“As a new inquiry prepares to look at sexism in British science, one PhD student says it is asking the wrong question. MPs have launched a formal parliamentary inquiry into whether British science is institutionally sexist …” (more)
[Paul Gallagher, Independent, 30 June]
“From the abstract: ‘Agencies that fund scientific research must choose: is it more effective to give large grants to a few elite researchers, or small grants to many researchers? Large grants would be more effective only if scientific impact increases as an accelerating function of grant size.’ …” (more)
[Constantin Gurdgiev, True Economics, 29 June]
“UNESCO has released a new publication, Rankings and Accountability in Higher Education: Uses and misuses, which debates the pros and cons of classifying universities. A UNESCO release says the book brings together …” (more, download)
[University World News, 29 June]
“The UK Higher Education International Unit’s criticism of U-Multirank lacks validity and in some cases represents a misunderstanding of the facts …” (more)
[John Roman and Frank Ziegele, University World News, 29 June]
“Gender differences persist in educational attainment, employment rates and earnings. In OECD countries, younger women have higher attainment rates than younger men in upper secondary and tertiary education. But, despite a larger proportion of women than men having a tertiary education …” (more)
[University World News, 29 June]
“Recent research into university ranking methodologies has uncovered methodological problems within the most well-known systems currently being produced. One key problem is the summation of unstandardised indicators for the total scores used in rankings …” (more)
[Kaycheng Soh, University World News, 29 June]
“It is something of a wonder how, in 10 short years since they were invented, global rankings have come to have a fixed hierarchy of prestige not so different from the ones they seek to measure among universities …” (more)
[Alex Usher, University World News, 29 June]
“Higher education is becoming more competitive by the day. Universities are scrambling for scarce research funds and public support. They are trying to recruit from increasingly suspicious and cynical students. The spectre of online education is haunting all but the most confident institutions …” (more)
[Richard Holmes, University World News, 29 June]
“Ireland’s regional weekly newspapers, once owned in the main by a collection of wealthy merchant families located in the country’s prosperous market towns and cities, changed dramatically in the years either side of the new millennium in 2000 …” (more)
[Tom Felle, 29 June]
“Dubliners legend John Sheahan has received an honorary degree at Trinity College Dublin ‘on behalf of the lads’ …” (more)
[Laura Butler, Independent, 29 June]
“The only union to formally reject the Haddington Road deal has reluctantly decided to re-ballot its members, recommending a Yes vote …” (more)
[Martin Frawley, Independent, 29 June]
“Thousands of second-level teachers and university lecturers face losing their increments from next week because they haven’t accepted the Haddington Road deal …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 29 June]
“The only trade union to reject the Haddington Road agreement on public sector pay, Unite, is to re-ballot its members, recommending a yes vote …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 27 June]
“Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland, has opened a new lab for research and teaching in next-generation wireless communications. The centre has been named the Marconi Laboratory, after the ‘father of wireless communications’, Irish-Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi …” (more)
[Carmel Doyle, Silicon Republic, 28 June]
“The number of EU students participating in the Erasmus scheme is set to almost double. Under plans agreed by the European Parliament on 26 June, the international student mobility scheme will now be known as ‘Erasmus+’, it has been announced …” (more)
[Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 28 June]
“A prominent member of the open education movement, former Open University Vice-Chancellor Sir John Daniel, has criticised online education provider Coursera for not making its materials available under creative commons licensing …” (more)
[Megan Clement, The Conversation, 28 June]
“Two recent reports on the beleaguered state of the humanities have had pundits of all stripes scrambling to explain what many see as a dismal statistic: the proportion of college students graduating with degrees in subjects like English or history has fallen to a mere 7% in 2010, down from 14% in 1966 …” (more)
[Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times, 27 June]
“Describing some universities as ‘elite’ puts off students from poor backgrounds and the word should be abandoned, according to the former Archbishop of Canterbury …” (more)
[David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 27 June]
“Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide details of the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding on a research and student exchange agreement in Dublin between the University of Maryland and University College Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil Éireann Written Answers, 27 June]
“Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No 144 of 18 June, 2013 if he will acknowledge the conceivability of a publicly-funded university determining arrangements and regulations concerning public access to its library …” (more)
[Dáil Éireann Written Answers, 27 June]
