University

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Britain: Brexit caused by low levels of education, study finds

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Britain/August 8, 2017/By: Jon Stone/Source: http://www.independent.co.uk

A slight increase in higher education could have kept Britain in the EU.

Britain would have likely voted to remain in the European Union were its population educated to a slightly higher level, a new study has found.

Researchers at the University of Leicester say that had just 3 per cent more of the population gone to university, the UK would probably not be leaving the EU.

The researchers looked at reasons why people voted Leave and found that whether someone had been to university or accessed other higher education was the “predominant factor” in how they voted.

The paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal World Development, applied a multivariate regression analysis and logit model to areas of the country to identify why people voted the way they did.

The level of higher education in an area was far more important than age, gender, the number of immigrants, or income in predicting the way an area voted, the researchers found.

Age and gender were both significant but not as important as education level, the researchers found. Income and number of immigrants in an area were not found to be a significant factor in how people voted.

The researchers also found that a lower rate of turnout – by just 7 per cent – would also likely have changed the result to Remain.

The last Labour government set a target of half of young people accessing higher education and there has been a large expansion in numbers in recent decades. Universities UK says it expected the number of people in employment with higher education qualifications to have risen from 28.7 per cent in 2002 to 51.3 per cent in 2022

Dr Aihua Zhang, from the University of Leicester’s Department of Mathematics, said: “The EU referendum raised significant debate and speculation of the intention of the electorate and its motivations in voting. Much of this debate was informed by simple data analysis examining individual factors, in isolation, and using opinion polling data.

“This, in the case of the EU referendum where multiple factors influence the decision simultaneously, failed to predict the eventual outcome. On June 23rd 2016, Britain’s vote to leave the EU came as a surprise to most observers, with a bigger voter turnout – 72.2 per cent – than that of any UK general election in the past decade.”

British voters voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU in a referendum held in June 2016.

Source:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-education-higher-university-study-university-leave-eu-remain-voters-educated-a7881441.html

 

 

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NAAC Monitors Private Universities in India

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India/August 01, 2017/Source: http://abclive.in

NAAC: National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is the recognized accreditation agency in the Country for all Higher Educational (Non-technical) Institutions. As per procedure for accreditation, the Institutions/Universities submit the data and information in the prescribed format to NAAC.

The data are validated by a peer team constituted by NAAC before submission of its report to NAAC for accreditation of the Institutions. At times, NAAC, thorough its visiting team and complaints / RTIs from the stakeholders, has noticed that various Institutions have submitted fraudulent data for acquiring higher grade. These complaints are considered by visiting team of NAAC before assigning the final scores under the respective components of assessment.

To avoid submission of fraudulent data by the Institutions for accreditation, NAAC has taken following steps:

  1. It is mandatory for the Institutions to upload the information provided to NAAC on their website and retain the information on their website until completion of the validity period of accreditation and provide access to all the stakeholders.
  2. Institutions are instructed to videograph the whole assessment exercise and submit the same to NAAC and also upload on its website.

iii.            A Complainants Management Committee has been established which looks into the complaints especially those received after accreditation for initiating necessary action.

  1. The new procedure of Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) implemented by NAAC w.e.f. July 2017, has introduced an additional step, wherein the data submitted by Institution are subjected to a Data Verification and Validation (DVV) process. The new process has also provision for imposing severe penalties on Institutions submitting fraudulent data.

There is no such proposal under consideration of the Government to set up a Regulatory Commission for monitoring the performance of Private Universities. All existing private universities are established by the Act of their respective State Legislatures.  These universities are governed and regulated by their respective State Acts and University Grants Commission (UGC) (Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003. As far as Private Deemed to be Universities are concerned, they are regulated by UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2016. As per the Regulations, UGC conducts periodic inspection of these Universities and deficiencies, if any, observed during inspection are communicated to respective University for rectification. In addition, various Professional Regulatory Councils viz. Bar Council of India (BCI), Dental Council of India (DCI), Indian Nursing Council (INC), Medical Council of India (MCI), National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), etc. also review these Universities in their respective areas. Further, ranking of Higher Educational Institutions done by the Government under National Institutional Ranking Framework acts as performance indicator.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey today in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.

http://abclive.in/naac-monitors-private-universities-india/

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Islamic University best in Gaza, third in Palestine

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Gaza – Palestine/August 01, 2017/Source: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com

The Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) announced yesterday that it was classed the top higher education institution in the Gaza Strip and the third in Palestine based on Webometrics July 2017 edition, Safa news agency reported.

