Don's diary: bringing it all back home
Week One I am sitting in Madison Square Garden for the first of two Bob Dylan concerts at the start of a research trip to complete a book on him and Leonard Cohen. Both are hailed as spokesmen for...
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Why I... think government reforms could widen social divides
Despite all the noise about top-up fees and changes to student funding, what has been lacking is hard evidence on their impact. New research commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills...
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Ditch your shares...
...invest in a student instead and get yourself a percentage of future earnings, says Miguel Palacios In the face of depleted public coffers and pressure to increase tuition fees, students and policy...
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Penalties will kill off originality
Putting pressure on PhD students to complete theses in four years is misguided, insists Anthony Smith The funding councils have proposed that unless 70 per cent of full-time students at any higher...
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Speak up, don't squeak and remember to smile
By following a few basic rules, anyone can deliver a decent conference paper. Susan Bassnett offers some useful tips. What makes a successful conference? Cynics would say that as long as there is one...
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Jobwatch: High-fliers welcome
There has been a flurry of vacancies in economics departments as universities bolster their strength for the next RAE, from a heavyweight chair at Cambridge to PhD studentships at St Andrews. Steve...
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MP to sue over claim she backs top-up fees
A Labour backbencher is so incensed at a national newspaper's suggestion that she supports her own party's plans to introduce top-up fees that she is suing for libel. The move demonstrates the uphill...
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University title free-for-all
Private businesses may soon be able to call themselves universities as the government moves to scrap the requirement that institutions must have a minimum of 4,000 students, it was predicted this...
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In the news: Keith O'Nions
Sir Keith O'Nions, chief scientific adviser at the Ministry of Defence, will launch into a different sort of battle in January when he takes over as director-general of the research councils. The...
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'Porter may earn more than a don'
A claim that cleaners, porters and plumbers could earn more than lecturers under the current pay offer has rocked the delicate final negotiations over higher education pay. The Association of...
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Key basic research study proves fatally ambiguous
Key evidence that has helped persuade policy-makers to fund basic biomedical research the world over cannot be relied on, a new study has found. Analysis of work by US researchers Julius Comroe and...
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Human remains code is unworkable, say scientists
Leading academics warned this week that plans to introduce tough regulations governing the use of human remains could seriously damage research. The final report of the human remains working group,...
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US deal bias for English
Scottish and Welsh universities are excluded from a flagship US-UK technology transfer initiative because an existing English scheme is being used to finance it. An agreement announced this week by...
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Poor hit by rocketing debt
Student debt has escalated in the past four years, hitting poor students hardest, according to a government survey published this week. Between 1998-99 and 2002-03, anticipated average debt on...
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Students opt for OU to cut costs
The rising cost of studying for a degree has been good news for the Open University, which has recruited a record number of students aged under 25 this year. No longer the refuge of middle-aged...