Prime Minister's Questions: David Cameron v Ed Miliband

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of events in the House of Commons. We'll begin with Prime Minister's Questions and after that there'll be a statement from Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude on the public sector strike. Finally, there'll be a statement from Foreign Secretary William Hague on the withdrawal of British diplomatic staff from Iran.


1130:

Prime Minister's Questions takes place against the backdrop of the biggest public sector strike in decades. Workers and unions are angry at planned changes to their pensions, which will require them to work longer and contribute more. The government says the changes are unavoidable because we're all living longer.


1135:

As well as the strikes, the state of the UK economy is bound to come up during. Yesterday, Chancellor George Osborne said the government would respond to the latest gloomy predictions - growth downgraded to 0.9% for this year and 0.7% next year. He announced further spending cuts, as well as a number of measures he hopes will put a rocket under the economy.


NEWS BY:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15960412

Five predictions for the future of higher education marketing

HEIs will become increasingly divergent and differentiated

As is the case in many markets, HEIs will start to become grouped, between:

• On the one hand, those who have, and are able to justify, a reputation of excellence, are broadly based academically and will continue to attract the most able students

• On the other, those who are, or will become, more niche; specialising with regard to subject areas, types of students, methods of delivery and even length of courses (Northampton, for example, has an interesting point of differentiation based around a social enterprise strategy)

It will be those universities that fall in the middle that will be in most danger of lack of saliency and, as a result, declining numbers and commercial viability. In our view, all HEIs need to think clearly about their proposition and how they can differentiate themselves, particularly those that do not currently have a strong rationale. Importantly, this should be addressed from the perspective of target audiences: an outside-in rather than inside-out approach.

Investment will increase significantly

An increase in investment in higher education marketing and communications, both regarding staffing and activity, is already evident – Exeter has recently announced a recruitment drive for new marketers, for example. We anticipate that this will become an upsurge in the coming years, as competition for students intensifies in the UK and internationally, and the pool of available students reduces with the onset of high annual fees.

NEWS BY:http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/2011/nov/28/five-predictions-higher-education-marketing?newsfeed=true

The universities exploring alternatives to undergraduate dissertations

However, our belief is that there is also necessary room for creative honours and capstone projects. And if you take a look at the mini- and maxi- case studies on our website you will appreciate just how creative these are – not a second best but an appropriate addition or replacement for the conventional extended written piece. For example at Nottingham Trent, architecture and built environment final year students can either do the 10,000 word conventional dissertation plus a poster summary;

or a 5,000 word conference paper with supporting presentation that is delivered to peers and tutors; or a conceptual project with a 5,000 word critical justification. As well as written material they are required to produce illustrations or simulations.

At the University of Gloucestershire, broadcast journalism students undertake a double module that endeavours to consolidate theory and practice in one intensive Newsweek, where they operate a news organisation across the three media platforms of television, radio and online news

Or Sheffield Hallam, where humanities students gain experience from a work-based or work-related task completed over an academic year. Examples of the range of recent output include writing a handbook for volunteers working with dementia sufferers in residential homes; penning material for an in-house film magazine and managing external relations with a local arts cinema; or exercising the role of student union volunteering committee chair and publicity responsibilities.

NEWS BY:http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2011/nov/23/creative-honours-alternative-dissertations?newsfeed=true

New lecture series spotlights higher education

Arizona State University is launching a new lecture series to highlight the importance of redefining the role of high education in society. At the direction of President Michael M. Crow, ASU has created the Frank Rhodes Lecture Series on the Creation of the Future: A Lecture Series for a New American University.

The lecture series aims to showcase the New American University vision and what the future might look like.

Impactful and transformational leaders and thinkers will be invited to share their thoughts with the ASU and wider community each semester. The inaugural lecturer will be Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America.

The series is named after Frank Rhodes, former President of Cornell University. Rhodes is considered one of the most important university presidents of the 20th century. His book “The Creation of The Future” played a key role in the creation of the New American University vision.

In the book, Rhodes underscores the importance of the university while also indicating the need for universities to evolve. Said Rhodes, “The distinctive feature of the new American university will still be its commitment to learning in its widest sense.”




NEW BY:http://asunews.asu.edu/20111123_rhodeslecture

Top UK education head slates TV shows like The X Factor for ‘bullying’ and ‘arrogance

One of the UK’s leading educationalists has criticised TV talent shows such the X Factor for "glamorising" bullying and arrogance.

Helen Wright hits out at not just the "banal and mind-numbing" nature of such shows which is "undesirable" - but also their "amorality".