The IUG said it came in at number 54 among 988 high education institutions in the Arab region which were included in the evaluation.

Chairman of the IUG, Professor Adel Awadallah, hailed the efforts of the university staff who worked hard to maintain these high levels and ensured its continued development.

The university has been subjected to destructive Israeli rocket attacks in 2008 and 2014 and in 2007, the Palestinian Authority (PA) security services affiliated to Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas attacked and burnt its buildings.

Since the start of the Israeli siege 11 years ago, the IUG has suffered from severe shortages of educational equipment and materials.

The Webometrics system is the largest system for evaluating international universities, covering more than 25,000 institutions worldwide. It is published in Spain by the Higher Council for Scientific Research. It is linked to the standard of research and technical files and is updated every six months.

Source:

Islamic University best in Gaza, third in Palestine

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Malaysia: Opposition should provide free education their states first: Idris Jusoh

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Malaysia/July 18, 2017/By: Vathani Panirchellvum/Source: http://www.thesundaily.my

The opposition who wants free education should implement it in their states first, Higher Education minister said.

Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said if Universiti Selangor (Unisel) did not receive funding from National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), the university would close.

«Selangor is the richest state in Malaysia. I did not instruct PTPTN to provide loans for its student, ‘dah lama tutup’ (would already be closed). And that is the most ‘hebat’ state in Malaysia,» he said in addressing representatives of the 2017 Student Parliament Preparatory Workshop and Debate Simulation in Novelle Hotel today.

He added that in Scandinavian countries ,where education is free in all levels, the public pays 50-60% in taxes.

«That is why they can afford to provide free education. So compare that with Malaysia,» he said.

Source:

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2017/07/16/opposition-should-provide-free-education-their-states-first-idris-jusoh

 

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EEUU: Illinois budget gives temporary fix for public universities

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EEUU/ July 18, 2017/Source: http://www.heraldonline.com

A new Illinois budget will give public universities funding for the 2017-18 school year.

This is the first time in two years that the state’s 12 public universities will receive funding, the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/2v60l95 ) reported.

In 2015, universities received more than $1.2 billion from the state’s spending plan. But the budget impasse prompted campus shutdowns, layoffs and program cuts.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education said the new budget will provide universities with about $1.1 billion for the 2017-18 academic year, a 10 percent decline from 2015.

University leaders caution that while it’s a relief to have one year’s funding, the budget doesn’t fully resolve the schools’ financial issues.

«You don’t get one year’s funding and have people say, ‘Oh, Illinois is totally fixed now,’ » said Rachel Lindsey, interim president of Chicago State University.»I don’t think it would be in our best interest to think of ourselves as out of the woods just yet.»

Universities went almost an entire year without funding from the state for the 2015-16 year.

Since then, schools such as the University of Illinois that’s in debt for $467 million in its operations are now trying to recover.

«We are still advocating for the restoration for the (fiscal year) 2016 budget,» UI President Tim Killeen said. «Obviously the chances of that happening are diminishing over time.»

For Southern Illinois University in Carbondale finances became so dire that school’s administration lent the campus funds from its Edwardsville site to keep it running.

President Randy Dunn said intra-system borrowing is no longer needed but Carbondale needs to continue with its plan to cut $19 million, which officials said includes eliminating dozens of staff and faculty. Despite receiving funds for the 2017-18 school year from the state, Carbondale is still in $37.8 million debt for 2017.

Source:
Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/news/business/article161768078.html#storylink=cpy
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Jamaica: Community Colleges Providing Access to Affordable Tertiary Education

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Jamaica/  July 4, 2017/By Judith Hunter/Source: http://jis.gov.jm

With a student population of between 10,000 and 12,000 in any given year, Jamaica’s community colleges have become a game changer in tertiary landscape.

In 1974, they were established to accommodate students pursuing sixth form studies.

Forty-three years later, the system has transformed into one of the most affordable, flexible and accessible means to tertiary education, offering to Jamaicans a variety of programmes ranging from continuing education, short courses, postgraduate diplomas, Associate and Bachelor’s degree.

