Campus by Times Higher Education

THE Podcast: University reputation and the "B-word"

What a university's reputation and the 'B' word (no, not Brexit) have to do with delivering higher education outcomes.

Rankings editor Ellie Bothwell joins Sara Custer to discuss how research and graduate employment are linked to reputation and to reveal the top 10 of the 2018 THE World Reputation Rankings. An interview with Ovidia Lim chief communications officer at the National University of Singapore sheds light on how one institution generates word of mouth promotion. 

THE Podcast: Data on global STEM enrolments

Times Higher Education's data editor, Simon Baker, joins Sara Custer this week to explore female enrolments on STEM related undergraduate courses and the trend that Gulf universities outperform all other countries in this metric by a wide margin. 

And we turn to Natasha Ridge, executive director of the Al Qasimi Foundation for Reserach Policy in the UAE to help explain why there are so many female STEM undergradautes in the Gulf but so few female STEM professionals. 

 

 

THE Podcast: Forever young? Universities under 50

Without hundreds of years of tradition to follow, how do young universities build reputation and attract global talent? We discuss how young universities are trying to chart a new course for higher education and we look at some examples among the post-92 group of universities in the UK and the institutions in the Australian Technology Network of universiites, whose have an average age of 25. 

 

Sara Custer is joined by deputy news editor John Morgan, head of content and engagement for the THE World Summit Series Tim Sowula and executive director of the ATN Renee Hindmarsh. 

THE Podcast: AI and higher education

Europe has officially entered the race to be a leader in artificial intelligence technology and it’s leveraging its “European values” as a way to attract investors. Rachael Pells talks about the European Commission’s AI research fund injection and the awkward positioning Brexit will place on the UK’s involvement in this initiative. 

How universities in Europe will benefit from this funding remains to be seen but in the US, where there are no European values and AI development is league’s ahead of the continent, researches say the boom is from private sector innovation while public grants are harder to come by. There's also some scepticism about the government ever becoming an ethical watchdog. 

Sara Custer is joined by THE reporter Rachael Pells and professor in computer science at Cornell University Claire Cardie.

THE Podcast: Women in higher education

We know women are paid on average 15.9 per cent less than men per hour at UK universities but when it comes to knowing gender gaps in bonuses, our reporter has found the waters are much murkier.  And while women may be at the helm of universities today, four decades ago it was almost unheard of. We talk to a woman who broke the mould for female leaders in US higher education. Speaking of mould breaking, we also hear about the first women allowed to sit university entrance exams in the UK, even though it was another decade before they could actully study a degree.  

 

Joining Sara Custer is THE reporter Rachael Pells, historian at the Instittue of Advanced Study, Philip Carter, and 9th president of the University of Chicago, Hanna Holborn Gray. 

THE Podcast: Free speech and academic freedom

The right of students' to free expression on campus is a sacred one and part of the academic advancement they should be engaging in. But are universities sacrificing academic riguor to placate no-platforming students? What role does the media play in the public's perception that free speech is under threat at universities? And what do the controversies around free speech have in common with dangers to academic freedom?

These are some of the questions Sara Custer discusses with deptuy news editor John Morgan and Hanna Holborn Gray who served as president of the University of Chicago from 1978 to 1993 and actiing president of Yale University from 1977 to 1978. 

 

THE podcast: Can central Europe catch up with the rest of the West?

Often overshadowed by other higher education behemouths in Europe like Germany, the Netherlands and France, central European universities still have high ambitions to be hubs for research that attract global talent. But competing with well-established systems nearby isn't the only challenge they face. Rising populism, brain drain and compartively low investment in innovation are often barriers to progress. 

 

Sara Custer speaks with THE's Europe reporter David Matthews as well as Jan Palmowski, secretary general of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the region. Tim Sowula head of content and engagement for THE's World Summit Series also sits in to talk about the upcoming Research Excellence Summit in the Czech Republic. 

THE podcast: China's global influence

Is academic freedom under threat in China? Should academics in China be considered foreign agents? How globally competitive is China, really? These are the questions we discuss in this podcast that focuses on China's efforts to bring its univeristy system up to world class standards and the current concern in the US, Australia and the UK that the Chinese regime is using academics to exert its ideology.

 

Sara Custer is joined by THE reporter Ellie Bothwell and Nian Cai Liu, professor at Shanghai Jiaotong Univeristy and founder of the Academic Ranking of World Universities. 

THE podcast: Gender pay gap

The deadline for companies in the UK with 250 emoloyees or more to report on the salaries paid to male and female staff was 4 April. Sara Custer is joined by reporter Rachael Pells who has been covering the topic of the gender wage gap for THE to discuss the data UK universities have reported. 

THE Podcast: The US budget and funding for higher education

President Trump signed a long-awaited spending bill promising $1.3 trillion to fund the federal government for the next year. Included in the bill were some pleasant surprises for higher education and research but is it too soon to ring the vicotry bell? Sara Custer speaks with THE's acting deputy news editor Ellie Bothwell and John Aubrey Douglass a senior reseach fellow for public policy and higher education at UC Berkeley about what the funding means for students and research agencies.