You’ve all heard that the doctorate is about making an original contribution To the literature. Well, that’s right, although what that means is not nearly as scary as it sounds. What you may not be told is that doing a PhD is a lot about information management – finding information, cataloguing it, saving it and […] … learn more→

I’ve written of the Ph.D. glut a few times, and things really were different when I applied to grad school: I was rejected from the majority of graduate schools I applied to. It wasn’t that I was all that weak an applicant, but the recent collapse of the USSR (at the risk of giving things […] … learn more→

In the campaign leading up to the Brexit referendum, most parties involved in higher education , including 103 university presidents, 56% of university students and even Jo Johnson, former UK Secretary of State for Education – and Boris Johnson’s brother, Conservative critic for Premier May -, have expressed their wish to remain in the European Union (EU). […] … learn more→

Universities were created to be places where people learn and educate together. But a UK survey has found 46% of researchers feel lonely at work. Social isolation is particularly common among early career academics – 64% of PhD candidates report such feelings. Spending time alone, can be more difficult for some people than others – but isolation should not […] … learn more→

The people running our institutions of higher education are fascinating. They’ve now gone so long without any checks on their power, without anyone to tell them “you have no clothes,” that they generally make fools of themselves when they speak…generally to a media lacking the guile of a child, or at least the guts to […] … learn more→

Welcome to 2019! How did your 2018 resolutions go? I find a theme is easier than a resolution, which tends to become a promise to myself that I don’t keep. A theme, summoned up in a keyword, makes decisions easier. One year I had ‘brave’ as my keyword, which worked really well. Every time I […] … learn more→

Scholarly work often involves learning new words. You know this right? Sometimes it even seems that in order to be considered a scholar you have to speak in words no one else can understand. Well that’s the stereotype. But let’s try to unpack this a bit. What words do you need to learn, why and […] … learn more→

  It’s the time of the year when writing the thesis gets pretty serious for a lot of PhDers. The endpoint is there in the distance, but there is still so much to do. So many words. So many pages. So much more to sort out. Is this you? The timetable to completion is tacked […] … learn more→

Admin: “The Landry school is sending many of its students to Harvard this year. Why can’t you?” –I’ve a friend who teaches in Louisiana, where the Landry school is located. He would get constantly told of how great this school is. A quick intro to the school in question: T. M. Landry is in Breaux […] … learn more→

Every year about 190 000 South African students make the leap from high school to university. They land in the deep end of a learning and teaching environment that’s markedly different from school. And they’re expected to swim. Fortunately, around 15% of these first-year students land in the safety net of extended courses offered by universities and other tertiary […] … learn more→