Take It Easy

An academic friend on Facebook posted a link to a news story this morning and commented, “I’m feeling extremely low, as if everything noble and good I’ve devoted my life to is meaningless.” At this point we could play ‘Guess the News Story’, as more or less everything that appears in the media related to higher education at the moment offers evidence for the ongoing, over-determined campaign for its destruction, just in different ways and to different extents across the globe, whether driven by confusion about its purpose or conscious hatred of its purpose. We are supposed to prepare students for well-paid careers in a wholly unpredictable future job market in the age of generative AI while they’re drowning in debt and prioritising their part-time jobs with fewer staff and resources and secure positions and support as senior management hack, slash, reorganise and demand increased grant income from funders who prioritise projects focused on the latest ill-defined buzzwords trying to…