“… I do welcome a strategy, but unfortunately, it’s the wrong strategy, for the wrong language, at the wrong time. What a shame the strategy wasn’t about creating a multilingual society in Ireland and positioned Irish within that, along with other languages. But then, there are politicians in the mix …” (more)
[Blogos, 3 January]
“The job market for historians continued to deteriorate last year, although there is reason to hope it may be poised to rebound somewhat, according to a report released on Monday by the American Historical Association …” (more)
[Peter Schmidt, Chronicle of Higher Education, 3 January]
“As debates over the fate of French, German, and Italian in higher education unfold, it is easy to feel dismay over the material decline of those languages and the traditions they represent. But there may be a silver lining to the trend …” (more)
[Mark Bauerlein, Minding the Campus, 3 January]
“The relationship between education and health has been discussed several times on this blog, most recently by Kevin. Kevin mentioned that there is a positive socioeconomic gradient: more educated people have better health on average …” (more)
[Martin Ryan, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 3 January]
“This is the title of a new research paper by Pedro Martins from the University of London. Martins’ findings show that a targeted program related to non-cognitive ability – in this case study skills, motivation, and self-esteem – can improve student achievement at state schools in Portugal …” (more)
[Martin Ryan, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 3 January]
“Please RT! All of our campuses will be OPEN for business tomorrow as normal including examinations as scheduled #tweetni” (tweet)
[University of Ulster, Twitter, 3 January]
“… Isn’t there an argument for an upper house of parliament in a country, like Ireland, where parliamentary structures like the use of whipping, the guillotining of debates, and the lack of a human-rights review committee in the Oireachtas have the capacity to strangle truly democratic law-making? Have we really thought through the implications of having only one house of parliament for Ireland’s democracy? …” (more)
[Fiona de Londras, Human Rights in Ireland, 3 January]
“My students can tell anyone that I have an obsession with good writing. Most of my students could benefit from devoting more attention to the quality of their writing. The spell check programme that is built into Word and other similar programmes is a help, although sometimes things slip by …” (more)
[William A Schabas, PhD studies in human rights, 3 January]
“Jonah Lehrer has an interesting article in the New Yorker reporting that all sorts of well-established, multiply confirmed findings in science have started to look increasingly uncertain as they cannot be replicated …” (more)
[Slashdot, 2 January]
“The SDLP has said the cost of awarding honorary degrees at Northern Ireland universities is unacceptable. Liam Neeson, Feargal Sharkey and Tony Blair are among those who have recently been honoured by local institutions …” (more)
[BBC News, 3 January]
“In 1998 the Wall Street Journal reported the lettori case as an economics story striking at the heart of Europe’s much vaunted single-market. It has taken a long time for this message to get through …” (more)
[David Petrie, President of the Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy, 3 January]
“Following conversations with colleagues in various universities, I now have a reasonable idea of the demands on unions being made by the University authorities under the Croke Park Deal. These demands confirm the predictions in my e-mail message but go even further. I include these demands towards the end of this piece …” (more)
[Paddy Healy's Blog, 3 January]
“For those who believe, as I do, that university autonomy is a clear prerequisite for excellence in higher education, there is alarming news from Arkansas in the United States …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 3 January]
“Shane Donnelly, the Dublin student who was threatened with expulsion from his secondary school after he organized a protest against the Budgets cuts, has said on a Facebook support page that the school has U-turned on their previous commitment to bring disciplinary procedures against him …” (more)
[Laura Mulcahy, Cork Student News, 2 January]
“British universities draw up plans to accredit undergraduates who gain workplace skills or experience in jobs market …” (more)
[Jessica Shepherd, Guardian, 2 January]
“Despite a growing wave of student protests in Britain over government plans to sharply raise university tuition fees that saw buildings occupied at campuses across the country, and battles in the streets between demonstrators and the police whose ferocity at one point even seemed to threaten the heir to the British throne, the year 2010 ended quietly, with students heading home for the holidays …” (more)
[DD Guttenplan, New York Times, 2 January]
