Topul concurenţei la facultăţile ieşene: Mai mulţi candidaţi la UMF şi la UAIC, faţă de ultimii ani

 Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie a înregistrat cifre mult mai bune decât în ultimii ani la admiterea pentru noul an universitar. În total au fost depuse peste 2380 de dosare pe cele 725 de locuri la licenţă şi 597 la taxă, aproape jumătate dintre acestea la specializarea Medicină Generală – 1.114.

Cozile din întreagă săptămână de la depunerea dosarelor s-au reflectat în numărul candidaţilor de la Medicină Generală, sunt mai multe cu 156 decât anul trecut, concurenţa ajungând la 3,71 de candidaţi pe un loc la buget, urmând a se ocupa cel mai probabil şi 178 de locuri cu taxa în lei. Şi la Asistenţa Medicală Generală a crescut considerabil numărul candidaţilor.

Anul acesta au fost depuse 376 de dosare pe 55 de locuri la buget, o concurenţă de 6,83 de candidaţi pe un singur loc, faţă de anul trecut când au fost 310, adică o concurenţă de 5,63 pe un loc.

O scădere uşoară a avut loc la Facultatea de Medicină Dentară, 324 de dosare la Medicină Dentară şi 95 la Tehnică Dentară faţă de 336 şi, respectiv, 126, depuse trecut, dar locurile vor fi ocupate integral în condiţiile în care sunt 89 la Medicină Dentară şi 34 la Tehnică Dentară.

Dacă Facultatea de Bioinginerie Medicală a avut peste 50 de dosare depuse în plus anul acesta faţă de anul trecut, 130 la Bioinginerie şi 194 la Balnefiziokinetoterapie, Facultatea de Farmacie se află într-o scădere faţă de anul trecut, când şi aşa nu îşi ocupase integral locurile la buget după susţinerea examenului de admitere. Anul acesta, nu sunt ocupate locurile nici măcar pe hârtie – 93 de dosare pe 99 de locuri la buget.

Psihologia, iarăşi prima la „Cuza“

Şi Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” a închis admiterea cu 9.934 de dosare depuse personal de candidaţi şi 951 depuse online, un scor mai bun faţă de cel din ultimii ani, când oricum se înregistrase un scor record, la nivelul celui din 2008.

Deşi nu este clar dacă în cifrele prezentate oficial de cei de la UAIC sunt incluse sau nu şi dosarele online, „Ziarul de Iaşi“ s-a folosit de datele furnizate ca situaţie la zi a înscrierilor pentru a determina care au fost cele mai căutate facultăţi.

O primă concluzie este aceea că şi anul acesta Psihologia este cea mai căutată facultate, dar diferenţele foarte mari de anul trecut s-au redus faţă de contracandidate.

Putem remarca de la început faptul că Facultatea de Matematică, deşi nu este printre fruntaşele la numărul de candidaţi/loc bugetat, are o concurenţă mai bună decât anul trecut şi este într-o creştere constantă din 2017, şi că la Facultatea de Informatică sunt aproape 800 de candidaţi, dar dat fiind numărul mare de locuri bugetate – 281, concurenţa nu e la nivelul facultăţilor din vârful clasamentului.

Facultatea de Drept are un număr mai mare de candidaţi, o surpriză în acest an, în timp ce la Teologie Romano-Catolică s-au ocupat toate locurile la buget mai puţin unul. Astfel, pe facultăţi, avem următoarele rezultate, în funcţie de concurenţă:

  1. Facultatea de Educaţie Fizică şi Sport – 534 de candidaţi pe 119 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 4,48
  2. Facultatea de Psihologie şi Ştiinţe ale Educaţiei – 1.606 de candidaţi pe 364 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 4,41
  3. Facultatea de Drept – 732 de candidaţi pe 198 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 3,69
  4. Facultatea de Filosofie şi Ştiinţe Social-Politice – 1.113 de candidaţi pe 312 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 3,56
  5. Facultatea de Matematică – 405 de candidaţi pe 138 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 2,93
  6. Facultatea de Informatică – 789 de candidaţi pe 281 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 2,80
  7. Facultatea de Economie şi Administrarea Afacerilor – 2.295 de candidaţi pe 836 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 2,74
  8. Facultatea de Litere – 965 de candidaţi pe 423 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 2,28
  9. Facultatea de Biologie – 394 de candidaţi pe 176 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 2,24
  10. Facultatea de Chimie – 150 de candidaţi pe 70 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 2,14
  11. Facultatea de Istorie – 168 de candidaţi pe 84 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 2
  12. Facultatea de Geografie şi Geologie – 520 de candidaţi pe 287 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 1,81
  13. Facultatea de Fizică – 74 de candidaţi pe 48 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 1,54
  14. Facultatea de Teologie Ortodoxă – 169 de candidaţi pe 140 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 1,2
  15. Facultatea de Teologie Romano-Catolică – 20 de candidaţi pe 21 locuri bugetate – concurenţa: 0,95

