IT news in brief
Cheap connection The Brazilian government plans to extend internet use among low-income groups by offering loans to buy the Computador Popular - a purpose-built, no-frills computer costing 645 reais...
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Time to open ears and minds to globalisation
The 'non-official' Commonwealth can help provide valuable insights into global issues, argues Timothy Shaw. The escalating standoff between advocates of "globalisation" and the "anti-globalisation...
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Colleges fight more powers for the LSC
College chiefs have condemned a covert plan by the Learning and Skills Council to acquire "draconian" powers that they say would threaten institutional autonomy. The proposals, which would allow the...
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Final-year medical students not ready for ward
Too many medical students have little or no experience of core clinical skills, according to a study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine , writes Claire Sanders. The study by Peter...
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Hiccup for NHS university
The University of the National Health Service, one of Labour's top ten manifesto promises, has temporarily changed its name to NHSU while it seeks proper university status. A Department of Health...
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SA shakes up further education
The number of further education colleges in South Africa is to be slashed from 152 to 50 through mergers that must take place within the next 18 months and are aimed at improving the sector's...
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Help train if you gain
Employers should help fund the universities that educate their workforce, says Muriel Egerton. The current student funding system derives from the replacement of the Robbins system of subsidised...
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The macho world of academia
Are women in universities being sidelined by the 'new academic order'? asks Richard Collier. In today's marketised world, university education is seen as an industry, increasingly preoccupied with...
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Why I think the popular view of Indian history needs challenging
In the series that I am presenting on Channel 4, An Indian Affair , I look at the relationship between Britain and India, beginning with the East India Company and Robert Clive and finishing with the...
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Agony aunt
Q. What do students do on the web? And if it is what I think it is, should I stop it - or join in? A. Like any learning environment, the worldwide web offers a feast of enriching educational...
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Having the backup when the heat is on
A fire ravaged the informatics department at City University in May, but Anne McHardy found high and low-tech procedures saved vital programs. Two days after a fire destroyed a third of City...
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The burden of proof
As British blood donations are banned by anxious countries, a team believes it may have found a simple test for vCJD. Emma Baines reports Last year, when the European authorities were advised by...
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Europe promises a whiff of freedom
The EU's Framework 6 will give more autonomy to managers of research projects and harmonise intellectual property rules, Keith Nuthall reports The European Commission has proposed the detailed formal...
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Mimic packs armful of tricks
Eat your heart out, Rory Bremner. Scientists have discovered an Indonesian octopus that can alter the shape and colour of its body to mimic at least three different creatures. While other species...
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Air takes heat for the climate
The atmosphere is the great leveller when it comes to determining global climate. Scientists have found that it plays a much greater role in redistributing heat from the tropics to the poles than do...