#DOAJ (#Directory_of_Open_Access_Journals)
DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ is independent. All funding is via donations, 40% of which comes from sponsors and 60% from members and publisher members. All DOAJ services are free of charge including being indexed in DOAJ. All data is freely available.
▻https://doaj.org
#liste #OA #open_access #édition_scientifique #université #revues #revues_scientifiques
Universities watchdog threatens fines over grade inflation
Proportion of degrees that are first class rose from 16% to 27% in six years, OfS finds.
The higher education watchdog has issued a stark warning to universities that they will be fined or even removed from the official register if they fail to tackle spiralling grade inflation at degree level.
Research by the Office for Students reveals for the first time the scale of the problem, which is virtually sector-wide with 84% of universities seeing significant unexplained increases in the number of first-class degrees awarded.
Overall, the proportion of first-class honours awards has risen from 16% of all degrees awarded in 2010/11 to 27% six years later, according to OfS analysis of results at 148 universities and higher education providers.
At the University of Surrey the proportion of firsts has more than doubled, from 23% in 2010/11 to 50% in 2016/17, while at Bradford University it has almost tripled, from 10.6% to 30.9%.
The OfS, which is the new regulator of the higher education sector in England, called on universities to take urgent action to address the problem and warned of severe sanctions if they failed to do so.
Nicola Dandridge, the OfS chief executive, said: “This report shows starkly that there has been significant and unexplained grade inflation since 2010-11. This spiralling grade inflation risks undermining public confidence in our higher education system.”
According to the OfS regulatory framework, one of the conditions of functioning as a university is that “qualifications awarded to students hold their value at the point of qualification and over time”. If a university is found to be in breach of the condition, it may be fined, suspended from the register or deregistered altogether.
Ministers have become increasingly concerned about the growing proportion of firsts and upper-class second degrees being awarded at universities. According to the latest research, the proportion of firsts and 2:1s combined has increased from 67% in 2010/11 to 78% six years later.
The education secretary, Damian Hinds, called on the OfS to crack down on institutions found to be inflating grades. “I sincerely hope today’s figures act as a wake-up call to the sector, especially those universities which are now exposed as having significant unexplained increases,” he said.
“Institutions should be accountable for maintaining the value of the degrees they award. I am urging universities to tackle this serious issue and have asked the Office for Students to deal firmly with any institution found to be unreasonably inflating grades.”
Guardian Today: the headlines, the analysis, the debate - sent direct to you
Read more
Increases in first-class degrees among students entering university with lower A-level results are particularly striking. Graduates who achieved the equivalent of two Cs and a D were almost three times more likely to graduate with first-class honours in 2016/7 compared with six years earlier.
There is no parallel increase in degree attainment among graduates with top A-level results, and in the main it is the institutions with lower entry tariffs where the highest unexplained increases have been found.
Universities have defended themselves in the past, saying the sector has changed significantly with more emphasis on the quality of teaching, alongside the fact that with higher tuition fees students are working harder to achieve higher grades.
The OfS has used statistical modelling at the individual student level to try to account for factors that might influence attainment. It concludes that a significant element of the increases cannot be explained by changes to the graduate population and attainment and therefore remains cause for concern.
Across the sector as a whole, the OfS found that 11.6 percentage points of the increase in first-class degrees awarded between 2010-11 and 2016-17 were unexplained, though in some universities the figure is much higher. At Surrey it is 27.3 percentage points; other universities where there are relatively high unexplained increases include Huddersfield, Greenwich, Coventry and Essex.
Dandridge said it was crucial that degrees held their value over time. She said she recognised how hard students worked for their degrees and accepted that improved teaching, student support and pre-university qualifications could explain some of the increase in grades.
“However, even accounting for prior attainment and student demographics, we still find significant unexplained grade inflation,” she said. “This analysis may make uncomfortable reading for some universities. It shows that individual and collective steps are needed to ensure that students can be confident that they will leave higher education with a qualification that is reliable, respected and helps ensure they are ready for life after graduation.”
