The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

Category: Worldwide PSE

Coronavirus

Good morning and welcome back.  I thought I would start the week off with a really cheery topic, like a global pandemic and how it will affect higher education. There are lots of ways to talk about the effects of coronavirus on higher education, but broadly, they come down to two different strategies to contain the spread of the virus: travel restrictions and social distancing.  Obviously, the most important travel bans concern full self-imposed quarantine zones in places like Hubei province

Read More »
March 9, 2020 2 Comments

How to Make Policy

Take a ride with me.  First stop, London, England. UK university funding is handled by an intermediate institution known as the Office for Students (OfS).  The Government decides on the amount of money it wants to spend on higher education, and then the Office for Students decides how to distribute it.  Recently, the government decided to reduce operating funding slightly while giving a boost to capital spending.  How should the OfS respond? Intriguingly, it holds a public consultation.  It lays out

Read More »
February 12, 2020 2 Comments

Dual-Track Tuition

The University of Saskatchewan made the Times Higher Education last week when the UK weekly ran a story on the University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and its scheme to admit an extra 25 students per year, provided they pay the full cost of instruction, which is a shade over $60,000. This is about $50,000 more than what students admitted through the current intake process currently pay.  This is not about raising tuition for everyone: it’s about two-tier tuition. There’d be one rate for “top”

Read More »
February 11, 2020 3 Comments

Higher Education and the Democratic Primaries, 2020

The Iowa caucuses take place south of the border tonight.  The Democratic Primary has come down to four serious candidates – Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden – with another two (Mike Bloomberg and Amy Klobuchar) circling around the edges.  It’s a short primary season this time out, partly because Iowa is taking place a few weeks later than usual and partly because California is voting four weeks from now instead of four months from now.  Because

Read More »
February 3, 2020 1 Comment

Working Hours

I was intrigued to read this story in the Times Higher Education about Dutch academics complaining about having to work “structural unpaid overtime” of 12-15 hours per week, which this report says is 36% above their regular paid hours.  One can infer that Dutch academics’ contracts actually stipulate they are to work a 35-hour week, which is quite a foreign concept in North America, where many “professional” jobs usually have no hours attached to them, our theory effectively being that if you are in one of

Read More »
January 29, 2020 1 Comment
Load More

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.

Subscribe

Search Posts

Search Publications

Social Media

Linkedin Youtube Spotify

Recent Posts

More thoughts on...