Criticism of universities today can feel all but ubiquitous. Whether in the UK, Australia or any number of other western countries, politicians and the media are lining up to assert that universities are failing the community they serve. They are over-privileged, underworked bastions of self-interest; they exploit students with high fees and poor teaching; they […] … learn more→

Free writing is probably the most common and talked up strategy for getting your writing going. Free writing is when you write continuously without stopping. It is often used in conjunction with a timer – the pomodoro. Free writing is used to generate ideas, to unstick a problem, to discover new perspectives. But free writing […] … learn more→

If you’re a business trying to boost your brand and increase your following, you’ve surely read all the articles about how to get likes, how to increase your following, and how best to use Instagram tools. But what may be equally important to a company interested in improving its social presence, generate sales, and maximize […] … learn more→

There is a widespread perception that mathematics is inaccessible, and ultimately boring. Just mentioning it can cause a negative reaction in people, as many mathematicians witness at any social event when the dreaded question arrives: “what is your job?” For many people, school maths lessons are the time when any interest in the subject turns […] … learn more→

Leaders of the scientific community – most of whom are also Democrats – are voicing relief now that the Trump administration has nominated Kelvin Droegemeier to direct the White House Office of Science and Technology. This office has been leaderless since Trump assumed office. Droegemeier, a well-respected meteorologist specializing in severe weather such as thunderstorms, has also served on the advisory board of the U.S. National Science Foundation. He […] … learn more→

The internet has undoubtedly changed the way we live and communicate. People are now able to share information not only with their friends and relatives, but also with complete strangers through the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Research shows that young people view communications on social media as more crediblecompared with traditional media and information […] … learn more→

The successive releases of the rankings of the universities of Times Higher Education and Shanghai Jiaotong University have, as every year, been accompanied by their lots of comments, and other nonsense. Beyond their rigor and their qualities, it is their underlying logic – the very idea of ​​being able to classify – that poses a […] … learn more→

Jon Stossel is one of the last few remaining investigative reporters, and used to be on television quite often, 20 years ago. His big career-killing problem was he tends to investigate government waste and corruption. It’s painfully obvious today that much (all?) of our mainstream media is just another department of our government, or at […] … learn more→

“Do you want to be the canon’s mouthpiece?” I asked a friend whose university had invited him on to a committee to identify 150 books that all undergraduates ought to read. But then I recalled that once, in my youth as a schoolteacher, I had established a literary canon of my own. One of my […] … learn more→

Students from less advantaged backgrounds are grossly underrepresented in Britain’s top universities. This underrepresentation of certain groups is particularly pronounced in highly competitive courses such as medicine. In England, for example, 80% of medical students come from just 20% of the country’s secondary schools. This leads to a profession dominated by certain demographic groups. This imbalance […] … learn more→