Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Defining the 'iGeneration': Not just a geeky bunch of kids | ZDNet

Defining the 'iGeneration': Not just a geeky bunch of kids | ZDNet: "The iGeneration is not “just another name” for the Generation Z, nor does it indicate a clear cut group of people. It’s a sub-group of younger people who already exist, and just because Bill Gates once said it does not and should not set it in stone."

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Some Big Lies of Science

Some Big Lies of Science: "“[T]he majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.”– Harold Pinter, Nobel Lecture (Literature), 2005
The maintenance of the hierarchical structures that control our lives depends on Pinter’s “vast tapestry of lies upon which we feed.” Therefore, the main institutions that embed us into the hierarchy, such as schools, universities, and mass media and entertainment corporations, have a primary function to create and maintain this tapestry. This includes establishment scientists and all service intellectuals in charge of “interpreting” reality."

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Benefit Incidence of Public Education and Health Spending Worldwide: Evidence From A New Database

Benefit Incidence of Public Education and Health Spending Worldwide: Evidence From A New Database

Globalization Consequences on Cultural Studies | PoliticalFlirt

Globalization Consequences on Cultural Studies | PoliticalFlirt: "the impact of globalization in the cultural sphere has, most generally, been viewed in a pessimistic light. Typically, it has been associated with the destruction of cultural identities, victims of the accelerating encroachment of a homogenized, westernized, consumer culture. This view, the constituency for which extends from (some) academics to anti-globalization activists (Shepard and Hayduk 2002), tends to interpret globalization as a seamless extension of – indeed, as a euphemism for – western cultural imperialism. In the discussion which follows I want to approach this claim with a good deal of skepticism."

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The North-South Institute

The North-South Institute: "The North-South Institute provides research and analysis on foreign policy and international development issues for policy-makers, educators, business, the media and the general public. For more than 30 years NSI has built a reputation for sound, credible analysis of pressing issues related to global development"

A Global Crisis of Development: Responses and Responsibilities - SciDev.Net

New Report: A Global Crisis of Development: Responses and Responsibilities - SciDev.Net: "From greater accountability in international institutions to reducing income inequality and persistent poverty, increasing aid effectiveness and promoting gender equality, the 2010 Canadian Development Report (CDR) aims to inform those who want to understand the impact of the crisis on development and hope to draw important lessons for building resilience and militating against the effects of similar disruptions on developing countries in the future."

Virtual university aims to boost Islamic science - SciDev.Net

Virtual university aims to boost Islamic science - SciDev.Net: "[CAIRO] Two institutions and a prize, all aimed at boosting scientific research in the Muslim world, have been announced by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

The 57 member states agreed to establish the Islamic Virtual University, the Islamic Universities Business Network, and a prize for academic research papers.

The institutions were announced during the 5th session of the General Conference of the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW) held in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan this month (12–14 May)."

Rise of globalization Kurdish Globe

Display Article: "This new era is the rise of globalization. The term 'globalization' has covered these wide ranges of distinct political, economic and cultural trends, and so quickly has become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of contemporary political and academic debates. It also from many different political views that the emergence of the era of globalization has been seen as a process toward the diminishing of the classical borders of the nation-states. Some might suggest that globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology."

Educational travel can open minds, defeat global prejudices

The Ironton Tribune | Educational travel can open minds, defeat global prejudices: "Travel inspires, challenges perspectives, fights stereotypes and shows young people that, although the world is large, we share more similarities than differences.

Spending a day as a New Yorker or a Parisian can enhance a young person’s perspective and inspire a lifetime of exploration. The ability to understand and interact with other cultures is a crucial skill in the changing global economy.

Studies consistently show that parents report seeing academic improvement and notice a higher level of maturity in their children after participating in an educational travel program.

Because of this research educational travel is now endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education."

The Rise of the Global University: 5 New Tensions - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Rise of the Global University: 5 New Tensions - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education: "By Simon Marginson
Some scholars date the beginnings of globalization from the first move of people out of Africa. Some date it from the spread of world religions—Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Others date it from the imperial European empires, the Napoleonic wars, or the expanded trade and migration in the second half of the Victorian era. But one thing is certain: In the last two decades, the Internet and cheaper air travel have created such closer integration and convergence that, for the first time, a single world society is within reach—and higher education, ranging beyond the nation-state, is a central driver."

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com
In this follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where natural talents can flourish.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Ben Wildavsky: Don't Fear the Globalization of Higher Education, and Embrace Free Trade in Minds - WSJ.com

Ben Wildavsky: Don't Fear the Globalization of Higher Education, and Embrace Free Trade in Minds - WSJ.com: "The rhetoric of globalization has become so ubiquitous in the business world that it is easy to forget how radically the same forces are transforming university education. According to OECD figures, the number of globally mobile students, many of them heavily recruited, has increased 57% in the past decade alone. Half the world's top physicists no longer work in their home countries."

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Transforming academic globalization into globalization for all - European Journal of Engineering Education

Transforming academic globalization into globalization for all - European Journal of Engineering Education:
"Abstract
Driving innovation and continuous improvement with regard to ecological, environmental and human sustainability is essential for win-win globalization. That calls for research on strategic and monitoring planning to manage globalization and technological and scientific change. This paper describes a new basic function of the university institution 'to teach students to be critical about any kind of information' and presents perspectives, efforts and three proposals for the establishment of a system for managing globalization and technological and scientific change."

Embracing The Global Higher Education Market | Gov Monitor

Embracing The Global Higher Education Market | Gov Monitor: "the globalization of higher education is the process by which the world’s elite jet around the globe to earn degrees at the finest universities, becoming cosmopolitan “global citizens” as they go.

For others, including many of our elected representatives, the global academic market dredges up more foreboding visions of a world in which America’s postwar preeminence in scientific research and innovation is quickly being superseded by the enterprising Chinese and Indian systems of higher education."

Friday, May 7, 2010

World Affairs Council

http://www.itsyourworld.org/assnfe/ev.asp?ID=2732
Ben Wildavsky, Former Education Editor, US News & World Report
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Every year, nearly three million international students study outside of their home countries, a 40 percent increase since 1999. Newly created or expanded universities in China, India and Saudi Arabia are now competing with European and North American academic institutions for faculty, students, and research preeminence. Meanwhile, satellite campuses of Western universities are springing up from Abu Dhabi and Singapore to South Africa. How is international competition for the brightest minds transforming the world of higher education? While some university and government officials see the rise of worldwide academic competition as a threat, Ben Wildavsky argues that the increased international mobility of students and cross-border expansion of higher education is creating a new global meritocracy, one in which the spread of knowledge benefits everyone--both educationally and economically.

Thursday, May 6, 2010