The Australian government will soon decide whether it will extend its ban on travellers from China for another week. The Department of Home Affairs has already extended the original two week travel ban (that began on February 1) by one week. Anyone who has left or transited mainland China within the previous 14 days (with some exceptions including Australians citizens) […] … learn more→
Australian unis may need to cut staff and research if government extends coronavirus travel ban
Why emojis and #hashtags should be part of language learning
Learning a language after one’s early childhood home language is often referred to as second language learning (despite the fact people may in fact be learning their third or fourth languages). In Canada, an officially bilingual country, both English and French are widely taught in superdiverse urban centres. Increasingly, a popular avenue for adult language learners is […] … learn more→
What connects Shaka Zulu, decolonisation and mathematical models
Is it possible to decolonise mathematical sciences? Some researchers argue that it’s not. They cite numerous reasons why. Two include the fact that decolonisation is extremely difficult for the “pure sciences” such as mathematics. And that the concept of decolonising is “poorly defined and contentious, in this domain”. But our research shows that it is possible to achieve […] … learn more→
Branch campuses are unlikely to blossom
Coventry University is making bold moves into international higher education, signing two agreements since Christmas to open new branch campuses. One, on a purpose-built campus in Casablanca, Morocco, will provide teacher training and courses in business and science and technology in partnership with Morocco’s Superior Institution of Science and Technology (SIST). The other, in Wrocław, Poland, will […] … learn more→
In defense of the master class
The debate on university education is more alive than ever, and it is insisted by active and passive an idea that, roughly , we can enunciate as follows: our students live in a reality that demands competencies, both transversal or generic as specific , depending on the scope of knowledge. Conclusion: university pedagogy must adapt to the current situation that arises . […] … learn more→
Debate: How to rethink research funding?
The future multi- annual research programming law ( LPPR ) is causing serious concern in the world of higher education. On the one hand, researchers , dissatisfied with the current situation, are asking for more resources, while rejecting the principle of a selective, therefore unequal, distribution of resources – selective distribution which, in fact, already exists. On the other, research administrators and policy makers […] … learn more→
Plan S does the wrong things to the wrong people
UK researchers may worry about the effects of leaving the European Union on their research, but a bigger peril may be the united front that the UK continues to present with other EU countries over open access. The aim of the dozen or so mostly European funding agencies that have signed up to Plan S […] … learn more→
What harm can it do? The emotional cost of asking for something in academia
In academia, people tell you all the time to just go ahead and ask for what you need. ‘What harm can it do?’, they ask. Or, being a woman, they say, “Think what a man would do and do that”, as though it’s literally that easy. Of course, it should be that easy, but we […] … learn more→
Dogs and cats and rabbits and..
This week I’m working on book proofs. And right at the start, in “prelims”, I noticed an acknowledgement I’d made. I’d written: Charlie, our surly and eccentric elderly poodle, needed to be put outside at regular intervals; she ensured that I did not end up with completely overwhelming back and neck troubles from too much […] … learn more→
Debate: Secularism at school, historical dead ends
In a letter addressed to the President of the Republic on February 4, 2020, the president of the Les Républicains party, Christian Jacob, renews his request , made in November 2019, for “an act II of secularism with reference to the initiative taken by Jacques Chirac in 2003 when he installed the commission chaired by Bernard Stasi ”. […] … learn more→