“We’ve just learned that Bill Clinton is due to speak at an invitation-only function in the UCD Clinton Institute this Thursday evening. This is a man who is responsible for the deaths of many in his furthering of a US imperialist agenda while in office. His presidency saw attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan …” (more)
[Edufactory Ireland, 30 September]
“Former US president Bill Clinton is to give a special address to students at University College Dublin tonight. Mr Clinton, on a two day trip to Ireland, will also visit the Clinton Institute for American Studies, opened in 2003, and take part in a dedication ceremony …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 30 September]
“RT @the_irish_times: Clinton to address UCD students http://bit.ly/bZTcy5 //I’d have been jealous if this was Hillary. But it’s Bill. Meh.” (tweet)
[Sinead McE, Twitter, 30 September]
“By 2025 internationalisation will have sharpened the hierarchy in world higher education, with a handful of university ‘transnational corporations’ in the highest tier alongside private firms, and local community college-style institutions in the lowest. This is one of the forecasts made in a new book …” (more)
[John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 30 September]
“In the recent Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on the universities, much is made of the need for ‘robust’ (even with the scare quotes, I gagged a little when writing that) data on the ‘costs’ of universities, particularly the costs associated with academic staff salaries …” (more)
[Ernie Ball’s Blog, 30 September]
“Madam, – We are most perturbed by the text of an anonymous letter reproduced in the Teacher’s Pet column (Education Today, September 28th). The workload and calibre of lecturers in institutes of technology (IoTs) compares very favourably with lecturers elsewhere, be it nationally or internationally. Lecturers in IoTs are generally recruited with a master’s and PhD degrees, as they are in universities …” (more)
[Peter MacMenamin, Irish Times, 30 September]
“This is a momentous month in Tertiary education, but it will be another five years before people notice exactly how, and what it means. This month, in campuses all over the world, the first cohort of true digital natives are arriving, children who never lived in a world without web …” (more)
[Robert Cosgrave, Tertiary 21, 30 September]
“Another day, another committee. Forfas has established a high-level group to identify research priorities for Ireland. The group’s composition suggests that its recommendations will be demand-driven. Research is no good, however, unless it is top class. Ireland should research those things at which it can beat the world – and import all other knowledge …” (more)
[Richard Tol, Irish Economy, 30 September]
“Former US president Bill Clinton is to give a special address to students at University College Dublin tonight. Mr Clinton, on a two-day trip to Ireland, will also visit the Clinton Institute for American Studies, opened in 2003, and take part in a dedication ceremony …” (more)
[Irish Times, 30 September]
“Following the rash of recent world league table publications here is one that is based primarily on research. The rankings measure universities’ Research Performance Index or RPI …” (more)
[Registrarism, 30 September]
“Former US president Bill Clinton is to give a special address to students at University College Dublin …” (more)
[Independent, 30 September]
“The third-level system faces new controversy about an alleged ‘dumbing down’ of academic standards after the results of 36 students who failed an exam at Tralee Institute of Technology were set aside …” (more)
[Sean Flynn, Irish Times, 30 September]
“In honor of the students now flooding back to Irish universities and the forthcoming budget controversies, I thought I would do a little history maths. I will not rule out the possibility that I forgot to carry a ‘1’ somewhere …” (more)
[Juliana Adelman, Pue’s Occurrences, 29 September]
“Although we know there are issues with measuring online impact through the use of a single tool, I thought it might be worthwhile to show the reach of a single lecture at LIT-Clonmel. During Tom Murphy’s visit to the campus, several students tweeted his nic and several mentioned the creative multimedia lecture happening on campus. According to Tweetreach, nearly 10,000 people heard about Tom during the past week …” (more)
[Bernie Goldbach, Inside View, 29 September]
“It has become a common argument that, as tuition fees return or at least are being discussed, students will become more demanding; if they are paying, they expect to see some service. As a theoretical perspective that sounds reasonable enough, but the experience of higher education systems with fees doesn’t necessarily bear this out …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 30 September]
“Women produce fewer papers than men over a lifetime and are still scarce in senior positions, especially in science. Dispelling myths of innate difference between the sexes, Amanda Goodall offers advice on how they can raise their research productivity and status in the academy …” (more)
[Times Higher Education, 30 September]
“The pedagogical value and the challenges of integrating student blogging into your teaching is a recurring topic on ProfHacker. Some of our earliest posts dealt with student blogging, and we have revisited the issue frequently. Most recently, Jeff and Julie wrote about that age-old question – How are you going to grade this? – when it comes to evaluating classroom blogs …” (more)
[Mark Sample, Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 September]
“Batt O’Keeffe takes on Ronnie O’Toole on the merits of the Government’s smart economy policy. Batt O’Keeffe: Some recent public comment on the ‘smart economy’ has failed to define what it means or acknowledge how it can generate sustainable economic growth …” (more)
[Irish Times, 30 September]
“A turnaround in the employment fortunes of professionals drove down dole numbers for the first time since February. New official figures reveal the number of professionals signing on fell more sharply than any other group of workers last month …” (more)
[Anne-Marie Walsh, Independent, 30 September]
“Any market in university fees will be based solely on branding and reputation unless institutions are held to account by valid indicators of teaching quality, including class size, the standard of teaching staff and the time and effort students devote to their studies. The warning is made by Graham Gibbs, a leading educationalist …” (more)
[Rebecca Attwood, Times Higher Education, 30 September]
Ninth Level Ireland 