[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Weight of Schoolbags[...]…

https://www.facebook.com/events/260096440735488/

[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » No-One Cares About the College Bookstore[...]…

[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Presidents oppose university for the south east: last sting of a dying wasp?[...]…

What axe is Catherine trying to grind?

[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Colleges and third level and school league tables …[...]…

It’s early 2012 and that horse has already bolted with Stanford and MIT set to dominate this market worldwide. DCU will not be a player

Had DCU focussed on its responsibilities to the Irish taxpayer in providing quality education instead of paying a fortune to lawyers to mount frivolous lawsuits against some of their best staff, we might have been able to do something for it

Ironically, I have had two courses accredited at Stanford

I can reveal that Minister Ruairi Quinn was lobbied from within the Labour Party on this. Clearly, no-one on the HEA was behaving responsibly or indeed ethically on this issue from 2002, when it first reached national attention in parliament

Heads should roll to regain people’s confidence in government

And how many of these state-funded student-consumers will be magicked over the pass treshold for fear of upsetting bureaurcratic retention rates?

[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Higher Education Fees[...]…

[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Everybody in the house, give it up for … the celebrity economists[...]…

V for Veronique

[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Professor Philip Nolan Appointed President of NUI Maynooth[...]…

http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/844-guid.html

1. First, congratulations to Princeton University (my graduate alma mater!) for adopting an open access mandate: a copyright-reservation policy, adopted by unanimous faculty vote.

2. Princeton is following in the footsteps of Harvard in adopting the copyright-reservation policy pioneered by Stuart Shieber and Peter Suber.

4. I hope that Princeton will now also follow in the footsteps of Harvard by adding an immediate-deposit requirement with no waiver option to its copyright-reservation mandate, as Harvard has done.

5. The Princeton copyright-reservation policy, like the Harvard copyright-reservation policy, can be waived if the author wishes: This is to allow authors to retain the freedom to choose where to publish, even if the journal does not agree to the copyright-reservation.

6. Adding an immediate-deposit clause, with no opt-out waiver option, retains all the properties and benefits of the copyright-reservation policy while ensuring that all articles are nevertheless deposited in the institutional repository upon publication, with no exceptions: Access to the deposited article can be embargoed, but deposit itself cannot; access is a copyright matter, deposit is not.

7. Depositing all articles upon publication, without exception, is crucial to reaching 100% open access with certainty, and as soon as possible; hence it is the right example to set for the many other universities worldwide that are now contemplating emulating Harvard and Princeton by adopting open access policies of their own; copyright reservation alone, with opt-out, is not.

8. The reason it is imperative that the deposit clause must be immediate and without a waiver option is that, without that, both when and whether articles are deposited at all is indeterminate: With the added deposit requirement the policy is a mandate; without it, it is just a gentleman/scholar’s agreement.

[Footnote: Princeton's open access policy is also unusual in having been adopted before Princeton has created an open access repository for its authors to deposit in: It might be a good idea to create the repository as soon as possible so Princeton authors can get into the habit of practising what they pledge from the outset...]

Stevan Harnad
EnablingOpenScholarship

[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » New ’50-50′ Junior Cert to be rolled out in 2015[...]…

[...]Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Online hacker continues to punish Trinity[...]…

child in Britain is the grandchild or great grandchild of a soldier who listened to Winston Churchill telling them he had nothing to offer them except blood and tears. And in 1945, the old man’s “victory” sign became a reality, the reward of the blood and tears.’

Consider that statement. Then consider how easy it must be to be a journalist who doesn’t have to back up anything they state, unlike say an academic.

You can see details on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INCr1bV8kGk

The Council of Europe has also provided some phrases and expressions in Esperanto, which you can see here http://www.goethe.de/ins/se/prj/ets/mlg/gep/enindex.htm

Their new online course http://www.lernu.net has 125 000 hits per day and Esperanto Wikipedia enjoys 400 000 hits per day. That can’t be bad

52.—(1) Except in relation to an educational institution or facility established and described as such before the 30th day of July, 1996, (in which case it may continue to be so described), a person shall not, without the approval of the Minister, use the word “university” to describe an educational establishment or facility.

(2) The Minister may apply to the High Court for an injunction to restrain any person from using the word “university” in contravention of subsection (1).

The goal of a top ten university is to put the Irish system at the mercy of rankings systems, which are known to have many flaws (just look at Wikipedia pages for university rankings). While rankings cannot be ignored they should not be the overriding planning tool.

