Subscription publishers’ responses to last week’s landmark announcement on open access by a dozen major European research funders was nothing if not predictable. Doom and gloom forecasts abounded about the end of quality science publishing, coupled with protestations that funders have no right to mandate author choices. All this is recycled nonsense. The funders – […] … learn more→

“When will I ever use this?” It’s a question math and science teachers hear all the time from their high school students. Teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills is more important than ever, but it’s often difficult for students to understand the practical applications of such fundamental learning and how it will help […] … learn more→

What’s the purpose of Religious Education (RE) in a country where a majority of people have “no religion”? The new report of the independent Commission on Religious Education in England and Wales provides a clear answer: the rise of “no religion” doesn’t mean that religion isn’t important. Rather, the report makes a strong case that it is more important […] … learn more→

The student loan scam has destroyed many lives in this country, and people are finally starting to balk at letting their kids take out ridiculously huge loans, particularly for degrees which offer little hope of paying back the loan…these days, that’s most degrees. Eager to snatch up more students, and knowing that loans just aren’t […] … learn more→

As you begin reading this article, you may be wondering how a mere mortal dares to ask a question like the title. Because you think that the evolution of the rules governing the use of French is the sole responsibility of immortals sheltered under the dome of the French Academy. But, as the Academy rightly […] … learn more→

Gender equality – and the unconscious biases that challenge it – is now a mainstream concern in academic life. Codes of conduct are drawn up in efforts to support dignity at work and at study. Efforts are made to free senior academic appointments from gender bias. Many believe there is a long way yet to […] … learn more→

After the recent report by The Children’s Society that a quarter of 14-year-old girls have self-harmed, many campaigners have called for the root causes of the adolescent mental health crisis to be tackled – rather than just firefighting the symptoms. Resilience lessons, peer mentoring, awareness campaigns and provision of early intervention may be valuable initiatives. But they do […] … learn more→

If academia was a Disney film and I was a street rat (early career researcher) living on the sandy backstreets of Agrabah, who happened to summon a genie, my three top-of-my-head wishes would be: publications, grant money, and a pipeline of non-traditional research outputs. But after the wishes were granted and I was flying away on […] … learn more→

Self-help books are my secret shame. I can’t resist them, especially if I find myself in an airport bookstore. The siren call of the self-help section means I inevitably board the plane clutching two more paperbacks (which I have no room for at home). My latest secret shame is Gretchen Rubin’s ‘The four tendencies: the indispensable […] … learn more→

I’ve been slow to accept that our higher education system is turning into, or already is, a mass indoctrination system. Focusing more on the falling standards and mass academic fraud, I’ve perhaps missed that these were simply side effects of the political goal of indoctrination (and thus education is of no importance) rather than the […] … learn more→