Higher Education
Leading article: Time to say 'yes'
Published: 06 July 2006
If academics vote to reject the 13.1 per cent deal, as some of the left-wing activists want, the national pay bargaining machinery could fall apart. The industrial action would, presumably, begin again, increasing discontent on the campuses, and universities would begin to reach their own deals with lecturers. This could mean some academics at rich institutions doing well and others at the poorer ones doing badly. None of this would be in the interests of the new University and College Union, which needs to inject some realism into the expectations of members. Some universities cannot pay 13.1 per cent without making redundancies.
Boris Johnson: Hard work - and blond ambition
Published: 06 July 2006
Degrees in Travel and Tourism: Going on holiday can be a serious business
Published: 29 June 2006
Andrew Oswald: We should give research cash to original thinkers
Published: 29 June 2006
Truth does not discover itself. If we accept that the discovery of new knowledge is important, then as a nation we must choose how to reward the talented people and teams who can see their way through a blizzard of convention to the flag of extraordinary new findings. To ensure this, we have to provide incentives and to ensure fairness.
Leading article: No race bias
Published: 29 June 2006
It is understandable that Trevor Phillips, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality, should want to make universities aware of race in their admissions policies. Ethnic minority students tend to be concentrated in a few new universities. But on the evidence available - from the Higher Education Funding Council - there is no bias in admissions. Ethnic minority students are choosing to attend metropolitan universities. The question is whether they do so in full knowledge of all the facts.
Segregation: who is to blame?
Published: 29 June 2006
Sign up here for new degrees in 2006
Published: 29 June 2006
Leading article: Sussex woes
Published: 22 June 2006
Running a university is a tough job in today's world of inadequate funding, intensifying competition and accountability. No one likes change, and universities are having to undergo a great deal of it in order to stay alive. That puts the onus on the vice chancellor to persuade the staff, if not the students, that his or her plans for reform make sense. But it also means that the academics have the responsibility to consider all the facts carefully and not oppose all change regardless.
Lights, camera, protest: The film that rocked Sussex University
Published: 22 June 2006
Leading article: Lecturers have won a good deal
Published: 15 June 2006
Now that the dust is settling on the lecturers' pay dispute it is possible to look at what happened and where academics stand now. The lecturers received a remarkably good press, perhaps not surprising when you consider the historic underpayment of the university world. The university employers, by contrast, were much less nimble in getting their message out. They were particularly bad at hammering home the point that academics were getting not only the 13.1 per cent final offer over three years, but also another 3 to 5 per cent on top of that as part of the framework agreement.
Universities: Can Europe rise to the US challenge?
Published: 15 June 2006
Leading article: Oxford's plan makes sense
Published: 08 June 2006
Oxford University last week announced it was to press ahead with controversial reforms of the way that it governs itself despite bitter opposition from some dons.
Why Exeter University defends the closure of its chemistry department
Published: 08 June 2006
Alan Ryan: Why I'm paying our tutors more money
Published: 08 June 2006
Everyone knows that over the past 30 years academic pay has slipped compared with similar white-collar occupations. In the Sixties, a professor made much the same as an under-secretary in the civil service, a keeper at the British Museum, a GP, or a solicitor in mid-career.
Hi-tech hotspot of the North
Published: 01 June 2006
Shell's Technology Enterprise Programme: One big Step for studentkind
Published: 25 May 2006
Susan Bassnett: Why must the students always be the losers?
Published: 25 May 2006
Two old stories have been back in the news lately: the first is that two-year degrees have been resurrected, with a handful of universities about to engage in pilot schemes.
Leading article: A history lesson for universities
Published: 25 May 2006
The one ray of hope in the lecturers' pay dispute is that the two sides are still talking. The unions and university employers were meeting as we went to press to explore whether there were any avenues open to resolve the dispute. The prospects do not look rosy - at least until the unions' conferences and the merger of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (Natfhe) are out of the way. Even then, there will be competition between the two top dogs of the unions, Sally Hunt of the AUT and Roger Kline of Natfhe, to see who can more successfully capitalise on the militant mood of the academic troops. The election for the new general secretary of the merged union will take place later this year and the atmosphere will remain febrile until then.
Criminology Degrees: Clues to a career as a crime solver
Published: 25 May 2006
Widening access to university
Published: 25 May 2006
Welcome to Push Guides
Published: 24 May 2006
The Push Guides tell students the real story and tells it straight. All the guides are written and researched by students and recent graduates, with a unique team of on-the-ground student researchers interviewing thousands of students every year about the real issues that concern them.
The Push Guide to Which University 2007-08
Published: 24 May 2006
A one-stop reference to choosing a university. Ruthlessly independent, this book contains tell-it-like-it-is profiles of every university in the UK. It is the most detailed, accessible and relevant guidebook to student life.
Univesity students: They can't write, spell or present an argument
Published: 24 May 2006
University of the West of England goes Howard's way
Published: 18 May 2006
Get ready for the Microsoft Masters
Published: 18 May 2006
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