The Guardian
Barry Cunliffe, professor of European archaeology at Oxford, has turned the belief that the Romans brought civilisation to the barbarians of Britain upside down by claiming that the ancient people of these islands were far more advanced than early Mediterranean cultures.
Imperial College, London, says it cannot fill its places because of a shortage of suitably qualified candidates.
John Crace says that each year vast amounts of commercial money flow into university coffers, but without clear government guidelines, independent research could become increasingly rare.
Gillian Evans, a lecturer in medieval theology and intellectual history at Cambridge University and public secretary of the Council for Academic Freedom and Academic Standards, argues that an ombudsman for higher education is long overdue.
Helena Smith, Nieman fellow at Harvard University, says that low-paid university staff such as cooks and cleaners are voting on a union-negotiated pay deal after students there fought their case.
Peter Kingston reports that strikes in further education are to carry on next academic year as feelings run high.
The Independent
Scientists at Strathclyde University have developed a feeding device that mimics the movement of tropical trees to force captive-bred Rodrigues fruit bat to fly, instead of waddling to their food and becoming too fat and lazy to fly.
The BSE crisis, controversy over GM trials and the policy of mass slaughter employed in the foot-and-mouth epidemic have spread deep-rooted public distrust of ministers and their scientific advisers. Judges, under proposals put forward by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, want to call policy-makers to account in a court where they will be asked to justify their decisions and present the science.
Miscellany
Thor, an eight-day-old eaglet, is the first eagle in the world to be conceived, at the University of Abertay, Dundee, using artificial insemination of frozen sperm - a technique that may one day help to preserve endangered species of large raptors. ( Independent , Times , Daily Telegraph , Daily Mail )