Giving him a platform in Dublin or anywhere else will merely heighten his public profile. It must not be allwed to happen.

P Gilligan, TUI member.

Robin HOOD IN REVERSE, STEALING FROM THE POOR AND GIVING TO THE RICH

Before I begin, yes, I do work for National College of Ireland and so I am inherently biased. Nonetheless, this is certainly an interesting debate and we’re glad to have sparked the conversation, though always sorry to upset people’s stomachs! I just wanted to fill in a few facts.

Firstly, everyone featured in the ad is a real student. When we asked them what was different about the NCI experience they said they felt it was practical and provided them with skills they could use in the real world. They said that because NCI is smaller than other institutions they received more one- to-one attention from lecturers and they felt it was a more intimate experience. Hence the ‘mantra’ just reflects what our students told us. The idea of using a mosaic was to convey that there are many different types of students but they all come to NCI for similar reasons, have a similar experience and they are all happy to endorse the college.

Is it selfish? I realise I am not going to change people’s views on this but in our opinion there is nothing selfish about wanting to realise your potential and educate yourself through hard work. We see hundreds of people every year working really hard to fit in part-time studies with family life and other responsibilities. They do this because they feel it will make their situation better and by and large, in our experience, it does. I wouldn’t like to tell these people that in coming back to education and putting in the hard work that they are being selfish.

In terms of a wider contribution to society, that some people think is missing from the ad, I suppose you have to say that there is only so much you can fit in in 30 seconds. However, more than any other institution NCI is very aware of the importance of making a wider contribution to society. We do a lot of work in our local community and contributing to a wider society is part of our mission:

“Our mission is to widen participation in higher education and unlock each student’s potential. We offer students the opportunity to acquire the skills and self-confidence to change their lives, contribute to a knowledge based economy and become responsible, active citizens”

An important point is that NCI is a not-for-profit organisation set up as an educational charitable trust, so we are not a giant corporation making profits for shareholders. We receive a much smaller percentage of our revenue from the state than other institutions and any revenue we do get is put back into providing education.

I’d like to address a few other comments. The reason we mention ‘internationally recognised qualifications’ is because students are often worried that the qualification they earn might not be recognised or legitimate in other countries. ‘Internationally recognised’ is just a way of allaying these fears rather than stating that all NCI qualifications are accredited by HETAC and are on the National Framework of Qualifications. (Which they are, but you have to admit wouldn’t be a very snappy phrase to use on TV!). Secondly we are a ‘proper college’ and are listed in the Sunday Times Guide every year: to say we’re not is just not true.

In terms of the female bias: we didn’t set out to use a female as the main voice in the ad. As I said, everyone involved is a student at the college and when we brought together everyone who volunteered to take part, Anita was the most comfortable and natural in front of the camera. As for accents, as far as I know she is from Coolmine but I’m not really sure what difference that makes. We didn’t select her on the basis of her accent.

Finally as for the overall ad and the “Borg” question, I realise that some people don’t like it, but many do. At least it’s more interesting than the standard stock shot of a pretty model in a graduation hat and gown presented with a boring list of courses – so beloved of other advertising in the sector. And as someone else pointed out, at least people are talking about it!

Thanks
Robert Ward
Director of Student Recruitment, NCI

I am writing to you from African Impact. We are the largest on the ground voluntourism company in Africa. We are an award winning organisation and very passionate about what we do.

We roughly facilitate over 2000 volunteers a year to come and volunteer in Africa. With exams results just coming out, hopefully most students will be celebrating, however, many will be very disappointed and not sure what to do next.
We have put together a little you tube clip to help motivate young people who have not done very well in exams and looking for a little inspiration! I wondered if it would be something you would be interested in embedding on your blog/webpage or social media sites?

The link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Wjzkd0rCI&list=FLf9yyVxmaK_4&index=1

We are also running a competition for people to potentially win a Free volunteer experience! All they have to do is join our facebook page, make a you tube clip or tell us why they want to volunteer in 100 words.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/African-Impact-Offical-Page/140942759303157?sk=app_4949752878

If you need any more details, please just let me know.

Kind regards,
Yvonne

Ninth Level Ireland » Blog Archive » Theo Dorgan’s speech to graduating UCC students urged them to create a new Ireland. We invited politics students in Trinity College Dublin to respond…

John Kenneth Galbraith…

FvP tried to introduce a regime of summary dismissal for senior academics at DCU, the antithesis of academic freedom. He failed because of the courage of several academics, and the acuity of Justice Frank Clarke, whom the court transcripts in the Cahill case demonstrate is rather brilliant.

