My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• Schools could lose out after student attacks – AUSTRALIA'S lucrative education industry could pay a high price for recent attacks on Indian students, agents in India who help arrange student placements have warned.
• Why do Institutions of Higher Education Reward Research While Selling Education? – Higher education institutions and disciplines that traditionally did little research now reward faculty largely based on research, both funded and unfunded. Some worry that faculty devoting more time to research harms teaching and thus harms students' human capital accumulation. The economics literature has largely ignored the reasons for and desirability of this trend. We summarize, review, and extend existing economic theories of higher education to explain why incentives for unfunded research have increased. One theory is that researchers more effectively teach higher order skills and therefore increase student human capital more than non-researchers. In contrast, according to signaling theory, education is not intrinsically productive but only a signal that separates high- and low-ability workers. We extend this theory by hypothesizing that researchers make higher education more costly for low-ability students than do non-research faculty, achieving the separation more efficiently.
• Sector needs young blood to combat ageing profile – The agency’s report Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2007-08 shows that the average age of an academic working at a UK university is 43. But over the past four years, the proportion of academic staff aged over 55 has increased from 18.9 per cent to 20.5 per cent. During the same period, the proportion of academics aged under 35 has dropped from 25.9 per cent to 25.2 per cent.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• News: In Global Recession, Global Ed Still Growing – Inside Higher Ed – “Five or six months ago, the definition of the economy’s impact on student mobility was ‘Aaaah!’ ” he said, throwing his hands in the air in mock desperation. “Today the definition seems to be ‘hmm….’ ”
• 4 Benefits of Studying Abroad – If there is one sure stepping stone to success, it is education. Education opens the doors to any opportunity that catches your eye. And this is why most of us want the best of this learning and development methodology. One option that many of us consider when we finish school and are at the portals of college, or when we finish one degree and want to embark on another, is to go overseas for further education.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• The brains that came – and went – A recent survey of 1,203 scientists and technologists who moved back to India and China from the West found the main motivation was not, as might be expected, higher salaries. Instead, family ties and the demand for their skills was the attraction.
• Germany, the Netherlands and the UK top new global index of IP competitiveness – The Index finds that the UK and Germany are leaders in all areas of IP, being the only two which are ranked in the top tier for every area assessed. In this second Index Australia and Netherlands are elevated to the top tier.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• A conversation with Dambisa Moyo – In the past fifty years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Has this assistance improved the lives of Africans? No. In fact, across the continent, the recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse—much worse, says Dambisa Moyo
• Where next for the Lisbon Agenda?  – The Lisbon Agenda, launched in 2000, was supposed to make the EU “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion”
• International education – its contribution to Australia by Julia Gillard- International education has made a significant contribution to Australia. It has grown to now be our third largest source of overseas earnings, generating $15.5 billion in 2008 and supporting more than 125,000 jobs. In 2008, nearly half a million students came to Australia. It is the lead sector in terms of export earnings in Victoria and the second largest in New South Wales.
• More use of the English language in universities is necessary but not sufficient – Niet in Nederland en zeker niet in Vlaanderen verdwijnt het Nederlands als onderwijstaal. In het bacheloronderwijs blijft Nederlands de dominante onderwijstaal, hier en daar gecombineerd met een beperkt aantal Engelstalige vakken. Het is vooral in de masterfase dat Engelstalig onderwijs een prominentere plaats moet krijgen. Ondanks de onbesuisdheid waarmee Nederland te werk is gegaan, maken de voordelen verbonden aan Engels als universitaire onderwijstaal dat de klok niet zal worden teruggedraaid. Welke zijn die voordelen?

