Near the University of Bologna—the world’s oldest, founded in 1088—is a medieval museum displaying carved memorial plaques that honor great professors of the past. “They all show the professor on the podium, with the students below,” says Thomas Forrest Kelly, Knafel professor of music. “Often the students are asleep, playing dice or cards, or fornicating.”

Much has changed since the Middle Ages, but one thing that persists is the lecture. The medieval university invented lecturing—the word comes from the Latin verb legere, to read—to cope with the scarcity of books: a lecturer would read the only available copy of a book to the gathering of students. “That was high technology in the thirteenth century,” says Kelly, “but not high technology for the twenty-first century!”

To read more…

European universities have less ability to manage their own affairs than is generally realised and less than is desirable, according to a new survey by the European University Association. The report covers 33 countries and finds that genuine autonomy is lacking in several critical sectors, above all in that of finance.

This could have worrying consequences for the future of many institutions. The EAU said that at a time when the overall levels of public funding in education were stagnating and universities were increasingly being asked to look for alternative funding sources, the lack of autonomy was a real threat for the sustainability of Europe’s universities.

The report noted that many governments, the university sector itself and the European Commission had recognised increased autonomy for universities would be a crucial step towards modernisation in the 21st century. In practice, however, “public authorities still play too central a role in the regulation of the higher education system and, in a large number of countries, still exert direct control”.

To read more…

Although a recent report applauded the fact that the number of foreign students attending American colleges and universities hit a new peak in 2008, a disaggregation of the data reveals worrisome underlying trends in undergraduate and graduate student numbers.

More than 670,000 foreign students enrolled in American colleges and universities in 2008-09, an 8% increase from the previous year, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors 2009 report. Not only is this the largest percentage increase since 1980-81, it is the third consecutive year significant growth has occurred.

According to IIE president and CEO Allan E Goodman, “American higher education continues to be highly valued throughout the world. US campuses offer unparalleled opportunities for creativity, flexibility, and cultural exchange. Students from all over the world contribute substantially to their host campuses and to the US economy.”

To Read More…

A rapidly growing number of universities across the world are establishing branch campuses in other countries. In fact, the number has almost doubled to 162 in the past three years alone and has jumped eight-fold since 2002. Although the US continues to dominate with its offshore campuses scattered around the globe, more countries have become involved as hosts and providers.

A report by the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education* says that among the host countries, the United Arab Emirates is the clear leader, hosting a quarter of all international branch campuses in the world.

The report says that of the existing campuses, only 35 were operating before 1999. Since September 2006, at least 49 new campuses have been established - 30% of the current total - with three new ones to be opened soon. In the same period, five international branch campuses have closed.

To read more…

Goodall … bases her work on analysis of the research records of those who have led top universities, and also on interviews with a number of presidents of top American and British universities.

Her book builds on research she has published previously in which she uses citation rankings (in which scholars are rated by the frequency with which their work is cited by others) as a proxy for academic quality of a scholar. While Goodall acknowledges that such measurements aren’t perfect, she said that they do give a sense of the impact of a given researcher. She has documented more movement to the top ranks (of national and international rankings, which she acknowledges as well are not perfect measures) — both of universities and business schools — at institutions that are led by presidents or deans with high citation rankings.

Ultimately, she says, research universities should be led by those who share a passion for what the institution is about — producing knowledge.

The 57 Islamic states have approved a plan to upgrade their universities as a means of achieving world-class status, as well as reforming them to become “functional developmental institutes” providing valuable resources for business, industry and society.

The plan was announced at a workshop, Achieving Excellence in Higher Education, in Ifrane in Morocco earlier this month. It was organised by the Islamic development bank of the 57 members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and Al-Akhawayn University. The conference consists of countries from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

The aim of the plan is to build a critical mass of world-class scientists and technologists in targeted science and technology areas, while also promoting relevant research and development outcomes for the private sector.

