The Future of Higher Education

Público - A obsessão pelos rankings

2012-01-02T11:57:00.001Z

Público - A obsessão pelos rankings

A political trauma, but a policy success - FT.com

2011-12-30T13:33:00.000Z

Editorial do FT a favor da subida das propinas do ensino superior. A political trauma, but a policy success - FT.com

Which MBA?: The top thirty | The Economist

2011-11-05T01:01:00.000Z

Which MBA?: The top thirty | The Economist

Business education: Trouble in the middle | The Economist

2011-11-05T00:59:00.000Z

Business education: Trouble in the middle | The Economist

"Business schools and globalisation"

2011-10-11T16:53:00.001+01:00

Business schools and globalisation: Promising the world | The Economist

Schumpeter: How to make college cheaper | The Economist

2011-09-26T12:56:00.000+01:00

"Better management would allow American universities to do more with less" Schumpeter: How to make college cheaper | The Economist

Schumpeter: Tutors to the world | The Economist

2011-09-26T12:47:00.001+01:00

"Business schools are globalising at a furious pace - which is largely a good thing" Schumpeter: Tutors to the world | The Economist

Curriculum Changes Bring MBA Core Front and Center - BusinessWeek

2011-08-30T19:56:00.000+01:00

Curriculum Changes Bring MBA Core Front and Center - BusinessWeek

An MBA Dream Deferred - BusinessWeek

2011-08-30T15:47:00.000+01:00

An MBA Dream Deferred - BusinessWeek

College Presidents Are Bullish on Online Education but Face a Skeptical Public | LinkedIn

2011-08-30T14:20:00.000+01:00

College Presidents Are Bullish on Online Education but Face a Skeptical Public | LinkedIn

The Hidden Costs of Higher Ed - NYTimes.com

2011-08-27T02:48:00.000+01:00

The Hidden Costs of Higher Ed - NYTimes.com

Royal College Bargain - Forbes.com

2011-08-27T00:00:00.001+01:00

A good business opportunity for European universities: US students as a rising new target market! Royal College Bargain - Forbes.com

Spending Too Much Time and Money on Education? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

2011-08-26T02:21:00.000+01:00

Spending Too Much Time and Money on Education? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Schumpeter: How to make college cheaper | The Economist

2011-08-22T22:29:00.000+01:00

"Better management would allow American universities to do more with less." Schumpeter: How to make college cheaper | The Economist

German universities: Mediocre, but at least they're free | The Economist

2011-08-22T20:39:00.000+01:00

Some are daring to buck the trend...German universities: Mediocre, but at least they're free | The Economist

Quality control - FT.com

2011-08-19T12:13:00.000+01:00

Higher education reform in the UK Quality control - FT.com

IntGrad3

2011-08-12T11:48:00.001+01:00

This 2011 Winter edition's pages 55 to 57 are about universities and university life in Portugal. No mention whatsoever of UMinho. IntGrad3

Top Universities in Portugal 2011 / melhores universidades/faculdades de portugal 2010 - 2011 - Top Study Links

2011-07-30T02:16:00.000+01:00

Top Universities in Portugal 2011 / melhores universidades/faculdades de portugal 2010 - 2011 - Top Study Links

Naomi Schaefer Riley: Academia's Crisis of Irrelevance - WSJ.com

2011-07-29T18:49:00.000+01:00

Naomi Schaefer Riley: Academia's Crisis of Irrelevance - WSJ.com

Oxford Gets a Crash Course in Fundraising - BusinessWeek

2011-07-29T01:16:00.000+01:00

I wonder who is in charge of fundraising at Portuguese universities. So far, only UPorto has made some strides in this field as far as I know. Oxford Gets a Crash Course in Fundraising - BusinessWeek

Schumpeter: Tutors to the world | The Economist

2011-07-27T02:55:00.000+01:00

Schumpeter: Tutors to the world | The Economist

Debt fears drive US youth away from college - FT.com

2011-07-22T15:48:00.000+01:00

Debt fears drive US youth away from college - FT.com

University reform - FT.com

2011-07-04T01:16:00.000+01:00

Uk lessons for Portuguese universities? University reform - FT.com

Dinosaur U. - Forbes.com

2011-06-16T13:03:00.000+01:00

Dinosaur U. - Forbes.com

Universités : le PS propose le changement dans la continuité pour la présidentielle de 2012

2011-05-18T17:53:00.000+01:00

Universités : le PS propose le changement dans la continuité pour la présidentielle de 2012

