“… In internet parlance, wtf! How can a second year university student be so incoherent? Am I just seeing a small, unrepresentative sample of third level students or is this indicative of a wide-ranging problem? If the latter is the case, and if it has been going on for a significant period, those of us who have not been shouting from the rooftops about it should be deeply ashamed …” (more)
[educationandstuff, 5 April]
“If you had any doubt that Nooks, Kindles, iPads and even smart phones were radically changing the habits of American readers, give it up. So says a report, The rise of e-reading, published yesterday by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, and it has a mountain of facts to back up that claim …” (more)
[Malcolm Jones, The Daily Beast, 5 April]
“Celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of Trinity College Dublin’s iconic Old Library building began today. The foundation stone for the library was laid in May 1712 but it took another 20 years to complete the building …” (more)
[Genevieve Carbery, Irish Times, 5 April]
“Dublin’s city bike scheme may be extended into the suburbs. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is actively pursuing the extension of the scheme into the Dundrum area and surrounding region …” (more)
[Claire Murphy, Herald, 5 April]
“A jury has recommended that Cork City Council carry out a review of all split-level sites in the city that pose a risk to the public following the death of an 18-year-old university student who died when he fell down a ten metre drop while on a night out …” (more)
[Barry Roche, Irish Times, 5 April]
“A couple of weeks ago Paul Mooney, sometime president of National College of Ireland and now back in his old role as a consultant published an opinion piece in the Irish Times on his perspective on the travails of Irish higher education. Among others I commented, here. Paul subsequently contacted me and the outcome of this conversation is below …” (more)
[Brian M Lucey, 5 April]
“A UCD law graduate from Donegal has been elected as the new president of the Union of Students in Ireland. John Logue (23), from Letterkenny, will take up his one-year term of office on July 1st …” (more)
[Donegal Daily, 5 April]
“A UCD law graduate has been elected as the new president of the Union of Students in Ireland. John Logue (23), from Letterkenny, Co Donegal, will take up his one-year term of office on July 1st …” (more)
[Irish Times, 5 April]
“The Irish higher education system is undergoing a transformation. The National Strategy for Higher Education (the Hunt Report) is no fine tome full of worthy rhetoric sitting gathering dust on a civil service shelf. Its implementation is in full flow and coming to a college near you – rapidly …” (more)
[Higher Education Authority, 5 April]
“The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has warned that moves to extend the training period for new teachers will lead to a divide between those students able to afford and those unable to afford to pursue the career. Young teachers have been targeted for a disproportionate attack on pay and conditions …” (more)
[Teachers' Union of Ireland, 5 April]
“Five Welsh universities intend to drop tuition fees to £7,500 or below for the 2013-14 academic year, it has emerged. It follows a decision by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (Hefcw) to change the way it allocates student places …” (more)
[BBC News, 5 April]
“Despite the recent growth in multinational exports, the domestic economy is still flagging badly and the long term health of the country is reliant on our homegrown businesses and the future of today’s fledgling start-ups. Fergal Gallagher spoke to Dr Ciara Leonard, programme manager at NovaUCD …” (more)
[Digital Times, 5 April]
“There’s a whole of cheating going on. More than 60% of college undergraduates, and more than 40 percent of graduate students, admit to cheating in some way on their written work, according to a national survey by Clemson University’s International Center for Academic Integrity. Now another graduate student has come up with a reason for all this: income inequality …” (more)
[Josh Fischman, Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 April]
“The publication of the Hefce figures on the allocation of grants and places for 2012 brought protests from the ‘squeezed middle’ of universities, ineligible for core and margin places because they’ve set fees at or near £9,000, but are too far down the league tables to compete for AAB students …” (more)
[Kim Catcheside, Guardian Professional, 5 April]
“Outgoing President of the Union of Students in Ireland Gary Redmond is today calling on the Education Minister to force high-earning academic staff to take a pay cut …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 5 April]
“The refusal by a number of high-paid academics to take a voluntary salary cut has been called ‘disgraceful’ by the Union of Students in Ireland …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 5 April]
“The following extract from a speech delivered by Ireland’s President, Michael D Higgins, to the annual congress of the Union of Students in Ireland caught my eye …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 5 April]
“The Students’ Union of UCD has announced a campus wide preferendum will take place in order to set the SU policy on third level funding. The referendum is set to be held Tuesday the 10th and Wednesday the 11th of April alongside the Union’s College Convener elections …” (more)
[College Tribune, 4 April]
“More than 60% of schools are considering dropping subjects from the Leaving Cert programme from September because of budget cuts, according to a new survey for the main second-level teacher union, the ASTI …” (more)
[Louise Holden, Irish Times, 5 April]
“There aren’t many guest speakers who could be confident of filling (almost) every seat at the annual congress of the Union of Students in Ireland at the ungodly, unsociable hour of 11 o’clock in the morning. But President Michael D Higgins isn’t just anyone …” (more)
[Independent, 5 April]