Fifteen institutions, five from Africa, Asia and the Arab world, were identified to carry out the upgrades and reform, and to promote scientific research in agriculture, nanotechnology and information and communication technologies.

The institutions were selected using international and regional university rankings, as well as their readiness to meet the demands and their likely impact on the development of knowledge-based economy.

To read more…

As a result of plagiarism and academic misconduct scandals associated with the country’s newly appointed Science Minister, Iranian professors in US-based universities and research centres have called on their peers at home to uphold high ethical standards, including safeguarding the integrity of the academy, curriculum, scholarly contributions and publications.

Despite questions being raised about his academic credentials, the Iranian parliament approved the nomination by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of 52-year-old space scientist Kamran Daneshjo as the country’s new Science, Research and Technology Minister.

Daneshjou, the former election chief who oversaw the disputed vote tally in June, is a professor at the Tehran-based school of mechanical engineering of the University of Science and Technology, the same institution from which Ahmadinejad graduated.

Read more…

American universities again dominate the latest Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings as they have for the past six years. Released last Friday, almost a week earlier than expected, the rankings place US universities in all but three of the top 20 spots with Harvard, Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley in first, second and third spot, and the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Tokyo the only outsiders at fourth, 10th and 20th respectively. The top 10 universities are unchanged this year from the rankings drawn up in 2008.

Of the top 50 universities, 36 are US institutions although University College, London, came in at 21, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at 23, Japan’s Kyoto University at 24, Imperial College, London at 26, Toronto at 27, British Columbia at 36, Pierre and Marie Curie University - Paris 6 at 40, Manchester at 41, Copenhagen equal 43 with University of Paris Sud (Paris 11) and Sweden’s Karolinska Institute at number 50.

Read more…

Women outnumber men in worldwide university enrolments and graduation rates, according to Unesco’s 2009 Global Education Digest. The number of female students in tertiary education rose six-fold between 1970 and 2007compared with a quadrupling of male enrolments during the same period. In terms of graduation, women outnumber men in 75 of the 98 countries, the Digest reports.

Tertiary enrolment ratios of men and women reached parity around the year 2003. Since then, the average global participation of females has been exceeding that of males. In 1970, the male-to-female enrolment ratio was 1.6. In 2007, it flipped, with the female-to-male ratio becoming 1.08.

In North America and Europe, a third more women than men are on campus. Latin America, the Caribbean as well as Central Asia also show high rates of female enrolments. In a number of countries, at least two females graduate for every male.

Read more….

The final issue of Volume 2 of the Journal of the World Universities Forum has now been published.

Volume 2, Number 6 contains:

• Promoting Cultural Competence in a Canadian Curriculum: International Nursing Practicum Offerings in the Philippines, India and the Kingdom of Tonga by Renate Gibbs and Dianne Perry.
• Children Literature: What do they say? by Nik Rafidah Nik Affendi, Normaliza Abd Rahim, Arbaie Sujud and Vijayaletchumy Subramaniam
• Globalization of Indian Higher Education: Public and Private Innovations by Augustine Bartning, Raj Chakrabarti and Shil Sengupta.
• The Prospective Teachers of India: Understanding their Motivation to Enter the Teaching Profession by Tristha Ramamurthy.
• Globalizing Malaysian Private Higher Education: An Exploratory Perspective by Santhi Ramanathan and Murali Raman.
• Interdisciplinarity in Perspective: The Case of Humanitarian Studies by Alain Guilloux.

• Open Hearts and Open Minds: Creating a Supportive Accessible Learning Community by Coral Cara.
• Favoring Standards-Based over Self-Review External Review Processes in University Quality Assurance Schemes by Fernando F. Padró.
• A Rationalised Method for Granting Affiliation to Instituitions: An Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach by Alka Kulkarni, Narasimha Ayachit and M.S. Moodithaya.
• The Re-thinking of University Education by Andrew Armitage.
• Bridging the Gap: Expectations Versus Reality for International MBA Students Studying in the UK by Steve Page, Gautam Rajkhowa and Paul Webb.

