It is monstrously wrong that patients cannot ask for euthanasia

Soran Reader, a moral philosopher facing the prospect of losing her life, memory or thought, is outraged that the law bars living wills

Reviewers raise concerns about RAE gameplaying

Reports expose attempts to inflate ratings by selective submission, writes Melanie Newman

There is improvement across the board - but also some disturbing findings

- While scholarship in law is "in a healthy state", the RAE panel responsible for law warns that "the outputs we assessed as below the standard of nationally recognised quality" are "more than we...

Keep peer input in REF, urge panels

Experts warn that metrics must not be at the core of future research assessment. John Gill reports

The week in higher education

David Lammy must be wishing he had turned down the invitation to appear on TV quiz Celebrity Mastermind. The Higher Education Minister was dubbed "Lamentable Lammy" after coming last in the...

Academics fear PhD quality is slipping

Staff say that pressures to get more students through quickly are harming standards. Phil Baty reports

A 'taboo' topic is aired on the web

In dispatches from the front line, readers weigh in on the problems plaguing PhDs, writes John Gill

Staff are more settled as sector salaries improve

Almost a fifth of universities say that the low turnover of staff in the sector was a problem in 2007-08, a joint report from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, Universities UK and...

'Data gap should put paid to higher fees'

It would be wrong to raise costs when students can't make informed choices, expert tells John Gill

UUK weighs up private threat

The threat posed to UK universities by private education providers will be the subject of a major Universities UK research project.The study will follow a report for the UUK by Roger King, former...

Threatened scheme praised by RAE panels for raising quality of projects

Peer reviewers offer public support to the AHRC's research-sabbatical initiative. John Gill writes

Daytime TV: Back from the dead

Reincarnation is a theme of Gary Day's viewing over the new year, from former lives to world religions

Cartoon by Ham

Hot research fronts in 2008

Data provided by Thomson Reuters from its Essential Science Indicators database

Practise what you preach

A lack of quantitative analysis and a tendency to avoid policy-based research has left the study of higher education in the doldrums, John Gill hears