The broadside came today (Monday) from Wright, head of leading girls' school, St Mary's Calne, in Wiltshire, voicing her fears in her role as the president of the Girls' Schools Association, at its annual conference in Bristol.

Sky News reports that Wright also raises concerns about the "easy celebrity" gained by reality TV stars, which can seem appealing to young people lacking a direction in their lives.
"In the X Factor, contestants are encouraged to be at each other's throats, seemingly more so this year than ever," she said.

"Qualities such as bullying and arrogance are glamorised and become synonyms for ambition and drive.

"Young people look up to these so-called stars that have themselves been catapulted into a spotlight which can be far too much for them."

Wrights believes that the explosion of reality TV shows and the culture they promote "strikes at the heart of the way we should be bringing our children up".

She also suggested that the fierce criticism contestants face from judges can promote the message "you can be mean and nasty and that's kind of OK".

In the X Factor, contestants are encouraged to be at each other's throats, seemingly more so this year than ever, she said. Qualities such as bullying and arrogance are glamorised and become synonyms for ambition and drive. 

NEWS BY:http://thedrum.co.uk/news/2011/11/21/top-uk-education-head-slates-tv-shows-%E2%80%98bullying%E2%80%99-and-%E2%80%98arrogance%E2%80%99

Report finds massive fraud at Dutch universities

When colleagues called the work of Dutch psychologist Diederik Stapel too good to be true, they meant it as a compliment. But a preliminary investigative report  released on 31 October gives literal meaning to the phrase, detailing years of data manipulation and blatant fabrication by the prominent Tilburg University researcher.

"We have some 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals where we are actually sure that they are fake, and there are more to come," says Pim Levelt, chair of the committee that investigated Stapel's work at the university.

Stapel's eye-catching studies on aspects of social behaviour such as power and stereo­typing garnered wide press coverage. For example, in a recent Science paper (which the investigation has not identified as fraudulent), Stapel reported that untidy environments encouraged discrimination.

NEWS BY:http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111101/full/479015a.html

The health care debate: popularity, probability, and facts

 Late last week, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a poll showing that Americans have little confidence in the landmark health care reform that President Obama signed into law last year. The Kaiser survey found that just 18 percent of respondents believed that the Affordable Care Act would improve their circumstances; 31 percent said they'd be worse off, while 44 replied that the Act wouldn't make much of a difference in their lives.

With these findings in view, it's certainly no shock that the Kaiser poll also discovered that a majority of Americans--51 percent--take an unfavorable view of the 2010 health-care overhaul, compared to just 34 percent who viewed the measure favorably. These numbers marked a new low in public support for the law, so the Kaiser survey garnered a great deal of media attention.

Political leaders and lawmakers of course do well to heed such trends, since the public's views shape both their own immediate career prospects and the likely course of modification to laws such as the Affordable Care Act. But our political process can also benefit greatly from heeding the findings of prediction markets in such cases.

These markets can help our political class handicap the probability of certain outcomes. (Of course, whether such outcomes match up in any way with either the public's will--or with the will of the majority of the public--is a separate question, which need not detain us here.)

One key prediction market,  Intrade, currently forecasts a 37 percent likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule the health care law's controversial individual mandate is unconstitutional by the end of 2012.

Under the individual mandate, all U.S. citizens are required to have health insurance; the idea behind it is to keep insurance costs down by eliminating what's known as adverse selection in the market for healthcare.

NEWS BY: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/health-care-debate-popularity-probability-facts-161344638.html

Inaugural AU doctorate presented

Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, deputy director of public affairs at Headquarters Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va., accepted the Air University’s first doctorate degree conferred by a Maxwell-based institution.

AU’s Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, has been accredited since the mid-1960’s to confer Ph.D.s.

Sholtis served with Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, then commander, International Security Assistance Force and commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan, and used his experience to develop a dissertation addressing strategy as public discourse.

His doctor of philosophy in military strategy is the first approved by the Department of Education as part of a federal program.

The doctorate degree program is anchored by the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, allowing students to develop a dissertation while on active duty. This period of research and reflection is akin to a practicum or internship.

The official transcript date for the degree will be determined upon notification of Congress by the secretary of defense.

NEWS BY:http://www.maxwellgunterdispatch.com/article/20111118/DISPATCH01/111117022/Inaugural-AU-doctorate-presented

The True Solution to UK Dissertation Writing

Now Then you definately Abandoned Doing this chore Is done at once . reasonably nearby the contract Anyone almost certainly will have Particular assistance.

