“Back in 2005 I did an evil, evil thing. Discovering the proliferation of websites where student plagiarists could copy essays, I wrote a Trojan horse paper about the Magna Carta and seeded it on a few plagiarism sites …” (more)
[College Misery, 27 December]
“The comments by the UCC president did nothing to enhance the institution’s five-star status. As someone who progressed through schools (and indeed the university) located in a disadvantaged area, I don’t believe I held anyone back …” (more)
[Mick Finn, Irish Examiner, 30 December]
“It is ‘steady as she goes’ when looking back at decisions made by Government in the research, innovation, enterprise sector during 2011. Rather than simply throw out coherent policies formulated under Fianna Fáil-led governments from as far back as 1998, the incoming Government took them on board reshaping them to suit their own agendas …” (more)
[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 30 December]
“On the evening before All Saints’ Day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg. In those days a thesis was simply a position one wanted to argue …” (more)
[Economist, 16 December]
“The president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City — Craig Thompson — has received an unpleasant holiday package: A $1 billion lawsuit filed by the cancer center he used to head …” (more)
[Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, ScienceInsider, 29 December]
“Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) launched a €2.6 million project to help develop and sustain jobs in the life sciences industries. Funded under the Ireland Wales 2007-2013 INTERREG IVA programme, the ‘Wales Ireland Network for Scientific Skills’ (WINSS) is a four-year project, which will run until 2014 …” (more)
[Claire Quinn, Waterford News & Star, 29 December]
“Students have given their input on the new reformed Junior Cycle, and their thoughts have been welcomed by Ruairi Quinn, TD, Minister for Education and Skills …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 29 December]
[The new report is here]
“Emigration is expected to continue at a pace next year but migration experts have warned that the prospects of obtaining visas and finding work in two of the most popular destinations for those leaving Ireland are to become more difficult …” (more)
[Steven Carroll, Irish Times, 29 December]
“Your ‘time for an honest discussion’ editorial on educational reform (Dec 23) rightly welcomes the current widespread airing of re-assessment, re-evaluation and recalibration of the stagnating education system …” (more)
[Jim Cosgrove, Irish Examiner, 29 December]
“The decision to abolish teaching foreign languages in primary school is ‘shows a disregard for the importance of language teaching at a young age and a short-sightedness about the future needs of this country’. This is the view of Dr Anne O’Connor, a lecturer in Italian at NUI Galway …” (more)
[Kernan Andrews, Galway Advertiser, 29 December]
“The number of Irish people moving to Britain, Canada, New Zealand, the US and Australia increased over the last year as the flat economy and jobs market continued to drive emigration. New figures show a 56% rise in the number of British national insurance numbers issued to Irish people over the last year …” (more)
[Steven Carroll, Irish Times, 29 December]
“Sir, – Given the importance attached to critical thinking by Seán Flynn in his article on Leaving Certificate reform (Opinion, December 23rd), I am astonished at the lack of it in the response to Dr Michael Murphy’s comments in relation to support for academically talented students …” (more)
[Zoë Fannon, Irish Times, 29 December]
“Some 280 school-leavers from Surrey, which contains some of the country’s most affluent addresses, got into the two universities in a single year – as many as the combined total from almost a third of England’s local authorities …” (more)
[Graeme Paton, Daily Telegraph, 29 December]
“US universities are producing consistent numbers of history PhDs, regardless of demand, according to a new report by Robert Townsend for the American Historical Association …” (more)
[Stephen Matchett, The Australian, 29 December]
“Over the past year, the use of social media and blogging for academic purposes has continued to grow rapidly. Here, Danielle Moran and Amy Mollett list a selection of their favourite guest posts from the blog, covering why academics might want to embrace social media, and how to measure this as impact …” (more)
[The Impact of Social Sciences blog, 28 December]
“A collection of our most popular, most debated and favourite pieces, here’s the Guardian Higher Education Network team’s top blogs of the year …” (more)
[Kerry Eustice, Guardian Professional, 28 December]
“… We know that people generally speaking tend to engage in what financial economists call ‘hyperbolic discounting’, which applies both to the past as well as the future, resulting in a shorter term perception, giving greater weight, greater than would be appropriate given the distribution of outcomes, to more recent events …” (more)
[Brian M Lucey, 28 December]
“Dublin’s Convention Centre is to hold the Euroscience Open Forum from July 11-15 next year as part of its role as European City of Science 2012 …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 28 December]
“For many researchers, the citation is a make-or-break concept. Most ranking algorithms use citations to determine a journal’s influence or impact. Publication in ‘high impact’ journals is often the key to tenure and promotion, and the number of times an article has been cited is often widely touted in tenure and promotion packets …” (more)
[the Undergraduate Science Librarian, 20 December]
“Better job opportunities abroad tops the list of reasons why two-thirds of college students plan to emigrate after completing their education in Ireland, according to survey figures released yesterday by Student Marketing Network …” (more)
[Cían Nihill, Irish Times, 28 December]
