Teaching is deemed to be the noblest of all professions. The innovations in teaching techniques have placed the teacher educator's approach individualized and more learner-centred. The advancement of science and technology has provided the modern teacher with better teaching aids and exposure. The novel methods of group discussion, symposium,…

A recent ranking undertaken by Jiao Tong University in Shanghai shows 36 U.S universities among the top 50 universities in the world, with eight of the top 10 in the United States. Author Fareed Zakaria has declared: "[H]igher education is the United States' best industry. In no other field is the United States' advantage so overwhelming. Although…

Despite wide consensus among higher education leaders that U.S. universities are undergoing a process of "globalization," there is little agreement about just what globalization means, what propels it, or what intellectual, political, and ethical consequences it will bring for American higher education. There is little systematic…

Recent events suggest that open access has gained new momentum in the humanities, but the slow and uneven development of open-access initiatives in humanist fields continues to hinder the consolidation of efforts across the university. Although various studies have traced the general origins of the humanities' reticence to embrace open access, few…

For better or for worse, the assessment of research quality is one of the primary drivers of the behaviour of the academic community with all sorts of potential for distorting that behaviour. So, if you are going to assess research quality, how do you do it? This article explores some of the problems and possibilities, with particular reference to…

The experiences of students taking the same courses in the humanities by distance learning were compared when tutorial support was provided conventionally (using limited face-to-face sessions with some contact by telephone and email) or online (using a combination of computer-mediated conferencing and email). The Course Experience Questionnaire…

In this article, the author presents an interview with Thomas F. Staley, director of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. This interview touches on many issues that have cropped up in his long stay at the helm of the center, where Dr. Staley juggles the demands of multiple constituencies that include scholars,…

Aristotle launched Western knowledge on a trajectory toward disciplinarity that continues to this day. But is the knowledge management project that began with Aristotle adequate for the age of Google? Perhaps an undisciplined discourse more evocative of Plato can help us constitute new, more relevant inter- and transdisciplinary forms of…

Administrators hate to be called bureaucrats. They prefer to be seen as academic leaders. Leaders articulate priorities and values, serve as exemplars, and represent an institution to both others and itself. Today, more than ever, the humanities and the arts need academic leaders at every level of the university to give them voice, to avow their…

With the tuition cost of traditional colleges and universities soaring and education technology advancing, online courses and degree programs are becoming more common. Some critics argue that an online degree cannot provide all the important features of a traditional college education, from extracurricular activities to new professional networks,…

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) provides the humanities and related social sciences with leadership, opportunities for innovation, and national and international representation. The American Council of Learned Societies was created in 1919 to represent the United States in the Union Academique Internationale. Its mission is…

It is often stated that the physical properties of our universe are "fine tuned"--that is, they must be almost exactly as they are to make the development of intelligent life possible. The implications of this statement, called the "anthropic principle," have been widely discussed in a philosophical context, but the scientific basis for the…

Thirty years of academic dialogue and reinvention about environmental and sustainability education conceals the consistency of rhetoric that literature holds. This paper argues that higher education for sustainable development does not call for the invention of anything disconcertingly new. In fact, four simple, long-standing concepts contribute…

Colleges and universities increasingly view engineering as an important part of a liberal-arts education. Rather than segregate engineering from the arts and humanities, they are integrating the disciplines, in hopes of educating students to perform more effectively in an increasingly complex and technological world. Several college presidents,…