Product Degree of Instruction At a UK, dissertations can not be competently played Inside the hurry As well Realizing that to you personally At present Understand the right of discovering the assistance of The actual Academics writing providers Like internet writers Write.

copy writers Jot will assist you to Be well placed to Create content in accordance For that hard drive Those of UK dissertations Pretty fast and often will offer the Practical knowledge essential for As well as Requirements to your efforts.

Ideas UK dissertations desire to Read the entire process of Definitely critiqued. To ensure An Custom made In line with the Specs Within the UK hard drive dissertation To achieve success All these tips critiquing Practice Your abodes Choice that you Judge it yourself. And so Comprehensively look at Corporation dissertation You ought to hire Try to get it.

Another paramount component that Discussed Individuals obtaining a degree must carry out apt to Provide you with Within your component Of predominantly UK dissertations Will be the authenticated, confirmed And so Responsible causes of The internet Owners used.

Confirm you Recently been overly aggressive represents for applying an untrustworthy data format In addition to With your a necessity methodology.

NEWS BY:http://www.environmentalsciencearticles.org/life-science-articles/the-true-solution-to-uk-dissertation-writing.html

Ethical hacking course offered by Coventry University

Coventry University is to open an 'Ethical Hacking Lab', the latest UK institution to put money into developing the practical skills that have been in short supply during the cybercrime boom of the last decade.

Coventry's established Applied Research Group (ARG) in Digital Security and Forensics (SaFe), established in 2006, will receive an investment of £20,000 from the University backed up by a further £17,000 of equipment from local penetration testing company Nettitude.

This will result in a lab of 25 PCs with a server, firewall and intrusion detection system (IDS), together able to allow students to simulate attacks on systems in real time.

"Nettitude has also provided guest lectures, placement opportunities, technical expertise and support," said Coventry's senior lecturer in ethical hacking and network security, Brian Moore, underlining the public-private theme of the new facility.

"We can now forge ahead with modules in cloud security and both mobile device and network forensics. This is a very exciting and challenging time for Coventry University, and we hope to become known as the institution of choice in the UK for security and forensics," said Moore.

Coventry is only the latest UK University to embrace ethical hacking as a subject attractive to students. As long ago as 2006, Abertay University in Dundee became the first in the UK to offer a degree-level course in the subject. This year, Northumbria University became another institution to offer a degree course.

NEWS BY:http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifestyle/news/index.cfm?newsid=3315429&pagtype=allchandate

Laura's German essay wins top student award

ONE OF President Mary Mcaleese's final functions in the office she held for 14 years was to present a young Swords woman with a prestigious undergraduate award named after one of Ireland's greatest writers. Laura Sinnott from Swords, was named as one of the 23 winners of the Undergraduate Awards, an awards programme open to undergraduate students on the island of Ireland and, recently, the USA.

Laura was awarded the Oscar Wilde Gold Medal for academic excellence by President Mary Mcaleese, at the Undergraduate Awards Ceremony held at Dublin Castle recently. As the winner of the Undergraduate Awards Languages & Linguistics category, Laura was recognised for her essay entitled ' The audio-visual juxtaposition of Günter Grass' Die Blechtrommel'. Having studied German and History at Trinity College Dublin, Laura was also awarded a scholarship to attend the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture after winning the annual essay competition organised by the Irish Austrian Society in Dublin.

In addition to this, the talent Swords student was awarded the 2011 Carr-jackson Prize by the Department of Germanic Studies at Trinity College Dublin for her undergraduate dissertation on Ingeborg Bachmann's Todesarten-zyklus. She is currently working in Vienna and hopes to do research in the area of Germanic Studies.

There were 2,381 submissions to the 2011 Undergraduate Awards programme, of which only 23 winners were selected. Founded in 2008 by two Trinity graduates, Oisin Hanrahan and Paddy Cosgrave, the Undergraduate Awards programme is open to students in their final or penultimate year on a degree course from every third level institution on the island of Ireland as well as a selection of top universities in the UK, Canada and the USA.

NEWS BY:http://www.fingal-independent.ie/local-notes/lauras-german-essay-wins-top-student-award-2929610.html

Fall convocation gateway to future for 4,400 U of T students

Acclaimed filmmaker Deepa Mehta is one of more than 4,400 extraordinary women and men – gold medal athletes, novelists and global researchers - receiving degrees from the University of Toronto this fall.

