Guest writer Harry Fernhout offers a message on the meaning of the crucifixion for the vocation of a scholar or anyone who seeks a deeper wisdom for life. … More Higher Education and the Foolishness of the Cross: Lenten Reflections of I Corinthians 1
Brain drain is typically understood as the growing trend of educated, emerging leaders from developing countries emigrating to foreign nations that offer better vocational opportunities, higher pay, and more desirable living conditions. This essay argues that a flourishing African continent requires students to invest in their homeland, and that methods need to keep motivations in mind. … More Brain Drain in African Higher Education: Motivations and Methods for Bolstering African Educational Opportunities
Publications, appointments, awards and prizes, scholarships, bursaries and residencies may be the proofs of proficiencies in our worldly academic domains, but the gifts of good judgement, thoughtful restraint, humble presence, the seeking of truth, compromise, self-sacrifice, perseverance and mutual respect in the clamouring – at times, now contentious – hallways of the academy are still the most tangible ways we can share God. … More On Learnedness: A September Meditation in Light of the Queen’s Reign
Precarious and poorly paid work is a problem in higher education, and especially in Christian university settings where the budgets are tighter and no unions exist to represent their needs. Are there creative options when finances decrease? … More Part-time and Part-Paid: Teaching without Benefits
University students are shaped by more than just their chosen program: there are other, more invisible forces that shape their lives for good or ill. In a previous blog I explained the overt, phantom, and null curriculums of a university. Here I explain the electronic, hidden, and concomitant curriculums that make up every student’s learning career. … More Choosing Your University: Part II
The university years are critical: critical to your profession, to your friendships and probable marriage, and to your likely geographic commitments. Realize that universities shape you in their image, narrative, and priorities. They get to your heart, and they offer you a dream. Unfortunately, much of the curriculum is invisible… … More Should I Enrol at a Public or Christian University? A Guide to the Invisible Curricula (Part 1)
In a world that champions STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) his guest blog from Dr. Deborah Bowen argues for the perennial value of the Humanities for understanding others, ourselves, and the world which leaders hope to change for the better… … More Why Bother with the Humanities in a Time of Global Crisis?
This guest blog by comparative education specialist Ruth Hayhoe shows how the model of Christian liberal arts universities finds affinities and historical integration with Confucian ideals in China, suggesting that some of these integrated Chinese universities–with their commitment to moral formation, community service and global citizenship education, may be an exemplar for other cultures to follow. … More Chinese-Christian Cross-Cultural Learning in Higher Education
Over the last few decades the term “safe space” has been used to name a physical space, event or conversation that intends to protect people from attitudes, words, and perspectives that may be perceived as hurtful to someone or offensive to their own convictions. I hear it frequently in my church, but this new “safe” initiative has been most prevalent on public university campuses, and usually pertains to discussions of controversial social issues. This practise needs to stop, for our own safety. … More Making Space not Safe, but Good: Learning to Listen Hard so we Don’t Shoot
Here is the story of Dr. Ruth Hayhoe — a GSC board member and a model of the kind of international faith-based academic work we seek to do: call it bridge-building, reconciliation, or being a “redemptive influence”–its making a difference in a way that the light of Jesus Christ shines through. Her story is a marvellous testimony to the wonder of spiritual surrender and international leadership. … More A Bridge Too Far? Faith Seeking Understanding of Chinese Culture
Sensus Divinitatis 