David Fleming
It's All Academic   www.davidflemingsite.com   
Around the World of Higher Education

August 22, 2022

Part of my regular Monday routine is to check, beyond the daily check of Inside Higher Ed and Chronicle of Higher Education, general news from higher education. When I blogged more regularly about higher education, this was my desperate attempt to find stories, but even now, as I accept blogging the dead horse only once or twice a month, I still follow this routine.  As a general rule, a Monday morning Google search gives me a truly global trove of stories.

The world of higher education across the world is very interesting this late August. I have learned the following:

  • The University Grants Commission (UGC) in India is now allowing "Professors of Practice," meaning that "formal academic qualification and publication requirements will not be a mandatory requirement." Frankly, that is a pretty gutsy move in a world where academic qualifications have been the immovable cornerstone to our whole business. Granted, only a small percentage of an institution's faculty can be a PoP (I have no idea if they are officially going with this acronym, but I would argue they better; you have your PoPs and your PoTS--professors of traditional studies).
  • Also, in India, the Higher Education Minister has claimed that "reforms have been initiated in the higher education sector to make the youth of Punjab employable within the country." The details in The Tribune are non-existent, proving that once again politicians across the world (even when given fancy titles like "minister") are all the same.
  • The former Blackboard, now Anthology, will be featuring its Asia Pacific series of events throughout Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and India. Virtual Keynote speaker is a former Cricket player. That would draw crickets throughout America.
  • France will be hit with a lot of faculty retirements in the near future. The story seems rather boring on the surface, but if we read the Times Higher Education article, there are lots of caveats to how universities hire basic "teachers-researchers" (called maîtres de conférences) who are permanent civil servants. Apparently, the average university only has so much it can or can't do to replenish the stock, so to speak.  "Viva la France" but maybe not its public service laws.
  • Meanwhile, in Iran, The Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution has re-examined their placement exams, in essence reducing the value of the test for measuring academic ability from 100% to 40% (the rest coming from high school academic records). Now that is a cultural revolution!  Iran, everyone! However, the publication Blitz (I know nothing about this source except I shudder at its tagline: "Fear None But God.") makes strong arguments about the varying degrees of high school experiences. Good to know some not-cooler heads are prevailing.
  • Ireland is investing 40 million Euros to make colleges greener and more accessible. I would have thought making college less "greener" would make them more accessible, but what do I know about the Euro, maybe its more brown than green.
  • In a story about international students at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom, The New Statesmen notes that "between 2002 and 2012 the annual number of births in England and Wales went up by 18 per cent." This seems drastically in contrast to the United States, or at least, Michigan, where we have been preparing for some of the lowest high school graduation classes over the next decade. What the hell have the Welsh and the English been up to? Or, maybe the point is, they weren't up at all, but were staying in bed.
  • My mother warned me about touching a story like this next one. I will keep it short, so to speak. A University of Manchester PhD student had a peer-reviewed (that's creepy) story on masturbation attacked. Not only was the subject inappropriate, but I guess the research was shoddy too. What does one even do with that knowledge? All I can do is quote Morrissey and The Smiths: "Oh, Manchester, so much to answer for."

I think I have seen enough of the world. With all due respect to Jules Verne, I will stop at 8. Who knows what I would discover with 80?