Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Rebecca Ratcliffe. Ucas figures 'should set alarm bells ringing in government,' says thinktank. The number of UK-born students who have applied to start university next year has fallen by 8.4%, with a 9.9% drop in applicants from England, according to statistics released by the university admissions service. This continues the downward trend in university application rates prompted by the introduction of fees of up to £9,000 a year in autumn 2012.
The latest statistics, published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), show 120,194 applicants from the UK, compared with 133,357 this time last year. By this point in 2010, before tuition fees were introduced, there were 157,116 applicants. The figures do not represent the final numbers – the deadline for most university applications is January. Applications by students in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have also fallen by 10.5%, 9.3% and 8.7% respectively. More...

By Andrew McGettigan. Investors rather than students may really be the true beneficiaries from the creation of 10 new universities. The announcement this week of 10 new universities has been spun by David Willetts, the universities minister, as the "single biggest creation of universities since 1992". Yet these small and specialist institutions, including the venerable Royal Agricultural College and Norwich University College of the Arts, already held the power to award degrees, received public funding and were "university colleges". Willetts's claim that "more people will now realise their ambition of going to a university" is therefore overblown. Life continues much as before for students and staff.
The true significance of creating new universities lies elsewhere. They result from measures designed to create a level playing field for private operations delivering higher education. In June, the government lowered the number of full-time students needed to be a university from 4,000 to 1,000, which made these small institutions eligible. This change followed a recommendation by the rightwing thinktank Policy Exchange which called for a US-style market in higher education in its 2010 report, Higher Education in the Age of Austerity. It argued that private operators should get the right to call themselves universities, award degrees, get easier access to taxpayer funding and even take over failing state-run universities. More...

Par La Page de l'Emploi. Un schéma d’enseignement des langues en échec, loin du conversationnel. Un apprentissage trop littéraire où l’erreur ne semble pas permise, déconnecté de l’anglais parlé actuel. Le résultat: un blocage, une incapacité à s’exprimer en public par peur du ridicule et un bagage peu adapté aux situations réelles. Bref, les Français et l’anglais, ce n’est toujours pas le grand amour. Si l’on a souvent tendance à s’amuser de ce désamour en France, c’est bien un réel problème auquel sont confrontés tant les candidats en recherche d’emploi que les salariés aujourd’hui. Les candidats d’abord car de plus en plus d’entreprises exigent un niveau minimum d’anglais pour leurs recrutements, validé par l’obtention d’un certificat. Suite de l'article...

Par La Page de l'Emploi. Le recrutement sur les réseaux sociaux, mythe ou réalité? Des chiffres, des chiffres! Vous en voulez, mais vous n’en trouverez pas beaucoup. Mais le fait est que les recruteurs y sont et y cherchent des candidats. Ils vous y cherchent peut-être à l’heure où vous lisez cet article. Seulement, vous qui avez peut-être déjà un profil Viadeo, vous n’êtes pas nécessairement sûr de son efficacité, car au fond, peut-être n’êtes-vous pas né avec ces nouveaux outils. Peut-être qu’Internet pour vous, c’est un peu du chinois. Alors en quelques points, voici comment rendre votre profil plus attrayant et faire en sorte qu’il retienne l’attention du recruteur et suscite son intérêt.
Conseil n°1 : un profil à jour, c’est le B.A-BA
Le recruteur cherche à connaître votre situation actuelle et vos expériences passées, qu’il s’agisse de votre formation ou de vos expériences professionnelles. Soyez clair, faites apparaître les dates, les lieux, les intitulés de diplômes et de postes et surtout, soyez honnête. S’il y a des réussites, des distinctions, faites-les apparaître, de manière factuelle. Suite de l'article...

Afin de mettre un terme à la crise que traverse l'Institut d'études politiques de Paris, Geneviève Fioraso a décidé de confier l'administration provisoire de Sciences Po à Jean Gaeremynck, Conseiller d'Etat, président adjoint de la section des finances du Conseil d'Etat.

By Ray Clancy. Australia’s bid to attract more students from overseas is succeeding with a new report showing that higher Education is contributing significantly to the country’s economic prosperity.
It is the country’s largest service export and plays a leading role in the economies of Australia’s most populous states of Victoria and New South Wales. Education is Victoria’s largest export and it is the second biggest in New South Wales, a report by consultant Alan Olsen shows. Universities Australia’s chief executive Belinda Robinson said the report highlights the contribution of international education to Australia’s economic prosperity as it finds education exports have doubled in value every five years from 1990 to 2010, overtaking tourism as the top service export in 2007/2008. More...

By Jordan Bower. Survey finds 83 percent of those polled think U.S. institutions must change to remain globally competitive.
A recent survey commissioned by Northeastern University showed most Americans believe U.S. colleges need to undergo reforms to remain competitive in an international education system, even though they value the current system.
The survey, released Tuesday, found 83 percent of Americans believe “the U.S. higher education system needs to change to remain competitive with other countries around the world,” even while 75 percent ranked the United States’ college system ahead of other countries’.
The survey, conducted last October by the global business advisory firm FTI Consulting, interviewed 1,001 American adults by phone and 250 Americans under the age of 30 via the Internet. It has an error rate of 3.1 percent. More...

By Vandana Ramnani. In a freewheeling interview, minister for education and skills in the Welsh Government, Leighton Andrews, talks about issues such as the withdrawal of the post-work visa options for students, future plans of Welsh universities and comments on recent media reports that university professors in the UK are often pressurised to accept sub-standard work by overseas students for financial reasons.
How have tough visa rules and withdrawal of the post-work visa option impacted the number of Indian students planning to pursue their higher studies in the UK, especially Wales. What corrective measures/alternative options have been worked out to check the likelihood of the numbers going down?
While immigration is not a devolved matter, the Welsh Government is aware of the potential impact of the UK Government's immigration policy on the ability of Welsh higher education institutions to attract international students. 
The introduction of tighter controls is aimed at identifying bogus institutions and students and this is welcomed by me and the higher education sector. More...

By Jacey Fortin. A new report has ranked Finland as the best educational performer on Earth. At first glance, the findings are a bit odd. You might expect the best performers – or the worst, for that matter – to come from the same general region.
Finland in first place? That’s no surprise -- those northern European countries always seem to do well on lists like these. But the next four countries are worlds away; No. 2 is South Korea. Then comes Hong Kong-China, then Japan, and then Singapore.
With a gang of Asian powerhouses in ascendancy, Finland is looking pretty lonely at the top. As for global superpowers, the United Kingdom comes in 6th. The United States is in 17th place. Russia snagged 20th; France, 25th. And of the 40 ranked, the three worst countries were Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia. The report, called “The Learning Curve,” was produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit, or EIU, and published by Pearson, an educational firm. It ranks countries according to various criteria, including standardized test scores, matriculation and literacy rates. More...

By Melanie Swan. The Ministry of Higher Education has warned students to check with it before starting internet courses, after complaints about unaccredited degrees from an online university actively recruiting in the UAE.
Dr Bader Aboul-Ela, director of the commission for academic accreditation at the ministry, said Must University is granting degrees to students who later found difficulty in having them attested.
"We tell them they should have consulted us first," Dr Aboul-Ela said. "For any Emirati to get their online degree attested they have to get a no-objection from us before they commence. It’s for their own protection." More...