Alex Usher
@alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Higher Education. All of it. All around the world. Also: snark, sumo, Winnipeg Jets triumphalism and bitching about Toronto FC.
I blog here: https://higheredstrategy.com/blog/
I podcast here: https://worlded.transistor.fm/
I blog here: https://higheredstrategy.com/blog/
I podcast here: https://worlded.transistor.fm/
Reposted by Alex Usher
I've noticed the opposing team's fans only cheer when the opponents score on us. To win those fans over, I recommend we score on ourselves repeatedly; that will surely make them so happy they'll start supporting us. And I'm sure all our fans will keep cheering for us—who else is there to cheer for?
October 10, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I've noticed the opposing team's fans only cheer when the opponents score on us. To win those fans over, I recommend we score on ourselves repeatedly; that will surely make them so happy they'll start supporting us. And I'm sure all our fans will keep cheering for us—who else is there to cheer for?
Reposted by Alex Usher
Public backing for research is “broad but shallow”, with less than a third of Britons able to list how it helps the UK, their region or their family, suggests new polling
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/broad-shallow-support-leaves-public-unsure-rd-benefits
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/broad-shallow-support-leaves-public-unsure-rd-benefits
November 11, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Public backing for research is “broad but shallow”, with less than a third of Britons able to list how it helps the UK, their region or their family, suggests new polling
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/broad-shallow-support-leaves-public-unsure-rd-benefits
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/broad-shallow-support-leaves-public-unsure-rd-benefits
Reposted by Alex Usher
NEW on Wonkhe: Little England’s splendid isolation in European HE looks increasingly absurd bit.ly/4i2SbpV
November 11, 2025 at 7:00 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: Little England’s splendid isolation in European HE looks increasingly absurd bit.ly/4i2SbpV
Reposted by Alex Usher
NEW on Wonkhe: Universities are moving beyond digital connectivity toward digital maturity, Andrea Marcinkus and Joël McConnell try and find a way forward buff.ly/lYCHQQq
November 11, 2025 at 6:05 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: Universities are moving beyond digital connectivity toward digital maturity, Andrea Marcinkus and Joël McConnell try and find a way forward buff.ly/lYCHQQq
Reposted by Alex Usher
NEW on Wonkhe: Plymouth is once again entering an era of defence-driven growth. Richard Davies asks how the university fits in buff.ly/dDLRkUZ
November 11, 2025 at 6:00 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: Plymouth is once again entering an era of defence-driven growth. Richard Davies asks how the university fits in buff.ly/dDLRkUZ
Reposted by Alex Usher
history will ultimately decide this but i think joyce carol oates might have just landed the most devastating burn in human history. like the death star trench run of posting
November 10, 2025 at 7:03 PM
history will ultimately decide this but i think joyce carol oates might have just landed the most devastating burn in human history. like the death star trench run of posting
Apparently the pill-making machines require an unobstructed view
November 10, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Apparently the pill-making machines require an unobstructed view
I know no media is covering the Canada Student Grant cuts, but it's real and it's going to cost several hundred thousand students about $1200 this year. Here's the explainer.
The Canada Student Grant Cut | HESA
Somewhat remarkably, no media have picked up the story that the Canada Student Grants were slashed in last week’s budget. Possibly, this is because the government did not issue a press release saying ...
higheredstrategy.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:34 PM
I know no media is covering the Canada Student Grant cuts, but it's real and it's going to cost several hundred thousand students about $1200 this year. Here's the explainer.
Ok folks. 48 hours in Hong Kong. What should I do?
November 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Ok folks. 48 hours in Hong Kong. What should I do?
Reposted by Alex Usher
This is a song about a superhero named Tony
It's called Tony's theme
It's called Tony's theme
Last night, the Trump Administration sent a letter suggesting Wisconsin should return our FoodShare payments.
