Category Archives: Education

US Wins IMO for First Time Since 1994

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The logo of the International Mathematical Olympiad.

For the first time since 1994 a US team prevailed at the International Mathematical Olympiad.

The Olympiad is a yearly competition for high school students that challenge the math skills of teens from around the world with highly difficult math problems. This year’s event included students from over 100 countries.

The head coach of the US team is math professor Po-Shen Loh of Carnegie Mellon University. Loh described the problems as helping to “bridge the gap between the kinds of problems most kids see on their high school math homework and real math research.”

The competition takes place over two days. On each day the students spend about 4.5 hours solving two sets of three problems. The problems are in no way formulaic. The students are forced to think creatively, to come up with “out-of-the-box” solutions to straightforward, but complex problems.

As an example, one of this year’s problems asked the teams to find all the sets of three whole numbers such that multiplying together any tow of the numbers and subtracting the third number gives you a power of two. The solution cannot be found using any formula; rather it is like solving a puzzle or brain teaser.

Finding the answer requires looking at problems from different perspectives and using creative solutions. That is what the competition is all about.

Online MBA Programs Could Put Some Business Schools Out of Business

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Online MBA programs diverting students away from part-time programs
Online MBA programs diverting students away from part-time programs

Dean of the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business is predicting a less than certain future for business school programs in America:

“Half of the business schools in this country could be out of business in 10 years—or five,” said Richard Lyons.

Lyons explained that it’s the trend for top-tier MBA programs towards offering their valuable degrees online which is sending shivers up the spines of lower-ranked business school officials. This phenomenon puts a crack in the industry’s current business model, since for the majority of business schools’ part-time students and those seeking executive MBAs supply the schools with critical revenue. More and more these programs, which are directed towards working professionals, are competing with online alternative programs offered by the more elite schools in the business MBA program environment. And these two choices are serving the same population of students.

It’s the lower-ranked schools that are most vulnerable to these changes. When the big names in MBA programs such as Harvard and Wharton begin to offer their degrees online, which is indeed beginning to happen, they draw students away from the lesser-known part-time programs which are closer to home. But the part-time programs are a great source of income for business schools, since most students pay full, or almost full, tuition. Part-time programs have traditionally been able to assure a steady flow of income for their schools.

Right now there are not that many top-tier schools that offer their MBA programs online, but many other schools have. But the snobs are showing signs of warming to the idea as the stigma caused by the down market MBA programs that do offer online programs continues to fade. It should not be long before the biggest names in MBA programs, such as Wharton, Stanford, and perhaps even Harvard, offer a part-time MBA program online to anyone who qualifies, no matter where they happen to live and work.

If an executive based far from a top-tier school can choose between a local part-time MBA programs at a less elite school versus a part-time program at a top-ranked school online it seems the choice will often be to opt for the online program.

Top Ten Grad Schools for 2015

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It’s just a ‘sneak peek,’ but US News surveyed 453 accredited master’s programs in business, and came up with the following as the coming year’s ten best. The list is in alphabetical order, since the entire survey will not be available until March 11, 2014, at usnews.com.

  • Columbia University (NY)
  • Dartmouth College (Tuck) (NH)
  • Harvard University (MA)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
  • New York University (Stern)
  • Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL)
  • Stanford University (CA)
  • University of California—Berkeley (Haas)
  • University of Chicago (Booth)
  • University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

Poll Shows College Not Major Factor in Hiring

Education

Business leaders throughout the country were asked how important four different parameters of education are factors in hiring, including the amount of knowledge the candidate has in a particular field; his/her applied skill set; what the candidate’s major was in college; and which college he/she attended.

Gallup conducted the poll by telephone between November 25 and December 16, 2013. They inquired of 623 business leaders, on behalf of the Lumina Foundation, a private, independent foundation whose goal is to make higher education more accessible, to discover what the important factors are for business leaders when hiring new employees.

The poll showed an overwhelming preference for candidates with a good knowledge base in the field they will be expected to work in, as well applied skills in the field. Not as important was the potential employee’s college major, and of least importance of all was the college attended.
gallup pol

 

Bar Ilan Introduces Responsa Project

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Bar Ilan University has just launched a Responsa project, featuring over 410 million words of Halacha on a disk on key.  With 12,000+ questions, answers and decisions on Judaic law, the project is in Hebrew and is based on rulings given by trusted and highly reputable rabbinical authorities.

The initiative has been welcomed by all supporters of Bar Ilan University.  On the board of the educational institute sit: Charles Dimston, Elio Sonnenfeld, Maria Finkle and Sam Gewurz.  The launching of the Responsa is a proud moment for all involved in the university and its developments.

Indeed, it has been hailed as a fantastic resource for all those Hebrew speakers who are conducting research on anything connected to Jewish law.  It provides cross references, powerful grammatical tools and more.  It is likely to be used by rabbis, students, writers, researchers and the lay individual just seeking out additional clarification and information connected with Jewish law.

With a Talmudic Encyclopedia and thousands of scanned articles from halachic journals and collections, the project is set to make some serious waves in the world of Jewish law.