I studied at Kyoto University for four years as an undergraduate student. Now I will try to share my experiences.

General

Some basic information you may already know: Kyoto University is the second oldest Imperial University in Japan and as such it is quite prestigious among Japanese. It is usually ranked 20-23 in the world; sadly usually after Todai. However, I by no means think that Kyodai is worse than U of Tokyo (and just to dispel some misconceptions: students who study at Kyoto do not study there because they could not get into Todai; most chose Kyodai over Todai because it was closer to home or better in their discipline). If you would like to draw a comparison, I would say Kyoto University is like Cambridge (very strong in sciences and humanities and very research focused with liberal attitudes) and University of Tokyo is like Oxford (very good in politics, law and probably social sciences and a little bit conservative).

Location

The university has several campuses scattered in and around Kyoto. The main campus in the eastern side of the city with very good shops and restaurants around, thus if you live near you can find everything in a few minutes walk. However, if you want to go to club or to a specialist shop, the city centre (Shijo or Sanjo) is also very close, about 20-25 min. walking. The buildings are in excellent condition; they are renovating them continuously (or building new ones; e.g. the Faculty of Integrated Human Studies’ campus is quite new).

The Department of Engineering also has very new campus in the opposite side of the city, but there is a regular free bus service from the main campus (every other department is in the main campus(es)).

Sadly Kyodai does not have many dormitory places, thus most of the students are in private accommodation (the rent is not very expensive and there are many opportunities around the university). I was lucky enough to get a place in one of the new dormitories for foreign students for six months, but it was very far from the main campus. Of course, if you like challenges you could apply for the Yoshida dormitory, which is not in a very good shape (but hopefully it will be renovated in the coming years) and reflects the old style Japanese university dorms (it was built in 1913).

Note: The university is about 10 minutes from the nearest train station. Most of the Kyotonians use bike and/or bus.

Education

As I studied in the Faculty of Letters the following information will be more specific, but I believe the other faculties have very similar systems.

First of all, you have to keep in mind that, as wikipedia says, Kyodai advocates the “spirit of freedom” (「自由の学風」) in the academics and it is very true. There is not many things that is prescribed here (only the number of credits you have to have and a few credit quotas, but you decide when and what you want to take): you choose what classes you want to take, what specialization you want to have, what you want to write your thesis about and what you want to do your research on. It is a very hands-off teaching style. However, the professors are there to guide you and help when they can. Here, I would like to dispel another misconception: the teachers are not hard-asses, they do not want to make your life miserable and they do not hate foreigners (they understand that you are a foreigner; they are researchers as well as teachers and see you as a future-colleague). All of my teachers were/are very helpful and understanding.

There are many kinds of classes but there are two big groups: lectures and seminars. As you may well know, lectures tend to introduce the give topic and seminars are more or less discussions in smaller groups. In the Faculty of Letters you had to take liberal art and faculty classes. Thus, during liberal art classes you can taste other subjects, which are perhaps not very close to your (e.g. if you are an arts student you can take classes on astronomy or space environment) major and faculty classes tend to focus on your specialization. There are two kinds of evaluations: exam and paper. Exams are held usually at the end of the semester (or year) and last for a few hours. Papers usually involve research elements. In a few cases it is enough to have attendance or there are little tests during classes.

If you are now in the middle of choosing university, keep in mind that there are many faculties in Kyodai and all of them are very prestigious. As I wrote above the university promotes forward thinking research. Thus it is not surprising that the “newer” Faculty of Integrated Human Studies offers many interdisciplinary courses that are rather relevant nowadays at Western European universities as well.

Student life

The first thing to keep in mind is that there are a very, very few foreign students at Kyodai (when I was there, there were only three undergrad foreigners in the whole Faculty of Letters), especially at undergraduate level. Thus, if you want to immerse into the Japanese culture totally, this is the perfect place for you. However, the scarcity of foreigners also means that the students are not very used to gaikokujins thus some time they do not know what to do with us or where to place us. This of course results in many awkward situations (you have to be proactive). Moreover, the first few months could be especially difficult without foreign friends who you can relate to.

The whole student life could be very vibrant; there are many clubs and circles. I will not detail here what kind of clubs there are, as I am sure you can find one for your liking.