List Price: $45.95

• ISBN: 978-0-415-41627-6
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 13/08/2009
• Pages: 240

About the Book

Rizvi and Lingard’s account of the global politics of education is thoughtful, complex and compelling. It is the first really comprehensive discussion and analysis of global trends in education policy, their effects - structural and individual - and resistance to them. In the enormous body of writing on globalisation this book stands out and will become a basic text in education policy courses around the world.

- Stephen J Ball, Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

In what ways have the processes of globalization reshaped the educational policy terrain?

How might we analyse education policies located within this new terrain, which is at once local, national, regional and global?

Over the past two decades, educational systems throughout the world have undergone significant changes as systems continue to interpret and respond to the ever-changing economic, social and political contexts within which education takes place. Educational policies have been deeply affected by these developments, as national governments have sought to re-align their educational priorities to what they perceive to be the imperatives of globalization.

In Globalizing Education Policy, the authors explore the key global drivers of policy change in education, and suggest that these do not operate in the same way in all nation-states. They examine the transformative effects of globalization on the discursive terrain within which educational policies are developed and enacted, arguing that this terrain is increasingly informed by a range of neo-liberal precepts which have fundamentally changed the ways in which we think about educational governance. They also suggest that whilst in some countries these precepts are resisted, to some extent, they have nonetheless become hegemonic, and provide an overview of some critical issues in educational policy to which this hegemonic view of globalization has given rise, including:

More….

Congratulations to Kerry Maree Lee, the winner of the International Award for Excellence in the world universities field  for her paper Getting the Most Bang for your Buck: A Case Study in Maximising Scholarship Investment

Abstract: In order to maximise researchers’ time, universities often offer scholarships to graduate or undergraduate students to undertake basic research tasks to assist the principal researcher to complete a project. Selection of these students often relies solely on academic grades. This paper will briefly outline how a principal researcher used other criteria as well as academic achievement when selecting a student to assist with a research project. The benefits to both university and student will be explained, and the case made for all universities to review selection criteria.

If you have read the paper you may wish to add a review.

Congratulations to all of the Award Winner finalists:

• Serpil Aytac, Veysel Bozkurt, Nuran Bayram and Nazan Bilgel: Violence Against Health Workers at a University Hospital in Turkey
• Hassanuddeen A. Aziz and Ilmyzat Ismail: Operationalizing Strategic Planning in Higher Education: A Case Study at International Islamic University Malaysia
• Phil Bamber, Wendy Bignold and Chrissie D’Costa: The Impact of Social Involvement and Community Engagement on Students in Higher Education in India and the UK: A Comparative Study
• Neville Bruce, Steve Johnson and Karen Connolly: Education for World Futures
• Kirigha Alfred Kitawi: The Impact of the Commission of Higher Education and Government Reforms on Kenyan Universities
• Noraien Mansor and Normaliza Abd Rahim: Online Collaboration via Email: Analyzing Students’ Knowledge Construction in the ESL Classroom
• Julie Matthews, Steve Garlick and Timothy F. Smith: Ecoversity: Towards a Sustainable Future
• Tristha Ramamurthy: The Prospective Teachers of India: Understanding their Motivation to Enter the Teaching Profession (to be published in the next issue)
• Ashok Shettar, Basavaraj Kakol and Narasimha Ayachit: Statistical Grading System - A New Approach
• Tatiana Summers and Karen F Steckol: Women Administrators in Academia: Ancient Archetypes and Modern Realities
• Swapna Williamson, Denise Burley, Deena Graham and Shalini Kaushal: The Role of Universities in the Globalisation of Education

The Associate Editors listing for Volume 5 of the Journal of the World Universities Forum is now available.

