It's not how much you've got but what you do with it!

In higher education, it's not how much time you spend with students, but what you do with it that should count. the ongoing contact time debate! One size does not and should not fit all!

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=417089

Less money more control?

Plans for Hefce hegemony spark sector fears

"Plans to hand greater power and responsibility to the English funding council HEFCE are a "death warrant" for the self-regulation of higher education and could persuade universities to opt out of the state-funded system."

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=417090

Universities are taking less money from the government since teaching funding was drastically cut, and yet the government wants to exert even more control! The most worrying part of this story is "The ability to fine universities that fail students" which is going to lead to worthless degrees as some institutions short cut quality and support and just pass everyone! Buying a degree without doing any work is fast becoming a scary reality!

The contact time debate !

Instead of sermonising about the need for more contact hours, ministers should stop infantilising students and listen to what they actually want, argues Paul Ramsden
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=417059

Achieving high quality demands a single-minded concentration on learning, coupled with extraordinary expectations of learners and the capacity to learn from mistakes. The challenge is to engineer teaching systems that focus on student learning, connecting participants with every aspect of the process.

"There is no evidence to suggest that, taken alone, contact hours offer a meaningful way in which to measure quality." Instead, quality is about "providing an environment that creates the potential for students to succeed in their studies".

The gov playing with the academy again!

In a THE article the gov comments on how it would make changes to the peer review process. Not surprisingly the 'Impact'of an potential paper is explored!
Research intelligence - It's peerless, but it could be better still

Stanford U. Offers Free Online Course in Artificial Intelligence

Stanford are experimenting with a new kind of online learning experience.
www.ai-class.com

Joint statement on Impact by HEFCE, RCUK and UUK

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Research Councils UK (RCUK) and Universities UK (UUK) have a shared commitment to support and promote a dynamic and internationally competitive research and innovation base that makes an increased and sustainable contribution, both nationally and globally, to economic growth, wellbeing, and the expansion and dissemination of knowledge.
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/kei/maximising/Pages/Impactstatement.aspx

Education for life, or for work?

The higher education white paper proposes that universities should train students for their future jobs. But not all academics are keen. Professor John Brennan, director of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information at the Open University, has studied graduate employability for the past 20 years and sees real danger in "training for work" displacing "education for life" in the student experience.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jul/25/white-paper-universities-training-jobs