Most PhD candidates imagine their thesis being read by expert examiners in their field. What they don’t realise is that sometimes their work ends up on the desk of a university committee made up of senior academics from completely different disciplines. As a member of one such higher degrees committee, I’ve reviewed dozens of examination […] … learn more→

One of the problems with literatures work is that you deal with what’s published. And once you’ve accumulated what’s out there, you use them. You might find a definition or categories drawn from these literatures. You design the research question from your analysis of literature. And quite often the published literatures inform your research methods […] … learn more→

More than 260,000 students across Australia are going to university for the first time. Some come to university to pursue a passion, others to discover one, and some aren’t quite sure why they’re here. Whatever their reason, it can take time to adjust and feel comfortable at uni, and some students decide studying is not for them. […] … learn more→

Once upon a time, university lectures were accompanied by the sound of pens scribbling on paper. But if you go into a lecture hall today, you will hear students tapping on laptops. Devices are now an accepted and important part of modern learning. But this does not necessarily mean students should forget the old-fashioned ways of […] … learn more→

While diversity, equity and inclusion may on the surface seem focused on certain groups, in fact DEI programs benefit people from all walks of life – including white people. President Donald Trump and other conservatives have increasingly attacked such initiatives as discriminatory based on the presumption that they benefit only students of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Most […] … learn more→

Title of course: “STEM & Social Impact: Climate Change” What prompted the idea for the course? Harvey Mudd College’s mission is to educate STEM students – short for science, technology, engineering and math – so they have a “clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.” But the “impact” part of our mission has […] … learn more→

Lately I’ve been hearing from pissed off PhD students – both people enrolled at my university and others. The cost of living is high, higher education in Australia is in crisis and people, understandably, want Out. Heaps of later stage students are landing nearly finished manuscripts on their supervisors’ desks. Sadly, their supervisors don’t seem […] … learn more→

Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots has become rampant among students in higher education. While some might be ambivalent about the impact of generative AI on higher education, many instructors in the humanities scramble to adapt their classes to the new reality and have declared a crisis of their teaching model. Professors and students alike […] … learn more→

The internationalisation of higher education has been, for decades, a key vehicle for fostering global understanding and cultural exchange. Student mobility programmes, international talent recruitment and cross-country research collaboration have contributed to an innovative and connected global educational ecosystem. However, in recent years, geopolitical tensions, coupled with economic and security challenges, are fragmenting this common […] … learn more→

At a time when so-called generative AIs amaze us with their prowess, how can we correctly assess the achievements of pupils and students? Is the emergence of the ChatGPT conversational robot likely to disrupt assessment practices? Are the issues being raised in a radically new way or is there ultimately nothing really new under the […] … learn more→