As the coronavirus pandemic continues, so does universities’ reliance on online teaching, prompting complaints from students that they are not getting full value from tuition fees. Students who have returned to campus fear that their university experience as a whole is being diminished. Manchester Metropolitan University has moved first-year teaching online as students self-isolate. The University and College Union has […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Universities have invested in online learning – and it can provide students with value for money
Asking staff to teach both online and face to face will tear them apart
On seeing two paths diverge in an autumn wood, Robert Frost was famously “sorry [he] could not travel both/And be one traveller.” The Road Not Taken reminds us that some choices shape our identity and shadow us with the imagined alternative. Not all choices are binary, but as the leaves turn and I prepare frantically […] … learn more→
How universities can ensure students still have a good experience, despite coronavirus
As UK university students begin an academic year, they are experiencing a totally different way of life. Some have already found themselves in lockdown in their residences and are afraid they will not be getting some of the usual benefits of university education. Universities have a duty of care for students’ health and well-being, and a responsibility […] … learn more→
Must every student really become an entrepreneur?
In the Flawn Academic Center of the University of Texas at Austin is a spacious room that is not devoted to academic activity. It houses Blackstone Launchpad, which promotes itself as “a program that helps students of all backgrounds navigate the UT entrepreneurship ecosystem”, a pretentious way of saying “create a business”. “Why do we […] … learn more→
Higher education should harness the senses of togetherness and urgency
Until quite recently, UK students were largely uninvolved in the creation of their education. Even in the halcyon days of good funding in the 1960s, students were expected to be grateful for whatever their lecturers decided to deliver. I remember, as a student rep in the early 1990s, how my attempt to protest about insufficient […] … learn more→
Not letting students choose their roommates can make college a drag
When colleges and universities assign roommates instead of letting students pick and choose their own, the idea is often to increase the chance that students will live with someone from a different racial or ethnic background. It’s also to help them create a more diverse network of friends. A growing number of colleges and universities – from Duke University to Colgate […] … learn more→
Supporting university staff through the pandemic should be data-driven
As the new academic year begins in the northern hemisphere, universities are scratching their heads over exactly how to conduct this nerve-racking experiment in campus reopening. How many staff might already have been infected by SARS-CoV-2? What safety measures should be introduced? And, crucially, what support mechanisms will they most benefit from? At King’s College […] … learn more→
How to rethink assessment in higher education
The international rankings of universities are today a reality of globalization which sheds a different light than the historical reputation of institutions or the evaluation reports produced on them. They are based on purely quantitative comparative performance elements that must be interpreted within their scope: what data are used? What are the indicators? What are the calculation algorithms? […] … learn more→
New legislation will not eliminate student no-platforming
Last week Times Higher Education reported that the UK’s education secretary, Gavin Williamson, is preparing possible legislation that would require students’ unions to guarantee free speech. One measure apparently under consideration is the extension of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 to specifically oblige students’ unions – in addition to universities themselves – to […] … learn more→
Cutting corners on cybersecurity can leave costly holes
It would appear that Covid-19 isn’t the only type of virus that universities should be concerned about. Last week, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued an alert to the sector regarding a spate of recent ransomware attacks on academic institutions. A recent freedom of information request suggests that at least a third of […] … learn more→