Alistair Jarvis, the chief executive of Universities UK, which represents 137 universities, said the sector was already taking steps to tackle grade inflation. “It is essential that the public has full confidence in the value of a degree,” he said.
Of the 124 universities (84% of the sample) with significant unexplained increases in the number of first-class degrees, 77 showed a statistically significant unexplained increase relative to both the sector and their own level in 2010-11. A further 28 showed a statistically significant unexplained level of attainment above that of the sector level, and 19 showed a statistically significant unexplained increase relative to their own level in 2010-11.
▻https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/dec/19/universities-watchdog-threatens-fines-over-grade-inflation?CMP=Share_An
#université #UK #Angleterre #effets_pervers #taxes_universitaires #frais_d'inscription #it_has_begun #qualité #chantage #statistiques #chiffres #éducation
Hungry in the school holidays: Are voluntary schemes the long-term answer?
“Is there any more chocolate pudding?” Two children held their bowls up hopefully, looking like 21st century versions of Oliver Twist. It was summer 2014 and I was running a MakeLunch kitchen at a primary school in Coventry for two weeks during the summer holidays.
Boadicea, reine des Icéniens
▻http://library.flawlesslogic.com/boadicea_fr.htm
Boadicea (également appelée Boudicca) est probablement la plus célèbre des reines celtiques. Elle est un symbole de la liberté britannique, et son histoire a été enseignée aux écoliers anglais depuis deux siècles. Il est possible que le nom de Boadicea ou Boudicca lui ait été donné en l’honneur d’une déesse celtique de la victoire. La révolte de la tribu des Icéniens, en 60 après-JC, fut la plus sérieuse rébellion à laquelle les Romains eurent à faire face dans les Iles Britanniques. Le territoire des Icéniens se trouvait au sud-est de l’Angleterre, à l’emplacement des actuels comtés de Norfolk et de Suffolk. On pense que la bataille finale s’est déroulée dans les Midlands, un peu au nord de Coventry. L’île de Mona, citée au début de l’article, est l’île d’Anglesey dans le Pays de Galles. La ville romaine de Camulodunum est l’actuelle Colchester, celle de Verulamium est à présent St-Albans, et Londinium n’est autre que Londres (à l’époque, Londinium comptait probablement environ 30 000 habitants). Un village icénien, reconstitué sur un site celtique, peut être visité près de Swaffham.
Si même @mona a une île maintenant ;)
Ukie unveils new plan to boost West Midlands games sector
▻http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-09-21-ukie-unveils-new-plan-to-boost-west-midlands-games-sector
A two-year funded program will be put in place thanks to Coventry and Warwickshire LEP
]]>10 Facts the Media Won’t Tell You About the War in Syria
▻http://theantimedia.org/10-facts-war-syria
Pour les détails, suivre le lien.
(ANTIMEDIA) Corporate media regularly attempts to present Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria as solely responsible for the ongoing conflict in the region. The media does report on events that contradict this narrative — albeit sparingly — but taken together, these underreported details shine a new light on the conflict.
10: Bashar al-Assad has a higher approval rating than Barack Obama
9: The “moderate” opposition has been hijacked
There is no longer such a thing as “moderate” opposition in Syria – if there ever was. The so-called Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) has been dominated by extremists for years. (...)
8: Assad never used chemical weapons on his own people
A U.N. investigation into the first major chemical weapons attack committed in early 2013 — an atrocity the West immediately pinned on Assad — concluded the evidence suggested the attack was more likely committed by the Syrian opposition. (...)
7: Toppling the Syrian regime was part of a plan adopted shortly after 9/11
According to a memo disclosed by 4-star General Wesley Clark, shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon adopted a plan to topple the governments of seven countries within five years. The countries were Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Iran. (...)
6: Iran and Syria have a mutual defense agreement
5: Former Apple CEO is the son of a Syrian refugee [!!!]
