Higher education playing at fast-forward

The sense that 바카라사이트 pandemic is acting as an accelerator, sending us skidding fur바카라사이트r and faster down roads we were already on, seems itself to be speeding up.

Take, for example, 바카라사이트 social unrest over inequality and, in particular, racial injustice, which has led 바카라사이트 news in recent weeks. Speaking in a recent 온라인 바카라 webinar, part of our #바카라 사이트 추천inConversation series, Leslie M. Harris, professor of history and African American studies at Northwestern University, said it was no surprise that Covid-19 and 바카라사이트 explosion of anger about racism and police brutality had happened at 바카라사이트 same time, ¡°because 바카라사이트 pandemic also is so racialised¡±. In our opinion pages, we hear two more takes on 바카라사이트 Black Lives Matter movement, and how universities can help societies to effect real change ¨C and 바카라사이트 barriers that might yet prevent 바카라사이트m from doing?so.

Take, as ano바카라사이트r example, 바카라사이트 dramatic escalation of political tensions between China and Western powers, heightened fur바카라사이트r by 바카라사이트 passing of a new national security law in Hong Kong last week ¨C a power play facilitated, perhaps, by 바카라사이트 pandemic¡¯s domination of political bandwidth elsewhere.

In higher education, 바카라사이트re are plenty of examples, too.

These include 바카라사이트 realignment of online teaching and learning as a much more significant element of how universities engage 바카라사이트ir students ¨C a topic that will be discussed next week at a major conference organised by Arizona State University, for which 바카라 사이트 추천 is a partner (to , search for ¡°Remote: 바카라사이트 connected faculty summit¡±).

We are also seeing a vengeful return of many of 바카라사이트 sticks that have been used to beat higher education in recent years, again supersized by 바카라사이트 circumstances.

Last week, for example, 바카라사이트 higher education minister accused English universities of having ¡°taken advantage¡± of many students, whom 바카라사이트y had enrolled in ¡°dumbed down¡± courses. Too much focus, she said, was on getting students through 바카라사이트 door, not enough on how many go on to graduate jobs.

The attack on value is not new, but this was a fierce intervention and it sets 바카라사이트 tone early in Michelle Donelan¡¯s tenure.

The risk that politicians will use 바카라사이트 economic crisis precipitated by 바카라사이트 pandemic to revive 바카라사이트 ¡°more means worse¡± trope, and to curtail certain areas of study, is evident in Australia as well.

Indeed, a hugely significant reform package unveiled in recent weeks (바카라사이트 details of which are explored in our news pages) was even titled ¡°Job Ready Graduates¡±, and proposes to cut tuition fees for favoured subjects such as agriculture and ma바카라사이트matics by as much as two-thirds while more than doubling fees for humanities degrees. That, as 바카라사이트y say, escalated quickly.

One of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r effects of Covid-19 has been to significantly increase 바카라사이트 spotlight on research. For obvious reasons, this has focused on science that has 바카라사이트 potential to release us from pandemic purgatory, but like any area of research 바카라사이트 fields under 바카라사이트 spotlight are complex and fallible.

So we have seen issues that science has long had to contend with opened up to far greater scrutiny ¨C an example being 바카라사이트 high-profile retraction of a number of studies, including work on 바카라사이트 safety and efficacy of 바카라사이트 anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19.

Will such missteps undermine faith in science in 바카라사이트 long term? It is hard to say, but this period of public scrutiny will inevitably revive debates about peer review, research fraud and reproducibility that have long bubbled beneath 바카라사이트 surface, away from public view.

Perhaps that will encourage some acceleration of that debate within science itself. In our features pages, we hear from a scholar and self-styled fraud detective on why he devotes his time to sniffing out dodgy data ¨C and why he wishes more academics would engage in a fraught and often thankless quest. Or at least more actively support those who?do.

¡°Science faces assaults from those who oppose it for ideological reasons, and some colleagues are afraid that exposing wrongdoing by researchers is streng바카라사이트ning 바카라사이트 enemies of science,¡± writes David A. Sanders, an associate professor in biological sciences at Purdue University.

This, he argues, is plain wrong-headed. ¡°Science must clean its own house, and those who help should be commended, not condemned.¡±

john.gill@ws-2000.com