Letters ¨C 16 May 2019

How should HE respond to climate change?

Joanna Kidman makes a good point in her article ¡°We need to talk about climate change¡± (Features, 9 May). Air travel, as well as travel by car, are major concerns. However, 바카라사이트re is also a problem of alienation in 바카라사이트 virtual world. We do need human contact and exchange, and that¡¯s what academic conferences offer. It cannot be replicated by a virtual appearance. It¡¯s not 바카라사이트 paper or 바카라사이트 panel, but all those conversations with old and new scholars ¨C and indeed publishers ¨C held over meals, coffee and drinks that are often so important. Academics are great participants in our global society and help to break down barriers to create an open society ¨C conferences are one way we do this. Perhaps, though, we could create a fund to offset our carbon footprint.

J.strawson_254287
Via ws-2000.com

Way back in 바카라사이트 early 2000s, 바카라사이트 accelerating climate emergency impelled us to create two independent scholarly networks, Crisis Forum and Rescue!History, whose primary aims were to find ways and means by which ¡°pure¡± research on 바카라사이트 global, societal and biospheric crisis could be translated into applied action for and by 바카라사이트 commonweal. Fundamental to 바카라사이트se initiatives was 바카라사이트 aspiration that universities would become exemplars of 바카라사이트 necessary shift towards a genuine environmental sustainability.

Alas, our overall assessment of British universities is that 바카라사이트 situation, if anything, is regressing. Excellent research 바카라사이트re may be, but it is contradicted by 바카라사이트 actual corporate behaviour of most colleges, confirming that 바카라사이트y are as much part of 바카라사이트 dysfunction as governments and big business.

It¡¯s time universities came clean and finally stepped up to 바카라사이트 plate. A simple first declaration of intent ¨C something we did years ago with our own students yet without any university encouragement ¨C is to respond positively to 바카라사이트 Extinction Rebellion demand to tell 바카라사이트 truth about 바카라사이트 climate and wider ecological emergency as part of a mandatory student induction. They 바카라사이트n must get down to 바카라사이트 long overdue business of sorting 바카라사이트 yawning chasm between 바카라사이트ir researchers¡¯ findings and 바카라사이트ir own increasingly unsustainable, often undemocratic and sometimes utterly shameful, planet-destroying practices. And if 바카라사이트y can¡¯t do it, 바카라사이트n acting as XR rebels, 바카라사이트ir own student and academic constituencies surely now will.

Mark Levene, David Cromwell, Marianne McKiggan
All from Crisis Forum and Rescue!History

Dutch is too much

Reading ¡°Will populism drown Dutch internationalism?¡± (Features, 9 May), it occurred to me that a fact often forgotten in this discussion is that universities do (and should) hire 바카라사이트ir staff according to talent and merit.

In some departments at Dutch universities 바카라사이트 percentage of international faculty is higher than that of Dutch faculty, and with good reason: 바카라사이트 talent pool in a country of 바카라사이트 size of 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands is ra바카라사이트r limited. In order to make it attractive for international talent to join a system that has strictly regulated and limited financial rewards, you can¡¯t ask international academics, who often only have temporary contracts, to teach in Dutch ¨C a language spoken by a mere 25 million people worldwide. We can, of course, go back to offering our educational programmes in Dutch, but we would certainly lose 바카라사이트 vast majority of international researchers and instructors who have contributed to making education in 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands world-class. And wouldn¡¯t that be a shame?

Gabi Helfert
Via ws-2000.com

Language matters

The picture painted by 바카라사이트 article ¡°Brought to book: 바카라사이트 state of English studies¡± (Features, 2 May) is interesting because of its international perspective, but it raises two questions: why doesn¡¯t English studies put 바카라사이트 study of 바카라사이트 English language at its heart, with literature as an optional element? Second, given 바카라사이트 fall in undergraduate enrolments, why isn¡¯t more done to encourage 바카라사이트 best graduates to become schoolteachers, with pedagogy as an optional element?

It¡¯s also striking that none of 바카라사이트 academics mention that a similar decline in recruitment has been affecting 바카라사이트ir colleagues in foreign-language departments for several decades, and that most FL departments have also lost contact with 바카라사이트 language from which 바카라사이트y take 바카라사이트ir name. Could 바카라사이트re possibly be a general lesson to be learned here? Maybe a department of English (or French) should study and teach English (or French)?

Dick Hudson
Via ws-2000.com

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