As a former vice-chancellor, I understand the need to balance a university’s books and to refocus provision from time to time. And I realise that those who lead institutions now do so amid a pandemic they could not have predicted, an associated loss of international student income that they can do little to stem and […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Universities’ humanities provision should never become history
Will education verification help me get a job?
Building a career you can rely on starts with the type of education you receive. Many people start off with one degree and eventually go all the way, finally earning their Ph.D. Others finish their initial degree and then pursue a variety of certifications in an attempt to broaden their horizons and give them a […] … learn more→
Why business school efforts to recruit more diverse faculties are failing
Despite the increasing diversity among America’s college students, business school professors remain overwhelmingly white. In U.S. business schools, Black and Hispanic individuals make up 23.2% of students, yet only 6.7% of the faculty. As a researcher with a long-standing interest in the reasons business schools lack diverse faculty, I – along with marketing professor Sonja Martin Poole – set out to examine how business schools select […] … learn more→
Revising – nine steps for making meaning
In 1973 the late Donald Murray published an essay in The Writer in which he argues that writing begins when the first draft is completed. From then on, he says, the writer revises, reads and changes their words, closing in on the meaning they are trying to make. Revision isnt a virtuous act, Murray states, it is simply an […] … learn more→
Opening China’s PhD trapdoor should remain a last resort
China’s policy of downgrading struggling PhD candidates to a master’s degree has recently been the subject of renewed public debate after the Ministry of Education called on universities to implement it. Back in 2013, the ministry vowed to tighten postgraduate evaluation and transfer students to a master’s programme (or simply hand them a master’s degree) […] … learn more→
The fascinating history of the University: this is how culture began to be transmitted
The relationship between a mentor and his student goes much further than the simple training period of a few years. It is an intellectual union that connects with a tradition that goes back, at least in the West, to the first universities. It is truly a torch that has been passed from person to person for […] … learn more→
Faith universities are an anachronism
It is a little noticed fact that 15 universities in the UK are managed and governed by churches. To all intents and purposes these are faith universities. They began in the 19th century as training colleges founded by the major churches to supply teachers for their schools. Over the subsequent decades, they developed other kinds […] … learn more→
Here’s why students don’t revise what they write – and why they should
When high school students get into the habit of revising their writing, it has a positive impact on the quality of their work. Despite the proven benefits of revision, students often resist making changes to the initial versions of what they wrote – because it requires additional effort. Or, if they do revise, they only do it in a mediocre way. Finding […] … learn more→
Internationalisation means more than just teaching in English
Many East Asian universities have been remarkably successful in their internationalisation efforts over the past decade. There are now 14 universities from the region included in the world’s top 100, according to the latest THE rankings. One significant factor has been the use of English in teaching, which has facilitated the recruitment of overseas students and staff, […] … learn more→
How to make your dissertation ‘speak’ to experts
Most people come into a PhD program with well developed writing skills but a dissertation – or as it is called in Australia, a Thesis, is a very particular kind of writing challenge. All thesis writers must bend their existing skills to the appropriate ‘thesis style’. Ironically, the people I have seen struggle the most […] … learn more→
