Emeritus Prof Christopher May
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

The continuing financial crisis across the university sector has led to the Post-92 universities seeking permission from Govt. to reduce their employers' pension contribution payments... so as so often, rubbish management & counter productive national HE policy results in the future impoverishment of retiring staff...

The Post-92's could be an engine room of educational uplift but instead we'll see more morale collapse among university staff... ever was it thus.

#university #politics
h/t FT
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

The continuing financial crisis across the university sector has led to the Post-92 universities seeking permission from Govt. to reduce their employers' pension contribution payments... so as so often, rubbish management & counter productive national HE policy results in the future impoverishment of retiring staff...

The Post-92's could be an engine room of educational uplift but instead we'll see more morale collapse among university staff... ever was it thus.

#university #politics
h/t FT
Mark Carrigan
@markcarrigan.net@markcarrigan.net  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

The gap between student GenAI use and the support students are offered

I argued a couple of days ago that the sector is unprepared for our first academic year where the use of generative AI is completely normalised amongst students. HEPI found 92% of undergraduates using LLMs this year, up from 66% the previous year, which matches AdvancedHE’s finding of 62% using AI in their studies “in a way that is allowed by their university” (huge caveat). This largely accords with my own experience in which it appeared that last year LLMs become mainstream amongst students and this year they it to become a near uniform phenomenon.

The problem arises from the gap between near uniform use of LLMs in some way and the the lack of support being offered. Only 36% of students in the HEPI survey said they had been offered support by their university: a 56% gap. Only 26% of students say their university provides access to AI tools: a 66% gap. This is particularly problematic because we have evidence that wealthier students are tending to use LLMs more and in more analytical and reflective ways. They are more likely to use LLMs in a way that supports rather than hinders learning.

How do we close that gap between student LLM use and the support students are offered? My concern is that centralised training is either going to tend towards banality or irrelevance because the objective of GenAI training for students needs to be how to learn with LLMs rather than outsource learning to them. There are general principles which can be offered here but the concrete questions which have to be answered for students are going to vary between disciplinary areas:

  • What are students in our discipline using AI for, which tools, at what stages of their work?
  • Which foundational skills and ways of thinking in our discipline are enhanced vs threatened by AI use?
  • When does AI use shift from “learning with” to “outsourcing learning” in our specific field?
  • What forms of assessment still make sense and what new approaches do we need in an AI-saturated environment?
  • What discipline-specific scaffolding helps students use AI as a thinking partner rather than a thinking replacement?

Furthermore answering these questions is a process taking place in relating to changes in the technology and the culture emerging around it. Even if those changes are now slowing down, they are certainly not stopping. We need infrastructure for continuous adaptation in a context where the sector is already in crisis for entirely unrelated reasons. Furthermore, that has to willingly enrol academics in a way consistent with their workload and outlook. My sense is we have to find ways of embedding this within existing conversations and processes. The only way to do this I think is to genuinely give academics voice within the process, finding ways to network existing interactions in order that norms and standards emerge from practice rather than the institution expecting practice adapts to another centrally imposed policy.

#higherEducation #technology #university #academic #students #generativeAI #malpractice #LLMs #HEPI
Mark Carrigan
@markcarrigan.net@markcarrigan.net  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

The gap between student GenAI use and the support students are offered

I argued a couple of days ago that the sector is unprepared for our first academic year where the use of generative AI is completely normalised amongst students. HEPI found 92% of undergraduates using LLMs this year, up from 66% the previous year, which matches AdvancedHE’s finding of 62% using AI in their studies “in a way that is allowed by their university” (huge caveat). This largely accords with my own experience in which it appeared that last year LLMs become mainstream amongst students and this year they it to become a near uniform phenomenon.

The problem arises from the gap between near uniform use of LLMs in some way and the the lack of support being offered. Only 36% of students in the HEPI survey said they had been offered support by their university: a 56% gap. Only 26% of students say their university provides access to AI tools: a 66% gap. This is particularly problematic because we have evidence that wealthier students are tending to use LLMs more and in more analytical and reflective ways. They are more likely to use LLMs in a way that supports rather than hinders learning.

How do we close that gap between student LLM use and the support students are offered? My concern is that centralised training is either going to tend towards banality or irrelevance because the objective of GenAI training for students needs to be how to learn with LLMs rather than outsource learning to them. There are general principles which can be offered here but the concrete questions which have to be answered for students are going to vary between disciplinary areas:

  • What are students in our discipline using AI for, which tools, at what stages of their work?
  • Which foundational skills and ways of thinking in our discipline are enhanced vs threatened by AI use?
  • When does AI use shift from “learning with” to “outsourcing learning” in our specific field?
  • What forms of assessment still make sense and what new approaches do we need in an AI-saturated environment?
  • What discipline-specific scaffolding helps students use AI as a thinking partner rather than a thinking replacement?

Furthermore answering these questions is a process taking place in relating to changes in the technology and the culture emerging around it. Even if those changes are now slowing down, they are certainly not stopping. We need infrastructure for continuous adaptation in a context where the sector is already in crisis for entirely unrelated reasons. Furthermore, that has to willingly enrol academics in a way consistent with their workload and outlook. My sense is we have to find ways of embedding this within existing conversations and processes. The only way to do this I think is to genuinely give academics voice within the process, finding ways to network existing interactions in order that norms and standards emerge from practice rather than the institution expecting practice adapts to another centrally imposed policy.

