“Dutch publishing house Elsevier is facing increasing pressure from the scientific community, with the company’s 2,000 journals now being blacklisted by over 8,600 academics. In January, following an angry blog post from British mathematician Tom Gowers, academics started to sign a public petition …” (more)
[Iain Thomson, The Register, 20 March]
“I’ve long had a pretty cynical attitude towards the periodic exercises for rating research activities of UK higher education institutions. The problem is cost-effectiveness …” (more)
[BishopBlog, 20 March]
“There are three types of rankings and ratings out there. The first are the ones published by The Globe and Mail, US News and World Report, and Maclean’s – essentially consumer guides which try to focus on aspects of the undergraduate experience. Then there are very quantitatively-oriented research rankings …” (more)
[Higher Education Strategy Associates, 19 March]
“Education Minster Ruairí Quinn has chosen to ignore top-level advice to cut the size of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) board, instead upping its membership from 12 to 19 …” (more)
[Tim Murphy, StudentNews.ie, 20 March]
“When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password …” (more)
[Manuel Valdes and Shannon McFarland, Boston Globe, 20 March]
“Paul Mooney has a long op-ed on higher education in today’s Irish Times. Mooney taught at DCU and was president of NCI. That experience colours his assessment and recommendations. As I have argued time and again, some universities should focus on research and the academic side of education while other universities should focus on the more vocational end of third-level education …” (more)
[Richard Tol, Irish Economy, 20 March]
“The period of public consultation on the review of Irish copyright legislation has been extended by almost two months. The Copyright Review Committee said that following a large number of requests, it had decided to extend the closing date for receipt of submissions to 31 May …” (more)
[RTÉ News, 20 March]
“Sir Peter Knight, president of the Institute of Physics talks to Eliza Anyangwe about the quality of UK research output, the dangers of nationalism in HE and the search for a female Brian Cox …” (more)
[Guardian Professional, 20 March]
“Dr Jim Browne, president of NUI Galway, on a week spent networking in the US. MONDAY. This week is a busy one as I am attending a whole host of meetings and engagements in the US …” (more)
[Irish Times, 20 March]
“What is going on with Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn? After a sparkling start in Education, he has endured several difficult weeks culminating in last week’s Morning Ireland interview where he struggled to answer questions on school buildings …” (more)
[Irish Times, 20 March]
“A former college president lifts the lid on third level, where he says lecturers have light workloads, research pet projects that have no benefit for Ireland Inc, and management is poor …” (more)
[Paul Mooney, Irish Times, 20 March]
“Sir, – Grainne Faller (‘How qualified is your lecturer?’, Education Today, March 6th), has given us a clear picture of where third-level institutes interested in achieving university status stand in regard to the required staff qualifications …” (more)
[Michael O'Dwyer, Irish Times, 20 March]
“Children from disadvantaged communities typically don’t grow up to be teachers; typically don’t return to their old schools as education leaders or beacons of educational advancement …” (more)
[Aodhán Ó Riordáin, Irish Times, 20 March]
“Today I want to tell you about millionaires. More specifically, let us have a look at British millionaires, or rather, 436 of these. My interest in them was sparked by a recent survey conducted by investment advisers Skandia, the Millionaire Monitor+ …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 20 March]
“CHATTERBOX: RUAIRÍ QUINN AND THAT MORNING IRELAND INTERVIEW ON RTÉ ‘Well done to the interviewer on Morning Ireland who pointed out that in December the Minister said 80,000 places were needed and today he said 70,000 places …’” (more)
[Irish Times, 20 March]
“My 17-year-old son is sitting his Leaving Cert in three months. He has no interest in the books or in any of the subjects he is taking and I can’t force him to study – he’s practically a man …” (more)
[Irish Times, 20 March]
“The most recent statistics released by Ireland’s Higher Education Authority (Higher Education: Key Facts and Figures 2010-11) contain some interesting information. One of the things we learn is that international student recruitment by Irish universities and colleges has stalled and may be in decline …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 20 March]
“Students at Warwick University and at Queen Mary, University of London are to share lecturers in what will be one of the closest alliances yet between two higher education institutions in England …” (more)
[Jessica Shepherd, Guardian, 20 March]
“We’re all Belfielders here. JayCarax was even responsible for the ‘Hidden History of UCD’ blog, and all three writers have mentioned the college here in the past …” (more)
[Come here to me!, 19 March]
“Rick Santorum’s recent claim that college brainwashes students got me thinking about home schooling. I realized after his remarks why I viscerally oppose it: not just because I wouldn’t have been able to get my kids to do math problems at the kitchen table all day, but because home schooling is an extreme form of–there’s no other good word for it — brainwashing …” (more)
[Paula Marantz Cohen, The American Scholar, 19 March]
