Ninth Level Ireland

“The Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia has denied that it agreed to send hundreds of students to a new private college in Citywest, Dublin. The Mansfield Group, headed by businessman Jim Mansfield, announced last week that it had secured a contract with the ministry under which 750 Saudi students would attend its new Citywest Institute of Education …” (more)

[Grainne Faller and Sean Flynn, Irish Times, 27 February]

“Gloria Y. Gadsden, an associate professor of sociology at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, was escorted off the campus on Wednesday because of jokes she had made on her Facebook page about wanting to kill students …” (more)

[Mary Helen Miller, Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 February]

“Our government is passing legislation to fund the US-Alliance to administer scholarships for US students to come to Ireland to study. This will cost €20m and fund about 60 students over five years.That’s about €4m to send 12 students to Ireland for a year. As they say in the US, ‘do the math’ …” (more)

[Jack Kavanagh, Independent, 27 February]

“Students in several countries in Europe have protested against the national implementation of the Bologna Process. But the same students and student representatives across the continent are also trying to make the process work …” (more)

[Parar Bolonha, 27 February]

“The university at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails has been accused of making a misleading statement to Parliament. The University of East Anglia wrote this week to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee giving the impression that it had been exonerated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). However, the university failed to disclose that the ICO had expressed serious concerns …” (more)

[Ben Webster, Times, 27 February]

“Union members at King’s College London are to undertake their first-ever vote on strike action amid fears over proposed job cuts. The University and College Union will open a ballot for industrial action on 4 March unless negotiations produce a breakthrough following the college’s proposals to cut 205 jobs …” (more)

[John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 27 February]

“Just had a class with a group of economics students that I have been teaching. I have struggled all year to find examples of deviations from utility maximisation that really generate discussion. I have been using things like money ultimatum games but largely the students behave as many papers suggest economics students behave, namely that they offer low amounts in the ultimatum game and are far more likely, in my experience, to accept lower offers than when I give talks to psychology or lay audiences …” (more)

[Liam Delaney, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 27 February]

“DCU 1-12 NUI Maynooth 1-6 : The numerous intercounty players in the DCU ranks must have identified the pressing need to break NUI Maynooth’s brave resistance after David Quinn’s 33rd minute goal levelled matters. It became a serious concern when a Mark Hanratty point put them into a lead, 1-5 to 0-7, as their momentum briefly threatened to carry them into this afternoon’s final against UCC …” (more)

[Gavin Cummiske, Irish Times , 27 February]

“Dr Margaret Lyddy, who has died aged 89, was a secondary school teacher and a former secretary of the Limerick University Project Committee. She also served as a member of the planning board which was established to develop a new type of third-level institution in Ireland, the National Institute for Higher Education (NIHE), Limerick …” (more)

[Irish Times, 27 February]

“After a great 6 point victory over NUIM this afternoon, DCU will play UCC in the FINAL of the Sigerson Cup tmrw at 3pm in Leixlip.CMON DCU!” (tweet)

[DCU Dublin City Uni, Twitter, 26 February]

“DCU beat NUI Maynooth 1-11 to 1-6 and will face UCC in the Sigerson Cup final.” (tweet)

[Action 81, Twitter, 26 February]

“I spoke recently at a meeting about Intellectual Property (IP). Some parts of a talk like that are inevitable and predictable. I stressed the importance of IP as an ‘Intangible Asset’ within a company. (I blogged on this recently and since then, all that I read points to the importance of these assets, with 70% of the value of companies in some sectors being defined by Intangible Assets) …” (more)

[Frank Gannon's Blog, 26 February]

“The agents of the State have been accused of making the task of enticing a top US college to set up a multi-million euro campus in County Waterford ‘a miserable process’. Fine Gael TD John Deasy hit out as 26 undergraduate students prepare to travel from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania to Dungarvan for three months’ study. Many are taking courses in areas such as intelligence and forensics with the aim of joining the FBI or the CIA …” (more)

[Jamie O'Keeffe, Munster Express, 26 February]

“The Court of Appeal handed down a judgment yesterday that deserves to be read, marked, learned and inwardly digested by every British university vice-chancellor. The judgment should be compulsory reading in the Lord Mandelson’s business department, which last October did its best to dismiss the conclusions of a parliamentary inquiry that found academic standards at British universities to be at risk …” (more)

[Geoffrey Alderman, Guardian, 26 February]

“Labour’s mission to ‘socially engineer’ university admissions is built on flawed evidence, according to independent school leaders. Ministers are using unreliable research in an attempt to “blackmail” institutions into taking a larger number of pupils from the state sector, it was claimed …” (more)

[Graeme Paton, Daily Telegraph, 26 February]

“The university at the centre of the ‘Climategate’ row over global warming data today rejected accusations that it had lost or manipulated scientific research. The University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit has been under fire since hacked emails, which sceptics claimed showed scientists manipulating climate data, were leaked online last year …” (more)

[Daily Telegraph, 25 February]

“How nuclear physics helped reveal that a Bronze Age sword was never used to kill anyone has been explained to EU research commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn on her first visit to one of the EU’s flagship research laboratories …” (more)

[Ann Cahill, Irish Examiner, 26 February]

“Mature students and the unemployed have had their hopes dashed by budget cuts abolishing grants for people seeking a second chance at education, Senator Dominic Hannigan has stated …” (more)

[Labour Party, 25 February]

“Irish higher education has until now been based on a number of assumptions, some of which are quite old and venerable, while others are of more recent origin. The key assumptions are that there should be tuition that allows the student to develop independent thinking and that monitors his or her progress through individual encounters with tutors and through small group teaching …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzysnki, University Blog, 26 February]

“Dramatic increases in spinout activity at Ireland’s universities also seem to refute the Kauffman Foundation’s contention that TTOs are holding back university research. According to figures from TTOs at Ireland’s third-level institutes, 35 spinouts were formed in 2009 across the country’s 10 major institutes, up from an average of 10 per year in previous years …” (more)

[Education Ireland, 25 February]