L'université Toulouse 1 Capitole devient propriétaire

2011-05-16T12:59:00.000+01:00

"Prochaine sur la liste, l'université de Poitiers devrait à son tour devenir propriétaire avant l'été. Mais en fait, les candidates ne se bousculent pas au portillon." L'université Toulouse 1 Capitole devient propriétaire

The Professors and Qaddafi's Extreme Makeover - BusinessWeek

2011-05-08T00:48:00.000+01:00

Or would you prefer this other option??? The Professors and Qaddafi's Extreme Makeover - BusinessWeek

T. Boone Pickens: OSU's Big, Big Man on Campus - BusinessWeek

2011-05-08T00:16:00.000+01:00

This is what we want for our universities? T. Boone Pickens: OSU's Big, Big Man on Campus - BusinessWeek

A Message From The Ivory Tower’s Friendly Neighborhood ‘Reactionary’ | Cato @ Liberty

2011-05-04T17:48:00.001+01:00

Higher education as a market commodity...A Message From The Ivory Tower’s Friendly Neighborhood ‘Reactionary’ | Cato @ Liberty

Delivering Educational Products: The Job Formerly Known as Teaching - The Texas Observer

2011-05-04T17:47:00.000+01:00

Or NOT...Delivering Educational Products: The Job Formerly Known as Teaching - The Texas Observer

The Professors and Qaddafi's Extreme Makeover - BusinessWeek

2011-05-02T23:44:00.000+01:00

Qaddafi's foundation alma mater!!!The Professors and Qaddafi's Extreme Makeover - BusinessWeek

FT.com / Business education / Soapbox - There is more to business than analytics

2011-04-25T19:22:00.000+01:00

In defense of liberal arts education. By David Bach, dean of programmes at IE Business SchoolFT.com / Business education / Soapbox - There is more to business than analytics

FT.com / Business education - Academia strives for relevance

2011-04-25T19:15:00.000+01:00

"Professors urged to shift focus so their research appeals to managers rather than peers", writes Ben Schiller FT.com / Business education - Academia strives for relevance

FT.com / Comment / Editorial - Student radicalism

2011-04-25T18:50:00.000+01:00

"English higher education reforms are not yet finished"!FT.com / Comment / Editorial - Student radicalism

McGurn: When Big Government Goes to College - WSJ.com

2011-04-19T19:14:00.000+01:00

Funding higher education ... in the States. McGurn: When Big Government Goes to College - WSJ.com

Finland's Educational Success? The Anti-Tiger Mother Approach - TIME

2011-04-12T01:17:00.000+01:00

It's the teachers, stupid! Finland's Educational Success? The Anti-Tiger Mother Approach - TIME

Business Schools Boost Global Efforts - WSJ.com

2011-04-08T18:41:00.000+01:00

Business Schools Boost Global Efforts - WSJ.com

Weak Educational System Hobbles Portugal - WSJ.com

2011-03-25T13:29:00.001Z

"A Nation of Dropouts...!" Weak Educational System Hobbles Portugal - WSJ.com

A College Degree Is Still Worth It - BusinessWeek

2011-03-22T14:39:00.000Z

A College Degree Is Still Worth It - BusinessWeek

The Frustrations of the Educated and Unemployed American - NYTimes.com

2011-03-21T17:17:00.000Z

A geração à rasca, i.e. fundamental/ de licenciados desempregados já chegou ao NYT! The Frustrations of the Educated and Unemployed American - NYTimes.com

O que fazem os filhos dos ditadores com a educação do Ocidente? - Mundo - PUBLICO.PT

2011-03-21T00:45:00.000Z

O que fazem os filhos dos ditadores com a educação do Ocidente? - Mundo - PUBLICO.PT

Is College Still Worth the Expense? - NYTimes.com

2011-03-17T14:26:00.000Z

The future belongs to college/university dropouts? Se os Deolinda sabem disto...Is College Still Worth the Expense? - NYTimes.com

Why Can't M.B.A. Students Write? - WSJ.com

2011-03-12T02:29:00.000Z

Why Can't M.B.A. Students Write? - WSJ.com

The Best Undergraduate B-Schools of 2011 - BusinessWeek

2011-03-11T18:59:00.000Z

The Best Undergraduate B-Schools of 2011 - BusinessWeek

The Folly Of Higher Education Subsidies - Forbes.com

2011-03-09T16:50:00.000Z

So much for the Ivory Tower university!!! The Folly Of Higher Education Subsidies - Forbes.com

