20 episodes

Advice, insights and solutions for the biggest challenges facing higher education from academics, faculty and staff around the world.

Campus by Times Higher Education Campus by Times Higher Education

    • Education
    • 4.0 • 11 Ratings

Advice, insights and solutions for the biggest challenges facing higher education from academics, faculty and staff around the world.

    International Women's Day Campus interview: Sian Beilock, president, Dartmouth

    International Women's Day Campus interview: Sian Beilock, president, Dartmouth

    In this episode we discuss a rare creature: the female higher education leader. 
    Indeed, according to the American Council on Education’s most recent American College President Study, women remain outnumbered by men in the college presidency by a ratio of 2:1, with about 33 per cent of presidencies held by women.
    Women in higher education were also more likely to work a part-time or reduced schedule or postpone a job search or promotion to care for minor dependents
    We’d be hard pressed to find a better person to speak with about female leadership in higher education than Sian Block, an award-winning cognitive scientist and an expert on performing under pressure. She is also the 19th president of Dartmouth, and the first woman elected to the position in the institution’s 250-year history.
    Sian speaks about navigating failure and dealing with anxiety on the job. She also gives some very helpful advice on how to turn imposter syndrome into something positive and shares her personal experience of female leadership, a journey that began with working in the provost office at the University of Chicago before serving as president of Barnard College at Columbia University and then moving to Dartmouth in 2023. 

    • 22 min
    Campus bonus episode: an interview with Kathryn Sikkink of Harvard Kennedy School

    Campus bonus episode: an interview with Kathryn Sikkink of Harvard Kennedy School

    In this bonus episode of the THE podcast, we continue the theme of universities’ role in fostering civic engagement with an interview with renowned human rights scholar and award-winning author Kathryn Sikkink.
    Sikkink is the Ryan Family professor of human rights policy at Harvard Kennedy School, as well as faculty co-chair of the Harvard Votes Challenge, a non-partisan initiative that promotes student voter registration and turnout. Her books include The Hidden Face of Rights: Toward a Politics of Responsibilities (Yale University Press, 2020) and The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics (W. W. Norton & Company, 2011), which won the Robert F. Kennedy Center Book Award.
    In this discussion, we talk about the origins of Sikkink’s interest in human rights, what support students need to navigate the mechanisms of voting, and why showing up on election day is not just a right, it’s a responsibility.

    • 24 min
    Campus: how to turn university students into engaged citizens

    Campus: how to turn university students into engaged citizens

    In 2024, more people than ever in history will be going to the polls to vote in elections in more than 80 countries, including the US and the UK. As pillars of democratic societies, universities and colleges are integral to the exercise of choosing our public representatives. In today’s episode we speak to two political scientists about voting habits, including among Generation Z, and how universities can encourage their students to engage in the democratic process.
    Elizabeth Matto is director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics, a research professor and teacher-scholar-practitioner of democratic education and director of the Center for Youth Political Participation at Rutgers University. She talks to us about what civic engagement is, how campuses can support their students to vote and engage as citizens, and universities’ mission to prepare young people to be part of a democratic society. She also gives tips for facilitating political discussion in the classroom and creating an environment that allows students to be brave, respectful and open with their views. Her new book, To Keep the Republic: Thinking, Talking, and Acting Like a Democratic Citizen (Rutgers University Press, 2024) is published in April.
    Michael Bruter is a professor of political science and European politics in the department of government at the London School of Economics and Political Science and director of the Electoral Psychology Observatory. Michael has published seven books, including his latest book with Sarah Harrison, Inside the Mind of a Voter (Princeton University Press, 2020), and multiple articles in the fields of elections, political behaviour, political psychology, identities, public opinion, extreme right politics and social science research methods. He told us what their research has shown about first-time voters, including debunking misconceptions such as that young people don’t care about elections, and why voting is like bungee jumping.

    • 1 hr 6 min
    Campus interview: James Purnell, president and vice-chancellor of the University of the Arts London

    Campus interview: James Purnell, president and vice-chancellor of the University of the Arts London

    James Purnell has been the president and vice-chancellor of the University of the Arts London since 2021. He joined UAL after a career that included key positions at the BBC (as director of strategy and digital, and director of audio and education) and as a research fellow on the Institute of Public Policy Research’s media project. He has served as special adviser on the knowledge economy to UK prime minister Tony Blair and as an MP and cabinet minister.
    This wide-ranging Campus interview draws on Purnell’s wealth of knowledge of public policy, the digital landscape and the creative industries. The conversation covers universities’ social purpose, the potential of online to widen access to a creative education, what AI could mean for the arts, and how government policy could be shaped to better support students. He also talks about how urban development can foster creativity, and how his experience as a film producer shaped his view of the arts’ potential to make a difference in the world.

    • 24 min
    Campus: Microcredentials are knocking. Will higher education answer?

    Campus: Microcredentials are knocking. Will higher education answer?

    From employers to policy makers, universities and their students, everyone agrees that alternative credentials are a good thing for the economy and for expanding access to higher education. But it’s one thing to think it’s a good idea and another to make it happen. The truth is demand for microcredentials remains low among students, the business plans are patchy and higher education providers haven’t fully embraced the new models. 
    In this episode we hear from an institution who has managed to get alternative credentialing right in a big way. The University of Edinburgh has been building Moocs (massive open online courses) and microcredentials for over 10 years. It currently offers 80 online master’s courses and 100 Moocs and microcredentials, reaching 4.7 million learners around the world. Melissa Highton, assistant principal of online and open learning at the university, is here to tell us about their strategy behind developing Moocs, how they remain relevant to millions of learners and the secret behind their commercial success. 
    Michael D. Smith, a professor of information technology and public policy at Heinz College and Tepper School Of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, speaks with us about his recent book The Abundant University. Having observed disruption in the television and music industries, he urges universities to leverage technology to reach more students and secure their futures. 
     
    Read more from Melissa Highton on Campus "A look back over 10 years of Moocs"

    • 1 hr 3 min
    Campus interview: Mike Ibba from Chapman University on mentorship and the future of US science

    Campus interview: Mike Ibba from Chapman University on mentorship and the future of US science

    January is a month of change and new beginnings and our guest for this episode speaks about his experience of both, in terms of his career, the relationship between the arts and sciences and the state of US science. 
    Microbiologist Mike Ibba joins us to discuss Chapman University's decision to move its philosophy department into the Schmid College of Science and Technology and why he wants training the next generation of scientists to be his lasting legacy. Ibba has been the dean of the college since 2020 after spending nearly 20 years at The Ohio State university. He also shares his experience of making the transition from a large, publicly-funded R1 institution to a small, private R2 institution. 
    Thanks to Chapman University for sponsoring this episode.

    • 37 min

Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5
11 Ratings

11 Ratings

Fred Aebli ,

Topics and Conversations That Inform and Help

I came across the podcast and in particular the talk about AI use in the classroom while seeking similar podcast talks. This was excellent and has given me some great starting points to explore for my own teaching. You have a new subscriber! Thank you!

Tunders Brovan ,

Good content - awful recording quality

Title

thawadio ,

Great topics but very hard to listen

I’m in academia and I love the topics in this podcast, but it is very hard to listen to. The guest usually the one I can’t hear clearly. I need to be in a very quite room to be able to understand.

Please fix it.

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