Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee: how are UK universities celebrating?
It’s a big year for the UK. Not only is the country set to host the 2012 Olympics, it’s also celebrating the 60th year since current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, came to the throne. As TopUniversities.com discovers, universities in the UK are by no means being left behind in the celebrations.
Across the UK, people are preparing for street parties and tea parties; hanging up bunting and laying out red carpets; opening new buildings and projects, and generally coming together to celebrate the past six decades as well as looking ahead to the next.
Below are just a few examples of the many ways in which universities in the UK are getting involved.
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- UK: Employability at centre stage as tuition fees are set to increase
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- Canada:Canada to receive 3,000 Brazilian students
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HE News Brief 19.3.12
- UK: Elite Russell Group of universities announce four new members
- Mexico: New regulations for private institutions
- Uganda: Private universities emerge in Uganda
Leaving their 1994 Group membership , Queen Mary, Durham, Exeter, and York have all joined the elite Russell Group, which now has 24 members. The Group represents the UK’s elite group of research intensive institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial. According to the Research Assessment Exercise in 2008, 60% of research in the UK is produced by the Russell Group. Professor Michael Arthur, chair of the Russell Group and the vice-chancellor of Leeds University, says that the four institutions were invited to join the Group because of their innovation and research intensity across a broad range of subjects.
The number of private institutions have grown considerably in Mexico, from 995 in 2006 to close to 1,500 in the current year. The number of students attending these universities increased from 400,000 in 2006 to one million in 2012 and come mostly from underprivileged backgrounds. The rapid growth rates are prompting many to be concerned with the quality of education received at private institutions, particularly because there are no quality assurance regulations in place. In order to curb this, the Ministry of Education has announced that private institutions will go through a thorough assessment process by national assessment bodies to ensure standards are up to scratch. The government is trying to balance increasing student enrolment numbers (Mexico (37%) trails behind Chile (56%) and Argentina (71%) for instance) with policing new institutions for quality.
A year after the furore surrounding Makerere University, which was once known as the ‘Harvard of Africa’, many are contemplating the role of private institutions in the country. Makerere, some are saying suffers from overcrowding which may have contributed to the strikes that took place last year. Private institutions, which total 30 in the country, are viable alternatives for many however some worry that the rapid growth in private institutions may contribute to further divisions within society. Mahmood Mamdani, director of Makerere’s Institute of Social Research, says that ‘commericialisation’ of higher education may lead to an even deeper divide between the rich and poor. Private institutions at the moment costs more than public universities and Professor Mamdani worries that only richer students could afford to go to a private institution while poorer students are relegated to overcrowded and badly managed public institutions
Open Doors event at the University Alliance
Last week, I attended the ‘Open doors’ event organised by University Alliance. The focus of the event was to discuss the Wilson Review. The discussion surrounded the idea of a ‘business and university’ collaboration. The age-old saying can’t be any more true, ‘marriage is a union of two’.
The speakers included Professor Sir Tim Wilson, Trudy Norris-Grey, Professor Beer, Libby Hackett, Matt Smith and Andrew Battarbee. Some of the key areas covered by Professor Sir Wilson included the following:
- Student placements
- A year abroad for student experience
- Business referral within universities (universities recommending a peer university that offer placement in areas which they themselves don’t)
- Universities effectively responding to business
- Start-up fairs at universities
If you feel like these are areas of interest at your university, or that you might improve from such partnerships, you can find more details on the University Alliance home page.
HE News Brief 12.3.12
- Australia: Australian universities lose twenty percent of its foreign student numbers
- World: Institutions in the US, Japan, and South Korea top list of WIPO’s patent filers
- UK: Twenty years later and former polytechnics are making strides
- China: Thousand Foreign Experts program seeks to recruit foreign university staff and entrepreneurs
HE News Brief 27.2.12
- Australia: Australian universities may jeopardise its appeal in the Asian market
- UK: New structures in September causing anxiety
- Asia: Liberal arts education on the rise in Asia
- Rankings: Undergraduate course offerings decreased since 2006
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