António Rendas pede isenção de propinas para alunos carenciados | Económico

2011-03-09T16:27:00.001Z

Universidade do Minho, com 50% de bolseiros, é considerada a universidade dos pobrezinhos, enquanto que a Nova de Lisboa, só com 10%, será a dos riquinhos! António Rendas pede isenção de propinas para alunos carenciados | Económico

Público - "Contrato de Confiança com o Governo deve incluir os empresários"

2011-03-09T16:16:00.000Z

Este pelo menos não parece ser cegamente a favor das fusões entre universidades, ... pelo menos nas grandes metrópoles...isto é, em Lisboa! Público - "Contrato de Confiança com o Governo deve incluir os empresários"

Público - "Modelo da fundação é bom para as universidades"

2011-03-09T15:55:00.001Z

Será? O que é certo é que nem são revelados os contratos universidade-fundação já celebrados, nem se disponibilizam os (ir)responsáveis em pôr à votação o resultado das negociações que vão desenvolver para este efeito com o ministério. Público - "Modelo da fundação é bom para as universidades"

FT.com / Business education / Soapbox - Top schools face globalisation challenge

2011-03-08T00:57:00.000Z

FT.com / Business education / Soapbox - Top schools face globalisation challenge

College the Easy Way - NYTimes.com

2011-03-07T02:31:00.000Z

Lá como cá? College the Easy Way - NYTimes.com

A universidade e a sua envolvente

2011-03-06T17:02:00.003Z

A propósito da eventual universidade-fundação tem sido muito enfatizada a problemática do envolvimento da universidade com o mundo exterior que haveria que reforçar com a intenção de tornar as actividades de ensino e pesquisa mais relevantes para a sociedade e mais atractivas ao financiamento por parte de terceiros daquelas mesmas actividades.
Em princípio todos estaremos de acordo em que a universidade abandone a sua “torre de marfim”: as nossas consciências sentir-se-ão mais aliviadas ao saberem que os dinheiros que gastamos servem para alguma coisa e se ainda por cima contribuírem para angariar fundos e outro tipo de prestações, tanto melhor. No contexto de passagem a universidade fundação ainda mais premente se tornam estes desideratos, embora só na medida que a necessidade de angariar receitas próprias se torna mais explícita. Que eu saiba, nada impede a atracção de fundos de terceiros no contexto actual de estatuto de universidade pública.
Os curadores da universidade-fundação teriam precisamente esta função, além da de homologadores-mor de que fala o actual regime, já que oriundos da sociedade civil exterior à universidade, com a qual não podem ter vínculo profissional.
Infelizmente, nada nos respectivos estatutos nos garante que estes objectivos estimáveis venham a ser atingidos. Os curadores são nomeados pelo ministério da tutela sob proposta da universidade/reitor, mas sem qualquer incumbência específica no domínio da angariação de fundos.
A investigação chamada de “pura”ou "fundamental" dificilmente atrairia muitas contribuições privadas externas, porque por definição não é de óbvia aplicação prática. Já a atractividade da pesquisa aplicada poderia ser substancialmente maior, mas os riscos inerentes seriam também maiores. Por um lado coloca-se o fenómeno do mimetismo frequentemente observado entre os estudiosos e o objecto estudado: muitos de entre nós assumimos inconscientemente as angústias p.ex. das empresas que analisamos, transformamo-nos facilmente em seus porta-vozes e abandonamos uma postura crítica que deveria ser apanágio de toda a actividade académica. Aplicações de interesse para empresas raramente fazem avançar a ciência, já que por definição são meras implementações (poli)técnicas mais ou menos bem conseguidas de conceitos e invenções desenvolvidas em outros patamares. Para serem de real valor para as empresas deveriam em muitos casos carregar consigo o atributo da exclusividade que só uma patente aporta, e neste caso pode colocar-se a questão da justa distribuição dos custos do respectivo desenvolvimento, assim com a de sabermos se pertence às autoridades universitárias decidir sobre o respectivo beneficiário.
O exemplo recente da promiscuidade entre a London School of Economics e o regime do coronel Khadafi, que levou à demissão do presidente daquela, não será assim tão representativo e relevante para as universidades portuguesas, mas pelo menos deveria levar-nos a pensar melhor sobre o rumo que queremos propor para o futuro: talvez uma Universidade Coca-Cola/Macdonalds, ou uma Universidade Sonae/Amorim? Ou que dizer duma Universidade Khadafi/Chavez? Já temos a Universidade Sócrates/Gago/Moreira...

