When did crude jokes about a reigning monarch become a no-go area for satirists and comedians? The BBC recently announced that it had axed David Baddiel’s Radio 4 panel show Don’t Make Me Laugh. This after an episode broadcast on the Queen’s 90th birthday that included jokes about her sex life. Apparently it’s not the […] … learn more→

The UK clearly is more on-the-ball when it comes to figuring out higher education is, far too often, a rip off. I covered earlier how they showed that getting a college degree decreases your income (yes, decreases) knowledge that many in the industry have suspected (or outright known) for years. We no longer just have […] … learn more→

Currently, UK higher education is undergoing changes, and recent evidence suggests that change is extending to the career paths that some PhD graduates are taking. These higher education veterans have begun to buck the trend of staying on in their academic departments and are branching out of familiar collegial settings into industry. Findings from RCUK and […] … learn more→

Ever since the 1973 oil embargo, U.S. energy policy has sought to replace petroleum-based transportation fuels with alternatives. One prominent option is using biofuels, such as ethanol in place of gasoline and biodiesel instead of ordinary diesel. Transportation generates one-fourth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, so addressing this sector’s impact is crucial for climate protection. […] … learn more→

Almost half the population of the planet now has access to the internet, with about one in three of those people regularly active on social media. But this increased opportunity to socialise and communicate in a virtual environment has offered new avenues for antisocial behaviour. The problem of cyberbullying has received considerable research attention. However, […] … learn more→

Assessment and feedback have been dubbed the higher education sector’s Achilles heel. Year after year, metrics such as the UK’s National Student Survey tell us that students are less satisfied with the feedback they receive than with any other aspect of their studies. In response, institutions scrutinise that feedback ever more closely; many academics report […] … learn more→

Most of us know the difference a good teacher makes in the life of a child. Many global institutions working to improve access to education, such as the United Nations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Education International agree that “teacher quality” is the critical element in whether or not an educational system […] … learn more→

There was a big kerfuffle at Sydney University last week, when former Prime Minister John Howard was awarded an honorary doctorate. Some people feel that handing out doctorates to people who do not earn them devalues the degrees people do earn. In the case of John Howard, some argued that if honours are to be […] … learn more→

I gave my first university lectures about 25 years ago. I was rather young at the time. The lecture hall was off Free School Lane in Cambridge and it was one of the places where there had been famous scientific discoveries. The demonstration bench was still there, enormous and solidly ominous. When I entered the […] … learn more→

Looking for a new reason to cut down on “junk” food? Besides the obvious health-related benefits, I showed in a recent study that discretionary or junk foods make up a significant proportion of food-related environmental impacts. For an average Australian household, my research found that discretionary food contribute 33-39% of diet-related water use, energy use, […] … learn more→