Blog Archives

Higher education: from students' freedom to demonstrate to the neutrality of public service

Higher education: from students’ freedom to demonstrate to the neutrality of public service

Who is responsible for order on campus? Who should a demonstration be reported to? What are students’ rights in this area? How do universities ensure freedom of expression? Some legal insights. While various student gatherings “in support of the Palestinian people” were organized at the beginning of October, the new Minister of Higher Education Patrick Hetzel addressed the […] … learn more→

Happiness class is helping clinically depressed school teachers become emotionally healthy − with a cheery assist from Aristotle

Happiness class is helping clinically depressed school teachers become emotionally healthy − with a cheery assist from Aristotle

Title of Course Evidence-Based Happiness for Teachers What prompted the idea for the course? I was discouraged. For nearly three decades, as a clinical psychologist, I trained mental health professionals on suicide assessment. The work was good but difficult. All the while, I watched in dismay as U.S. suicide rates relentlessly increased for 20 consecutive years, from […] … learn more→

United States : Student debt, a threat to universities and a major political issue

United States : Student debt, a threat to universities and a major political issue

Is a college education still a worthwhile investment when it means taking on decades of debt? A growing portion of young Americans believe the benefits of their degrees don’t justify the price. With the Supreme Court blocking the Biden administration’s attempt to ease the burden of that debt, the situation is putting pressure on universities […] … learn more→

Indigenous students and faculty are on the rise — and universities have a moral obligation to support them

Indigenous students and faculty are on the rise — and universities have a moral obligation to support them

As we close out September, universities across Canada are well into their new year of learning. An exciting change is underway. An increasing number of First Nations, Inuit and Métis students have enrolled in post-secondary studies. Many universities are aware of this growing interest in post-secondary studies among Indigenous Peoples and have actively recruited from this […] … learn more→

College can be confusing for first-generation students – but it doesn’t have to be

College can be confusing for first-generation students – but it doesn’t have to be

In his new book, “Degrees of Risk: Navigating Insecurity and Inequality in Public Higher Education,” sociology professor Blake R. Silver examines some of many ways that college students can slip through the cracks at public colleges and universities. In the following Q&A with The Conversation U.S., Silver expounds on what he discovered while doing research […] … learn more→

‘I don’t believe I would have gotten into university’: how early entry schemes help Year 12 students experiencing disadvantage

‘I don’t believe I would have gotten into university’: how early entry schemes help Year 12 students experiencing disadvantage

During September, many Australian universities start making early offers to Year 12 students for a place next year. This is ahead of the main rounds of offers, due in January. These early entry schemes have been around for many years. But offers soared during COVID, with more than 40,000 school-leavers estimated to have received an early offer […] … learn more→

This is how we instill a 'scientific' mentality in teenagers to protect them from pseudoscience

This is how we instill a ‘scientific’ mentality in teenagers to protect them from pseudoscience

Does this headache medicine work? Can I lose weight by dieting? Are the government’s measures to combat inflation effective? To answer any of these questions, humans use our ability to reason about causes and effects. However, psychological research shows that we often make mistakes such as perceiving non-existent causal relationships. This is a phenomenon known […] … learn more→

Empowering engineering students through storytelling

Empowering engineering students through storytelling

Stories of self-doubt are common among engineering students. That was a key finding of a study conducted recently at Boise State University by a team of researchers. Students surveyed questioned their abilities. They were sure everyone else understood the material. They said they didn’t fit in. They wondered whether they should quit engineering and find […] … learn more→

Fewer college students indicate they are nonbinary amid backlash

Fewer college students indicate they are nonbinary amid backlash

The national backlash against trans and nonbinary young people may have led fewer nonbinary students to disclose their gender identity in their applications to college for this fall. That is according to my analysis of how students who applied to college through the Common App identified their gender. The Common App is a good barometer because more than 1 million students […] … learn more→