It is time to end frivolity. The US government has just declared academic freedom essentially meaningless in the Boston college case;

http://hnn.us/node/140323

Gates – Microsoft
Zuckerberg – Facebook
Jobs – Apple
Brin/Page – Google

And indeed, all of them plagiarized/bought/adapted existing technology

I do not claim to speak for Paul and Connell, but IMO there is not a single public “servant” in Ireland worth 100k pa. A good first step would be to fire the administrators who imposed the illegal statute no 3 on DCU, and impose fines on the lawyers who drafted and approved it. This statute is a recipe for summary dismissal of intellectuals, , and has cost the taxpayer millions.

Unfortunately, the self-appointed “elite” in Ireland rewards its own incompetence and corruption, and that is why the country is bankrupt. Ruairi Quinn, No0onan et al are simply too old and comfy to have the stomach to do what now needs to be done, and we’ll have to wait another couple of years.

Thanks
Kevin Tuohy, in Cork

A few days ago, while I was visiting a public library
There was a notice from a daily newspaper,
“Due to EU FTA agreement, LAW Market would be open to EU region”
From July 1st, 2011, Korea Law Market will be opened to EU from its half Century closed door policy.

Considering of my self,
Who invested most of his thirties in Canada to update career skill
Keeps various work experience for the most of project basis criteria in and out of homeland,,
David would be the right person to do the coordinator’s work between EU region and homeland.

Believing that,
There surely is a positive chance of working for the company in my residency region.

When you have any of inquiry
Please send your regards via e-mailed message at your free time.

Truthfully yours,

David Choi
e-mail : dulywork@gmail.com
or dulywork@luxmail.com
Phone : +82-19-378-4105

Dear Madam,

In his letter published in your paper today Dr John Tobin expressed the grave concern of The College of Psychiatry of Ireland in relation to the arrests and detention of doctors, nurses and medics in Bahrain.

What action has the College of Psychiatrists in Ireland taken in relation to those of its members involved in the infringement of the human rights of patients in the Central Mental Hospital Dundrum, as found by the Mental Health Commission in its Report published in 2007?

The following is an extract from the Report in this respect:

There are a number of practices in the Central Mental Hospital, highlighted in the Inquiry, which infringe on patients’ rights and dignity and impact on the standard of clinical care available to them…Chief among the issues of concern are the following: … Absence of clear clinical leadership in wards … The Local Management Team must take clear responsibility for standards of care delivered to patients… The nature and degree of service deficiencies outlined in the Inquiry Report are such that urgent reform of the forensic mental health services based at the Central Mental Hospital is required.

Yours sincerely,

If I was Swedish, I could get gov support to study in Ireland. I can take a postgrad course at a swedish university as an EU student and not need to pay fees or tuition.

This springboard is IMHO a band-aid to earn brownie points instead of a realistic strategy for education in Ireland.

With regards to Victor’s comment: “1/ He is convicted of sexual harassment”
Technically, Evans is not convicted of sexual harassment.
Conviction:Declare (someone) to be guilty of a criminal offense by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law.

From what I understand, he merely broke UCC’s code of conduct.

“3/ He violated strict confidentiality–for companies and other agencies this is most serious- and end of career event” – this was proven. As somebody who worked in industry for 6 years; this kind of stuff happens more often than you would think, and, whilst not a good trait, is in no way a cereer stopper.

Of course, the contracts were never negotiated with the union and are almost certainly illegal

It does no matter how much airing F’s verbiage gets ; these serious issues must and will eventually be addressed as this government attempts some kind of normalization of relations -with its own citizens

Michael Rizzo
fan

No financial, national security or HR agency will ever hire evans because

1/ He is convicted of sexual harassment

2/ His peers have convicted him of publicly bullying a female colleague

3/ He violated strict confidentiality–for companies and other agencies this is most serious- and end of career event

Does he still have a yurt to go to in Scotland?–best place for him

or N Korea on haldol–he is toasted or as HBO says–taken out—

And if so who can seek advice

Paddy Healy, Former President, TUI,
Independent Candidate for Seanad Eireann
Tireless Campaigner for Education and Public Services
An Independent Voice for All Public Servants including Teachers, Lecturers, Social Workers, Health Workers, All Administrative and Maintenance Staff , and all Public Service Pensioners as New Government Promises to eliminate 25,000 Jobs
A Voice for Academic Freedom As New Government Reinforces Existing Threats and Department of Education threatens further pay cuts for Lecturers.
Paddy Healy 086-4183732, paddy.healy@eircom.net,
Blog: http://paddyhealy.wordpress.com
Tá Leagan Gaeilge ar mo bhlog—

