Portfolio to pine for
Harvard University is believed to be willing to bid for large holdings of pine and hardwood plantations in Australia that the New South Wales Labor government is preparing to put on the market. The...
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Critical science reports 'hidden'
Israel's National Academy of Sciences is suspected of suppressing international evaluations that recommended ways of improving the country's science. The national newspaper Ha'aretz reported that in...
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Professori face tenure delays until their 50s
Italy's government has attacked the job security and freedom from control enjoyed by Italian academics. The cabinet has approved legislation that, pending passage though parliament, will introduce...
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Leader of Yok intends to talk
The newly appointed head of Turkey's higher education council (Yok) has launched a charm offensive aimed at avoiding confrontation with the government. Erdogan Tezic's appointment comes as Turkish...
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Call to double EU budget
European Union research commissioner Philippe Busquin is pressing for Brussels' total research spending to be doubled by the end of the decade from about €5 billion (£3.45 billion) a year to more...
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Minister vows to cut red tape
German education minister Edelgard Bulmahn has promised to "debureaucratise" German higher education. Speaking at Berlin's Humboldt University, Ms Bulmahn said: "We in Germany want to become faster,...
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Invest in education and it will pay you all back
Adopting the Ivy League model could be a challenge to UK universities, students and society, says James Wright Many leading US institutions have deep British roots, but transatlantic differences in...
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Gary Day
The avalanche of papers spilling out of the pigeonhole can make a man suicidal -but just one good line could save him I don't often think about committing suicide, maybe twice a year. Once in winter...
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Kofi's bound to be impressed
Those celebrating Burns Night this week included Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, who now has The Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns specially bound by award-winning...
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Princeton girls make history
Princeton University provost Amy Gutmann, nominated to succeed Judith Rodin as president of the University of Pennsylvania, is poised to make history as the first woman to follow another as president...
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Elitist Oxbridge is a load of balls
The following rant comes from John Marenbon, author of the pamphlet University Challenge: Freedom, Fees and Future Funding published last week by Politeia. He says: "All the good universities are...
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Auditors - Bland? That's us!
Is the University of Essex trying to discourage scrutiny of its finances? Poring over its accounts searching for any item of interest, the Diary happened upon the name of the university's auditors...
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Don's diary: the Pliosaur's incredible journey
January 2003 I'm in Bogotá to see the fossilised remains of a pliosaur, a 4m-long Cretaceous marine reptile, in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. The specimen is truly amazing - the prepared...
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Why I...think humanities journals are often irrelevant
Should academic journals in the humanities meet performance standards, as they expect their authors to? The answer is a self-evident "yes", yet very few such journals do so. By contrast, leading...
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10% off if you take this BSc
With market forces unleashed, Peter Knight looks forward to an end to restrictive practices The excitement is over. The wailing and gnashing of teeth has stopped, and the gentle snapping sound of...