Will the Teaching Excellence Framework be sexist?
The Tef plans to use student evaluation as a key metric in measuring teaching quality. But studies show students are biased towards male lecturersOne thing that is clear about the impending Teaching...
View ArticleA league of their own: India ranks its universities for the first time
The government hopes new league tables will boost the prestige of higher education in the country, but students and academics are not convincedWhen the director of the Indian Institute of Technology...
View ArticleIt's time to stand up to greedy academic publishers
The UK’s higher education institutions spend more than £180m on journal subscriptions every year. We need to come together and create a better systemHow should research travel from the notebooks, hard...
View ArticleEmployers and universities already work together - we shouldn't put that at risk
I welcome the government’s focus on apprenticeships, but we should not overlook the already effective model of employer-sponsored degreesTo succeed as a knowledge economy, we need people to engage in...
View ArticleWorking as a casual? Zip your lip and do as you're told
We have no job security, no prestige and no option but to be obliging, or face the prospect of unemployment“Can we chat?”“Yeah, sure. Any time.” Related: Want to improve teaching in universities? Value...
View ArticleWhile quantity of research is the name of the game, women are left on the...
As long as men can score points for producing mountains of output, women will never get a fair shot at academic promotionThe proportion of female professors in UK universities is too low. The same can...
View ArticleIt must be love: what makes university partnerships tick?
Research shows that collaborations between higher education institutions are less about fact and more about fancy A couple of years ago, my colleagues and I conducted a study on decision-making in...
View ArticleFacing the future: how can university boards stay ahead of the game?
Decision-making in universities today involves predicting a rapidly changing future. Current board members share their tips for successIn a period of rapid expansion and change in higher education,...
View ArticleWhat does a Russian literature expert look like? Not me, apparently
People keep asking me if I’m a scholar of postcolonial studies; I’m not, but I am Asian. And I’m tired of handling unhelpful assumptions“So what’s your field, postcolonial literature?” It’s a question...
View ArticleWhy are politicians ignoring universities' concerns about reform?
MPs and vice-chancellors used to communicate openly about policy changes – but silence has descendedGovernments engaged in higher education policymaking have frequently used the “big public review” to...
View ArticleHigher education white paper: the big changes
The sector will be shaken to the core if the government’s reforms go ahead. What would the new landscape look like?Government may give startup universities degree-awarding powersThe government’s higher...
View ArticleWhat the experts make of the higher education white paper
While research proposals are welcomed, there is concern about the regulation of new providers and help for disadvantaged studentsHigher education experts have spent the day decoding the long-awaited...
View ArticleStudents! Your lecturers are on strike because they are struggling to survive
I know you want feedback on your essay, but I’m underpaid, sleep-deprived and wondering how I’ll pay my rentThe current University and College Union (UCU) strike means that thousands people in various...
View ArticleUniversity staff will be held to ransom by student consumers
Already overburdened, lecturers may buckle under a reformed system that places student satisfaction above all other measuresHigher education in the UK is on the brink of a crisis but the nation is...
View ArticleSummer on a university campus: 'We become the worst hotel in England'
I thought working as a security guard over the holidays would mean nothing but chilling and chair races. I was wrong“Smart move,” I thought when I got the job. “Working at a university means summer...
View ArticleBrexit exposed deep rifts in Britain. Universities can help heal them
Students and staff are leaving the lecture theatres and reaching out to those in their communities who need it most“Students, society and the economy” – in the government’s white paper, published in...
View ArticleDon't let market forces rob universities of their social role
We need to protect the benefits universities bring to their communities and the wider world - and the new bill puts that at riskBill Rammell, author of a new report from the Higher Education Policy...
View ArticleTef: dump the pointless metrics and take a hard look at casualisation
US research shows that putting staff on insecure contracts affects the success of students. The least the UK government could do is some studies of its own The government claims that its new Teaching...
View ArticleWhat does the general election mean for universities? | Andy Westwood
As a number of higher education policies risk being thrown off course, universities must make themselves heardHigher education policy is expected to be a key campaigning point for some parties in the...
View ArticleApprenticeships: it's time to focus on quality not quantity
The government has renewed its commitment to the skills strategy, but it will only be successful if better partnerships are formed with industryBlink and you could have missed it, but amid the fanfare...
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