Month: July 2010

Vince Cable & the future of higher education

Business Secretary, Vince Cable, made a speech this morning about the future of higher education.  He has discussed a graduate tax, 2-year degrees, and various measures that can cut costs, but retain high standards.

Wordle: Vince Cable Universities Speech - 15 July 2010
Click here to see a Wordle of Cable’s speech

Would sweeping changes like 2-year degrees make a big difference?  Maybe.  Can ‘higher education’ as a wide collective term be expected to embrace such ideas without problem?  No.

While some universities are bound to jump at the chance of a two-year degree structure, others will be vehemently against it.  The difference of opinions will be down to this:

“We don’t know what higher education is for any more.” [source]

This comes from the previous President of Dublin City University, Ferdinand von Prondzynski. He makes a sensible point.

Put another way, higher education has been given too much to do.  Too much dilution results in not enough focus.  Two-year degrees can’t be made to work across the board.  Cable said we need to “re-think the case of universities from the beginning”.  The re-think on higher education needs to cover HE as a concept and as an entire sector.

While I am happy to see discussion and new thinking about 2-year degrees, it isn’t simple to wave a magic wand and change the landscape of higher education.  Academics with large research responsibilities are already stretched for time, so where would the extra teaching time come from?  Additionally, 3-year degrees cannot just disappear so the option would need to remain.  It would be entirely unreasonable to see a drop in teaching quality and standards as a result of new degree models.

photo by bisgovuk

Vince Cable (photo by bisgovuk)

Vince Cable hasn’t actually made any policy proposals this morning, but he is pointing toward a future that he would like to see.  He is urging the Browne Review to consider a graduate tax as a feasible alternative to the current fees system.  Cable said his suggestions may sound radical, but are not.  He asks that we continue the debate and make some truly radical moves to help the future of HE.

Radical proposals are fine so long as they have a solid foundation.  A change for the sake of change is no guarantee of a better way.

Is now the time to see universities coming together in collaboration, rather than fighting for scraps in a panic that they might lose what is dear to them?  I would love to see better engagement and participation between institutions.  At the same time, I would like to see those institutions in a position where they can showcase their unique traits with ease.

One way for universities to develop their unique identity is through a powerful mission statement.  Right now, current mission statements could come from any university, as Times Higher Education discussed earlier this year.

With this in mind, I believe the following ideas are also worth pursuing:

  • Give universities more freedom in creating their specific mission, vision and values;
  • Allow universities to develop their specialisms more easily, so long as they are unique, have valid reasoning, stick within their mission aims, and give teaching at least as much priority as research;
  • Promote greater collaborative engagement between institutions;
  • Ensure institutions do not pick only the most profitable degrees and methods of assessment;
  • Acknowledge the wide remit HE has rather than pretend all institutions are the same and/or ignore their major (sometimes uniquely defining) differences.

These ideas would identify what would suit each institution, while also giving students better information on deciding where to study, what will benefit them, and why an institution can deliver that for them.

Many ideas are being touted, leaked and proposed regarding the future of higher education.  From new ways of funding through to different degree models, we may see certain fundamental ‘rules’ rewritten.  I am ready to treat this time with enthusiasm, although it doesn’t stop my fear that some decisions could be rushed.  Indeed, some choices may be made that are based solely on cost and saving money.  These are difficult times as much as they are interesting times.  Everyone needs to tread carefully here.  Not just students, not just staff, not any single group.  HE covers so much ground that most people are (or will be) involved in one way or another.

HE stands for so much that we need a different way of classifying what each institution, or department, or member of staff, or student, is working toward.  More from von Prondzynski:

“It is time for something better. It is time to understand what part of higher education is vocational, and what part is educational in a broader sense. It is time to have a plan about how graduates will develop their careers on leaving education. It is time to state more clearly what we see as the benefits of higher degrees, particularly doctorates. And it is time to engage and motivate those working in higher education so that they can apply energy and skill to their tasks and so that they can lose the instinct to feel nostalgic about whatever went before.”

I am writing this post fresh from hearing Vince Cable’s speech and getting feedback from commentators, blogs, news posts, and my Twitter feed.  There is a lot of excitement, a lot of confusion, a lot of ideas, a lot of backlash…a lot of everything, quite frankly.

Times Higher Education started a #loveHE campaign recently.  The very reason why a mere speech stirs up so many emotions shows just how many people do love higher education.  The conversation — and the love — is starting to move out toward the wider public.  Whether you love or hate what Vince Cable has said and no matter how you will eventually feel about the outcomes of such wide debate, it’s crucial that we keep that love of higher education going.

Are we in this together?

Further links:

Past, Present, Future: Does Change Bring Change?

How ready and engaged are students when they enter higher education? A Professor had this to say about students going to university:

“Speaking generally, during the last thirty years the schools of England have been sending up to the universities a disheartened crowd of young folk, inoculated against any outbreak of intellectual zeal.”

Do you think there’s some truth in this?

What if I told you the Professor, A. N. Whitehead, made this suggestion in the year 1932?

