University news from the West

SIDESTEPPING THE CRANKS Professors are often magnets for crackpots bearing pet theories and searching for validation.

PLEASE DON'T GO Administrators at public universities are devising new strategies to keep key faculty members in an era of increased poaching.

THOSE WHO DO, TEACH Harold and Kumar's Kal Penn at Penn prompts Mark Oppenheimer to ask: Do celebrity profs energize or cheapen a university?

AUTHOR, AUTHOR? Two Case Western Reserve University professors say Routledge recycled their work without credit or royalty.

'SCORES DESCRIBE BUT DON'T EXPLAIN' When used without regard for their complexities, Daniel Koretz says, the results of standardized tests can be misleading.


CHINA: Olympics - low-key involvement by universities Michael Delaney University sports are a big deal in China, followed with great fervour by students and alumni, and many universities boast excellent sporting facilities and stadiums. Yet historically there has been a great distance, even antipathy, between the state administration and university sports departments. As a result, the nation's centralised sports system means universities have largely been left out in the cold when it comes to preparing athletes for the Olympic Games.

GLOBAL: Liberalisation shelved as talks collapse Keith Nuthall Proposals to sweep away some restrictions preventing private universities and higher education service providers from teaching, researching and examining in foreign countries have been put on ice at the World Trade Organization.

GERMANY: Plans to create more leeway for research Michael Gardner Germany's federal government has adopted a five-point plan to create more autonomy for public-funded research institutions. In future, they will enjoy considerably more scope in terms of budgets, staff, networking, construction measures and procurement. The new measures will ultimately lead to a special law on academic freedom agreed to by the government last year.

SPECIAL REPORT: E-Learning
E-learning is one of the buzzwords of 21st century higher education, with academics around the world increasingly relying on technology to communicate with their students – and transmit their lectures. But as University World News writers report in this special on E-learning, as some designate it, although a great boon to many lacking easy access to education, technology must be used intelligently as a tool for learning and not be regarded simply as a panacea.

SOUTH AFRICA: Universities not far behind the curve Karen MacGregor The use of information and communication technologies to support learning in South African universities is booming and they are "not very far behind the curve" of developed countries in e-learning, says Stephen Marquard, learning technology coordinator for the University of Cape Town.
AUSTRALIA: Online studying for the remote and on-the-move Geoff Maslen

UK: Virtual lectures? No thanks, say students Diane Spencer The British government is keen to promote e-learning, as are UK universities. Yet research shows that students still prefer face-to-face learning.

FRANCE: Universities lag 'digitally native' students Jane Marshall French universities must urgently catch up with information and communication technologies if they are to satisfy the higher education demands of the advancing generation of 'digitally native' students.

BRITISH COMMONWEALTH: Big changes in small states Nick HoldsworthThe Commonwealth of Learning - the world's only intergovernmental agency solely dedicated to promoting and delivering distance education and open learning - is working with 30 of the British Commonwealth's smaller states to create a 'virtual university'.


Call Your PR Director, Fast When a production company tells your president or dean it wants to profile your college or school in a national television documentary, the offer may not be what it seems

Game Over The University of Florida is the latest to call for an end to beer pong and other popular college drinking games.

Game Over The University of Florida is the latest to call for an end to beer pong and other popular college drinking games.