Education

• The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Erasmus+ scheme – a reciprocal exchange process that let UK students study at European universities, and European students come to the UK – is again under the spotlight.
• The scope of the Turing scheme is more narrow, as it focuses on outbound mobility from the UK rather than reciprocal exchanges.
• Participating in international exchange programmes offers a plethora of benefits, ranging from personal growth to academic enrichment and professional development.
• I can attest to its profound role in shaping well-rounded individuals equipped with the skills to thrive in today’s interconnected world.

Benefits on both sides

• There are many benefits enjoyed by students participating in international exchange programmes.
• But welcoming international exchange students to UK campuses also offers huge advantages to universities and broader society.
• International exchange students bring with them unique perspectives, skills and experiences that enrich the learning environment for everyone.
• Language learning and international mobility go hand in hand in fostering essential qualities such as curiosity, empathy and effective communication.

Halting decline

• The ongoing decline in language learning in the UK is concerning.
• Academics and teachers are trying to address this and have been creating initiatives to re-think how we approach language teaching.
• To truly ensure equitable access to language learning, further investment is needed, coupled with a renewed commitment to international mobility.

Sascha Stollhans is affiliated with the Linguistics in Modern Foreign Languages project. The related research mentioned in the article was funded by Language Acts and Worldmaking, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Open World Research Initiative, an Impact Accelerator Grant from the University of Bristol and a Research Start-up Grant from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Newcastle University.

• A test version of a Roomba vacuum collects images of users in private situations.
• The general public depends on software engineers and computer scientists to ensure these technologies are created in a safe and ethical manner.
• What’s more, some appear apathetic about the moral dilemmas their careers may bring – just as advances in AI intensify such dilemmas.

Aware, but unprepared

• We asked students about their experiences with ethical challenges in engineering, their knowledge of ethical dilemmas in the field and how they would respond to scenarios in the future.
• When asked, however, “Do you feel equipped to respond in concerning or unethical situations?” students often said no.
• “Do YOU know who I’m supposed to go to?” Another was troubled by the lack of training: “I [would be] dealing with that with no experience.

Other researchers have similarly found that many engineering students do not feel satisfied with the ethics training they do receive. Common training usually emphasizes professional codes of conduct, rather than the complex socio-technical factors underlying ethical decision-making. Research suggests that even when presented with particular scenarios or case studies, engineering students often struggle to recognize ethical dilemmas.

‘A box to check off’

• A study assessing undergraduate STEM curricula in the U.S. found that coverage of ethical issues varied greatly in terms of content, amount and how seriously it is presented.
• Additionally, an analysis of academic literature about engineering education found that ethics is often considered nonessential training.
• [Misusage] issues are not their concern.” One of us, Erin Cech, followed a cohort of 326 engineering students from four U.S. colleges.
• Following them after they left college, we found that their concerns regarding ethics did not rebound once these new graduates entered the workforce.

Joining the work world

• When engineers do receive ethics training as part of their degree, it seems to work.
• Along with engineering professor Cynthia Finelli, we conducted a survey of over 500 employed engineers.

• Over a quarter of these practicing engineers reported encountering a concerning ethical situation at work.
• Yet approximately one-third said they have never received training in public welfare – not during their education, and not during their career.

Elana Goldenkoff receives funding from National Science Foundation and Schmidt Futures. Erin A. Cech receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

• Distressing photos and headlines dominate front pages, and politicians stoke negative narratives about migration.
• Also popular is the “cash for migration control” approach, turning countries on the edges of Europe into, effectively, “border guards”.
• One example is the EU’s recent deal with Tunisia, promising €150 million (£128 million) to boost Tunisia’s migration control efforts.
• But there is not much consensus on what the root causes of migration actually are, and little evidence to show that addressing them actually reduces migration.

Tackling the root causes

• But which ones are the most important drivers for people to take the enormous step of leaving home for somewhere new?
• The problem in migration policymaking – which often relies on intuition and guesswork, rather than evidence – is a scatter-gun approach which lists a whole range of issues as root causes.
• Corruption in hospitals, schools and police forces can be signs of low pay, inadequate management and a lack of accountability.
• Tackling corruption, therefore, can improve lives and strengthen people’s confidence to build their futures locally, rather than seeking opportunities elsewhere.

Aid and migration control

• Tackling the root causes of migration is not an easy, short-term fix to prevent migration.
• Governments allocating aid must separate this from the issue of migration, so that this money can be channelled into what it’s actually meant for: addressing economic, humanitarian, political and security issues.

Jessica Hagen-Zanker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The source of contamination is believed to be timber waste from construction and demolition sites that was turned into mulch.
• So far, 60 locations in Sydney and 12 in Melbourne have been identified as contaminated with asbestos to various degrees.
• The severity, spread and impact of the issue convince us to call it the largest scandal in the history of Australia’s circular economy.
• A circular economy recycles and reuses materials or products with the goal of being more sustainable.

Scandal is damaging for the circular economy

• Unfortunately, this contaminated mulch raises concerns about the reckless implementation of circular economy principles in Australia.
• More broadly, this scandal could undermine efforts to advance the circular economy in Australia.
• It’s a reminder that the circular economy concept is based on a system-thinking approach, where all elements must work in harmony.

Regulations don’t go far enough

• However, it isn’t mandatory for suppliers to test for contaminants in mulch.
• The fact is existing policies and regulations, such as the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s Mulch Order 2016, failed to prevent mulch contamination.

Read more:
Buildings used iron from sunken ships centuries ago. The use of recycled materials should be business as usual by now

Why isn’t certification standard practice?

• In 2022 and 2023, working with researchers from Griffith and Curtin universities and our industry partners, we explored the use of recycled product certification schemes.
• We specifically asked for their views on certification schemes for these materials.

• He added:
  The cost of certification is a fraction of whatever their marketing budget might be in any single month, let alone a year.
• If they can see that their certification becomes part of their marketing budget, then the cost of certification is a single-digit percentage of most marketing budgets.
• If they can see that their certification becomes part of their marketing budget, then the cost of certification is a single-digit percentage of most marketing budgets.

What more can be done?

• Our research identified seven major drivers for adopting certification schemes when procuring recycled materials, as shown below.
• Read more:
  Trash TV: streaming giants are failing to educate the young about waste recycling.
• In addition, we stress the importance of directories of approved recyclers to ensure end users have access to quality, uncontaminated recycled materials.

Salman Shooshtarian receives funding from the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre Australia Peter S.P. Wong, Professor - construction, RMIT University. He receives funding from Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre. He is affiliated with RMIT University, Australia. Tayyab Maqsood receives funding from the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre.