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Bruce John Macfarlane @profbmac
Joined August 2016
  • Tweets 65
  • Following 106
  • Followers 604
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Bruce John Macfarlane@profbmac
5 Nov 2025
This new paper shows how journal special issues can operate as a closed academic social network of cronies. Sad but true. link.springer.com/article/10…

Academic Cronyism and Publication in Journal Special Issues: an Exploratory Study

Journal of Academic Ethics - While academic cronyism is an acknowledged phenomenon it is rarely the subject of research in higher education except by reference to staff recruitment and academic...

link.springer.com
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The tension between nationalism and internationalism in Hong Kong tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…

Janus-like tensions for universities in Hong Kong: facing-out and facing-in

Universities in Hong Kong are Janus-like by both facing-out and facing-in. They must navigate growing socio-political tensions in balancing their local, national, regional and international obligat...

tandfonline.com
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Why academics in Hong Kong are obsessed with metrics timeshighereducation.com/opi…

Metrics obsession is supplanting academic vision in China

But the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ decision to stop updating its journal ranking list is a hopeful sign, says Bruce Macfarlane 

timeshighereducation.com
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Co-authorship fraud: An academic scandal in plain sight universityworldnews.com/post…

Co-authorship fraud: An academic scandal in plain sight

The lack of fairness and transparency in the way in which co-authorship is determined places early career academics and others on short-term contracts...

universityworldnews.com
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How co-authorship is treated as a traded commodity tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…

Co-authorship as a traded commodity: the experiences of early career education academics in Hong...

It is estimated that almost a half of all authors listed in co-authored papers do not satisfy widely adopted international guidelines with respect to legitimate co-authorship. In order to better un...

tandfonline.com
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Why understanding of being an 'international academic' needs to be disconnected from nationality and de-colonised Read in open access at link.springer.com/article/10…

Decolonising and re-imagining the concept of the international academic

Higher Education - This conceptual paper problematises the notion of the ‘international academic’, a phrase that is strongly influenced by a post-colonial legacy. It is a term of...

link.springer.com
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Those who research teaching in higher education tend to adopt one of 3 types of critique based on functional pragmatism, learning theory or critical theory. The balance between these types of critique has changed radically since the 1990s. My new paper: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…

A typology of critique about higher education teaching: functional pragmatists, learning theorists,...

This paper develops a typology for understanding forms of critique about teaching in higher education by drawing on a thematic analysis of papers published in a specialist journal between 1996 and ...

tandfonline.com
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Bruce John Macfarlane retweeted
Faculty of Education and Human Development, EdUHK
@FEHD_EdUHK
12 Mar 2025
Exciting news🎉🎉EdUHK achieves 12th place in 2025 QS World Rankings by subject.🚀 We also secured 4th place in Asia, maintaining a top-5 ranking in the region for 11 consecutive years.🌟 Let us look forward to witnessing even greater achievements from FEHD❗️ #QSWorldRankings #EdUHK
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The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) has made a remarkable leap to 12th place globally in the field of education, as reported in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject for 2025, released today (12 March).
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Bruce John Macfarlane retweeted
David Carless@CarlessDavid
6 Feb 2025
I don't often co-author articles which get 500 citations per year, so I wrote a blog about the process and facilitators
LSE Higher Education Blog@LSEHEBlog
5 Feb 2025
What are the ingredients of a high impact research paper? David Carless @CarlessDavid walks us through his recipe for academic research impact blogs.lse.ac.uk/highereducat…
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Why the belief that university students are instrumental and consumerist is a modern neoliberal myth. Now published in open access. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…

Myths about students in higher education: separating fact from folklore

Myths about students in higher education pervade both popular and academic literature. Such folklore thrives due to the belated development of systematic enquiry into higher education as a field of...

tandfonline.com
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The 'duty to explain' is a more a positive way of understanding that the university teacher should not indoctrinate the student but instead open up a range of interpretations for them to choose from. See my new paper with Ivy Xiao Han in open access: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…

The duty to explain: a positive defence of academic freedom in the social sciences

This paper defines a university teacher’s ‘duty to explain’ as a way of developing student autonomy. This builds on the idea that in other professions, such as medicine or law, there is a duty of c...

tandfonline.com
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This is a lecture I am doing about internationalisation at PKU today. Hope it is of interest. Bruce Macfarlane（香港教育大学） 什么是“国际学者”？对国家身份和后殖民主义假设的批判性评估 时间：9月30日（星期一）14:00-16:00 地点：教育学院209教室 腾讯会议号：226-604-635
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北大教育论坛第293讲 | 什么是“国际学者”？对国家身份和后殖民主义假设的批判性评估 mp.weixin.qq.com/s/oZIpwYcN_…
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Universities that micro-manage teaching methods are eroding academic freedom. See the new issue of Teaching in Higher Education tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…

Why choice of teaching method is essential to academic freedom: a dialogue with Finn

The paper sets out a conceptual argument that the choice of teaching method is part of the freedom to teach in higher education. It enters into a dialogue with the views of Stephen Finn in a paper ...

tandfonline.com
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Bruce John Macfarlane retweeted
Prof. Oleksiyenko’s Community of Global Higher Ed@GlobalHE_AOL
20 Feb 2024
Professor Anatoly V. Oleksiyenko's collaborative study has resulted in a thought-provoking paper, challenging traditional perspectives on desovietization in #HigherEducation. This innovative work offers a significant contribution to the discussion on post-soviet transformations.
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The new Centre for Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies at EduHK, Hong Kong is recruiting! 1. Post-Doctoral Fellow (PDF) - eduhk.hk/cms/f/career/27199/… 2. Project Officer (PO) - eduhk.hk/cms/f/career/27200/… 3. Executive Assistant (EA) - eduhk.hk/cms/f/career/27162/…
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We are always talking about higher education being 'in crisis'. Such talk is really about which beliefs and values are seen as under threat. Please see my new paper 'The ideology of crisis in higher education', just published by HEQ. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…

The ideology of crisis in higher education

Higher education seems to be in a perpetual state of ‘crisis’. The many hundreds of books and papers containing this specific, or other relevantly similar expressions, convey a sense of fear and...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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Bruce John Macfarlane retweeted
A/Prof Tai Peseta@tpeseta
13 Nov 2023
Pls RT: Keynotes for the 2024 Critical University Studies conf now in: Liz Morrish, Sharon Stein, Angel Lin and colleagues cusconf.com/speakers. Abstract closing date extended to Fri 17/11. Still time to get yours in @profbmac @evabpetersen @jiaburford @janglasgow #CUSconf24
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Bruce John Macfarlane retweeted
Faculty of Education and Human Development, EdUHK
@FEHD_EdUHK
12 Oct 2023
FEHD team led by Prof Lim Cher Ping wins Bett Asia Awards 2023!🎉This Award marked the success of the EdUHK and our valued Cambodian partners in bolstering the quality of higher education teaching and learning. Learn more🔗: eduhk.hk/fehd/en/highlights.…
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