Monthly Archive for February, 2011

A Weather Eye on the US Storm

Published on February 28, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Sarah Cunnane, in Times Higher Education

The US higher education system is often held up as a model of world-class excellence that the rest of the global sector should try to emulate. At first glance, this seems entirely fair: US institutions dominate the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, with 72 institutions in the top 200 in 2010, and the country boasts seven in the top 10 alone. The US is a top draw for international students, as demonstrated by the most recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study, Education at a Glance, which reported that it is the destination of choice for nearly a fifth of those studying abroad. The OECD report also shows that the country invests a large amount in higher education: 3.1 per cent of gross domestic product, compared with a 1.5 per cent average for all OECD nations and 1.3 per cent for the UK.

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Disruption, Delivery and Degrees

Published on February 26, 2011 in News. 0 Comments

From Doug Lederman, in Inside Higher Ed

Washington – Many college professors and administrators shudder at comparison between what they do and what, say, computer or automobile makers do. (And just watch how they bristle if you dare call higher education an “industry.”) But in a new report, the man who examined how technology has “disrupted” and reshaped those and other manufacturing industries has turned his gaze to higher education, arguing that it faces peril if it does not change to meet the challenge.

The report, “Disrupting College,” was also the subject of a panel discussion Tuesday at the Center for American Progress, which released the report along with the Innosight Institute. (A video recording of the event is available here.)

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The Crisis of the American Intellectual

Published on February 25, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Walter Russell Mead, in The American Interest

America has everything it needs for success in the twenty-first century with one exception: a critical mass of thinkers, analysts and policy entrepreneurs who can help unleash the creative potential of the American people and build the new government and policy structures that will facilitate a new wave of private-sector led growth.  Figuring out why so many of our intellectuals and experts are so poorly equipped to play a constructive role — and figuring out how to develop the leadership we currently lack — may be the most important single thing Americans need to work on right now.

Regular readers of these posts know that I think that the world is headed into a tumultuous period, and that the United States is stuck with a social model that doesn’t work anymore.  Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I don’t need to reproduce those arguments here; readers interested in the gathering storms can look here to see what I mean, and readers curious about the failure of the Blue Social Model can get started here.

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A New Vision of the Public University

Published on February 24, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

From Michael Burawoy, in Institute for Public Knowledge

The university is in crisis everywhere. In the broadest terms, the university’s position as simultaneously inside and outside society, simultaneously participant in and observer of society, – always precarious – is being eroded. With the exception of a few antiquated hold outs the idea of the ivory tower has gone. We no longer can hold on to a position of splendid isolation. We may think of the era gone by as the Golden Age of the University, but in reality it was a Fool’s Paradise that simply couldn’t last. Today, the academy has no option but to engage with the wider society, the question is how.

We face enormous pressures of instrumentalization, turning the university into a means for someone’s else’s end. These pressures come in two forms – commodification and regulation. I teach at the University of California, which, with its seven plus campuses, is (or was) surely one of the shining examples of public education in the world. This last year it was hit with a 25% cut in public funding. This is a sizeable chunk of money. The university has never faced such a financial crisis and it has taken correspondingly drastic steps – laying off unknown numbers of non-academic staff, putting pressure on already outsourced low paid service workers, furloughing academics that include world renown figures.

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Fifth Annual World Universities Forum

Published on February 15, 2011 in Conference and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Location and Date

The 2012 World Universities Forum will be held at the University of the Aegean in Rhodes, Greece from 8-10 January. For more information, please visit http://ontheuniversity.com/conference-2012/

Call for Papers

If you intend to present a paper at the conference, your participation begins with submission of a paper proposal. For information on current deadlines, proposals, presentation types, and other options please follow this link. To submit a proposal, please click here. If your proposal is accepted, you will then need to register for the conference in order to be scheduled into the program.

Registration

Those who submit paper proposals should register following the acceptance of the proposal.  Conference delegates who do not intend to present may register at any time. For registration options, or to register for the 2012 World Universities Forum, see: http://ontheuniversity.com/conference-2012/register/.

Themes

Theme 1: In the Interest of the Academy: Perspectives on the Nature, Purpose and Working of the University

Theme 2: Academic Interests: Setting Intellectual and Practical Agendas

For more information on our overall themes, please click here.

Global: How Universities Play a Regional Role: OECD

Published on February 15, 2011 in News. 0 Comments

By Jane Marshall, in University World News

Many universities need to change their attitudes and the way they operate if they are to play an effective part in helping their cities and regions promote human capital development and become more innovative and globally competitive. In particular they should widen their access to include sections of the population currently under-represented in higher education, and redefine their concept of ‘innovation’.

These are among findings identified by Jaana Puukka, analyst and project leader of the OECD’s work on higher education in regional and city development, in the light of research by the organisation’s Programme on Institutional Management of Higher Education (IMHE).

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Iran: Islamic Universities Rating System Launched

Published on February 1, 2011 in News. 0 Comments

From Wadgy Sawahel, in University World News

The Iran-based Islamic World Science Citation Center has launched a new classification system for Islamic universities, using the criteria of research and education performance, international cooperation and scientific impact. The first phase of the system has been implemented by ranking Iran’s universities and research institutes.

Extracting data from databases such as ISI, Scopus and Google Scholar allows for powerful and useful analysis for evaluating research performance from an international perspective. But this is inadequate for assessing scientific research in Islamic universities, as most of the Islamic countries’ journals are not covered – especially those not using English.

To read more…