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Zakariah Rakrouki

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CABS: Delivering Learning & Teaching Through Collaboration

Four members from co-design woke a little earlier on 25th April to head towards the west of England for the CABS Learning, Teaching and Student Experience conference (LTSE) 2017. The location this year was the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel, an ornate Victorian building in the heart of the city. This was the 7th annual LTSE conference and the biggest yet. Tickets to attend the first day had sold out, we know because we had tried to get a few extra places for members of the co-design group. Continue reading →

Why We Have Such a Love-hate Relationship With Work

Pexels. Ian Fouweather, University of Bradford Shock, horror, a new study shows the British public don’t like their jobs. Using smart phones researchers mapped the happiness of people in real time, while they went about their daily lives. And they discovered that people do not report feeling very happy at work. In fact, apart from being ill, work was shown as the activity that people reported they were least happy doing. Continue reading →

How Universities Can Earn Trust and Share Power in the Bitter Post-Truth Era

Universities can take a stand. Shutterstock Alice Roberts, University of Birmingham and Saul Becker, University of Birmingham James Baldwin, the author, playwright and social critic, whose life is depicted in the remarkable 2016 film I Am Not Your Negro, once said: “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. Continue reading →

Punked? How an Upstart Brewing Company Sold Up and Sold Out

Justin Green/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA Scott Taylor, University of Birmingham Want to be a multi-millionaire? Well then, start a “rebel business”, generate brand controversy – and then sell it to the capitalists you appeared to despise. That’s one way to do it. Scottish multinational brewery, distiller and bar chain BrewDog is the most recent version of this story. It has attracted a lot of attention recently. Continue reading →

Frexit: How a Le Pen Victory Could Unleash a Tsunami of Economic Volatility

Panicos O. Demetriades, University of Leicester With Marine Le Pen through to the second round of the French presidential elections, the prospect of Frexit, which is at the centre of her economic policies, is beginning to spook financial markets. While the possibility of Le Pen winning in the second round remains remote, two weeks can be a long time in politics. When it comes to the implications of a French exit from the European Union, commentators have so far focused on the €1. Continue reading →

It was Big Tobacco, not Trump, That Wrote the Post-truth Rule Book

Smoking … and mirrors. Shutterstock Andrew Rowell, University of Bath and Karen Evans-Reeves, University of Bath After two chaotic months as president, Donald Trump is widely credited with rewriting the political rule book. We are witnessing Trump’s new era of post-fact politics, where distraction and obfuscation are central, and critical stories are dismissed as “fake news”. Continue reading →

How Teaching Philosophy Could Help Combat Extremism

Statue of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Ververidis Vasilis/Shutterstock Angie Hobbs, University of Sheffield Young people today are constantly at risk of indoctrination – whether deliberate or inadvertent. This can be by advertisers, politicians, religious extremists or the media – and can make it hard for young people to get a handle on the world around them. Continue reading →

How Britain’s Monolingualism Will Hold Back Its Economy After Brexit

shutterstock.com Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, University of Bristol As the UK prepares to leave the EU, it has a huge number of considerations to ensure its economy prospers. One, which is perhaps overlooked, is Britain’s language policy and how important this is as an economic resource. A strategic language policy and the cultivation of language experts in post-Brexit Britain are essential if it wants to connect with fresh markets overseas. Continue reading →

Book Review: Alibaba – The House That Jack Ma Built, by Duncan Clark

Ma Yun, whose English name is Jack Ma, is one of the most famous entrepreneurs in China. A few years ago, his name always appeared on TV news in Hong Kong because his company’s Initial Public Offerings on the New York Stock Exchange raised $25 billion, the largest stock market flotation in history. A few months later, Alibaba’s shares soared, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world, worth almost $300 billion. Continue reading →