Cea mai mare concurenţă s-a înregistrat la specializarea Psihologie, 879 de dosare depuse pe 155 de locuri – 5,67, iar alte specializări cu concurenţă semnificativă au fost Asistenţă socială de la Filosofie – 391 de dosare pe 72 de locuri – 5,43 şi Cibernetica, Statistica şi Informatica Economică de la FEAA – 583 de dosare pe 109 locuri bugetate – 5,34.

Au fost şi specializări care nu şi-au ocupat integral locurile la buget – Ştiinţa mediului de la Biologie, cu 13 locuri din 28 ocupate, Ştiinţe inginereşti aplicate de la Facultatea de Fizică, 5 candidaţi pe 10 locuri, atât Geologia, cât şi Inginerie geologică 15 din 30 de locuri ocupate, respectiv 22 din 30, Studiile culturale la Litere, 8 din 15 locuri, şi Artele Vizuale de la Teologie Ortodoxă 27 pe 30.

Publicație : Ziarul de Iași

 

 TUIAȘI a ajuns la numărul total de înscrişi din 2018 la jumătatea perioadei din 2019

 Cu excepţia celei mai solicitate facultăţi, unde se finalizează azi, înscrierile la această universitate se încheie pe 25 iulie.

Aproape 2,5 candidaţi pe unul dintre locurile la buget s-au înregistrat la Facultatea de Automatică şi Calculatoare din cadrul Universităţii Tehnice „Gherghe Asachi” din Iaşi, fără a fi luaţi în considerare eventualii absolvenţi de liceu care îşi vor depune şi astăzi dosarele la Politehnica ieşeană. Admiterea la Facultatea de Automatică şi Calculatoare se va încheia astăzi, urmând ca examenul grilă pe baza căruia se va face selecţia să se desfăşoare pe data de 22 iulie. Tot pe data de 22 iulie vor fi afişate şi rezultatele examenului, actele în original putând fi depuse fie în perioada 23-25 iulie, fie în perioada 26 – 29 iulie, rezultatele finale urmând să fie afişate în cea de-a doua parte a zilei de 29 iulie.

În ceea ce priveşte numărul total de dosare depuse până la finalul zilei de ieri, Politehnica ieşeană a reuşit să atragă deja un număr similar de absolvenţi cu cel de anul trecut, deşi perioada de admitere durează până săptămâna viitoare, pe data de 25 iulie. Astfel, până în acest moment au fost depuse 2.652 de dosare la taxă şi buget, anul trecut cifra depăşind cu puţin 2.700 de dosare. De asemenea, Politehnica ieşeană a depăşit deja cu un dosar numărul celor de la buget care au rămas la Politehnică, anul trecut, la finalul perioadei de admitere din luna iulie, după confirmarea locurilor, fiind depuse 2.574 de dosare, iar la finalul zilei de ieri erau înregistrate 2.575 de dosare la buget şi 77 la taxă. În ceea ce priveşte numărul de dosare la taxă, anul trecut au fost depuse şi confirmate 116 dosare pentru studiile de licenţă.

Pentru studiile de master, în cursul zilei de ieri au fost depuse 125 de dosare pentru locurile la buget şi 4 pentru cele la taxă, fiind în total 879 de dosare la buget şi 24 la taxă. Cifrele prezintă numărul de candidaţi unici, prezentaţi în timp real pe măsură ce se încriu la concursul de admitere de la TUIASI.

De asemenea, pe site-ul Politehnicii este prezentată doar prima opţiune a candidatului, acesta având posibilitatea ca, plătind o singură taxă de admitere şi cu un singur dosar, să se înscrie la toate facultăţile şi specializările de la TUIASI.

