Isaacson, Miller’s Post

Extract-Black vice-chancellor eyes new generation of minority researchers One of the UK university sector’s few black leaders is hoping to build a better pipeline of ethnic minority academic staff, via almost two dozen new PhD studentships. The 23 fully funded studentships at Birmingham City University would offer aspiring researchers a tax-free doctoral stipend for up to 42 months, plus a full fee waiver, said vice-chancellor David Mba. While a majority of BCU’s students come from ethnic minority backgrounds, that diversity is not represented in the staffing body that Professor Mba inherited when he joined the institution last October. “The idea is that we transition [students] from PhDs into teaching fellows and ultimately onto the teaching body,” he told Times Higher Education… “You hope that people who come into HE from minority groups might ultimately want to go into management – not everybody does,” he added. “It’s about creating the opportunities – I might lose some of them who want leadership positions elsewhere, but that’s fine; someone else will benefit from having a more diverse leadership staffing base.” The PhD studentships will be available in each of BCU’s specialist subject areas: arts, design and media; business, law and social sciences; computing, engineering and the built environment; and health, education and life sciences. They are open to all students, but applications from groups that have been historically under-represented in doctoral study are particularly encouraged. The deadline for applications is 30 April. Successful applicants, who will enrol in September 2024, will also have the opportunity to gain transferable skills and opportunities to develop their professional expertise by undertaking paid teaching activity and joining research groups. https://lnkd.in/ewsQ8cDk

Sharing the Royal Society’s article on University of West London’s newest professor, Professor Bernadine Idowu-Onibokun PhD, PFHEA, MRSB , the UK’s 73rd Black woman professor. Wow! It got me thinking about this truly gargantuan achievement. Yes, I say gargantuan. Why? According to recent statistics there are a total of 22,855 professors in the UK, (Parr, C., Research Professional News, January 2024). Yet, in this age of alleged equality, inclusivity and diversity, the “Gap between female share of professoriate and rest of workforce”, (Ellis, R.,Times Higher Education, March 2024) remains disproportionate. The same article states ‘twenty-three UK universities have gaps larger than 20 percentage points between proportion of academics overall who are female and their share of professoriate’. Fairly recently HE staff statistics, published by HESA in February 2024, noted the number of female professors had risen just 1% from 30% in 21/2022 to 31% in 22/2023. The same article states that only 1% of all professors in the UK are Black. This is despite a 25% increase in professorships awarded to Black academics in 22/2023. In that year there were 210 Black professors of which 61 were female, i.e. one third of Black professors are women. In the non-black professoriate, the female to male professoriate is also approximately one third. However the percentage of the total UK professoriate including Black male professors for Black women professors is 0.3%. 0.3%! Let that sink in. So yes, from an EDI point of view this is a gargantuan achievement but it is not the only reason to acknowledge it as gargantuan. It must be acknowledged as a gargantuan achievement for the decades of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, mentoring, leadership, academic excellence, and most importantly on merit which led to Professor Bernadine’s appointment.

Mellon Foundation has awarded a $3 million grant to the "Preparing Accomplished Transfers to the Humanities" (PATH) program, a collaboration between UC San Diego School of Arts and Humanities and San Diego Community College District. The program serves undergraduate transfers and doctoral students in the arts and humanities with career preparation while cultivating connections between faculty at both institutions.

This article evokes a profound sense of nostalgia, transporting me back to the intellectually stimulating dialogues I shared with colleagues during my doctoral studies. I I acknowledge the enduring complexity and contested nature of the term "citizen," a concept that remains as relevant today as it was then. By engaging with this piece, we are invited to embark on a meaningful and necessary discourse about the kind of education we aspire to provide for our students—one that not only imparts knowledge but also cultivates critical thinking, civic responsibility, and a deeper understanding of their role in an ever-evolving society. This article, therefore, serves as a catalyst for reimagining the purpose and direction of learning in a way that resonates with the challenges and opportunities of our time. https://lnkd.in/escZ-hA4

