Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
Chrissie Boughey

Creator

Chrissie Boughey

Graphic: John McCann PhDs hold key to SA’s development

Postgrad support is essential

A course will equip supervisors with better skills – but they need institutional backup too.

Real barrier is academic inertia

The CHE’s damning report provides ample evidence of the need for urgently reforming the undergraduate curriculum — but are its proposals workable?

The outcome of the ANC’s long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Varsity rules that stymie students

Academics often can’t spell out the conventions of knowledge-making they take for granted.

Glitz and freebies at conferences are no substitutes for serious intellectual engagement and building the networks on which an academic career is based.

Steer clear of consultants’ conventions

Academics are being offered fantastic freebies to attend dubious conferences at luxurious venues.

Outdated models of academic support still persist in universities.

Common sense fails our students

Outdated models of academic support still persist in universities.

Academic teaching styles need to move with the times

Academic teaching styles need to move with the times

How today’s university lecturers were themselves taught might not be adequate for students now.

Is ‘truth’ true?

The research supervisor’s lot is not always a happy one, writes <b>Chrissie Boughey</b>.

Two faces of change

Two faces of change

Structural changes have been made but cultural changes are taking longer.

What are we doing to ourselves?

The research-subsidy formula could be undermining academic quality.