Liberty and Zhi: Chinese and Anglo-American Ideas of the University

Host Alex Usher speaks with Katherine Isaacs, a former professor of history at the University of Pisa and former vice chair of the Bologna Follow-Up Group of the European Higher Education Area, about Italy’s higher education system, its distinctive characteristics, and the challenges it faces. They discuss the structure and funding of Italian higher education, the role of the state in university governance and academic careers, and recent reforms intended to address concerns about academic hiring and nepotism. The conversation also explores graduate employment outcomes, regional inequalities, and the ongoing brain drain as talented Italian graduates seek opportunities abroad. Isaacs also examines the expansion of private and online universities, including how these institutions are regulated and quality-assured, and the growing role of lifelong learning in Italian higher education. She reflects on the system’s often-overlooked strengths, including its high academic standards and relatively affordable tuition, and considers how Italian universities might evolve over the next two decades. 👉 Episode Links: The Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area AlmaLaurea — Graduate Employment Data ANVUR — Italy's Higher Education Quality Assurance Agency Higher Education Strategy Associates | The State of Postsecondary Education in Canada 2026

Host Alex Usher speaks with Roger Smyth, a tertiary education consultant and former senior official at New Zealand’s Ministry of Education, about the country’s recent higher education policy changes and what the upcoming election could mean for the sector. They discuss the government’s reforms to research funding, including a shift towards metrics-based assessment and greater centralization, the end of the fees-free tuition policy, and New Zealand’s relatively successful recovery in international student enrolments. The conversation also explores the government’s efforts to align research more closely with economic priorities, and the implications for funding in areas such as the social sciences and humanities. Smyth also examines the higher education platforms of the major parties ahead of the November election, including competing proposals to reduce graduate student debt and the potential influence of smaller parties on international education policy. He considers whether a change of government is likely to bring meaningful changes to New Zealand’s higher education system, or whether the fundamental policy settings are likely to remain much the same. 👉 Episode Links: University Advisory Group — Final Report NZ Tertiary Education Strategy 2025–2030 The State of Postsecondary Education in Canada 2026

Host Alex Usher speaks with Jan-Martin Wiarda, one of Germany’s leading education journalists and bloggers, about the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and what its growing political influence could mean for German higher education. They discuss the AfD’s origins and political agenda, its views on universities, science and academic freedom, and the reasons for its growing support across Germany. The conversation also explores how the country’s federal system could affect higher education policy, including the ability of state governments to influence universities through funding and the potential for political pressure to lead to institutional self-censorship. Wiarda also considers how German universities might respond if the AfD gains further power at the state level, and whether the country’s consensus-based higher education system can adapt to a political force that rejects consensus. 👉 Episode Links: Der Wiarda Blog The State of Postsecondary Education in Canada 2026

Host Alex Usher speaks with novelist, Randy Boyagoda, about his new novel, Lords of Serendipity. They discuss what distinguishes Boyagoda’s novel from the traditional campus fiction genre, including its focus on multiple universities, international students, and the global higher education system. The conversation explores the pressures and incentives that shape universities, from international tuition and admissions to the ways students, professors, and administrators can become caught in systems of competition, ambition, and financial pressure. The episode also considers the moral compromises that can emerge within higher education, and what fiction can reveal about the people and institutions navigating those pressures. 👉 Episode Links: Lords of Serendipity by Randy Boyagoda

Host Alex Usher speaks with Alma Maldonado-Maldonado, an education researcher at CINESTAV and a member of the independent commission that investigated UNAM’s 2026 entrance exam, about the cheating scandal that followed the university’s first fully online undergraduate admissions test. They discuss how unusual patterns in the exam results raised concerns about widespread cheating, the various ways students may have circumvented the online testing system, and the challenges of determining individual responsibility when the integrity of the exam as a whole has been called into question. Alma Maldonado-Maldonado also explains the commission’s recommendation for a partial retest, the protests and consequences that followed, and what the episode reveals about the challenges universities face as admissions testing moves online.