One of the most surprising aspects of the English educational system—speaking as a non-English who does research on higher education (HE)—is how imbalanced it is for almost every student involved. Let me explain what I mean by this.
UK
Why is higher education SO bad?
I often wonder how commonly held the myth of a certain kind of higher education is—of tweed-jacketed dons in lifelong jobs, with iron-plated pensions, spending lots of time with happy, engaged students, teaching with passion, with space for slow, thoughtful scholarship.
The great university covid regression?
“Pre-covid” life in the UK almost feels like an aeon ago, but we’re only six weeks into it. At the end of February I was in London, co-hosting an event with colleagues, and was still recruiting and interviewing participants for my research project in mid-March. How things have changed. […]
UK University Strike: Pensions, Pay and Precarity
Colleagues outside UK may have noticed, on social media or elsewhere, that a significant number of UK staff, both academic and administrative, have been on strike for the past couple of weeks. Those not so familiar with recent […]
Academic careers in the UK: how it works
The expectation in the UK is that you will probably spend the bulk of your academic life doing both teaching and research. While this is probably true, how you get there, and what it looks like if/when you do, will vary. Some aspects of academic careers here look good […]