My response ⬇️
My response ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 10:28 PM
This is a song about a superhero named Tony
It's called Tony's theme
It's called Tony's theme
Reposted by Alex Usher
UK government project using AI to find benefit fraud resulted in:
- A 46% false fraud rate
- Anguish for families who were wrongly accused of fraud and had benefits stopped
- Months of additional work for government, setting up a hotline, correcting false fraud
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- A 46% false fraud rate
- Anguish for families who were wrongly accused of fraud and had benefits stopped
- Months of additional work for government, setting up a hotline, correcting false fraud
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
HMRC trial of child benefit crackdown wrongly suspected fraud in 46% of cases
Exclusive: Almost half of families flagged as emigrants based on Home Office travel data were still living in UK
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM
UK government project using AI to find benefit fraud resulted in:
- A 46% false fraud rate
- Anguish for families who were wrongly accused of fraud and had benefits stopped
- Months of additional work for government, setting up a hotline, correcting false fraud
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- A 46% false fraud rate
- Anguish for families who were wrongly accused of fraud and had benefits stopped
- Months of additional work for government, setting up a hotline, correcting false fraud
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
This, from Claudia Sheinbaum, is hugely insulting to academics, but actually she's just saying what most politicians in most countries actually think.
Sheinbaum pide a universidades austeridad y ampliar matrícula
Además, durante el encuentro se presentó la plataforma Saberes MX para que estudiantes, trabajadores, comunidades indígenas.
www.milenio.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:19 AM
This, from Claudia Sheinbaum, is hugely insulting to academics, but actually she's just saying what most politicians in most countries actually think.
Now do universities and colleges
Let's work together across party lines to defend the forestry sector. Because when forestry is strong, Canada is strong.
November 9, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Now do universities and colleges
Back in the summer, Nigeria's president issued a 7-year moratorium on the creation of new universities. It lasted three months.
On Tinubu’s Approval Of New University Despite Ban - Daily Trust
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent approval of the establishment of the Federal University of Science and Technology, Epe, Lagos State, has continued to
dailytrust.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Back in the summer, Nigeria's president issued a 7-year moratorium on the creation of new universities. It lasted three months.
University of Buenos Aires holds first Internationl Congress on Diego Maradona
Fans chant 'Diego' as Buenos Aires university hosts first Maradona congress
Fans and academics have gathered at the University of Buenos Aires for the first International Congress on Diego Maradona. The event, running from Thursday to Saturday, explores the soccer superstar's
www.mankatofreepress.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:29 PM
University of Buenos Aires holds first Internationl Congress on Diego Maradona
How a Kremlin-appointed rector destroyed Moscow's Higher School of Economics.
From a “Hooligan University” to a “State Civilization”: How Nikita Anisimov Turned HSE into an Ordinary Russian University in Just a Few Years - Т-инвариант / T-invariant
Over the past three and a half years of active sanctions policy, only four rectors of Russian universities have been added to Western “blacklists.” The most prominent among them is Nikita Anisimov, on...
t-invariant.org
November 8, 2025 at 6:08 PM
How a Kremlin-appointed rector destroyed Moscow's Higher School of Economics.
This is not a good look, Saskatchewan.
Some Ukrainian university students feel ‘betrayed’ as tuition could increase up to five-fold
Advanced Education Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said the program has been beneficial, and the provincial government wants to give people from Ukraine every opportunity to succeed in the province.
www.ckom.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:52 PM
This is not a good look, Saskatchewan.
Reposted by Alex Usher
Chart crime of the year 2025. AI could solve all problems, or extirpate all humans. 1/2
November 8, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Chart crime of the year 2025. AI could solve all problems, or extirpate all humans. 1/2
Free-tuition Finland has average debt levels similar to Canada, but higher levels of debt incidence
Two-thirds of Finnish graduates finish studies with student loan debt
Average student loan debt more than doubles to over €12k
Student loans typically stood at around 5,000 euros in 2010-11, according to the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Kela.
Brightly lit r...
www.helsinkitimes.fi
November 8, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Free-tuition Finland has average debt levels similar to Canada, but higher levels of debt incidence
well this is terrifying
111,000-spider colony weaves record web in Greece cave | The Jerusalem Post
Published in the journal Subterranean Biology, the find marks the first documented colonial behavior in Tegenaria domestica and Prinerigone vagans.
www.jpost.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:47 PM
well this is terrifying
Of course the Francohphone games are being held in Armenia.
Armenia prepares to host Francophone Games with great responsibility, says minister
Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has met with International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) Representative for Central and Eastern...
armenpress.am
November 8, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Of course the Francohphone games are being held in Armenia.
Reposted by Alex Usher
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...