A Voice For Post-Doctoral Researchers,Postgrads and Temporary Teachers
A Voice for all employees, the unemployed, Occupational Pensioners and the Needy at Home and Abroad
Tireless Campaigner
Paddy is Chairman of the National Public Service Alliance—an informal alliance of public service trade union activists which is fighting public service pay cuts, pension levy, work overload, staffing moratorium and destruction of conditions of service under the Croke Park Deal.
He is Convenor of the Campaign for Academic Freedom which recently held a gathering of 200 academics in the Gresham Hotel to resist threats to academic freedom, permanency and tenure arising out of the implementation of the Croke Park Deal in Third level institutions: The New Government in its programme threatens:
“We will introduce radical reform in third level institutions to maximise existing funding, in particular, reform of academic contracts and will encourage greater specialisation by educational institutions.”
He is resisting the imposition of business models on 3rd Level education as proposed in the Hunt Report.
He is organising opposition to the shameful treatment of Post-doctoral Researchers in third level institutions and seeking a permanent career structure for researchers and a new deal under which Postgraduate Students carrying out teaching work would get properly paid for each hour worked. He is totally opposed to the attempt to make Student Nurses work for nothing.
He is Chairman of the Campaign to Reverse the Pension Cuts which is organising a legal challenge to the recent public service pension cuts. He is fighting for the removal of the Universal Social Charge which is unfairly reducing private occupational pensions.
He is campaigning against cuts in public services such as health, education and social work and the elimination of jobs under the staffing moratorium.
He is campaigning for the restoration of the full quota of Special Duties and Assistant Principal posts in schools.
Job Creation and Investment
He advocates a major programme of state job creation in sophisticated modern industry to employ the 100,000 qualified people who are now on the dole and being forced to emigrate.
He is continuing his long standing campaign to increase investment in Education at all levels.
About Paddy Healy
More at http://wp.me/PKzXa-2
Chair National Public Service Alliance, Global Solidarity Champion, Former President Teachers Union of Ireland(TUI), Lecturer in Physics(retd),
Research Interest: Musical Instrument Acoustics, Former member of Governing Body and Academic Council DIT, Ag Freastail ar Daonscoil na Mumhan sa Rinn gach blian, Former Treasurer Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed(INOU), Former Executive Member Dublin Council of Trade Unions.
He Lives at Griffith Court, Fairview, D 3 and is a native of Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Radical Change Needed
To make possible the objectives set out above, Fundamental Change is required.
Government Policy
Irish sovereignty must be recovered by facing down the EU and the IMF and insisting on a structured negotiated default under which the debts of banks, then privately owned, would not be paid while rescuing small investors and credit unions. The capitulation of the New Government to the EU/IMF will lead to disaster.
Mortgage Debt on principal domestic residences which was inflated during the property bubble must be reduced. Interest rates must be frozen and the capital sum reduced to current house values. Evictions must be banned.
The 90 Billion lent out recklessly by finance houses since 2003 must be recovered. This can be done by the imposition of a tax on large assets outside the domestic residence and the farm.
Reductions in Social Welfare, and increased taxes on the lowly paid must be reversed.
Cuts in Public services must end now. Cuts in disability services and in Special Needs Provision are particularly reprehensible
Trade Union Reform
The ICTU leadership has failed the members of trade unions. Members of the leadership sat on the Board of the Central Bank and on the the National Social and Economic Council(NESC) and on bodies such as the Board of Fás through the period of reckless borrowing and extreme right-wing policies. Apart from faint bleatings, nobody shouted stop.
Now there are 450,000 people on the dole, one thousand per week emigrating, public service pay and pensions cut, thousands of frontline posts eliminated, massive increase in workload of teachers, lecturers, nurses, other health professionals, social workers and public servants generally, cuts in social welfare benefits etc
