HE News Brief 15.2.11
by Abby Chau
- A 346-page report on business school trends has just been released by the Association to Advance Collegiate schools of Business following an intensive three year study by deans and scholars from top b-schools. The finding show that business schools have an uphill battle in terms of successfully implementing internationalisation strategies. Many courses, particularly in the states, focus more on study abroad programmes than internationalisation strategies and concentrate on North American rather than global markets.
Full Story: Chronicle of Higher Education
- It looks like the Lib Dems will finally have some talking points about the tuition fee hikes – Universities Minister David Willetts announced that institutions who want to charge more than £6,000 must comply with requirements to admit more poorer students. As a strategy to counteract the tuition fee hikes due to commence in 2012, the coalition government has decided that universities charging higher fees must work with the Office for Fair Access (Offa) to establish targets for accessibility. Willetts also announced that institutions charging more fees will also have to participate in the National Scholarship Programme, which will eventually help 48,000 disadvantaged students. There are of course critics of the announcement who are saying such an initiative will not do very much to offset the damage the fees will in incur in terms of social mobility.
Full Story: BBC News
More: Guardian
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An insight on the new South Korean university admission policy – will it work?
by Irene Jay-Shin
A new South Korean admissions policy which attempts to give consideration to an applicant’s extracurricular activities does not seem to be compatible with the general temperament of Korean society which may not accept variety and/or differences between individuals. The society sets a series of ‘correct’ answers for the lives of individuals e.g. a ‘proper’ age to get married, an ‘appropriate’ age to study in a university, expected roles for women and men, etc. These sets of answers do not enable the individuals to pursue their own lives; furthermore, they end up following a standard path followed by their seniors, believing that such a way would be right and correct.
The new South Korean admission policy will first affect the top universities. Eventually, the new policy might contribute to stereotyping once again a ‘right’ way to be successful in the Korean society, which is inflexible in accepting changes as described above. For example, people can be socially successful by becoming the graduates of top universities in Korea as alumni form strong social networks and may tend to recruit graduates from their own universities.
HE News Brief 8.2.11
by Abby Chau
- With 45% of young people now vying for a place at university, competition is at its toughest. The Russell Group has just announced a list of A-level subjects which would make students more competitive at finding a place at top universities. At least two core subjects such as English, maths, biology, chemistry, and geography are advised to be taken. This announcement comes at a time when a report published by the Higher Education Policy Institute shows that in 2003, 6% of applicants were not offered a place and in 2010, this has more than doubled to 14%. The applicants who did not find a place were more likely to be less qualified.
Full Story: The Economist - The Swedish Agency for Higher Education Services recently announced a drastic 75% decrease in the number of foreign applications to the fall semester. This is the first test of a series of new fees which includes application and tuition fees for foreign applicants. Non-EU, E.E.A or Swiss applicants must now pay $140 in application costs and some universities are able to ask them to cough up approximately $30,000 in tuition fees. Tuula Kuosmanen, director of the agency, said that Denmark saw a similar decline in foreign applications when they introduced fees in 2006, but applications eventually recovered.
Full Story: New York Times
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Submissions to the Hunt Report
by Abby Chau
Most countries around the world are bracing themselves for a new higher education landscape as budgets are being slashed and the demand for higher education grows. Ireland has just published the Hunt Report, chaired by the economist and businessman Dr. Colin Hunt. Already the report has generated its share of criticism (this critic includes a Pink Floyd lyric in his commentary).
It is interesting to note that major reports on the state of Higher Education in England and Ireland were chaired by men in the financial sector. Lord Browne, the former head of BP, issued a major report last year, effectively changing the face of higher education in England.
HE News Brief 14.12.10
by Abby Chau
- The tuition fee hike passed in the Commons this past week, with the proposal to set the tuition cap at £9,000, due to go to the Lords for a final vote. Thousands of protestors hit the streets last Thursday to convey their dismay over the initiative. Vice chancellors applaud the move saying that this will give universities a chance to succeed as budget cuts are imminent. Most Russell Group universities will charge the maximum but many say that the average fee will hover around the £7,000 mark.
Full Story: BBC News
- During the last five years, institutions in Kenya has ballooned, with many saying that higher education has become more of a cash cow than a centre for learning and employability. Following this, the Kenyan government’s efforts to reform higher education has lead to the closing of hundreds of unaccredited tertiary institutions. Only 464 out of Kenya’s 1,000 colleges have passed the audit which the government initiated by weeding out institutions that did not have adequate facilities or teaching resources. Many are saying that this will cause chaos as students will be left either holding degrees from colleges that will no longer exist, or scrambling to get a place in one of the accredited colleges.
Full Story: University World News
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The Age of Austerity: Tuition Fee hikes
by Abby Chau
All the players took their places yesterday when the tuition fee vote came to pass by a margin of 21 votes. Mild mannered middle class students wore their top-shop best whilst denouncing the proposal as unfair against the poor. Multi-tasking protestors urinated on Churchill’s statue and defaced buildings whilst still finding the time to give Prince Charles and Camilla a fright. Politicians put on grave faces as they proclaimed that sacrifices were necessary in this age of austerity. The Met synchronised their best kettling positions.
