Social Science Space

University rankings might claim to provide an index through which students, faculty, and the general public might ascertain a number of things: the quality of education provided by an institution, the potential for networking at an institution, the breadth and depth of research being performed at an institution, and more. The institutional quest towards topping the university rankings can, however, derail efforts towards the improvement of society and higher education at large.

Academics do not simply teach and do research: they are teacher-researchers, notes Steve Fuller. In reviewing the UK spending review, he says, it is the value added to society by nurturing this complex role that should be at the forefront of the state’s thinking about the criteria used to fund universities.

Research and teaching have never been free from external constraints and public universities have long been expected to justify the resources society devotes to them. But universities feel threatened and increasingly incapable of fulfilling their primary functions.

Some Australians have looked to the United States as a model for revamping Oz’s higher education system. U.S.-based sociologist Steven Ward suggests they ought to take another look.

            Fifteen universities across the UK will receive £19.5 million to overhaul their social science […]

In the context of consulting projects there may be very little room for the sociological imagination, the questioning of common sense, and, least of all, challenges to the status quo.

David Canter reveals the plague that is infecting education.

Critical scholarship and intellectual dissent are currently being closed down in favour of a model of academic life that accords scholars a limited role as purveyors of practically useful skills in ‘real-world’ labour markets.

Around the educational mission we are now spinning a web of ‘accountability’ that has little to do with explaining or justifying our activities, and much to do with obscuring our responsibility through the creation of elaborate processes.

The authors of “Why Does College Cost So Much?” take a look at the root causes and determine that we can reduce the price of higher education, but not dramatically.

Just a few years ago, critical voices could still speak through mainstream media to highlight the dangers of the quickly accelerating commercialisation of academia. These commentators have now been pushed to the margins.

The Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts MP, has made several key speeches recently setting out the Government’s views on […]