IMD criterion of the month: Killing competitiveness, slowly…

By Stéphane Garelli, Professor, Director, IMD’s World Competitiveness Center

Infrastructure is the result of past competitiveness and the determination that a country has to invest in its future. It is a slow moving factor and significant changes – positive or negative- rarely occur within the time span of political tenure. Neglecting infrastructure kills competitiveness, slowly, while nobody really feels accountable for it.

The risk is that austerity measures are implemented at the cost of sacrificing sound infrastructure. With government spending exceeding 40% of the GDP in 30 countries among those covered by the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011, the temptation is high to save on infrastructure at the expense of future competitiveness. The criteria of the month highlights how countries perform on infrastructure and which ones have more to gain, or to lose…

Check:

http://www.imd.org/uupload/dm/images/WCY/Infrastructure.pdf?MRK_CMPG_SOURCE=WCC_1511005&wt.mc_id=WCY_11_WCC_1511005&utm_source=DM&utm_medium=em&utm_campaign=WCY_11_WCC_1511005

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

Most US-university heads prefer no tenure

The deteriorating number of tenured positions in higher education is a common source of concern for faculty, but few college presidents seem perturbed by the trend, writes Jack Stripling for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Fewer than a quarter of college leaders who responded to a Pew Research Centre survey, done in association with The Chronicle, said they would prefer full-time, tenured professors to make up most of the faculty at their institutions. Instead, 69% said they would prefer that a majority of faculty work under long-term or annual contracts.

Check: Full report on The Chronicle of Higher Education site

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

PS: Follow IMD on the “No-Tenure-Track”

UNESCO debates uses and misuses of rankings

By Jane Marshall, University World News

International rankings of higher education institutions are here to stay, but classifications should evolve to give information that is more relevant to the needs of users such as universities, students and policy-makers, fits local situations and contributes to the growth of world-class higher education systems rather than a few world-class universities.

These were among recommendations that emerged last week in Paris at the Global Forum Rankings and Accountability in Higher Education: Uses and misuses organised by UNESCO, the OECD’s Institutional Management of Higher Education (IMHE) and the World Bank.

More than 250 participants from nearly 70 countries attended the forum, which broached numerous questions and issues such as whether university rankings were a good measure for comparing higher education institutions; if criteria used in ranking systems were relevant to students everywhere; and whether they wielded too much influence on university and government policies.

Check:

Full report on the University World News site

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

Who goes where and why for education?

In the past, universities wishing to attract international students have focused on deciding their unique selling point and promoting it, say CAROLINE MACREADY and CLIVE TUCKER.

Their research shows that student mobility is in good health, although mobility patterns are changing, and suggests that in the future it will be more important to understand what international students want and to demonstrate that the institution can provide it.

Check:
Full report on the University World News site

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

INSEAD Knowledge – Measuring the effectiveness of corporate governance

By Dr. Yilmaz Argüden

Trust is the foundation of sustainable development. As the world continues to get smaller, our mutual interdependence increases and we all need to be able to mobilise the resources and goodwill of others to achieve success. That can only be achieved through gaining their trust. Therefore, the ability to gain the trust of global financial markets and of all the stakeholders in the value chain is becoming the key to success. 

Check: Read more..

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

Need to balance Europe-Asia student flows

By Yojana Sharma, University World News

Education ministers from more than 40 European and Asian countries met in Copenhagen last week to discuss how to balance the flow of students between the two continents – a movement heavily biased towards Asian students studying in Europe.

Check:

Full report on the University World News site

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

Tomorrow’s MBA – Enter the Entrepreneur

Prospective MBA students set out their views on what they think of the MBA qualification, what they expect from the business school experience and what they want to study

Entrepreneurship is not new to the MBA, but for many years the focus for many MBA students has been banking, finance and consulting. The second Tomorrow’s MBA study suggests this focus is shifting and that entrepreneurship may be the trend of the future.

The Tomorrow’s MBA study was first run in 2009/2010 to try and understand if the economic recession, and the criticism that the MBA received following the collapse of several banks, had an impact on prospective MBA students. If anything the study suggested a strengthening of interest in the qualification, especially in Asia.

Research for the second year of the study took place in November/December 2010. Potential respondents were contacted through social media, online advertising and banner adverts on a number of business school websites. Responses were received from 476 prospective MBA students in 79 countries.

Key trends highlighted in this year’s study include:

• Entrepreneurship is now in the top five most valuable pieces of content according to a study of 476 prospective MBAs in 79 countries.
• Most valuable course content among prospective MBAs is Strategic Management, Leadership and Managing People and Organisations.
• Less than 10% of the sample have become more negative about the MBA qualification over the past year.
• Only in North America do more than 50% of the sample indicate that they want a traditional 2 year MBA programme.  Across the sample, more respondents want blended learning rather than traditional academic terms and office hours.
• When asked what had the greatest impact on their perception of the MBA, the answer was most likely to be people, either when visiting business schools, meeting MBA alumni or working with MBA graduates.  Information gathering may be dominated by electronic media, but decision making still tends to only take place after a conversation with an alumnus or school staff member.
• There is a continued focus on embedding ethics and CSR rather than teaching as stand alone components of a MBA

Check:

www.efmd.org for further info

Download the Executive Summary of Tomorrow’s MBA

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

Private higher education needs legal framework

By David Jobbins, University World News

Growth of private higher education in the UK will not necessarily be at the expense of the public sector, a report published by a leading think tank says. The report, from the Higher Education Policy Institute, calls for new legislation to regulate the growth.

Check: Full report on University World News site

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

Aarhus Declaration – Developing talent depends on investment in universities and university autonomy

Report extracts from the EUA Annual Conference in Aarhus, Denmark

Around 450 university leaders and other higher education stakeholders gathered 13-15 April at Aarhus University, Denmark, for the EUA Annual Conference on the theme “Investing today in talent for tomorrow”.

Europe’s future as a dynamic competitive global region will depend largely on its ability to increase the number of highly trained people within EU Member States and to attract others from abroad.

The meeting in Aarhus highlighted that developing and nurturing more talented individuals is already central to the mission of European universities. One of the most striking developments in recent years in this respect has been the rapid development of doctoral (PhD) education within universities.

The establishment of structured doctoral programmes and schools has rapidly become the norm in Europe. Other recent changes have also included improved university industry partnerships and rapid internationalisation of universities.

Check:

Read more

EUA Aarhus Declaration 2011:

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso told conference participants that universities have a key role to play in helping Europe exit the financial crisis. He underlined that the Commission‟s plans for fiscal consolidation have singled out education, research and innovation as “growth friendly expenditure” and also as a key element in upcoming discussions on the EU budget post 2013.

Check:

http://www.eua.be/Libraries/Publications/Aarhus_Declaration_2011.sflb.ashx

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011

Brazilian oil giant investing millions in universities

By Tom Hennigan, University World News
Brazil’s new oil riches have proven to be a boon for the country’s universities. Petrobas, the state-controlled company developing new reserves, has poured US$700 million into university science and technology programmes in the last three years.

Check:
Full report on the University World News site

Povl Tiedemann

May 2011