“In a wide-ranging speech at the Royal Irish Academy today, the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, TD has outlined his plans for the third-level sector in Ireland …” (more)
[Eoin Lettice, Communicate Science, 30 May]
“The Union of Student in Ireland (USI) has urged Minister for Education & Skills Ruairí Quinn to honour his pre-election pledge not to reintroduce third level fees. In the run up to the general election, Minister Quinn signed a USI pledge on behalf of the Labour Party stating ‘If elected, I will oppose and campaign against any new form of third level fees including student loans, graduate taxes and any further increase in the Student Contribution’. USI is calling on Minister Quinn, who today refused to rule out an increase in college fees, to honour the commitment he made …” (more)
[Irish Press Releases, 30 May]
“The CAO points system – which determines entry to third level colleges – is set to be reviewed , Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn has announced. In a major speech on higher education, he said the CAO review would be part of a major programme of education reform that also includes a recasting of both the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams. Mr Quinn predicted it would take about six years to roll out the radical reform programme he envisaged …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 30 May]
“Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said the Cabinet has not discussed reintroducing third-level fees but warned he had not ruled anything out. The senior Labour minister, who signed a pledge before the election against student charges, said he had not come under any pressure from Government colleagues over a return to fees …” (more)
[Independent, 30 May]
“No decision has yet been made on the possibility of re-introducing third level fees, according to the Minister for Education and Skills. Ruairi Quinn said the issue of finance at third level would have to be addressed, but he said no proposals are being considered …” (more)
[RTÉ News, 30 May]
“Colleges could be invited to apply to become technological universities by the end of the summer, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn will indicate in a key higher education speech this morning. In his first major policy statement on third-level education since taking office in March, Mr Quinn will address one of the most significant restructuring proposals for the sector put forward by an expert group chaired by economist Colin Hunt …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 30 May]
“The Higher Education Authority has begun an investigation into the funding crisis across the third-level sector – in a move which will increase the pressure for new student charges or a ‘cap’ on the number of college places available to students. The authority’s study comes ahead of a major speech by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn today …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 30 May]
“Promoting the need for greater collaboration and co-operation between the developing and developed worlds is the focus of the new UCC Centre for Global Development. The university has committed to strengthening external engagement, maximising the impact of its research and teaching programmes for the benefit of the wider society, locally and globally …” (more)
[John Daly, Irish Examiner, 30 May]
“Should tenure be abolished? Naomi Schaefer Riley argues that it should. Her new book, The Faculty Lounges and Other Reasons Why You Won’t Get the College Education You Paid For, is a Navy Seal Team Six-style assault on Fortress Tenure: quick, precise, and conducted with air of finality …” (more)
[Peter Wood, Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 May]
“The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton has begun a process of reform of Ireland’s copyright regime, in an effort to maximise the potential of the digital industry in Ireland. He has appointed Dr Eoin O’Dell of Trinity’s Law School to chair a new Copyright Review Committee in commencing that process …” (more)
[Trinity Communications Office, 29 May]
“Does it matter how students allocate their time? One would hope that students who study harder do better and that students who actually turn up for class also do better. Attendance at class is often quite low. This paper by Barbara Graves looks at this question using German data with some interesting results …” (more)
[Kevin Denny: Economics more-or-less, 29 May]
“International rankings contributed significantly to the speeding up of France’s university reforms and paved the way for the French excellence initiative starting in 2010, according to university leaders. Professor Edouard Husson, Deputy Chancellor of the Universities of Paris and a former adviser to Higher Education and Research Minister Valérie Pécresse, said the ‘shock of the Shanghai rankings’ in 2003 generated the pre-conditions for changes …” (more)
[Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 29 May]
“Students should have the right to wear religious attire, such as burkhas, in colleges and universities, lecturers will be told tomorrow. Leaders of the University and College Union (UCU) will pledge their support for the right of people of all faiths ‘to wear the religious head-dress and other religious attire appropriate to their faiths’ …” (more)
[Richard Garner, Independent, 29 May]
“A Scottish university principal suspended from his post in controversial circumstances has launched a second tribunal case against his employers. Professor Bernard King, Principal of Abertay University in Dundee, believes he was discriminated against because he acted as a ‘whistleblower’ on behalf of other staff …” (more)
[Andrew Denholm, University World News, 29 May]
“Tens of thousands of opinionated academics around the world have become internet bloggers while universities are increasingly establishing blogging sites on their web pages. Blogging has moved from being a nerdish undergraduate pastime to an accepted communication medium within the academic community …” (more)
[Geoff Maslen, University World News, 29 May]
“Analysing influence has been a central part of academic life. We are very familiar with citation analysis. This is possible because the system allows that metric to be measured and it is seen to be meaningful. As new measures have become possible in a web environment they too have been taken up. See for example the ‘top of’ lists at SSRN or the elaborate set of rankings from RePEc …” (more)
[Lorcan Dempsey's Weblog, 28 May]
“The UK could become ‘yesterday’s country equipped with yesterday’s skills’ if education cuts continue, the UCU lecturers’ union leader is to warn …” (more)
[BBC News, 26 May]
“It has been a busy week for research. The UK Research Councils (RCUK) and HEFCE announced plans to work together on open access. JISC’s Executive Secretary, Dr Malcolm Read, gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Inquiry into peer review, alongside Mark Patterson from the Public Library of Science, (a leading open access publisher) and in Denmark, there have been meetings at the ministry with the European Commission holding a public hearing on access to scientific information next Monday in Luxembourg …” (more)
[Neil Jacobs, JISC, 26 May]
“Here’s an interesting initiative: Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel is offering $100,000 each to 20 students willing to leave university for two years to start their own companies. And why do this, rather than offer the incentive to graduates? Because Mr Thiel believes that ‘ideas can develop in a start-up environment much faster than at a university’. Indeed he is report to want to ‘question the idea of higher education’ …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 28 May]
“Schools have been instructed to prioritise the hiring of qualified teachers over unqualified and retired teachers from September. ‘Extremely limited circumstances’ in which schools can employ unqualified teachers were outlined in a circular issued by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn yesterday …” (more)
[Genevieve Carbery, Irish Times, 28 May]
