Article: Funding Publics

The following article is very illustrative in light of the recent news  of the raises in tuition at California UCLA.   “Funding Public” by Jennifer Epstein presents the arguments discussed at the Association of Public Universities, as well as the proposal introduce in a paper by Mark G. Yudof, president of the University of California System, of creating a national strategy for higher education in the United States. Basically the discussion is on the possibility of a greater role of the federal government on funding public higher education, in light of the unwillingness or inability of states of financing public higher education institutions, and the federal government inaction. As Stanley Ikenberry point out the increasingly reduce state funding for public  higher education in the United States is a consistent trend of  more than three decades.  At a time in which there is an ever present discourse of a competitive and globalize knowledge economy United States is losing is hedge in a strategic sector for the future well being of its population.  All and all, as Ikenberry (2005) point out   “in the end, the issue is not just about the future of public higher education, but about what affordable education can provide.” (p.5)

Reference

Ikenberry, Stanley. “Uncertain and Unplanned: The Future of Public Higher Education”. Policy Forum Vol. 17, No. 3, Institute of Government and Public Affairs,University of Illinois. Champaign: 2005

From Inside of Higher Education:

WASHINGTON — Recalibrating the puzzle pieces of support for public universities to include more financing from the federal government as state contributions wane might offer the best solutions for public universities’ economic woes, a panel of presidents concluded here Sunday.

At “Financing Tomorrow’s Public Research Universities,” the opening session of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) annual conference, four public university presidents — and one ex-president — came together to consider how to fund their institutions once the federal stimulus money runs out, the recession runs its course and the Obama administration’s efforts to expand access to higher education kick into high gear. (read full)

 

News: California university regents approve 32 percent tuition increase

The effects of the economic crisis and lengthily dry up of public funding for public higher education institutions are signaling a point of not return for forms of affordable access to quality university education in the United States. The drastic raise of tuition at UCLA, and the financial woes of higher education institution may become a national trend.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

A University of California governing-board committee today approved a proposal that would increase undergraduate tuition by 32 percent over the next year, an unusually large jump that was met by student protests at campuses in Berkeley and Los Angeles.

The tuition proposal, which is expected to receive final approval on Thursday by the system’s full Board of Regents, will help close a large budget gap, in part by raising undergraduate tuition at the system’s campuses by more than $2,500 by next fall. The committee’s approval came on the same day that California’s legislative analyst predicted the state would face a new $21-billion budget deficit, making it likely that struggling state colleges and universities would soon suffer additional cuts.

Fourteen protesters were arrested at UCLA when they disrupted the meeting and refused to leave. Protesters then stopped the meeting several times, shouting “Whose university? Our university!” and chanting “We Shall Overcome.” Hundreds of students and staff members also gathered at Berkeley and UCLA to begin a three-day protest of the tuition increases and faculty and staff furloughs.

University leaders have argued that the fee increases are necessary to compensate for severe cuts in state support. Mark G. Yudof, the system’s president, said three out of four students would be shielded from the effects of the tuition increase by additional financial aid.

 

Book: Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America

“Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology” written by Allan Collins and Halverson was published recently. The topic of the book is extremely relevant, though certainly not new. The urgent need to implement new informational technologies and more important new educative practices using those technologies in traditional school settings in the United States. Basically, the question is if the integration of  mass schooling with the learning practices that new technologies enable is possible  or even relevant. The book offers worthwhile perspectives to debate  and rethink the future model of education and the role of school.

Thanks to Daniel Araya for the link

From Amazon:

Book Description:

The digital revolution has hit education, with more and more classrooms plugged into the whole wired world. But are schools making the most of new technologies? Are they tapping into the learning potential of today s Firefox/Facebook/cell phone generation? Have schools fallen through the crack of the digital divide? In Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology, Allan Collins and Richard Halverson argue that the knowledge revolution has transformed our jobs, our homes, our lives, and therefore must also transform our schools. Much like after the school-reform movement of the industrial revolution, our society is again poised at the edge of radical change. To keep pace with a globalized technological culture, we must rethink how we educate the next generation or America will be left behind. This groundbreaking book offers a vision for the future of American education that goes well beyond the walls of the classroom to include online social networks, distance learning with anytime, anywhere access, digital home schooling models, video-game learning environments, and more.

See all Editorial Reviews

 

DISCOURSE, POWER, RESISTANCE annual conference 30 March – 1 April 2010 University of Greenwich, London

Thanks to Gabriela Walker for the link

From Power & Education website:

The 9th conference in the ‘Discourse, Power, Resistance’ (DPR) series – whose official journal is Power and Education - will be held at the School of Education and Training, University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom, between 30 March and 1 April, 2010.