Conclusion

My only problem was with the socialization with the Japanese students, but if you go to Kyoto with one of your friends from gaidai, I am sure the transition period will be much, much easier. Furthermore, be proactive and go to circles, most Japanese students socialize there (clubs are much more difficult; I was advised against joining any if I wanted to finish the university in four years). Of course you have to study a lot, if you want to have good grades, it is not a free ride.

Overall it was a good experience for me. I think the teaching and academic aspect of the university is quite outstanding. Moreover, the academic staff is very, very helpful and welcoming.

I recommend Kyodai to everyone who want to study at an excellent university.

Poznan (Latin Posnania, German: Posen, Yiddish Pojzn, to preserve the traditions of the festive occasions using the name: Capital City of Poznań) – one of the oldest and largest Polish cities (in terms of population, fifth, sixth in terms of area) , situated on the Warta River. The capital of Wielkopolska, Wielkopolskie Province and the Archdiocese of Poznan. Poznan is located between Berlin and Warsaw and is an important road and rail junction in the country, also has an international airport.

Poznan was one of the most important religious centers of capital and the Piast state in X and XI century, in the past served as a state capital and seat of kings. Regulation of President Lech Kaczynski on December 11, 2008 Poznan was – a historical monument for the city team history.

Currently, Poznan is a dynamic center of economic, academic, scientific and cultural. A large industrial center (Poznanski Industrial District) and services, the annual International Fair Ground. According to external evaluations carried out by rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, in terms of credibility for investors slightly inferior much larger Warsaw.

In Poznan operates eight state universities (including 4 universities) and seventeen private universities, education, including nearly 133 thousand. students. Per 1000 population falls 221 students – among the large Polish cities of Poznan is in this respect, the first place.

Another view on Honorary Degrees

Following an earlier post, here we have a slightly different take, this time from the Daily Mail:

Degree day at a university in 21st-century Britain…’And our honorary doctorates this year,’ he intones, ‘go to . . .’ And the crowd tenses, expecting the name of some international polymath with numerous and learned achievements to his credit. Who will it be? Internet inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee? Pianist Alfred Brendel? Mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah? Dream on.

‘Our honorary doctorates this year go to . . . Mr Dickie Bird, Mr Murray Walker, Miss Cilla Black and Monsieur Raymond Blanc.’

With which the whole edifice of university intellectualism collapses like a bouncy castle the moment its electric blower has been switched off at a kiddies’ birthday party. Honorary doctorates could be the most prized academic possessions, but in our egalitarianised education system their potency has been trashed.

Whilst it is something of an overstatement to suggest that Honorary Degrees have ever been central to the academic standing of universities, celebrities are certainly more frequent recipients than they used to be. Not sure that this is a manifestation of some form of misplaced egalitarianism though. Nor is the ’solution’ to make Simon Cowell Secretary of State.

via X Factor’s Simon Cowell for Secretary of State for Education?.

See also recent podcast on this topic.

// FIGHT FOR YOUR FUTURE // More Jobs. More Pay. More Opportunities //
- The right to a decent job for all, with a living wage of at least £8 an hour.
- No to university fees. Support the Campaign to Defeat the Fees
- No to cheap labour apprenticeships. For all apprenticeships to pay at least the minimum wage, with a job guaranteed at the end.
www.youthfightforjobs.com


// 1,000 Demonstrate in London //
29th November 2009
Yesterday’s protest in central London went very well, thanks to all who put the time and effort into building this, and also many thanks to the trade unionists who gave us so much support. Roughly 1,000 of us carrying red flags and banners marched through Westminster and past the House of Parliament. Many thousands also turned out to watch the procession pass. Several comrades paid a visit to Downing Street to hand the petitions we’ve been building up over the months. Unfortunately, Gordon Brown wasn’t there, so one of his servants received the petitions instead.
Also, the demonstration was covered by the BBC, and an article can be found on the BBC web site.
Our education system is slowly being destroyed by the unelected Peter Mandelson and an unelected panel of business leaders and bank executives. They are talking of doubling tuition fees and massive cuts are already being made to a number of universities around the UK.
Youth Fight for Jobs is fighting for the right to free education for everyone, and an end to the running of the educational system by business.

So, where do we go from here? This is just the beginning of the YFFJ campaign, and we’ll be doing the following:
- Supporting the college and university staff while they are on strike and on the pickets.
- Putting forward candidates for election. We’ll explain to students and youth what’s happening to the education system and why.
- Continue building the YFFJ campaign, especially in areas around the UK.


