Technicians have long been a hidden workforce within universities. When people outside the academy have any idea what they do, their assumption is usually that they “just clean test tubes and put equipment away”. Yet throughout my technical career, I have never met anyone with such a limited job description. In fact, those working in […] … learn more→

Screen-based devices have increasingly become part of our human experience – even more so since the pandemic began. This trend includes watching more and more videos. For example, before COVID-19, the average American watched about six hours of videos a day on devices ranging from televisions to desktop computers and mobile phones. By one estimate, this figure has “surged” more than 40% […] … learn more→

Many academic writers are avid readers. That’s because there is a strong connection – not causal, but surely correlated, she says hastily – between reading and writing. Reading and writing are mutually beneficial, they feed each other. I was thinking about the read-write connection just this morning as I sat reading the books section of […] … learn more→

Bills in the federal and New South Wales parliaments have sought to stop teachers talking about gender and sexuality diversity in the name of either religious freedom or parents’ rights. If passed in its current form, the NSW Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020 would prohibit teachers from discussing gender and sexuality diversity. It would also make offering targeted, requested […] … learn more→

The Job-Ready Graduates Package is nearing the end of its first full semester of implementation. Its basic premise is that the main reason the modern Australian university exists is to train the next generation in areas of economic need. “Universities must teach Australians the skills needed to succeed in the jobs of the future,” said the then federal education […] … learn more→

Academic freedom is widely championed as the foundation of a good university. It is seen as vital in speaking “truth to power” – to borrow from influential political philosopher Hannah Arendt – and in ensuring universities are oriented towards the common good, not select elite interests. Academic freedom also ensures universities can lead research, education and public debates […] … learn more→

A Project Management certified professional may not seem essential to an organization’s core structure, but their involvement makes a significant difference many folds. In today’s world, technology and businesses have gone through an amalgamation that has led to many organizations in desperate need of certified project managers. These individuals are qualified to handle the requirements […] … learn more→

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has proposed that the federal government create a database that includes information on outcomes for individual college graduates, such as how much money they earn after they get a degree in a particular major. That’s according to a report that a commission sponsored by the foundation released in May 2021. I asked the […] … learn more→

To generalise ridiculously, there are three types of people: People who start a research project intending to finish it on time. People who start a project not really caring when they finish it. People who don’t care about finishing a project on time until they fly past the deadline. If you are doing a PhD […] … learn more→

Like many people of my generation, I was the first person in my family to earn a degree. The son of a pastry cook and a dressmaker from Cyprus, I was born in London but I couldn’t speak English when I began school in 1967. Still, by the time I took my A levels 14 […] … learn more→