Why UK should not Copy Australian Funding System?

 

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The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) presented a new report recommending that policymakers in UK should pay more attention towards the advanced university funding system of Australia. Ironically, the Australian university funding system shares a number of features of the UK system, but at much lower expense from taxpayer.

The higher education finance policymakers are tempted to consider Australia for inspiration and the reasons are obvious. According to recent findings, the resource accounting and budgeting (RAB) charge or the amount of outstanding student loan debt being covered by the taxpayer is likely to go beyond 45%. 

The Fiscal Studies Institute has put the figure at 43.3%. It suggests that for every £1 loaned to students, 45p remains unrecovered. In sharp contrast, the Australian standard tuition fee loans remains at 25 percent that can be said as much healthier figure by all means.

This may seem a valid reason to adopt the features of Australian tuition fee system but there might be unintended consequences.

Australian fees are lower

One of the key reasons for the Australian loan system to be so much cheaper is that tuition fees in that

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country are considerably lower than that in the UK. In Australia, the maximum annual fees stand at £5,500, whereas in the UK, annual tuition fees are £9,000.

The high debt figures in the UK enormously decrease the chances of complete repayment of graduates’ loans. The Australian government easily recover their fee money because of lower debt levels.

In Australia, the RAB charge gets further reduced by variation in the fees according to subject. Tuition fees are generally lower for subjects that in general deliver lower returns, while the subjects that produce high-earning graduates have the highest fees. 

However, the emulation of Australian fee system in UK seems as a vague idea. Charging the students fees according to their future earning rather than the actual cost of degree, could worsen the socioeconomic inequalities if students who are from poorer background and averse to the debt go for low-priced subjects that will eventually offer them lower wages. 

In the UK, authorities have been mulling over a similar system, but with fees associated with the institutions rather than the subject studied. This system would suffer from the similar kind of problems, with students from unprivileged backgrounds staying away from elite institutions with high tuition fees.

Taxpayers pay more

Moreover, while the Australian system records lower taxpayer loss in regard to unpaid tuition fees, the 

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taxpayers contribute considerably higher amount in the form of teaching money in Australia. 

If the UK authorities really want to lessen the RAB charge, it could be done by lowering the fees. If they want the RAB to be reduced to zero, they could do so by emulating the pre-1998 system when there were no fees at all.

The HEPI report also highlights on the removal of caps on the student numbers. The UK presently has a fee cap system to rule the high cost of university system, though the cap system is likely to be removed in 2015. However, Australia removed it in 2008.

The Australian experience has a number of positives. Universities in the country have successfully met the high demand for places, with number of students sharply increasing by almost 20% on average. 

Although there are many positives and few downside of the Australian experience, the UK education system is different and the government should consider everything before emulating the Australian universities fees system.

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5 Things You Must Do To Become a Good Leader in 2014

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What sets great leaders apart from the rest? You can have exceptional professional skills and be an expert in your job, but that does not necessarily mean that you are a great leader. You need to be able to adapt yourself to cope with changes and face challenges successfully.

When your organisation faces an exceptional opportunity or a major challenge, how would you manage it? 

 

The fact is you need to possess excellent strategic planning and management skills in order to become an efficient leader. Here’s how you can do this-

• Firstly, you will need to gain the required knowledge and skills by pursuing a postgraduate diploma in strategic management. An online course can help you to manage your job and learn the basic concepts of strategic management conveniently.
• Secondly, you will need to implement your knowledge and skills into your workplace so that you can set specific goals for your company that can be achieved within a set timeline.
• Thirdly you will need to be disciplined and consistent in your performance and actions.

Here a few steps that can help you to become a more successful, respected and effective leader-

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 Learn New Information 

 

You can do this simply by reading various materials that are related to your field and industry. This will not only help you in your professional development, but you will also be able to learn about current issues and trends relevant to your business. You can learn from various sources like trade journals, books, newsletters from reputed companies, magazines. One of the best ways to gain relevant and latest knowledge is by pursuing an online management or leadership course. By pursuing an online management degree you will be able to learn new and effective concepts that will result in improving your performance as a leader. Moreover, when you earn a postgraduate diploma in management online you will gain various insights about different companies and industries as well. 