Our campaign is supported by the RMT, PCS, CWU, Lindsey Oil Refinery strike workers, Vestas workers, the Socialist Party and many others.

The Ph.D. Problem: On the professionalization of faculty life, doctoral training, and the academy’s self-renewal.

* A Little-Known Occupational Hazard Affecting Writers: writing (or wanting to write) outside your field.

* When Great Artists Dry Up.

* Cellphones, Texts, and Lovers, on how technology is or is not reshaping romance in the digital age. I don’t really buy the argument, but I find it suggestive nonetheless.

* James Fallows has a typically nuanced, brilliant series on Obama’s trip to Asia, and especially its Chinese implications.

* Das Keyboard is sponsoring the Ultimate Typing Championship. Do you have the “fiercest typing skills around?” Me neither. But those who do can win $2,000 at the SXSW festival in Austin. The e-mail I got says, “Oh, and don’t forget to sign-up yourself to compete! At a minimum, it’s an opportunity for bragging rights among your friends and co-workers. “

Alas: I’m a relatively slow typist at 50-ish WPM. Usually the problem isn’t typing speed—it’s thinking speed, and I haven’t found a hardware solution for that yet.

* Local Bookstores, Social Hubs, and Mutualization. Like me, Clay Shirky finds it more than a little difficult to believe that cheap hardcover books are bad for readers, even if they might be bad for publishers as they currently exist.

* What the iPod tells us about Britain’s economic future.

* Secret copyright treaty leaks, and it’s bad. Very bad.

* Sunday afternoon at the Shenzhen Public Library. As James Fallows says at the link, “No wonder Shenzhen is on the rise.”

* Gossip Girl might be worth watching again.

* Are too many students going to college?

* Learn your damn homophones.

* No one wants America to be the sole global superpower, but no one wants to share the load.

* I love it: the bookstore Lorem Ipsum is having an “anti-sale.” As they say: “Everyone like’s a sale, right? But does anyone like an anti-sale? We hope so!

What’s an anti-sale, you ask? It’s when nothing in the store is on sale. We’re proud to announce that none of our items are on sale, instead they are for purchase for regular price. We think it’s ground-breaking.”

* Inculcating a Love for Reading: Children’s books that might help repel the armies of electronic distraction.

* From Oxford to Wall Street: what the rising number of Rhodes Scholars in business and finance means. Or, according to actual Rhodes scholar, maybe not.

* Are U.S. Wages Too High?

* Why are some cities more entrepreneurial than others?

* The Writing Habits of Great Authors.

* Hilarious search query of the day that brought someone to The Story’s Story: “bookworms sex.”

All this time you thought
it was about teaching your
Sherman and Abigail to READ.

The University of Minnesota is purging the incoming teaching classes of cultural biases. It’s “for the children” as you know, dumbing them down makes them malleable.

Denounce exclusionary biases and embrace the vision. (Or else.)

Do you believe in the American dream — the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools — at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus.

In a report compiled last summer, the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U’s College of Education and Human Development recommended that aspiring teachers there must repudiate the notion of “the American Dream” in order to obtain the recommendation for licensure required by the Minnesota Board of Teaching. Instead, teacher candidates must embrace — and be prepared to teach our state’s kids — the task force’s own vision of America as an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic. [snip] (emphasis added)

Sound familiar?

Does this have a pinkish tinge of Mao wowism?
Adjusting the purity level of your kids thoughts can’t be accomplished if the Teach’s mind is clogged with impure crap.

Hace algunos días durante los últimos minutos de la conferencia “The Progress of Freedom: The Future of the Movement (link a la conferencia)” escuché el comentario del sacerdote católico Robert Sirico del Instituto Acton y Alejandro Chafuen del Atlas Economic  Research Foundation que leía algo similar a: “la religión ha sido importantísima para el desarrollo de una sociedad de hombres libres”.

Cuando escuché eso casi me caigo de la silla y empiezo a reir/llorar.

Porque una sociedad de hombres libres se fundamenta en el respeto de los individuos, en la libertad que tienen de actuar y opinar, en el reconocimiento de la vida como el valor más alto de los seres humanos, y en aceptar que la   razón es el único medio por el cual los humanos entendemos la realidad.