Público - Fusão de universidades em Lisboa ?"é inevitável"

2011-02-25T12:51:00.000Z

Mais um a favor das fusões entre universidades...Público - Fusão de universidades em Lisboa ?"é inevitável"

Les soirées étudiantes mieux encadrées à la rentrée 2011

2011-02-25T12:43:00.000Z

Lá como cá...Les soirées étudiantes mieux encadrées à la rentrée 2011

MBA salary levels rise with b-school research | Top MBA

2011-02-22T17:47:00.000Z

MBA salary levels rise with b-school research | Top MBA

Business Schools Get Lean - BusinessWeek

2011-02-15T19:01:00.000Z

Business Schools Get Lean - BusinessWeek

FT.com / Business education - A profile that spans the globe

2011-02-15T12:21:00.000Z

Business education in China. FT.com / Business education - A profile that spans the globe

FT.com / Business education / Soapbox - Business research needs to be more relevant for managers

2011-02-15T12:12:00.001Z

Doesn't look to me as an elegant solution to the problem, but here it is...FT.com / Business education / Soapbox - Business research needs to be more relevant for managers

Seabra Santos: "É necessária uma política nacional para o ensino superior" - Educação - PUBLICO.PT

2011-02-14T13:36:00.000Z

Seabra Santos: "É necessária uma política nacional para o ensino superior" - Educação - PUBLICO.PT

Como empresas e particulares apoiam as Universidades | Económico

2011-02-14T02:00:00.000Z

Como empresas e particulares apoiam as Universidades | Económico

Eles copiam e não são apanhados. 70% de cábulas na universidade

2011-02-11T15:35:00.000Z

Eles copiam e não são apanhados. 70% de cábulas na universidade

2011 sera l'année de la consolidation pour les fondations d'université

2011-02-10T13:41:00.000Z

2011 sera l'année de la consolidation pour les fondations d'université

The disposable academic. Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time, according to The Economist

2011-01-27T17:31:00.000Z

http://www.economist.com/node/17723223?story_id=17723223

Declining by degree

2011-01-23T15:14:00.000Z

Will America's universities go the way of its car companies?http://www.economist.com/node/16941775?story_id=16941775

O Brasil precisa de universidades do seu tamanho - Educação - Notícia - VEJA.com

2011-01-22T14:56:00.000Z

O Brasil precisa de universidades do seu tamanho - Educação - Notícia - VEJA.com

FT.com / Business education / Soapbox - Entrepreneurial academics need support

2010-12-21T13:38:00.000Z

Is this the future of our universities: an entrepreneurial university? FT.com / Business education / Soapbox - Entrepreneurial academics need support

Anglo Higher® Publishes News, Commentary and Opinion About Global Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Professional Training- Resource Issues for Small Higher Education Institutions

2010-12-20T16:48:00.000Z

Management of smaller universities and colleges. Anglo Higher® Publishes News, Commentary and Opinion About Global Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Professional Training- Resource Issues for Small Higher Education Institutions

Anglo Higher® Publishes News, Commentary and Opinion About Global Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Professional Training- Lord Browne Review implemented, new higher fee levels for UK students, the conclusion? Editorial

2010-12-20T16:41:00.000Z

Higher tuition levels in the UK. Anglo Higher® Publishes News, Commentary and Opinion About Global Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Professional Training- Lord Browne Review implemented, new higher fee levels for UK students, the conclusion? Editorial

FT.com / Business education - Replacing the beautiful game with business goals

2010-12-14T02:15:00.000Z

Luis Figo goes to (business) school! FT.com / Business education - Replacing the beautiful game with business goals

Learning Curve

2010-11-09T00:59:00.002Z

Take a look at the difficulties US higher education institutions are facing while setting up shop in India: Learning Curve

"The battleground that is business research"

2010-11-04T15:54:00.001Z

By Roger Martin, Published in the Financial Times of October 31 2010

"Putting a Price on Professors A battle in Texas over whether academic value can be measured in dollars and cents"

2010-10-31T23:39:00.002Z

By STEPHANIE SIMON And STEPHANIE BANCHERO in the Wall Street Journal of October 22, 2010

"Graduates and universities share burden of Browne recommendations"

2010-10-25T11:39:00.001+01:00

"Graduates and universities share burden of Browne recommendations", Institute for Fiscal Studies Press Release, Authors: Haroon Chowdry and Lorraine Dearden

The Report of the Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance chaired by Lord Browne of Madingley

2010-10-18T11:48:00.000+01:00

The Report of the Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance chaired by Lord Browne of Madingley

Manipulated evaluation

2010-03-09T12:23:00.002Z

Under the title "Gamesmanship in the hands of academic peers", Stuart Macdonald, a professor of information and organisation at Sheffield University Management School, published a delicious critique of the evaluation process going on at British universities. Are we embarking again in a flawed scheme?

