Australia’s Education Minister Simon Birmingham recently made the blindingly obvious observation that most students “first and foremost” go to university in the hope that a degree will secure them a decent job. He followed this up by making the apparently not-so-obvious point that universities might...
An interesting view on innovation in higher education came recently from Fernando León Garcia, president of the CETYS University system in Mexico, which hosted an International Seminar on Innovation in Higher Education. “It’s about how you teach, how you develop a person, and if you do it differently,...
Higher education is good for people’s health, wealth and general wellbeing - and broader society benefits from it too, says the OECD in its recently released Education at a glance 2016. Investing in education pays off in the long run for both men and women, says...
It seems that the fourth industrial revolution – the big digital disruption - is now unfolding and, as revolutions tend to do, it is changing the way we live and work. Disruptive changes to business models will have a profound impact on the employment landscape over...
By David Wright, HECG Managing Director The University of Sheffield in Yorkshire, England, is a partner in a high-tech collaboration in which university scientists, engineers and students work side-by-side with industry “to solve live problems and create value” for firms such as Rolls Royce. One element of this...
In this HECG podcast The Wright Line Managing Director David Wright talks to David Myton about why it’s crucial for universities to pay deep attention to their relationships with external stakeholders. David, an experienced higher education executive and leader, presents 10 ways universities can improve their performance in this critical...
It’s been something of mixed week for Australian higher education – a good result in one area followed by a not-so-good result in another. In the good area, it was reported in The Australian Higher Education section that the “quality and depth of university research has...
By David Wright HECG Managing Director I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take the job. I had just come from a harrowing but incredible time launching a start-up in Silicon Valley and was engaged in an ultimately successful project to turn around a university’s ailing commercial...
The poet T S Eliot once observed that when it comes to studying and analysing Shakespeare all we can hope for is to be wrong about him in a new way (Bloom, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, p2). But perhaps not, because recently we...
Beginning next week MITx on edX will offer a philosophy course via a MOOC which will enable students to obtain a verified certificate and have their work “graded and commented upon by professional philosophers”. Learners from any background, anywhere in the world, “can pursue the certificate option...