By Brianne Kent - The Black Hole. Earlier this year, the Cambridge University graduate school of life sciences GRAduate Student and Postdoc forum (GRASP) ran a panel discussion on the current “Publishing Culture.” During the discussion, Professor Peter Lawrence, who has previously written on the subject, told a room full of young scientists that the publishing culture in science “has changed enormously.” The first 80 papers he submitted to journals were accepted where they were sent. That just does not happen anymore. More...
The only 3 skills graduate students need to learn
By University Affairs. This is a guest post by Isaiah Hankel, author and consultant at Cheeky Scientist.
Hard skills are dying. Think of how many hard skills have been outsourced or replaced by computer apps over the last 10 years – thousands. Remember when large companies used to hire people to write expense reports and to organize rolodexes? Me neither. On a long enough timeline all hard skills will be replaced. There are three skills that will never be replaced though: oral communication, initiative and mental choice. More...
Contract faculty and the union
By Kane X. Faucher. Working with your faculty association can reap rewards.
Most universities have a certified bargaining unit for faculty that may include contract faculty. When a university’s faculty association doesn’t represent part-timers, there usually is a separate bargaining unit that does. For those institutions where contract faculty have no union representation, the road to certification can take a very long time, and it involves mobilizing other contract faculty. More...
Many universities are basing hiring decisions on unfair criteria
By Ryan J. Mailloux. Publish in Nature or perish.
Postdoctoral work involves mentorship, specifically between the junior academic (the postdoctoral fellow) and a senior scientist at an academic institution. Typically this type of mentorship allows junior academics to refine their skills as they prepare for the rigours of academic life and apply for academic positions. More...
Gaffield’s departure raises concerns about SSHRC’s direction
By Natalie Samson. His tenure as president spanned a time of change for the granting council.
Throughout his presidency at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Chad Gaffield has engaged in his fair share of strategizing. It may come as a surprise then that where his professional life is concerned, he isn’t much of a planner. “I end up following the bouncing ball a bit,” said Dr. Gaffield from SSHRC’s 11th-floor office in downtown Ottawa. “Opportunities come up and they make sense and I say, ‘OK.’” More...
Data check: Growth in contingent faculty dwarfs full-time hiring at American universities
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) recently released a report on The Employment Status of Instructional Staff Members in Higher Education.
The report reveals that the growth in contingent faculty is much greater than the growth in tenured faculty, a story all-too-familiar to Canadian professors and academic librarians.
Between 1989 and 2011, the total number of faculty grew by 81 per cent, but the growth was mostly in the ranks of the continently employed.
There were more than twice as many non-tenured full-time faculty and more than two and a half times the number of part-time faculty by 2011. See more...
Exploring the Role of Credentials Versus Degrees

Completing a traditional degree isn’t the only pathway into the STEM workforce. Increasingly, workers have various ways of proving their skills to employers, including through earning certificates, digital badges, Massive Open Online Courses and a range of other options. Read more...
International students pay off
When thirty percent of all international students would find a job in their host country, they would soon become a net contributor to the economy, research by the ‘German Academic Exchange Service shows. However, differences exist between countries, in Germany it will take 5 years, in Switzerland 17.
Countries benefit significantly from value creation resulting from student mobility. However, international students do not pay off immediately, it depends on the study costs, the place of study and the percentage of students that stay after their study and find a job. Yet, the country’s economy benefits directly from an increased consumer spending, researchers from the German Academic Exchange Service and Prognos concluded in the report “The Financial Impact of Cross-Border Student Mobility on the Economy of the Host Country”. Besides Germany, the researchers studied the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and Spain. More...
The government should allow UK student loans to be used internationally
By Vincenzo Raimo. Unless student loans are made available for study overseas, studying a whole degree abroad will be limited to the very well-off or super bright. Study abroad is the thing of the moment: last year, we had the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Industrial strategy for international education talking about the government's "ambition to increase the number of UK students gaining valuable experience through overseas mobility placements". More...
New interest in humanities
By . Even good students in Class X, who are eligible for science or commerce, are not shying from humanities and social sciences at the senior secondary level. This is not just because of the plentiful and interesting career opportunities they bring to you but also because, everywhere, the liberal arts seem to be finally getting their due importance. Two private universities recently came up exclusively for liberal arts. In 2007 Delhi got its own in the form of Ambedkar University.
Rise in interest for humanities is evident from the fact that schools which didn't have these subjects have now started offering them and others have increased their intake. There was no humanities stream at Amity International School in Saket and Noida three years ago. The Indian School, which has over 25 students in the humanities section, had just three students in 2007-08. More...