Individualism makes America unhealthy and unequal, and college admissions offices have the power to do something about it. So argues a short but important report, Turning the Tide, released last week by the Making Caring Common (MCC) Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. College admissions offices send messages to students about what society […] … learn more→

The growing pressures faced by universities have had an impact on academic careers. Changes to academic roles, contracts and career paths, along with increasing workloads, have created new challenges. Yet in today’s competitive global environment, academic career opportunities are key to universities’ future success. A report for the Higher Education Academy, written with colleagues at […] … learn more→

The real world is often overwhelmingly complicated. Literature can help. This is true at universities too: courses in comparative literature offer students new insights into their chosen disciplines by unlocking new, varied perspectives. How can those studying political science truly grasp the terror of living under a dictator? Perhaps by reading Mario Vargas Llosa’s The […] … learn more→

The best careers and the least satisfying ones may not be what you’d expect. You are not your job — or so we’re often told. But while this is the case for some, the case for most is that while we may be more than our jobs, our career choice plays a large role in […] … learn more→

A life of unknown wealth and luxury, days filled with sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll, a palace packed with the presents fans from all over the world voluntarily sent you, tabloids stocked with photos of you hanging with your equally illustrious posse, millions of followers on Instagram… That’s not what indy scholarship is […] … learn more→

Hitler’s infamous political memoir, Mein Kampf, continues to trouble us like few other texts in the world. Seven decades after the end of the Third Reich, it fascinates and appals in equal measure. Available in many translations, Mein Kampf is widely read around the world and regularly features on bestseller lists in India. The state […] … learn more→

There has been a breakdown of trust in South Africa’s higher education sector. Student protesters and, at some universities, university employees including cleaners and gardeners, organised themselves under the banner of #FeesMustFall in 2015 and have continued this movement into 2016. Some universities have responded by employing private security companies. Vice chancellors have defended this […] … learn more→

The University of Louisville is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, Americans with Disabilities Employer, committed to diversity. In that spirit, the Department of Physics and Astronomy announces a tenure-track Assistant Professor position that will be filled by an African American, a Hispanic American, or a Native American Indian. –note carefully that last line. The university […] … learn more→

The sighting of a seven-metre shark off the South Australia coast this month has excited the world’s media with some making reference to the great white that featured in the classic 1975 film Jaws. It was certainly a big shark but there are tales of even bigger sharks lurking in our waters. A quick Google […] … learn more→

There is much I love about working in higher education…and much I do not. I’ve mentioned things I don’t love about higher education “a time or two” in this blog, but one of the worst things is how my industry creates victims. When I first tried to get my book published, I tried to convince […] … learn more→