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Recent Posts
- Head of UBC Mathematics: The end of an era
- Nicole Tomczak-Jaegermann 1945-2022
- UBC Campus Vision 2050, in a word, lacks vision
- Louis Nirenberg (1925-2020)
- UBC: The ill-fated revolt of those who ought to know better
- Shiny, happy, oblivious science
- NSERC has lost its bearings … again
- The Learning & Research of the UBC Board of Governors (II)
- The Learning & Research committee of the UBC Board: What a difference a year makes (I)
- UBC: Failures in governance are slowing down the pace of academic renewal
- A research community at the mercy of a leaderless NSERC
- A busy first four months on the UBC Board of Governors
- Academic publishing in the time of sanctions and boycotts
- Maurice Sion: 1927 – 2018
- Robert M. Miura: 1938 – 2018
- When the Walls of Governance Come Crumbling Down
- Why I am voting against the tuition increases for domestic students
- Resignation of the director of the Wall Institute: The reaction
- Why I am resigning from the directorship of the Wall institute
- Accountability and Governance at UBC: Budget
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Author Archives: Ghoussoub
UBC President puts his money where his singing voice is
The students were the big winners at yesterday’s UBC Board of Governors meeting. Credits go to a disciplined, focused and resourceful UBC Administration that has come a long way, and to exceptional student representatives, notwithstanding the little help that both … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors, UBC Housing Action Plan
4 Comments
Time for textbook tycoons to give students a break
Students, who are often vocal against rising tuition fees, are uncharacteristically silent about the prohibitive prices of undergraduate textbooks. It is time to also speak up against the schemes employed by authors, publishers and bookstores to minimize -if not prevent- … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors, Op-eds
9 Comments
Poetry, Physics and Porn
An Oxford scholar discovered recently that “high art and low art were packaged, sold and read together in the 18th Century”. Indeed, it turns out that the secret of success for the poetry collection, “The Works of the Earls of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
Is the cost of research a drain on university resources?
That research cost is a drain on university resources may be a good line for administrators to use on the federal government in their quest to increase the funding for indirect costs of research. However, university administrators shouldn’t get carried … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors, Op-eds
3 Comments
Keep the Donald Trumps away from our universities’ leadership
Post-secondary institutions need leaders who have a deep and first hand understanding of the core mission of universities. Only good scholars can create the right conditions under which other researchers and teachers will thrive. Unfortunately, the pipeline of potential applicants … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
4 Comments
“Take the money and keep quiet”
Simon Fraser University is under fire for accepting $10 million from Goldcorp. Stoking the flames even further, SFU elected to name its new arts facility in the Woodward’s complex the “Goldcorp Centre for the Arts”.
Posted in Board of Governors, Op-eds
1 Comment
Ten lessons from a Hospice
Being somewhat “Asian” myself, I remembered being intrigued when the Administration brought to the Board of Governors the project of building a hospice on the UBC campus. Who managed to sell them this idea? I thought. I also recall mentioning … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors
3 Comments
Are scholars capable of leading the corporate university?
The differences between universities and for-profit corporations are continuously being blurred by the evolving, self-imposed or not, professional needs of modern post-secondary institutions. Is it the dawn of an era where professional managers and not scholars will be leading the … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors
1 Comment
The Ogre President vs. the Tiger Mom
It looks like one of the most entertaining sessions so far at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, was the one pitting Larry Summers, against Amy Chua. The unwillingly infamous former president of Harvard vs. the deliberately … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
2 Comments
Cry out! Indignez-vous!
L’Ecole is not what it used to be, and Laurent Schwartz, the hero of so many generations of French students, must be turning in his grave.
Posted in Op-eds
2 Comments
How mathematicians settle their differences, new NSF findings, and “Too Asian” at UBC
I should have said that’s how California mathematicians settle their differences. Didn’t the Unabomber have once an office in Berkeley’s Evans Hall? Here are the new findings by the NSF, and UBC’s response to the “Too Asian?”
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
How relevant is an author’s citation index?
As I was scratching my head trying to find new criteria to add to the NSERC formula for “binning” Canadian scientists, I contemplated adding an “Author’s Citation Index”. The thought didn’t last long.
Posted in R&D Policy
4 Comments
A new parameter for university rankings?
It is the number of billionaires among the university alumni! Yes, no one is talking about millionaires any more and the ranking exercise has so far been applied only to Chinese universities.
Posted in Op-eds
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Words to avoid when you are writing a research grant proposal
They are: “success, culture, media, games, social norms, lawyers, museum, leisure, stimulus.” I kid you not!
Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy
1 Comment
Move over G5 and G13, here come the Colleges
With the increasing trend towards funding non-peer reviewed research, it was only a matter of time before everyone got in on the action. The colleges are the latest entry into what is becoming a packed field. And, the growing influence … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy
4 Comments
A new journal, Writer’s block, and Lady Gaga
There is a new journal around and here is a number of reasons you may choose to submit to it:
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
All the numbers you wanted to know but you were afraid to ask
Here is a comprehensive set of statistics on the 2010 NSERC Discovery Grants Program competition. This extensive report was prepared by NSERC and includes tables and figures that provide summary information on the 2010 competition, but also a few comparisons … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy
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NSERC’s Discovery Grants: The numbers by discipline
Many thanks to our colleague David Wehlau, Professor of Mathematics at Queen’s University, for compiling the following data comparing average Discovery Grants, their numbers, as well as the available funding for each of the NSERC-supported disciplines. The data, which covers … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy
4 Comments
NSERC’s “Binning system”: The word itself makes me cringe
… wrote a Canadian scientist describing reactions to the posts of “Piece of Mind” on NSERC’s new evaluation system. I am reproducing (with his/her permission) the following email: You are definitely not alone!
Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy
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Thought-provoking? Lunch room talk? Or both?
“I find your blog thought-provoking,” was one of the most pleasing comments I received since the beginning of this blog. Another colleague wrote: “It is very easy for people to become complacent and simply accept the sorts of changes that … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy
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Piece of Mind 