“Student evaluations of their teachers are an essential part of higher education. Some academics privately regard them with disdain. Many students also see little value in them since response rates are often quite low …” (more)
[Kevin Denny: Economics more-or-less, 11 April]
“Fresh calls have been made for Education Minister Ruairi Quinn to stop taking money from schools. The Labour Party man took a second day of bashing from teachers’ unions, which have accused him of mishandling education reforms …” (more)
[Independent, 11 April]
“A private American university education for just $10,000 may sound too good to be true, but for some Chinese executives, the dream became a reality. According to China Daily, more than 30 people, including several senior members of large corporations, were involved in a diploma-mill scam that amounted to about 3.4 million yuan ($540,000) …” (more)
[Huffington Post, 11 April]
“Just like that, Apple is officially on the receiving end of a major antitrust lawsuit filed this morning by the US Justice Department for alleged e-book price-fixing. The suit, filed in New York district court, includes publishers Hachette SA, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster …” (more)
[Matt Peckham, Time, 11 April]
“The true cost to a university of processing a freedom of information (FOI) request has been revealed by JISC infoNet. The research shows that in the seven institutions surveyed, a FOI request takes a university an average of 5 hours 2 minutes to respond …” (more)
[AlphaGalileo, 11 April]
“After the US Supreme Court’s 1987 decision forbidding the teaching of creationism in science classes, those who objected to the teaching of evolution modified their ideas slightly. They relabeled these ideas ‘Intelligent Design’. In the wake of that tactic’s defeat in the courts, the opponents of science education retooled again …” (more)
[John Timmer, Ars Technica, 11 April]
“The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn TD, today announced the establishment of a new scholarship scheme for higher education. As part of Budget 2012, Minister Quinn committed to abolishing all existing scholarship schemes, and replacing these with a new set of bursaries, aimed solely at students from disadvantaged backgrounds …” (more)
[Labour Party, 11 April]
“Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has refused to rule out cuts to teacher allowances and said that a comprehensive review of all allowances in the public service is to take place. The Minister also said that Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames of Fine Gael was ‘misinformed’ in her criticism of him …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 11 April]
“Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has said the Government has no plans to change the terms of the Croke Park Agreement …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 11 April]
“Police have revealed more details of a highly targeted theft of Chinese antiquities worth £2m from Durham University’s Oriental Museum.Specialist criminals who knew exactly what they were after were probably in and out of the well-secured building in less than two minutes, said the detective leading the inquiry …” (more)
[Martin Wainwright, Guardian, 11 April]
“Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn will address delegates at the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) conference in Wexford today. Yesterday, delegates called on the TUI to lobby for legislative change to protect teachers and the general study body from disruptive students …” (more)
[Irish Times, 11 April]
“The rush to secure university status could do more damage than good to some institutes of technology, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland congress heard. In his first address as general secretary, John MacGabhann said it was by no means clear that technological university status would be appropriate for all the institutes of technology …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 11 April]
“The Minister for Education says he is battling to protect some €500 million in additional allowances paid to teachers annually. The three teacher unions signalled their readiness yesterday to begin industrial action if these allowances are withdrawn …” (more)
[Sen Flynn, Irish Times, 11 April]
“Secondary school teachers have warned that if reports of cuts to teachers’ allowances prove to be true, the union will ballot its members for a withdrawal from the Croke Park agreement …” (more)
[Louise Holden, Irish Times, 11 April]
“Second and third-level teachers yesterday warned the Government that they ‘can’t and won’t take any more’ cuts to pay – and threatened to go on strike …” (more)
[Eimear Ní Bhraonain, Independent, 11 April]
“Northern Ireland’s new Confucius Institute is to be officially opened with a week of events celebrating our burgeoning relationship with China …” (more)
[Claire Harrison, Belfast Telegraph, 11 April]
“Some very clever people have put up with a very silly system for far too long. That is the upshot of our reporting on scholarly journals this week. Academics not only provide the raw material, but also do the graft of the editing. What’s more, they typically do so without extra pay or even recognition – thanks to blind peer review …” (more)
[Guardian, 11 April]
“The gravity of the economic crisis is still not fully appreciated by some in the education sector, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn told primary school teachers yesterday …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 11 April]
“The number of students dropping out of universities has gone up, with one vice-chancellor blaming the economic downturn …” (more)
[BBC News, 11 April]
“From an economics standpoint, self-citation is the easiest method to boost one’s citations. Every author knows this and cites his own articles, however peripheral their relationship is to the topic at hand …” (more)
[Phil Davis, The Scholarly Kitchen, 10 April]
