Cambridge students moan about wailing wall
Students want Cambridge University to end a 300-year-old tradition of publicly posting exam results on its famous "wailing wall". The prospect of first hearing from smirking contemporaries that you have only managed to graduate with a "Desmond" (a 2:2) or, worse, a third class degree, is putting unnecessary stress on undergraduates, claims the university's students' union. More than 400 students have so far signed a Cambridge University Student Union petition calling on administrators to find an alternative way of telling students how they have fared in their finals - perhaps by e-mail, post or, if the wall system is to be retained, by using code numbers rather than names.
( Daily Telegraph )
25% of students admit plagiarism
One in four students admits to cheating his or her way through degrees using material from friends or the internet, according to a survey of this year's university graduates carried out by Freshminds, a research consultancy, in association with the Plagiarism Advisory Service based at Northumbria University. Men, of whom 29 per cent owned up to copying others' work, were worse than women - 23 per cent. Two-thirds admitted doing it regularly and 3 per cent said they were caught.
( Daily Telegraph, Times Higher, Independent, Daily Mail )
Parkinson's advance in stem cell research
Scientists based at Hadassah University hospital in Jerusalem have succeeded in reversing some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in rats by implanting human stem cells in their brains, it was announced yesterday. Other experts cautioned over the potential side-effects of such treatment. The research was reported at the European Society on Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Berlin.
( Guardian )
Quarry find reveals hippos once roamed Norfolk
A chance find in an undisclosed quarry 10 miles from the Norfolk coast has provided scientists with an unexpected snapshot of Britain in a warm spell between two ice ages. Palaeontologists from the Natural History Museum in London report that giant hippos wallowed in the steaming rivers of Norfolk 600,000 years ago, while packs of hyenas prowled the banks, looking for carrion.
( Guardian, Independent )
Roehampton gets university status
Roehampton, the former teaching college, has been awarded university status. Bernadette Porter, the bungee-jumping nun, will be its first vice-chancellor, before she retires from secular life.
( Independent )
Taking Leicester out of the doldrums
Feature on Bob Burgess, the vice-chancellor who has made the future brighter for Leicester University.
( Independent )
Back to the future
An investigation of what can be done to open up the wonderful collections contained in university museums.
( Independent )