Sin embargo, lo anterior nunca ha sido defendido, apoyado, protegido y/o aprobado por ninguna religión.  Al contrario, todas las religiones que han existido condenan a los hombres al pecado, la ignorancia, la relatividad, el castigo y el sufrimiento.  Las religiones han sobrevivido únicamente a costa del sacrificio de los seres humanos y el cristianismo es el mejor ejemplo de cómo a costa de muchas muertes y sufrimiento se han convertido en la religión con más feligreses en el mundo luego de 2,000 años de imponer terror.

Las religiones comparten todas la prohibición y negación de las libertades individuales, el irrespeto a la vida humana y el sacrificio de la felicidad de los hombres con la promesa de una futura vida eterna (las más sensatas sólo dicen que los hombres reencarnarán en sapos o árboles).

Las religiones y sus dogmas fueron, son y serán siempre incompatibles con la libertad y/o con la búsqueda de la felicidad a las que todos los seres humanos coherentes aspiramos.  Por fortuna, el poder de las religiones ya no es impuesto de la misma manera en que lo era hace no más de 50 años… el problema es que de nuevo, tratan de engañarnos y vendernos “historias divinas” en las que la religión parece haber sido la que nos rescató de la barbarie.

No nos dejemos engañar; estudiemos y conozcamos la inmensa lista de actos inmorales y crímenes contra la humanidad que las religiones han cometido a lo largo de la historia.  Somos personas inteligentes y es hora de responsabilizar a quienes tanto daño han hecho.

From DeseretNews.com:

“The elimination of the Women’s Research Institute affects a lot of people,” said senior Kathryn Vaggalis, a women’s studies minor. “It strikes a chord within us. A 31-year-old program suddenly cut without warning or publicity is kind of iffy, and we’re trying to figure out the reason why.”

Read more here.

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 640

“The rector of the Chamkar Doung Royal University of Agriculture, Mr. Chan Nareth, is accused by lecturers working under his administration of being involved in corruption to take between US$300,000 and US$400,000 university resources each year.

“A local website wrote, following the claims of many lecturers, staff, and civil servants of the university, that Mr. Chan Nareth took the money, income of the university, for himself alone, while lecturers, staff, and civil servants receive only small salaries that cannot even support their daily living expenses.

“The lecturers describe on the website their accusation against the university rector Chan Nareth, claiming he commits corruption for his own interest, and at present he has luxury cars and several residencies.

“The Royal University of Agriculture is located in the Meanchey district of Phnom Penh; it is also called the Chamkar Doung School or the Chamkar Doung University of Agriculture.

“The lecturer Chhum Phetlun wrote on the website that since 1999, this university started to charge tuition fees from its students, for the studies that began in 2000, so it brings in US$300,000 to US$400,000 each year. This large amount of resources was not shared with lecturers, staff, and civil servants of the university to assist their family livelihood, but Rector Chan Nareth took it alone. Because they can no longer bear the greed of their director, they decided to disclose this case through the media in order to inform the leaders so that they take action to seek justice for lecturers, staff, and civil servants of the university.

“Earlier on, 72 lecturers, staff, and civil servants had thumbprinted a demand addressed to Mr. Chan Nareth to add US$6 per hour to the hourly remuneration decided by the state [for the lecturer's remuneration], and to add additional payments for civil servants, who earn US$80 per month, and for other staff who earn US$50 per month, starting from 2010.

“The lecturer Chhum Phetlun added that previously, being afraid of the power and influence of Rector Chan Nareth, all lecturers, staff and civil servants did not dare to protest, or to report anything to higher level leaders. But now, because of the rector’s greed to take US$300,000 to US$400,000 per year for himself alone, they cannot stand it any longer, and are not afraid any longer, and they decided to report it to the media to help to bring this message to the leaders, especially to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Mr. Chan Sarun, to learn about the difficulties of lecturers, staff, and civil servants of the Royal University of Agriculture of Chamkar Doung.

“Adding up the amounts of US$300,000 to US$400,000 each year from 2000 to 2009, it comes to as much as US$2,700,000 to US$3,600,000.

“Yesterday [26 November 2009] Khmer Machas Srok could not reach Rector Chan Nareth, who is being accused, for a comment.

“Analysts said that in this case, Mr. Chan Nareth probably did not dare to take the money alone, there must be some other higher leaders with whom he shared it, so that he can be happy above the pile of difficulties of many lecturers, civil servants, staff, and workers.

