“At the IRCHSS & IRCSET Postdoctoral Symposium at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin in July, almost 150 researchers gathered to share ideas and explore new ways of thinking and working. Ireland has already come a long way in third-level education …” (more)
[Silicon Republic, 5 August]
“As a first-time tenure-track assistant professor, I’m already looking down the road to the different stages of tenure review. Academia has a number of different hurdles, often based on assessment of productivity over spans of years. So whether you’re in the same position as me, further down the line, or starting to think about the job market, it’s worth building good habits in personal archiving …” (more)
[Anastasia Salter, Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 August]
“LIT Library has recently received the great news from the EU Executive Agency (EACEA) that its application for funding under the Tempus IV EU funding programme was successful to the sum of €1,171,557. The securing of this funding is a triple distinction for Limerick Institute of Technology …” (more)
[Library.ie, 5 August]
“I am delighted that my former university, Dublin City University, has appointed Dr Martin McAleese to be its new Chancellor. His appointment will reinforce DCU’s status as an ambitious university that also attaches huge importance to educational values, economic development and social progress …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 5 August]
“The President of Dublin City University has said ‘stamina is more important than intellect’ for many high-scoring students in the Leaving Cert. In the latest criticism of the Leaving Cert, Prof Brian MacCraith also says the current exam system discourages independent thought and critical thinking …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 5 August]
“Schools will be forced to drop subjects if proposals to increase class sizes to save money go ahead, it has been warned. The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland said the education sector was already seriously underfunded and could not afford further cuts, branding it a nonsense …” (more)
[Colm Kelpie, Independent, 4 August]
“The Irish government has now introduced the long-awaited legislation on educational quality and standards. The Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011, which has the purpose of amalgamating a number of public agencies and taking over the functions of the Irish Universities Quality Board, has now been published …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 5 August]
“Fraud costs the higher education sector more than £1bn a year, a report published yesterday found. The study shows that the sector has the worst record of any public service in tackling the problem. Dr Mark Button, director of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies at the University of Portsmouth, said there was a tendency for universities to keep the problem ‘hushed up and hidden away’ …” (more)
[Richard Garner, Independent, 5 August]
“Let’s say you heard a rumor that another group of researchers was working on a possibly identical, or at least very similar, project to your own research. You had both been working on this project for about a year, and had nothing published yet, not even a conference paper or abstract …” (more)
[FemaleScienceProfessor, 5 August]
“Smaller specialist colleges have welcomed proposals from the government that would allow institutions with 1,000 higher education students to gain university title. The detailed plans – outlined in the consultation on regulatory changes to the sector – follow general proposals put forward in the White Paper to lower the current requirement for colleges to have more than 4,000 students …” (more)
[Simon Baker, Times Higher Education, 5 August]
“As webmasters dabble into the land of exciting possibilities enabled by recent developments in browser technology, it’s essential to remember that different users use different browsers, and webpages that work in one browser will not necessarily work in another. But developer time is limited – so, how important is it for a scholarly website to support version N of browser B? …” (more)
[Google Scholar Blog, 4 August]
“In his July 27 Slate essay, ‘Overeducated, Underemployed’, William Pannapacker called graduate students in the humanities smart suckers’. An English professor at Hope College in Michigan, Pannapacker argued that ‘in all likelihood, a humanities PhD will place you at a disadvantage competing against 22-year-olds for entry-level jobs that barely require a high-school diploma’. He then outlined a plan for reforming higher education …” (more)
[Slate, 4 August]
