University news from the West

Culture and Decisions in Higher Ed Scholar explains themes of his new book on why colleges and universities function as they do.

HR at a Global University As colleges set up branch campuses abroad, how do these outposts change the institutional role as employers? Experts say many institutions have yet to grapple with the legal and equity issues involved.


UWN is a year old and carries some reflective articles in the new issues, one of which asks the question: What effect would a higher education story in one part of the world have on someone in another country's university system?

It also carries a special report on: Trends in higher education a report back on the international conference: Enhancement of Knowledge on Higher Education and its Dissemination hosted by Babes-Bolyai Univ in Romenia.
UNIVERSITIES: The information revolution
Universities are generally stable institutions but they are buffeted by new developments, such as rankings exercises and the 'world class university' concept that have grabbed the attention of academics, politicians and the media. Other new realities are a massive growth in research output and a digital revolution that is changing higher education's relationship to information and knowledge, says Dr Jan Sadlak, Director of Unesco's Bucharest-based European Centre for Higher Education.

PUBLISHING: World's 200+ higher education journals
A study by Unesco's European Centre for Higher Education has identified 210 journals on higher education worldwide, though the number fluctuates and could be an under-count. Half of the journals were published in North America while Europe produced 23% and Asia-Pacific 19%, according to Melanie Seto, editor and programme specialist for Unesco-CEPES. Among them were 17 'international' higher education publications.

GLOBAL: Trends in higher education studies
The field of higher education studies is growing, driven by the practical needs of a post-school system that is expanding worldwide. Professor Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College in the US, predicts that the field will spread into more countries, and will increasingly focus on the process of teaching, learning and assessment and on training of university administrators. It will remain interdisciplinary but, unfortunately, large-scale research will be limited by lack of funds.

INTERNATIONALISATION: A research agenda
The position of higher education and its international dimension in the global arena are more dominant than ever before, says Dr Hans de Wit, editor of Journal of Studies in International Education. In a 2006 International Association of Universities survey, 73% of institutions gave internationalisation high priority, 23% medium priority and only 2% low priority. But despite an increase in studies on internationalisation, research on the topic is struggling to find a disciplinary, conceptual or methodological 'home'.

MEDIA: Higher education in the news Karen MacGregor
In most countries mass media reporting on higher education is primarily the preserve of newspapers, not of television or radio. Newspapers - print and electronic - report on news and developments in higher education, provide a platform for debate, and reflect current issues concerning the public, students, academics, tertiary organisations and governments - and, through this coverage, themselves influence the higher education agenda.

In other news:
GLOBAL: Revealed: best producers of top universities
John Gerritsen*
New Zealand, Finland, Ireland and Australia are the most efficient producers of top universities, according to a University World News analysis of the latest THE-QS ranking of the world's top 500 universities.
CHINA: Record numbers studying abroad
Jane Marshall
The number of students from China enrolling for the first time at universities in other countries is estimated to reach a record 200,000 this year compared with 144,500 who went abroad in 2007. That latter number represented a 170-fold increase on the 860 students who opted to go offshore 30 years ago. Since then, more than 1.2 million students have left China to study abroad although only 320,000 returned home after completing their studies.

US: New clearing house for ranking systems
The Institute for Higher Education Policy in the United States has launched an online global resource centre pulling together information on university rankings systems worldwide. The IHEP Ranking Systems Clearinghouse, it says, "provides a road map of the complex ranking landscape for more than 30 countries", and includes links to national and international rankings systems and a collection of thousands of rankings-related publications.

GERMANY: Chinese Minister awarded doctorate
Mike Gardner
China's Minister of Science and technology, Professor Wan Gang, has been awarded the title of an Honorary Doctor by Berlin's Technical University. Wan Gang, who was President of Shanghai's Tongji University from 2004-07, has played a leading role in the development of environmentally friendly cars in China.

UK: Commonwealth scholarships restored
Commonwealth scholarships will be available to students in all Commonwealth countries to study in Britain next year. This follows a new partnership between British universities and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills after a cut in funding by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in March meant that students in more developed Commonwealth countries would have been no longer be eligible to apply for the scholarships.


Fight or flight Universities tried to stop further education colleges gaining the power to award foundation degrees. Hannah Fearn reports on the tension between the two sectors and asks whether their formerly close relationship will be ruined by a fight...


Why No Academic Freedom For Adjuncts steven bell
Although the use of adjuncts has increased, one thing remains the same: Adjuncts are still treated like stepchildren and orphans on their campuses. But the one insult that an increasing number of adjuncts across the nation cannot abide is the continued lack of academic freedom. Based on my personal experiences and based on reports of recent trends, adjuncts increasingly are being fired and not being rehired because administrators do not like catching flak for what their part-timers say in the classroom.