Higher Education
Leading article: Alumni must learn to give
Published: 15 February 2007
Today, Tony Blair announces a government funding scheme to help universities to build up endowments on the American model. This is good news for British higher education, which has been slow to get going with developing good alumni databases and donation programmes. Apart from Oxford and Cambridge, which raise about £100m a year each, few universities in the UK have been able to do any meaningful fundraising. The annual giving rate of such universities is a little less than 1 per cent, which means that only one in 100 graduates is giving to his or her Alma Mater. That is pathetic. But, with the help of the Prime Minister's matching scheme, it should improve. The hope must be that the UK can begin to embed charitable giving into its culture in the same way that the US has.
Bill Rammell: Positive picture proves the critics wrong
Published: 15 February 2007
In 2002, the president of the National Union of Students said that higher university tuition fees would result in an elitist system where a student's wealth rather than intellect would determine their success. But today the critics of fees are being proved emphatically wrong.
Talking school dropouts round to university
Published: 15 February 2007
Against The Grain: The law doesn't stop under-16s having sex
Published: 15 February 2007
Matthew Waites is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Glasgow. He argues that we need to lower the age of consent for sex.
Leading article: Wizard of Oz
Published: 08 February 2007
The arrival of another Antipodean to take the helm of a British university is good news. Malcolm Gillies, who will take over at City University in the summer of this year, has experience of working at leading institutions in both Australia and America and will bring fresh eyes to the business of running a university.
Australian in London: City University's new vice-chancellor
Published: 08 February 2007
Against The Grain: 'There are strong indications of intelligent design'
Published: 08 February 2007
Stuart Burgess is Professor of design and nature in the department of mechanical engineering at Bristol University. He argues that intelligent design is as valid a scientific concept as evolution.
The University of Gloucestershire: Green dream at a price you can afford
Published: 01 February 2007
Malcolm McVicar: Universities safeguard foundation degrees
Published: 01 February 2007
With the Further Education and Training Bill receiving its third reading in the House of Lords this week, the Government has raised the prospect of further education colleges being allowed to award their own foundation degrees.
Leading article: Green shoots
Published: 01 February 2007
The case of the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham is instructive (see page 10). It became a university just over five years after growing like mad and building new halls of residence and campuses to keep students happy. Patricia Broadfoot, the new vice-chancellor, now has the job of fashioning an image and strategy for the place out of a collection of disparate subjects and campuses. Her decision to expand offerings for adult learners, postgraduates and overseas students makes sense. If she can also turn the university into the greenest in the UK, she will give it an identity that will distinguish it from others.
Leading article: Chemistry lesson
Published: 25 January 2007
The position of chemistry in our universities has been turned round remarkably swiftly.
Susan Bassnett: Anger and outrage at the corporate model
Published: 25 January 2007
As 2006 drew to a close, so too did the reforming aspirations of the Oxford vice-chancellor when a large majority of his opponents voted down his plans for major governance reforms.
Against The Grain: '"Zionist" has now become an insult, an epithet for evil'
Published: 25 January 2007
David Hirsh is lecturer in sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He argues that anti-Semitic ways of thinking are becoming acceptable in Academe and public life, and that this encourages rising levels of violence on the street
Chemistry returns to its element in universities
Published: 25 January 2007
Leading article: A lesser degree
Published: 18 January 2007
The news that an amazing 60 per cent of graduates are now getting first or upper second class degrees shows that grade inflation has reached new heights and that degree classifications need to be pensioned off.
How Greenwich University is helping to rebuild the Cutty Sark
Published: 18 January 2007
The Greenwich skyline is not the same without them. Across the river, Canary Wharf looks a little lost without the visual anchor of the Cutty Sark's 100ft masts, a reminder of where all that wealth came from. But now modern industry is repaying the favour. The masts have gone as part of a £25m conservation project involving Greenwich University that is using the computer modelling of hi-tech industry to serve Britain's heritage.
Leading article: Learning to move with the times
Published: 11 January 2007
Universities, particularly the pre-1992 institutions, have traditionally given little thought to pedagogy in higher education.
Howard Davies: Why a question mark still hangs over the RAE
Published: 11 January 2007
The Government seems to keep running into problems with peers. First, it has found it impossible to agree on a reform package for the Upper House. One forgets how many committees have now tried, and failed, to dream up a solution. Famously, seven different sets of proposals were presented successively to the Commons - all rejected.
Universities: The learning mould is smashed
Published: 11 January 2007
Leading article: Model university
Published: 14 December 2006
The £2,000 scholarships being offered by Oxford Brookes University to all students with three A grades at A-level is a sign of that institution's strength in the marketplace.
Wrongful convictions: the students battling to help inmates
Published: 14 December 2006
Iraq's universities are in meltdown
Published: 07 December 2006
Leading article: Iraq's scholars - we can help
Published: 07 December 2006
All credit to the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (Cara) for taking action to support Iraqi students and scholars.
Postgraduate Lives: John Collings, University of East London student
Published: 07 December 2006
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