May-June Research, Science and Knowledge

Read the articles selected in May-June 2016

New Skills Agenda: the role of universities

EUA supports the New Skills Agenda 2016, launched by the European Commission to underline the role of tertiary education in the development of the skills needed for our changing society, in the strengthening of human capital in our continent, and in the integration of refugees and migrants, the vital source of our future.

The 100 most innovative universities in Europe 2016

Source: Times Higher Education, 14 June

Reuter’s Europe innovation ranking has been topped by university KU Leuven, Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge, for their contribution to science and technology and the impact on global economy.

A multidisciplinary future for university research

by Paul Boyle

Source: University World News, 30 June

Research and innovation are not separate. Multidisciplinary projects are a challenge, but they are the only approach that can solve a series of scientific problems. For the future, it is important to train academics with experience in multidisciplinary work.

Interdisciplinary proposals struggle to get funded

by Elena Bozhkova

Source: Nature, 29 June

A new study shows that proposals of research that combine diverse disciplines of science are less likely to be funded. The team has been unable to uncover the reason. The research is based on a metric called “interdisciplinary distance”.

Are international advisory councils the future?

by Philip G Altbach, Georgiana Mihut and Jamil Salmi

Source: University World News, 1 July 2016

The latest trend for universities aspiring to world-class status is to have an international advisory council composed of top-ranking academics, that help to organize top research universities through meetings once or twice a year.

Re-educating Rita

Source: The Economist, 25 June

AI technology prepares a big change in education, comparable to the revolution that factories brought in the 19th century, leading to the universal state education. AI revolution requires workers to be placed in a permanent training during their life.

A new crop of hands-on universities is transforming how students learn

Source: The Economist, 22 June

Some new universities are opening in the world, with the mission to overtake traditional education, accused of stifling curiosity and critical thinking. In the “old” universities lecturers interested in building an academic career are offered few incentives to teach in novel ways.

Mock TEF results revealed: a new hierarchy emerges

by Chris Havergal

Source: Times Higher Education, 23 June

UK government is going to assess universities for their educational efforts, and not only on their research, with the introduction of the teaching excellence framework. A study of THE offers a different picture of the traditional hierarchy dominated by the Russel Group.

Ucas figures shine a light on admissions inequality

by Chris Havergal

Source: Times Higher Education, 23 June

Analysis from Ucas, the British charity concerned in the application process for British universities, and from THE, show that socially disadvantaged students remain significantly less likely to be offered a place in many institutions. This trend is particularly evident in ethnicity.

Redefining the significance of ‘international’

by Zuleika Arashiro

Source: University World News, 17 June

Internationalisation is not only a matter of rankings but of knowledge. We must ask us whether knowledge has become more global in substance, or it is still based on a colonial system.

Metrics: how to handle them responsibly

by Paul Jump

Source: Times Higher Education, 9 July 2015

A responsible metrics for the quality assessment in tertiary education can’t rely on the absolute objectivity and transparency of numbers. Quality is multidimensional, and has to be read in a contextual way, with the most possible information. In the same time, academic work isn’t so ineffable to slip away from any metrics.

EU referendum: nine out of 10 university staff back Remain

by John Morgan

Source: Times Higher Education, 16 June

40 of 90 percent working in UK higher education that will vote Remain in the next referendum would leave the UK in the event of Leave, considering not real to imagine a research funding alternative to EU money, and the freedom of movement within the EU inalienable.

Can India and China dominate HE in the 21st century?

by John Morgan

Source: Times Higher Education, 16 June

Although educational systems of China and India do not rival the West yet in terms of research quality or reputation, the giant size of their student population will mean inevitably that they will be more and more competitive.

Generation Z – Why we need to future-proof universities

by Tom White

Source: University World News, 10 June

To be attractive for the digitally advanced Z generation, universities have to use technologie so as to build a lasting relationship with the youngs, taking time to establish meaningful dialogues with them and to fully understand their needs.

Scientists hail second gravitational wave detection

Source: University World News, 15 June

The second gravitational wave detection proves that the first of December 2015 wasn’t an isolated event and that the Universe is filled with black holes giving off regularly when merging these huge bursts of energy. That opens up a new cosmic realm to the investigation.

EU referendum: academics see immigration as ‘hugely positive’

by John Morgan

Source: Times Higher Education, 16 June

In the UK universities, standing to a Times Higher Education survey, they tend to see immigration as something positive for the academy and for the economy thanks to the enrichment gained through exchanges and through freedom of movement.

Teaching the teachers.

Source: The Economist, 11 June

Good teaching has the power to reduce inequalities, but it isn’t an innate gift, it is a skill. Quality of teaching depends more on the education and training of teachers than on their professional experience. Teachers must impart critical thinking, as OECD has lately reported.

