New UCL grants omit peer review

For academics anxiously awaiting the results of next week's research assessment exercise, it may sound almost too good to be true.But University College London this week launched a scheme to give its...

The week in higher education

- Drinking games and visits to out-of-town brothels were all part of the student experience at the University of Cambridge in the 19th century, a diary has revealed. The journal kept by Charles Astor...

Lecturer admonished to 'find the excellence' and lift marks

Psychologist whose grades were raised by examiner tells MPs of grade inflation, says Melanie Newman

Online, Oxbridge drops off the radar as there's little 'buzz' about it

Oxbridge is near the top in university rankings, but it's a different story on the web, reports John Gill

New BBSRC chief executive enters blogosphere

Few senior government officials do it. And the thought of a research council chief executive engaging in the practice is likely to raise a few eyebrows.But the new chief executive of the...

Sector split over lowering bar for pupils in bad schools

Admissions staff may be more 'risk averse', survey of decision-makers finds. Rebecca Attwood reports

Aston to open specialist engineering academy

Plans for the first university-led technical college in the country have been unveiled.

Review says financial reserves are too low to assure long-term future

But unions complain that information provided is of little use for pay talks, writes Melanie Newman

CIHE: not the right time for new university towns

The UK higher education sector will struggle to remain world class if the Government spends public money creating new university centres in Britain's higher education blackspots.That is the warning...

Bittersweet birthday cheer

John Ashworth wonders whether Cara's 75th anniversary is really a cause for celebration or a reason for reflection

How can we measure the quality of research without quantity data?

The lack of an intensity measure could dent confidence in the outcome of the research assessment exercise, says Brian Cantor

Daytime TV: Time and emotions

Gary Day on the physics of time, lonely women flirting with youth, religion, and the aftermath of flu

Cartoon by Ham

Top 20 countries in geosciences based on citations per paper

Data provided by Thomson Reuters from its Essential Science Indicators, 1 January 1998-31 August 2008

A matter of opinions

Is student-centred learning a sound practice based on mutually respectful shared scholarship or a managerialist fad that fails to stretch the brightest? John Gill weighs the arguments