I’ve made it quite clear on this blog that I am not a big fan of university rankings. Mainly because I don’t think that the rankings work well. My reasons span 3 posts!. I vastly prefer coming up with a list of universities based on what you want out of your university education.
However if you do choose to look at rankings, at least make sure you know what they are basing their judgements on: This article, How Magazine College Rankings Work, from the Chronicle of Higher Education has a …Continue

The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills was told by Parliament that its annual report makes no sense. Specifically, the report uses too much jargon and ambiguity to hide the fact that the Department has no idea what to do. Others One piece of bureaucratese was singled out as being completely incomprehensible, even to the Department itself:
“An overarching national improvement strategy will drive up quality and performance underpinned by specific plans for strategically significant areas of activity, such as workforce and technology. The capital investment strategy will continue to renew …Continue

Sorry this blog has been dead for the past month. Mr. Computer died and no one knew what was wrong with it. It seems to be working now, but I still don’t have a clear diagnosis of what the problem is/was. If any readers are tech-savvy and have suggestions about why a laptop will refuse to switch on, or switch on and then shutoff spontaneously, I’d be eternally grateful.
On to news. As you may have heard, Harvard lost $8 billion in the first quarter of this financial year. That’s 22% …Continue

If you’re the uptight student who is dead-set on Harvard so you can get a high-paying paper-shuffling job and buy your first Mercedes at age 21, stop reading this now. I realize the word ranking is like crack for people like you and I’m sorry I tricked you into clicking on the link that led you here. This post will not tell you anything you care about.
The Princeton Review rankings are great for students who want to find a university they will be happy at. Every year, Princeton Review …Continue

All Things Considered is running a nice comparison of the education policies of presumptive US Presidential candidates Barak Obama and John McCain.
Of most interest to international students is probably that both candidates support lowering costs for universities. Obama has a plan that would give students a tax credit worth $4000 in exchange for 100 hours of community service. He would also reform the government lending system and give the Department of Education a more direct role.
McCain’s plan also focuses on American students by increasing federal Pell Grants for needy …Continue

One of the biggest problems foreign students have studying in America, is the seeming inflexibility of American professors. In my experience, particularly in comparison to professors and teachers in the former Soviet Union, rules in the US do not allow for exceptions for personal problems. It’s quite a culture shock for many that US professors expect you to work out your problems and balance school and personal life. And if you are unable to meet a deadline or finish an assignment, that you accept any penalty and try harder …Continue

What do Harvard students have that makes them better? What do they get out of their education that can make them rich? Make them future business leaders of America? According to Daniel Wallace, Class of 2008, the best thing a Harvard student has is the secret of how to get into Harvard. His website, GetIntoHarvard.net, sells a 56-page guide called Get into Harvard for $27.
Wallace claims that not only did he get into Harvard, but he has:
read over tons of books, over 1,000 blog posts, too many forum entries to …Continue

College Intention lets you know what Americans go through to get into university. It’s the blog of a high-school student on his journey to get into college. And it’s a good resource for how the college admissions process works, what colleges look for, tips on getting in, and reassurance that someone else is going through the same things you are.
I especially liked the post, Dear college: Please Send Sleeping Pills In Your Guidebooks, Thanks on psychiatric counseling for families to deal with the stress of university admissions. I cannot …Continue

Inside Higher Ed has a great article up arguing whetherThe Bachelor’s Degree Is Obsolete.
The argument is primary economic, arguing that the amount of debt and time spent preparing for a four-year bachelor’s degree outweighs any benefits from having the degree.
The capital markets have pulled out of major segments of lending for college loans. Wouldn’t even a Finance 101 student say this exit means the capital markets are challenging the value of a college degree? The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has demanded explanations about outcomes from the wealthiest colleges and …Continue

Cal Newport at Study Hacks has a really nice blog up for students with strategies for everything from beating stress to public speaking to doing good work (God bless him for his post The Straight-A Gospels: Pseudo-Work Does Not Equal Work. As a teacher I agree fully with that subtitle!). His approaches may not work for everyone and there is no silver bullet to being a good student, but I like a lot of his strategies and ideas.
If you’re really lazy, check out one post with all his productivity tools …Continue

One year ago, this blog was just starting and at the time I was focused a lot more on universities, whereas I seem to have shifted more and more towards English language learning. It was very useful to go back and look at my first posts and be reminded that I planned this blog to serve both ESL learners and international students.
Three posts that really stand out, I think, are my first post on university rankings: Rankings Part One: General Problems where I discuss the problem with relying soley …Continue

Another blog I found online, University Scholar, run by a student in Indiana with tips and resources for being a better student. I particularly like the post on making good PowerPoint presentations which has some videos taken from experts so you can get a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. There’s also a recent useful post on getting a regular sleep method. I really don’t recommend going for 2 hours a night as the University Scholar seems to recommend but the idea of tracking your sleep and knowing …Continue

InsideHigherEd reports on an academic who briefly worked in an elite escort/prostitution ring to supplement her meager salary as a professor. Rhona Reiss, who got her PhD in 2000 from the University of North Texas, was teaching at Towson University and also working as interim department chair of Occupational Therapy at Howard University in 2001. Despite her 35 years of experience, her salary wasn’t enough to cover her debts from her doctoral programs, raising her son and the illness of a parent. So she began to work for the now …Continue

Barak Obama, leading candidate for President of the US, announced today his plan to fund all universities directly from the government budget. In a speech in Pennsylvania, which holds its primaries in 3 weeks, he said:
Education should be available to everyone at every level regardless of ability to pay. The only way to lift the poor from disadvantage is through education. Education means better jobs and higher salaries and more self-respect.
He went on to cite the problem of how prestigious universities often set extremely high tuition costs which most …Continue

International education was mentioned a few times in the recent Democratic candidates’ debate. Primarily education came up in discussions of immigration issues. For example, there are plans to build a border fence between the US and Mexico which would but down the middle of the University of Texas, Brownsville. The campus has territory on both sides of the border. Senator Hilary Clinton condemned the plan, calling it absurd.
Another controversial immigration bill which would make it easier for undocumented college students to gain legal residence was endorsed by Senator Barack Obama. …Continue