Archive for the ‘higher education’ Category

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The ACRL Approves New “Standards for Libraries in Higher Education”

In budgets,higher education,PCG,publishing industry on November 2, 2011 by pcgplus Tagged: , ,

LibraryJournal.com reports that the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Board of Directors approved a comprehensive revision of the association’s Standards for Libraries in Higher Education (SLHE) in October. This revision is meant to provide a stronger framework by which research libraries can demonstrate their value while facing growing scrutiny in a tough economic environment.

“These standards differ from previous versions by articulating expectations for library contributions to institutional effectiveness,” said University of Nevada-Las Vegas Dean of University Libraries Patricia Iannuzzi, who chaired the SLHE task force. “They also differ structurally from the previous version by providing a comprehensive framework using an outcomes-based approach, with evidence collected in ways most appropriate for each institution.”

To access a copy of the approved standards as well as to sign up for a introductory webcast, please go to:

 http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/standardslibraries.cfm

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Harvard Libraries Unite

In higher education,library market on October 11, 2011 by pcgplus

After months of review, the Harvard University library system has implemented a new structure merging individual libraries into groups based on similar collection needs.

In a recent letter posted on the harvard.edu website, Provost Alan Garber explains the shift in more detail:

“This affinity group model maintains the individuality of the libraries while providing mechanisms for the cross-campus collaboration that the system needs for its strategic development and overall organizational effectiveness. An organizational design can be viewed on the Library Transition website. Although this plan is the product of a broad set of conversations across the libraries and the Schools, flexibility will be an integral part of the plan’s implementation.”

To read more on this announcement please visit the following link: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k77982&pageid=icb.page459518.

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Top Research Fields in Engineering

In higher education,research funding on February 24, 2011 by pcgplus

The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) publishes reports and handbooks on a variety of topics related to engineering research at the university level. The following graph is a snapshot from the 2010 Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges book, which

Provides many graphs, charts and tables detailing the state of engineering education today. The book also provides a listing for all college enrollments, degrees awarded, faculty and research expenditures at the undergraduate and graduate levels for engineering and undergraduate level for engineering technology.

This graphic shows the most popular engineering doctoral fields in the US, the top five being Mechanical, Electrical/Computer, Electrical, Computer Science and Chemical:

View more ASEE sample data here.

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California to Cut 1.4 Billion from Higher Ed Funding

In budgets,higher education,library market,North America on January 14, 2011 by pcgplus

The AP is reporting that new California Governor Jerry Brown has proposed a budget that would cut $1.4 billion from the state’s higher education funding. Publishers doing business with universities and libraries in the state should take notice: the new budget would cut $500 million from UC and CSU systems — each — and another $400m from the state’s community colleges. As published in Bloomberg, the AP article states that, in addition to tuition hikes, the state campuses are preparing for a litany of other “draconian cost-cutting measures.”


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Higher Ed: India’s Growing System

In Asia,higher education,library market,PCG,research funding on October 29, 2010 by pcgplus

In the Fall issue of PCG’s newsletter The Vantage, Kate Stevens profiles the Indian government’s so-called “Eleventh Plan,” which lays out ambitious goals to expand the system of higher education in that country.

If India is able to achieve its goals, the rate of enrollment in higher education will increase 10% by 2017. Libraries will need to support the growing student population and the mission of creating globally competitive universities within India. While the majority of library budgets come from the government budget plan, the Eleventh Plan supports more movement toward private sector partnerships to help support the improvements being made to existing universities and the creation of new institutions. This, in turn, will help to stabilize library budgets as they gradually become less dependent on government funding.

Read more PCG articles on The Vantage homepage.

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Higher Ed: Changes Would Move UK System Closer to US Model

In higher education on October 27, 2010 by pcgplus

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published a series of data sets illustrating the differences in government spending, national support, and tuition rates for higher education in the US and UK.  Worth considering is how increased privatization would affect funding (and library spending) in the UK. From the article:

The British government unveiled a four-year budget this month that includes drastic cuts to higher education. The cuts accelerate a steady move away from a publicly supported system to one in which students and the private sector shoulder more of the costs: in other words, a system that looks more like the American model.

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Top Doctoral Programs Ranked in Influential NRC Report

In higher education,research funding on October 7, 2010 by pcgplus

The National Research Council has published an exhaustive study that ranks 5,000 U.S. doctoral programs in 62 fields across 212 institutions.   The Washington Post‘s coverage notes that this ”long-awaited report…offers the first definitive rankings of the programs in 15 years.” The complex set of rankings — based on a myriad of statistics  – apply a “range” to each program instead of giving it a fixed rank. A given medical or engineering program, for example, may rank ‘as high a X’, or ‘as low as Y’.

According to the Press Release, the influential study is “designed to help universities evaluate and improve the quality of their programs and to provide prospective students with information on the nation’s doctoral programs.” The National Research Council identifies several trends such as

  • The number of students enrolled has increased by 4 percent in engineering and by 9 percent in the physical sciences
  • The number of students enrolled has declined by 5 percent in the social sciences and by 12 percent the humanities

The Chronicle of Higher Education has created a fascinating little interactive tool to help navigate and understand the findings. The full report can be downloaded here.

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R&D Spending on the Rise

In budgets,higher education on October 1, 2010 by pcgplus

Writing in the Washington Post’s College Inc. blog,  Daniel de Vise cites a National Science Foundation survey which puts American universities’ R&D spending up 5.8% for last year. Beyond academia, industry spending on R&D “Rose 12 percent to $3.2 billion from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009, while the much larger category of federal spending rose 4 percent to $32.6 billion.”

de Vise also offers a snapshot of the Chronicle of Higher Education’s R&D ranking chart for academic institutions:

1. Johns Hopkins U., $1.6 billion
2. U. of Michigan (all campuses), $636 million
3. U. of Washington (all campuses), $619 million
4. MIT, $533 million
5. U. of California, San Diego, $511 million
44. University of Maryland, $247 million
48. University of Virginia, $218 million
62. University of Maryland, Baltimore, $169 million
69. Virginia Tech, $148 million
86. Georgetown U., $120 million

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DFG Rankings: Who Does Research Funding Go To In Germany?

In budgets,Europe,higher education on August 12, 2010 by pcgplus

DFG, the German national consortium for science and research, publishes data on its members’ research funding by institution, discipline, region, network and various other subcategories.  Drawing on analyses of funding award data from DFG,  ”direct R&D project funding by the federal government”, and “R&D funding in the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme,” the organization maps who in German higher education is receiving money, and for what.

The below image, for example, is a snapshot of the 20 German higher education institutions (HEI) with the most DFG-based funding for research. On the right, the numbers have been divided into subject categories.

A number of other charts, maps and diagrams are available on different topics, such as:

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Researchers, Campuses, Publications

In higher education,Scholarly publications on July 20, 2010 by pcgplus

Via Information Today, a new campus research gateway known as “BibApp” has been launched that “matches researchers on a campus or research center with their publication data and mines that data to see collaborations, create visualizations of areas of research, and find experts in research areas.” The new service

Allows researchers and research groups to promote research, find collaborators on campus, and make research more accessible. It also allows libraries to better understand research happening in local departments, facilitate conversations about author rights with researchers, and ease the population of the institutional repository. Finally, BibApp allows campus administrators to achieve a clearer picture of collaboration and scholarly publishing trends on campus.

Learn more on the company website.

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