Great expectations need a great deal of thought
Is it still possible for governments to provide citizens with wide access to quality higher education and at the same time maintain key universities as world-class centres for research? Public...
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The right time for a shake-up
Autocratic management is not the way to put an end to Cambridge's woes, argues Stephen Cowley In recent discussion papers, education secretary Charles Clarke asks whether universities manage...
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Two sides of one coin
In an open letter to Charles Clarke, Bernard King explains why research and teaching must stay under one roof Dear secretary of state, Plutarch, some say, defined research as the act of going up...
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Why I ... believe expansion on the cheap could harm universities' social role
In less than 20 years British social attitudes have become significantly more tolerant. In the same period there has also been an unprecedented expansion of higher education. The two are not...
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Don's diary: prize jobs
May A letter arrives from the British Academy, inviting me to serve on the jury of its book prize. My heart sinks. It's not just a matter of the time it will absorb. For years, I have done non-...
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Level with us
An anonymous night-school student has had such an educative experience that he nominated the Open College Network for a prize - which it won last week. The prize was one of the "golden bulls" awarded...
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Give us a clue, Tony
Nice to know that next month's strategy document on higher education is being produced by a truly joined-up government. Arriving at a conference on leadership and management in higher education this...
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Trimmed down to size
The powers-that-be at Nottingham Trent University have devised a clear indication of their regard for the status of foundation degrees. Those graduating with the qualification in summer 2003 will...
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Hussein Jnr's a super guy
A new academic qualification has been created to honour Udai Hussein, eldest son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The University of Baghdad has awarded Udai a "super degree" for his study on the...
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What a sport
Former US president Bill Clinton assisted a damsel in distress while visiting Oxford University last week. He was playing American football when fellow player Claudia Veritas cut her eye. Clinton...
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Brunel plans to set up school for disadvantaged
Brunel University wants to found a school to encourage disadvantaged students to enter higher education. Vice-chancellor Steve Schwartz said: "We are looking for high-achieving pupils who could be...
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Edinburgh fire ruins valuable AI archive
Edinburgh University's School of Informatics is appealing to the world to help it recreate its artificial intelligence archive, lost in the fire that devastated the city's Old Town last weekend. The...
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Italy's rectors resign en masse over 2003 budget cuts
The rectors of Italy's 70 state universities resigned en masse this week in protest at cuts in higher education in the 2003 budget. In an unprecedented gesture, they handed back their mandates as...
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Music schools call for a change of tune
Music professors and conservatoire heads are still contesting their "astonishing" research grades a year after the results were published. The conservatoires believe that assessors took more notice...
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Teaching and salaries push back growth
The government is poised to postpone the bulk of its higher education expansion until the end of the decade, giving priority to raising academic pay and putting more money into university teaching....