Publicație : Ziarul de Iași

 

 Acesta este DETALIUL ULUITOR al Admiterii 2019 la Universitatea „Cuza” din Iasi. Dezvaluiri, in premiera, din CULISE

 Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” – UAIC din Iasi a dat lovitura! • La nivel national, institutia a avut un numar RECORD de dosare depuse la Admiterea 2019 • Pe de alta parte, concurenta la unele facultati este una acerba • Dincolo de toate acestea, surse din cadrul Universitatii „Cuza” ne-au oferit un detaliu aparte legat de acest proces: doar din taxele de inscriere, in conturile unitatii de invatamant au intrat peste TREI MILIOANE dei lei • Rezultatele finale ale procesului de selectie a viitorilor studenti de la „Cuza” vor fi publicate maine, 23 iulie 2019

Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” (UAIC) din Iasi a pus punct sesiunii de vara a Admiterii 2019, la programe de licenta si masterat! Cifrele sunt impresionante si nu s-au mai intalnit de zece ani la institutia ieseana. „Totalul celor inscrisi la aceasta sesiune este de 15.584 dosare depuse, cu 1.807 mai mult doar fata de anul trecut. Dintre acestea, pentru licenta sunt 12.574 dosare, iar la master, 3.010. Sunt cifre foarte bune si va pot spune ca sunt facultati unde concurenta pe un loc este undeva intre cinci si sase”, a transmis prof. univ. dr. Tudorel Toaderrector UAIC.

Reamintim ca, pentru sesiunea de Admitere din iulie 2019, Universitatea „Cuza” din Iasi a scos la concurs 3.500 de locuri la buget pentru studiile de licenta si 2.100 de locuri fara taxa pentru studiile universitare de master. De asemenea, au fost disponibile si 4.923 de locuri cu taxa, dintre care 3.317 pentru studii de licenta si 1.606 pentru studii de master.

Pe de alta parte, surse din cadrul Universitatii „Cuza” ne-au oferit un detaliu aparte legat de acest proces: doar din taxe de inscriere, UAIC are in conturi incasari, la 20 iulie 2019, suma de 2.813.645 lei (asta fara conturile unde s-a putut achita taxa la BRD si respectiv BCR in zilele de 19 respectiv 20 iulie 2019). Asadar, institutia are parte de un plus financiar consistent. Chiar este posibil ca suma totala sa se apropie de un milion de euro.

Care este situatia inscrierilor si concurenta, pe facultati, la programe de licenta

Defalcat, numarul de inscrisi pe fiecare din cele 15 facultati de la UAIC, la studii de licenta pe locuri bugetate (pe toate specializarile – n.r.) este urmatorul: la Biologie, pe 176 de locuri pentru romani sunt 394 de dosare depuse, la Chimie, pe 120 de locuri sunt 150 de dosare, la Drept, pe 198 de locuri sunt 732 de dosare.

Mai departe, la Facultatea de Economie si Administrarea Afacerilor (FEAA), pe 839 de locuri sunt depuse 2.295 de dosare, la Educatie Fizica si Sport (FEFS), la 119 locuri sunt 534 de dosare depuse, la Filosofie si Stiinte Social-Politice, pe 312 locuri sunt 1.113 de dosare, la Fizica, pe 48 de locuri sunt 74 de dosare, la Geografie si Geologie, pe 287 de locuri sunt depuse 520 de dosare, la Informatica, pe 281 de locuri sunt 789 de dosare, la Istorie, pe 84 de locuri sunt 168 de dosare depuse, la Litere, pe 423 de locuri sunt 965 de dosare, la Matematica, pe 138 de locuri sunt 405 dosare, la Psihologie si Stiinte ale Educatiei, pe 364 de locuri sunt 1.606 de dosare depuse, la Teologie Ortodoxa, pe 140 de locuri sunt 169 de dosare, respectiv la Teologie Romano-Catolica, pe 21 de locuri sunt 20 de dosare depuse.

De precizat ca este vorba despre dosare depuse in fizic. La toate acestea, per total, se adauga in functie de facultatea pentru care a optat candidatul si 951 de dosare depuse on-line. In acest context, cea mai mare concurenta este la: Drept, cu aproape patru candidati pe loc, la FEFS, cu aproximativ cinci candidati pe loc, Informatica, cu peste 2.7 candidati pe loc, Psihologie si Stiinte ale Educatiei, cu aproape patru candidati pe loc si Filosofie si Stiinte Social- Politice, peste 2.9 candidati pe loc.