An online postgraduate course can help you to acquire necessary leadership and strategic management skills, while you continue your full time job. Apart from these, you can also learn from various online sources like online magazine, blogs, videos, podcasts etc. Continuous learning will keep you sharp and improve your knowledge.

Set and Review Goals 

 

It is important to set and review goals for your company and/or department and plan the steps that will help the organisation to achieve those goals. As you progress you will need to identify the challenges and prepare necessary course corrections.

To become a great leader, you need to focus on the bigger picture, the vision for the company and plan the ways to reach there.

Your People Skills

 

Even though this seems simple, but having good interpersonal communication skill is of utmost importance. If you are unable to communicate properly with your team then it will affect their performance and effectiveness. A Postgraduate Diploma in Management will help you to build excellent interpersonal skills.

Communicating with your team will directly result in developing employee engagement as they will feel that you care about them. You can have a brief personal chat with each of your team members about something related to their personal lives like families, hobbies and interests etc. You can also show interest in their work and professional development and thank them for their contributions. Providing continued feedback will also help your team to know their individual weaknesses and work on them. However you need to be authentic and sincere when you communicate with your team members.

Listen

This is one of the most important skills that you need to develop as a successful leader. Listening is different from just waiting for your turn to speak. Ask open-ended questions to your team members so that they can provide sufficient information about the on-going projects and related problems. It is better and more effective to ask the right questions than simply giving directions.

Reflect and Learn from Your Experiences

Reflect on your every day experiences and learn from the steps you took successfully, the things that you could do differently and the things that did not go as planned. It is imperative that you learn from your daily successes and failures as that will enable you to improve continuously. This process will help you to learn from your mistakes and become a better leader.

Becoming a leader is essential for your professional development as well as for the growth of your organisation. You can easily earn a postgraduate diploma in management online to acquire the necessary leadership skills.

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Why Education is Necessary to become a Skilled Social Worker?

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Have you ever thought of bringing positive changes in your society? Did you ever think for a moment whether your society needs resurgence? Well, people keep making commitments and only a few are able to keep them. But if you are determined that you just won’t commit but meet them at any cost just to assure a brighter future for your people, chalk out plans of becoming a social worker.

Save your society by being an educated social worker

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, social workers play a key role in making a dead society alive and vibrant. They always try coping with problems of those living in their society so that it can take a new birth altogether. So, what a social worker must do first is obtain necessary education that can make him/her realise and find solutions for different issues.

In these years, several medical schools and universities have come up with many such courses in health and social care that can help individuals to prosper in the medical field. Moreover, online courses have also been introduced by many accredited institutions and universities so that working professionals who always wanted to complete higher studies while working would find it easier to work and at the same time.

Instead, studying health and social care online would bring you the opportunity to gather a set of skills essential for social workers to progress in their field. Here are some of those skills that stand absolutely vital for social workers in today’s world. Have a look:

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• Interpersonal skills – What is really essential for a social worker is to gather interpersonal skills based on which he/she finds it easier to give proper attention to the needy. Having interpersonal skills actually helps social workers to gauge other’s reactions, understand how decisions are taken and judging as when to remain compassionate and caring towards others.
• Academic skills – Apart from the ability to communicate, education is another vital aspect that makes a social worker more wise and matured. On having good academic skills, social workers are able to go through work-related papers and documents. Moreover, social workers are sometimes hired at reputed medical schools for making students understand various subjects like medicine, law, dentistry, philosophy etc.
• Professional skills – For all social workers, gathering professional skills is very important. On possessing such skills, they are able to record and even monitor the progress levels of patients, lead support groups and write plans related to healthcare.
• Technical skills – In today’s world of digital technology, it’s very important for one to be proficient with computers. The same goes for the social workers who must know how to use spreadsheet as well as word processing programmes. This is a big reason why individuals aspiring to become social workers opt for bsc in Health and Social Care courses online so that they can learn the technical skills faster.

