Another look for this problem from Russia. It is really time for changes. I finish MIPT (www.mipt.ru) few years ago. It was great institute. Very strong in physics. Earlier is was one of the best in the world. And what is today? It is far down the top 100.

There is really the problem with effectiveness. The way to learn yesterday is not good for nowadays. The students need smth that was nor required yesterday. That’s why this “High student drop-out”.

Surely there are lot of items more. So the article is true for nowadays of Russian universities too.

Max

I think that lots of the work coming out of the current curriculum design and delivery projects is relevant here too. The design project in particular have already highlighted many issues around the course approval process within institutions ( Helen Beetham has produced a useful summary of their baseline reports available for download @ http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/curriculumdesign.aspx).

As belts tighten then I think one of the key things that Innovation Support Centre like CETIS can do is to help make sense of the bigger picture in terms of what is happening out there “in the real world” and marry that with the actual needs of the education sector. Sometimes it’s the small things that can have the most impact both financially and in terms of improving the teaching and learning experience. What we should be aiming for (imho) are a range of solutions to allow people/institutions to make better informed decisions around their own contexts and identities. The DVLE programme and briefing paper is a step in this direction.

Sheila