“Therefore, they wait to see what measures the higher level leaders of the relevant institutions, especially the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Chan Sarun, and the Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Keat Chhon, will take on Mr. Chan Nareth, if this scandal is true.” Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.3, #540, 27.11.2009

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Friday, 27 November 2009

Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #347, 27.11.2009

• Two Boys, Seven and Eight Years Old, Are Accused of Raping a 5 Year-Old Girl [Banteay Meanchey]
• Two Girls [13 and 14 years old] Died in a Pond when They Took Clothes there to Wash [Kandal]

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2109, 27.11.2009

• Soldiers Patrolled the Border and Stepped on a Mine Left from Wartime, Resulting in One Death and One Injured in Thma Da Commune [Pursat]

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.3, #540, 27.11.2009

• Lecturers of the Chamkar Doung Royal University of Agriculture Wait to See How Chan Sarun Takes Action against Chan Nareth

Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #6816, 27.11.2009

• Asia Pacific Regional Conference about the Prevention of Violence against Woman and Children Was Held [in Siem Reap; and a 16-Day Campaign to combat violence against women and children was launched]
• Terrible Trick: [Three] Men Cheated a Woman to a Guesthouse; Some Raped Her and Some Took Pictures of Her [Nude] Body to Extort Money from Her [they were all arrested - Phnom Penh]

Phnom Penh Post [Khmer Edition], Vol.1, #55, 27.11.2009

• Duch Hearings Will Finish Today and the Judgment Will Be Announced in 2010
• A/H1N1 Has Killed Five People [and the number of infected people has increased to 472 in Cambodia]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5058, 27.11.2009

• A Thai Official from the Ministry of Defense and the Mother of the Thai Alleged Spy Will Meet Him Today
• Robbers Shot to Rob a New Series Motorbike [then they escaped; the victim died at a hospital - Phnom Penh]
• Siamese [Thai] Police Found 6,000 Explosives and 8 Guns Prepared to Welcome [Thai Prime Minister] Abhisit Vijjajiva [during his visit to Chiang Mai]
• Vietnam Approved the Plan to Create a Nuclear Power Electricity Generation Plant

Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.
And please recommend us also to your colleagues and friends.

Back to top

A league table with a slightly different emphasis


Top 10 of the Top 100 Global universities ranking:

1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

2 California Institute of Technology, USA

3 University of Tokyo, Japan

4 Columbia University, USA

5 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

6 Harvard University, USA

7 Stanford University, USA

8 University of Cambridge, UK

9 Johns Hopkins University, USA

10 University of Chicago, USA

via Top 100 Global universities ranking.

Some of the places in the top 100 are filled by Russian institutions which tend not to feature so prominently in other global league tables. The methodology seems to be based on the views of a panel of experts but is pretty opaque. Having said that, many of the universities in the 100 are the same as in the SJTU and THE tables.

Suspect this one won’t catch on.

As furious as the One may get, leaks at the White House cannot be stopped. This purloined  chart, the centerpiece of Obama’s presentation at Copenhagen is in the public domain, to his extreme wrath.

Both Obama and Gore, holders of the most esteemed prize known to mankind, given only for advancing TRUTH AND LIGHT, spent untold hours ginning up this scientific masterpiece.

The Newcastle University Graduate Skills Framework was developed and tested with employers of Newcastle University graduates to determine how important they consider specific skills to be to the future of their business. The results from the 131 organisations that took part show that over 80% of employers consider personal enterprise, the ability to respond to opportunities and initiate change in order to drive continuous improvement, very important or important. In addition 75% of respondents thought the same about commercial acumen, the ability to recognise, utilise and create opportunities in order to contribute to achieving organisational goals.

These results are supported by the recent CBI report ‘ Preparing graduates for the world of work’ (2009). “ Newcastle University Graduate Skills Framework 2007 .

On the 15th December hear how current postgraduate research students, staff and graduates are developing and using enterprising and entrepreneurial skills to progress their career ranging from the application of bespoke training and experiential learning to the start-up of commercial and social enterprises from their research.’

‘Enterprising skills and entrepreneurial behaviour are widely recognised as important elements of success in a wide range of sectors and professions including research. What does this mean for you? How might you take advantage of the ‘culture of enterprise’ and the opportunities it offers to enhance your career prospects?