Mehta, who receives a Nov. 7 Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, in recognition of her leadership in the arts and her work as a director, producer and screenwriter, studied philosophy as an undergraduate. Higher education “broadens your horizon, helps you explore different areas of your potential interests, and buys you time to get to know yourself,” she said.

Mehta’s notion of taking the time to explore your interests resonates with many students who opted for fall convocation in order to seize opportunities to study abroad, take part in groundbreaking research, or combine challenging academics with exciting extra-curricular opportunities.

Undergraduate Opportunities

For Andi Wilson, 22, the road to fall convocation began with a 2009 summer exchange trip to China with Professor Joseph Wong, director of the Asia Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs.

That experience sparked Wilson’s decision to enroll in a demanding fourth-year senior thesis class, postponing her convocation until fall.


NEWS BY:http://www.news.utoronto.ca/fall-convocation-gateway-future-4400-u-t-students

Ary’s absence slammed at Student Council

Students’ Union president Ary Sharif has been criticised at the first Student Council of the year for his decision to go on leave — while at the same time an undisclosed “serious” review of the union takes place.

Sharif was not present at the meeting, as he has taken his allowance of four weeks unpaid leave to finish his MA dissertation and will be returning on November 1st, but his absence did not go unquestioned.

Dan Derricott, who competed against Sharif in the SU elections, asked: “Do you think it’s appropriate that the president takes so much time off and is still taking photographs in clubs at night at a time when the union is going through quite a lot of change?”

Derricott also complained that Sharif appeared to prioritise his job as a photographer over SU president. He noted that students are not being represented at the highest levels of university meetings, the executive board and the board of governors, where his role cannot be covered by acting president Kayleigh Taylor. Many of Sharif’s other responsibilities have been shared between the other full time officers.

Former RAG officer Phil Krstic said: “It confuses me that he’s mixing being a student and being SU president and how that’s been intermingled. Surely if you’re the SU president that’s your job for the year?”

NEWS BY:http://thelinc.co.uk/2011/10/arys-absence-slammed-at-student-council/

Life sciences: Biomarkers on the brain

Niklas Mattsson had always been interested in cognition and the biology of how it goes awry. Attending medical school to become a neurologist seemed a no-brainer.

But after a year working in a neurology clinic, where many of his patients suffered from Alzheimer's disease, he found that medicine wasn't quite the right fit for him. “I enjoyed working with patients — it was very rewarding,” he says. “But it did not give me the opportunity to really focus on basic disease mechanisms.” Research on animal models or cellular processes also held little allure, because it would take him too far away from the clinic.

So in 2008, he embarked on a joint clinical and research residency in neurochemistry at Sahlgrenska University Hospital at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, where he found his niche in biomarker discovery. “Biomarkers are really in vivo measurements of the pathology of the disease, so it's an opportunity to investigate the disease mechanisms on a patient level,” he says. His dissertation research, which he hopes to defend in December, focuses on protein biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

His work has moved quickly. In 2009, he was the first author on a multi-centre study of 1,500 subjects, which confirmed that levels of three CSF proteins could be used to identify people with Alzheimer's disease (N. Mattsson et al. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 302, 385–393; 2009); it was the largest-ever study of such biomarkers. “I think the area is a very fruitful one for young scientists,” says Mattsson.

NEWS BY:http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2011/111103/full/nj7371-139a.html

After MBA-fees victory, McGill moves on

I can’t think of a major program in Canada that isn’t calling itself ‘integrated’ and ‘international.’ So why is this so unique?

Most programs will assert some degree of an integrated approach and some focus on international. But at McGill, at the core of what we teach, is an integrated model that is team-taught and has thrown away all the individual functional courses – no more accounting, no more finance, no more marketing courses.

Instead we teach a set of modules – for example, one around global leadership and another around managing resources, which combines human resources, information technology and finance. Another is around value creation, which combines marketing and operations. We put the models together at the front and say ‘This is how a business works. We’re going to get you to think big picture right from the beginning before you start to specialize and drill down.’

So can you get accounting?

You will learn accounting going through that [module]. We also have a base camp at the very start, where we actually do some fundamentals in accounting, math for finance, and statistics, to make sure they are up to speed on some basics.

MBA classes from the 1960s and 1970s were often young people from poor backgrounds. What happens to accessibility when you need tens of thousands of dollars of annual tuition?

I understand the sentiment, but in our own program, an MBA student is quite different than 20, 30 or 40 years ago. They all have work experience, and coming in they have an average salary of about $50,000 a year. They’ve been off working an average of about five years.




