Letters to THE http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk Rss Description en-us <![CDATA[Flying the Union flag for global graduates]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419894&c=1Top graduates need to be able to compete in the global economy, so we are pleased that the government has recognised the importance of international study for all students, including those not directly studying languages ("Willetts pledges...

]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419894&c=1General<![CDATA[Zero-sum game]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419895&c=1Congratulations to John Gill for highlighting one of the major implications of current higher education policy ("All for one, or none for all?", Leader, 3 May). The sector is looking and being treated less and less like a single entity:...

]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419895&c=1General<![CDATA[Corporate malfeasance]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419896&c=1Tony Blair is a highly pragmatic politician who reacts to the world as he finds it ("Tony Blair: up the 'revolution'", 3 May). Lying behind the changes that he portrays as inevitable are some unpalatable truths about his own and others'...

]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419896&c=1General<![CDATA[Listen, learn a thing or two]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419897&c=1The Commons Education Committee states that "a diminution of universities' role in teacher training could bring considerable demerits". It also questions the use of degree class as the determinant of bursary eligibility for primary school...

]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419897&c=1General<![CDATA[Amateur ethos]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419898&c=1There are several aspects to the question of independent scholarship ("Free-range thinkers", 3 May): G.B. Shaw's "All professions are conspiracies against the laity" is one argument; another is the more obvious territorial imperative, whereby...

]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419898&c=1General<![CDATA[Quality retreat]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419899&c=1Regarding your article on the balance between quality-related (QR) and research council funding ("Hands off the funding sacred cow?", 3 May): one major difference between the sources is the way that money reaches individual researchers....

]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419899&c=1General<![CDATA[Auntie exploitation]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419900&c=1"Screwed" is how one of my colleagues referred to her experience with the BBC. Asked to set something up for The One Show, she willingly agreed, assuming she would be appropriately compensated for her efforts. In the event, after...

]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419900&c=1General<![CDATA[Fair's unfair]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419901&c=1The Funding with affordable income-based repayments (Fair) system may be anything but ("Graduates - ripe for investment?", 3 May). If it constituted debt bondage, it might be illegal and would certainly be unenforceable.

Greg...

]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419901&c=1General<![CDATA[Alternative medicine and its discontents (1 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419830&c=1Regarding "Aberdeen looks to feather its nest in a field dubbed 'pure quackery' " (News, 26 April): I am alarmed by this article for five good reasons.

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419830&c=1General<![CDATA[Alternative medicine and its discontents (2 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419831&c=1As a 1960s Aberdeen science graduate, I am appalled by the university's reported plans for a chair in "a field dubbed 'pure quackery' ". If this is the sort of pseudoscience our funds might support, either directly or indirectly, I shall...

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419831&c=1General<![CDATA[You can be too careful]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419832&c=1In a surprisingly hysterical article from the director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Julian Savulescu claims that synthetic biology "introduces new jokers into the pack" so that among other dystopian scenarios, the "human-chimp...

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419832&c=1General<![CDATA[Continuity error]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419833&c=1The College of Law deal marks the second sale of a UK higher education entity with temporary degree-awarding powers to an overseas owner ("College of Law sale sets legal precedent for raising of funds", 26 April). The first was US giant...

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419833&c=1General<![CDATA[Solution, but no problem]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419834&c=1Unless it can be demonstrated that there is a serious problem to be tackled that would be solved by the issuing of a "concordat", there is no justification for or point to it ("Punishment doesn't fit social sciences crime", 26 April). Even...

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419834&c=1General<![CDATA[Free, at last]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419835&c=1The currently available open-access publishing options seem no better than the traditional publishers that, as Srila Roy writes, "are getting fat on the unpaid labour of researchers" ("Cracked reflection", 26 April). After all, not only...

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419835&c=1General<![CDATA[Six degrees of acquisition]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419836&c=1Is the academy aware that by logging on to eBay, one can purchase an embossed degree certificate with seal, in any subject or classification, from a range of academic institutions? The "seller" also offers reference letters, university transcripts...

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419836&c=1General<![CDATA[Tragedy and farce]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419837&c=1Articles in THE are often enlivened by uncredited stills from old films. However, many readers will have identified Admiral D'Ascoyne (Alec Guinness) dutifully going down with his ship as an illustration of the need for university...

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419837&c=1General<![CDATA[Just a little crush]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419838&c=1You report that the New College of the Humanities will offer "a one-on-one tutorial system" ("State schools fare poorly in inaugural class, but calibre delights Grayling", 26 April). Will the tutors be on the students or vice versa? Or should...