Now the, The SIPTU leader who is also ICTU President is reported as having given qualified support to the formation of a FG-LAB coalition whose programme for Government contains a commitment to eliminate 25,000 public service jobs!! “Siptu chief Jack O’Connor claimed the Programme for Government was the best of the alternatives available” Irish Independent 07/03
There has been a total leadership failure in ICTU.
The calling off of campaigns and the supine acceptance of cuts and income reductions has disoriented thousands of members.
In my forthcoming book which is available on line at http://wp.me/pKzXa-gw ,I argue for complete renewal of the trade union movement both in its leadership and structures to restore control of the unions to members. This renewal must come from within the movement without legislative interference. The title of the work is : “How ICTU Failed US, the Necessity for Election and Regular Re-Election of General Secretaries.”
Supporters Who Recommend NO 1 Vote for Paddy Healy
I am very grateful to the 160 public servants who are recommending a vote for me to colleagues. I regret that the full list can only be read on my Blog at:
http://wp.me/pKzXa-gB
All have added their names in a personal capacity
Domhnall Sheridan, Chair Dublin Colleges (DIT) Branch, TUI
Cathleen Bowen, Retired Hospital Manager,
Secretary, Campaign for Reversal of Public Service Pension Cuts, Cork
Ben Bishop Chair Dublin City Post Primary Branch, TUI
Dr Colmán Etchingham, Chair NUI Maynooth Branch
Executive Member, Irish Federation of University Teachers
Prof Vincent Toal, School of Physics, DIT
Oisin Kelly, Former Education Officer, UCD Students Union
Prof Kathleen Lynch, Equality Studies, UCD
John O’Sullivan, Lecturer in Engineering, CIT, Cork
Dr Gordon Dalton, Chair Association of Research Contract Staff, UCC,
President of Irish Research Staff Association.
Sean Connolly,Teacher,Rathmines College of Further Education. Dublin
Professor James Heffron MRIA, Department of Biochemistry, UCC
Prof Tadhg Foley, Emeritus, NUI Galway
Dr. Tony Bonfield, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.
Prof Sean Tobin, Emeritus, NUI Galway
Dr Keith Breen, School of Politics, QUB
Peter Homan,Outreach Worker , South Dublin, HSE
Prof Mary Gallagher, French Studies, UCD
Professor Dermot Barnes-Holmes, Psychology, NUI Maynooth
Andy Storey, Lecturer, School of Politics,UCD,
Chair Action From Ireland (AFRI)
Donnacha O’hEallaithe, Indreabhán, Conamara
Dr Kevin Farrell, Executive Member, TUI
Gerald Brennan, Chairman Cork City Schools, TUI
Barry Williams, Chair, Co Louth Branch, TUI
Manus Brennan, Executive Member, TUI , Donegal Town
Deputy Seamus Healy, TD, South Tipperary
James McMorrow, Co Leitrim Branch Secretary, TUI
Josephine O Donnell, CEO VEC, Co Longford (Retired)
Prof Michael Cronin, DCU
Fergus Hastings, Staff Officer, GISC, Castlebar.
Professor Gary Henehan, Food Science, DIT
John Evoy, Gorey Adult Learning Centre Manager, Co. Wexford VEC
Dr Eabhnat Ní Fhloinn,Director, Maths Centre, DCU
Andy Storey, Lecturer, School of Politics,UCD, Chair AFRI
Kieran Walshe, Boyne Branch, TUI
Oliver McCormack, Teacher (RETD), Tullamore, Co Offally
Dr David O Brien, Lecturer, DIT
Bernie Freeman, Clerical officer, HSe West, Nenagh, Co Tipp
Dr Eilish O’Donohoe, Lecturer in Chemistry, DIT

Your much vaunted real-time digital tech is real-time stuff!

Keep going! I suggest you include reading the odd chapter, or better still a complete book. And bye-the-bye, not paying attention during lectures is not exactly good-manners – though some lectures are indeed less interesting than watching paint drying. You might genuinely wonder what you are doing there. Except perhaps that you are having your tuition paid by some dopey taxpayers. You have a duty there? No?

Know what a concept map is? Neither do your ‘teachers’!

BpW

In DCU, this was done at the expense of teaching resources for vital “skill” subjects like computer programming.

Or is that the point?

He led the charge to destroy academic tenure and freedom in Ireland before being stopped at the High Court;

Cahill v Dublin City University [2007] IEHC 20 (09 February 2007)

This was confirmed at the Supreme Court and ALL costs – several million – were awarded to Paul Cahill

This was one of SEVEN high -profile cases Pr lost – so much for the canny Scots, who took him in when it became clear that TCD would not have him

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2011/02/irish_election_raises_question.html