Blog Archives

Foreign campuses penetrate Indonesia: the importance of strengthening local perspectives

Foreign campuses penetrate Indonesia: the importance of strengthening local perspectives

Last July 3-5 2023, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, made an annual visit of Indonesian-Australian leaders with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The two country leaders agreed on several matters formulated in the Joint Communique: Indonesia-Australia Annual Leaders’ Meeting , one of which was a commitment to strengthen relations between the people of the […] … learn more→

Studying online: a long-distance race

Studying online: a long-distance race

Online education from home sounds great: in our pajamas, no traffic jams, no queues, no wasting time running from one place to another, just sitting at our desk, even on the sofa or in bed, and voila! With much more free time for other tasks, and in less time than in a face-to-face course, we will […] … learn more→

How many words in a chapter – convention and purpose

How many words in a chapter – convention and purpose

The how-many-words-in-a-chapter question plagues book and thesis writers alike. When supervisors are asked about chapter word length, many of us hedge. It depends, we unhelpfully say, on how you have organised your results. The number of chapters and therefore words follow the way you construct your argument. You might have three cases and a cross […] … learn more→

How 25 years of education policy led us to believe we can only succeed in life with a degree

How 25 years of education policy led us to believe we can only succeed in life with a degree

The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is putting measures in place to restrict student numbers on what he has termed “rip-off degrees”: university courses that have high drop-out rates and are unlikely to lead to highly skilled jobs. Instead, the government is promoting apprenticeships, through which young people train for a specific career while in employment. Ucas, […] … learn more→

Despite giving students chances to cheat, unsupervised online exams gauge student learning comparably to in-person exams

Despite giving students chances to cheat, unsupervised online exams gauge student learning comparably to in-person exams

Students don’t have to be supervised during online exams. That’s because unsupervised online exams can accurately assess student learning, according to our study published in July 2023 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Our data set comprised nearly 2,000 students from a public university in the Midwest. We analyzed exam scores from the first […] … learn more→

I have too many words – why is this a problem?

I have too many words – why is this a problem?

It’s time for a look at the problem of too many words.  Is this really a widespread problem I hear you ask? In a word, yes. You see, despite the worries about whether we will write enough, the reality is that a lot of us write too much, rather than write too little. Often far too […] … learn more→

Help to settle in and friendships beyond class: what makes students feel like they belong at uni

Help to settle in and friendships beyond class: what makes students feel like they belong at uni

Belonging is about feeling accepted, included and valued. If students feel like they belong at their university, research shows it plays a crucial role in their overall wellbeing, self-esteem, and motivation to study. As the Universities Accord interim report says, universities have an “obligation to students to foster belonging”. The draft report also notes “too few” Australians are completing […] … learn more→

3 ways higher education can become more hopeful in the post-pandemic, post-AI era

3 ways higher education can become more hopeful in the post-pandemic, post-AI era

We live at a time when universities and colleges are facing multiplying crises, pressures and changes. From the COVID-19 pandemic and budgetary pressures to generative artificial intelligence (AI) and climate catastrophe, the future of higher education seems murky and fragmented — even gloomy. Student mental health is in crisis. University faculty in our own research from […] … learn more→