Does every University need a Course Concierge? The Chronicle of Higher Education recently had a piece about the development of the idea of the ‘Course Concierge’. The label seems to have been assigned to Paul Neill title…
It’s spring and it’s time for the first league table of the season. Once again it’s the Complete University Guide which is first to publish this year. The top 25 is as follows: 1 (1) Cambridge 2 (2) Oxford 3 (3) London S…
Humanities – helping to meet global development challenges I was pleased to be present at the launch of this study which was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the British Council. It was launched on 1st May at Going Global…
Crimes and misdemeanours at university I was greatly taken by this list of fineable offences for 18th-century students at Harvard: Offense #19, “Cutting off the lead,” seems to refer to the lead on the college building’s…
Alternatives to physical education tests A previous post reported on the reduction in the number of swimming tests or other physical education assessments which formed part of graduation requirements at US universities. …
True Crime on Campus: More funny business Once again our ever-dependable Security staff are faced with more challenges trying to keep campus safe for all: 2305 Report that Students had blocked sinks in Hall JCR causing a…
Genuinely international- Going Global 2014 Universities have had an international outlook since the beginning. Whilst some aspects of internationalisation have moved on since the middle ages some principles remain clear.…
Changed days indeed (As with the previous offering I suspect I’m going to be challenged on much of what follows.) Part I of these two pieces looked at the changes in the National Union of Students as it almost completely…
Novel assessment method or student exploitation? The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story about marketing students at the Metropolitan State University of Denver who, it says, are graded on the basis of the number o…
Easy finance A new statement from HEFCE advises universities how to make financial information more visible to students. But is it advice, guidance, assistance or in fact a clear directive? New guidance aims to help univ…
A big impact indeed This new Universities UK report on the impact of universities on the UK economy really is a very interesting piece of work which covers the sector’s increasing impact in terms of output, contribution …
Lots of information is not necessarily a good thing for prospective students I’ve written before about concerns about too much data and the importance of quality rather than just quantity in the information provided to a…
Part I: How much power in the union? (I suspect I’m going to be challenged on just about every aspect of what follows.) Students’ unions and the National Union of Students, which recently celebrated its 90th birthday, ha…
A Degree in Coffee? Inside Higher Ed has an entertaining piece on the advent of a new degree in the critical area of coffee: Many students and faculty members consider coffee to be essential to their daily existence. The…
Who would you say is the most important person on campus? We all like to think we are indispensable. Unfortunately this is rarely the case. I sometimes worry the place will grind to a halt when I go on holiday. However, …
Sophisticated Mobile App or an Armoured Truck? Tough Call The Chronicle of Higher Education had an interesting report on the introduction of ‘LiveSafe’, a mobile app that was adopted by the university in August and has b…
You might be sued for using some pretty common HE phrases Slate has an amusing piece on universities and colleges which have trademarked seemingly everyday Higher Education phrases such as “student life” and “fast-track …
HE Income and Expenditure 2012/13 Perhaps not the most exciting publication of the year to date but nevertheless some interesting information in the new Higher Education Statistics Agency report on Income and Expenditure…
edX and Facebook say they are offering free education in Rwanda A previous post on a ‘university in a box‘ noted a report on a project to bring higher education to Rwanda in a novel way. Others are now following. The Chr…
A decent result for HE in England? A previous post noted the launch of an OFT investigation into competition in the HE sector in England. After gathering much information the OFT has now published a report which, broadly…