Care este situatia inscrierilor, pe facultati, la programe de masterat

Pe de alta parte, la masterat (unde admiterea se face si pe baza de interviu – n.r.), situatia inscrierilor este: Biologie, 103 locuri cu 105 dosare, la Chimie, pe 34 de locuri sunt 44 de dosare, Drept, 183de locuri cu 216 dosare. La Facultatea de Economie si Administrarea Afacerilor (FEAA), pe 656 de locuri sunt depuse 722 de dosare, la Educatie Fizica si Sport (FEFS) la 74 de locuri sunt 165 de dosare depuse, la Filosofie si Stiinte Social – Politice, pe 170 de locuri sunt 239 dosare, Fizica, pe 42 locuri sunt 28 dosare, Geografie si Geologie, unde la 160 locuri sunt depuse 160 dosare, Informatica, cu 87 de locuri, respectiv 84 dosare, Istorie, cu 64 de locuri si 64 dosare depuse, Litere, cu 112 locuri si 159 dosare, Matematica, cu 50 de locuri si 52 dosare, Psihologie si Stiinte ale Educatiei, cu 249 locuri si 374 dosare depuse, Teologie Ortodoxa, cu 94 locuri si 101 dosare, respectiv Teologie Romano-Catolica, cu 22 locuri si 31 dosare depuse. La toate aceste dosare depuse, atat la licenta, cat si la masterat, se adauga si locurile destinate rromilor sau romanilor de pretutindeni.

Cum se va face selectia candidatilor

Oferta celor 15 facultati ale UAIC cuprinde 77 de specializari la studii de licenta si 109 pentru studii de master. La majoritatea facultatilor, admiterea la licenta se va face pe baza mediei examenului de Bacalaureat si a notelor obtinute la diverse probe în cadrul acestui examen. Printre facultatile care vor avea o proba suplimentara la admiterea la licenta, pe lânga dosar, se numara Facultatea de Drept, unde nota testului la Limba Româna va reprezenta 50 la suta din media de admitere, Facultatea de Educatie Fizica si Sport, specializarea Educatie Fizica si Sportiva, unde proba sportiva la alegere va avea o pondere de 60 la suta, iar la specializarea Kinetoterapie si motricitate speciala, candidatii vor sustine o teza scrisa la Biologie, clasa a XI-a. Si la Facultatea de Informatica, 50 la suta din media de admitere o va reprezenta nota de la testul scris la Matematica sau Informatica.

La Facultatea de Psihologie si Stiinte ale Educatiei, la specializarea Pedagogia învatamântului primar si prescolar, va exista o proba eliminatorie de aptitudini muzicale si dictie, la fel ca la Facultatea de Teologie Ortodoxa, unde la specializarea Teologie Ortodoxa Pastorala, candidatii vor sustine aceeasi proba vocationala de dictie si aptitudini muzicale, iar 50 la suta din nota va fi rezultatul de la proba scrisa la Învatatura de credinta ortodoxa.

Si la Facultatea de Teologie Romano-Catolica, la specializarea Teologie Pastorala, 40 la suta din media de admitere o va reprezenta nota de la proba orala la Teologie Dogmatica. Admiterea la programele de master se va face pe baza mediei examenului de licenta si a notei obtinute la proba orala – interviu sau în urma analizei CV-ului si a scrisorii de intentie. Oferta de admitere pentru 2019 cuprinde 19 specializari si programe în limbi straine (engleza sau franceza): cinci la licenta si 15 pentru master. Pentru aceste programe, candidatii vor sustine si un test de competenta lingvistica.

Publicație :  Bună Ziua Iași

 

South African academics don’t want to decolonise the curriculum

Several years on from Rhodes Must Fall, the hoped-for revolution in South African university teaching has not happened, says Saloshna Vandeyar

“Getting a degree here is a form of mental slavery and colonisation. We can no longer breathe! We want to breathe! We must exorcise the colonial ghost from the curriculum. We want relevant knowledge, we want to study African history; we want to reclaim our black history.”

This is what University of Cape Townacademic Kathy Luckett was told by one of the students at the Rhodes Must Fall protests that convulsed the institution in 2015. And, sure enough, the ultimately successful demands for the removal of Cecil Rhodes’ statue from the historically white university’s campus provoked calls across South African universities for the decolonisation of curricula, as well as other structural changes.

The abolition of fees for poor students was duly announced, and an explosion of re-curriculating activities occurred across campuses, with various academic bodies, such as the Curriculum Transformation Committee, established to operationalise the response.

