About Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Conversations
A podcast that explores critical perspectives to teaching in higher education. Each episode brings candid discussions with writers of articles for our journal 'Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Perspectives', tackling issues from pedagogy and policy to theory and academic culture. Join us for thought-provoking conversations that challenge the status quo and re-imagine what teaching in universities can and should be.
In this first episode of a new series of podcasts, Ibrar Bhatt sits down with some of the journal's Editors to go behind the scenes to explore what TiHE is really about, and giving prospective authors an honest and grounded sense of what the publication journey actually looks like.
Guests:
Aneta Hayes (Chief Editor)
Karen Gravett (Executive Editor)
Greg Misiaszek (Executive Editor)
27 Mar 2026
Special Issue on Conflict, Peace & Teaching in Higher Education
In this episode, I talk with Kevin Kester about the special issue on 'Conflict, Peace & Teaching in Higher Education' which he guest edited with Greg William Misiaszek.
You can read Kester and Misiaszek's editorial and the whole special issue here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cthe20/31/3 (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cthe20/31/3)
15 Nov 2025
How does GenAI affect trust in teacher-student relationships?
Jiahui (Jess) Luo discusses with Ibrar Bhatt how GenAI impacts trust within teacher-student dynamics, focusing on student assessment experiences in this interview.
8 Nov 2025
Cut the bullshit: why GenAI systems are neither collaborators nor tutors
Gene Flenady discusses with Ibrar Bhatt his article, co-authored by Robert Sparrow, arguing that GenAI systems should not be considered collaborators or tutors, offering a critical perspective on AI in education in this interview.
23 Oct 2025
The intellectual bankruptcy of anti-AI academic alarmism
Daniel Plate discusses his article, co-authored by James Hutson, with Ibrar Bhatt, refuting anti-AI academic alarmism and offering a contrasting perspective on artificial intelligence in education in this interview.
20 Jun 2025
Assessment as pedagogy: inviting authenticity through relationality, vulnerability and wonder
Claire Timperley discusses her article, "Assessment as pedagogy," with Ibrar Bhatt, advocating for authentic assessment that connects learning to experiences beyond the classroom in this interview.
17 May 2025
The critique of culture: A Chinese hermeneutics for teaching the humanities
In this episode, Ibrar Bhatt talks with Shuchen Xiang about her article ‘Problematizing the critique of culture: an alternative Chinese hermeneutics for teaching the humanities’.
Xiang argues that in the humanities, there is a pervasive tendency to view criticality in terms of the deconstruction of normative socio-cultural relationships, especially in traditional, non-western cultures. In contrast, she describes an alternative hermeneutics based in classical Chinese philosophical concepts.
You can read Shuchen's article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2487765 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2487765)
14 May 2025
Gaza: an indictment of critical philosophy
In this episode Ibrar Bhatt speaks to Alison MacKenzie about her article titled 'Gaza: an indictment of critical philosophy'.
You can read Alison's article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2502382?src=exp-la
10 May 2025
Student silence as voice
In this episode Ibrar Bhatt speaks to Carla Briffett-Aktaş about the role of student silence for criticality.
You can read Carla's article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2449650
6 Apr 2025
Rethinking critical thinking in the dawn of dark times: the role of Greco-Roman philosophies
In this episode Ibrar Bhatt speaks to Yulong Li about the role of Greco-Roman philosophies in mediating the thought processes necessary for criticality.
You can read Yulong’s article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2449640 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2449640)
22 Mar 2025
Critique and 'Qi' as onto-epistemology
In this episode Ibrar Bhatt speaks to Jialei Jiang about how Qi onto-epistemology, rooted in Chinese philosophical and aesthetic traditions, can decolonise critique in higher education by challenging Eurocentric conceptions of rational, self-sufficient subjects.
You can read Jialei's article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2465999 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2465999)
15 Mar 2025
Habermas as an ethnic thinker
In this episode, Ibrar Bhatt talks with Irfan Ahmad about his article ‘Habermas as an ethnic thinker Par Excellence: on critique, Palestine and the role of intellectuals’. While Habermas is often regarded as a philosopher of universalism and critical rationality, Irfan challenges this view, arguing that Habermas is, in fact, an ethnic thinker. His approach to critique and universalism operates unidirectionally—emphasising ‘to all’ rather than ‘from all’—which ultimately reflects an asymmetry in the intellectual traditions he engages with. This perspective offers important insights for teaching in higher education.
You can read Irfan Ahmad's article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2466001 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2466001)
4 Mar 2025
Islam, coloniality, and the pedagogy of cognitive liberation
In the episode, Ibrar Bhatt talks with Joseph Lumbard about Eurocentric intellectual dominance within the academic study of Islam in higher education. Such imbalance, both in the West and in Muslim communities, discourages critical heuristic engagement with the rich intellectual heritage of Islam. This is a missed opportunity, as Islamic intellectual traditions, particularly in metaphysics and theology, can be employed to offer vital perspectives for teaching in higher education.
You can read Joseph Lumbard's article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2468974 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2468974)
28 Feb 2025
Critique as a means of Jiaohua (Cultivation): insights from Confucianism
In this episode, Ibrar Bhatt talks to Canglong Wang about critique as a means of 'jiaohua', or 'cultivation', in the Chinese philosophical tradition. Critique in Confucianism is not merely a challenge directed at external individuals or society; rather, it is viewed as a personal moral and social responsibility. Canglong draws on fieldwork conducted in Confucian schools to demonstrate how critique is a corrective tool in educational practice. Implications for teaching in higher education are discussed.
You can read Canglong's article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2468971?src=exp-la (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2468971?src=exp-la)
25 Feb 2025
A critical practice for contemporary times
In this podcast, Ibrar Bhatt speaks to Karen Gravett about her article ‘A critical practice for contemporary times’. Karen suggests that there is a need to re-examine critical theorising in contemporary higher education, where critique is at risk of becoming stale, meaningless, even harmful. She proposes a move towards critical practice. Rather than critique being a cognitive individualised process. Her article is available in Teaching in Higher Education at this link:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2449643
14 Feb 2025
Criticality and Ecopedagogy
In the episode, Ibrar Bhatt talks with Greg Misiaszek about criticality for environmentalism and ecopedagogy.
His article in the journal is available here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2025.2465997
Who has been a guest on Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Conversations
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Jiahui (Jess) Luo
Gene Flenady
Daniel Plate
Claire Timperley
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
1,454
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
4.8 / 5
6 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 28 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
16
Social presence
0
YouTube
68
Engagement
32
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