Taking the sting out of nasty surprises
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 24th, 2008
Hello, this is David Myton again standing in for Steven Schwartz.
In her excellent book about the experiences of Soviet soldiers during World War II, Catherine Merridale records the words of the Russian war poet David Samoilov in reaction to the Nazi invasion that began on June 22 1941:
“We were all expecting war. But we were […]
Higher education’s collision of values
Written by Steven Schwartz on October 15th, 2008
“The outsiders want the students trained for their first job out of university, and the academics inside the system want the students educated for 50 years of self-fulfilment. The trouble is that the students want both. The ancient collision between each student’s short-term and long-term goals, between training and education, between vocational and general, between […]
Tough times, resilient people
Written by Steven Schwartz on September 30th, 2008
“Cognitive dissonance” is a phrase used by psychologists to describe the discomfort you feel when new information challenges long held beliefs. The American historian Gertrude Himmelfarb has a slightly different take, describing it as “the discrepancy between reality and ideology that only truly learned and clever people can achieve”. (‘A dark and bloody crossroads’, The […]
Universities need a research environment
Written by Steven Schwartz on September 23rd, 2008
Sir David King, former UK chief scientist and now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, is well known for his concern over the challenges posed by climate change. For example, he has said that while terrorism poses a serious threat “I don’t think it is even comparable to […]
Higher education: the skills students need
Written by Steven Schwartz on August 27th, 2008
A couple of newspaper stories this week caught my eye. At first glance they seem to have no connection, but taken together they raise some interesting questions for educators.
The first article (in the Sydney Morning Herald), ‘Plugged-in politics hits our shores’ concerns what the author calls ‘Politics 2.0’ (a reference to the Web 1.0 […]
Higher education: threats and opportunities
Written by Steven Schwartz on March 11th, 2008
Recently The Economist magazine reported on what happened when the British music company EMI invited some teenagers in for a focus group.
The kids provided feedback on their music interests. At the end of the session, the marketers invited the participants to help themselves to free CDs piled on a table near the door.
No one took […]
What’s in store for higher education?
Written by Steven Schwartz on December 12th, 2007
Acting Prime Minister (and also Education and Employment and Workplace Relations Minister) Julia Gillard was quoted by ABC News the other day as saying the government wanted all parts of Australia’s education system to be world class “including our university sector … we know more has to be done to achieve that, so we’ll […]
Higher education: what does the future hold?
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 8th, 2007
The Australian federal election result will have surprisingly little effect on the future of those of us who work in universities. This is because our fate will be determined by forces beyond the control of any government.
Today’s universities compete for staff, students, grants, contracts and donations with universities from around the globe. Our future depends […]