Amid the challenges posed by the Israel/Gaza demonstrations on American campuses, along with a rising tide of political attacks on the autonomy of American universities, shared governance is also eroding on many campuses. The internal conflict that is splitting university communities, and fueling outside criticism, is also lending momentum to university presidents, and governing boards, ignoring and downgrading the voice and role of faculty senates – to some degree joining forces with lawmakers in some states who are attacking tenure, forcing curricular changes, demanding the end to the nomenclature of DEI, and view faculty as the problem. See Ryan Quinn’s recent InsideHE article which discusses the desire of some faculty at Harvard to establish a greater role in university management in the wake of the Claudine Gay resignation, as well as a scan of legislation demoting the role of faculty in university affairs in states like Florida, Arizona and West Virginia. https://lnkd.in/g_NQNudj See also my article on the critical role of shared governance in developing the University of California’s multi-campus system. https://lnkd.in/gt8YnzRS #universities #faculty #Israelgaza #sharedgovernance

“Universities which require scholars to ‘demonstrate’ their ‘commitment’ to #DEI can easily invite ideological screening, as well as potentially unlawful viewpoint discrimination. Many groups thus oppose the diversity statements on the grounds of academic freedom and free expression.” MIT president Sally Kornbluth: “We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but compelled statements impinge on freedom of expression, and they don’t work.” - John D. Sailer reports for UnHerd https://lnkd.in/grcWarAc FAIR commends MIT for this decision, which will uphold academic freedom and promote true diversity! A promising step in the right direction for higher education. We hope that all universities will follow their example. #BeFAIR

The liberal arts are brushed off as useless by many in the United States, but go abroad and you'll find newly founded, vibrant universities in Africa, India, Vietnam, India, Singapore and China that are drawing talented students. Why are we seeing these academic start-ups and should U.S. higher ed leaders be taking a lesson from them? That's to be discussed in a May 15 online conversation with the authors of a new book, "The New Global Universities: Reinventing Education in the 21st Century." More info below on how to attend the free event. The discussion will include discussion of Ashesi University in Ghana, Ashoka University in India, Fulbright University Vietnam, and others covered in the book.

Ezekiel Emanuel and Harun Küçük chime in on a topic that has become increasingly universal. Liberal arts education matters! “… Although we like to set ourselves apart from the past by appeals to modernity, the fundamental questions that we find ourselves asking are not always modern, and the latest answer is not always right. But how would you know how to think beyond the readily presented check boxes if you haven’t done the work of laying things out and putting them back together for yourself? War was no less a concern for Thucydides, Tacitus and Thoreau than it is today. Discussing Great Books allows students to gain distance from the daily noise and allows their reason to roam free among principles and foundations rather than becoming absorbed in contemporary events. Our biggest problems are often best addressed not by leaning in but by stepping away to reflect on enduring perspectives. Liberal arts education is not value neutral. That is why it is indispensable today. Freedom of thought, critical reasoning, empathy for others and respectful disagreement are paramount for a flourishing democratic society. Without them, we get the unreasoned condemnations so pervasive in today’s malignant public discourse. With them, we have a hope of furthering the shared governance that is vital to America’s pluralistic society. …”

Excited that my paper "The future of higher education and the claim of globalisation: revisioning the past, re-imagining the future" has just been published in Globalisation, Societies and Education. The paper discusses how a particular globalist imaginary has taken hold of how we think about higher education, including how its history is being reconstructed in historical-sociological narratives that posit a transition from a nation-state centred to a globally oriented university. This globalist imaginary configures discourses on higher education futures and simultaneously reconstructs the history of higher education in terms of a process of global isomorphism. In this paper, we discuss several misconceptions related to this globalist historiography and argue for a more nuanced understanding of the past of higher education, which reflects the multifaceted nature of higher education’s history and paves the way for higher education futures that are different from the ones proposed under the banner of globalisation. https://lnkd.in/d2Eg9Zsf

Dr. Jay Greene and James Paul's 2021 study, Diversity University: DEI Bloat in the Academy, examined D.E.I. efforts at "65 universities representing 16 percent of all students in four-year institutions in the United States." These 65 universities are all the schools in the Power Five Sports Conferences, which represent many of the best schools in the nation. In this clip, Dr. Greene explains a few different ways you can interpret the data from the study. He will be sharing the averages, but UVA buries the competition when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion bloat. Believe it or not, the University of Virginia placed 2nd for having the most D.E.I. staff with 94 personnel members. The average university examined has 4.2 DEI personnel for every one ADA compliance person. UVA has 10.4. The average university has 3.4 DEI personnel for every 100 tenured or tenure-track faculty. UVA has 6.5. The average institution examined lists 1.4 times as many DEI personnel as tenured or tenure-track history professors. UVA has 2.0.