Executive Director of the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ), Dr. Donna Powell Wilson, tells JIS News that the programmes offered by the community colleges are some of the most affordable in the country. “We are not cheap but very affordable.

The cost to pursue a two-year Associate Degree is close to what a student will pay for one year of studies at a local university,” she says. She points out that community colleges have forged partnerships with local, regional and international institutions, to offer programmes to meet the educational needs of Jamaicans.

Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) have been established with institutions such as Jamaica Theological Seminary, University of Technology, University of the West Indies and Monroe College in the United States.

Dr. Powell Wilson says that under the MOU with Monroe College, credits can be transferred to pursue a Bachelor’s degree, which means community colleges graduates will not have to redo the programmes, when they enrol in these institutions.

“We form associations with other institutions, so that our students are not at a disadvantage if they want to further their studies,” she says.

The local community colleges have also extended their offerings through franchising regionally to Anguilla, the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas Baptist Community College.

Dr. Powell Wilson points out that in response to the emerging needs of the local economy, the CCCJ has just completed the development of a logistics supply chain management programme in collaboration with the Niagara College and the Marine University of Newfoundland, Canada.

This, she says, is sponsored by the CARICOM Education for Employment Programme.

She adds that the CCCJ is working on developing a partnership with Hocking College in the United States so as to offer different types of programmes to students.

Meanwhile, Principal of Knox Community College and President of the Association of Principals and Vice Principals of Community Colleges, Dr. Gordon Cowans, says that one of the challenges is informing persons that tertiary education is accessible to every Jamaican.

“Tertiary education is in the reach of all Jamaicans irrespective of your age or academic performance. We have coverage for the island, we have programmes to meet each and every Jamaican who want to better their professional or academic experience. The CCCJ is responding to today’s challenges creating tomorrow’s opportunities,” he says.

Meanwhile, Principal of Excelsior Community College in Kingston and Chair of the Curriculum Development Committee in the CCCJ, Philmore McCarthy, tells JIS News that in an effort to strategically coordinate the work of the community colleges, the CCCJ was established in 2001 through an Act in Parliament.

Mr. McCarthy says that the main functions of the Council are to draft regulations to govern operations; standardise the offerings; and ensure that the community colleges maintain quality standards.

“They also work with the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) and use their standards to develop programme, hence majority of our programmes are accredited,” he points out.

The CCCJ members are made up of representatives from community colleges, other local tertiary institutions, the private sector and HEART Trust/NTA.

The community college system boasts a two plus two model and according to Mr. McCarthy, under this model, a student has the opportunity for the first two years to pursue an Associate Degree and the other two years to gain a Bachelor’s Degree.

“We are geared towards preparing our students for the workplace and for industries, as well as persons who want to go on to further studies. You find that a person will come in and do two years, go back to work and then they would come back to complete another two years for their Bachelor’s Degree,” he explains . Students have access to programmes in areas such as engineering, technology, business, hospitality and tourism management, agriculture, education (trainers of primary school teachers), humanities – criminal justice, social work, logistics, business process outsourcing and management.

To pursue an Associate Degree, individuals are required to have five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects, inclusive of Mathematics and English or its equivalent. For a Bachelor’s Degree, an Associate Degree from an accredited programme is required.

There are eight community colleges in Jamaica in 25 different locations across the island. They are the Bethlehem Moravian College, Moneague College, the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE), Excelsior Community College, Montego Bay Community College, Brown’s Town Community College, Portmore Community College and Knox Community College.

Source:

http://jis.gov.jm/community-colleges-providing-access-affordable-tertiary-education/

 

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How the cloud has changed education and training

Ben Dickson

by Ben Dickson

A few years ago, the cloud was a promise to reduce costs of IT and improve flexibility and scaling by providing on-demand computing, storage and services to every organization.

Today, the cloud is a ubiquity we take for granted. We expect every file, every service and digital asset we have to be available across all our devices everywhere we go, at any time of the day.

The omnipresence of the cloud has streamlined and transformed quite a number of domains, including education. Today, thanks to cloud computing, education and training has become more affordable, flexible and accessible to millions of people and thousands of businesses.

Here’s a look at how cloud-based education has changed things for the better.

