The future for young academics looks bleak. A long-term trend – once linear, now exponential – shows that the percentage of PhD holders attaining a permanent faculty position is catastrophically low. While it is common knowledge that the academic market is turbulent, the pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to a whole generation of students. I […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Beyond the academy: what all PhD students should know
How to teach college students to write well
“Spanish university students do not know how to write.” This is a mantra that all teachers have heard at some time. This problem, far from being trivial, can have important personal and social repercussions. Not knowing how to write can limit the labor insertion of students and the international projection of Spain in spaces in which academic and […] … learn more→
6 ways recent college graduates can enhance their online job search
When recent or soon-to-be college graduates begin to seek employment, many inevitably turn to job-search and networking platforms on the internet. The platforms include some that are college-based – such as Handshake, Symplicity GradLeaders and 12twenty – as well as networking platforms like LinkedIn and PeopleGrove. With COVID-19 having moved job searches more and more into the virtual realm, these platforms are playing an increasingly […] … learn more→
The government keeps shelving plans to bring international students back to Australia. It owes them an explanation
Victorian universities recently re-proposed a previously conceived plan to get international students back under a similar model used to fly in tennis players for the Australian Open. Under the proposal, universities would help pay for around 1,000 foreign students to be flown into Melbourne every two to three weeks and placed into special lockdown arrangements. Similar plans […] … learn more→
Returning campus castaways: please wear your masks!
The most excitement we campus security guards have had since the UK’s third national lockdown was announced on 4 January was watching an opportunist thief at work on CCTV. The thief – who was savvy enough to wear a backpack and could have easily passed for one of our students – noticed a computer technician […] … learn more→
Rethinking institutional processes is boring – but the results are liberating
The venue for my first vaccination was Nottingham’s old Central TV studios. Waiting in the queue, two metres from the person in front and two from the person behind, I had a few moments to survey the scene. Dotted around this vast hall were dozens and dozens of desks and a team of countless volunteers […] … learn more→
UK universities are not obstacles the government needs to overcome
It is often said that the diversity of the UK higher education sector is its strength. However clichéd the phrase may have become, the past 12 months has surely revealed it to be true. From developing a vaccine to deploying staff and students to the front lines of the national response, every institution has truly […] … learn more→
Writing a journal article – identifying “the two paper problem”
If you’re writing a journal article, you need write it so that you make one big point. Right? One unavoidable, spelled out, take home message. There may be nuancing of the point, of course. But there’s basically just the one. Any more than one big point and your article is not only difficult to write, […] … learn more→
Indigenous scholars struggle to be heard in the mainstream. Here’s how journal editors and reviewers can help
In the world of research and scholarship, being published in academic journals is crucial to both the advancement of knowledge and the careers of those involved. In particular, the peer review process that determines who and what is published is integral to ensuring reliability and quality in academic research. As the University of British Columbia’s Professor Sarah […] … learn more→
Covid demands a radical refocus on authentic local partnerships
Governments around the world are currently rolling out their largest vaccination programmes in a century. They are doing this at the same time as they roll out huge stimulus packages and continue to subsidise wages on a mass scale to keep industry and people afloat. It is a remarkable point in history. All this is […] … learn more→
