Bruce Macfarlane

Academic leadership is important – and it has many pleasures

Good people who fail to put themselves forward are in no position to carp about their ‘overlords’, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

9 May

Teaching awards are for losers

Handing out glitzy prizes is a cheaper way of shoring up morale than paying people better, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

27 October

Universities’ sacred and profane terms are blunting critical thinking

Language is a powerful tool for breaking down resistance and normalising unhealthy cultural change, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

30 May

Illustration collage of a head with hand and scales inside and money cut and people playing long trumpets looking up at head to reflect GCRF cuts but having to support one particular cause is not academic freedom by-Miles-Cole.jpg

Academics should decline grand and global challenges

Universities have decried the GCRF cuts, but being corralled into promoting justice globalism is not academic freedom, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

1 April

Pulling strings to get your research students a job is not good mentoring

Those who make the loudest noises about equality can be among the most myopic about the evils of academic inbreeding, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

27 October

Will Covid-19 change universities forever? Don’t jump to conclusions

Tomorrow’s world often turns out to be less radically different than we might have first thought, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

14 May

Illustration of woman with ball and chain attached to mortar board

Universities do not have a monopoly on academics

Many retired academics embrace the freedom to fully embody their view of the serious scholar, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

11 October

Eleanor Shakespeare illustration (7 December 2017)

The REF is wrong: books are not inferior to papers

Monographs typically constitute a scholar’s greatest achievement, but REF strategists discourage their production, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

7 December

The moral panic over student cheating must end

We need to call off the witch-hunt and trust in the capacity of our students to learn, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

14 September

‘Collegiality’ has become an empty word

Although the term still resonates with scholars, it means less and less in today’s academy, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

22 December

Eleanor Shakespeare illustration (29 September 2016)

Academic double standards: freedom for lecturers, compliance for students

Bruce Macfarlane on the hypocrisy of academics who help to monitor students in ways they themselves never were

By Bruce Macfarlane

29 September

Elly Walton illustration (10 December 2015)

Authorship abuse is the dark side of collaboration

Too many senior scholars abuse their power when it comes to assigning credit, argues Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

10 December

The invention of tradition: how ‘researchers’ replaced teachers

Early issues of the journal Studies in Higher Education show how greatly academics’ view of what they do has changed, says Bruce Macfarlane

By Bruce Macfarlane

25 June

I'm an academic and I want to be proud of it

There was never a golden age in which academic values such as universalism and disinterestedness were not at risk, argues Bruce Macfarlane. But in an age of sponsorism and insecurity, all scholars must hold fast to the precepts that make our intellectual endeavours worthwhile

By Bruce Macfarlane

4 October

Bruce Macfarlane

Articles by Bruce Macfarlane

Academic leadership is important – and it has many pleasures

Teaching awards are for losers

Universities’ sacred and profane terms are blunting critical thinking

Academics should decline grand and global challenges

Pulling strings to get your research students a job is not good mentoring

Will Covid-19 change universities forever? Don’t jump to conclusions

Universities do not have a monopoly on academics

The REF is wrong: books are not inferior to papers

The moral panic over student cheating must end

‘Collegiality’ has become an empty word

Academic double standards: freedom for lecturers, compliance for students

Authorship abuse is the dark side of collaboration

The invention of tradition: how ‘researchers’ replaced teachers

I'm an academic and I want to be proud of it