Lower software and hardware costs

One of the problems schools and training departments in organizations have constantly struggled with is to keep up with hardware, software and IT staff costs and complexities. In contrast, the cloud has been offering low-cost, subscription-based model that can support more companies and organizations.

Microsoft<a href='https://index.co/company/Microsoft' data-index='' target='_blank' class='idc-hasIcon'></a> Office

The elegance of the cloud is that the user only requires little more than a browser and an internet connection. This is a welcome shift from the need to manually install and update applications on every single computer in a department.

In the past years, solutions such as Google’s suite of educational tools have provided schools with a free access to general classroom tools such as word processors, spreadsheets and presentation software. Cloud applications such as Google Docs allow students to easily collaborate on assignments in an easy-to-use environment.

Microsoft has also made its move to the cloud, providing subscription-based access to the cloud version of its popular Office suite, which it offers for free to students and teachers.

Virtual classrooms

One of the interesting developments in the space has been the advent of virtual classrooms in the cloud. Virtual cloud classrooms provide teachers with a paperless way to set up classes and courses, distribute material and assignments, and track and grade student progress from their desktop browser or smartphone.

On-premise virtual classroom software have existed for a while, but their installation and deployment came with heavy technical and financial requirements. In recent years, established companies such as Blackboard have started offering cloud-based services, making it possible for more schools and institutions to enroll.

Bigger tech corporations are also entering the space. Google launched its Classroom app as part of G Suite for Education in 2014 and Microsoft released its own Classroom last year. Both solutions revolve around providing a unified environment to better use office cloud apps in managing classes.

Virtual training labs

Cloud platforms can be a boon to professional education. For instance, IT training is traditionally associated with large investments in hardware and complex setup costs. However specialized cloud platforms have provided a flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-deploy alternative.

One example is CloudShare, a provider of cloud-based virtual machines, which enables companies to setup virtual training labs for their training sessions. With CloudShare, trainers can create any number of VMs of various operating systems in a virtual class environment, assign them to students, monitor their use and actively assist students when needed.

The use of cloud computing and virtual classes in IT training brings huge benefits by cutting back hardware costs and complexity while  providing an interactive experience that is not possible in legacy classroom settings. It also benefits companies that need to train staff and employees across the world by sparing them additional traveling and trainer fees.

Better access to education and training

By 2025, the global demand for higher education will double to approximately 200 million students per year, mostly from emerging economies. Elsewhere, the disruption of the economy and employment landscape by artificial intelligence is increasing demand for professional training in various fields.

But thanks to cloud-based education, more and more people can now attend academic and professional courses. In recent years, we’ve seen the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs) platforms, which provide easy and affordable (sometimes free) access to knowledge and training.

In 2012, Stanford University professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller founded Coursera, a cloud platform that offers online courses, specializations, and degrees in a variety of subjects, including data science, computer science, engineering and medicine. Aside from Stanford, other top universities such as Princeton, University of Michigan and Penn State University are now using the platform to offer their programs to students worldwide.

Applicants can enroll for courses, specialization certificates or full higher education degrees. As of 2017, the platform offers more than 2,000 courses and has more than 24 million registered users worldwide.

edX, a platform similar to Coursera created by Harvard University in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, added high school education to its platform in 2014 to help people across the world get access to secondary education.

Tech corporations have launched their own education platforms to give access to knowledge and education in specific fields. One example is IBM’s Big Data University, a free platform that aims to put more people into data science and machine learning jobs and now has more than 400,000 signed up users.

Cloud-based learning platforms offer anyone with an internet connection classrooms, lectures, course material and a seamless environment where they can learn at their own pace and work on assignments and projects on any device and anywhere they go.

Where do we go from here?

With such huge amounts of data being collected and processed in the cloud, the next step of cloud education is the integration of artificial intelligence in the process. AI algorithms can assist both teachers and students in the learning process, finding pain-points in the teaching process and lending a hand where learners are struggling. Most major vendors have either taken their first steps or are now considering integrating AI-powered tools in their training solutions.

We’ve already seen acceleration and enhancements in education and training thanks to the cloud. What will come next can be even more exciting.

Source:

https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/06/26/cloud-changed-education-training/#.tnw_Hustl4H2

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