Niall Ferguson "I'm Helping to Start a New College Because Higher Ed Is Broken"

[Sigaba]

Ferguson, a historian, is helping to launch the University of Austin.

His reasoning is here https://tinyurl.com/krk7aeaa

The school's website is there https://www.uaustin.org/

IMO, Ferguson has things backassward. The core of what's wrong in the Ivory Tower today is that a critical mass of tenured professors don't take the teaching of undergraduates as seriously as they should. Things have gone from academics balancing "publish or perish" with other responsibilities to "I got mine, get yours, but without the mentoring I received when I was in your position. Now, here's a high grade so that you go away and leave me alone."

Also, academic historians of traditional fields and methodologies did themselves few favors with how they participated in the historiographical debates of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Advisory. If Ferguson is right, make sure that you don't post anything that may constitute a CLM if your username can easily be traced back to you IRL.

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 11/9/2021 at 6:09 PM, Sigaba said:

Ferguson, a historian, is helping to launch the University of Austin.

His reasoning is here https://tinyurl.com/krk7aeaa

The school's website is there https://www.uaustin.org/

IMO, Ferguson has things backassward. The core of what's wrong in the Ivory Tower today is that a critical mass of tenured professors don't take the teaching of undergraduates as seriously as they should. Things have gone from academics balancing "publish or perish" with other responsibilities to "I got mine, get yours, but without the mentoring I received when I was in your position. Now, here's a high grade so that you go away and leave me alone."

Also, academic historians of traditional fields and methodologies did themselves few favors with how they participated in the historiographical debates of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Advisory. If Ferguson is right, make sure that you don't post anything that may constitute a CLM if your username can easily be traced back to you IRL.

I don't think the biggest issue are the academics or even the administration (at least directly). It has to do with the market (which are students). Universities are being treated as consumer product now. This is why by in large, universities often come off as eco-chambers (be it with a liberal slant or a conservative slant - and yes there are conservative slant Universities or programs) because students are to a certain extent self-segregating to the University culture they want to be a part of. The University of Austin is essentially appealing to an untapped market of those students (and their parents) nostalgic for a more open University experience.