“Stanford University welcomed one with open arms. The University of Pennsylvania took a look and passed. Columbia University has one, and so does the London School of Economics. But last month, Dickinson State College in North Dakota became the most recent university to turn down a Confucius Institute …” (more)
[DD Guttenplan, New York Times, 4 March]
“… Managers who work alongside academic staff and understand the realities of University life are therefore a good thing to have. They actually help. The problem I have is that, as it seems to me, much of the growth in numbers of ‘managers’ does not involve people in this sort of job at all …” (more)
[In the Dark, 4 March]
“Almost 4,000 jobs across the public service were sanctioned by governments in the last three years, according to new figures. At a time when the Government is trying to cut public sector numbers, approval was granted for 1,927 civil service posts since 2009 and around 1,825 posts in public bodies …” (more)
[Maeve Sheehan, Independent, 4 March]
“I work across the hall from a small library set on significantly reducing the footprint of books on its shelves. I hope that means a significant increase in the number of electronic titles …” (more)
[Bernie Goldbach, Inside View from Ireland, 4 March]
“Harvard University isn’t backing down – and neither is Their Day in the Yard. The group of Harvard students, alumni and faculty has been urging the Ivy League school to award honorary posthumous degrees to seven students expelled more than 90 years ago for being gay or for being perceived as gay …” (more)
[Ricardo Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 28 February]
“The search for the Holy Grail one-size-fits-all test to measure learning gains started in the US with the Collegiate Learning Assessment, but the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) wants to take it global …” (more)
[John Aubrey Douglass and others, University World News, 4 March]
“It is an uncomfortable truth that in comparative terms, and much as it may make us feel better to argue the opposite, especially in difficult times, in the UK we are a ‘lucky’ system of higher education. Despite the pressures of a hyper-active political context, we have maintained a ‘buffer’ between ourselves and the government of the day …” (more)
[David Watson, University World News, 4 March]
“Minister of State Sean Sherlock has recently published ‘A Copyright and Innovation White Paper’ – it’s a big read at 182 pages and I have only skimmed it …” (more)
[Joe Drumgoole, Copacetic, 2 March]
“Just as a few massive chain stores eventually came to dominate the traditional printed book market in North America, the e-book marketplace is a kind of oligopoly involving a few major players …” (more)
[Mathew Ingram, GigaOM, 29 February]