It’s easy to look to the past and believe much of the situation in higher education was different then.  Of course, it WAS different.  But as you imagine a time when going to university was nothing like as widespread and accessible as it is now, it’s hard to picture a lack of ‘intellectual zeal’ among such a small selective grouping.

Perhaps it was just the wrong selective grouping.

Whatever the case, I found the above quote in a book from 1962. Nearly 50 years ago. A different era…or so you would think.

photo by Squirmelia

photo by Squirmelia

The book, ‘Educating the Intelligent’ by Michael Hutchinson and Christopher Young, has a great chapter on university education.  I came across much detail that holds relevance with the current situation for HE.

Take this example:

“It is now clear that we need a massive expansion in the numbers receiving university education in this country, coupled with a re-thinking of the content of university education itself.”

Expansion and widening participation have been a big part of HE over the years.  Now, through decisions being made by the coalition government, we face further change to the content and layout of university education.  How it will play out, nobody really knows.  But it’s clear that 50 years after ‘Educating the Intelligent’ was published, we are still re-thinking the format.  This re-thinking is necessary as the world and our needs change.  But it’s just as much a hindrance as it is a help.

Other issues under discussion suggest we still haven’t found answers to certain problems.  One such problem is that of making students ready for the workplace once they graduate.  Should this be a core purpose or requirement of university education?  Should it at least be on offer to those who want it?  Another excerpt:

“The job which a child will start on today may have ceased to exist when he retires from work in the next century.  The processes and machines with which he will be working at the time of his retirement may not yet have been put on the drawing-board…His training, and in particular his mental attitude to his work, will therefore need to be entirely different from the attitudes which still largely prevail today and which are based upon a previous industrial age when a man, trained in one mechanical skill, would spend a lifetime practising that one skill.  ‘Clearly,’ as the Crowther Report says, ‘the first quality that is needed to cope with such a world is adaptability.'”

Many business leaders and graduates themselves still question abilities to cope with adapting.  Times Higher Education recently reported on a wave of new degrees being created for business and enterprise.  The idea is that universities help students achieve deeper critical and analytical understanding to complement specific skills.  Professor Chris Kemp of Bucks New University explains:

“Most people who come from industry already have the practical skills but what they need is the theoretical skills. This is about education. This isn’t training, it’s an academic underpinning to the experiential learning they already have.”

So, we’re still re-thinking university education and we’re still working out adaptability and the link between education and the workplace.  What else?  Okay, one last thing.

Here’s what ‘Educating the Intelligent’ has to say about getting a place to study at a university without vast quantities of stress and complication:

“The concept of the sixth form will be ruined if the present anxiety about getting a place at the university is not allayed.  If these boys and girls are to arrive at the university full of imaginative intellectual energy, sixth-form education must not take place in an atmosphere of worry and fear about the future.

“The only way to prevent such anxiety is to establish a fair standard of academic achievement and make it quite plain that on reaching this standard a sixth-former will have qualified for a university place.  This is the maximum amount of worry that it is reasonable to impose on the sixth-former.  In plain terms this means that a child of eighteen will know that, provided he reaches the necessary examination standard, he will be guaranteed a place in a university.  His job will be to reach the required standard; it will be our job to arrange for his selection to a particular university.”

There is a very real problem with available places at university.  Anxiety among prospective uni students has not disappeared, especially now.  A surge in applications could lead to 200,000 people left without a place.  With so few places set to be available through the clearing system, even students with high grades and ‘intellectual zeal’ could find no place available to them in the coming academic year.

Despite qualifying in terms of required grades, there will be no guarantee of a place at the end of the road.  There are other options, but this will not take away the sting that some students receive in the next few weeks.

Higher education has changed so much that it is difficult to compare with university in the 1930s and 1960s.  Even the 1980s and 1990s were a long time ago with the amount of change that has taken place.

Despite all the change, plenty of what was said decades ago can still be associated with.

Which makes you wonder…How much change does change really bring?

EduLinks – Deep thoughts and discussions

Here be the linkageness. Ready for the weekend. Yarrrr.

ResourceShelf – Google Scholar introduces search within cited articles

A great new development for Google Scholar. You can now search for where a paper has been cited and then search within those papers.

Lifehack – 20 Quick Tips For Better Time Management

Got time to read this article? No? Then read this article.

BBC Today – That thinking feeling

Education Secretary, Michael Gove, wants A-level students to return to more ‘deep thought’ so they are better prepared for university. But what is deep thought? To find out, we’ll have to think deep.

From New Scientist – Why Facebook friends are worth keeping:

Today, our number of weak-tie acquaintances has exploded via online social networking. “You couldn’t maintain all of those weak ties on your own,” says Jennifer Golbeck at the University of Maryland in College Park, who studies our use of social media. “Facebook gives you a way of cataloguing.” The result? It’s now significantly easier for the school friend you haven’t seen in years to feed you a bit of information that changes your behaviour, from a recommendation of a low-cholesterol breakfast cereal to a party invite where you meet the love of your life.