So, you see why studying health and social care online can be so beneficial for aspiring social workers. In fact, choosing to pursue such a career programme online would let you to sustain interpersonal relationships, think critically on any situation and also communicate with peers and colleagues in the right manner. 

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University demand using mobile learning devices for students in classrooms

Do you remember those days when teachers used to get furious on discovering that one of their students has brought a mobile phone in class? The next reaction either led to suspension or detention, and this was rather a sort of trend that followed in several schools and even colleges.

The story with universities today is different

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Today, universities share a different story. Lecturers and professors today expect students to bring their own devices, like a smartphone or a tablet that would rather keep them inspired and attentive towards their classes. Yes, it’s true that technology is acting as a stronger substitute for books and blackboards which used to be the typical classroom learning resources. Now, Bring your Own Device (BYOD) is actually turning out to be a trend that is gradually spreading to various corners of the globe.

The prime idea here must be understood. In simple terms, it is technology that would help students to make use of online learning tools as well as interactive resources, and education for one would then only seem to be attainable from any corner of the world. If this happens,

• Sitting passively in the lecture hall will no longer seem to be compulsory
• Students would remain engaged towards their courses, no matter how long the class runs
• Accessing tutorials online would always be affordable instead of spending money and travelling all the way to the campus
• Students living in remote corners would be able to study a course online by simply using one’s own device

Practice using technology while studying, says Jason Lodge

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Jason Lodge, one of the lecturers at Griffith University in Brisbane, said that students should now be allowed to start using technology as much as possible. They should rather start practicing this method so that they can complete their course quite flexibly under any circumstance. “BYOD eliminates quite a bit of the cognitive load associated with learning. By using devices they are already familiar with, they have more resources available to understand what they are being asked to do and what the actual content of the task is”, said Lodge.

Are iPads good for classrooms?

Manchester Medical School’s senior project manager, Tim Cappelli said that around 93% of the students today prefer using iPads to access their social networking sites. If this can be applied during lectures, they might probably benefit. However, there are several academicians who have opined that iPads can actually distract a lot of learners.

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Professor Larry Rosen of the California State University said that one can focus for maximum 6 minutes on a specific task. Therefore, such learning tools must be implemented into classrooms that can play key roles in grabbing the attention of students present in the classroom.

Smartphones along with android learning apps have now been introduced to therefore help students stay occupied towards their respective classes. Probably, they can play better roles in dragging students to classrooms in future. Let’s hope for the best!! 

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Art Education Helps Improve Student Performance

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In the present economic scenario, limited resources and budget cuts have adversely affected the education system around the world. As arts and music classes are considered non-core classes, the fine arts department is usually the first to be affected and have been eliminated in numerous schools. You may feel that your children’s education might remain unaffected due to this, but the fact is all young children need to study arts as it helps to stimulate their minds and bodies. Every education system must include arts in order to provide well-rounded and comprehensive learning. Studying arts is essential to teach your young ones to think innovatively and creatively.

Importance of Arts in Education

Studies show that young learners who take part in effective art education tend to perform well in other educational areas. As creative activity utilises the right hemisphere of the brain, it helps to improve higher reasoning functions as well. Art certainly plays a significant role in the development of your child’s intelligence and creative skills. Experts claim that training in fine arts leads to improvement of communication skills, problem solving skills and most of all creativity. Art education helps a child to build skills which will benefit him in future irrespective of his career choice. Hence, education systems across the globe should focus on incorporating this area in a better way instead of undervaluing it.

ACW Report on Art Education

According to a report published by the Arts Council of Wales (ACW), schools will be able to increase numeracy and literacy through proper arts education. Arts enable schools to improve their standards and thus should not be considered as wastage of scarce resources. The report states, “The current, and very necessary, emphasis on literacy and numeracy is narrowing the focus of schools and limiting the opportunities for young people to engage in creative practice that can - ironically - lead to improved standards in these areas.”

