In March 2018 Stanford University in California held a two-day conference in applied history. There were 30 speakers. Every single one was male and white. Like most academic fields, applied history is dominated by white men. However, there are also many women and people of colour who work and study within the discipline. No doubt there […] … learn more→

Without being too dramatic or self-pitying, it would be fair to say that I have endured more than my fair share of challenges during my PhD candidature. Along the way, I lost two supervisors, was hospitalised three times, and was made redundant from my work role just prior to finalising a full draft of the […] … learn more→

There is a huge problem brewing in this country: student loan debt. Some 44,000,000 people have this kind of debt (minimum, there are many accounting tricks to make this number appear lower than it is), and for many it’s so large that they’ll never be able to pay it back. They can’t get rid of […] … learn more→

When it comes to the ongoing debate over affirmative action in U.S. college admissions, both opponents and supporters among Asian-Americans have plenty to say. The problem is what people say about race-conscious affirmative action in higher education in the U.S. often doesn’t match how it is actually practiced. I’m a scholar who specializes in Asian-Americans and […] … learn more→

There are plenty of reasons why you would want to avoid taking out Federal student loans. Here are 7 alternative ways to pay for college. The idea that will have to spend decades paying for their college education is a concept many students can’t wrap their mind around. More and more students are refusing to […] … learn more→

When discussions take place about first-generation college students, often the focus is on how disadvantaged they are in comparison to their peers whose parents went to college. Research we recently conducted shows that first-generation college students experience another form of disadvantage that lasts long after they graduate – and that is: how much they earn. We are sociologists who […] … learn more→

Professional graduate degrees in the US have long been seen as the poor cousins of their academic counterparts. There is a persistent perception that degrees focusing on specific careers are formulaic, their content dictated by accrediting bodies and lacking in innovative thought or pedagogy. Higher education literature suggests that they do not contribute to intellectual […] … learn more→

I’ve mentioned before that political leanings are now part of the hiring process on some of our campuses: if you don’t follow the Social Justice ideology and all, everything, it entails, you can’t be hired. Yes, even in mathematics, you must be a social justice warrior to teach math, on some campuses. Now, not…everything…is wrong […] … learn more→

Since its inception in 2014, the research excellence framework has been fraught with controversy amid claims ranging from academic bullying to discouraging academic innovation. One thing that critics have failed to note, however, is how much of an obstacle REF represents for early career working-class researchers who are trying to break into their first long-term […] … learn more→

The case of the Durham PhD student, Matthew Hedges – who has been arrested and placed in solitary confinement on the charge of spying – exposes the extreme limits on academic freedom in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). But Hedges’s plight, while outrageous, is not altogether shocking for seasoned observers of the oil-rich Gulf monarchy. This year […] … learn more→