The venue is part of a world heritage site laid out in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries by Sir Christopher Wren and his successors. The conference will use the King William Building and the Stephen Lawrence Building.

The title of the conference is ‘DPR9: Trust’. The conference will look at issues of trust in the academy and beyond – in management, teaching, learning and research.

The six streams of the conference will be:

- Trust and Leadership in the Academy
- Trust and Panic in Education
- Research Ethics
- Trust in the Community: critical race theory
- Faith, Belief and Truth
- The Individual in a Mistrustful World

DPR 9 will look at the troubled relationships within and beyond the academy, in the United Kingdom and world-wide, where questions of trust are crucial: who can we trust, how can we know what is true, what happens when trust breaks down in the academy, in the community and internationally? What research methodology brings us an understanding deep enough to trust, and why is this methodology so often still suspected and dismissed by managers and policy-makers at all levels?

For further information please contact Jerome Satterthwaite (jsatterthwaite@plymouth.ac.uk).

 

Call for papers: Education and Economic Crises – Current Issues in Contemporary Education

Thanks to Mousumi Mukherjee for the link

The editors of Current Issues in Contemporary Education are issuing a call for papers that explore the impact of the recent global economic
crisis on education and educational systems. The current crisis, which originated in the global financial sector, has spread to create a
worldwide recessionary environment of heightened unemployment and job insecurity, depressed consumer spending, illiquidity and imbalances in
credit markets, growing restrictions on public services and expenditure, and increased uncertainty of individuals over their short- and long-term
economic futures. While one result has been a shattering of confidence in neoliberalism and unfettered market-oriented philosophies, the
implications of the crisis for education remain unclear. The upcoming issue of CICE seeks to explore the impact of the global economic crisis
on education across its many dimensions. Possible topics include, but are by no means limited to, the following:

* How has the crisis affected individual choices and investments in their educational futures and careers? How has the crisis affected the
management and continuity of educational programs or educational systems at the local, national, and global levels?
* What impact will the crisis have on aid programs designed to promote educational reform and development in developing countries?
* How will the crisis affect the work of ‘new donors’ in education, including philanthropies, foundations, and non-governmental organizations?
* Will the crisis dampen or spur reform and/or innovation in education?

* What are the differential effects of the crisis on educational programs serving minority or disenfranchised groups? How have different communities articulated their educational needs in the face of financial cutbacks and economic insecurity?

* What are the theoretical implications of the crisis for neoliberal and other approaches to public sector management? What are the policy implications of the crisis for researchers and scholars interested in insulating educational service and provision from economic crisis and shock?
* What impact will the crisis have on the way comparative education is researched, theorized, and taught? CICE welcomes substantive contributions from diverse theoretical,
methodological, empirical, and disciplinary perspectives. Although all submissions will be considered for publication, primary consideration will be given to submissions that engage the call as described.
The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2010.

Manuscript Submissions

CICE requires that manuscripts be submitted using the online submission system at Teachers College Content Works Submission Management System.
All submissions must be in Word format (“.doc”, “.rtf”, or “.txt” files) and uncompressed (i.e. not “.zip†, “.bin†, etc.). For more information visit the CICE website at www.tc.edu/cice

 

Article: “At Public Universities:Less for More “

An article at the New York Times shows the way in which the economic crisis have exacerbated the trends towards privatization of public universities in the United States.  After reading the article, it is still to me difficult to understand the logic of public federal and state funding policy of financing private institutions in the current environment while public flagships  are receiving state “contributions largely flat or down over the last 15 years” which forces then to become increasingly private to cope.  A trend exacerbate with the current economic crisis.  In other words, the economic environment and public policy financing of higher education is leading to a rise in costs of public affordable options to access the university in a current context presently characterize by high levels of unemployment. In this context, many students of wealthier families increasingly look for public options as affordable alternatives which is use in the article to partially to explain the justifications for the raise of tuition fees while public universities are force to provide less and less  services and academic options for students.

Thanks to Daniel Araya for the link

New York Times By Paul Fain, Published: October 26, 2009:

SUSAN LI’S senior year at the University of California, Los Angeles, was fast approaching, and she was running out of time. She needed at least three classes to qualify for financial aid. But a week before classes began, she had registered for only one course. “They’re not offering the classes I need,” said Ms. Li, a history major. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”[...]

In this particularly hard year, in which university endowments have been hammered along with state coffers, federal stimulus money has helped most avoid worst-case scenarios. The 10-campus University of California system, for example, has received $716 million in stimulus funds to offset its $1 billion gap. But that money is a temporary fix. A quip circulating among collegepresidents: The stimulus isn’t a bridge; it’s a short pier.

