At first glance, it looks as though the group of young adults is building Lego. But these are actually students at the University of Cape Town’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking, and they’re using the colourful blocks to design a prototype. It represents policy reform ideas around transitioning from informal to formal economies. It’s […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
“Design thinking” can prepare graduates for the real working world
Education behind bars: why university students are learning alongside prisoners
With reports of increasing violence and drug use, along with high levels of suicide and a lack of staff, prisons in the UK are currently seen to be in a state of crisis. In recent years, the condition of British prisons has come under political, academic and public scrutiny. But what a lot of people […] … learn more→
Will higher education in the 21st century belong to China?
Times Higher Education recently announced in its BRICS and Emerging Economics University Rankings 2017 that India has increased its share of top universities, but China still has the highest density of leading universities in the developing world. In the BRICS rankings, Chinese universities occupy six of the top 10 positions. There is a growing trend for […] … learn more→
Is the advice you get about your PhD wrong?
There is no shortage of voices telling PhD students what they absolutely must do (or not do) to complete their theses and secure jobs afterwards. My experience is that some of the advice thrown at PhD students is inaccurate at best and actively harmful at worst. I ignored a lot of it. Nevertheless, I submitted […] … learn more→
Universities around the world should share notes as they face the same challenges
In 2016 I had the privilege of visiting four leading universities abroad. At KU Leuven in Belgium, Oxford in the UK and two US institutions – Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley – I was exposed to new ideas and learned about novel approaches to higher education. It was both interesting and reassuring to […] … learn more→
I’m writing – but how much detail is enough?
Details, details. More, or less? Doctoral researchers may get feedback from supervisors or reviewers about writing less detail – too much here, be more concise – or conversely more, unpack this or more information needed here. Both types of comment mean you haven’t got the detail and length right. So how do you know when enough detail is […] … learn more→
New York to offer free College…Sort of.
College tuition has been soaring for years but the expense of college is far worse than what we’ve been told. See, admin knows that tuition is tracked, and tracked carefully, and so has long since made a shell game out of college expenses. While college tuition goes up a few percent every year, book prices […] … learn more→
An algorithm for donating to universities
I have just torn up a cheque for £250,000, payable to a university I attended some years ago. Well, metaphorically at any rate. I have decided not to donate, despite constant, annoying injunctions to do so. I am the graduate of four universities, two in the top five in this country. Overall, I enjoyed them all […] … learn more→
Anti-communists not allowed on campus
It’s weird how much my opinions have changed these last few years, regarding higher education. My own personal experiences caused me to focus on the corruption and incompetence but I must admit, when looking at the big picture, that likely there’s more to the unending debasement of higher education than “merely” great quantities of corruption […] … learn more→
How to find success as a woman in science
As children we are encouraged to dream big, and many young people – including young women and girls – aspire to a career in science. While there are role models at the top tiers of science combating gender bias, the jump from PhD student to lead researcher may at first seem insurmountable for many women. […] … learn more→