In the end the higher education reform proposals passed by a vote of 323 to 302 to raise the tuition fee cap to £9,000. Continue Reading
HE News Brief 6.12.10
by Abby Chau
- The Bologna Process, a declaration of higher education cooperation between 47 countries, is still chugging along despite the controversies surrounding implementation and overall efficacy. Now on course to feel the brunt of new reforms are business schools, particularly those that previously offered five-year business degrees. 10,000 new programmes in economics and business are to be implemented and positioned as competition for an emerging Asian higher education market. Some are saying that countries like the US must start accepting three-year bachelor programmes in order to adjust to Bologna’s new three-year standardisation plan for an undergraduate degree, or they may be left behind as other countries like Australia are quickly adjusting their educational system to a changing European standard.
Full Story: FT
- As the UK economy has taken a substantial hit, many people, particularly in parliament are reiterating the need for universities to produce the next generation of entrepreneurs. Statistics from the Destinations of Leavers of Higher Education produced by HESA show that the percentage of graduates who categorise themselves as self-employed or entrepreneurs has jumped from 4,190 in 2002-03, to 6,120, in 2008-09. Buckinghamshire New University Vice chancellor Ruth Farwell says that league tables should include this statistic in their indicators as it would give students a clearer picture of which institution promotes enterprise and business acuity. UCL Professor Tim Barnes concurs and says that if the government was serious about developing students for the job market, then statistics such as this should be measured and recorded.
Full Story: the Guardian
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HE News Brief 30.11.10
by Abby Chau
- From Palermo to Milan, students in Italy are protesting budget cuts as well as what some are calling drastic and tumultuous higher education reforms that has swept across the country in the last few years. There has been 1,371 different new laws and bills regarding higher education between 1996-2006. New initiatives have cropped up fast and furious with new and sometimes erratic new laws calling for the merging of universities, the standardisation of degree recognition, as well as the introduction of new degree courses. The newest set of bills however is causing civil unrest. Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini introduced a bill that many are saying would dismantle public universities because of its far-reaching proposals to change the system of recruiting teachers and effectively changing the governance of institutions.
Full Story: Seattle Times
More: New York Times
- Home Secretary Theresa May announced that the UK government will be cutting the quota of international students for non-degree level courses by 120,000. International students generate a substantial amount of money for institutions and the British economy as they are charged three, sometimes four times the amount of tuition fees. It is clear that the government’s aim to further reduce immigration by 2015 will include a plan to tackle the number of international students entering the country. Net migration stands at approximately 200,000 at the moment with two-thirds of non-EU migrants entering the country as students. May said that the government will be creating 1,000 places for exceptional talents, including academics, artists, and scientists. Institutions warn that with budget cuts looming, and tuition fee hikes, losing another stream of money could only worsen the situation.
Full Story: the Guardian
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Widespread peaceful protests against “fees and cuts” at UK universities
by Ben Sowter
I have just returned from the interesting experience of participating in my first live radio broadcast and also, coincidentally my first student protest. The radio debate was on the Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC Radio 5 Live and should shortly be available here. Also speaking were Conservative MP Stewart Jackson and LibDem MP Lorely Burt.
Introduced as pro-tuition fees I was greeted by the co-founder of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, Michael Chessum, with a deadpan “welcome to the sit-in”. One of his arguments as posited in the Guardian on Monday was repeated this morning, “Students of this generation are being told they must pay for their own education as funding is cut by a cabinet of millionaires, all of whom went to university for free.” This seems a slightly self-defeating argument, as retrospectively these individuals would have found no difficulty in paying had they indeed been asked to pay for their education.
HE News Brief 2.11.10
by Abby Chau
- A fiscal crisis in Mexico is threatening the existence of 33 public universities. The estimated $35bn financial turmoil, caused by a pension shortfall is deemed critical for ten universities, including the Autonomous University of Mexico State, the University of Veracruz, and the Autonomous University of Morelos. The government is now proposing to double the years of service required for professors and administrators to take part in retirement schemes from 20-25 years, to 40 years. The powerful teachers’ unions have already taken to the streets in mass protest.
Full Story: The Chronicle of Higher Education
- As the government is looking to announce plans to raise university tuition fees later on this week, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (Hecsu) issued a report saying that 8.9% of the 2009 graduate class, or 21,000 students, were still unemployed in January 2010. The last time the graduate unemployment level reached such a high was in 1993. The findings also found that IT graduates were hardest hit, with a 16% unemployment rate. This is in contrast to approximately 10% of unemployed graduates who read media studies, engineering, or architecture. Students with law and geography degrees fared the best, with a 6.2% and 7.4% jobless rate.
Full Story: BBC
- Measuring 17 countries, Canadian research firm Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA) has published the ranking results of the most affordable and accessible higher education systems. The Global Higher Education Rankings 2010: Affordability and accessibility in comparative perspective looks at Australia, France, Mexico, Portugal, Estonia, Japan, and others. Surprising results include the United States coming in at 12th for affordability but 4th for accessibility which indicates that lower costs is not the only factor to accessibility in higher education. Finland comes out on top, ranking 1st in both categories.
Full Story: University World News Continue Reading
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