]]>Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419838&c=1General<![CDATA[When owners change, keep check on powers (1 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419756&c=1The news that a private equity group has purchased the private not-for-profit College of Law (The week in higher education, 19 April) raises again the question of whether there should be stricter controls when a not-for-profit is taken over...

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419756&c=1General<![CDATA[When owners change, keep check on powers (2 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419757&c=1Amid all the media coverage of the "sale" of the College of Law, it is worth trying to pin down the issue of degree-awarding powers as the prime concern of the purchaser.

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419757&c=1General<![CDATA[Democratic deficit]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419758&c=1The Higher Education Policy Institute report on universities and devolution produced by Tony Bruce ("Price of avoiding the market: your freedom", 19 April) usefully begins an overdue discussion about the future of universities in the UK...

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419758&c=1General<![CDATA[Metrics, men and mole rats (1 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419759&c=1The story "Restructuring metrics could fail to add up" (19 April) highlights the pernicious atmosphere pervading universities that aim to improve their research standing. Does this ever work? Not if it relies on metrics, it doesn't.

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419759&c=1General<![CDATA[Metrics, men and mole rats (2 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419760&c=1The School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London displays the Athena Swan Bronze Award on its website, demonstrating its commitment to the advancement of women in science. Of 76 academic staff in the school,...

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419760&c=1General<![CDATA[Metrics, men and mole rats (3 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419761&c=1Biological sciences at Queen Mary is a hub for photosynthesis and aquatic research. Beyond model organisms (yeast, Drosophila, zebrafish, Arabidopsis), we study locusts, spiders, beetles, ants, bees, mosquitoes, sea urchins,...

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419761&c=1General<![CDATA[Free them from the net]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419762&c=1Edward Acton's suggestion that international students be removed from net migration figures should be adopted if the UK is to build on one of its strongest exports ("Why so prickly?", 19 April). Indeed, David Willetts seems keen to see the...

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419762&c=1General<![CDATA[Fuzzy logic]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419763&c=1The article "Sector shuts out external consultants in era of austerity" (5 April) cites Birmingham City University as having spent nothing on external consultants in the past three years. Featuring at the bottom of this particular league...

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419763&c=1General<![CDATA[We're only unclogging the 'brain circulation' (1 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419688&c=1It is flattering that the chief executive of Universities UK has been so impressed by the "marketing" of Dutch universities in the UK that she has spent some of her valuable time writing about it in Times Higher Education ("A case...

]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419688&c=1General<![CDATA[We're only unclogging the 'brain circulation' (2 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419689&c=1Nicola Dandridge is correct in only one respect in her assessment of the coverage of Dutch universities in the British media. British students are not yet flocking to the Netherlands, nor are they ever likely to in the magnitude that recent...

]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419689&c=1General<![CDATA[Drink least of our worries]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419690&c=1Muslim students at London Metropolitan University and elsewhere must be groaning in despair at Malcolm Gillies' recent ill-advised comments about alcohol and Islam ("Raising the bars a 'moral' matter", 12 April).

]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419690&c=1General<![CDATA[No laughing matter]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419691&c=1Philip Diamond is wrong to think that Michael Duff's cultural impact should allay his concerns about the impact agenda ("Winning formula", Letters, 12 April). Pathways to Impact requires researchers to think about impact and non-academic...

]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419691&c=1General<![CDATA[Multiple feedback]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419692&c=1Regarding your news story "QAA's new riff on student feedback: positive notes or waves of jargon?" (12 April): although criticisms are understandable, it is good to see that the Quality Assurance Agency is finally facing up to the need for...

]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419692&c=1General<![CDATA[Breaking totem's taboos]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419693&c=1In his review of The Freud Files: An Inquiry into the History of Psychoanalysis (29 March), John Forrester berates the fact that we did not write a cultural history of psychoanalysis and its reception, and so failed to account for...

]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419693&c=1General<![CDATA[Grit and pearls of wisdom]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419694&c=1Your focus on the value of failure is to be welcomed ("Get back in the saddle", 29 March). It may well be salutary to stress that all need not always have prizes. It is surely also true that adversity produces "character". Yet the accounts...

]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419694&c=1General<![CDATA[Rune with a view]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419695&c=1The "pictured engravings" in "Norse code" (12 April) are not runes, but the only figural ornaments accompanying the 33 12th-century Norse runic inscriptions in Maeshowe (which is a chambered cairn, not an "archaeological site"). The carving...

