Welcome to Aug-Sep Hot Topic theme: Critical insights into contemporary issues in Higher Education
This August and September, Teaching Matters is proud to host a critically reflexive series on some of the contemporary issues that are reverberating at the very core of Higher Education. The series aims to discuss and debate modern-day structural, economic, political and social issues within our academic culture, which are not specific to The University of Edinburgh but rather endemic to a neo-liberal, marketised Higher Education sector in the UK.
Universities should be more than just places of learning; they should be spaces where critical thinking flourishes, and students are empowered to become active agents of change in an increasingly complex world. Our goal at Teaching Matters is to provide a platform that encourages constructive discussion and debate on these vital issues, helping us all to better understand the complex dynamics of power, sustainability, and autonomy in Higher Education.
Contributors to this series – students, staff and professional services colleagues from our University – offer their perspectives, and constructively critique and offer balanced arguments on some of the critical issues facing the academic world today. Over the next two months, we will be covering topics such as:
-
- Disparities in access to higher education
- Globalization of HE and trends in international student mobility
- What is undermining diversity and inclusivity efforts?
- Differential attainment and inequities in academic career progression
- Over-reliance on metrics to demonstrate ‘impact’
- Burnout in academia
- Generative AI in academia.
Higher education holds in constant tension both positive endeavours along with challenging issues. In his recent keynote at the New South Wales Higher Education Summit 2024, Dr Tim Fawns calls on “the baby and the bath water” metaphor to argue that, while there is a lot that is wrong with education, there are also some amazing things that are right with it. So, instead of thinking about Higher Education as something that is broken and needs starting afresh, we could approach these issues with a different perspective. As Fawns (2024) aptly puts it,
“we need to collectively negotiate change and continuity, and maintain conversations by holding open problems rather than trying (unrealistically) to solve them.”
This means embracing the complexity of our academic environment and engaging in ongoing dialogue and constructive debate, which can bring to light these imperfections swirling about in the ‘bathwater’. As such, this series aims to engage a variety of voices in critically reflecting on the challenges and contradictions facing Higher Education today, as well as offering spaces for hope, empowerment and positive movements forward in the sector.
As ever, we welcome and encourage conversation, debate and counter-points from our readers to any of the topics and articles published in this series, so feel free to contact us at teachingmatters@ed.ac.uk.
Happy reading!
Reference
Fawns, T. [@timbocop]. (2024, June 28). Higher education: throw out baby and bathwater or just some light scrubbing? [X]. Retrieved from https://x.com/timbocop/status/1806592058704207925
Sylvia Joshua Western
Sylvia is currently doing her PhD in Clinical Education at The University of Edinburgh and has a Master’s degree in Clinical Education. Her PhD research explores test-wise behaviours in Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) context. She works part-time as a PhD intern at Teaching Matters, the University’s largest blog and podcast platform through Employ.ed scheme at the Institute for Academic Development.
Joséphine Foucher
Joséphine completed her PhD in Sociology at The University of Edinburgh. Her research seeks to engage phenomenologically with artworks and the aesthetic experience which she argues provides a different epistemic access into the political and moral intentions of contested artists in contemporary Cuba.
Jenny Scoles
Dr Jenny Scoles is the lead editor of Teaching Matters. She is an Academic Developer (Learning and Teaching Enhancement), and a Senior Fellow HEA, in the Institute for Academic Development. She provides pedagogical support for University course and programme design. Her interests include student engagement, sharing practice, professional learning, and sociomaterial methodologies.
Olivia Liseth
Olivia Liseth is currently going into her 4th and final year as an illustration student at the Edinburgh College of Art. She likes to make smooth, “designed” illustrations with markers and pencils, and loves drawing landscapes and buildings more than anything else. You can find her on Instagram @olivialiseth_art