But the hoped-for revolution in South African university teaching has not happened. And why? Because all those conversations, meetings and debates were conducted in a reactive attempt to appease the students and diffuse the threat posed by their protests. They did not arise from universities’ innate desire: if they had, they would not have occurred more than two decades after the advent of democracy in South Africa. And they overlooked the key agent of curriculum delivery: the academic.

Academics are not merely conduits of curricula. They are complex beings, constituted of, among other things, identities, value systems, beliefs and lived experiences, all of which inform their practice within particular contexts. Many academics have responded to the call to decolonise the curriculum by revising their study guides and some of the learning material. But this is just lip service. The pertinent question is whether they are ready to “decolonise their minds”, as the Kenyan writer and academic Ngugi wa Thiong’o put it in 1998. Are they ready to unlearn, relearn and fundamentally transform as individuals and academics?

Each teaching context is different and academic identities are complex. Individuals are variously willing and able to transform. But, as things stand, many South African academics – black as well as white – still assume that Western knowledge systems “constitute the only basis for higher forms of thinking”, as a 2008 Department of Education report put it. They work from a deficit-based rather than an asset-based model of learning. They do not recognise the needs, strengths and experiences of students from diverse backgrounds and cultures. They do not cultivate the critical consciousness their students need to become aware of social justice, race and equity issues in all that they learn, making that learning more compelling and meaningful.

I have personally heard academics in university corridors respond to calls to decolonise the curricula with comments such as: “How can indigenous knowledge systems match the scientifically proven knowledge of so many years?”, “Perhaps in languages and the social sciences, but certainly not in the hard sciences” and, most memorably, “Do they want us to go back to the caveman days?”

Changing such mindsets is necessarily difficult because beliefs and values tend to be resistant to change. They run as deep as what Jonathan Jansen, in his 2009 book of the same name, called “knowledge in the blood”. According to Jansen – the first non-white vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State – the most effective way to shake such convictions is to introduce “pedagogic dissonance” in educational spaces, and to encourage dialogue between “opposing parties”.

While one episode of pedagogic dissonance will not bring about instantaneous change, it harbours the potential to instil doubt and create the opportunity for academics to begin to question their ingrained belief systems. But some academics, although willing to embrace decolonisation, still need to learn how to do this. And the majority are interested only in business as usual.

Perhaps, in reality, progress will only be made one retirement at a time.

Publicație : The Times

Prisoners need full access to higher education

The banning of certain academic books by prisons in Northern Ireland is deeply counterproductive, says Dieter Reinisch

Readers of Paul Basken’s recent feature in Times Higher Education on prisoner education in the US could be forgiven for assuming that foolish restrictions on inmates’ access to college-level courses is a uniquely American phenomenon.

As the article sets out, the positive effect that reading and education has on prisoners has been well established by scholarly research and by prison initiativesthemselves. That has not stopped New Jersey from recently adding more titles to its list of books off limits to inmates. Nor has it prevented the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the governor of HMP Maghaberry from banning certain books requested by prisoners seeking to further their education.

Previously, Northern Irish prisons banned only images of paramilitary items, symbols or members; any book cover showing these, for instance, was removed. But in the past 18 months, a ban has been introduced on “any item that glorifies or supports terrorism or is of a racist, homophobic, pornographic or violent nature”.

As a result, several academic books have been banned in their entirety, from publishers including Oxford University Press and Manchester University Press. DVDs of documentaries screened by Irish national broadcaster RTÉ have also been confiscated.

My research shows that politically motivated prisoners are willing to acquire skills in prison that will help them to make a positive impact on society after they are released. During Northern Ireland’s Troubles, for instance, several republican and loyalist prisoners finished Open University degrees. Some of them, such as Lawrence McKeown and Anthony McIntyre, even defended PhDs at Queen’s University Belfast. This experience helped them to become initiators of conflict transformation, such as by supporting the peace process or rethinking the armed struggle of the Provisional IRA.

My work also shows that a prerequisite for such developments is a liberal prison regime that facilitates prisoners’ interest in education. That certainly entails permitting unhindered access to books and other study material.

While some of the initially prohibited books have since been allowed into Northern Irish prisons, inmates still face obstacles in studying for the Open University degrees. The republican prisoner Brendan McConville launched legal action in early June, for instance, claiming that the prisons service failed to ensure that he could safely use computer facilities to complete his OU degree in criminology and psychology. The Irish Newsquotes his lawyer saying that he “needs access to online articles in order to obtain the best possible mark”.