]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419695&c=1General<![CDATA[Stamp of approval for rational visa policies (1 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419627&c=1There was some good news in last week's immigration announcements, as strange as it sounds. As well as keeping the overall work-related visa cap static - rather than reducing it owing to lower than expected take-up - the government unveiled...

]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419627&c=1General<![CDATA[Stamp of approval for rational visa policies (2 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419628&c=1One of the few bright spots for international education in the UK last year was the introduction of the extended student visitor visa (ESVV), now under review by the government.

]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419628&c=1General<![CDATA[Stamp of approval for rational visa policies (3 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419629&c=1A robust immigration system for the UK is to be welcomed, so long as it is proportionate.

]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419629&c=1General<![CDATA[Pros, not cons]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419630&c=1I enjoyed "Creative vs accounting" (22 March). However, I think Amanda Goodall underestimates the importance of good management to institutional success. The thrust of her argument seems to be that managers stifle academics' creativity in...

]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419630&c=1General<![CDATA[Battle stations]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419631&c=1The opening salvoes in the 2012-13 pay round for staff on the 51-point pay spine were launched last week with a derisory offer of 0.5 per cent made by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association to the higher education joint unions,...

]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419631&c=1General<![CDATA[Winning formula]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419632&c=1

]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419632&c=1General<![CDATA[Trust issues]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419633&c=1Of the 11 sub-themes in the mathematical sciences programme, mathematical physics was the only one ranked "excellent" in international standing by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Yet it is the only one to be cut because...

]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419633&c=1General<![CDATA[Continental tours for 'captive' UK audience]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419553&c=1Russell Group institutions may be pressing the government for higher fees, as Roger Brown contends ("Victors and spoils", 29 March). If so, they do not recognise the realities of the international competition they face.

]]>Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419553&c=1General<![CDATA[Members first, not factions]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419554&c=1Regarding "No mandate for change" (Letters, 22 March): we are the current and next chairs of the University and College Union's further education committee and the chair of its higher education committee; we are also the union's next three...

]]>Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419554&c=1General<![CDATA[Debased currency]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419555&c=1The article on "post-autistic economics" in Germany ("Appliance of the dismal science", 29 March) describes the use of the term "autistic" in this context as "controversial", but it is worse than that. Just as the term "spastic" was first...

]]>Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419555&c=1General<![CDATA[Join the club]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419556&c=1Times Higher Education singles out two recent developments as being significant for the future of "sciart": Cern's artists-in-residence programme and the MA in art and science at Central Saint Martins ("Third-culture club", 15 March)....

]]>Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419556&c=1General<![CDATA[Genius envy]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419557&c=1In her piece about the way in which academics allow their creativity to be controlled by unimaginative "bean counters" ("Creative vs accounting", 22 March), Amanda Goodall wonders how this hijack happened.

]]>Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419557&c=1General<![CDATA[Spirit level of the age]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419558&c=1Congratulations to Sally Feldman for her spirited defence of media studies from the "vituperative attacks" of a "self-loathing" media ("Painful reflection", 22 March).

]]>Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419558&c=1General<![CDATA[Take with a pinch of salt]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419559&c=1Your report that researchers at the University of Aberdeen have discovered how electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) actually works to relieve severe psychological depression is to be welcomed ("Shock result", Campus round-up, 29 March).

]]>Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419559&c=1General<![CDATA[All intents and purposes]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419560&c=1Robert Barton has the strange blindness to brute facts that afflicts other neuro-reductionists ("Evolutionary battleground", Letters, 29 March). As Steven Rose points out, there is more to a human being than a brain (and a body). A person...

]]>Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419560&c=1General<![CDATA[Do the maths: Cetls' contributions add up (1 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419483&c=1We wish to take issue with Paul Ramsden's argument concerning the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning ("A poor policy poorly managed leaves little to show for £315 million", 15 March). We also dispute the Cetl evaluation report's...

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419483&c=1General<![CDATA[Do the maths: Cetls' contributions add up (2 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419484&c=1While a full account of the legacy of the Cetls is not possible in a brief letter, one important example is the large number of higher education staff who, through engagement with the centres, have become grass-roots champions for improving...

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419484&c=1General<![CDATA[Do the maths: Cetls' contributions add up (3 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419485&c=1While the £315 million funding for the Cetl project was the largest of any recent initiative that failed to improve university teaching standards, it is by no means unique.

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419485&c=1General<![CDATA[Results of corruption]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419486&c=1Your report on a global study of academic salaries ("You won't get rich (but you might get a free turkey)", 22 March) notes that academic moonlighting is rife in low-paid countries. The reality is much worse. In many of the poorer post-communist...