University financial health check 2016

by John Morgan

Source: Times Higher Education, 2 June

UK universities are experiencing an increased variability of financial performance after the recent removal of the cap on the number of undergraduates, that an institution can recruit especially from abroad, because of the more restrictive student visa regime.

Mooc model creates disciplinary “haves and “have-nots”

by John Elmes

Source: Times Higher Education, 2 June

Not all fields are suitable for MOOCs, since teaching styles and methods differ in the different, and for the copyright that affects especially film studies, and the wider humanities and social science as well.

The consequences of internationalisation rankings

by Hans de Wit

Source: University World News, 3 June

Rankings play a key role in international competition in higher education, and through their indicators influence the way universities and governments internationalize, but they are only quantitative and don’t define the quality of research and teaching.

Towards better tools to measure social and emotional skills

by Anna Choi and Koji Miyamoto

Source: http://www.oecd.org/, 31 May

Socioemotional skills of children and adolescents have a key role in their lifetime success and well-being. As they are difficult to measure, we need to conceptualise these skills so that we could better understand them and develop evidence-based metrics.

Schrödinger’s panda

Source: The Economist, 4 June

Much of China’s published science is insubstantial, and a worrying amount is fraudulent.

Universities should lead the fight for gender equality in business

by Maggie Dallman

Source: Times Higher Education, 6 June

Women represent a huge potential in economic growth; academia, like the business world, has a long way to go in the battle for equality.

Higher education funding – Towards greater inequality?

by Liva Vikmane and Alexandra Antonescu

Source: University World News, 27 May

While the student population has increased in the last years, public funding for higher education has fallen, moving a large number of students to loans and debt since starting their adult life, in the opposite direction to building more egalitarian societies.

What stops students from studying abroad?

by Maarja Beerkens

Source: University World News, 27 May

European ministers of higher education aim to the goal of 20% of all students having an international experience during their studies.The most common barriers that inhibit participation in the Erasmus programme can be overtaken following “a logic of appropriateness”.

How much will the TEF cost universities and the taxpayer?

by James Andrew Smith

Source: Times Higher Education, 30 May

After the Teaching Excellence Framework, UK has launched the Teaching Excellence Framework, a voluntary assessment instrument for quality in the teaching, that has raised a debate because of its costs.

Moocs prove that universities can and should embrace online learning

by Kerri Morgan

Source: Times Higher Education, 24 May

By now the demand for high- quality university education can be satisfied by technology, that can go beyond geographic and wealth barriers. Online learning is a bigger opportunity to deliver a truly global, affordable access to university and to amplify the impact of research.

Universitas 21 rankings: UK top while India and China overtake US

by David Matthews

Source: Times Higher Education, 24 May

Universitas 21 Rankings compare the performance of whole countries, and not of single institutions, adjusting for countries’ level of economic development. The rankings, topped this year by the UK, report that most of the government spending has gone towards institutions, but less on research.

Why students are treated worse than customers

by Bruce Macfarlane

Source: University World News, 20 May

Student rights are not just about political protest and free speech. They are also about a free learning and thinking. The demands of performativity, that encourages presenteeism as opposed to a desire to learn, class contribution and group work at the expense of thinking, treat them worse than customers.

Artificial intelligence will change higher education

by Tom P Abeles

Source: University World News, 20 May

Unlike as technology, that led the trade and crafts world to job loss and displacement, the role of academic institutions is changing rather than being replaced by the Internet and artificial intelligence, in the way they are a vehicle for providing knowledge.

China rising fastest in ranking of national systems

by Brendan O’Malley

Source: University World News, 24 May

China has given the best performance in this ranking, rising 11 places since 2015. The data reflect that the bes national systems are those where institution considerable autonomy is tempered by external monitoring and competition and that resources are not sufficient, if not well-used.

How not to write a Phd thesis

Source: Times Higher Education, 28 Januar 2010

A Ph.D. supervisor gives a few hints on how to write a Ph.D. thesis: focus the object, define the own contribution to knowledge, avoid generalizations in statements, references and in discourses of common use in the current culture, avoid untidiness in the bibliography and, last but not least, spelling errors.

More than a quarter of Chinese students want to remain in UK

by Ellie Bothwell

Source: Times Higher Education, 18 May

27 percent of Chinese students from 54 UK universities would like to remain in the UK after they graduate, aspiring to work in academia most in science fields, due to a misplaced perception of more competitivity and appeal of British universities, in spite of Chinese government investment in sciences and education.

'Brexit' would hit U.K. research hard, report says

by Tania Rabesandratana

Source: The Economist, 17 May

Brexit is likely to have a serious impact on science. EU funding has become structural for the UK in its success as a scientific powerhouse and as the fifth largest producer of scientific papers worldwide.