This fall, flagships still had to cut costs and raise tuition, most by 6.5 percent or more. And virtually all of the nation’s top public universities are likely to push through large increases in coming years.

“The students are at a point of rebellion, because they’re paying more and getting less,” says Jane V. Wellman, executive director of the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity and Accountability. [ read full here]

 

Research Paper: Citizenship Education at School in Europe

From Politika Public Policy Website:

Year: 2005
Financed by: Directorate – General for Education and Culture
Publisher: Eurydice
Language: English

ABSTRACT

This publication deals with the provision of citizenship education in schools and covers 30 European contries participating in the Eurydice Network. The comparative survey focuses on different national approaches to citizenship education and examines whether a European or international dimension has been officially incorporated into teaching of subject in schools. However, progress in the training of those who teach citizenship and more effective promotion of active participation by pupils in society at large arguably two major challenges in the years ahead.

Citizenship Education at School in Europe

(English, PDF)

 

Lecture: The Origins and Outcomes of the Global Economic Crisis-Immanuel Wallerstein

Immanuel Wallerstein’s lecture of the global  financial crisis took place last March  in the George Soros Auditorium of the Stockholm School ofEconomics in Riga, Strelnieku iela 4a. The lecture itself offer some ideas on the consequences of the economic meltdown

Mousumi Mukherjee for the link

You can watch the lecture here: http://www.iwallerstein.com/the-origins-and-outcomes-of-the-global-economic-crisis/

 

Video: New Math

“The School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG) was an American academic think tank focused on the subject of reform in mathematics education. Directed by Edward G. Begle and financed by the National Science Foundation, the group was created in the wake of the Sputnik crisis in 1958 and tasked with creating and implementing mathematics curricula for primary and secondary education, which it did until its termination in 1977.” [Wikipedia]

“The result, after twelve years, was total failure.  By any reasonable measure, and measures were taken, school mathematics was worse off in 1975 than it had been in 1955.  The idiocies of the older curriculum had in most places been removed, but often to be replaced with new ones.  Tom Lehrer’s 1965 song New Math, lampooning the pretentious language used to justify an inability to calculate, had the mathematical community itself laughing at the follies committed in the name of promoting a better understanding of mathematics.” [http://www.math.rochester.edu/people/faculty/rarm/smsg.html]

This is a good example of how deluded academics and technocrats can trying to apply their ideas, without regard of context or participants, to educational settings. I think that Tom Lehrer’s song may gave you and idea of the dimensions of SMSG failure:

 

News_East Asia Summit calls for the revival of Nalanda University: thinking and acting beyond the nation?

A really interesting post by Kris Olds at the Global Higher Education Blog discuss the proposal for the revival of the  Nalanda University  and the implications of  the construction  of transnational spaces of higher education. My impression to this and other process and institutions, such as the Mercosur’s  Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA) is that they are not yet really operating outside the framework of nation states. For the moment, the most important players setting the policies of transnational exchange  are nation states with the capacities to impulse knowledge production in specific directions that are deemed favorable to their respective national interests. This seem a fair assessment especially in the case of institutions that are create as part of regional integration initiatives (e.g. UNILA). This does not mean that these configurations cannot become, eventually,   mainly driven by transnational dynamics. It would be interesting to see the eventual ways in which those transnational configurations develop in the coming years.

From Global Higher Education, October, 2009:

The emergence of new supra-national movements with respect to higher education and research continue apace. From the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), through to international consortia of universities, through to bits of universities embedded in others within distant territories (e.g., Georgia Tech’s unit within the National University of Singapore), the higher education landscape is in the process of being reconfigured and globalized. Yet, is it really that novel in an historical sense? Today’s call at the East Asian Summit for the revival of Nalanda University (see below) draws upon development outcomes in higher education that took place well before the establishment of medieval universities like Oxford, Bologna, or Lund. As Sashi Tahroor notes: Founded in 427 A.D. by Buddhist monks at the time of Kumaragupta I (415-455 A.D.), Nalanda was an extraordinary centre of learning for seven centuries. The name probably comes from a combination of nalam (lotus, the symbol of knowledge) and da, meaning “to give”, so Nalanda means “Giver of Knowledge”. And that is exactly what the university did, attracting prize students from all over India, as well as from China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Persia, Sri Lanka, Tibet and Turkey. At its peak, Nalanda played host to more than 10,000 students — not just Buddhists, but of various religious traditions — and its education, provided in its heyday by 2,000 world-renowned professors, was completely free. The establishment of new types of universities in like Nalanda University, Øresund University, or the recently opened Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA), remind us that there is an emerging desire for novel spaces of knowledge production that think and act beyond the nation. A related question, then, is how effective will these new configurations be, and can supporting stakeholders (including nation-states) really act beyond the nation? (read here)