May 10, 2011 - 7:30pm
At a conference in Riyadh last month we were privileged to meet senior officials at the Ministry of Higher Education and hear and witness the extraordinary advances underway. It is difficult not to be dazzled by Saudi Arabia’s current investment in higher education.
May 3, 2011 - 8:46am
The Australian government, still the major funding agent of higher education, (although much less so than was the case 20 years ago) has an ambitious agenda. The government wants to raise the proportion of Australians with at least a first degree from the current ratio of around 32% (for those aged between 25 and 34 years) to 40% by 2025. Part of a wider agenda is to widen access to higher education for marginalised socio-economic groups, including the poor, rural and remote populations, and indigenous students.
April 25, 2011 - 9:15am
In recent months there have been reports from several countries hinting at a trend towards tightening up visa requirements for international students. The notable current examples are Australia and in April, the UK announced the implementation of new restrictions. The United States implemented dramatically new visa restrictions after 9/11 but has since loosened them significantly. Are these restrictions unfair to students or damaging to higher education? In a word, no.
April 12, 2011 - 8:15am
The department of journalism at the public National University of La Plata (UNLP) has presented a controversial award to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, spotlighting the close ties between politics and journalism advocated by university authorities who are in sync with the national government. The award sparked a debate on the role of higher education institutions in preparing future journalists.
April 2, 2011 - 2:45pm
Editor's note: This week's blog is an addendum to a blog posted last year. As with all initiatives, different strategies are needed for initiating and sustaining world class institutions. What follows are recommendations for sustaining these initiatives. The earlier blog can be read here.
March 27, 2011 - 9:15am
The Future of Private Higher Education in Central Europe: Changing Political and Demographic Dynamics
March 21, 2011 - 11:15am
Anyone interested in the global growth of private higher education (PHE) should have a closer look at the last two decades in Poland. Poland is the 6th largest higher education system in the European Union (1.9 million students), with the largest student body and highest enrollment in the private sector (633.000 students and 33.3% in 2009). After twenty years of continuous growth, the sector suffered a 10% decline in enrollments in 2009.
March 15, 2011 - 8:47am
At times of increasing entrepreneurialism in universities, when budget pressures drive higher education administrators to press professors to think and act more like business executives, it may be of some use to remind ourselves of the various ways in which the vocation and career path of the academic depart from those of the business executive.
March 9, 2011 - 10:45am
The state university in Campinas, UNICAMP, one of the leading research universities in Brazil, has announced a new experimental procedure for student admissions. Instead of the traditional entrance examination, 120 students will be selected from all local public schools based on their scores in the National Assessment of Secondary Education – ENEM – one or two per school.