Teaching With Twitter: Not for the Faint of Heart

Teaching With Twitter: Not for the Faint of Heart |Jeffrey R. Young | The Chronicle of Higher Education | 27 November, 2009

Students are emboldened, but they can also hijack discussions. Maybe Sugato Chakravarty should wear a helmet to class. The professor of consumer sciences and retailing at Purdue University repeatedly attempts the instructional equivalent of jumping a motorcycle over a row of flaming barrels.

OK, asking 250 students to post questions on Twitter during a class doesn’t risk life or limb. But it can cause ego damage if the mob of students in his course on personal finance gets disorderly online.

ERA results a rank tool for students

ERA results a rank tool for students | Guy Healy | The Australian | 25 November  2009

POSTGRADUATE and overseas student enrolment behaviour is likely to be driven by new university research rankings that could emerge as soon as late next year, according to university leaders. As the Australian Research Council prepares for the release of first results from the government's research performance exercise, university leaders said students would increasingly gravitate to highly ranked university schools.

Cost is the big deterrent for would-be students

Cost is the big deterrent for would-be students | Rebecca Attwood | Times Higher Education | 19 November 2009

Survey finds those from poorer backgrounds are likely to have a poorer experience. The cost of going to university is the number-one deterrent for people who apply to but do not enter higher education, a study tracking thousands of students has found.

States wary on power transfer

States wary on power transfer | Bernard Lane | The Australian Higher Education Supplement | 18  November, 2009

WESTERN Australia has rejected the argument that a referral of state law-making powers to Canberra will be needed to give the tertiary sector a new national regulator. State Education Minister Liz Constable told the HES that WA did not accept the argument and generally opposed any referral of powers.

Big Tobacco Strikes Back at Historian in Court

Big Tobacco Strikes Back at Historian in Court | Peter Schmidt | The Chronicle of Higher Education | 13 November, 2009

Historians, like Stanford U.’s Robert N. Proctor, have played a key role in tobacco trials, both as expert witnesses and as consultants.Tobacco companies facing lawsuits want to prevent his appearing in court on behalf of plaintiffs.  A Stanford University professor who has sought to expose ties between historians and the tobacco industry is being accused in court of having broken the law in challenging the employment of four graduate students at the University of Florida as researchers assisting tobacco companies in litigation.

Unions angry over breaches to collective salary negotiations

Unions angry over breaches to collective salary negotiations | John Morgan | Times Higher Education| 12 November 2009

Some universities have implemented salary rises despite the lack of a pay deal. A number of universities and colleges are paying a 0.5 per cent salary increase to staff in the absence of a national deal, prompting campus unions to claim that they have broken a collective agreement and “imposed” a resolution to the long-running dispute.

University of Sydney to suffer in rorts changes

University of Sydney to suffer in rorts changes | Bernard Lane | The Australian Higher Education Supplement | 11 November 2009

SYDNEY University is expected to be one of the biggest losers under government changes to prevent manipulation of the research funding system. Changes to the rules for reporting research income will affect the carve-up of federal money for research infrastructure and training in universities.

Paychecks Top $1-Million for 23 Private-College Presidents

Paychecks Top $1-Million for 23 Private-College Presidents | Emma L. Carew and Paul Fain | The Chronicle of Higher Education | 6 November, 2009

Rensselaer’s chief tops the list at nearly $1.6-million. Shirley Ann Jackson had big plans when she was hired as president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a decade ago. Shovels hit the ground soon after as part of a wide-ranging strategic plan that she directed. Ms. Jackson’s compensation matched her ambition, and just two years into her presidency she was the highest-paid private-college chief.

Business firmly woven into the fabric of new framework

Business firmly woven into the fabric of new framework | Melanie Newman | Times Higher Education | 5 November 2009

The Government’s long-awaited strategy for the sector is out at last. Funds may be siphoned away from courses from which graduates fail to obtain good jobs and redistributed to those geared more towards business needs, under plans outlined in a long-term strategy for the future of higher education.

Dawkins reforms bear fruit at Curtin | The Australian

Dawkins reforms bear fruit at Curtin | Bernard Lane | The Australian | 4  November, 2009

CURTIN University of Technology has cracked the top 500 in the world’s most closely watched rankings for research universities, showing the progress made by new institutions lacking a long history of research funding. Higher education commentator Simon Marginson hailed Curtin’s performance as “the standout change” in the 2009 league table drawn up by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and released last week.