The unfolding COVID-19 situation has brought many changes to school education. NAPLAN tests have been cancelled for 2020 and most children are learning online. Education minister Dan Tehan is meeting with the states on what to do with year 12 exams and criteria for university entry. One option flagged is for universities to look at a mixture of students’ […] … learn more→

Unknown to most people yesterday, hydroxychloroquine (trade name Plaquenil) is today at the heart of a medical, scientific and ethical issue. Due to the progression of the pandemic, these debates which started in France are now experiencing various developments abroad, notably in the USA where President Donald Trump and Professor Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and […] … learn more→

When the UK government talks – as it often does – about its desire to crack down on what it terms “low quality courses”, it is really talking about courses with low graduate earnings. But a recent article in Times Higher Education suggested that a better alternative might be to introduce some form of national […] … learn more→

During last year, I found myself drawn to attend several workshops run by the research education and development team at my university. They had topics such as blogging and developing a digital profile. My interests sprang from a desire to get my research and writing on girl internees in Changi during World War II – […] … learn more→

The UK’s social distancing measures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused unprecedented changes to individual and social lives. The necessity of the measures to control the disease is not in question. However, it is becoming clear that the effects of social distancing will hit refugees and asylum seekers harder and in more […] … learn more→

I’ve spent a lot of time online shopping these last two weeks. Shopping for food. Before we went to Australia we’d let the store cupboard run down as we didn’t want to come home to rats, mice or moths. When we arrived home it was to a literally empty freezer and cupboard. So getting ourselves […] … learn more→

According to government figures, students from deprived backgrounds are 41 per cent less likely to attend the UK’s top universities, while apprentices are twice as likely to come from the most deprived backgrounds as university students. There are different ways of looking at these statistics. On the one hand, since the proliferation of apprenticeship schemes […] … learn more→

1. Food The National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program provide school meals to at least 30 million kids each year – more than half of all public school students. This food is free or deeply discounted for students who qualify based on their family’s income. These meals are essential for many reasons, including the fact that hunger and food insecurity make it […] … learn more→

Probably the phrase “Stay at home” is one of the ones that we will have heard, repeated and read the most in recent days, referring to the quarantine period imposed by the Spanish authorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This measure has beneficial preventive effects on health. However, due to precedents in other countries , adverse psychological outcomes […] … learn more→

There’s no escaping it – we are in a global pandemic. Businesses like restaurants have shut down, and those daily commuters now commute from their bed to their desk instead of to the office. Even law firms have transitioned from in-office work to now at-home work.  It’s an abrupt and necessary transition, and we aren’t […] … learn more→