The explosion of weak ties could have profound consequences for our social structures too, says Judith Donath of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, who studies the various ways we communicate using social media. One thing that limited the size of traditional social groups was the time it took to form reliable and trustworthy ties, she says. Online tools have changed that, helping each of us to build a social “supernet”: a network of easily accessible contacts that is bigger than any we have ever been able to manage. “It would be impossible to maintain 500 or 5000 ties without it,” she says. “We’re already seeing changes.” For example, many people now turn to their social networks ahead of sources such as newspapers or television, because their acquaintances provide them with more trusted and relevant news, information or recommendations. However, Donath believes more should be done to maintain privacy and trust in the networking tools.

Mario Creatura – VCs on Twitter

There are hardly any Vice-Chancellors on Twitter. Mario, understandably, wonders why.

The benefits of a VC joining Twitter far outweigh the drawbacks. An account lets them be personal, engaging, accessible, and helpful. All for a few tweets a day and having to respond to a few quick queries in 140 characters.

VCs could be missing a trick.

IntoUniversity – What will the Pupil Premium mean?

I recently wrote about the graduate earning premium and how I’m sceptical of the concept, especially in the long term. IntoUniversity highlights further evidence in support.

University of Venus – From Great Idea to Winning Idea

Because great ideas are not enough.

Lifehacker – What Have You Suddenly Discovered You Were Doing Wrong?

We do a lot of stuff that could be done better, or shouldn’t be done at all. Who’d have thought you just need to tie those shoelaces in the other direction…

17 Refreshing Ways to Stay Awake

Your eyelids are growing heavy.  You can’t keep your eyes open.  Sleep will be upon you soon.

Must…Stay…Awake…

Can’t…

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

We’ve all been there.  But what can you do to help stay awake and (in most cases) stay alert?  Here are 17 top tips for you:

original photo by Cassidy Curtis

original photo by Cassidy Curtis

  1. Move – Staying in the same place for ages doesn’t help.  Get up and dance around, jump up and down, shake your arms and legs all over the place. If you’re in public then, of course, do it twice as enthusiastically. 😉
  2. Powernap – There are usually two choices: fight the sleep or go to sleep. Taking a quick powernap is the third, most beneficial, answer.
  3. Change what you’re doing frequently – The longer you spend on a task, the more danger you’re in of drifting off.  Any jobs that aren’t totally exciting or engaging are going to send your thoughts elsewhere from time to time.  Don’t get to the point where your head crashes to your desk and you knock yourself out. Find a different task to refresh you for a moment. Return to the less exciting task when you’ve recovered.
  4. Remember to eat – You will feel lethargic if you don’t eat enough. Feed as you work. Have something nearby so you remember. Or set an alarm when it’s time to think about food.
  5. Get talking or singing (exercise the vocal chords) – Who doesn’t love the sound of their own voice? Okay, that’s not what’s going to keep you awake…however, a break from silence can be enough to rouse you back into a more awakened state.  Belt out a song and see the world with sparkle once more!
  6. Change the lighting – Open the curtains, turn up the light, switch on a lamp, move to a brighter area.  Or reduce the glare, if necessary (can’t have you squinting either).
  7. Go outside – Have a walk, sit on the grass, look to the sky, breathe in the (possibly) clean air.  If possible, find a place that’s full of trees and fields and lots of green.  What’s stopping you from working outside?
  8. Have a drink – Fatigue comes about when you’re low on fluids and dehydrating. Grab a refreshing drink. Especially a cold one.  And preferably water.
  9. Do some free association writing – Go crazy and churn out a whole load of rubbish from your head.  Let it all out.  Just write or type or speak whatever comes into your head. When you’ve been sat there, waiting for inspiration, the flow can stop and you get tired with it. Churning out anything, no matter how weird, will soon wake you up again.
  10. Self-harm – Not as brutal as it sounds…a quick pinch to the back of your hand can help you refocus.
  11. Do something new or risky – The basic idea here is to reignite your senses.  By risky, I mean something that you feel slightly uncomfortable doing…I don’t mean you should act dangerously!
  12. Do sudoku – Give yourself a mental boost by working on a puzzle.  Crosswords, logic problems, sudoku, anything to get your mind racing. Make sure it’s not too difficult or too easy, otherwise you may start wandering again.
  13. Splash your face with cold water
  14. Wash your hands with cold water – Can’t deal with splashing your face?  Cold water on your hands is the next best thing.
  15. Move away from what’s affecting you – Sometimes you’ve just had enough and need a quick break.  You know the times when you know you’re not tired, but you’re still fighting sleep?  You must finish something but your body won’t let you.  Taking just a 5-10 minute break may be enough to let you get back to what you’re meant to be doing.
  16. Find company – If you’re on your own and finding it difficult to concentrate, seek out other people.  They may distract you from the work too, but since you were already being distracted…
  17. Make time to sleep properly – When faced with a need to stay up longer than usual, or when you’re neglected sleep for a few days, promise yourself that well-earned recovery sleep as soon as possible.  If you go a few days on little sleep, spend the next few days trying to regulate things again.

Let us know what tips you have in the comments. I’m sure you’ve got snore more!