The Conversation
For universities, making the case for diversity is part of making amends for racist past
The Trump administration recently announced plans to scrap Obama-era guidelines that encouraged universities to consider race as a factor to promote diversity on campus, claiming the guidelines “advocate policy preferences and positions beyond the requirements of the Constitution.” Some university leaders immediately went on the defense.
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How playful design is transforming university education
A group of 25 interns sit at Baycrest Health Sciences, a research centre for aging in Canada, their eyes glued to their smart phones. They are playing SOS — an award-winning game that simulates real-world gerontology practice — where they compete with other students to earn virtual currency. Across town, a group of professors sit around a table at George Brown College, designing a role-playing game with a virtual hospital called The Grid, based on a Matrix-like theme of saving the world from ignorance, for an accredited program in health sciences. Yet another team of game programmers are hard at work at Humber College, building a virtual reality experience of a subway car after a bomb incident. Players wear goggles, moving from person to person, saving some and tagging others for care later on.
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South Africa’s new higher education disability policy is important, but flawed
South Africa finally has a disability policy that’s specific to the higher education sector. The new policy framework should be celebrated as an achievement. Its value is that, because it’s specific to the sector, it gives institutions (such as universities) a common vision. It also enables monitoring and evaluation of progress that is context specific.
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University students aren’t reporting sexual assault, and new Australian guidelines don’t address why
Guidelines for how universities should respond to student sexual assault and sexual harassment released late last week fail to address the reason so many students don’t actually report their experiences. Nor do the guidelines, released by Universities Australia, address prevention of student sexual assault and harassment.
READ MOREHow not to defend free speech
“Newspapers across Europe reprinted cartoons Wednesday ridiculing the prophet Muhammad, saying they wanted to support the right of Danish and Norwegian papers […]
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When race triggers a call to campus police
On a beautiful spring afternoon on a picturesque college campus, two campus police officers responded to a black professor’s “good afternoon” with a request to see his identification. The professor paused for a moment but decided to comply. He wondered if perhaps his attire – slacks, a button-down shirt and loafers – didn’t signal that he belonged.
READ MOREPhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities
This discrepancy does not necessarily mean postgraduate research students “failed” their degree. Common reasons not completing a degree include changes of career goals, work-family conflicts, poor health or financial strain. Alternatively, some students remain enrolled in their degree for long periods without making significant progress.
READ MOREUniversity funding debates should be broadened to reflect their democratic purpose
In 2017, Murdoch University successfully applied to the Fair Work Commission to terminate its Enterprise Agreement. From the National Tertiary Education Union’s […]
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A new bond between the public and universities could brighten America’s future
Blackboard/shutterstock.com The technology powering the device you are using to read this article was originally developed at a research university. So […]
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