4: ISIS arose out of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, not the Syrian conflict
3: Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia wanted to build a pipeline through Syria, but Assad rejected it
2: Leaked phone calls show Turkey provides ISIS fighters with expensive medical care
1: Western media’s main source for the conflict is a T-shirt shop in Coventry, England
This is not a joke. If you follow the news, you most probably have heard the mainstream media quote an entity grandiosely called the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” (SOHR). This so-called “observatory” is run by one man in his home in Coventry, England — thousands of miles away from the Syrian conflict — yet is quoted by most respected Western media outlets (BBC, Reuters, The Guardian, and International Business Times, for example).
*
(...)
Assad may be brutal — and should face trial for allegations of widespread human rights abuses — but this fact alone does not make the other circumstances untrue or irrelevant. People have the right to be properly informed before they allow themselves to be led down the road of more war in the Middle East, and consequently, more terror attacks and potential conflicts with Russia and China.
]]>Layers of Inequality
Many of the government’s spending cuts will have a disproportionate impact on Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority women, according to a recent report produced by the Centre for Human Rights in Practice, Coventry Women’s Voices and Coventry Ethnic Minority Action Partnership.
▻http://lacuna.org.uk/equality/layers-of-inequality-2
#austérité #UK #Angleterre #inégalités #minorités_ethniques
Concours de beauté de tarentules…
Pictures : Spider ’Crufts’ tarantula showcase attracts thousands as more than 800 species compete for prizes - Mirror Online
▻http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/pictures-spider-crufts-tarantula-showcase-3569288
Pictures: Spider ’Crufts’ tarantula showcase attracts thousands as more than 800 species compete for prizes
Around 2,000 people seemingly unafraid of the hairy beasts turned up at the Coventry event on Sunday
Crufts, d’après le nom du premier organisateur de concours canin (1886)
]]>Rami Abdul Rahman’s Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/world/middleeast/the-man-behind-the-casualty-figures-in-syria.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=ed
COVENTRY, England — Military analysts in Washington follow its body counts of Syrian and rebel soldiers to gauge the course of the war. The United Nations and human rights organizations scour its descriptions of civilian killings for evidence in possible war crimes trials. Major news organizations, including this one, cite its casualty figures.
Voir
▻http://syriahr.com/en/index.php?option=com_news&Itemid=2&nt=1
]]>Une pluie de pommes tombe sur une route en Angleterre | Les moutons enragés
Avez-vous déjà imaginé recevoir une pluie de pommes sur la tête ? C’est exactement ce qu’ont vécu lundi des automobilistes et des passants dans la ville de Coventry, en Angleterre. Selon le Service météorologique britannique, cette averse fruitée serait l’œuvre d’une possible tornade qui aurait transporté ces pommes d’un verger.
Le phénomène a complètement mystifié les résidents du secteur, en plus de provoquer la fermeture d’un tronçon routier qui s’est retrouvé couvert de pommes écrasées.
Plusieurs ont cru que les fruits provenaient d’un avion en vol, alors que les gens plus superstitieux se grattaient la tête, allant même jusqu’à qu’à penser qu’une sorcière venait de leur lancer des pommes.
Selon David Phillips, climatologue, la météo est parfois bizarre et violente, mais il faut se garder certaines réserves sur ce genre d’événements.
Il y a toujours un risque qu’il s’agisse d’une cause qui n’a rien à voir avec la météo (ex. : un camion perd son chargement de pommes). « Mais en se penchant sérieusement sur ce cas, il y a certainement une explication météorologique », dit-il.
►http://lesmoutonsenrages.fr/2011/12/18/une-pluie-de-pommes-tombe-sur-une-route-en-angleterre
c’est bon pour #it_has_begun
Bedworth ’suicide pact’ couple found lying side-by-side - Coventry News - News - Coventry Telegraph
►http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2011/11/08/bedworth-suicide-pact-couple-found-lying-side-by-side-92746-29739580/
A MARRIED couple have been found dead in their Bedworth home following an apparent tragic suicide pact.
Mark and Helen Mullins were found lying side by side in their home in Henson Road, Bedworth.
Friends have spoken of the tragic couple’s struggle to access the correct benefits – leaving them living “hand to mouth” on food handouts from a Coventry soup kitchen which they walked five miles to each week.
]]>