find the search box, and type in the words “international programs,” “study abroad,” or something to this effect. What you will find out is that, odds are, your favorite institution has a department that serves as the international arm of the university, developing partnerships with countries and organizations around the world. They are part of one of the biggest trends to hit today’s modern university. The trend that I speak of is commonly referred to as the “globalization of higher education.”
For this installment of “Diverse Conversations,” I interviewed Dr. George B. Forsythe, president of Westminster College, concerning the “globalization of higher education.” During his presidency, this private undergraduate liberal arts college has been transformed into a global leadership community nationally ranked for its diversity. Read more...

Par Anaïs Grockowiak. Geneviève Fioraso, la ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche, n'a jamais fait autant parler d'elle que ces derniers jours. En cause: sa volonté d'introduire des cours en anglais à l'université, afin d'accueillir plus d'étudiants internationaux. Mais ce n'est pas la seule mesure que propose la ministre dans son projet de loi, présenté aujourd'hui à l'Assemblée. Retour sur les 10 changements que pourrait apporter la loi Fioraso.
1 - Des cours dispensés en anglais
La mesure la plus connue - et la plus polémique -, c'est certainement la volonté de la ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur d'intégrer des cours dispensés en anglais à l'université. L'objectif clairement affiché est d'attirer le plus d'étudiants étrangers, même ceux qui ne parlent pas français.
Nombreux sont les détracteurs montés au créneau pour dénoncer une "marginalisation" de la langue française, si une telle mesure était appliquée. La ministre a souhaité rassurer tout le monde, en précisant que des cours de français seraient obligatoires pour les étudiants étrangers qui suivraient ces cours en anglais… avec un effet disons nuancé!
2 - Moins de formations disponibles
L'un des nombreux constats du gouvernement est qu'il existe trop de filières, et les étudiants sont de ce fait perdus. L'ambition annoncée est ainsi de réduire le nombre de formations, de passer de 7 700 masters à 200, et de 1 300 licences à une centaine… Suite de l'article...

L'éducation, nouvelle cible de Google ? Le géant américain s'apprête à lancer Google Play for Education, une application Android téléchargeable sur Google Play. Destinée aux enseignants et à leurs élèves, l'application sera d'abord disponible aux Etats-Unis, avant d’être proposé dans le monde entier.
Le numérique a fait son entrée dans les écoles: tablettes, écrans tactiles, tableaux… Google a bien saisi cet enjeu et l'importance du marché qui est en train de s'ouvrir. Le groupe a donc décidé de s'implanter dans le secteur avec Google Play for Education, une application Android destinée aux enseignants et à leurs élèves. Suite de l'article...

Computing Education Blog - Mark Guzdial. Semester Online sounded like a nice idea — getting liberal arts focused institutions to share their online course offerings.  The pushback is interesting and reflects some of the issues that have been raised about sustainability of online education as a replacement for face-to-face learning or even as an additional resource. Read more...

You can’t have fun teaching online without getting your hands dirty!!
As an online teacher, a great part of my work involves utilizing the best educational tools for my content creation, content delivery, or to encourage active learning with students. I will describe them based on the needs of online teachers and/or classroom teachers who wish to integrate what they do with online technologies.
1) Virtual Classroom
I chose the WizIQ virtual classroom after much initial research for a number of reasons. First, I found it easier to use than other virtual classrooms back in the days when I was new to teaching online. I was also attracted by the e-teaching community on WizIQ and the fact that there is a very responsive support team for trouble shooting. Read more...