THE digital editor Simon Baker speaks to Naomi Firsht about some of the biggest data stories in higher education since the beginning of 2020. As the new decade begins, Simon examines how well the sector globally has recovered from the 2008 financial crash. Meanwhile, UK HE is becoming increasingly reliant on Chinese fee income, and in Indonesia a government policy may have fuelled an increase in low-quality research. Read more: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/has-global-higher-education-recovered-financial-crash https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-universities-increasingly-reliant-chinese-fee-income https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/bonuses-likely-behind-indonesian-skew-towards-domestic-research  

Times Higher Education

THE podcast: Data special – in 2020 has HE recovered from the financial crash?

University leaders from around the world convened at an event co-hosted by Times Higher Education and the University of Toronto in Davos during the World Economic Forum to talk about the power of place. The event kicked off the conversation we'll be having at the World Academic Summit in Toronto in September.    Tim Sowula head of content and engagement for the THE Summits series hosts a special post-event wrap-up with Cheryl Regehr, vice-president and provost at the University of Toronto, Raj Kumar, vice-chancellor of OP Jindal University in India and Michael Spence, vice-chancellor at the University of Sydney. We also bring you highlights of the roundtable discussion.     Speaking in the highlights:   Co-host: Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer, THE Co-host: Cheryl Regehr, vice-president and provost, University of Toronto Speakers (in order): Sarah Springman, rector, ETH Zurich Bing Yang, provost and vice-president, Tsinghua University Peter Piot, director, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Raj Kumar, vice-chancellor, OP Jindal University Julie Bishop, chancellor, Australian National University  Michael Spence, vice-chancellor, University of Sydney Alicia Wilson, vice-president for economic development, Johns Hopkins University Suzanne Fortier, principal and vice-chancellor, McGill University Shinnosuke Obi, vice-president for international collaboration, Keio University   See more coverage of the Davos event: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/sydney-v-c-sees-huge-public-support-keeping-china-ties Find out more about the World Academic Summit: https://tes.shocklogic.com/summits/worldacademic/2020/  

THE podcast: How do universities use the power of place? A Davos special

When it comes to community integration, is your institution in it for the long haul? That’s Johns Hopkins University's intention with its Live Near Your Work scheme. The nearly 12-year-old programme provides grants to employees to buy homes in deprived neighbourhoods around east Baltimore.  According to Alicia Wilson vice-president for economic development at Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System, the success of an organisation is boosted by the health of its community.  “We value our stake here but we also want the folks who work with us to benefit from being in this city and we’re willing to put dollars behind that,” said Ms. Wilson.  She also gives tips for how institutions that might not have Johns Hopkins' resources can anchor themselves in their local communities. 

THE Podcast: Long-haul community engagement

Boris Johnson soared to victory with a landslide win in the General Election, putting Brexit and the Conservatives’ vision for science and research very much back on the agenda. But what does a now inevitable Brexit mean for universities and those working in higher education, and has the election highlighted a graduate, non-graduate split among voters?  THE deputy news editor John Morgan and THE data editor Simon Baker speak to Naomi Firsht about the election results and discuss what the future holds for HE under Boris Johnson’s government. Read more:  Tory election victory sets scene for UK research funding battle Tory campus free speech bill would ‘stoke new culture war’ Split between graduate, non-graduate voters has bearing on universities UK universities face up to Brexit after Tory election win

THE podcast: After the election

Do students see this as the Brexit election or are issues like climate change and the cost of living more important – and is the promise of zero tuition fees all it’s cracked up to be? Has the drive for student voter registration worked, and what do goats have to do with it? Will there be some tactical voting on 12 December, and how will students be celebrating/commiserating as the election results roll in? To discuss all of this and more, Naomi Firsht speaks to: Joe Vinson, commercial services officer and director of Queen Mary students’ union service; Atyab Rashid, student at King’s College London and vice-president of KCL’s Liberal Democrat Society; Carol Paige, ­democracy, operations and community officer at UCL Students’ Union; and Bo Jacobs Strom, student at the London School of Economics and Political Science and volunteer with the UK Student Climate Network. Find out more: A student’s guide to the UK general election UK general election 2019: where could students impact the vote?

THE podcast: General Election 2019 – students talk tactical voting, climate change and goats

Student populations can make a big difference to a constituency’s make-up, and with the 12 December election taking place during term-time, we may see the student vote having an impact on certain seats. THE’s data editor, Simon Baker, has crunched the numbers and come up with a student impact score for each constituency. In this General Election 2019 special podcast, he explains how this works and discusses which seats might lead to some surprising results. Read more: UK general election 2019: where could students impact the vote? Students risk missing out on votes as universities lag on registration Labour support among UK students nearly halves in 18 months

THE podcast: General Election 2019 – can students swing seats?

Two experts in AI discuss the big ethical questions about the technology that are keeping them up at night. Plus, they consider how universities can be a driving force for ethical AI development and what, if anything, can be done to develop global AI regulations.  At the THE Live in November, Sara Custer, digital editor at Times Higher Education, sat down with Kate Devlin, senior lecturer in social and cultural artificial intelligence at King's College London and Nathan Lea, a senior research associate in clinical epidemiology at the Institute of Health Informatics at UCL. This is a recording of that panel. 

