“Sir, – The education specialists who composed a recent Higher Education Authority and National Council for Curriculum and Assessment report say: ‘The notion that Leaving Certificate questions are predictable has ‘resulted in reports of candidates memorising pre-packaged answers and essays …’” (more)
[Joseph F Foyle, Irish Times, 28 December]
“Breis agus dhá scór bliain ó shin bhíos ar mo bhealach go Corcaigh, an grá do mo thiomáint. Grá idé ollscoile. Bhí staidéar déanta ar scoil againn ar aiste de chuid John Henry Cardinal Newman dár teideal The Idea of a University (1873) a bhí cnuasaithe sa leabhar New Senior Prose le James J Carey …” (more)
[Mícheál Ó Ruairc, Irish Times, 28 December]
“… Glyn Moody on Techdirt asks the question, Do we really need copyright for academic publishing? Copyright does not protect the kinds of things that really are important to academics, such as getting credit for ideas, but rather things that don’t matter all that much to most of us, such as precisely how the ideas are expressed …” (more)
[The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics, 27 December]
“India has taken a significant step on the long march to admitting international universities with a parliamentary committee sending a new draft of the 2010 Foreign Universities bill to cabinet just before Christmas …” (more)
[Stephen Matchett, The Australian, 28 December]
“The University of Ulster is to team up with a Chinese counterpart to promote the teaching of Mandarin in Northern Ireland schools. The initiative was one of three agreements the university has signed with academics in eastern China …” (more)
[Independent, 27 December]
Doom, gloom, blasphemy (alleged), and more gloom. But we’re still here. Here’s to a sunny 2012.
“Sir, – It is now widely accepted that the Leaving Cert motivates and rewards rote learning (Joe Durkan quoted in “Europe facing ‘1930s rerun’ if ECB fails to act”, Home News, December 15th) …” (more)
[H McBride, Irish Times, 27 December]
“Those working in universities regularly come up against the question whether it is possible to balance teaching and research so that both are valued and neither undermines the other …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 27 December]
“Girls do better at university if they are taught in single-sex classes, according to new research. Students at Essex University were randomly split into three groups, male only, female only and mixed …” (more)
[Richard Garner, Independent, 27 December]
“The Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has slammed those critics of the Croke Park Agreement who claim that it is an exercise in appeasement of the public sector workforce …” (more)
[John Drennan, Independent, 25 December]
“UCC President Michael Murphy was yesterday branded an ‘elitist’ over remarks made during a speech to the Cork Chamber of Commerce …” (more)
[Donal MacHenry, StudentNews.ie, 24 December]
“The British National Party’s controversial figure-head Nick Griffin has been reportedly been given the go-ahead by UCC campus authorities to speak at UCC …” (more)
[Roisín Callnan, StudentNews.ie, 24 December]
“More than two dozen academics have branded as ‘outrageous’ the president of UCC’s comment that the pressure of providing access for disadvantaged students was triggering an exodus of top students to study abroad …” (more)
[Eoin English, Irish Examiner, 24 December]
“We were deeply concerned by the comments attributed to UCC President Dr Michael Murphy concerning access students (Irish Examiner, Dec 21) …” (more)
[Martin J Power and others, Irish Examiner, 24 December]
“A student society at University College Cork says it has been given full backing from the college to go ahead with a debate featuring the controversial leader of the British National Party …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 23 December]
“Proposed reforms of the college entry points system should bring major benefits for second-level students, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has claimed …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 23 December]
“Sir, – We were deeply concerned by the comments attributed to UCC President Dr Michael Murphy concerning Access students, which were made during a keynote address to the Cork Chamber of Commerce on December 20th …” (more)
[Martin J Power and others, Irish Times, 23 December]
“The recognition of the need to have a real, honest debate about our education system, how it serves our students, our society and its integrity — and how it is funded — seems to be gathering momentum …” (more)
[Irish Examiner, 23 December]
“Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn is hopeful that changes to the Leaving Certificate can be implemented in two to three years’ time. The exam is on course to be radically reformed with grade options almost halved and pupils facing a possible lottery for university places …” (more)
[Irish Times, 23 December]
“The report on the transition from second to third level should herald long-overdue changes to the Leaving Cert and the college entry system …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 23 December]
