Social Science Space

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.

Along with good SAT scores, it now takes passing a background check to get into many colleges as universities explore […]

            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 […]