Jan Petter Myklebust from University World News reports…

The Swedish Presidency of the European Union has organised a major conference starting this week and titled The Knowledge Triangle: Shaping the future of Europe. Ministers from Sweden, Finland and the UK, together with high-ranking EU Commission officers including two commissioners and 350 university presidents, researchers, students and policy-makers and some high level industry leaders will meet in the university town of Gothenburg.

The conference is a follow-up of the “Lund declaration” from the EU Presidency conference in July - New Worlds: New Solutions - which called for “grand challenges” in European research during the coming decade.

The Lund declaration has been a success with regard to agenda-setting for research concentration. But most observers are asking how the Swedes are going to implement their grand visions. More…

Chryssi Vitsilaki, University of Aegean, Rhodes, Greece
www.UniversitiesForum.com

Chryssi Vitsilaki is Dean of the School of Humanities at the University of the Aegean. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and research interests in the sociology of education and gender studies. Her books include School and Work (Athens, 2002) and The All-Day School (Athens 2002). More…

In September 2005, the new world ranking published by the Times Higher Education
Supplement was received like a bomb shell in Malaysia when it showed the country’s top
two universities slipping by almost 100 places compared to the previous year.
Notwithstanding the fact that the big drop was mostly due to a change in the ranking
methodology, the news was so traumatic that there were widespread calls for the
establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the matter. This strong
reaction was not out of character in a nation whose current Ninth Development Plan aims
at shaping the transformation of the country into a knowledge-based economy with
emphasis on the important contribution of the university sector.

Preoccupations about university rankings reflect the general recognition that economic
growth and global competitiveness are increasingly driven by knowledge, and that
universities can play a key role in that context. Indeed, rapid advances in science and
technology across a wide range of areas from information and communication
technologies (ICTs) to biotechnology to new materials provide great potential for
countries to accelerate and strengthen their economic development. The application of
knowledge results in more efficient ways of producing goods and services and delivering
them more effectively and at lower costs to a greater number of people.

The full report may be download as a PDF here.

The fifth issue of Volume 2 of the Journal of the World Universities Forum has now been published.

Volume 2, Number 5 contains:

• Higher Education and TQM: Some Observations by C. Raj Somarajan and James Buckenmyer.
• Applications of the ‘GP’ Mechanical Thrombectomy Device: Clot Removal in the Peripheral Vascular System by Gillian Pearce, Neil Perkinson, Paul Brookfield, Julian Wong, Julian Spence, Trehana Jinsena and Luke Gwatkin.
• Integrated Human Studies and E-Learning: Creating Communities of Inquiry through Educational Technology by Steve Johnson.
• Universities, the Dialogue of Civilizations and the Age of Global Migrations: Recreating Knowledge Societies with New Trends in Higher Education by Anil Prasad.
• Increasing Access to University Education through Sandwich Programmes: The University of Lagos Experience by Supo Jegede.
• The Neoliberal Language of Higher Education in the EU: An Analysis of the Bologna Process by Florian Hummel.
• Women Administrators in Academia: Ancient Archetypes and Modern Realities by Tatiana Summers and Karen F Steckol.
• Invitational Rhetoric as Ecofeminist Practice: Building an Energy Efficient House in Kerala, India by Merle Kindred.
• Promoting R&D and Commercialization Efforts: Implications for Malaysia’s Higher Education Sector by Zalina Hashim, Md. Zaini Jamaludin and Mashkuri Yaacob.
• The Impact of the Commission of Higher Education and Government Reforms on Kenyan Universities by Kirigha Alfred Kitawi.
• Using Internet-Enabled Mobile Phones to Enhance Large Class Student Engagement: Lessons Learned by Rajendra Mulye, Kate Westberg and Andrew Hay.
• The Transformation of the Academic Profession in Malaysia: Trends and Issues on Institutional Governance and Management by Norzaini Azman, Muhamad Jantan and Morshidi Sirat.

For more information and bookings please see the Conference website.

For more information and bookings please see the Conference website.