I understand that “Western Culture” has done a few shameful things in the past. Yes, I can rationalize that every culture on the planet has done horrific things to human beings and the environment, but I know that another’s wrongs don’t excuse my own. Of course “my own” is the issue in that previous sentence. […] … learn more→

Academics applying for research funding have expressed their concern at feeling the need to exaggerate and embellish the possible future impact of their work. In a series of interviews with senior academics in the UK and Australia for our new study, several told us that the process of writing statements about the imagined future impact […] … learn more→

In the face of steep state budget cuts over the past decade, public colleges are increasingly adopting the enrollment management tactics of private-colleges – to the detriment of low-income and working-class students. In fact, nearly half of public four-year colleges examined now leave the most financially needy students on the hook for more than $10,000 […] … learn more→

Education can and should change people’s lives. Education systems ought to operate with the public good in mind. But for many South Africans, this is not the case. I would suggest that part of the reason post-colonial and post-apartheid educational policies are not succeeding is because they are biased towards outcomes that are relevant only […] … learn more→

‘A PhD is like a child’ my supervisor told me once. There and then, I had to agree. However, as good as this analogy may sound, there are ways in which PhD is not a child. Admittedly, a PhD grows like on. From a helpless loud little baby in its first year to a mischievous […] … learn more→

It is a recurring problem in college campuses across America: nearly half of incoming freshmen are not prepared to write at a college level. Many have never written a 5-page paper. Throughout high school, they have repeatedly been asked to write short essays. But give them an assignment to develop an idea and carry it […] … learn more→

British Science Week is a good time to try to find out who the black leaders of British science in 2016 are. It is also the second anniversary of the groundbreaking meeting at University College London asking the question: “Why isn’t my professor black?” There are 8,300 professors of science, engineering and technology (SET) in […] … learn more→

Having to explain your demands ‘is a form of oppression’ The University of Kansas student government painted itself into a corner when it pledged last fall to support every demand by a new racial-protest group. The student senate delivered on that hasty promise in an hours-long meeting Wednesday, voting to give an expected $90,000 to a […] … learn more→

A university rugby match degenerated into on-field brawls between black and white students. White Afrikaans-speaking students and black students traded blows over the University of Pretoria’s language policy. Some people are astonished that this is happening nearly 22 years after the end of formal apartheid and that such clashes often involve the so-called “born frees” […] … learn more→

There’s no doubt that people in the UK value libraries. They are seen as an asset to communities, offering a calm, quiet, neutral space, where anyone can access information for work or leisure. When libraries are threatened with closure, community groups and public figures spring into action to try to save them. But while we […] … learn more→