Driven to drink by QAA

The Quality Assurance Agency might claim to represent the interests of students when it inspects the quality of teaching in the country's universities. An incident last week, however, demonstrated how the consequence of the inspector's visit can damage the student learning experience.

Following months of hard work in preparing for the assessment and the stress of the inspection itself, a professor at Birkbeck College, London, actually forgot to give a lecture. He was last spotted heading towards the bar with his colleagues, shortly after the inspectors had left.