Laurie Taylor column
From: Maureen It is that time of year again when we deck the hall with boughs of holly and bicker about the departmental Christmas dinner. As you may recall, the Departmental Board decided that the...
From: Maureen It is that time of year again when we deck the hall with boughs of holly and bicker about the departmental Christmas dinner. As you may recall, the Departmental Board decided that the...
Education has vanished from the top of the government's agenda. It barely rated in the chancellor's pre-budget report. The contrast with earlier this year, when higher education made it into party...
The possibility of research funding going to university departments rated 4, 5 and 5* offers a bleak future for those senior female academics who aspire to undertake and manage research - especially...
These exciting new research-dead universities planned by Tony Blair are obviously going to need distinctive brand names. May I suggest Learning Outcomes R Us or, perhaps, I can't believe it's not the...
After reading Marcello Mega's feature ("If no rules have been broken, perhaps the rulebook requires some attention?", THES , November 23), I have to correct a few points on behalf of the reputation...
The University of Glasgow research project was approved by the department of sociology and the faculty of social sciences on the grounds that it was opening an important area of research. In response...
Having read Frank Furedi's article on how universities fail to challenge students intellectually, I found a column on how students can be taught to teach each other (Features, THES, November 23)....
The word "understand" is a cliche. It is a substitute for precise thinking and best avoided in statements about objectives for student learning ("Just 'apply', don't understand", THES , November 23...
Wolverhampton's vice-chancellor blames the outside world for the stress his staff feel, but that's perhaps a bit easy (Letters, THES , November 23). The world outside sets inconsistent aims for us...
The article "Bogus students abuse visa rule" ( THES , November 23) does not raise the issue of students who come to the UK to earn and learn. Some overseas students stay a long time because of the UK...
The point I made to the select committee ("HE 'overfishing a small pool'", THES , November 16) was about extra funding that might become available. I did not suggest that money should be transferred...
Two references to Edward John Thompson (1886-1946) in my review of his biography by Mary Lago ("Forgotten role in Raj quartet", THES , November 16) were overzealously edited to become references to...
I congratulate your use of the sheep photograph with "A sorry tale of BSE blunders" ( THES , November 2). Sheep are born with long tails, which are integral anatomical components and should not be...
There are strong arguments for encouraging each university to concentrate on what it does best ("Blair plans to create elite research tier", THES , November 23). But this has to be more than a method...
When John Henry Newman wrote in 1850, a university was an elite of scholars freely assembled to undertake teaching and scholarship, with perhaps some reference to crown and church for patronage. I...