The future of higher education

DIUS is currently developing a framework policy for Higher Education for the next ten to fifteen years. In developing this policy, a number of independent individuals and organisations were asked to think about the long-term challenges facing the sector. This has resulted in a number of reports on issues such as 'Research Careers', 'Intellectual Property and research benefits' and 'Understanding Higher Education Institutional Performance'. These reports are available to comment on through the website. Don't miss this important opportunity to make your opinion heard as the policy develops.

Visit the DIUS website and get involved.

Extra Points For Effort

Academics from Durham University have analysed data from nearly 1 million school pupils and found that it was much more difficult to earn top grades in some subjects than in others, THES reports. The researchers concluded that subjects such as physics, chemistry and biology at A level are a whole grade harder than drama, sociology and media studies.

Read the THES story in full

The beginning of the end for science A-levels?

Newcastle University has announced plans which will allow students onto science degree courses without A-levels. A-levels will be replaced by degree-level courses with the Open University, allowing students to become used to the university style of modular learning. It is hoped that this option will combat the perception that science subjects are too hard, which results in many talented students dropping science and maths subjects in the sixth-form. At present 60 places at the university are being set aside for students who opt for this approach.

'Heather Finlayson, dean of undergraduate studies at Newcastle, said: "This new route is not an easy option – it's simply a different way of working. Our overall aim is to try to increase the number of high quality science students who would benefit from a university education and we believe this is one way to do that."'

Read the full article from the Independent

RAE decision rationale to be destroyed

THES is reporting that the panels assessing academics' work as part of the RAE have been instructed to destroy all records of how decisions have been made. The move has been motivated by the desire to avoid post-RAE challenges to decisions through freedom of information or data protection laws. One panel member is quoted as saying, '"It is for own our good. The process could become an absolute nightmare if departmental heads or institutions chose to challenge the panels and this information was available"'.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=401501

Where have all the students gone?

The Independent has picked up on a report published by the Royal Society earlier this year which found that there has been a significant drop in the proportion of UK students studying doctorates in science from 65% to 57%. This drop is in contrast with the total number of PhDs being awarded in UK which has increased, due largely to the amount of EU and overseas student coming to study in the UK.



Judith Howard, chair of the Royal Society's higher education working group is quoted as saying, '"We have to be concerned and we have to be concerned now. There could be a lot of consequences for the economy."' The Royal Society would like to see incentives for students to take science, such as bursaries and reduced fees. It also believes increasing the time it takes to achieve a PhD should be increased from seven to eight years, in order to compete with other countries in the Bologna accord.


http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/postgraduate-study/how-can-the-hard-sciences-attract-more-phd-students-806720.html

Comfortable in the middle

Data published by Research Fortnight shows that between the financial years 2005-6 and 2006-7 it was second-tier institutions (e.g. York, Reading and Bath) that received the largest increase in funding. Analysis shows that 'the Russell Group's share of total grant funding fell from 72.5% to 66.8% between 2005-6 and 2006-7, while the share of the 1994 group, the coalition of smaller research-intensive universities, rose from 14.6% to 17.1%'.

Steve Smith, chairman of the 1994 group is quoted as saying'"The area where the 1994 Group traditionally lagged was research grants per member of staff. Now everyone is realising that metrics are coming in, and grant income has become an absolute priority."'

http://www.researchresearch.com/

REF: The verdict

The division in the way that science and humanities subjects are to be judged and the tight timescale in which the framework is to be implemented have emerged as the top concerns in the responses to the REF consultation.

Nick Dusic, director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering is quoted as saying, "The REF should retain an element of peer review to minimise any undesirable effects of metrics and to assess research outputs that cannot be quantified with a metric".

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=400608

REF to cause reshuffle?

Research undertaken by Cranfield University suggests that the new Research Excellence Framework could cause significant hierachial changes to the order currently generated from the Research Assessment Exercise.

The research council funded exercise took all research submissions for the 2001 RAE and determined citation counts using the methodologies laid out in the REF consultation. The study found that there is a good correlation in six out of 28 subjects, but 13 have a weak correlation and 9 showed no correlation at all. Individual universities' performance was examined in two science subjects (chemistry and a branch of engineering) and large differences were found.

In the in depth chemistry analysis, University of Surrey and Swansea University dropped dramatically, where as Northumbria University showed a great improvement.

HEFCE has dismissed the study and a spokesman is quoted by THES as saying, "It only takes into account only four publications per researcher; it makes no allowance for variation in citation between sub-disciplines; and it presents the outcomes as summary grades rather than quality profiles."