Engineering courses are a popular choice among South African university students. But these courses are also gruelling and the attrition rates are high. The Council on Higher Education reports that half of the engineering students enrolled at South African universities do not complete their studies. That figure is similar in other parts of the world. Yet, some students weather the storms of […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Studying engineering is tough: 6 insights to help university students succeed
Plagiarism is not always easy to define or detect
Quite a few high-profile careers in higher education have been upended as of late amid questions of academic integrity. Marc Tessier-Lavigne, who had served as president of Stanford University for seven years, stepped down in 2023 after it was determined that he had falsified information for a dozen academic papers. The latest casualty is Claudine Gay, […] … learn more→
How to detect ‘imposter’ students and ‘invulnerable’ students
Do men and women learn differently? Beyond possible sociological or physiological differences, what our research among university students of Political Science is demonstrating is that gender has an impact on the learning process . Socialization involves the assumption of norms during childhood and adolescence that are internalized unconsciously. In a patriarchal system, socialization is carried out through gender norms that […] … learn more→
Why does Claudine Gay still work at Harvard after being forced to resign as its president? She’s got tenure
Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned on Jan. 2, 2024, less than one month after University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill stepped down. They called it quits amid uproar among conservative lawmakers and several major donors regarding what they saw as Gay’s and Magill’s underwhelming responses to antisemitism on their campuses. In Gay’s case, there were also accusation of plagiarism. […] … learn more→
‘Indigenizing’ universities means building relationships with nations and lands
The move in Canadian academia to “decolonize” or “Indigenize,” and commit to broader frameworks of reconciliation, pertains to how work is done within universities, as well as how universities engage with broader communities. Commitments aim to increase the visibility of Indigenous academics, including hiring of Indigenous faculty members and staff, but they are also about the […] … learn more→
Why Taylor Swift belongs on English literature degree courses
When I started my podcast, Studies in Taylor Swift, in the spring of 2021, I felt that I was simultaneously helping to invent, and trying to catch up to, the academic discipline of Taylor Swift studies. Though there wasn’t much published on reading Swift as literature, I had no trouble finding guests who had some kind […] … learn more→
University isn’t right for everyone. Pushing young people to go can have devastating effects
Australian school students feel immense pressure to go to university, often at the exclusion of all other pathways, which can lead to devastating mental health effects. That’s among the headline findings of our decade-long program of research on the aspirations and post-school trajectories of young Australians. Our research, published today in the journal Educational Review, reveals the […] … learn more→
Why universities warrant public investment: Preparing students for living together well
A recent report noting that funding for Ontario’s universities is “low when compared with support in other provinces” points to underfunding as a serious problem in the province’s post-secondary sector. Funding quickly raises the question of value: what is it that universities offer that warrants public investment? UWindsor sincerely appreciates the insight and dedicated leadership of the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Postsecondary […] … learn more→
Teens don’t know everything − and those who acknowledge that fact are more eager to learn
If you, like me, grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, you may have come across the classic refrigerator magnet, “Teenagers, leave home now while you still know everything.” Perhaps you know a teen, or maybe you were a teen, like this: pop-star energy, a little too confident in your opinions, a little too certain […] … learn more→
Why university presidents find it hard to punish advocating genocide − college free speech codes are both more and less protective than the First Amendment
If a student were to walk off the Harvard campus and onto a street in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and argue for the genocide of Jews, the U.S. Constitution would bar prosecuting her for hate speech. If the same student left her perch on the sidewalk and returned to the Harvard campus to continue […] … learn more→