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• Impact of College Rankings on Institutional Decision Making: Four Country Case Studies (IHEP) – Based on interviews with key institutional stakeholders in four countries—Australia, Canada, Germany, and Japan— this issue biref examines ranking systems and their impact on the policies and practices at colleges and universities. It also explores the nuances and unique approaches in which rankings could prompt institutions to work in innovative ways.
• University of Sydney’s losses ‘threaten operations’ | The Australian – New South Wales universities have been savaged by the global financial crisis, suffering a $500 million loss in the value of their investments, led by the University of Sydney, which recorded a staggering $347 million reversal to its bottom line.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• Living outside the box. Living abroad boosts creativity – Living in another country can be a cherished experience, but new research suggests it might also help expand minds. This research, published by the American Psychological Association, is the first of its kind to look at the link between living abroad and creativity.
• CIHE | Inventory of Journals in Higher Education – This inventory of journals in the field of higher education includes 191 publications, up from 169 in our 2004 compilation and from 122 in our inaugural iteration in 2000. Publications from all continents, over 30 countries, and in 14 languages are included.
• Ethical discussions concerning nanotechnology are often too futuristic – Ethical debates regarding new developments in nanotechnology are often too speculative and imaginative. This can cast technological developments in an unnecessarily bad light when in fact they are far from fully developed.
• Spending the EU budget – The EU spends more than 100 billion euros each year on projects ranging from farming to foreign aid. Click on the buttons to see how much different countries benefited in 2007.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• Universities Fight Back Over Criticism of Foreign Students – Several state universities have hit back at comments from controversial Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari that medical schools should limit the number of foreign students studying medicine in Indonesia to make way for more local students.
• Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst? – Chronicle.com – The public has become all too aware of the term “bubble” to describe an asset that is irrationally and artificially overvalued and cannot be sustained. The dot-com bubble burst by 2000. More recently the overextended housing market collapsed, helping to trigger a credit meltdown. The stock market has declined more than 30 percent in the past year, as companies once considered flagship investments have withered in value.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• Dutch students can’t think in English – Met Engels als voertaal kunnen studenten zich internationaal manifesteren. Toch staat deze universele taal niet voor kwaliteit en vooruitgang. Het is voor Nederlanders heel moeilijk om gedachten in Engelse woorden te vatten.
• Elephants in the room, and all that: more ‘reactions’ to the Bologna Process Leuven Communiqué – Global Highered invited Per Nyborg, Roger Dale, Pauline Ravinet and Anne Corbett to comment briefly on the Leuven Communiqué released at the the the 6th Bologna Ministerial Conference held in Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve, 28-29th April, 2009.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• Winning Research Money Challenges E.U. Newcomers : ScienceInsider – Janez Potocnik, the European Union's (E.U.'s) commissioner for research, said at a meeting in Prague last week that the 12 nations that have joined the E.U. since 2004 are not winning a fair slice of the research pie.
• Development aid: The funding challenge – OECD Observer – Development aid rose to a new record in 2008. While good news in a crisis, how can the trend be maintained ?
• Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World (pdf) – Report of an independent Committee of Inquiry into the impact on higher education of students’ widespread use of Web 2.0 technologies.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• Compensation for the brain drain from developing countries : The Lancet – The movement of skilled health workers constitutes a major transfer of riches from poor societies to the affluent, and the only appropriate redress is a bilaterally managed scheme of direct reimbursement of the value lost, along the lines proposed by Mensah and colleagues3 in 2005.
• Discussie » Does English language education affect Dutch language skills? – Is het werkelijk zo dat onderwijs in het Engels de uitdrukkingsvaardigheid in het Nederlands aantast? En bent u het met Groot eens dat je een tweede taal na je achttiende nooit helemaal onder de knie kan krijgen? De redactie is benieuwd naar uw ervaring met Engelstalig onderwijs.
• Models to help UK universities face financial uncertainty | guardian.co.uk – In his lecture, Prof Nigel Thrift, Warwick University’s vice-chancellor, suggested new models to help UK universities face financial uncertainty and more overseas competition in future. These include the possibility of the top 30 research-intensive institutions merging either with each other or overseas universities; collaborating and specialising more, and private ownership.

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My daily selection of the most interesting news on the internets:

