In the era of today’s heated culture wars, the concepts of academic freedom and freedom of expression have become increasingly conflated. Divisive political debates around critical race theory, Québec’s Bill 32 and talk of establishing “free speech guardians” are just some recent examples. Academic freedom is being subsumed into the oftentimes polarizing rhetoric concerning what is commonly referred […] … learn more→

The A-level results received by students in 2022 should be celebrated as an example of resilience and hard work. The achievements of this cohort have been made despite a global pandemic which affected both their GCSEs and A-levels. They have faced government U-turns over assessment, and knowledge gaps in their learning. What’s more, a record number of applications to […] … learn more→

Staggered with uncertainties, isolation and teleworking, the Covid crisis has led a number of workers to question their life plans and increased a movement already well underway, that of professional retraining. The Unédic barometer of March 2022 mentions that 30% of working people are in the process of changing jobs or are planning to do so. For job seekers, […] … learn more→

The looming recession climate is causing concerns over skyrocketing student debt. On top of a deeply unaffordable housing market, these factors call for universities to be more relevant in terms of preparing students for employability. This is a break with the traditional mission of the universities. Economist George Fallis, professor emeritus at York University, notes that traditionally, […] … learn more→

There is a gender divide in the subjects teenagers choose to study. In 2022, 63% of UK GCSE candidates taking full-course Physical Education (PE) for GCSE were male. For Art and Design subjects, though, boys made up only 35% of the students taking the subject. The subjects students choose to study carry gender meanings. Research on boys […] … learn more→

Each year tens of thousands of higher education students complete the Student Experience Survey. It’s seen as a litmus test of student engagement, satisfaction and educational quality. But do the ways in which institutions and governments try to understand student experiences still add up? The pandemic has transformed enrolment patterns and the ways in which students […] … learn more→

Even though it’s unclear what exactly the metaverse is and whether it even exists, colleges and universities have jumped onto the metaverse bandwagon. They have augmented in-person and remote video learning with features such as gamified interactive virtual worlds, virtual reality and mixed reality. In one of the largest efforts thus far, 10 U.S. colleges and universities have teamed up with U.S. […] … learn more→

For yet another year, Jiao Tong University (in the Chinese city of Shanghai) has presented the results of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), more popularly known as the Shanghai ranking . And, as usually happens every year, its publication arouses interest in the media, although not so much within the academic community. Any […] … learn more→

Scientific theories to justify racism. Laws and Supreme Court decisions that denied Black people equal rights. The imperialist view that Anglo-Saxons were called upon by God to civilize the “savages” of the world. These topics might all sound like material from a course on systemic racism or critical race theory, which includes the idea that racism is embedded in America’s legal systems […] … learn more→

The COVID-19 closure of university and college campuses and move to online learning in March 2020 was a massive global educational experiment. Many students were severely disadvantaged and strained during the experiment, others coped and some thrived. Educators are divided on its impacts. With international colleagues who are geography experts, I studied lessons learned during the pandemic. Taken together, […] … learn more→