In a blink of an eye we have two interesting reports. One details 20 high-paying jobs that do not require a college degree. Shame that is must be followed by an article whose title explains it all: Students suffocate under tens of thousands in loans.
3/3/2006
The Cost Of Printing The Diploma Has Increased 1000 Fold This Past Decade
Dragging Your Feet From the Lab Room
Do Universities help diffuse innovations? A recent paper suggests yes. Another argument, specifically in terms of biotechnology states no. As the Chancellor of Washington University recently said in terms of commercializing research into real-world applications (i.e. diffusion), “We don’t use, as a measure of achievement, whether we have spawned … companies,” he said. “That’s not our focus.”
Could this be why, “Ted Cicero, vice chancellor for research, and Michael Douglas, his chief associate, are leaving their posts, citing among the reasons a lack of resources for commercializing technology. They said faculty, too, are bothered by administrative delays and inadequate support for translating their research into products that could benefit society and bring royalty revenue to the university.”
For those that have read some of my previous work, I’ve noted that historically, universities make little, if anything off of licensing. With the traditional University system set-up as anything but an efficient business, should this be surprising?
Would They Still Attend Without The Cheap Financing?
A recent story from the NY Times, Online Colleges Receive a Boost From Congress, notes that Congress removed a barrier for students attending online schools to receive financial aid from los federales. This is kind of bittersweet. On the one hand there are a number of interesting statistics that show the growing trend in attending these schools (i.e. bigger enrollment numbers), but again, the way things are financed (i.e. via the State) make free traders cringe.
Why not just leave the State out of education?
More Digital Libraries From the Establishment
Texas Universities Join to Create a Digital Library for Scholars and the Public: the institutions include the Texas A&M University System, the Texas Tech University System, the University of Houston System, the University of Texas System and Rice University.
Hot on the heels of that announcement comes Europe’s digital library taking shape. Choice quote, “Two million books, films, photographs, manuscripts and other works are expected to become accessible through the library by 2008, rising to 6 million by 2010.”
Note: most, if not all of these are taxpayer subsidized, so despite my love for open access of information, the means by which it was done wipes away much of the good. : (
More on digital libraries.