Figuring Out the System at University College Cork

“… It turned out that University College Cork didn’t start classes until October and the class I was about to take was set up specifically to facilitate study abroad programs for American students. Knowing that American universities usually start in September, UCC created several month-long classes so American students could study abroad but still maintain their usual schedules. Sadly, it was going to be a whole thirty days before I got to meet the guys with the really cute accents …” (more)

[Sara Harding, Students in Europe, 29 December]

UCD

“I actually miss UCD.
I am lame.” (tweet)

[Bridget Fitzsimons, Twitter, 29 December]

Funding Mountbellew Agricultural College secured until 2012 – Treacy

“Funding for Mountbellew Agricultural College has been secured until 2012 at least, according to Galway East Fianna Fáil Dáil Deputy Noel Treacy TD. Deputy Treacy has been in discussions with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith TD and Teagasc regarding the future of the Mountbellew College for the past number of months, following the introduction of saving measures at Teagasc …” (more)

[Noel Treacy, Fianna Fáil Blog, 29 December]

Just Keeps Coming Back

“I’m delighted that Lord Mandelson’s department BERR has published a guide for parents of recent graduates who have returned to the family home, just in time for me to resume my blog from the comfort of my Mum and Dad’s house. I joined the boomerang generation six months ago, after I graduated and started a new job in Edinburgh …” (more)

[Kirsty Connell, Bread and Roses, 29 December]

Missing in Action at the MLA: Today’s Teachers of Today’s Students

“About 7,400 scholars of literature and language are attending the Modern Language Association convention here this week. Brian Croxall is not one of them. Mr Croxall is a visiting assistant professor in the English department at Clemson University. That makes him part of the uncomfortable majority of faculty members who do not have tenure-track jobs …” (more)

[Jennifer Howard, Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 December]

A serious turn makes a smart fit

“It may seem like just another flaky equation cooked up by an academy in the thrall of a dumbed-down media. But a scholar who developed a ‘formula for perfect parking’ has been praised for his rigour by a critic of serious-looking formulae that serve public-relations aims …” (more)

[Zoë Corbyn, Times Higher Education, 29 December]

Marking

“I prefer GPA, but don’t think it makes much diff in reality. What I give A+ to now in UCD I gave 75 to in UCC” (tweet)

[Fiona de Londras, Twitter, 29 December]

Polytechnics were socially divisive

“Sir, An unfortunate effect of the distinctions made between universities and polytechnics was that the latter were seen by many as inferior. An unnecessary issue about status was, in an all too British way, distorting entry into higher education. There was virtually no opposition among vice-chancellors to extending the title of university post-1992 …” (more)

[Lord Howarth Of Newport, Times, 29 December]

Don’t spoil your lazy skills with resolutions

“Resolving to sharpen up your act for 2010? Why bother? Lazy sods get just as much thanks as the rest and do less harm. I have long been of this view – now I have backing from no less a source than the Management-Issues blog which worries about such things as ‘What does “responsible leadership” really mean?’ and “‘How do you manage brilliant people?’ …” (more)

[Padraig O’Morain, Irish Times, 29 December]

Examining third-level marking methods

“… There is something seriously wrong with the Irish university system. We are teaching our students that it is easy to pass, but impossible to do excellently. I’ve had lecturers congratulate me on handing in the ‘best essay’ of the year – that same essay for which I received a 78%. I can only assume they’re waiting for the next James Joyce before they start handing out 85% …” (more)

[Rosemary MacCabe, 28 December]

Open access @ DIT

“Congratulations to Dublin Institute of Technology for Ireland’s first institutional Open Access mandate http://bit.ly/6FE2BK” (tweet)

[Garret McMahon, Twitter, 28 December]

CCTV planned for Belfast student area

“Closed-circuit TV cameras are due to be installed in Belfast in a move to try to quell rowdy and troublesome students. The surveillance equipment being erected in the Holylands area close to Queen’s University should be fully operational next month, according to Belfast City Hall …” (more)

[Irish Times, 29 December]

UCC graduates receive Canadian scholarly honour

“Two graduates of University College Cork have been inducted into the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), the country’s highest scholarly honour. The two Cork men are University Research Professors at Memorial University (MU) in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada …” (more)

[Olivia Kelleher, Irish Times, 29 December]

Time abroad could end up as permanent emigration

“The Central Statistics Office (CSO) migration estimates published in September showed, for the first time in 15 years, more people leaving Ireland than moving here as a result of rising unemployment. But one question the statistics did not answer was: where did the estimated 18,400 Irish people who emigrated in the year to the end of April 2009 go to pursue job opportunities and a new life? …” (more)

[Jamie Smyth, Irish Times, 29 December]

Closure of bioethics council

“Madam, – I am surprised and disappointed at the Government decision to cease funding for the Irish Council for Bioethics. At the very beginning of the 21st century, advances in technology make science fiction ordinary – it is now possible to create, engineer and lengthen human life; to create ‘transhumans’. It is imperative that the Irish public has an opportunity to consider the implications of such advances …” (more)

[Joan McCarthy, Irish Times, 29 December]

Opportunities and threats in university funding crisis

“Your editorial (24 December) states that, in the light of further cuts in funding for universities, ’social mobility is suddenly a luxury for another day’. On the contrary, it’s an opportunity to put in place an equitable structure of higher education funding for the long term. We will not achieve social mobility under the present system of student fees and graduate debt repayment …” (more)

[Lawrence Lockhart, Guardian, 29 December]

Inventing a New Economy

“As the economic cataclysm of the past two years has unfolded, there has been no shortage of data to help us understand what has already happened and what might happen next. GDP growth, unemployment rates, trade and federal deficit levels, inflation rates, foreclosure rates, capital and leverage ratios—all have been paramount in our conversation …” (more)

[Eliot Spitzer, Slate, 28 December]

Show ‘tough love’ towards graduate children, parents told

“Parents should show ‘tough love’ towards children recently graduated from university to push them into getting jobs, according to a Government guide. They should cut back on washing, ironing and giving sons or daughters money to ensure life is not ‘too comfortable at home’ …” (more)

[Graeme Paton, Daily Telegraph, 29 December]

Number of places on teaching courses slashed

“Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has dashed the dreams of hundreds of jobless graduates who were hoping to become primary school teachers. Mr O’Keeffe slashed the number of places on a popular postgraduate programme that qualified people from any discipline to teach in primary schools …” (more)

[John Walshe , Independent, 29 December]

Boo on Reality. It’s Finally Setting In …

“December is coming to a close which means January is right around the corner! Before January 11th rolls around and Lent Term begins, I have a dissertation proposal to write and a summative essay to conclude. Ideally, both will be done well …” (more)

[Elizabeth Shannon, The Traveling Scholar, 28 December]