The Arts Council of Wales believes that teachers are currently not capable of making arts education a priority as they are burdened with other objectives and reducing budgets. Apart from problems related to budgets, there is also a lack of qualified and well trained arts teachers. The ACW reports that there is a scarcity of skilled music teachers in Wales and most charge separately for lessons in musical instruments.

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Report Author Professor Dai Smith commented “Teaching in and through the arts, far from detracting from literacy and numeracy, should be seen as an enabler to driving up standards in those academic priorities. The value of the arts therefore needs to be reiterated with schools and, importantly, schools need to be supported in taking up and delivering more imaginative approaches to cross-curricular creative activity.”

ACW Report Recommendations

The report authored by Professor Smith has made several recommendations to the Welsh Government that could help schools improve literacy and numeracy. Below you can find a summary of the recommendations made in the ACW report-

• The Welsh Government should make formal commitment to the provision of first-rate arts education and make it accessible. Moreover the government should take the central role to achieve the desired goals.
• The Welsh Government must encourage the utilisation of arts to deliver enhanced literacy and numeracy.
• The Government should improve the present curriculum to incorporate creativity, along with literacy and numeracy as a core topic in all subject disciplines across primary and secondary education.
• A new framework should by developed continuing professional development (CPD) by the Welsh Government and the Arts Council of Wales along with experienced education experts.
• The Welsh Government should bestow awards to the students and individual teachers and recognise their contribution towards the development of arts in education.
• A Creative Education Portal should be designed and developed by the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Government.
• The Arts Council of Wales (ACW) should work with various cultural institutions and its revenue funded clients to develop Creative Learning Networks that will inspire arts, teachers, artists, and parents to exchange information and ideas for improving creative learning standards in schools.

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Apart from these the report made several other valuable recommendations to the authorities for the development of arts education.

The Government has made plans to work on the recommendations during this summer. Huw Lewis, Education Minister, said “Learning about the arts and culture, and playing an active part in the cultural life of the school and wider communities, are vital to developing a young person's identity and self-esteem. We are fully committed to working closely with the arts and education sectors, and other key partners, in taking forward this vital agenda.” He further said, “The recommendation to include creativity in the curriculum will be considered as part of Professor Graham Donaldson's wide-ranging review of curriculum and assessment which I announced this week.”

Professor Smith was delighted by the response of the Welsh Government. He remains confident that development of arts education will certainly help in improving the students’ performance and will be beneficial for the entire education system.

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Google Capital Invests $40 Million in Online Education Company

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Google Capital, which is the late-stage investment arm of the American multinational corporation Google, has recently invested $40 million in Renaissance Learning through their new growth-equity fund. Renaissance Learning is one of the foremost cloud-based K-12 education and assessment platforms for children. This new investment makes the overall valuation of the Wisconsin-based education technology company at $1 billion. Google Capital, launched one year ago, will now own a minor percentage of Renaissance Learning. Moreover, the Board of Directors of the learning analytics company will now include a representative from Google.

Jack Lynch, CEO of Renaissance Learning, said “We didn’t need the capital, but it definitely opens the door for many other opportunities.” He also said that the company has strong revenue. Although Renaissance Learning may not be as popular as Google, it has a strong presence in the online education field. The European equity firm Permira owns the majority in the company which was established in 1984. Lynch claimed that around 20 million students and one third of American schools use their cloud-based educational software and solutions offered by Renaissance Learning.

The analytics company currently provides a wide array of web and desktop-based assessment and learning tools. However, its main focus is on offering a data-driven approach to education for both students and teachers. With the help of cloud computing, the software facilitates educators in designing better lesson plans for the learners. The programme enables the teachers assess the students’ performance and track their progress in different subjects. The educators can also use gathered data to find out alternative solution and support their students in writing, reading, language arts and maths.

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Lynch said that their tools offer “very precise insight into what students will know in order to calculate and determine better sequencing.” He also said that the teachers can use the programmes very easily. Educators can get access to the cloud data from their tablets, laptops and desktops. Suppose a 4th grader encounters a problem with understanding out fractions, then the educator can simply input the information into the cloud based system, and solutions will be instantly provided through the its analytic channels.