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419486&c=1General<![CDATA[Tolerate this, what's next?]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419487&c=1Ruth Deech has done a great service by highlighting the failures of some universities to respect the laws that protect students on campus from intimidation, harassment and defamation ("Hate has no place here", 22 March). There is much work...

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419487&c=1General<![CDATA[Evolutionary battleground (1 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419488&c=1Steve Fuller objects to being called an anti-evolutionist and then goes on to name Pierre Teilhard de Chardin as one of the heroes of his book, Humanity 2.0 ("The Darwin delusion", Letters, 8 March).

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419488&c=1General<![CDATA[Evolutionary battleground (2 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419489&c=1Steven Rose claims that Mark Pagel's Wired for Culture is full of contradictions and misunderstandings, but this is actually more characteristic of Rose's review than Pagel's book (" 'Brain candy' is hard to swallow", Books, 8 March).

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419489&c=1General<![CDATA[Flagged up]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419490&c=1Regarding "Journalistic prejudice" (22 March). The article, about Australian media issues, is written by a Melbourne-based author...but the flag above it is New Zealand's. Granted, they are similar, and in view of THE's excellence...

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419490&c=1General<![CDATA[Dismantle the tower of 'edu-babble']]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419420&c=1I am not at all surprised by the poor notices for the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, which to me highlight the fact that the Higher Education Academy is probably unfit for purpose ("Cetls' impact assessed: the sector hardly...

]]>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419420&c=1General<![CDATA[Core expression]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419421&c=1On 23 January, a meeting of the Atheism, Secularism and Humanism Society at Queen Mary, University of London called to discuss "Sharia law and human rights" was disrupted before the invited speaker, Anne Marie Waters, was able to begin....

]]>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419421&c=1General<![CDATA[Prejudicial enquiries]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419422&c=1You say that the Academic Reputation Survey is based on the "considered, expert judgement of senior, published academics" ("Informed opinion at the heart of the matter", Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings' supplement,...

]]>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419422&c=1General<![CDATA[No mandate for change]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419423&c=1In The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy (1991), Albert O. Hirschman warns that a typical trope from the camp of reaction is that an action will produce, via a trail of unintended consequences, the contrary of...

]]>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419423&c=1General<![CDATA[Analysis of poverty is poor (1 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419424&c=1Your lead book review does no favours to those wary of the forthcoming research excellence framework ("A wealth of detail on a conundrum", 15 March). Howard Davies knows a bit about failure from his leadership of the Financial Services Authority...

]]>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419424&c=1General<![CDATA[Analysis of poverty is poor (2 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419425&c=1Howard Davies' astute comments on the REF's corrosive effects on the quality of academic writing remind me of Flannery O'Connor's observation: "Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they...

]]>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419425&c=1General<![CDATA[Elite mission front]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419426&c=1Regarding "Russell Group 'a more natural fit' " (15 March). There is surely only one word for the universities that have left the 1994 Group: splitters.

Keith Flett, London

]]>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419426&c=1General<![CDATA[No feedback loop, no way to improve (1 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419349&c=1Frank Furedi's typically provocative piece on student satisfaction surveys' malign influence on academic standards misses the point ("Satisfaction and its discontents", 8 March).

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419349&c=1General<![CDATA[No feedback loop, no way to improve (2 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419350&c=1Many of my most satisfying experiences have also been the most challenging: I bet the same is true for Frank Furedi. So why does he argue that a focus on the student experience "inexorably" leads to risk-averse approaches?

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419350&c=1General<![CDATA[No feedback loop, no way to improve (3 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419351&c=1Feedback from students is an essential element of any pedagogic process: without it, education is reduced to indoctrination. Standardised evaluation forms and formal box-ticking exercises such as the NSS are not an effective means of providing...

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419351&c=1General<![CDATA[Tourist attractions]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419352&c=1The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is rightly concerned about the effect a cut in international student numbers will have on the UK economy ("Britain needs foreign talent flow - anything impeding it is a 'threat' ", 1 March)....

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419352&c=1General<![CDATA[Slave labour]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419353&c=1Sir Tim Wilson's Review of Business-University Collaboration raises the prospect of a generation of students suffering the exploitation of unpaid internships under the guise that they need more work experience. The review's proposal...

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419353&c=1General<![CDATA[Offensive characterisation]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419354&c=1The characterisation by Ruth Deech of the Office for Fair Access' collaborative work with universities, which encourages them to maximise their range of qualified applicants (and therefore entrants), as somehow equivalent to Nazi Germany's...

