Australian universities have been impacted by COVID-19 and the ensuing increased stress and anxiety has highlighted the importance of employee mental health and well-being. Prior to the pandemic there was clear evidence that universities were high pressure working environments with increasing demands for productivity coupled with resource constraints. Academics have cumulative metrics for teaching performance, […] … learn more→

Doing a doctorate later in life is more likely to be a part-time affair. In the UK, the majority of the part-time postgraduate research students are over the age of 30. Despite 27,000 people undertaking this mode of study in the UK alone, it is less commonly addressed in guides to success in doctoral research. In this […] … learn more→

As we all head back to school during a global pandemic, it’s a good time to ask whether students are learning the skills they need to keep themselves and their communities safe. Over the last decade, scholars, policy makers and citizens have been concerned about whether young people had the key skills they needed to […] … learn more→

Are the young classes of our “learning nation” condemned to come and bang their heads on the “chestnut tree” of evaluation? As for the Covid-19, it may seem essential to “test”. But as with Covid-19, the cardinal question is who to test, and when. What is at stake is the benefit expected from the test. Between September 14 […] … learn more→

Recent months have seen heated debates in Russia about the limits of faculty and students’ rights to undertake public speaking and engage in political activism. Lecturers at the prestigious Higher School of Economics (HSE), once considered Russia’s most liberal university, have spent the summer worrying that their criticisms of the political status quo might put an end to […] … learn more→

After a year of unprecedented disruptions and change, it is clear that, as the new semester approaches, students need better experiences, universities need better business models and staff need better workloads. I split my career between industry and academia, encountering the academic world at many levels and locations and learning pedagogy from scratch at 41. […] … learn more→

With in-person instruction becoming the exception rather than the norm, 54% of parents with school-age children expressed concern that their children could fall behind academically, according to a poll conducted over the summer of 2020. Initial projections from the Northwest Evaluation Association, which conducts research and creates commonly used standardized tests, suggest that these fears are well-grounded, especially […] … learn more→

Mental health issues among children are on the rise due to the impacts of the COVID pandemic, including lockdowns. Recent reports show there has been a 28% spike in calls to the phone counselling service Kids Helpline between March and July 2020 compared with the same period last year in Victoria, which is under stage 3 and 4 restrictions. […] … learn more→

A proposed law would give the federal government power to cancel arrangements between foreign governments and Australian states, territories, local councils and public universities. At first glance, it’s not meant to cover universities’ arrangements with all foreign universities. However, the practical reality is that it could impact all sorts of Australian university arrangements with foreign entities, including […] … learn more→

With schools reopening after COVID-19 closures, concerns about the safety and certainty of public schooling have driven some parents to consider alternatives to sending kids back to brick-and-mortar classrooms. One option making headlines is the formation of “learning pods” also known as “pandemic pods.” Pandemic pods are small groups of children from different families who learn together outside of […] … learn more→