I have just torn up a cheque for £250,000, payable to a university I attended some years ago. Well, metaphorically at any rate. I have decided not to donate, despite constant, annoying injunctions to do so. I am the graduate of four universities, two in the top five in this country. Overall, I enjoyed them all […] … learn more→

It’s weird how much my opinions have changed these last few years, regarding higher education. My own personal experiences caused me to focus on the corruption and incompetence but I must admit, when looking at the big picture, that likely there’s more to the unending debasement of higher education than “merely” great quantities of corruption […] … learn more→

As children we are encouraged to dream big, and many young people – including young women and girls – aspire to a career in science. While there are role models at the top tiers of science combating gender bias, the jump from PhD student to lead researcher may at first seem insurmountable for many women. […] … learn more→

In the week after President Trump’s executive order banning arrivals from the seven Muslim-majority countries, global audiences have watched heart-breaking scenes at US airports where thousands of people have been denied entry and turned back. Meanwhile, huge crowds across the world have demonstrated their support for Muslims, and public figures and institutions have condemned the […] … learn more→

I’ve been dipping in and out of a rather pleasurable book about writing. Most people read books about writing for utilitarian reasons – to find a new technique, to see something that might inform their own work, to seek explanations for particular conventions. And so on. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with these kinds of informative writing […] … learn more→

The recent events surrounding Donald Trump’s first few weeks in the White House have left many wondering how a political outsider can become president of the United States. Does Trump’s rapid rise to the presidency mark a change in how election campaigns will be conducted? Is it possible to have a president who does not […] … learn more→

If the academy is still “all talk and too many trousers”, are targets or even quotas the answer, asked Laurie Cohen and Jo Duberley in a recent Times Higher Education article. Increasingly, the conclusion being reached by large organisations across industries and other sectors is “yes” – if we actually want to make meaningful changes […] … learn more→

College employees are particularly vulnerable to e-mail scams. Our e-mail addresses are readily available, and regular hacks of the system mean the entire mailing list is at the disposal of your typical e-scammer. Our particular weakness (at the risk of exposing it) are phishing scams sent, falsely, from the Poo Bah. We know better than […] … learn more→

Have you heard that scientists are planning a march on Washington? The move is not being billed as a protest, but rather as a “celebration of our passion for science and a call to support and safeguard the scientific community,” although it comes as a direct response to recent policy changes and statements by the […] … learn more→

Two great failings of the American professoriate are timidity and self-righteousness. Casting about to orient myself in my new calling a decade or so ago, I found David Horowitz defining one extreme view of it and Michael Bérubé standing out on the other. Horowitz was pushing professors further into timidity and inaction (something that also […] … learn more→