HE News Brief 14.5.12
- UK: A case for international students
- GLOBAL: A new Rankings system measures national strength
- GLOBAL: Yale and NUS partnership raises concerns
Cutting edge: universities using the latest technology
Nowadays, technology is an integral part of student university life. From high-tech lab and lecture-theatre equipment to online journals and social networking sites, you’re likely to find modern technology popping up during every step of your student experience.
But while some universities stick to the standard elements – intranet, email, searchable library catalogue – others are rather more innovative in their approach.
Mobile phone apps to make student life easier and safer.
Northeastern State University in the US recently announced the launch of the GuardianSentral smartphone app, for students at its three campuses.
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Onassis Prize winners announced
The winners of this year’s Onassis Prizes were announced at a ceremony held at London’s Mansion House on the 8th of May. The awards are given to academics who have done work in the fields of finance, international trade and shipping, whose work would not otherwise be given a platform for global recognition.
The Onassis Prize for Finance went to Professor Stephen Ross, from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Ross’ most famous work includes his ‘arbitrage pricing theory’ and the ‘theory of agency’. He also co-discovered ‘risk neutral pricing’ and the ‘binomial model’ for pricing derivatives (non-finance scholars might be advised to look these up). Ross commented that he was “humbled” to be given the award.
Harvard’s Professor Elhanan Helpman, best known for his ‘new trade’ and ‘new growth’ theories, was given the Onassis Prize for International Trade. He spoke about the growing importance of international trade, and hoped that recognition of this would lead to wider understanding of his field.
Finally, the Onassis Prize for Shipping was shared between Professors Ernst Frankel (MIT), Richard Goss (Cardiff University), and Arnljot Stromme Svendesn (the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration). All three of are in semi-retirement, and long been prominent in the field of shipping . Goss reflected that “I am naturally delighted at receiving the prize and glad to share it with my good friends and colleagues Stromme Svendsen and Ernst Frankel.”
Commenting on the winners, Professor Costas Grammenos, founder of Cass Business School’s International Centre for Shipping, Trade and Finance and one of the driving forces behind the creation of the awards said:
“The Onassis Prizes recognise the lifetime contribution of some of the world’s most highly respected academics in finance, international trade and shipping. I warmly congratulate the winners whose distinguished achievements have profoundly influenced their disciplines and continue to have an impact on academic thinking and business conduct worldwide.”
The Onassis awards are handed out triennially (once every three years) by London’s Cass Business School and the Onassis Foundation, founded by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in memory of his son Alexander, who died in a plane crash in 1973. Winners are chosen by a panel of academics, which includes two Nobel laureates. It is hoped that one day the awards will one day achieve the same status as the Nobel Prize in Economics. Each prize is worth US$200,000.
HE News Brief 8.5.12
- US: Heavy hitters team up to offer free online courses
- Middle East: Spotlight on teaching quality
- Brazil: Affirmative action decision upheld by Supreme Court
Prestigious universities in the States are putting their weight behind free online courses. Harvard and MIT have announced a partnership called edX which will begin enrolment this fall. With 60 million dollars to commence the project, the universities will be offering five courses including classes in engineering and humanities. University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Stanford have also announced a partnership recently called Coursera, which will be offering free online courses. Both MIT and Stanford have already pioneered successful free online course offerings, with MITx enrolling 120,000 students and Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence course signing up 160,00 students.
At a recent conference in Riyadh concerning ‘World-class teaching universities’, the general director for international affairs at the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education has highlighted a strategy to becoming a top teaching university. Salim Al Malik called for universities to evaluate teaching quality and to set up learning centres to train staff, as well as, to make teaching training a component of postgraduate studies. Universities, he said, are measured too heavily on research alone and that teaching should not be relegated in the pursuit of becoming a world-class institution.
Brazil has upheld sweeping affirmative action policies in higher education which allows a quota for enrolling students of African or indigenous descent. Now the country, which has more people of African descent than any other country outside Africa, is starting to tackle the economic and social divides that many are saying are linked to racial politics. Supporters of the bill say that they hope this policy will not only tackle social issues but help bridge the learning gap necessary for job creation.
Do schools (and universities) kill creativity?
Most of you will be familiar with TED (www.ted.com). It has been there in the back of my mind for some time, but I haven’t found the time to watch much of its extensive material. This video sees “creativity expert” Sir Ken Robinson talk about the role of education in suppressing or nurturing innate creativity. I found it entertaining and thought-provoking. His focus is at younger ages, but I would argue that much of his commentary is applicable to universities too and that it is increasingly unacceptable for them to simply accept that the damage has already been done. What do you think?
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
HE News Brief 30.4.12
- UK: The government has announced it will lift student place restrictions in 2013
- Australia: Discussion on capping international student numbers
- US: Call for boycott of journal publishers growing in momentum
- China: Fake degrees and qualifications on the rise
HE News Brief 23.4.12
- UK: Employability at centre stage as tuition fees are set to increase
- EU: U-Multirank moving forward despite some criticism
- Canada: Delegation heading to Brazil to form colloborations
- Iberoamerica: Scimago releases its 2012 results
IREG-6 Conference Presentation and Paper
The QS Intelligence Unit is presenting today at the IREG-6 conference in Taipei
Our presentation focuses on the student as central to QS ranking and evaluation initiatives with a particular focus on the persistent inclusion of employability factors in our work. The slides and accompanying paper are available on the following links.
HE News Brief 16.4.12
- India: Five-year plan calls for a significant increase in student numbers
- Canada: Business schools paving the way for internationalisation
- Australia: Paper discusses whether Australian institutions are preparing Chinese students for domestic employability
- Italy: Controversial move causing an uproar
HE News Brief 2.4.12
- Iraq: Institutions struggling to rebuild
- UAE: Institutions submitting data for 61 indicators for evaluation
- Chile: The imperatives of Classification
- UK: Institutions in the ‘middle’ set to see a 10% shortfall
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