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Author: Alex Usher

To Poach or Not to Poach

Hi all. Welcome back to nine whole uninterrupted weeks of the blog. Let’s get to it. A couple of weeks ago, I mused about the possibility of individual universities using philanthropic dollars to start poaching some talented researchers wanting out from the United States. Now comes news that the University Health Network—the super-hospital network that in research functions as a massive force multiplier to the University of Toronto’s medical school—is trying to hire 100 top early career researchers from around the

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April 14, 2025 3 Comments

The Fifteen, April 4, 2025

The latest edition of The Fifteen highlights stories on workforce readiness and labour productivity (Hong Kong, the UK) and the expansion and regulation of private higher education (Spain, Tunisia).  But we’re also covering such issues as access problems in Finland, faculty issues in Iran and admissions reform in Vietnam, as well as, inevitably, the latest policy atrocities in the United States. Enjoy! That’s our quick global roundup in higher education—from privatization, access and employment outcomes to ambitious reforms and the

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April 4, 2025 No Comments

“Anything Can Be Done With Anything”: Innovative Universities with Dara Melnyk

There’s an old joke about innovation in higher education.  It goes like this:  How many universities does it take to screw in a lightbulb.  Change?  Maybe that’s a bit unfair, but it’s unquestionable that the sector isn’t famed for welcoming change, in particular radical change.  One particular aspect is what is called isomorphism – the tendency of all institutions to look the same because they are copying some “ideal” model university (think Harvard or Oxford); indeed, that institutions which don’t copy the model

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April 3, 2025 1 Comment

Universities and Gap Years

When starting out in international comparative higher education, one of the hardest things to do is to keep an open mind.  Universities are universities, you think.  They may vary in the way they are managed and funded, but what they are for, what they do and who they serve is the same everywhere, isn’t it?  But this is not, in fact, true.  And one of the most basic ways that universities around the world differ is the ages of the

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April 2, 2025 4 Comments

The Free World Higher Education Area

The world is changing.  The goal of the Trump Administration, fairly clearly, is to create a world where “rules” are set by the Three Bullies (itself, Russia and China) with all other countries basically left at the mercy of these three major nuclear powers.  It is a terrifying prospect, with more than a little of echo of Orwell’s Oceania/Eurasia/Eastasia trio with their boots “stamping on the face of humanity, forever” But the thing about all those other countries?  They have

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April 1, 2025 No Comments

One Thought to Start Your Day

One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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