Hedda Blog

With the increase of foreign students studying in China, comes an influx of foreign education providers. In April 2007, the Chinese Ministry of Education released a memorandum, "The Notice on Regulating the Standard of Cooperation of Chinese and Foreign Educational Programs." In this publication the Chinese Ministry censures some foreign degree programs due to what the Chronicle of Higher Education reports as, "poor quality, high cost, and lack of oversight." The Chinese Ministry will become more involved by reviewing foreign institution requests to ensure they meet government's standards. In addition, the Ministry will conduct evaluations of existing programs and become more involved in the oversight of these programs.

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The United States National Science Foundation (NSF) just recently released two reports in regards to the decline in American science and engineering (S&E) research publications. The first report, "Changing U.S. Output of Scientific Articles: 1988-2003", quantifies the flattening of the number of American publications in S&E journals over this time period. The second report, "Changing Research and Publication Environment in American Research Universities", seeks to understand why there has been a decrease and is based on interviews with scientists at nine top research universities.
The East Asia 4 (China, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan) has grown the most over this time period, increasing S&E publications by 16% every year. The EU-15 passed the U.S. in number of publications in 1998 but then leveled out. Even though the U.S. S&E publications have decreased, NSF reports that in 2003 50% of the highly influential publications were American authors, and closely behind at 30% were EU-15 authors.

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Information technology continues to influence higher education processes and one area specifically affected by the digital age is university publishing. Ithaka, a nonprofit group just released a report, "University Publishing in a Digital Age." According to the Chronicle of Higher Education the report, "describes the rapid and radical transformation of scholarly communication by new digital and networking technologies." The focal message in this report shows that institutions are not supporting or recognizing the need for publishing research. Academics have many different opportunities to "publish" work online; from developing web pages to writing blogs to writing paper websites to web journals. In the meantime, the publishing presses struggle to find their place in an age of increased online publishing. As a result, many in the university community believe that the scholarly publishing industry is growing away from the values of the institution. From the report, "This paper argues that a renewed commitment to publishing in its broadest sense can enable universities to more fully realize the potential global impact of their academic programs, enhance the reputations of their institutions, maintain a strong voice in determining what constitutes important scholarship, and in some cases reduce costs."

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Between September 2006 and June 2007 an external evaluation of the current Erasmus Mundus programme occured. The evaluation looked at results of the programme, as well as qualitative aspects of the implemenation of the programme. Based on these results, impact assessments, results of an online consultation, and brainstorming sessions, the European Commission adopted a proposal for an Erasmus Mundus successor programme on July 12, 2007.

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Starting in September 2007 the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), a hedda partner, will offer a new track in Higher Education Policy through the Public Administration one year master´s programme. This 60 European credit master´s programme, taught in english, educates students on theories, concepts of administration, key policy issues, and research studies.

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After graduating from the HEEM program in 2006, Elona went back to Albania, her home country. She currently works at the Universitas Fabrefacta Optime (UFO), a private university in the Department of Curriculum Development. In this position, she works with the evaluation, changes and accreditation of the university curriculum. Prior to the HEEM master's program Elona was working at the Harry Fultz Community College Community College in the Department of Curriculum Development. She received her bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Sociology from Tirana University in Albania

Highlights of your HEEM Program experience?
The experience was magnificent, challenging at the same time, full of new experience, unique.

Thesis Topic?
The Experience of Albanian Universities in Implementing Students and Staff Mobility

Words of wisdom for future/ current students in programme ?
Try to get the maximum of it, be patient because things move slowly sometimes, and try to focus in studying even it is hard sometimes.

What topics in Higher Education are you most interested in and why?
As my background is Philosophy I found the module of History and Philosophy of Higher Education very interesting. On the other hand, Internationalization was the main topic of my thesis and it is one of the famous trends, which is absorbing a great number of energies, funds and brains in Europe and oversees.

How are you applying what you learned in the HEEM programme to your life/ career? My own experience being an international student and the information I got during these two years of study added more skills and understanding to my professional background. In my daily work I found myself evolved in curriculum development and career development. Moreover travelling through European Universities added to my background more information and knowledge about higher education systems in Western Europe. This fact helped me a lot in understanding and designing programs in each dicipline.

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The vice-chancellors (presidents) of eight Australian universities have called for a new commission to reform the country's higher education regulation system. The Group of Eight (Go8), includes the University of Adelaide, Australian National University, University of Melbourne, Monash University, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of Sydney and the University of Western Australia. The Australian reported that the Go8 is callling for a rewrite of policies, including a "new student loan scheme, more student support, and a market driven system." In addition, the group has demanded that the advisory structure between the government and the university be revamped and has suggested an independent buffer body. On June 6, Go8 released a discussion paper, Seizing the Opportunities, which outlines the details of the suggested reforms.

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In 2000, as a way to coordinate support for higher education in Africa, four foundations formed a five year partnership, Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PFHEA). The foundations include the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. According to the PFHEA website, "The Partnership was a response to trends of democratization, public policy reform and the increasing participation of civil society organizations in a growing number of African countries." Since 2000, the partnership has contributed over $150 million U.S. dollars to support higher education through human and organizational capacity building and special initiatives, such as the building of infrastructure and information technologies.

In 2005, PFHEA was extended for a second five year period and grew to include two more foundations, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. PFHEA has pledged a minimum of $200 million U.S. dollars over the next five years and currently supports 49 universities within nine countries; Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. Just recently, in 2007, yet another Foundation joined PFHEA, the Kresge Foundation.

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