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A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers
A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Children’s hour - The obsession with contact time is infantilising our students
A project to increase the number of students doing languages at university has been awarded an extra £1.2 million.

The oft-repeated claim that the riots that have broken out in London and other cities in recent days are “mindless” and “meaningless” is mistaken, an academic expert has said.

Phil Baty welcomes a number of fresh faces to this year’s ranking exercise, but offers a caveat, too
Universities should toughen up their demands for mathematical qualifications, including in non-science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, a taskforce has said.

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed
Five institutions inspected by the quality watchdog over their partnerships with providers in Singapore have been advised to take action to ensure their written agreements are “fit for purpose”.
Further education colleges will be able to offer their own foundation degrees for the first time in a landmark step towards institutions obtaining full degree-awarding powers.

Lancaster University has appointed a senior manager at the University of Warwick as its next vice-chancellor.
Smaller specialist colleges have welcomed proposals from the government that would allow institutions with 1,000 higher education students to gain university title.
The number of Scottish applicants accepted on results day by Scottish universities and colleges has fallen by around 2 per cent on last year.
Despite annual reports that the A-level pass rate is rising, students expecting their results on 18 August have expressed a lack of confidence in attaining the grades they require.

Turn off the TV, hide the phone and wallow in the low-tech luxury of a book, urges Valerie Sanders

Biologically based aversions have fed into social and philosophical thinking, finds Simon Blackburn