Discrimination decree 'falls short'
An attempt by Silvio Berlusconi's government to resolve job discrimination against foreign-language lecturers with a decree issued just as Italy's presidency of the European Union ended has been...
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US industry 'misuses' law to query research
A business-backed lobbying organisation has used a little-known law intended to stop the use of government money for "junk science" to cast doubt on a study on climate change. The government has been...
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Rector demands lifeline for La Sapienza
Europe's largest university will survive for only three more years unless state funding is substantially increased. Giuseppe D'Ascenzo, rector of Rome's La Sapienza University, which has about 150,...
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Putin to revamp corrupt system
Russian president Vladimir Putin has expressed support for standardised school-leaving tests aimed at tackling corruption in higher education. Mr Putin gave his backing for unified state exams that...
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Final frontier requires pioneering solutions
Will science win or lose? The UK must decide where it stands on the future of European policy, says Ian Halliday Across Europe there is an acceptance that a knowledge-based economy, driven by...
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Alison Wolf
Civic universities are losing out in league tables, but a push to re-establish city identities could help to shake things up. I'm a child of the "home counties", a name that itself speaks volumes...
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Don's diary: New beginnings in Bhutan
October "So, when do you want the university to start?" I ask. "In June," answers Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, the minister of health and education in Bhutan. I am leading a consultancy team charged with...
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Pre-emptive reaction
Tim Yeo, shadow health and education secretary, this week stood up in Parliament to denounce the higher education bill as "bad for students, bad for universities and bad for taxpayers". However, a...
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While they weren't sleeping
The latest academic to graduate from the Robert Winston school of media profile-raising is the University of Surrey's Neil Stanley. Fresh as a daisy from appearing as the sleep expert on Channel 4's...
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Loose language
Each month, the Annals of Improbable Research selects a report worthy of closer scrutiny. The Diary is pleased to bring you this month's choice: "Sars transmission: language and droplet production",...
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Reading expenses
A Montreal business has been busted for selling an illegal product popular with many students - illegally photocopied textbooks. Bailiffs swooped on bookshop U Compute, near Concordia University, and...
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Why I...believe university pay needs to reflect performance
Pay management in higher education is clinging to tradition. Sadly, tradition here means that men tend to be paid more than women, that long service is valued above ability and results, and that...
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Best not to kill bill
Labour's plan may not be perfect but it is the sector's best hope in years, says Robert Stevens We all know that over the past 20 years the average payment per student in English universities has...
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Only new breed will save planet
Conservationists must learn to work in concrete and equatorial jungles, says Richard Ladle. We are entering a critical period for life on our small blue planet. According to an international study...
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Lack of medical lecturers threatens NHS salvation
Government plans to improve healthcare in the UK are in jeopardy after the latest figures revealed that there may be too few medical lecturers to teach the next generation of doctors. The number of...