Higher Education
Campaigns from the campus
Published: 08 December 2005
Leading article: Ring the changes
Published: 01 December 2005
The desire of Lord Broers, Cambridge University's former vice-chancellor, to see broader undergraduate degrees in the UK met with approval last week at the Higher Education Policy Institute annual lecture. The education consultant Quentin Thompson suggested that universities broaden their courses themselves. It would make studying for a degree more appealing to potential students. The big question is how to secure change. Vice-chancellors find it difficult enough to secure the reforms they seek. Perhaps the answer is for the Higher Education Funding Council to attach money to change. Then it might start to happen.
Let the bursary battle begin...
Published: 01 December 2005
Go to jail - then get a degree
Published: 01 December 2005
Degree classification: Have the Desmond and Vorderman had their day?
Published: 24 November 2005
Top-up fees: they won't be as bad as you think
Published: 24 November 2005
New universities tempt students with bursaries and scholarships
Published: 24 November 2005
Leading article: No change suits the universities
Published: 24 November 2005
The universities are intent on skewering carefully laid plans to reform the UK's arcane system for admission to higher education. The umbrella group, the Universities UK, is in favour of change; so is UCAS, the admissions body. A report by Steve Schwartz, vice-chancellor of Brunel University, on university admissions argued that it made no sense to decide on applicants through predicted rather than actual grades at A-level. No other country in the world does it. But it is the way it is done here - and the universities seem determined to fight change. Why?
Old universities: Big prizes for the poorest
Published: 24 November 2005
Leading article: Degrees of value
Published: 17 November 2005
Should universities offer undergraduates a broader and more structured curriculum on the American model instead of leaving them to sink or swim with a specialist degree and little support? This question will be asked increasingly as students pay ever larger amounts in fees and wonder whether they are getting value for their outlay. The medieval view of higher education as a community of scholars still persists in some older institutions. That philosophy worked - just about - when classes were small. But now that lectures are so big and students reduced to a number, there are very real concerns about whether humanities degrees are giving young people a useful and rewarding education.
Arts degrees: Too much time - and too little to do
Published: 17 November 2005
Howard Davies: Any excuse for a party. Even league tables...
Published: 10 November 2005
It has been a busy few days on the campus, as we like to call our warren off the Aldwych. What with parties to mark the end of Ramadan and the great Diwali celebrations there's been little time for work. The South Americans got in on the act, too, with "Latino Hallowe'en", and the ANZ society have been celebrating Rugby League wins as a warm-up for the forecast All Black-wash this winter.
Can Oxford University attract more black students?
Published: 10 November 2005
Leading article: Oxford revisited
Published: 10 November 2005
It is good news if Professor John Hood, Oxford's vice-chancellor, is winning support now for his revised governance reforms. We were lobbied last week by a number of dons who were opposed to his second Green Paper. We thought things looked bad for him in the discussion at Congregation, so we concluded with a prayer that the rebels' solution to Oxford's problems would work. But, if Oxford's lecturers and tutors really are coming round to Hood's sensible compromise (a ruling body of seven outsiders, seven insiders and Lord Patten as chairman) the university has a chance to reshape itself for the 21st century.
Leading article: The battle for Oxford continues
Published: 03 November 2005
On Tuesday, Oxford dons had "a discussion" about the second lot of proposals put forward by their vice-chancellor for reform of the way the university runs itself. The first Green Paper on governance had been rejected in a crushing defeat for John Hood. The second is a complete rewrite: instead of the plan for a board of trustees made up completely of outsiders, this body will now be composed of seven internal and seven external members plus a chairman, the chancellor, Lord Patten.
Why does training some doctors cost three times as much as others?
Published: 03 November 2005
Education Quandary
Published: 03 November 2005
Brenda Gourley: We must all engage with the community
Published: 01 November 2005
We have often witnessed the extraordinary efforts of people rallying to the aid of victims of natural disasters such as the Asian tsunami and the recent earthquake in South Asia. Civic engagement remains an essential and important part of life. As caught up as we all get in our daily lives, we still find the time to do something for the greater good. But is it enough to act on this sense of civic responsibility only during major disasters and let our commitment to society hibernate the rest of the time? We need to make civic engagement the norm, not the exception.
David Attenborough zooms in on life's little troopers
Published: 01 November 2005
Get to know the force which is helping to shape the world
Published: 01 November 2005
Despite its pioneering research background in popular culture, the OU has never offered a media studies course. But this is set to change from next February when a batch of OU students starts work on a new course, Understanding Media.
Academia on best behaviour
Published: 27 October 2005
Now Cornwall keeps its cream
Published: 27 October 2005
Leading article: Brave new world
Published: 27 October 2005
The attempt by Professor Eric Thomas to change the negative academic culture at Bristol University is brave. Lecturers may jeer, but this vice-chancellor and his managers are trying to make the changes substantive rather than cosmetic. The introduction of management training for department heads shows how serious they are. Universities are difficult to run, not least because staff have long been left to their own devices. Academics need to learn how to lead and manage in a professional way. The bullying that staff claim to be suffering may be genuine, or it may be that legitimate demands are being made of them but they don't understand why.
Leading article: We need a new foreign policy
Published: 20 October 2005
The drop in overseas students becoming obvious this term is affecting old and new universities alike. The big boys such as Warwick and Birmingham are experiencing falls, just as Derby, Greenwich and Southampton Solent are. We won't know the exact figures until mid-November (when Universities UK collates its survey), so we don't know yet whether overall overseas student numbers will be down. But we do know that a substantial number of universities are worried. Overseas students have kept British universities afloat, particularly in some subjects. Universities cannot afford a meltdown.
