HE News Brief 19.10.10

October 19th, 2010Africa, China, India, Sri Lanka, UK0 comments

by Abby Chau

• The Browne report is still dominating headlines as ministers weigh in and the political line is delicately drawn around a leaked memo that says universities should brace themselves for a £4.2bn budget cut. The cut is more severe than universities were prepared for as degrees other than medicine, engineering, science, and modern languages would lose state subsidies. Browne’s recommendation is also facing scrutiny from the Welsh Assembly Government which says they are poised to lose £55million if the tuition fee cap is lifted as there are approximately 16,000 Welsh undergraduates studying in England. Wales and Scotland’s fate in England’s higher education debacle is not entirely clear.
  Full Story: Guardian
  More: Wales Online
• The London School of Economics has announced a collaboration with the Reliance Foundation, which is an arm of the Reliance Industries group, run by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.  The partnership will work on setting up a world class university in India, focusing on problems such as expanding education to all segments of the population.  Ambani’s wife and Foundation chair said they plan to open a university which is global and with “Indian soul”.
  Full Story: Economic Times Continue Reading

HE News Brief 10.5.10

May 12th, 2010Africa, Asia-Pacific, HE News, HE Reforms, North Korea, Sri Lanka, Trends, UK, University Rankings0 comments

by Abby Chau

 

From industrial strikes to Sri Lankan higher education reforms, this week boasts an interesting variety of news stories:

• Protests on Election Day from members of the University and College Union and universities like Middlesex and Sussex rocked campuses in the UK as students and faculty members lamented proposed cuts to higher education. Sending a strong message, protestors argued that cuts which may total 1 billion pounds, should be carefully considered, especially as universities like King’s is spending money on projects such as a £20 million acquisition of the East Wing of Somerset.
  Full Story: The Guardian
  More: The Independent
  
• The National Research Council announced that they will be changing the methodology for their much anticipated doctoral programme rankings. Using both implicit and explicit criteria to measure a university’s performance, this new set of rankings should prove interesting especially as they are proposing to use broader confidence levels instead of the more traditional method of ranking by concrete places.
  Full Story: Inside Higher Education
        Continue Reading