Bloggage Elsewhere: AUA Netherlands/Belgium Study Tour

Again, life has been more interesting than blogging. However for those interested in international higher education will find the blog of the AUA Netherlands/Belgium Study Tour (which I am helping with) of interest.

http://auadutch2015.blogspot.co.uk/

Bloggage Elsewhere: AUA Poland Study Tour

I have been dormant - will write more another time. However I am coordinating the AUA's Study Tour of Poland, which has its own blog:

http://auapoland2015.blogspot.co.uk/

I'm back...

This blog has been quiet this year as I took a career break to travel the world. All I can say is that the experience was in many ways life-changing.

It was also a strange experience to watch the effects of a major funding reform in UK universities from afar. I am not sure we will fully understand the effects for a long time yet.

I am still very much concerned about how we can achieve a productive relationship between universities and the information professions as well wider issues in HE management and policy.

It has also made me think think very deeply about how universities could better prepare students for professional life without becoming training factories (which would be highly counterproductive).

Now I am back, the plan is to freelance in higher education. So I am available for consultancy and interim roles, from both the academic and professional management perspectives.

I am also available to undertake assignments in the wider private and public sector to help them create better, more productive relationships with universities.

For details, please see my LinkedIn page (see sidebar).

PS. I have reverted the title of the blog to its original title which best fits its wider focus.

Give the Gift of the IBM Enterprise Computing Scholarship this Christmas

City University London's Master of Information Leadership is offering a scholarship for April 2012 entry in conjunction with IBM,

http://www.city.ac.uk/interdisciplinary-city/centre-for-information-leadership/ibm-enterprise-computing-scholarship

Congratulations to both David Chan for securing this and IBM for having the foresight and vision to support the MIL and City's efforts to support the CIO community in this way.

Computer Weekly is again the media partner for the MIL scholarship; I enjoyed working with them immensely when I was at City.

Read the webpage for details and pass onto someone who you'd think make a great future CIO and help the IT profession get the future leadership it deserves.

In the Press: Supporting CAS, PASC = Skills Doublethink, PQA...

It's amazing how busy you can get when you are no longer working! But I'm now on top of the post-work arrangements and getting ready to travel the world in mid-January. So now would be a good time to review and catch up on press coverage I've been involved in over the last few months.

The first is an article in ComputerWorldUK that I'm an occasional contributor to. It's a call to support the excellent Computing at School group.

http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/management-briefing/2011/10/eric-schmidt-stated-the-problem-heres-how-we-can-fix-it/index.htm

There's little I can add to this article, except to reaffirm that supporting education is one of the most important things that the IT profession can do to secure its long-term future. Computing at School needs and deserves our full support.

The second was a response to the Public Accounts Select Committee (PASC) report on waste and overspend in public-sector IT. I wrote a byline article for PublicTechnology.net.

http://www.publictechnology.net/sector/central-gov/viewpoint-do-we-get-government-ict-suppliers-we-deserve

In the context of the PASC report I was also quoted in the following article making broadly similar points.

http://news.techeye.net/business/government-it-cartel-slammed

One reoccurring theme is that the public sector needs to up-skill its IT functions at the mid-career level. In this regard the Master of Information Leadership is clearly of its time. However, until I see proper investment in this area, I doubt we can take any claims of action on this problem seriously. Complaining about but not investing in your workforce is doublethink, irrespective of whether it is in the private or public sectors.

NB. I think that assuming that the private sector is immune from these issues of waste, weak talent management or mal-investment would be a mistake.

Third I had the pleasure of being invited to blog for the Guardian Higher Education Network on Post-Qualification Admissions (i.e. applying to UCAS after A-level results are known).


http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2011/sep/27/post-qualification-applications-applying-university

One point I was like to add is that I support PQA not because it is the easy or convenient thing to do, but because it is the right thing to do for applicants. The moral dimension of the role of universities is an under-considered aspect of the admissions narrative, but essential to their long-term sustainability.

I was also mentioned in the launch of City's undergraduate scholarships that I'm sure will help attract more talented students to their computing undergraduate programme; something that I am immensely proud to have been involved with.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/careers/3311390/city-university-offers-computing-scholarships-for-undergraduates/

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/enterprise/3311734/city-university-offers-computing-scholarships-for-undergraduates/

I've had a great time doing press while at City University London and especially working with the consummately professional Luke Nava, the School of Informatics' press officer.

Any press from now on will be in a private capacity or for a future job. Watch this space.

Last Day at City: 13 Great Years!

This is my last day at City University London. I've decided to take a career break and travel the world.

Almost two years ago my mother died and I promised her that I’d not work so hard (being an academic, especially at Head of Department level is an all-consuming activity). A year on and I realised that I wasn’t making good on that promise and decided on reflection that I should spend some time on me while I am young enough to enjoy it.

I’ve had a great 13 years at City, and working with David Chan to establish the Centre for Information Leadership has been wonderful. I’d like to thank you all for your kind support of the Centre and ask you to continue to support David who will be leading it to bigger and better things.

The Master of Information Leadership (MIL) will I am sure flourish, and I must say it was one of best things I did at City and I hope it plays its part in securing the future of the IT profession. I'll still be one of its main supporters.

I am not sure what I'll be doing once I am back from my travels. This will be something I will leave until my return (but from October 2012 I'll be open to offers...:-)

I have been made an honorary visiting fellow at City and I will be continuing to blog on matters relevant to information leaders (and on the previous MIL weekends I have been involved in). Of course, I am no longer an employee of City University London so the disclaimer I have about speaking in a personal capacity now doubly applies.

So watch this space!

Cake or Death: Or why the LSE doesn't understand economics!

I sometimes do understand why those outside academia seem to think we make bizzare decisions. After some recent pints with a colleague I was reminder of the very funny 'cake or death' sequence by Eddie Izzard - shown below.

As it says, the right choice between cake or death should be obvious. So who would choose death? It would appear that academia can sometimes choose death on principle.

Over that last few months universities have been announcing their fees under the new regime in 2012. The Daily Mash (warning: is a bit sweary) appears have some rather biting insights. It's actually not as a simple as that: high fees are a marker of quality, and finance is to maintain high levels of quality research-led teaching. To do the best for their students, it's a commonly held view that universities wish to do both.

The recent announcement of the London School of Economics's council and academic board to charge less than 9K is rather bizarre. They claim it is to send "a clear message that LSE welcomes students from all backgrounds". But I find it hard to see how it's in the interests of students to do this for the following reasons.

1. They could use the maximum fee give bigger bursaries to the poor students, so they can focus on their studies without worrying about paying their bills.
2. ...or god forbid, spend the money on better facilities, more quality contact time for students.
3. It's a slap to the face for the international students (LSE is heavily internationalised) who already pay an awful lot  - this decision can't but remove the last lingering doubts many of them have that they may be there as cash cows.
4. A high price point usually is a signal of quality. I hope for the LSE's sake that its reputation is able to stand a price point lower than the vast majority of the Russell and 1994 group.

It is therefore rather depressing that given the number of economists in the LSE, they still wanted to make what is in my opinion nothing more than a party political point at the expense of their students (now that the baby boomers are too old to occupy and set up a red base in the bursar's office, futile gestures are all that's left I suppose....:-). I assume it takes a certain level of rarefied intellect to not to make the obviously correct decision.

Anyway, I can't see how the LSE can from this decision get to the highest standards of academic excellence, unless they wish to not support poor students as best they can, strip-mine their international students (not sustainable, or even ethical IMHO) or seek donations of dubious providence (that will diminish further their reputation).

Cake or death anyone? Mine's a Death by Chocolate...:-)