Beyond the social background alone, do the chances of entering a selective higher education course depend on the high school where you obtained your baccalaureate? Does coming from a private high school increase the chances of accessing selective establishments? While inequalities based on students’ social and academic characteristics are widely documented by research , those related to […] … learn more→

The times they are a-changin’ for higher education. Or so say a growing number of commentators. They see COVID-19 disruptions as a tipping point for universities, accelerating sweeping changes across institutions. These include not just a shift to online teaching and learning, but also a greater focus on industry links and employability skills, and accompanying campus design upgrades. Many of these […] … learn more→

Since my time as a graduate student to my present appointment as professor at Dalhousie University, I have been involved with championing and developing Black studies in universities and beyond. Previously, within Canadian universities, not many scholars who work in creating knowledge about Black people called it Black studies. For many, “Black studies” was something […] … learn more→

Last week it was an earthquake. The week before it was an elderly relative’s ill health. The week before that it was concerns about a child. Normal workplace topics of conversation – but with a difference. For almost a year now, I’ve spent a part of most weekdays hanging out with academic colleagues in our […] … learn more→

In 1753, when the educator William Smith conceived the modern world’s first liberal arts college, he envisioned a place where students would express themselves by “writing, speaking, acting, and living well”, and where knowledge itself fuelled “the business of life”. Smith’s ideal, which inspired the founding of Washington College in 1782, was not unlike that […] … learn more→

In January, Austrian minister Christine Aschbacher became the latest in a long line of politicians in central and eastern Europe to be accused of plagiarising their academic theses – but one of the few to resign over it. She gave up her cabinet post for labour, family and youth in the wake of allegations that […] … learn more→

When I started my PhD, I was the only Black student at my induction. Although I had hoped I wouldn’t be alone, I wasn’t surprised. What did surprise me was the rapid realisation that I was the only Black doctoral student in the entire building. But once I started connecting with other Black PhD students, […] … learn more→

A series of government policy reforms over recent decades aimed to increase the proportion of Australian workers with university degrees. They got that result, but what they did not expect to see was that almost one in four unemployed people would have a degree (although employees with a degree appear to have fared better during […] … learn more→

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation announced the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic of worldwide consequence. Globally, the economic, health and social disruption caused by the pandemic has been, and continues to be, devastating. Higher education and academia have not been spared from the impact of COVID-19. In Australia alone, it is anticipated that […] … learn more→

India’s education minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, told parliament in January how more than 6,000 faculty positions remain unfilled at the country’s 50 or so central universities. At one of the country’s largest institutions, Savitribai Phule Pune University, at least 200 faculty roles are vacant, while empty academic positions can be found everywhere from cash-strapped colleges […] … learn more→