THE Podcast: Is technology neutral? The ethics of AI

The General Election is fast approaching and the party manifestos are finally out. Labour is promising to cut tuition fees, the Conservatives want more of a focus on science and the Liberal Democrats would rather not mention HE at all. But what are all of the parties really offering for higher education and how are they proposing to achieve their aims?  THE’s deputy news editor, John Morgan, talks us through the main parties’ manifestos, providing an essential breakdown of what they are pledging and where they are lacking, and analyses what such promises could mean for higher education. Read more: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/tories-may-make-universities-share-risk-low-quality-courses https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labour-commits-ps72-billion-axeing-fees-and-reviving-grants https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/lib-dems-seek-sidestep-fees-trauma-he-review-pledge

THE Podcast: General Election 2019 – what are the parties pledging for higher education?

In the first episode of our series spotlighting university leaders we speak with David Llewellyn, vice-chancellor at Harper Adams University a specialist agriculture institution in the UK.  He tells us about how coming to the role with no agricultural or academic background has influenced his leadership style of spotting talent and giving people space to expand their abilities.  And of course with farming expected to be the sector hit hardest by the UK leaving the EU, we asked about how he is preparing the agricultural community for Brexit. 

THE Podcast: Leading with David Llewellyn

At the recent World Academic Summit at ETH Zurich, Nobel laureate astrophysicist Brian Schmidt interviewed rising star physicist Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski about her career and the notion of "genius".  In this interview they talk about their successes and failures and what environments need to be created to encourage genius moments more than geniuses.  Find more coverage of the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit here https://www.timeshighereducation.com/policy/world-academic-summit 

THE Podcast: Is 'genius' a bad word?

What does it really mean to decolonise the curricula and pedagogy of higher education? Dr. Meera Sabaratnam, senior lecturer in international relations at SOAS University of London and chair of the decolonising SOAS working group joins the podcast to discuss what decolonising looks like in a UK context and how it goes well beyond just the content of a course. Kaleke Kolawole, a graduate of the African studies master's programme at SOAS University of London and a facilitator for decolonising toolkits also joins to explain why this work should extend to secondary and primary education.  And Myriam Kane, a member of Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action (GARA) and a former member of the National Union of Students' national executive council, gives a first-hand account of the 137-day student protest at Goldsmiths, University of London and why cultural competency training for all staff and annual funding specifically for black history events were among the protestors' demands. 

THE Podcast: Decolonising the curriculum

In a roundtable discussion hosted in partnership with TMP Worldwide, Times Higher Education editor John Gill sits down with talent recruitment professionals and UK university human resource directors to discuss competing globally to find the right candidates amid Brexit negotiations, Augar review recommendations and pay and pension disputes. Delegates also reflect on the challenges of progressing towards a diverse and equal workforce.    Around the table are Robert Peasnell, managing director at TMP Worldwide; John Quirk, client partner at TMP Worldwide; Richard Billingham, executive director of HR and organisational development at Aston University; Kesar Kalim, director of HR at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Rob Butler, assistant director of human resources - employment services and information at Queen Mary University of London; Janis Westly, deputy directer of HR and head of HR operations at City University London; Polly Fryer commercial director for THE Hiring Solutions; and Nick Davis, strategic solutions director for THE Hiring Solutions. 

THE Podcast: The careers show

Times Higher Education's data editor Simon Baker joined Sara Custer to discuss THE's recent data-led stories: China's ascent to a global research super power, the drop in humanities PhD graduates over decades and the recent deficits reported by a quarter of English universities.    Links to the stories: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/will-china-be-new-centre-gravity-world-research https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/anti-humanities-rhetoric-blame-slower-phd-growth https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/more-quarter-uk-he-institutions-post-deficits    

THE Podcast: Data behind China's research rise and PhD trends

Data scientists at Times Higher Education are busy analysing thousands of data points evidencing how universities are contributing to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.    The result will be THE’s Inaugural University Impact Rankings that will launch on 3 April at the Innovation and Impact Summit at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.    Duncan Ross, THE’s chief data officer, Phil Bay, THE’s chief knowledge officer and Tim Sowula, head of content and engagement for the World Summit Series join Sara Custer to talk about the methodology behind the rankings and the ambition that inspired this project. 

THE Podcast: Measuring universities' social impact

Before digital literacy can become the fourth pillar of education – alongside reading, writing and 'rithmetic – educators must first agree on what being digitally literate actually looks like and where the gaps in understanding lie. And what about digital media platforms themselves – should they be involved in this instruction?    Sara Custer speaks with Jo Coldwell-Neilson, associate dean of teaching and learning at Deakin University, who argues that nobody is actually a digital native, and Joel Breakstone, director of the Stanford History Education Group, who says that the approach to teaching digital literacy needs to be updated, but there are reasons to be optimistic. 

THE Podcast: Are universities equipped to meet the digital literacy gap?

The latest university news, higher education analysis and world university rankings discussion. Essential listening for academics and university professional staff, and those with a keen interest in academia. Times Higher Education: at the heart of higher education debate.

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