Nibs

Don Norman, former Apple executive and professor of computer science, cognitive science and psychology, lectured to a packed house of TU students last Monday. His latest book, ‘Emotional Design: why we love (or hate) everyday things’, hasn’t been translated into Dutch. (Norman: “The publishers told me there’s not a big enough audience for it over here”). Nevertheless, students stood in line to have their English copies signed by the author. Norman told his audience that people react on three levels to design: reflective, behavioural and visceral. “Visceral design’s about appearance, the pleasure you derive from it is very important.” Norman’s lecture was never dull. He held up a box of Ferrero Rocher candy. “Is this great candy? No. Does it look like great candy? Yes,” he said, to the audience’s laughter. One student was so enthusiastic that he implored Norman to phone Philips the next day: “They’re still emphasising simple, user-friendly design, and don’t realise that emotional design is just as important nowadays.”

@01 kort nieuws kopje:Crackdown
The University of Port Harcourt, in southeastern Nigeria, has revoked the degrees of 7,254 of its graduates in a major crackdown on academic fraud. Those stripped of degrees had either cheated in examinations or falsified their academic records. The head of the University said that higher education in Nigeria is rife with corruption and that the quality of degrees and diplomas awarded by Nigerian universities had been eroded. He called on the country’s universities to fight corruption or risk having their degrees rejected internationally. According to a recent report by the Exams Ethics Project, a non-governmental organization that monitors academic testing in Nigeria, cheating in examinations, particularly college entrance examinations, is widespread. “Academic fraud and corruption is big business in Nigeria,” the report said.
Stricter

The TU’s PhD Graduation Commission said theses should be ‘defendable’ and also ‘opponeerbaar‘ (roughly translated, ‘capable of being attacked’). This is needed to preserve quality standards. Professor Geert Jan Olsder, commission chairman, said commission members noticed a serious decline in the quality of theses over recent years. “We often have the feeling they’ve thought things through quickly on a Friday afternoon. But my position is: do it well or don’t do it at all.” The Commission is currently considering measures to improve the quality of PhD theses.
Martial arts

Peking University angered some students and scholars by naming the martial-arts movie star Jackie Chan to its faculty. Peking University spokesman Zhao Weiming recently announced that Peking University had appointed Jackie Chan as a “specially engaged professor” to teach in the Department of Art Studies for one year. Weiming said that the popular movie star from Hong Kong will contribute to the department’s course development.
Rankings

In a week that saw the Dutch Ministry of Education release a higher education ranking according to a quality system, called ‘Kennis in Kaart‘ (Knowledge Overview), which ranked TU Delft as the country’s second best university, another study was released that ranked TU Delft as the county’s worst university. According to the ‘Choice Guide for Higher Education 2004-05’, students awarded TU Delft a 6.7 and teachers a 6.5, giving the university a ‘combination score’ of 6.68, good for a last place ranking. The guide ranked Maastricht University as the best university, with a combination score of 7.07. This means that TU Delft ranked only 0.39 points behind the country’s best university, yet earned the distinction of being the country’s worst university. What this all means perhaps only the researchers can say, but in all the rankings of the various university programs, none had a total score higher than a 7, or ‘satisfactory’, which, in a global perspective, is hardly good news for any Dutch university, even the apparent winner, Maastricht.
Emotional