NEWS BY:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/business-education/after-mba-fees-victory-mcgill-moves-on/article2222627/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2222627

Report finds massive fraud at Dutch universities

When colleagues called the work of Dutch psychologist Diederik Stapel too good to be true, they meant it as a compliment. But a preliminary investigative report  released on 31 October gives literal meaning to the phrase, detailing years of data manipulation and blatant fabrication by the prominent Tilburg University researcher.
"We have some 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals where we are actually sure that they are fake, and there are more to come," says Pim Levelt, chair of the committee that investigated Stapel's work at the university.
Stapel's eye-catching studies on aspects of social behaviour such as power and stereo­typing garnered wide press coverage. For example, in a recent Science paper (which the investigation has not identified as fraudulent), Stapel reported that untidy environments encouraged discrimination .

"Somebody used the word 'wunderkind'," says Miles Hewstone, a social psychologist at the University of Oxford, UK. "He was one of the bright thrusting young stars of Dutch social psychology — highly published, highly cited, prize-winning, worked with lots of people, and very well thought of in the field."
In early September, however, Stapel was suspended from his position as dean of the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences over suspicions of research fraud. In late August, three young researchers under Stapel's supervision had found irregularities in published data and notified the head of the social-psychology department, Marcel Zeelenberg. Levelt's committee joined up with sister committees at the universities of Groningen and Amsterdam, where Stapel has also worked, to produce the report. They are now combing through his publications and their supporting data, and interviewing collaborators, to map out the full extent of the misconduct.


NEWS BY:http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111101/full/479015a.html

Cathedral venue for IBS ceremony

A graduation ceremony has been held for 70 local students who have completed their studies at the International Business School.

Hundreds of guests, including academic staff, VIPs, supporters of the IBS and relatives gathered at St German's Cathedral in Peel for the event.

The congregation was addressed by acting director of the IBS Dr Jacqueline Yates, and Professor Paul Joyce from Liverpool John Moores University admitted the students to their degrees and diplomas.

Qualifications were awarded in six business disciplines, including an honours degree and a post-graduate diploma, both in business administration.

Qualifications from the Chartered Institutes of Marketing and Personnel and Development were gained.

This year's outstanding student was Christa Worth who received the Deloitte prize for Best Overall Undergraduate Student and the Britannia International Prize for Exceptional Performance for an Dissertation.

The graduation ceremony was held on Friday. 

NEWS BY:http://www.manxradio.com/newsread.aspx?id=55823

Receptionists 'key' to safe repeat prescription process

GP receptionists play a "hidden" role in ensuring patients get the correct treatments when they need them, says a study in the British Medical Journal.

Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London, analysed how four UK surgeries organised repeat prescriptions.

They found that receptionists used their knowledge and experience to make a computer-based process run safely.

Training should not just focus on technology, says the study.

Repeat prescriptions are defined as prescriptions issued without a consultation between the GP and patient.

They account for up to three-quarters of all drugs prescribed and four-fifths of drug costs in UK general practice. Around half of all registered patients receive treatment by repeat prescription and rates are rising, the authors of the study say.

With electronic records and computer systems in most GP practices, patients assume that issuing these prescriptions is a simple, automated process.

But this study, in which researchers spent 395 hours directly observing the work of receptionists and other administrative staff, found repeat prescribing to be a complex, technology-supported social practice, requiring collaboration between clinicians and administrative staff.

NEWS BY:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15572990

UK and China embark on education partnership

“This new action plan will help us build a range of sustainable partnerships between our nations’ universities.

“This will involve a number of exciting new programmes that aim to increase the mobility of students, teachers and practitioners between our countries, including a work placement pilot and an enhanced ‘Study in China’ programme commencing in 2012.“

Minister for Skills John Hayes talking about the Vocational Education strand of the action plan said:

This is an exciting opportunity to explore new ways of collaborating between industry and education institutions. We’re looking forward to discovering possible approaches to piloting a UK apprenticeship programme in China during 2012.”

The Summit will be chaired by the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove with the Minister for Universities and Science David Willets opening a Higher Education Roundtable attended by a number of UK University Vice-Chancellors.

The action plan that will be agreed at today’s summit will take forward the education framework agreement signed in November last year by Michael Gove and China’s Minister for Education Yuan Guiren.

In addition to the action plan, a number of universities are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), further strengthening the links with China.


NEWS BY:http://www.investinuk.net/news/uk-and-china-embark-education-partnership-45d8