The incoming British prime minister Theresa May has outlined a vision of a country that “works not for the privileged few but that works for every one of us … because we’re going to give people control over their lives”. A good place for her to start would be to make sure that the government […] … learn more→

Earlier this year I posted an item to this blog about “Hunger on Campus,” which began: “Even as gourmet and gluten-free choices expand at some elite college eateries, Sara Goldrick-Rab and Katharine Broton have published an excellent, if deeply disturbing, article on “The Hidden Hunger Problem on Campus.”  For many it may be hard to […] … learn more→

Pick an area and stick to it Academia is characterised by demarcation into specialist areas. Few would be able to straddle mathematics, physics, chemistry and alchemy in the manner of Isaac Newton. He, like many of our other great thinkers, might not have been REF-returnable. Modern academia is a terrain that is marked out in […] … learn more→

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia in 2014, he described India’s relationship with Australia as “a natural partnership arising from our shared values and aspirations”. His visit marked a historic shift from the neglect of bilateral relations for nearly 30 years. When Modi said that he saw Australia as a major partner in […] … learn more→

So, I’m still looking at WSU, which has announced it’s getting rid of the mathematics requirement at the university. In a stunning display of honesty, the university admits it has been engaging in academic fraud:>/p? This decision was made largely because the current (math) requirement is at a level already required by most high school […] … learn more→

Recently, I made a rather startling discovery. You see, I did my PhD part-time and ran my own business, with varying degrees of success, the rest of the time. Now I am only the cost of printing and binding the thesis (seriously, the prices are crazy!) away from graduating, I have turned my attention back […] … learn more→

Those of you who like to work with material stuff, moving actual objects around, might want to try to this revision strategy. It’s not too dissimilar to the computer based version, but here you get to use paper and scissors. 1. Write the main point that you want to make, your take home message, onto a […] … learn more→

The world may still argue about whether or not climate change is for real. But in vast expanses of arid southern Africa, the daily struggle to cope with a changed climate is well under way. The lessons being learnt here on a small scale could prove vital in the fight for human survival. The impact […] … learn more→

When someone types your name into Google, suppose the first link points to a newspaper article about you going bankrupt 15 years ago, or to a YouTube video of you smoking cigarettes 20 years ago, or simply a webpage that includes personal information such as your current home address, your birth date, or your Social […] … learn more→

It’s so hard to keep up with the madness infecting our universities. Core to the lunacy is the simple fact that educators have no influence over education today, and instead administrators, with no education themselves, get to decide what an “educated” person should know. Thus we have courses on Game of Thrones, but at least […] … learn more→