Practising conference presentations is vital – even for native speakers Overloaded slides, peculiar body language and speech that is too quick, slow, quiet or relentless are all easily fixed, says Brian Bloch By Brian Bloch 29 November
When marking is such an ordeal, is it any wonder errors creep in? The summer marking marathon is among the most dreary of academic duties. Thank goodness students can appeal, says Brian Bloch By Brian Bloch 9 July
German universities’ teaching in English is unavoidably flawed Limited fluency and cultural concerns could lead to a backlash against German institutions’ pitch to the international market, says Brian Bloch By Brian Bloch 6 May
Plagiarism scandals are devaluing higher degrees in central Europe Too much attention is paid to academic titles and too little to the substantial contribution they should indicate, says Brian Bloch By Brian Bloch 31 March
Journals’ English copy-editing services are inadequate and unethical Editing is often assigned to doctoral students from very different fields – but substandard manuscripts may be accepted anyway, says Brian Bloch By Brian Bloch 4 October
Five myths about academic editing The quality of scholarly editing is ‘extremely uneven’, says Brian Bloch By Brian Bloch 30 October
‘Professor hunters’ dig in on the digital battlefield Brian Bloch considers the attacks against two Humboldt University scholars in the internet age By Brian Bloch 27 August
Turbulent times at Zeppelin University Campus leaders must apply academics’ theories in the boardroom, suggests Brian Bloch By Brian Bloch 9 July
Open for business: language skills can make a world of difference Learning to read foreign literature and communicate in a practical sense can be mutually reinforcing, says Brian Bloch By Brian Bloch 4 June