Don's Diary
Sunday Spent the weekend working on EU proposals. Has it been worthwhile? With only a 10-15 per cent chance of success, should we have invested three weeks of our time in an 80-page proposal? Yes....
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Look out for SuperJanet
An imminent announcement is expected on the retirement of John Sizer, founding chief executive of the Scottish higher and further education funding councils. Bets are already being placed on his...
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What's in a name?
Sean Farren, Northern Ireland's minister for higher and further education, has lost the battle over his department's unwieldy title. Since being set up more than a year ago, his Department of Higher...
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Singing gerbils
Are music students so financially stretched that they cannot afford instruments? Next week will see the first intercollegiate a cappella championship. The universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Newcastle...
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In the news: Jocelyn Prudence
The new chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, Jocelyn Prudence, will have less than a month to avert national industrial action by academic and support staff. The...
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On the move
Sir Alec Broers , vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, has been named president of the Royal Academy of Engineering . Caroline Chambers has been appointed graduate pathway coordinator at...
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Glittering prizes
St Mary's College, University of Surrey , has made honorary fellows of: Robert Estall , former vice-chairman of the board of governors; Michael Garnett , missionary priest of the Westminster diocese...
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Eyewitness: peregrine falcons face conflict with pigeon racers
The peregrine falcon is internationally an endangered species, listed in the Red Data books of countries as disparate as the United States, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The bird's...
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Bye-bye, nice to have met
When we talk about momentous occasions in academe we usually refer to things like commencements, the publication of a book, or the winning of a prize. Clearing out an office seems merely routine. But...
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World watch
Zacatecas More than 1,700 teaching staff at Mexico's Universidad Aut"noma de Zacatecas have halted lectures for 18,000 students in support of a demand for a 30 per cent pay rise after rejecting a 10....
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Greece's plans for technical institutes upset its universities
The Greek government's efforts to upgrade technological institutes have provoked deep divisions in the academic community. University and technological institute chancellors have convened meetings to...
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Oldest school seeks new tie
France's oldest grande ecole, the elite engineering school Ponts et Chaussées, is undergoing a transformation as it opens up internationally and expands its programmes to provide more management and...
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Rome called on to end GM ban
A lobby of 1,500 of Italy's most eminent scientists, including two Nobel prizewinners, has protested at a government ban on genetic research for agricultural products. The scientists also called for...
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Trainees demand worker status
Three thousand trainee research-ers converged on Madrid last month to deliver a list of complaints to the Spanish government. They claim that while they are officially classified as students, their...
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Aussie campus opens South African branch
Melbourne's Monash University claims it will become the first foreign university to open a campus in South Africa this month. The university had predicted an initial enrolment of 300 students, but...