Since the 1960s we have moved rapidly from a "doctor knows best" society in which medical paternalism was common, towards a society that celebrates patients' rights to make informed decisions about...
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES- EvolutionBy Douglas Futuyma, distinguished professor of ecology and evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Palgrave Macmillan, £40.99. ISBN 9780878932238Futuyma...
Your leading article proclaims that universities "have been doing much more for much less" ("Unite to fight the betrayal", 25 July). Pardon? Have they not seen major increases in undergraduate...
This year's Reith lecturer, Michael Sandel, has revealed his conservatism. During his first two talks, the Harvard University professor was at pains to appear open-minded. We had to wait for his...
Angela McRobbie recommends Judith Butler's new book, Frames of War, for its "clear thread of continuity" with her early work in Gender Trouble and Bodies That Matter, but that is a damning indictment...
I was dismayed to learn that People and Planet had given Times Higher Education incorrect data for the recently published Green League table ("How green is my tally?", 18 June).As a result, my...
Problems relating to the role of external examiners are unlikely to be resolved easily, especially given the idea that universities are not replicas of each other, so a central body responsible for...
Alec Gill blithely assumes that the rest of the world is like his own niche ("Let's simplify referencing", 25 June). The author-date system is, for good reason, unknown in my field and in many other...
The research councils assert that "excellent research without obvious or immediate impact will not be disadvantaged" ("Petition decries 'impact' agenda in research", 11 June). But funds are limited,...
There is little connection between undergraduate and postgraduate success ("Masters for less than high-flyers", 18 June).Poor performance at undergraduate level spurred me on to undertake the further...
Ruskin College, Oxford has run a successful MA in public history since 1996 ("Learn to tell history with a popular touch", 25 June). The assertion that the MA in public history at Royal Holloway,...
Am I the only person who has noticed that Keith Ponting is still only 30, despite being that age since the start of May last year?Roland Ibbett, Emeritus professor of computer science, Edinburgh.
I thank David Roberts for his response (Letters, 25 June). Case rested.Michael W. Thomas, Associate lecturer, The Open University.
The recession has served only to highlight the dearth of foreign-language skills among British graduates. But are we simply too lazy to tackle the problem? Matthew Reisz reports
Many science undergraduates struggle to write well or solve simple maths problems. We fail them if we do not bring their basic skills up to scratch, argues Harriet Jones