Inspectors from the Ministry of Education and Training will check the enrollment rate at 25 colleges and 10 universities around the country to ensure they do not take in more students than permitted.

Students take part in the 2009 university entrance exam (Photo: SGGP)

The colleges and universities chosen for the exercise that will last from November 25 to December 20 are mostly private.

Earlier, the Ministry of Education and Training fined the newly-established Phan Thiet University VND60 million (US$3,366) for admitting more students than allowed.

It also ordered the university to take disciplinary action against officials responsible for this.

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As with any religion, to put an end to the folly, one needs a crucifixion.
I’m all for that…

Lets have one

I wonder if he can see his house and boat from up there?

According to an article released by Rutgers University’s Media Relations department, Rutgers University Press is one of four universities in the tri-state area to receive the Mellon Foundation Planning Grant, for an e-book initiative. The article said electronic books have not yet been readily implemented for widespread use in universities, a statement which I, as a Rutgers student, can vouch for. e-books would be super convenient, especially if the makers of e-book readers, such as the Kindle, would offer a student purchasing discount.

However, it is refreshing to know their is an initiative in place for students only. The initiative is to start out with electronic books, that may or may not be packaged with a print version while the transition is new, for classroom use. It may later expand for consumer use as well. The release said the planning grant will guide the presses with recommendations to print a minimum of 10,000 e-books. The Press also hopes to add up to five more university presses that range in size in the first year, and five to 10 each year for the next five years.

College students in California are protesting, but not against a war or for a social cause. Rather, they are motivated by the threat of a 32% tuition increase. While this large of an increase is unusual, college tuition generally has increased across the nation.

Some of the tuition increases are due to what are clearly legitimate factors: colleges have had to pay more for energy, maintenance, building, equipment and salaries, thus creating a need for more income. Of course, there are also concerns that the tuition hikes are due to other factors. To be specific, schools (like all organizations) suffer from administrator bloating (that is, more and more administrators are hired and are paid ever increasing salaries), corruption, and waste. Because of such factors, the operating expenses of schools increase in ways that do not add to the quality of education. Clearly these sorts of costs should be reduced. Equally clear is the fact that these costs are often the hardest to reduce. After all, the folks who make most of the budget decisions are administrators and they generally do not decide to reduce their salaries or their numbers. Corruption and waste are also notoriously difficult to weed out.

Not surprisingly, one proposed way to counter tuition increases is to increase the federal and state aid to students. While this would lower the financial burden for these students, it merely moves the financial burden rather than reducing costs. After all, the federal and state money has to ultimately be provided by taxpayers (loans from China and other places do have to be paid back eventually). To make matters worse, the more federal and state money that is available, the less incentive schools have to reduce tuition. This is because this government money (that is, taxpayer money) shifts the financial pain and dilutes it across the tax paying population.

While I do think that government support for students can be an excellent use of tax money (far better than spending on pork, bailouts, and other spawns of corruption), it is important to be careful with this money. After all, if such money enables schools to get away with tuition hikes, then the students who lack such aid will be in even more dire straits. What is needed is a combination of government aid and a reform of the schools to lower costs.

While education is generally the best investment a person can make, this does not justify overpaying for education.  As such, it is wise to shop around in order to find the best education for the cost. My own experience in education is that while the high priced schools do provide students with a degree of prestige, the quality of education is not always directly proportional to what the student pays.

Melissa Gregg, one of the better young researchers in the country, has done a lot of good work researching the precarious working lives of tech-savvy professionals.

Now she’s written a fine piece in New Matilda about the dire  state of the Australian higher education sector for junior academics:

s the system currently stands, junior scholars are asked to prove their worth to universities in ways that those hiring them never had to. The heads of search committees today didn’t even need a PhD to start their career, yet devise intricate formulae for assessing the accomplishments of those seeking to follow their example.

A book, multiple journal articles and a history of grant funding is now usually necessaryon top of a completed dissertation to make a shortlist after graduating. How it is possible to achieve any of these things, when handing in a thesis also means handing in any claim for library access, desk space or institutional support? The industry has divested the responsibility of training their smartest students to a level where they can gain access to sustainable long-term employment.

And of course, for those who do make it in the door, life isn’t exactly a picnic.

