The Third Degree

Defending THE Institution?   Maybe I am trying to defend a fallen castle, but I don’t quite believe it’s at that stage yet! While applauding businesses, big and small, embracing alternative qualifications to facilitate employment opportunities, one must remember that the University itself is not only a centre of learning – it is an entire socialisation and networking experience that has significant value-add over and above the content of learning and assessment.   Encouraging short or modular online learning is perfectly fine, but we must not kid ourselves that it provides a holistic approach – either to topic or to social inclusion. Nor does it pave the way to successful remote working. There’s far more to those jig-saw puzzles than just a course.   There will always be value in a full university degree.   Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet. __________   Google Plan To Replace The Need For College Degrees With Six-month Certificates The tech giant G

Money for Nothing? Well, Not Quite! Advancing the ‘Value’ of Your Research Project   Applying for Research Grants are part of the academic right of passage – an exercise many of us go through, too many times. Seeking contributory funding to support research, but to also bring revenue to our department, enable us to recruit and hire research assistants, or offer targeted PhD positions and scholarships, not to mention the more mundane purchase of equipment or funding of travel expenses. At PhD-student-level you may not be directly involved in submitting research grants, but you may be a component of one (either individually, or based on your research agenda), and it’s certainly never too early to grasp their significance. You certainly will have the opportunity at post-doc level.  But the lessons here are deeper too – the same approach is transferable to our PhD journey and to our justification of it. At the end of the day, our research, at whatever scale, has value, makes a cont