Student mental health: fresh spike in problems reported

by Chris Havergal

Source: Times Higher Education, 17 May

A survey based on the responses of 54 higher education institutions showed that four out of five UK universities report a “noticeable increase” in serious mental health problems among students, and nearly half reported one or more student deaths for suicide.

Higher education White Paper: Success as a Knowledge Economy

Source: Times Higher Education, 16 May

UK government has published the 2016 HE White Paper, which intends to boost research and innovation, to make education valuable for money, and to increase the availability of high-quality universities, in order to give students more choice.

Politics and protest – Students rise up worldwide

by Rachel Brooks

Source: University World News, 15 May

The global rise in student activism and the centrality of higher education to national politics prompts this report to deepen understanding of what concerns the systems of tuition fees.

Universities urged to set male student entry targets

by Brendan O'Malley

Source: University World News, 13 May

In 2015, the male share of entrants to the UK higher education institutions have reached a record low; moreover, young women are 51% more likely to do it in higher education. The gender gap is bigger among the poorest.

World University Rankings blog: how the 'university superbrands' compare

by Duncan Ross,

Source: Times Higher Education, 10 May

The World Reputation Rankings 2016 launched by Times Higher Education show clearly six superbrands voted from everywhere but with differences of assessment by regions and subject.

Hot academic debate as THE releases latest ranking

by Karen MacGregor

Source: University World News, 6 May

The last ranking published by THE has raised a debate on rankings usefulness. Everybody agree on their importance as a tool for benchmarking research excellence, but not as policy driver, because this sharpens disparities.

Why are sandwich courses seeing a resurgence?

by Carolyn Wickware

Source: Times Higher Education, 1 May

In the English universities are bouncing back sandwich courses, which offer students good work placements, according to a survey into the graduate market that confirms how important is for applicants a prior work experience.

Where is the global leadership on HE access for all?

by Graeme Atherton

Source: University World News, 1 May

In more than 90% of countries in the world, there is evidence of inequality in higher education due to the social background. The committments and the goals declared by governments and international institutions are empty aspirations without a global leadership.

Complete University Guide reveals its top UK universities 2017

by Ellie Bothwell

Source: Times Higher Education 25 April

In the Complete University Guide’s 2017 of UK universities, Cambridge and Oxford are firmly established in the first and second place. But the third place has been reached by the London School of Economics, which was the World University Ranking 2015-2016 number 23, and number five in the UK.

Academics in Italy have boycotted assessment. What has it achieved?

by Alberto Baccini, Giuseppe De Nicolao

Source: Times Higher Education, 21 April

With #stop VQR many Italian academics have boycotted the VQR (Evaluation of Research Quality), equivalent to the British Research Excellence Framework, in a protest against a 20% drop in public funding on higher education over the past five years.

Highly novel research proposals ‘being systematically rejected’

by David Matthews

Source: Times Higher Education, 26 April

According to a recent study, highly novel research proposals fail to be approved not only by the academia but also by the economy, because they are misunderstood, so much as they fall outside the current paradigms of evaluation.

How to make a success of crowdfunding your next book

by Glen Wright

Source: Times Higher Education, 26 April

This article gives some advice about crowdfunding, which is being used today with dedicated platforms to support scientific endeavors, or by publishers to produce beautiful books.

Is China’s ‘Neo-Maoist’ higher education gaining ground?

by David Matthews

Source: Times Higher Education, 26 April

In China a “red movement” is going to revive in the universities the study of Marxism, challenging the current Communist Party that has transformed the country into a largely capitalist economy.

Teachers’ pay and working hours in the OECD

Source: The Economist, 26 April

Data from OECD suggest that the pupils' performances are not directly affected by the number of working hours and the pay of their teachers. Pupils in Estonia, for example do better than those in the Netherlands, whose teachers are five times better paid with the same working hours.

Competition or collaboration for change?

by Hans de Wit

Source: University World News, 22 April

Higher education is worldwide in a competitive trap. Competition enhances inequalities in strengthening just the top-ranked universities that are able to lure the best students.

An education change maker from the age of 14

by Brendan O'Malley

Source: University World News, 24 April

This article tells the life and the career of an African young man, grown since he has been six in a refugee camp in Congo, where he attended the primary and secondary school and has realized important educational projects for the refugees.

Will TNE growth come at the expense of quality?

Source: World University News

On 24 Mai will take place a webinar hosted by University World News where global experts are going to talk about the issues of transnational education, trying to deliver some benchmarks of teaching and institutions assessment.

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Pubblicato il : 20/12/2017
Modificato il : 04/04/2019

May-June Research, Science and Knowledge

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