A recent survey of academics at one Sydney university showed a 100 per cent response rate when asked if they worked on weekends. My own research in the past few years has shown how tenured life involves a never-ending series of online administrative tasks that consume work and home life. All too rarely are these duties punctuated with face-to-face contact with colleagues and students — often the principal motivation for scholars to aspire to the job in the first place.

The situation Gregg describes is structural, owing to the sustained reduction in public funding per student since John Howard’s government took office in 1996.

But all is not lost. Other aspects of the higher education sector in Australia mean the long-term future for academics such as Gregg are relatively rosy. The Australian higher education workforce is ageing rapidly, and many senior staff will retire in the next 5-10 years. At that point, universities will have no choice but to embark on sustained hiring campaigns, simply in order to replace their current staff.

And let’s not forget that the lifetime income benefits accruing to those who gain higher degrees are very substantial. A robust literature has demonstrated that people who graduate with bachelors degrees earn significantly higher incomes across their lives than those who only complete high school.

When everybody else stopped spending in 2008, post-secondary institutions ramped their outdoor and transit budgets (at least in the GTA). Among the dearth of patronizing creatives, SAIT – to me – wins best in positioning.

What a GREAT idea. No point showing the rest.

Last Friday, about 35 of us got together at Ohio State for an informal symposium about the local implications of Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age, which was the final report of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy.  As the Commission’s former executive director, I had the privilege of starting the day with a brief history of the Commission’s work and a summary of some of its key themes.  (Full remarks here.) 

 In addition, however, I posed the following question to those present:  What would it be like to organize an entire college or university education around the idea of journalism?  Here is the portion of my talk that addressed this idea:

 “I am not talking here about what we think of as vocational journalism education.  The idea is not to make everyone a professional editor or reporter.  I am talking, instead, about conceiving an entire program of liberal education that takes as its central theme the idea that the new media phenomenon is potentially making everyone a journalist.  Thus, for both students and faculty, it is critical to be able to analyze media products and to have the skills to help meet the challenge of arriving at ‘truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account[s]‘ of a day’s local community events ‘in a context which gives them meaning.’  (I am borrowing here the definition of news from the 1947 Hutchins Commission.)    What would such an educational program look like?

 “We could imagine freshman writing courses devoted to some combination of news literacy and training in reportage.  Students would have to learn something about who makes what decisions for the local community and what rights and capacities everyday citizens have to obtain information.  They would have to learn about how to make technical matters accessible for a general audience.  They would have to learn to evaluate information sources.  Some might go on to be the campus equivalent of professional journalists, working for a student paper, radio station, or television outlet.  Others might become bloggers or just better online commenters on the blogs of others.  Perhaps some would form expert networks that would check on the accuracy of stories in mainstream media or offer their services in vetting professionally produced stories within their areas of expertise.  Is something like this imaginable?  Maybe even in, say, a state capital, where there would be lots and lots of government stories to tell at local, state and regional levels of decision making?  . . .

 “[A key insight of the Knight Commission] is that we need not just to preserve journalism where it exists; we need to create it where it does not.  . . .[Moreover,] the production of local news has always depended on some form of subsidy, and markets without subsidies will not produce enough journalism to keep people informed on public issues.  We will certainly not have enough investigating and exposing corruption and neglect by the powerful.

 “Of course, this is not to deny the flowering of many local experiments that are doing good work based on combining support from advertising, individual philanthropists, foundations, corporate sponsorships, and citizen “members,” but I wonder both about their staying power (especially in smaller communities) and their scope.  I am thus especially interested in the prospects for other anchor institutions in local communities to provide ongoing social support for the gathering and dissemination of local news.  I am looking for the kind of resource stability that will support what two noted authors have described as not just ‘information, but . . .news judgment oriented to a public agenda and a general audience.’ 

 “And that brings me back to the question with which I started.  What would it mean to build the theory and practice of journalism into the very DNA of American higher education?  How would it affect communities to see a flowering of news outlets grounded in local universities, colleges, and community colleges?

 “For starters, it seems to me that journalism-centered liberal arts education would respond simultaneously to three major social problems.  One is the shortfall in local news production around the country.  The second is the well-documented deficiency in college student writing.  The third is the low level of Americans’ civic literacy, their knowledge about how social institutions work and who makes the policy decisions that affect their lives.