Business Education practical problems

2009-11-03T15:30:00.001Z

It's all the fault of the timetable and textbook

By Gerard Hanlon,

Published by the Financial Times, November 2, 2009

Message to MBAs: We Are No Longer Masters of the Universe

2009-10-31T02:08:00.005Z

The Globalist published October 30, 2009 above mentioned piece by Louis Hughes on the role MBAs may have played in the recent financial and economic crisis.
You may access it clicking on this link: http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=8098

MIT in Portugal

2009-09-23T03:57:00.004+01:00

"For the MIT this is consulting. Once the money stops, so stops the agreement." Campus e Cunha dixit, referring to the agreements recently signed between the MIT and several Portuguese universities under the umbrella of the minister for Higher Education and Science.
From: http://diario.iol.pt/economia/campos-e-cunha-ex-ministro-financas/1090699-4058.html, Sept.22, 2009

The Singularity University

2009-08-29T01:15:00.003+01:00

Two other recent articles in the Financial Times (1 & 2) called our attention to the Singularity University already introduced two posts back. Is this the way forward?

Bureaucrat U

2009-08-08T02:26:00.002+01:00

This one is from Forbes Magazine, so you know what type of story you are getting. Some useful data are on offer though, even if some of our received opinion can be contradicted. "It is time for higher education to go on diet" seems rather an implausible lesson for Portugal at least right now, i.e. after so many years of budget cuts in the higher education sector.
The title of the story ("Pay the teachers, not the administrators") seems rather out of place if applied to Portuguese public and private universities alike. These are traditionally understaffed, or should I say "wrongstaffed" too?

A new type of university?

2009-08-08T02:18:00.002+01:00

For what it's worth, take a look at this interesting pioneer effort to launch a new type of university in California.
From what I read there are some positives, but the whole experiment seems somewhat lunatic and lonesome! Difficult to believe they will be around by next year...

University becoming an ambiguous social factor?

2009-08-03T01:56:00.002+01:00

"The aspirational society stalls at the gates of academe", by John Lloyd, in the FT of July 25, questions the role of the university in promoting social mobility. An extract: "...the university becomes an ambiguous social factor. The more education it confers, the better the possibility for advancement up through the classes. But it also functions as a filter: the professions, and higher earnings, are now so routinely associated with the degrees it gives that those without its benison find the career and class bonds tighter than ever."
Read on clicking on the above link and let us have your opinion on this blog as a comment.

The teachers join the students distancing themselves from the culture of greed in higher education

2009-06-30T01:05:00.002+01:00

Soapbox: Students need to be wary of ‘greed is good’

By Kamal Munir, Financial Times, June 22, 2009

Recently, teaching a group of finance students – many of them ex-investment bankers – at Cambridge, I asked if any of them had seen Oliver Stone’s famous film about corporate greed, Wall Street.

The entire class chuckled and one girl replied with mock astonishment: “You mean how many times have we seen it?”

MBAs trying to shed the image of public enemy no.1

2009-06-28T00:45:00.003+01:00

Following a previous initiative at Thunderbird, Arizona, some years ago, some Harvard, Massachusetts, MBA graduates have signed a oath, now extended to graduates from elsewhere, also through a dedicated website.

Apparently, the under signers and their mentors, would like to use this oath as a tool to shed the negative image that the ongoing international financial crisis, and the inherent scandals, brought upon them. More and more MBAs see their future careers more in the non-profit sector than in the banking and consulting business, so they dare "to strive to create sustainable economic, social, and environmental prosperity worldwide", among other similarly sounding vacuities.

Genuine idealism or opportunistic hypocrisy?

You may read some of the pieces on this story clicking on the following titles and leave your opinion as a comment in this blog.

