Student attrition is of concern to universities and to politicians and, most importantly, costly for the students concerned, both financially and emotionally. Voluntary attrition – “dropping out” – has been studied extensively, and can be broadly correlated with measures of disadvantage. More...

Australia can benefit much more than it does currently from the world-leading research in our universities. It ranks near the top of the OECD for research excellence but is less effective at collaboration between industry and researchers to drive the economic benefits of research. More...

The Victorian government’s budget announcement on May 1 included a significant reinvestment in TAFE. Courses in 30 key skill priority areas will be free from the beginning of 2019. More...

The recent release of the Gonski 2.0 report has done an excellent job of re-opening the conversation around how our schools could better fulfil their purpose. More...

For the first time in 35 years, federal government policy is set to erode skills and qualifications across the Australian population, particularly for young people. More...

What happens when African philosophies and practices are placed at the centre of learning? How can teachers and students on the continent use the concepts of ubuntu (human interdependence) and ukama (relationality) to come up with homegrown solutions for societal and educational concerns?
These were two of the questions we sought to answer when we set up a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Teaching for Change. It was run jointly by Stellenbosch University in South Africa and Future-Learn, an initiative run by the Open University in the UK.
A MOOC is a course made available for free over the internet and can cater for thousands of people at once. More than 4000 people from around the world – most from the US, UK and a variety of African countries – took part in ours. More...

The fast pace of the business world — where competition is the rule and return on investment decides everything — can be challenging for business students. More...

I have mixed feelings about my experiences in graduate school. As a Black, first-generation Canadian and the first in my family to become a doctoral student, I did not understand the culture of the academy. More...

The earth, oceanic and atmospheric sciences, collectively known as the geosciences, are the least diverse of all within STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math). To examine this issue further, we studied how women and people of colour participated in, and were perceived at, an academic geoscience conference. More...

According to Statistics Canada, women in STEM are also underpaid compared to their male counterparts. What’s more, more women than men enrol in university, but men with lower academic marks are more likely to choose STEM careers than women with higher marks. More...