Reading and education can foster self-awareness and inspire a deeper interest in history, politics and current affairs. Northern Irish prisoners exposed to it will be encouraged to reconsider their violent pasts critically. By contrast, banning books and hindering those pursuing degrees will further radicalise prisoners. And that could have consequences for everyone in Northern Ireland.

Publicație : The Times

Online versus traditional classrooms: an undergraduate’s take

Matthew Taylor compares his experiences in both learning environments and explains why he thinks educators should notice the differences

I’m an undergraduate student currently studying two degrees: chemical engineering in a traditional classroom setting and business administration online. The experiences have shown me what works (and what doesn’t) in both settings when it comes to peer interaction, student participation and engagement.

I’ve found peer interaction is far easier in a classroom than it is online simply because it happens in real-time. Students can say something and be answered instantly. This kind of back-and-forth is impossible in an online setting that does not require students to be in attendance on a set schedule.

Most online interactions happen asynchronously; students might not be able to further interact with their peers and instructors for hours, or even days. Students in online classrooms have limited interaction with their peers as it is, so maximising their opportunities to interact with and learn from each other is crucial.

Student participation is also something that I’ve found different in the classroom and online.  In online settings students participate by reading learning materials and completing assignments. Students have the incentive to participate because their grade depends on it. They do only what they are being graded on.

In the classroom, however, student participation usually takes the form of instructors asking their students questions. It can also be participating in instructor-led, hands-on activities. Students may participate in more than they are being evaluated on, such as in-class discussions. In this way students participate because they want to, not because they have to.

Student engagement both with the material and with each other, meanwhile, works better online because of grade incentives. For example, I post weekly in a discussion forum with my business administration peers. The instructor posts a prompt about a particular topic and every student must respond to it as well as respond to three of their peers’ posts.

Meanwhile in a crowded lecture hall, it is harder to encourage each student to engage. Lectures are a difficult enough way to keep students’ attention, but they can be a one-way ticket to disengagement if the lecturer has a monotonous delivery, say, or a lack of enthusiasm themselves. Or they read word-for-word what’s on a slide.

But teaching like you’re talking with students rather than just at them and showing enthusiasm are good ways to keep them involved and attentive. Students generally want to learn and have the opportunity to ask questions.

Because of the differences in the two programmes I’m studying, I’ve seen how certain subjects lend themselves to one way of learning over another. Anything that requires a lot of hands-on learning and real-time peer interaction, such as engineering or medicine, works better in a traditional classroom setting. While subjects that require more self-study, such as business or philosophy, are more suited to online learning.

What works best for me when learning online is ensuring that I can interact with my peers in things like discussion forums and opportunities to learn that aren’t just reading. Meanwhile, switching up the learning process in a traditional classroom, such as by showing videos or encouraging collaboration through short group assignments, is a good way to keep students engaged because peer-to-peer interaction is essential to a student’s learning.

It’s important to be mindful of the differences between in-classroom and online learning. What works in one setting might not work in another. Your students will be grateful if you put in the effort to understand the strengths of each and they will be all the better for your having done so.

Publicație : The Times

Role of region in England’s key earnings data emerges

Analysis of graduate pay data that could shape future of English universities lays bare contrasts in regional labour markets

Graduates who can afford to move to another part of the UK for work after leaving university have a major advantage over others in terms of earnings potential, suggests an analysis of earnings data that could shape the future of English universities.

London in particular offers such a high wage premium that even non-graduates in the capital earn more on average than graduates employed in most other regions of the country.

The findings come from a regional analysis of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes dataset, which uses government tax records to track the employment of graduates several years after leaving university.

The LEO project has attracted criticism in the past for publishing graduate earnings data by provider that seem heavily influenced by a university’s location, reflecting the large salary variations by UK region.

The new analysis from the Department for Education confirms the major effect that these regional differences have on earnings, with the median salary for graduates living in London being almost £7,000 higher five years after university than those in north-east England, for example.

Many in the sector fear that the LEO data could in future be used by the government to set funding levels for institutions’ courses. England’s Augar review appeared to open the door to such a scenario in its recommendation that top-up public funding to replace income lost through a tuition fee cut could be allocated according to the “social and economic value” of courses.

By highlighting the significance of geographical location in earnings, the DfE’s analysis could undercut the view that choice of course or university is the key factor in earnings and, thus, hamper any attempt to use the data as performance metrics for institutions.

The data also show that non-graduates with at least five A* to C grades at GCSE were earning a median salary of £26,200 in London, higher than peers with a degree living in every other region of England except the south east and the east of England. However, the report does reveal that graduates earn about 20 per cent more than non-graduates within the same region.

