Laurie Taylor column
Dear Maureen Sorry to be so elusive but it's difficult to pick up messages in the Pyrenees where I'm having a brief respite after a hectic fortnight at the Toulouse conference on Comparative...
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Alan Ryan
By 'dumbing up' in education, more people are studying for longer, but the end result is conformity and lack of imagination in the system. The annual recriminations over A-level standards invite an...
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Leader: Common ground for engagement
The Commonwealth appears an anachronism to many people, part of the outmoded paraphernalia of postcolonialism, more redolent of the middle of the last century than the new millennium. When it does...
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Leader: Words to tax ministers
When is a top-up fee an individualised graduate tax? Answer: never, according to the Department for Education and Skills. Ministers will continue to refer to variable fees, and this autumn's...
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Power to the people
Hasan Suroor outlines an initiative in India that aims to provide recourse to the law for ordinary people. Vast numbers of Indians have no idea about their legal rights and do not know where to turn...
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Association of Commonwealth Universities Conference Preview
ACU - Belfast 2003 Can universities worldwide make a difference to the viability and quality of the societies in which they are located, or are they expensive luxuries? Vice-chancellors and other...
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First people's fight for rights
South Africa has set up a project to protect indigenous knowledge from being plundered by big business. Karen MacGregor reports. Earlier this year, the San, South Africa's first people, won the first...
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Native wisdom is retained by wise natives
A first-nations group is taking control of academic studies of its people. Philip Fine reports from Canada. Researchers specialising in aboriginal issues have gained access to rich cultural resources...
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Light up some sweet grass for a smudge and a bit of counselling Canadian style
A unique programme that aims to bridge traditional native healing and contemporary psychological counselling has been launched from a university on the Canadian prairies, writes Philip Fine. The...
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Freeing prisoners from the threat of infection
In Zambia, a university project is working to prevent the spread of Aids in jails, while in India students are benefiting from an awareness programme. Prisoners are imprisoned "to be reformed, not to...
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A sure cure for ignorance
In a country where smallpox is still regarded in rural areas as divine retribution for past sins rather than a curable disease, widespread ignorance and prejudice about Aids should come as no...
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Do human rights stand a chance post - 9/11?
'Human rights are never achievedI' argues law professor and UN delegate Sir Nigel Rodley, but, he tells Sean Coughlan, the world is still moving in the right direction. "The bigger the danger, the...
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One light bulb and an illuminating year
Jocasta Gardner brought a breath of fresh air to Albanian teaching. Or was it just the constantly open windows? I am not sure anything in the British or German university systems would have prepared...
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Lighten up, let your hair down, stop griping
Busy during the holidays? Who are you trying to kid? asks Valerie Atkinson in the latest in our summer vacation series. Just once, could we not all admit that the summer vacation is a doddle? Less so...
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South Sea crusade
The preservation and documentation of endangered languages has been deemed a priority in the South Pacific islands. Geoff Maslen reports. More than 1,100 languages are spoken on the islands that dot...