The best blog post topics come from emails like the one I got a couple of weeks ago, from an international student studying at an Australian university. Here is the student’s dilemma: The questions might be naive, but I do want to learn more about the “Australian” way of sending regards to supervisors. My supervisor invited […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
How do I email my supervisor? Part two – the thank you note.
Another Professor fired for having standards
A few years ago, a book named Academically Adrift pointed out the results everyone working in higher ed already knew: many college courses have no content. The book showed nearly half of students gain no measurable skill after years of college. How could this be? I mean, our colleges charge plenty, and any look at […] … learn more→
Boost your MBA ROI with an international program
As companies look to expand in geography and diversity to keep pace with an increasingly global economy, international experience—sometimes referred to as a global mindset—is a qualification that seems to be popping up more and more on job postings across a variety of industries and sectors. And while you can probably infer from the self-descriptive […] … learn more→
PhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities
Many students enrol in a Master or PhD postgraduate research degree, but few complete them. From 2010-2016, 437,030 domestic and international students enrolled in postgraduate research programs in Australian public universities. Only 65,101 completed within the same six year period. This discrepancy does not necessarily mean postgraduate research students “failed” their degree. Common reasons not completing a degree […] … learn more→
Another State University system documents itself as fraud
Years ago, in my book, I wrote how a state university had an unwritten policy for faculty to pass 85% of their students. To clarify, any faculty who did not meet this “standard” would find his career cut short. I’ll double down on this by noting the university also allowed students to register for the […] … learn more→
Online support networks are vital for parents who study
I set set up the Facebook group Parents Who Study with Rebekah Farrell at the beginning of this year after we “met” on Instagram and discovered that we were both parents who were completing PhDs. Even though we were on opposite ends of the world, we found that we were experiencing the same isolation and […] … learn more→
Using oral feedback to compliment written feedback
Anyone who teaches or advises writers has experienced the infuriating déjà vu of reading a student’s paper or dissertation chapter and thinking, “I know I responded to this in the last draft, but here it is again…unchanged.” In my teaching capacity, this moment has traditionally generated something I call ‘reader rage’ (basically road rage on […] … learn more→
Not letting go of the text
A couple of weeks ago I was asked if I had any advice for someone who struggled to let go of their writing – they wrote but then it was really difficult to send the writing off to their supervisor. And clearly, this was an issue. Sending the stuff off is part and parcel of […] … learn more→
Are academics to blame for the rise of populism?
One of the great things about being on sabbatical is that you actually get a little time to hide away and do something that professors generally have very little opportunity to do – read books. As a result, I have spent the last couple of months gorging myself on the scholarly fruits that have been […] … learn more→
How to be the ‘star PhD student’ – when you are an introvert
I wrote this post in response to a comment on a previous post called Why you are not the star student (and how to become one). The gist of the article was that to be a ‘star’, you needed to extend yourself beyond your research and make connections. A comment was made that ‘academia: just another […] … learn more→
