A common critique of Australian universities today is that they operate as if they are corporations. The pursuit of endless sales in the form of international student enrolments appears to be their principal purpose, rather than the pursuit of learning and knowledge. The government seems to view universities the same way it views big business. […] … learn more→

If you are starting out on a PhD you are probably expecting it to be hard work. That’s not wrong. A doctorate isn’t easy – it’s an extended piece of work over a long period of time. It takes energy and effort to stay focused and working on working on.  Stamina. But you can’t expect to […] … learn more→

When Donald Trump won the US presidency in 2016 despite the myriad doubts about his character and personal affairs, his victory was attributed at least in part to his opponent’s unpopularity. Surely, many voters lamented, a country of 320 million people ought to be able to produce two better candidates than Trump and Hillary Clinton. […] … learn more→

There have been many seminal periods in the long and continual struggle for racial equality. Perhaps this will be one of them. The killing of George Floyd has illuminated the inequality that continues to pervade many societies and has prompted a global discourse around the power and privilege that accompanies whiteness. Higher education institutions may […] … learn more→

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, so does universities’ reliance on online teaching, prompting complaints from students that they are not getting full value from tuition fees. Students who have returned to campus fear that their university experience as a whole is being diminished. Manchester Metropolitan University has moved first-year teaching online as students self-isolate. The University and College Union has […] … learn more→

On seeing two paths diverge in an autumn wood, Robert Frost was famously “sorry [he] could not travel both/And be one traveller.” The Road Not Taken reminds us that some choices shape our identity and shadow us with the imagined alternative. Not all choices are binary, but as the leaves turn and I prepare frantically […] … learn more→

As UK university students begin an academic year, they are experiencing a totally different way of life. Some have already found themselves in lockdown in their residences and are afraid they will not be getting some of the usual benefits of university education. Universities have a duty of care for students’ health and well-being, and a responsibility […] … learn more→

In the Flawn Academic Center of the University of Texas at Austin is a spacious room that is not devoted to academic activity. It houses Blackstone Launchpad, which promotes itself as “a program that helps students of all backgrounds navigate the UT entrepreneurship ecosystem”, a pretentious way of saying “create a business”. “Why do we […] … learn more→

Until quite recently, UK students were largely uninvolved in the creation of their education. Even in the halcyon days of good funding in the 1960s, students were expected to be grateful for whatever their lecturers decided to deliver. I remember, as a student rep in the early 1990s, how my attempt to protest about insufficient […] … learn more→

When colleges and universities assign roommates instead of letting students pick and choose their own, the idea is often to increase the chance that students will live with someone from a different racial or ethnic background. It’s also to help them create a more diverse network of friends. A growing number of colleges and universities  – from Duke University to Colgate […] … learn more→