Other statistical modelling in the report considers the impact of graduates’ regional movements after other factors such as school attainment are accounted for. This also “corroborates the idea that moving does lead to increased earnings”, the report says.

“Those who moved for university and then moved elsewhere (and not their home region) saw the largest impact on their earnings (8.7% increase compared to those who stayed in the same region to study and for work after),” it says.

Meanwhile, “those who stayed in their home region to go to university and then moved elsewhere afterwards saw a larger impact (7.6%) than those who moved region for university and then returned to their home region [for work] (1.4%)”.

“This suggests that moving for work by itself will increase your salary more than moving to go to university.”

Anna Vignoles, professor of education at the University of Cambridge, said it was important to account for the cost of living, especially housing, when considering the fact that wages were higher in London for graduates and non-graduates.

“With many costs far higher in London, it would be odd if graduate salaries were not,” she said.

However, she added, there was also a “London premium…in terms of career opportunities”, so “not just higher wages but obviously quantity and quality of jobs”.

“The implications for social mobility are that those who can afford the move to London…may do disproportionately well and with knock-on impacts for the regions they leave behind,” Professor Vignoles said.

The report also suggests that the vast majority of students – 82 per cent – are living in their original home region a year after graduating, with just over half of those having gone to university in the same area. Even after 10 years, most students (65 per cent) are still in their home region.

Professor Vignoles said the correlation between home area, university location and location of work was particularly prevalent “for students from lower income backgrounds”.

“That speaks to the importance of local university provision for some students and the role of local universities in supplying the local graduate labour market. Of course looked at through the lens of social mobility, the inability for some students to move far from home does limit their options,” she added.

Publicație : The Times  

Nobel winner: explaining physics to public a ‘waste of time’

Michael Kosterlitz tells THE how colour blindness shaped his career and why Nobel winners shouldn’t be taken too seriously

Physicists who attempt to explain their work to the general public are attempting an “almost impossible task”, according to a Nobel prizewinner, because, like second-hand car salesmen, their words “seem to make sense” but may actually leave the public with little or no genuine understanding.

Michael Kosterlitz, who won the award in physics in 2016 for exploring unusual matter phases at ultra low temperatures, told Times Higher Education that, on the whole, any attempt to explain his work to the “man or woman in the street” is “a waste of time”.

In physics, “every second word is a jargon word”, he said during an interview at the 2019 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, an annual gathering of prizewinners and young scientists in southern Germany held earlier this month. “What you’re saying just doesn’t make sense to them, which is fair enough.”

“People are attempting an almost impossible task,” he warned. “You’re trying to explain something to people who don’t have any background at all in these logical steps that are natural to, are part of, any scientist’s psyche, [but] which are alien to most other people.”

He also likened it to “going to Korea, or China, and trying to communicate without speaking any of the native language”.

Physicists still have to make the effort, Professor Kosterlitz conceded, not least as they receive public money. But, on the whole, they are doomed to have to attempt something that is near impossible, he believed; attempts to explain his work to his wife fall flat 99 per cent of the time, he said.

“People do make an effort to put a set of words together that seem to mean something,” Professor Kosterlitz said. “In my opinion, it’s a bit of a con game” (although he later backtracked, adding that this description might be a “bit strong”).

Just like second-hand car salesmen, physicists use words that “seem to make sense” to the general public. “But the underlying thing they’re talking about, the poor customer doesn’t really know,” he said.

Now 76, Professor Kosterlitz, born in Aberdeen, Scotland to refugees from Nazi Germany, was not always destined for physics. Instead, he was channelled into the field by a series of other limitations. “When I was at high school and college I quickly realised that my memory is so lousy that standard subjects – the humanities – I couldn’t cope with because there was too much memory involved; therefore maths and sciences were the only possibility,” he told THE.

Chemistry was also out. Kosterlitz is colour-blind – he found it impossible to distinguish between different shades of red in test tubes. He also seemed to attract danger in the chemistry lab, forcing evacuations by mixing together mystery chemicals that produced noxious gases, and once being blasted in the face by shards of glass from an exploding test tube.

As a natural sciences undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, Professor Kosterlitz discovered a talent for rock climbing, and sees parallels between scaling a cliff face and tackling a physics problem. “You’re stepping out into unknown territory, nothing to guide you, and you rely on your own skill,” he said. But the comparison only goes so far: the penalty for failure in physics is not death, he noted.

