Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has published a new report with original testimony and practical guidance for UK universities on decolonising higher education. The report establishes that the decolonisation of UK universities is vital for the improvement of course curricula, pedagogical practice, staff wellbeing and the student experience. 

Miseducation: decolonising curricula, culture and pedagogy in UK universities by Mia Liyanage is based on over 20 hours of interviews with leading figures in academia, student activism and higher education policy. The report’s recommendations include:

• Ensuring a better understanding of decolonisation and ending its conflation with equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
• Prioritising decolonisation in order to expand the curriculum and improve both teaching and course content.
• Increasing Government and university funding for BAME research and BAME-only scholarships.
• Tackling discrimination, hostility and unconscious bias against those working on decolonisation.
• Creating departmental roles to work specifically on issues relating to anti-racism and the decolonising of their department.
• Establishing channels for collaboration on these issues between students and faculty.

This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Professor Neil Morris, Chair in Educational Technology, School of Education, University of Leeds. He can be found at @NeilMorrisLeeds

The Unbundled University research project, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC grant number ES/P002102/1) and the National Research Foundation in South Africa (NRF grant number 105395), explored a range of issues in relation to the expansion of online education in universities in the UK and South Africa, including partnerships with private companies and the disaggregation of learning and teaching materials for delivery online (‘unbundling’).

Data were collected from interviews with senior leaders, academics, students and private companies in both countries. The data are being written up for publication in academic journals, but given the rapid shift to focus on online education as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is evident that some of the headlines from the research need to be put in the public domain rapidly.