In this post, we have listed thematically the guest entries of 2012, in addition to the thematic weeks and Hedda podcasts of 2012.
Guest bloggers and commentary
We had entries from a number of different countries, covering a multitude of topics and contexts. From staffing issues world wide, to issues related to research policy, MOOCs and student financing. Here is a short overview of the guest entries in 2012.
Regarding issues related to staff and students, one of the most popular posts of the year was by Ivan F. Pacheco from CIHE at Boston College, who wrote about academic compensation world wide - with focus on current trends and cross-country comparisons. Dr. Rebecca Turner and professor David Gosling examined the initiatives to reward excellent teaching and the journey from policy to practice.
Perhaps the biggest buzz word of 2012 is MOOCs. We examined the developments early on: Shane Colvin from Hedda examined the Udacity initiative and compared it to existing online learning initiatives, and we further examined the MOOC craze, looking at the various providers.
We also featured some posts that deal with issues of policy. Dr. Hilde Afdal examined the developments in teacher education policy in Norway and Finland - trying to identify some of the reasons behind the Finnish success story in education. Regarding policies that have not been successful, dr. Joanne Pyke explored why women continue to be a minority in senior academic roles in Australian universities despite more than 25 years of equal opportunity policies and legislation. A story of resistance towards changes was also provided by Hedda graduate Nigusse Weldemariam who examined difficulties with introducing new management routines in Mekelle University in Ethiopia.
Another prominent theme was tuition fees and funding. One of the more popular posts was by Martina Vukasovic, who examined the industry of student debt in the US. Funding was also examined in the case of Australia, and Peter Bentley from University of Melbourne examined the issue of public vs private funding. Later on, dr. Vincent Carpentier also examined the issue of cost-sharing, not least in the context of current economic crisis. In addition, dr. Joanna Williams argued that students are now constructed as customers, not only due to tuition fees, but from the moment they begin to think about higher education.
Related to issues of internationalisation, Adinda van Gaalen from Nuffic in Netherlands wrote about a new benchmarking tool for internationalisation. Regarding the major internationalisation process in Europe, Hedda editor Mari Elken reviewed the highlights from the latest Bologna Process meeting in Bucharest.
Ranking is a topic receiving much attention in scholarly debate. On the Hedda blog, professor Frank Ziegele from CHE gave his insights about the new ranking instrument in Europe – U-Multirank.
We further had a number of posts on various issues related to system level developments. Prof. Simon Schwartzman examined the link between economic growth and higher education expansion, challenging the usual causal link. Dr. Creso Sá and Aisha Khaja also focus on access and discuss the issues and challenges related to developing new campuses in Ontario Canada.
Hedda own Jens Jungblut examined the developments in German higher education in two posts – first, the so-called old and new understanding of excellence in German higher education, and second on the new university alliance in Germany. Hedda master student Philipp Friedrich examined the developments related to university autonomy in Austria.
Regarding issues related to research, dr. Richard Watermeyer from University of Cardiff examines the public engagement agenda and shift towards using “impact” as a core element in evaluating the quality of research in UK. Hedda graduate Zhanna Saidenova wrote about how humanities research in Norway faces more focus on performance as well. Hedda graduates Jelena Brankovic and Norbert Sabic introduced a book focused on research policy and performance, a comparison of policy developments, financing and performance in Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. Furthermore, prof Jenny M. Lewis argued why and how disciplinary differences matter in research policy.
Another recent development in research is the open access movement, and so-called “academic spring”, and we summarised some of the developments in our commentary on the topic. We also examined the issue of co-authorship - who is first, who is last and does it all matter?
And, we put focus on summarising some current trends in higher education research by sharing a review of the 25th CHER conference in Beograd, Serbia. And thinking about conferences, of course, we also covered the recent so-called Twittergate, where a heated debate about live tweeting at conferences emerged in social media.
Thematic weeks
In 2012, we also featured two thematic weeks. In the first one, we examined issues related to social media. Mal Chia wrote about opportunities and challenges related to social media, Jarle V. Traavik compared various social media channels and wrote about initiatives at the Faculty of Education in University of Oslo, and dr. Jana Bouwma-Gearhart wrote about the potential of blogs in research dissemination. Furthermore, we included a podcast with dr. Trish Andrews from Australia who shared her thoughts on social media and new modes of learning.
Our second thematic week we published in December 2012, and focus was put to various kinds of crisis and higher education. Corinna Frey wrote about 20 years of UNHCR scholarships, prof. N.V. Varghese from IIEP/UNESCO wrote about developments in higher education in the context of current economic crisis, and dr. Jana Bacevic focused on the role of higher education in post-war Balkans. We also featured a recording of a lecture with Robert Quinn from Scholars at Risk, and a podcast with prof. Halla Holmarsdottir on higher education in Sudan. Eventually, we summed up some of the lessons learned from these entries. Later on, we followed up also with a post on issues related to higher education on Haiti during an aftermath of a major nagtural catastrophe.
Hedda podcasts
- In January, we posted the 31st episode of the Hedda podcast, where we interviewed dr. Gili S. Drori from Hewbrew University in Jerusalem. In the interview we examined some global higher education trends, and share the findings of an exciting research project on university branding.
- Episode 32 of our podcast series was with professor Lee Harvey, who gave a presentation about the introduction of learning outcomes in UK.
- Episode 33 featured professor Elisabeth Berg who discussed new public management and gender issues in Sweden.
- Episode 34 was a part of our thematic week on social media and featured an interview with dr. Trish Andrews who shared her thoughts on social media and new modes of learning.
- Episode 35 featured an interview with dr. Ludvika Leisyte who discussed recent changes in academic work in US and Europe.
- Episode 36 was a part of our thematic week focused on higher education and crisis, and we talked to prof. Halla Holmarsdottir about higher education in Sudan.