Google has made several efforts for the development of education over the last few years like launching Google Apps for Education, Chromebooks and the recent online interactive learning tool Oppia. The search giant also provides various other resources and lesson plans to the educators. But it has not offered any online assessment solutions yet. Currently both Google Capital and Renaissance Learning are still working out the details of the deal. Renaissance is planning to utilise the added funds to work on the products and solutions that are placed in the pipeline.

Google Ventures had also financially supported an e-learning applications start up company, Subtext, in 2011 by investing $3 million. However, Renaissance purchased Subtext later. So the current investment from Google may be utilised for development in this area. This investment can also prove to be beneficial for Google as it provides educational versions of well known Google products like Chromebook Computers, Google Docs, Gmail etc.

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Oppia- Google’s New Online Interactive Educational Project

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In the present day, technology has become essential in the development of education all over the globe. Various new technological tools are being introduced continuously for the betterment of teaching and learning. These modern tools have made education interactive and engaging that helps the teachers as well as the learners. Google has actively participated in the advancement of education over the years and has significantly contributed towards reforming the process of learning. The company has extended its influence in both and traditional and online classrooms through Google Apps for Education, Chromebooks, Android and Play-powered tablets as well as its support to online courses and MOOCs.

Google has recently launched Oppia, a free interactive online learning platform that is set to modify the way we teach, interact, learn and share knowledge. It is an educational tool with quick feedback which lets you take lessons depending on the answers you provide. Oppia is an Open Source project that lets its users develop new online academic activities via web interface. Both teachers and students will be able to share their opinions, teach and learn through presentations, mapping and drag and drop options.

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Oppia assumes the function of a mentor and asks relevant questions of the users and thus improves interactivity of the platform. The response of the learner to the questions will then help the teacher to determine how to move forward with the lesson. Google said that it is a smart feedback system which aims to teach the users to learn various topics and skills.

One of the strongest points of Oppia is its interactivity which many tech-based learning tools lack. This interactive feature is known as Explorations. Students and teachers can communicate with one another with this online platform easily. Explorations are basically interactive educational activities which you can create from anywhere in the world and help others to learn from it. As the platform is developed for everyone, you will not be required to have any programming knowledge for creating the explorations. The users can create interactive lessons with text, numerals and multiple choice options. It also supports specific tools like a code evaluator and a clickable map.

Oppia gathers data how students and other learners interact with the content and the explorations. This information is then provided to the exploration authors, so that you will able to fix the mistakes in the lessons. This will help the interactive feature to gradually improve and help the users to understand the lessons better. You will be able to improve the explorations as you gather more information with time. Moreover, you can also embed the explorations into websites. Apart from these, the learners will also receive personalised feedback after they submitted the answers on the explorations.

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Google said that the motivation for Oppia came from the fact that most of the other online educational tools are asynchronous and static in their content delivery. Presentations and video lectures are not interactive enough and thus they usually fail to encourage active participation, dialogue, discussion, and student feedback. Google assures that the intelligent feedback system of Oppia will enable the teachers to modify their explorations through feedback of the learners and the answers they provide.

Furthermore, you will also be able to collaborate with other users to create or modify explorations and the platform also allows to associate different parameters with different learners. As a result, you will be enabled to develop deeper and better interactive lessons.

However, as of now, it is not certain how much support Google will provide for the improvement of Oppia. Its homepage clearly mentions that Oppia is not an official Google product. This indicates that the multi-national corporation has no intention of investing too many resources or manpower into the development of this project. Google is now expecting that computer experts and developers from around the globe will take charge of the educational platform and eventually the online community will look after the repair and maintenance of Oppia.

Nevertheless, the fact is the online educational platform is a useful and learning tool that will surely help a lot of students and learners worldwide. In the near future, the system may also be used for variety of purposes other than education like an extensive feedback system for teachers and companies.

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