Category: News

Glen Jones will be at Seoul National University from April 21-22 for a research meeting surrounding the ‘Academic Profession in Knowledge Society’. Serving as the Canadian lead in the project, this group will be rolling out the next phase of the current study in ‘Changing Academic Professions’. There are around 33 countries currently planning to participate in this project. A summary of the CAP project can be found here: http://goo.gl/pJci8w

He will also be presenting at a related meeting entitled, ‘Doctoral Training Across Higher Education Systems’, which will involve stakeholders from about 10 countries. This presentation is intended to produce a book edited by J.C. Shin, Barbara Kelm, and Glen Jones.

University Affairs has written a piece on the establishment of the Centre for the Study of Canadian International Higher Education (CIHE), which is the culmination of more than 40 years of growth in higher-education research and graduate studies at OISE. CIHE’s four streams of expertise are higher education policy, governance and organization; student experience and participation; comparative and international education in such places as the U.S., Brazil, Australia, China and Asia more widely; and postsecondary education systems and sectors. A link to the article can be found here: http://goo.gl/AtKJSq

The Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) is delighted that on 15 December 2015 one of its distinguished Associate Members, Prof. Ruth Hayhoe, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). The citation was read by Prof. Lee Wing-On, who was CERC’s first Director and is now Vice President of the OUHK.

Prof. Lee noted that Ruth Hayhoe is conversant with five languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese, and has devoted a lifetime to intercultural dialogue. Her autobiography published by CERC is entitled Full Circle: A Life with Hong Kong and China. It recounts how Ruth moved to Hong Kong from Canada in 1967 as a 21 year-old, working as a teacher in a local secondary school and undertaking much community work. She spent 11 years in Hong Kong during that period, “falling in love with Chinese people and Chinese culture”.

CERC has published four other books written or edited by Ruth Hayhoe. They include Portraits of Influential Chinese Educators and Portraits of 21st Century Chinese Universities. As noted by Lee Wing-On, “one striking feature of Professor Hayhoe’s academic writing approach is story-telling”. For this pair of books she focused in individuals and institutions, while Full Circle is a deep and meaningful self-portrait.

Professor Rajani Naidoo, Chair in Higher Education Management and Director International Centre for Higher Education Management, University of Bath, U.K, will be lecturing at OISE on April 13, 2016.

Beyond the Competition Fetish: Higher Education for Global Wellbeing

Universities everywhere have a competition fetish.

There is a modern-day magical belief that competition will provide the solutions to all of the unsolved problems of higher education, protect against risk, and drive up quality. Drawing on insights from anthropology and political economy, the term fetish is used to describe an irrational belief in the quasi-magical powers of competition and the need to transform relations between people into relationships between things.

This year’s Worldviews Lecture on Higher Education will explore the varieties of competition in higher education; the material, social and psychological animators of competition; and the consequences of these processes on global wellbeing. The view that there is no alternative to competition will be countered by highlighting global wellbeing trailblazers and by introducing potential new visions for higher education and alternative ways in which it can be organized.

This event is being organized by OISE’s Interim Dean, Glen Jones, as well as the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). The event runs from 1:30-3:30pm and it will be followed by a reception. For more information use the following link: http://worldviewsconference.com/

Creso Sá, Director of CIHE, recently delivered an invited lecture titled “Science, Technology, Globalization & Universities: Brazil in Global Perspective” at the International Seminar “Higher Education Policies in Developing Countries” at the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This event brought together a group of scholars, policy makers and government representatives.

Similarly, CIHE member and Interim Dean of OISE, Glen Jones spoke at the National Systems and Academic Career Pathways Conference at the University of Sao Paulo.