He even considered quitting physics altogether to become a professional climber, only to be dissuaded by his wife and father.

This turned out to be a lucky choice, as Professor Kosterlitz put it, because a few years later he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, ending his climbing career entirely.

“My wife always says: ‘Actually you know Mike, I’m pretty pleased you’ve got MS because otherwise you’d probably be dead by now.’ She’s probably right,” he said, breaking into laughter.

Earlier at Lindau, Professor Kosterlitz told a room full of young scientists that winning a Nobel prize is 95 per cent luck. “I followed this incredibly random, tortuous path where basically it was completely unplanned,” he told THE.

The one downside to winning is that “I’m now expected to offer words of wisdom on all sorts of subjects, many of which I know absolutely nothing about,” he warned.

Shortly after winning the prize, Professor Kosterlitz, who spent the bulk of his tenured career at the University of Birmingham and Brown University, described Brexit as the “stupidest thing I’ve heard of” during an interview with a journalist. “I just started getting hate emails,” he recalled. “That made me realise that people take what I say seriously.”

“Look, I may have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, but, except for that, I’m still the same idiot I was six years ago, so why do you take me seriously now?” he said, with another laugh.

Publicație : The Times

US campaign vows might mean limited help for black colleges

Minority institutions wary of big candidate promises to lavish them with support

Minority college students and minority-serving institutions in the US are having a much-needed moment of attention as Democratic presidential candidates compete to show their support. They are less clear about what it might mean in reality.

In the latest high-profile example, one of the most prominent candidates, Pete Buttigieg, issued a detailed 18-page proposal that includes making public college tuition free to low-income students and boosting funding for minority-serving institutions by $25 billion (£20 billion).

It is part of a plan that Mr Buttigieg named after renowned 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass, meant “to remedy centuries of dehumanization and discrimination” against black Americans by making reforms in education, legal protections, healthcare, job opportunities, home ownership and voting rights.

Other leading Democratic contenders – including Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden – have offered similar positions. Even Mr Buttigieg’s eye-popping suggestion of $25 billion to help bolster minority-serving colleges – which currently receive about $500 million a year in federal support – is dwarfed by Ms Warren’s call for $50 billion.

The competition to help the nation’s 101 historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, comes as many of them struggle to survive. They already rely more heavily on government support than other institutions, making them highly susceptible to changes in policy and economic conditions, a report by the American Council on Education warned earlier this year.

And the leaders of such institutions know not to get overly excited by plans such as that offered by Mr Buttigieg, said Ivory A. Toldson, a professor of counselling psychology at Howard University, one of the nation’s most prominent historically black institutions.

That is because achieving such lofty funding goals will depend primarily on Congress and the president’s true determination, once in office, to insist on them, said Dr Toldson, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Negro Education.

In the case of Mr Buttigieg, Dr Toldson said, the Douglass Plan appears to be “political expediency”, given the record of the South Bend, Indiana, mayor. Much of the scepticism towards Mr Buttigieg centres on complaints of chronic mistreatment of black citizens by the police of South Bend, a white-majority city that wraps around the University of Notre Dame.

But even the leading black presidential candidate, Ms Harris, may be guilty of political misdirection, Dr Toldson said. Ms Harris gained in popular support after attacking Mr Biden for his opposition to the use of long-distance busing to forcibly integrate US public schools.

Busing, however, is not an indisputable solution to the educational challenges facing minority students in the US, said Dr Toldson, who was bused as a child in Louisiana and recalled white residents moving out of their neighbourhoods as soon as black students arrived. “They couldn’t fix the busing routes fast enough to keep up with the outmigration of white people at the school,” he said.

For both voters and higher education leaders concerned about the fate of black students, Dr Toldson said, it is a reminder that intentions do not always translate into successes.

In the case of voters, he said, the plans offered by Mr Buttigieg and other candidates are largely a reminder of the critical importance of the black electorate in the Democratic primary races.

And in the case of institutions, Dr Toldson said, the political reality can be found in scenessuch as the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a major supporter of historically black institutions, partnering with right-wing billionaire Charles Koch.

Such an odd alliance shows that historically black institutions need the help and tend to be located in America’s south, where their local member of Congress and governor is most likely to be a Republican, Dr Toldson said.

“It shouldn’t surprise anyone that HBCUs would be willing to negotiate with someone in the Republican Party,” he said. “HBCUs would have a very difficult time surviving if they were to just adhere to one type of party affiliation.

Publicație : The Times