 “Involving students in local journalism also wins what I like to think of as the educational trifecta.  The issues posed are intellectually challenging.  Students like dealing with them.  The skills students develop increase their marketability and enable them to function more effectively as citizens.

 “An excellent recent study prepared by famed journalist and editor (and OSU alum) Len Downie and the noted sociologist of journalism, Michael Schudson, reports on a variety of exciting models for connecting journalism to higher education.  As they report in, ‘The Reconstruction of American Journalism,’ KQED in San Francisco is partnering next year with the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley to launch an independent nonprofit Bay area news organization.  According to Downie and Schudson, ‘The new entity’s reporters, working with KQED journalists and Berkeley students, will cover local government, education, culture, the environment and neighborhoods for its own Web site, other digital media, and public radio and television.’

“Along similar lines, several newspapers in southern Florida have agreed to use reporting from journalism students at Florida International University. The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University in Phoenix operates a service provides student reporting to about thirty client newspapers and television stations around Arizona.  Both Berkeley’s and Columbia’s journalism schools operate a range of online news sites that feature reporting by its students in city or outlying neighborhoods.

“Universities are even becoming homes for independent nonprofit investigative reporting projects started by former newspaper and television journalists, at such places as San Diego State, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northeastern, and Boston University.  As a law professor, I have especially admired Northwestern University, where journalism students are working with the Innocence Project to investigate death penalty convictions. They are obviously doing important work because the Cook County prosecutor has already subpoenaed the students.

“My point is not that universities are the single, exclusive, or even best answer to satisfying the daily news and information needs of local communities, but unless there are nonprofit social institutions of significant heft shouldering a lot of this burden, things will get worse.  And it’s not just student journalists who can help.  Business schools can help teach marketing to online entrepreneurs.  Law schools can help local media outlets to pursue Freedom of Information requests and defend against libel suits.  This is not just the business of big research universities either.  Although I may be giving in to stereotype, it may be that, in covering union news or news of relevance to new immigrant communities, our community colleges may have a strong comparative advantage.  Indeed, if you let your imagination roam here a bit, you can envision a consortium of higher education institutions in a local area combining talents and resources to provide a wide range of local information in the public interest.

“The Knight Commission was impressed, as am I, by the wondrous range of new technological tools that are enabling more and more people to be creators, shapers, and distributors of information than ever before.  We do live in a renaissance moment.  But tools are only tools.  They can be turned to democratic advantage only with skill and by design.  Right now, the technology-fueled information revolution is not serving all Americans equally well, and our local communities are in need of help.  The Knight Commission urges Americans to ‘embrace the quality of community information flow as an issue worthy of their concern and involvement.’  My plea is to universities to take this cause seriously.”

Top scholars should lead research universities:

Review of fascinating new work in University World News.

Research universities should be led by brilliant scholars and not merely talented managers, says Warwick University fellow Amanda Goodall. It is not sufficient for leaders to have management skills alone, Goodall states in a new book. In Socrates in the Boardroom: why research universities should be led by top scholars, Goodall challenges the orthodoxy of “managerialism” which began in the Thatcher era and continued during the Blair decade. Using a mix of empirical research of 100 universities and interviews with 26 of their leaders in the UK and the US, she concludes that institutions led by highly regarded academics perform better.

Goodall gives four reasons why leaders should be able scholars. They are more credible to academic colleagues and appear more legitimate which, in turn, extends a leader’s power and influence. A top scholar provides a leader with a deep understanding and expert knowledge about the core business of universities which informs decision-making and strategic priorities. The leader sets the quality threshold: “The standard bearer has first set the standard that is to be enforced.” Finally, she says a leader who is a researcher sends a signal to the faculty that he or she shares their scholarly values, and that research success is important to the institution. It also transmits an external signal to potential job candidates, donors, alumni and students.

Some choice quotations here too:

When Goodall asked Patrick Harker, University of Delaware President, if non-academics could lead research universities, he replied: “To be the leader of a jazz group you have to be able to play. That is true of higher education as well. You might not be in the classroom or laboratory now but it helps if you have been there.”

One UK vice-chancellor told her: “A successful international businessman should be appointed as CEO into an international business. An editor of the Financial Times will have been a competent journalist. A vice-chancellor of a university must have been an academic to understand the culture. Universities are profoundly intellectual and can only be led by an academic.”

Have bought a copy now and look forward to reading it!

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