No dumbing down here – is this the most comprehensive HE piece ever? Daily Mail online has a terrific piece which manages to conflate a host of different higher education issues within a single kick ass column. On the ba…
Is the gig up for universities? You decide The Chronicle carries some entertaining hokum about degrees being overtaken by online badges: Employers might prefer a world of badges to the current system. After all, traditio…
But a diverting ranking nevertheless… I first picked up on this one over four years ago in a rather dismissive post. It’s an exciting league table which aims to reflect the contributions of universities to educating the …
Will more data help prospective students? Richard Partington, writing in THE, expresses concern about the ‘data overload’ which the Key Information Set (KIS) will deliver. He notes that the provision of information to ap…
Uganda’s President Criticizes ‘Non-Marketable’ Courses Inside Higher Ed has a story on the Ugandan president’s view of higher education Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s president, has been giving speeches around his country cal…
New regulatory joy from the Information Commissioner’s Office The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published some exciting new guidance making it clear that information held in private email accounts is subjec…
A great new year message! I’ve never had any dealings with the Alfred Nobel University but I do like the sound of them on the strength of this extraordinarily positive message which I’ve just received: Just great! Happy …
A rather different angle on the development of a ‘quality culture’ A nice read for over the Christmas break this, an article by Malcolm Tight of Lancaster University from Higher Education Quarterly nearly 10 years ago: D…
Woolf reports on LSE’s Libyan Links And it’s a compelling read: The Woolf Inquiry was set up on 3 March 2011 following criticism of LSE’s links to Libya and the resignation of the Director, Sir Howard Davies. The terms o…
Green Metric World Ranking 2011 This world university league table first appeared in 2010 and was headed by University of California, Berkeley. This year there’s a new table topper, the University of Nottingham (very pro…
True Crime on Campus §17: Best of 2011 (and a poll) 2011 has been an extremely busy year for our hard working Security staff. As the following extracts from real security reports show, almost anything can happen on campu…
Contrasting views of the right direction for internationalisation A recent piece in the Times Higher covered a report from the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education on what looks like something of a retrenchment in …
UK students “switch to US universities” According to BBC News, it seems that UK students are all switching to US universities. Within four years, a quarter of sixth formers at a leading UK independent school will be head…
League tables breaking new ground An earlier post noted the emergence of league tables in Latin America. The Economist recently addressed this issue noting the emergence in particular of Brazil: The São Paulo state unive…
Lowry’s paintings and drawings A slightly different topic today. But well worth showcasing I think. The University of Nottingham is hosting a terrific new exhibition of Lowry’s paintings and drawings: This exhibition foc…
Rating RateMyProfessors Surprising news from The Chronicle of Higher Education on the possible utility of RateMyProfessors. The survey tool, the use of which is a bit more widespread in the USA than in the UK, is general…
‘Staggering’ reduction in numbers of degree courses Everyone’s favourite source of educational critique, Mail Online, conflates several stories and comes up with some earth-shattering news. Some universities are respondi…
Last week saw the second International Leadership Conference at the University of Nottingham. Building on the success of the inaugural event held in China in November 2010, the 2011 event took place at The University of …
Perverse incentives for misreporting the data Inside Higher Ed carries a cautionary tale about a US College Provost who misreported data to external bodies over a number of years to enhance the College’s profile: Iona Co…
There’s a new league table on the block Welcome to the university league table which has been influenced by student feedback from all across the United Kingdom – find the most popular university, rated by students that c…