#higherEducation #technology #university #academic #students #generativeAI #malpractice #LLMs #HEPI
Nonilex
@Nonilex@masto.ai  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

Also Friday, #Commerce Secy Howard Lutnick sent a letter to Alan M. Garber, #Harvard’s president, claiming that the #university had not lived up to its obligations surrounding federally funded #patents, which are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Acc/to the letter, the agency will begin a comprehensive review of Harvard’s compliance w/federal #law.
The new pressures on Harvard come during a week when the govt had also taken significant steps to bring other schools into line with its agenda.
Nonilex
@Nonilex@masto.ai  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago
#Trump stepped up pressure on #Harvard Friday, adding a new investigation into the university’s #patents & renewing a host of claims that the #university is unfit to host #InternationalStudents.

[The Trump admin filed a court motion Friday accusing] Harvard of failure to control crime, & claims that Harvard’s leadership has “shown itself to be incapable of properly hosting, monitoring, disciplining, & reporting on its foreign students.”

#law#AcademicFreedom #tyranny
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/us/trump-harvard-patent-investigation-international-students.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Aby--not fast, just furious
@aby@aus.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

I have to pick a topic to make a 10 minute video presentation on, and then write an essay about for my "Contemporary and Emerging Issues in Crime and Justice" subject.

I can choose anything that is a "contemporary or emerging issue" that I want to research, however it can't be anything that our modules already cover..

Our modules are:

- Hate Crime
- Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking
- Wildlife, Animal, and Forestry Crime
- Trafficking in Cultural Property
- Identity Crime
- Technology, Digitals, and Crime Prevention
- Institutional Abuse
- Trauma, Personality Functioning, and Offending Behaviour
- Aging Offenders
- Work with Offending Behaviour
- The Professions in Criminal Justice and Wellbeing

I want to write about the NSW anti-Semitism laws, and how they're actually being used to cow criticism of Israel's genocidal actions against Palestine, but I feel like the marker is going to think that comes too close to the "hate crime" module.

I was thinking of writing about either the under-16 social media ban or about Ring door camera surveillance stuff (but both could be covered by the tech/digitals module).

The only other thing I can think of is the whole ligature points in prisons issue.

Suggestions welcome!

#uni#Academia#Criminology#CriminalJustice #university #writing

joene 🏴🍉
Aral Balkan
joene 🏴🍉 and 1 other boosted
sheislaurence
@sheislaurence@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

3/3🧵: as #graduation season is in full swing, #UK #students from top #universities are staging #protests in support of #Palestine. On Thursday #Cambridge #university students waved #Palestinian flags and/or #keffiyeh, wearing traditional dress at their graduation ceremony and demanded their uni follow Kings' example and #divest from #Israel & #genocide.

Students at ceremony taking palestinian flags out of their pockets or refusing to shake hands
Students at ceremony taking palestinian flags out of their pockets or refusing to shake hands
joene 🏴🍉
Aral Balkan
joene 🏴🍉 and 1 other boosted
sheislaurence
@sheislaurence@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

2/3🧵: a couple of hours later, an even larger #walkout was staged by the under/post grad #students of political & social science of #Edinburgh #university, leaving the #graduation ceremony hall mostly empty. The #uni now has a stark choice: the money from its financial entanglement with #Israel and companies that actively enable #genocide in #Gaza, or the money and the brains of its students. ✊🏽🇵🇸

Edinburgh students leaving their graduation ceremony en masse
Edinburgh students leaving their graduation ceremony en masse
joene 🏴🍉
Aral Balkan
joene 🏴🍉 and 1 other boosted
sheislaurence
@sheislaurence@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

1/3🧵: This is how #protest movements reach a #tippingpoint 🥲. #Edinburgh #university, a #uni that was named in the #UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese's report about #Gaza #genocide enablers, saw its PhD #students walk out en masse from their own #graduation ceremony on Friday. Hear those who think they are the majority shout "shut up" until they come to realise the majority is loudly, clearly and beautifully supporting #Palestine and #divestment.
https://www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/7nhe6nfect3a9djkczclnakgp6m9zc

Video showing dozens and dozens of students leaving the graduation hall at Edinburgh uni
Video showing dozens and dozens of students leaving the graduation hall at Edinburgh uni
sheislaurence
@sheislaurence@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

2/3🧵: a couple of hours later, an even larger #walkout was staged by the under/post grad #students of political & social science of #Edinburgh #university, leaving the #graduation ceremony hall mostly empty. The #uni now has a stark choice: the money from its financial entanglement with #Israel and companies that actively enable #genocide in #Gaza, or the money and the brains of its students. ✊🏽🇵🇸

Edinburgh students leaving their graduation ceremony en masse
Edinburgh students leaving their graduation ceremony en masse
sheislaurence
@sheislaurence@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

3/3🧵: as #graduation season is in full swing, #UK #students from top #universities are staging #protests in support of #Palestine. On Thursday #Cambridge #university students waved #Palestinian flags and/or #keffiyeh, wearing traditional dress at their graduation ceremony and demanded their uni follow Kings' example and #divest from #Israel & #genocide.

Students at ceremony taking palestinian flags out of their pockets or refusing to shake hands
Students at ceremony taking palestinian flags out of their pockets or refusing to shake hands