"A Hippocratic oath for managers, Forswearing greed", The Economist, Jun 4, 2009

"Harvard's MBA Oath Goes Viral", by Anne VanderMey, Business Week, June 11, 2009

"The students who swear by a business school", by Michael Skapinker, Financial Times, June 23, 2009

Academics have more to declare than their genius

2009-06-25T00:08:00.002+01:00

Under this title Devesh Kapur, from the University of Pennsylvania, published in yesterday's FT a comment on potential conflicts of interest by academics. He questions:
"Universities are about research and teaching – but they have also become about big money. It is a symbiotic relationship and one should have no illusions about how hard it is to do the former without the latter. Taking intellectual risks, having the freedom to research and publish on anything of one’s choice and having the right to make mistakes is the life-blood of academia. But should one not ask of academics the same standards of transparency we demand elsewhere?"
You may read the full text of his comment here and give us your feedback at this blog.

Take more of MIT / Toma lá + MIT !

2009-06-24T17:52:00.003+01:00

If we believe this abstract, we, Portugal, are on the way to become part of the 17th or 11th largest economy in the world. Why am I not so happy, then?

"Research- and technology-intensive universities, especially via their entrepreneurial spinoffs, have a dramatic impact on the economies of the United States and its fifty states. A new report on just one such university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, indicates conservatively that, if the active companies founded by MIT graduates formed an independent nation, their revenues would make that nation at least the seventeenth-largest economy in the world. A less conservative direct extrapolation of the underlying survey data boosts the numbers to 25,800 currently active companies founded by MIT alumni that employ about 3.3 million people and generate annual world sales of $2 trillion, producing the equivalent of the eleventh-largest economy in the world.

These findings result from an analysis of MIT alumni-founded companies and the entrepreneurial environment that fosters this new-company creation. Conducted by Edward B. Roberts and Charles Eesley of the MIT Sloan School of Management, the report is based on a 2003 survey of all living MIT alumni, with additional detailed analyses, including verification and updating of revenue and employment figures to 2006 from records of Compustat (public companies) and Dun & Bradstreet (private companies). "

Abstract from "Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT" by EDWARD B. ROBERTS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Entrepreneurship Center, eroberts@mit.edu and CHARLES E. EESLEY, Stanford University
Email: cee@stanford.edu (free downloadable from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1352633)

The first MBA president

2009-06-01T01:28:00.002+01:00

"Why politics isn't business as usual"

Under this title Charles R. Kesler published July 03, 2006 a story on The Los Angeles Times that might not be very flattering to MBAs and business schools, let alone to George W. Bush, the president in question.

Read on here http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/03/opinion/oe-kesler3

MBAs: Public Enemy No. 1?

2009-06-01T01:20:00.002+01:00

Business Week May 20, 2009

Read the story clicking MBAs: Public Enemy No. 1?

The debate over business schools' culpability in the financial crisis rages on, with no clear end in sight

By Francesca Di Meglio

Portuguese universities: a long way from the market

2009-05-29T13:38:00.003+01:00

"Universities can't be managed as public administration departments. They should be handled as public firms, knowing (beforehand) what is the contribution of the state (funds), and then having to raise their own funds. They should be able to make their own management decisions, which is not the case now. Their product price, i.e. the students fees, is fixed by (national) law. Their clients, the students, are determined (centrally) by the ministerium. As it is the quantity to be produced, i.e. the number of admitted students, and the price of their resources, i.e. how much they pay to the administrative and teaching staff. With these restrictions, which enterprise could survive in a competitive international setting? All the fundamental management aspects are determined by the ministerium. So, it's very difficult to have a long term strategy. The state (government) should give to the (higher education) institutions room to grow, management autonomy, and performance evaluation." (Excerpt of an interview with Luis Campos e Cunha, economics professor at the New University Lisbon and former minister of finance of the Portuguese government, published by the monthly business magazine Exame, nº 302, June 2009, blogger's translation)

Higher education 'market' warning

2009-05-25T15:55:00.000+01:00

Higher education in the United States is coming to resemble any other kind of personal service industry

Professor Robert Reich

Click here for a transcript

Britain has been warned of the dangers of following America in the "marketisation" of higher education.

The warning came from Robert Reich, a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University and a labour secretary in President Clinton's administration.

He was describing what he called "the destruction of public higher education in America, and how the UK can avoid the same fate".

Delivering the annual Higher Education Policy Institute lecture, Prof Reich said that from the 1950s to the 70s in the US, there had been a huge increase in federal and state funding for public universities.

The future of higher education

2009-05-25T15:37:00.000+01:00

I created this blog in order to discuss the future of higher education, not just in Portugal, where I'm located, but worldwide.

What will universities look like in the future?
Is academic freedom passé?
Is there a market or several different markets of higher education?

These are some of the questions I would like to ventilate with you guys out there.