“A Texas professor asked for enemies on Facebook, and he got them. Earlier this week, The Chronicle broke the story of a Facebook app called EnemyGraph, which lets users of the popular network declare enemies …” (more)
[Jeffrey R Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, 30 March]
“… Queen’s University’s £20m investment in world-class sports facilities isn’t simply a success story for the university and its students — it is reason for the wider Northern Ireland community to crack open the bubbly …” (more)
[Graham Luney, Belfast Telegraph, 31 March]
“DRM is just ‘a speedbump’, Hachette’s Maja Thomas said at a copyright conference this afternoon. However, opinion within Hachette is clearly divided …” (more)
[Laura Hazard, paidContent, 30 March]
“Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the newly established Irish Research Council, Tom Boland, Chief Executive of the HEA said ‘both IRCHSS and IRCSET have played a central role in the development of Ireland’s higher education and research system over the last decade …'” (more)
[Higher Education Authority, 30 March]
“I’ve just been writing a few of those irritating module descriptors that I know are necessary and, by and large, a good thing, but it got me thinking about how we do things in this country. I was splitting my module into contact time and independent learning time, as required, and I did what most people do …” (more)
[educationandstuff, 30 March]
“Trinity College Dublin Bursar and Director of Strategic Innovation, Associate Professor, has been appointed Chair of the new Irish Research Council, a merger of the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) …” (more)
[Trinity College Dublin, 30 March]
“President of Griffith College and entrepreneur Diarmuid Hegarty has been awarded an honorary professorship by the Beijing Information, Science and Technology University (BISTU) in China …” (more)
[Business and Leadership, 30 March]
“It’s a nice idea this. Inside Higher Ed reports on this new(ish) website intended to offer a more rounded picture of academics’ approaches to teaching and learning …” (more)
[Registrarism, 30 March]
“It’s not every day you meet an Oscar winner, and it’s even more unusual that our interview takes place on the day after the Academy has handed out its golden baubles. However, Lord David Puttnam is not about to reminisce wistfully about his days as the producer of Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express, The Mission or The Killing Fields …” (more)
[Laurence Mackin, Irish Times, 30 March]
“Researchers are warning of an approaching ‘perfect storm’, one that will wipe out an invaluable natural resource. Conditions are nearly right for a significant exodus of postdoctoral research fellows, driven into emigration by harsh economic winds, given the lack of secure jobs and the potential for career development abroad …” (more)
[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 30 March]
“A ‘carnival of protest’ over what they see as a 73% increase in registration and course fees has been staged by art and design students at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. The increases are due to come into effect this autumn and the students say it would mean many of them would be unable to afford completing their courses …” (more)
[Lorna Siggins, Irish Times, 30 March]
“Ireland is at the leading edge of the emerging software area of evolving critical systems thanks to the work of Lero – the Irish software engineering research centre. The Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded Centre for Science Engineering and Technology brings together leading software engineering teams from the University of Limerick, DCU, Trinity College Dublin, UCD, Dundalk IT and NUI, Galway in a coordinated centre of research excellence with a strong industry focus …” (more)
[Irish Times, 30 March]
“President Michael D Higgins was guest of honour at an event held in DIT on Bolton Street, Dublin, yesterday to mark the college’s centenary celebrations. Mr Higgins toured the college, viewing photographs and artefacts on display in the college, where first classes were held in the 1911/1912 academic year …” (more)
[Irish Times, 30 March]
“While we are strong on the arts, the place of science and technology in society remains pretty weak. Can we change the public perception to innovation? …” (more)
[John Holden, Irish Times, 30 March]
“… Senator Sean D Barrett: … The idea that there be one national quango to validate everything from PhDs and post-doctoral work down to short courses in hairdressing, etc. seems to be completely bizarre and ignores the debate we had on the issue. It also ignores what is happening in Irish universities. One of the results has been the creation of a layer of bureaucracy in respect of quality assurance, which means nothing to the man or woman giving lectures …” (more)
[Seanad Éireann, 29 March]
“I recently bought a Livescribe pen with the aim of creating ‘Pencasts’ – videos of pen writings aimed at online tutorials for demonstrating calculations, annotating diagrams etc – effectively screencasts on the fly. Unfortunately, someone who makes decisions in Livescribe has decreed that the pencast the video and audio output will be a proprietary format …” (more)
[Michael Seery, Is this going to be on the exam?, 29 March]
“The Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock, TD, today formally launched the new Irish Research Council – a merger of the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) …” (more)
[The Labour Party, 29 March]
“The Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock TD, today launched the Atlantic Corridor Conference on STEM Education, in Tullamore. The Atlantic Conference, which has been running since 2008, has established itself as a key event for all those interested in science and technology issues in Ireland both from an education and enterprise perspective …” (more)
[The Labour Party, 29 March]
“More than one-in-five undergraduates are failing to compete the first year of their degree at the worst-performing universities, it emerged, prompting fears that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being wasted on unwanted courses …” (more)
[Graeme Paton, Daily Telegraph, 29 March]
“Universities that compel academics to show a positive attitude risk an ‘immediate backlash’, an industrial relations expert says. RMIT University staff will fight against a new behavioural code that demands they promote positivity and show passion at work …” (more)
[Benjamin Preiss, The Age, 27 March]
