After 50 years as a university teacher, researcher and student, Raewyn Connell wrote a book, The Good University. Today, universities face a more toxic set of challenges than she has ever seen before.
In a volatile and uncertain world, academic freedom is the foundation of universities’ capacity to be responsive to all of the challenges we face today.
More than 90% of universities in the world have been built since 1949. The vast majority built large campuses outside city centres, and all for much the same reasons.
The way in which Australians think about leadership in the education sector has changed throughout the pandemic. It’s seen as a public good, with ethics and accountability gaining in importance.
A post-war funding crisis forced universities to take the initiative in making their case to the public. A new history explores how universities did it and the changes they brought about.
Populist movements are on the rise. Their supporters distrust the establishment, elites, authority and official sources. The post-truth world is a post-expert world.
Calls for the decolonisation of countries, institutions, the mind and of knowledge are not new. In South Africa, these changes are crucial and long overdue. But they must be carefully thought through.
Indonesia should cultivate a culture of peer-review to support academics produce basic social research, essential in creating good policies in the world’s fourth most populous country.
When talking about the role that higher education can play in developing Africa, it’s important not to forget the continuing and crucial role of the continent’s flagship universities.
University protests in South Africa have showed that the countries students are hungry for real change. This desire can be harnessed to create a generation of “citizen scholars”.
South African university students are as guilty of xenophobia as anyone else. Three approaches through teaching and research could make a huge difference.
Evidence-based solutions to our systemic dilemmas won’t be conjured out of thin air. Universities, governments and businesses all have to work together.
Professor of Management & Organizations; Professor of Environment & Sustainability; Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross School of Business and School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan