Hard cases show soft side
A Spanish academic has helped transform a fledgling gang in Barcelona into an organisation working for social integration. Carles Feixa, lecturer in anthropology at Lleida University, began work with...
Search
-
-
France shakes up student selection to cut dropout rate
France is to introduce a university pre-enrolment scheme to try to cut the failure rate by helping future students choose the right course. The announcement coincided with a demand from university...
-
Institution draws fire as older staff let go
Ontario campus accused of last-minute cost-cutting, writes Philip Fine The province of Ontario has introduced an age discrimination law that will make it illegal to force university staff to retire...
-
EU looks to developing world as it mulls FP8
The European Commission has started considering the potential shape of the Eighth Framework Programme for research - which would start in 2014 - even as the final details of FP7 are still being...
-
Islamist threat to study
Islamic fundamentalism threatens Turkey's universities, the country's President Ahmet Sezer warned last week. Speaking to students at the Middle East Technical University, he said: "You should...
-
Cash carrot is only way to motivate all students
Boris Johnson urges a return to academic scholarships to drive up university standards Not long ago I was giving a speech evangelising the benefits of higher education, as I always do. I stressed...
-
Ruth Scurr
"Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!/ It isn't fit for humans now,/ There isn't grass to graze a cow/ Swarm over, Death!" I grew up in Slough and was pleased that John Betjeman's daughter...
-
Not much in the way of union
Unity seems to be distinctly lacking at theJrecently merged University and College Union, where officials from the former Association of University Teachers appear not to be in regular communication...
-
When the romance has gone
The British Association for Romantic Studies sends its academics news of conferences, jobs and new publications. So imagine the surprise of its 200-plus members when a private e-mail lambasting...
-
Gaps in enthusiasm
The successor to the research assessment exercise is the subject of fierce debate inside university departments. Not so outside though. Four fifths of academics have rejected the Government's...
-
Fit for competition
The US version of Men's Fitness magazine has ranked America's 25 "fittest colleges". Dickinson College, a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, has come top. Students answered questions on factors...
-
Philip Cowley: politics for morons
THE AMAZING MRS PRITCHARD BBC1, Tuesdays, 9pm If you made it through episode one of The Amazing Mrs Pritchard in a single viewing, you are made of stronger stuff than me. I had to watch it in small...
-
Absurd, yes, but still we succumb
Why, Bob Brecher wonders, do we meekly accept the downgrading and undermining of the academy? The beginning of another academic year seems a good time to reflect on what lies ahead - though it is...
-
A giant leap for sustainability
Every little helps when it comes to going green, says Harriet Swain. Turning off lights and photocopiers as well as recycling are small steps that make a big difference - so be positive and make an...
-
Battles with kilts and pastries
Name : Alasdair Blair. Age: 35. Job: Professor of international relations, Coventry University, and National Teaching Fellow. I am a fellow of the university's Inquiring Pedagogies Research Network...