• More on Equity and Equality in Education — Crooked Timber – If the only unequally distributed good to which education provided access was money, then the case for giving a lot of weight to educational equality would be weak. But, in fact, it turns out that education influences who gets many unequally distributed goods that we all value
• European consortium to measure impact of research on society – Measuring the scientific quality of research is common practice, but the question how to measure the impact of research on society is still largely unanswered. The reverse question is no less relevant: how does society impact science? A European consortium of knowledge/academic institutes called SIAMPI has received a EUR 800,000 grant from the European Commission to develop assessment methods to answer these questions. This effort, which is expected to take two years, is envisaged to produce a ready-to-use set of indicators to measure the (productive) interaction between science and society.
• European higher education ranking – Europe will develop a worldwide higher education ranking. CHEPS (University of Twente, Netherlands), CWTS (University of Leiden, Netherlands and CHE (Germany) will lead the project. Unlike the usual league tables, this ranking will be multide=imensional and takes into account the different nature of different higher education institutions.
• FT.com – Corporate universities: Distinct skills can be brought together – “Developing strong partnerships with corporate universities is an opportunity for the company and the business school to share and create new knowledge,” says Bertrand Moingeon, professor of strategic management and deputy dean of HEC Paris.
• QS Asian University Rankings 2009 – 1 University of HONG KONG / 2 The CHINESE University of Hong Kong / 3 University of TOKYO

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My daily selection of the most interesting links on the internets:

• College Graduates to See Low Wages for Years – WSJ.com – The bad news for this spring’s college graduates is that they’re entering the toughest labor market in at least 25 years. The worse news: Even those who land jobs will likely suffer lower wages for a decade or more compared to those lucky enough to graduate in better times, studies show. The worse news: Even those who land jobs will likely suffer lower wages for a decade or more compared to those lucky enough to graduate in better times, studies show.
• Andrew Norton » Do classical liberals and social democrats study different things? – The political identity survey included a question that asked graduates and uni students about their major field of study. The idea was to see whether there were significant ideology-related differences in their academic backgrounds.
• BBC NEWS | Europe | Strikes cripple French universities – Staff and students at almost a quarter of France’s state-run universities remain on strike over government plans to overhaul the higher education system. The protests are now in their 14th week and may mean that some pupils, who have missed out on months of teaching, will have to miss their exams and repeat an entire academic year. The protests are now in their 14th week and may mean that some pupils, who have missed out on months of teaching, will have to miss their exams and repeat an entire academic year.
• Going Dutch – How I Learned to Love the European Welfare State. – NYTimes.com – For 18 months now I’ve been playing the part of the American in Holland, alternately settling into or bristling against the European way of life. Many of the features of that life are enriching. History echoes from every edifice as you move through your day. The bicycle is not a means of recreation but a genuine form of transportation. A nearby movie house sells not popcorn but demitasses of espresso and glasses of Dutch gin from behind a wood-paneled bar, which somehow makes you feel sane and adult and enfolded in civilization.

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Some years ago the first podcasts emerged in higher education. Initially these were mostly downloadable lecture series, mainly from US universities. Universities like Berkeley and Stanford took the lead here but soon many other US universities followed and later, also some UK universities jumped the iTunes U bandwagon. In the Netherlands, the universities of Wageningen, Leiden and Rotterdam were the first to podcast lectures. Of course there were fears that these podcasts would make real lectures superfluous, but i don’t think that podcasts ever knocked lectures off the podium.

More recently, also several podcasts have emerged that discuss the topic of higher education. The chronicle has its podcast with weekly interviews with prominent researchers, college leaders, and Chronicle reporters about big ideas in higher education. The Center for International Higher Education at Boston College has a podcast series with a more global scope. It brings key thinkers and leaders in higher education worldwide to a global audience. The series is coordinated by Laura Rumbley and it is definitely worth to have a look.

The past week there have also been some blogs that entered the world of podcasting. The Center for College Affordability and Productivity presented it’s first podcast on it’s blog. It features the center’s director Richard Vedder discussing the role of incentives and power in higher education.

For several years, the students of the Erasmus Mundus Programme on Higher Education have brought you the Hedda blog to you. I have taught a module on internationalisation, globalisation and the knowledge society for this module for several years (and loved it every year!). Of course I was pleased to see that they have started their own podcast series as well. Their first podcast features an interview with Peter Maassen, an ex colleague of mine at Cheps and now professor of Higher Education at the University of Oslo. He discusses his new book Borderless Knowledge?  Understanding the “New” Internationalisation of Research and Higher Education in Norway.

Update: I was pointed to the podcast series of the Lumina foundation. This is the foundation that is also keeping a close American watch on the Bologna process. The have two podcast sessions on the Bologna process featuring Lumina’s Dewayne Matthews and Tim Birtwistle, professor of law and policy of higher education, and the Jean Monnet chair at Leeds Law School (Leeds Metropolitan University, U.K.).

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