[Herdsa]:News on Wed 7th Nov 2007

[Roger Landbeck]

Dear List Members

This week we have:

* Advance details of a one day conference at Oxford Brookes University next
June.
* Contact List for Teaching and Learning Centres.
* Request for experience in thesis supervision.
* Positions vacant at Malaysia's National Higher Education Research
Institute (NaHERI) at Universiti Sains Malaysia (Penang).
* Media Release from Go8 Universities on equity scholarships  

********************************************************************
Val Clifford sent a flyer for this conference part of which appears below.
The remainder of the flyer contained a submission form and space for an
abstract which was not possible to include in this posting. If you are
interested in receiving the complete flyer please contact Val.


Using Formal and Informal Curricula to Improve Interactions between Home and
International Students

Friday 20 June 2008
Gipsy Lane Campus
Oxford Brookes University

The aim of this conference is to bring together and showcase curricula work
that facilitates and enhances interaction between home, European and
international students.  

We welcome papers that focus on:
•	improving home student cross-cultural capability;
•	teaching cross-cultural skills;
•	managing and assessing cross-cultural group work;
•	international-international student integration;
•	the role of societies, special groups and learning spaces in
facilitating cross-cultural interaction; and
•	improving, assessing and rewarding cross-cultural capability.

Dates:
6 February submission date for full abstracts 
17 March abstracts will be refereed and acceptances confirmed 
12 June submission of draft papers 
14 July submission of final copy of paper for publication in a special
edition of a journal.  

Registration £50

For further information contact Valerie Clifford at vclifford at brookes.ac.uk
**********************************************************************
Teaching & Learning Centres Contact List

Dear Colleagues,
 
A compilation of links to centre websites is available by going to
http://www.developfaculty.com, clicking on the "Online Resources" tab at the
left margin, then scrolling down to the two "Teaching & Learning Centres"
listings. The first provides access to centres across the globe, while the
second focuses on those based in the U.S. only. We are indebted to Kansas
University and Hofstra University for compiling and updating these lists. If
you find these and the 150 other topical links on the page helpful, feel
free to share the page with your colleagues.
 
Richard Lyons, Senior Consultant
Faculty Development Associates

NOTE. I had difficulty in accessing this site but was successful when I
types in the URL from scratch rather than cutting and pasting it.
Roger

*********************************************************************
Can anyone help this young academic? If so please contact him direct.

Expression of Interest - Opportunities for postgraduate supervision & thesis
examination

Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at The Petroleum Institute (Abu
Dhabi, UAE). I recently graduated from Murdoch University (Perth, WA) with a
Ph.D. in Information Technology, with particular focus on educational
technology. My supervisor was Dr. Fay Sudweeks (School of IT, Murdoch
University). 

My fields of expertise include: online/distance learning, collaborative
learning, computer-mediated communication, discourse analysis, social
network analysis, and qualitative research.

As a young PhD graduate, I am interested in gaining experience at
supervising/co-supervising graduate students (MA, PhD) either from a
distance or within the UAE (as External or Associate Supervisor) in the
above areas of expertise. I would also like to offer my services as a thesis
marker in these areas.

My contact information is given below and copies of my CV and publication
list are available on request.
Regards,

Dr. Hwee Ling, LIM
Assistant Professor
The Petroleum Institute
PO Box 2533 Abu Dhabi, UAE
Phone: 971-2-6075324
Fax: 971-2-6075200
Email: hlim at pi.ac.ae 
*****************************************************************
POSITION VACANT - MALAYSIA

Malaysia's National Higher Education Research Institute (NaHERI) at 
Universiti Sains Malaysia (Penang) is advertising 5 positions - 2 
Research Fellows and 3 Research Officers.  Interested potential 
applicants can contact Professor Morshidi Sirat at the following email 
address: morshidi at usm.my OR morshidi2000 at yahoo.com

*********************************************************************
MEDIA RELEASE from Go8 UNIVERSITIES

4 November 2007

New scholarship rules would boost equity outcomes 

The Group of Eight today promised to expand the provision of equity
scholarships if the incoming Government commits to exempting all equity
scholarships from the means test for social security payments such as Youth
Allowance.

“The proportion of students from low socio-economic backgrounds
participating in higher education has remained static at just under 15% for
more than 20 years,” said Professor Alan Robson, Chair of the Group of
Eight.

“Universities are hampered in their efforts to improve this situation by the
treatment of non-government scholarships as personal income. 

“A student who is awarded a private or university scholarship can lose most
of his or her Youth Allowance, because income above a certain point cuts the
payment by up to 60 cents in the dollar.* This makes such scholarships
almost worthless and was the reason behind the Go8’s recent decision to
discontinue its equity and merit scholarship scheme.

 “The Government exempts its own equity scholarships from the income test
but there are simply not enough of these to go around. In 2007 there were
8573 new Commonwealth scholarships available for new students, yet the Go8
estimates that some 63,000 commencing students came from equity groups.**

“Exempting all equity scholarships from treatment as income would provide an
incentive for universities and other non-government organisations to provide
more scholarships. 

“The Go8 encourages both major political parties to commit to this important
step to improving higher education access and equity,” Professor Robson
said.

The Go8 also said that a comprehensive review of student income support
measures is long overdue. 

“Since the last review was conducted 15 years ago, many circumstances
affecting the lives of students have changed,” said Professor Robson.

“Recent evidence suggests that many students are living below the poverty
line and working long hours in paid jobs. Forty per cent of full-time
undergraduate students say that paid work adversely affects their studies
and one in four are taking out private loans to help meet living costs.

“The Go8 universities recognise that the capacity of students to meet day to
day living expenses while studying is a key factor in ensuring fair access
to higher education. While students can defer the costs of tuition through
HECS HELP and FEE HELP, they cannot defer the associated living costs,”
Professor Robson concluded.

FOR FURTHER COMMENT: Professor Alan Robson, Chair, Group of Eight
Ph: Tim Payne, 0427 892 669
 
*Fortnightly income over $236 and under $316 reduces a student’s Youth
Allowance or Austudy benefits by 50 cents in each dollar and income over
$316 reduces benefits by 60 cents in each dollar:
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/chartda.htm

**Indigenous, Rural, Isolated and Low Socio Economic Status groups, see
attached Go8 Backgrounder for the source of these figures.
******************************************************************
Roger Landbeck
List Moderator