While universities and colleges have largely risen to the challenge of moving lectures and seminars online in the pandemic, all of them remain puzzled about how to maintain academic integrity effectively, efficiently and non-invasively when traditional assessment strategies are inaccessible. Locking an entire cohort in a lecture hall, taking their phones away and conducting perimeter […] … learn more→

The pandemic year has been odd for open-access (OA) policy. The shutdowns of libraries worldwide illustrated brutally the fragility of our access to research but also the power of open access, with many publishers scrambling to “unpaywall” the research they publish. Open access looked like the future. At the same time, however, the plague gutted […] … learn more→

This post is co-written and simultaneously published with Helen Kara to coincide with the launch of the Insider Guides to Success in Academia book series. Helen: It’s interesting to reflect on how we do this co-editing thing. We’ve been working together on this series since May 2017, so that’s three-and-a-half years. You and I hadn’t worked together before, though […] … learn more→

What do you do if you’re a government minister sitting on two major reviews that could have huge consequences for the UK higher education system? The answer, it appears, is: launch a couple of minor reviews that could also have quite significant consequences. If they are ever completed and implemented, that is. Remember the Augar […] … learn more→

The age of Covid has conjured up strange, uncanny new creatures. Think of the “anti-maskers” and assorted “Covidiots” seemingly lurking about every street corner and shopping centre queue. There are good reasons to be wary of venturing outdoors. Yet many traditional sanctuaries of learning (and social distancing) have been closed off for much of the […] … learn more→

It is an adorable story. A New York University psychology professor picks up his children from daycare and rushes home to teach his online class. But the elevator gets stuck. Despite a bad connection, he manages to dial into the Zoom meeting and improvise most of the lecture while he waits to be rescued. After […] … learn more→

Education helps us share knowledge, develop understanding, and supports our connection with each other. As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued, governments have been preoccupied with how to re-open schools. However, there has been more doubt about universities. Discussions about the rise in COVID-19 infections in student populations have often raised the question as to why […] … learn more→

We have all heard about social media’s creation of the frightening new phenomenon of “academic mobbing”. Yet it never dawned on me how serious this could get until I became a victim of it, obliging me to devote much of my professional time to monitoring my accounts for reputational damage and libel. After I was […] … learn more→

The COVID crisis has exposed the destructive consequences of an over-reliance on casual labour across the economy. Australian universities provide one of the clearest examples of this. For the past two decades, universities have leaned into international student fees on the revenue side and casual workers on the expense side. This approach effectively shifted the risks of the international […] … learn more→

(cough) I know you’re there. Turn on the microphone. And the camera. We’ve got time before the meeting starts to have a bit of a chat. I’ve got good news, he’s not coming. (pause) There we are. Can you hear me? Yes? OK. … So who’s not coming? Him. You know – he who sits on […] … learn more→