Worth a glance #14

Wake-up call for UK as giants stir in the global student market. Around 20% of students at UK universities are from overseas, providing 12% of income. In the name of courting popularity, the current UK government is doing its best to encourage them to go elsewhere . Without these students, parts of UK higher education would suffer a major shock. Other countries, especially the US, are now stepping up recruitment. We used to make the best cars in the world as well, and as a kid I would visit Cardiff docks, and see rows and rows of cars all ready for export.

The First 70 Minutes of The Hour. This deserves a longer post but the parallels between ‘the pitch’ [I have only done one, and it was unsuccessful] and the death by Powerpoint lecture are obvious. “When, in 2002, I was invited to join the ranks of venture investors by Barry Weinman, my Gentleman Capitalist mentor, I voiced a concern: I didn’t want to go blind looking at PowerPoint presentations for the rest of my life.”

Preparing for the digital university. One of the authors (Dragan Gašević) is from my institution. Stephen Downes is not too warm about it. I think it is essential reading, but as Downes says, so is Tony Bates’ book.

The industrial education system myth by Martin Weller ( as a riff on Audrey Watters on the same topic).