Congratulations Ed Gillespie

FIE wishes to congratulate Ed Gillespie of Futerra (an FIE affiliate). Ed’s proposal to create a website offering ideas for exotic adventures within London has won endorsement from the London Evening Standard’s Ideas for London competition.

Ed’s idea is for Air London which would utilise listings from immigrant communities to offer a flavour of dozens of countries in the capital through concerts, exhibitions and restaurants.Congratulations, on a truly creative and sustainable idea, Ed.

For the original article in the London Evening Standard, please click here.

For more information on Futerra, please click here.

FIE’s first photo exhibition

FIE hosted our first ever photo exhibition on 18 April at Foundation House.  

The exhibition,” London Through the Lens”, featured photographs taken by nine students in Dr. Jenny Pollard’s Photojournalism: London Through the Lens class.

About the photojournalism course:

How can your experience of a culture be reflected in the way you capture it in a photograph?  How can images be used to narrate your experience during your stay in London?  How can developing an appreciation of photography lead to a deeper understanding of London as a global city?

The exhibition featured nine very different perspectives of London. Check out Jenny, FIE’s budding photographers, and guests at the exhibition. The delicious spread pictured right, was catered by FIE Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Julie Andreshak-Behrman.

To bridge achievement gap, US-style summer schools come to UK

The UK is introducing summer schools to help bridge the academic achievement gap between pupils from differing socio-economic backgrounds.

The Education Endowment Foundation modeled it’s £200,000 summer school project on American summer schools. Mornings will be focused on improving literacy and numercy, afternoons will be a mix of educational, recreational, and community activities students from disadvantaged backgrounds would not normally have access to.

For the original article on the BBC news site, please click here.

Is university too easy?

In 2010, economists Philip Babcock and Mindy Marks of the University of California, Santa Barbara released a study called “Leisure College, USA”, which looked at the number of hours university students spend studying outside of the classroom.

Babcock and Marks looked to older research, dating back to a 1961 study called Project Talent which found that students at the time spent an average of 24 hours a week in addition to an average of 16 hours spent in class. This is in stark contrast to the two authors’ estimate – students today spend an average of 27 hours a week in total in the classroom and studying, which is the equivalent of expectations of students in full-day kindergarten.

However, some academics say the findings are based on different surveys and “fallible accounts of students.” Technology also helps students study more efficiently than in decades past. Additionally, students now have more financial responsibilities and much of their attention is consumed with jobs. At George Mason University for example, 70% of seniors have off-campus jobs.

For the original article in the Washington Post, please click here.

A-level overhaul to stop grade inflation

Ofqual (regulator of qualifications, examinations, and assessments in England), said that after a decade or so of “persistent grade inflation”, the value of standardized exams – A-levels and GCSEs has been undermined.

Glenys Stacy, Ofqual’s chief executive says the changes were needed to the structure of exams and the culture of exam boards. The government is carrying out a review of the national curriculum and exam system as fears of “dumbing down” of education has become endemic.

Education experts say modular exams introduced under labour in the last decade, fueled grade inflation because they are easier to pass and students are able to re-sit these exams multiple times.

Ms. Stacey says that England must learn from exam systems in high performing countries abroad. Ofqual will publish a report in June 2012, comparing the English approach to exams to that of Canada, China, the Netherlands, Finland, South Korea, and New Zealand. The report is expected to make a stronger case for making maths and English mandatory in sixth form.

For the original article in The Telegraph, please click here.

Student visa rules cost unis millions

Universities and other higher education institutions are having to spend millions of pounds in an attempt to understand the government’s new student visa rules.

A report by the Institute of Public Policy Research says that the government’s current policy around student visa is damaging to British education and risking £4 billion to £6 billion a year international students bring to the UK economy.

A committee of MPs has been told the confusion around new student visa rules (described as “Kafkesque”) has led institutions such as the London School of Economics (LSE), where non-EU students make up a large part of the student body, to spend at least £250,000 each year in an attempt to comply with visa rules. Before the introduction of the Points Based system, the LSE was spending £50,000 each year. LSE has seen a substantial drop in applications from Asia and Chile.

The Guardian claims to have found “scores of genuine students are being left stranded and penniless as bona fide private colleges close down, unable to keep their businesses going with ever more stringent regulations.”

Timothy Blake, principal fo the London School of English says, “The rules have gone to far…legitmate students are being seriously affected by rules designed to take bogus students.”

For the original article in The Guardian, please click here.