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419354&c=1General<![CDATA[Gender agenda]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419355&c=1In "De Montfort ga ga as Queen selects it for Jubilee party" (8 March), it was reported that the Duke of Edinburgh was keen to visit a robotics club designed to interest local secondary school children in engineering, while the Queen and...

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419355&c=1General<![CDATA[Reach for the stoicism]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419356&c=1While it is good to see Sir Douglas Bader get an honourable mention ("Holding on to hope", 8 March), you are wrong to state: "In 1931, for example, Sir Douglas...could describe a ghastly crash with the phlegmatic words: 'the leg, the Spitfire...

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419356&c=1General<![CDATA[Tag - you're it]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419357&c=1My reading of Felipe Fernández-Armesto's excellent piece on university mottoes ("Playing to win at Latin tag", 1 March) coincided with the landing on my desk of the annual report of a prominent Midlands university, the motto of which reads...

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419357&c=1General<![CDATA[Is it getting hot in here?]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419358&c=1Here is proof that a general knowledge entrance examination for all prospective university students is sorely needed. A colleague of mine at another institution has just marked a first-year essay stating that a certain dignitary was "in...

]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419358&c=1General<![CDATA[Private values and for-profit standards (1 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419282&c=1We at Regent's College were delighted by the breadth and depth of the private sector coverage in last week's Times Higher Education ("Enigma variations", 1 March). We share the concern that many institutions offering higher education...

]]>Thu, 8 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419282&c=1General<![CDATA[Private values and for-profit standards (2 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419283&c=1Recent reports in THE have highlighted concerns about the standards of the private providers designated for student support ("QAA in the dark on 63 of 94 private providers", 23 February; "Enigma variations", 1 March). The QAA has...

]]>Thu, 8 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419283&c=1General<![CDATA[Private values and for-profit standards (3 of 3)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419284&c=1Carl Lygo, principal of BPP University College, makes a serious category error in equating for-profit universities (under investigation in the US but promoted by the UK government as a solution to a nebulous "problem" with the academy) with...

]]>Thu, 8 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419284&c=1General<![CDATA[Two brains, both wrong]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419285&c=1David Willetts disagrees with Stefan Collini that the government lacks an understanding of the public value of the university ("A mistaken conception that the university system is under attack", 1 March). He gives as evidence the fact that...

]]>Thu, 8 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419285&c=1General<![CDATA[Polar apposite]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419286&c=1David Willetts' recent trip to the Antarctic Peninsula deserves elaboration ("Journey into the unknown", 1 March). While the minister might have enjoyed glancing at an emperor penguin or two, his visit was rather significant, particularly...

]]>Thu, 8 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419286&c=1General<![CDATA[Open, moral and pragmatic]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419287&c=1In response to Timothy Gowers ("Occupy publishing", 16 February) (http://thecostofknowledge.com), Elsevier's David...

]]>Thu, 8 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419287&c=1General<![CDATA[Targeting error]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419288&c=1I refer to Martin McQuillan's claim that the University of Ulster shares the view that "universities could not be expected to do anything about access because it was all the fault of failing state secondary schools" ("]]>Thu, 1 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419216&c=1General<![CDATA[If it ain't broke, don't bin it]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419217&c=1Timothy Gowers recently wrote about his decision not to work with Elsevier and his wish for an alternative to the academic journal as a tool for evaluating, sharing and preserving scholarship ("Occupy publishing", 16 February). While we...

]]>Thu, 1 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419217&c=1General<![CDATA[Gift of tongues freely taken]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419218&c=1"Arts and humanities offer Hobson's choice" (23 February) paints a gloomy and misleading picture of the health of modern languages in UK universities. The University and College Union survey Choice Cuts: How Choice Has Declined in Higher...

]]>Thu, 1 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419218&c=1General<![CDATA[Offa's 'nuclear option' is an illusory concept (1 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419129&c=1Among the coverage of the appointment of a new Office for Fair Access director ("Cable to make selection panel an Offa it can't refuse", 16 February), it is said that Les Ebdon has threatened to use the "nuclear option" of fining universities...

]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419129&c=1General<![CDATA[Offa's 'nuclear option' is an illusory concept (2 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419130&c=1The vilification of Les Ebdon in some sections of the press, in opposition to his appointment as director of Offa, is ill-informed, completely unjustified and highly damaging to the causes of progressive higher education and the vital role...

]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419130&c=1General<![CDATA[You get what you pay for]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419131&c=1John Gill, in his leader ("Something has got to give", 16 February), raises the point that English students who will be paying tuition fees of £9,000 a year from September will expect the teaching experience enjoyed by previous cohorts....

]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419131&c=1General<![CDATA[Wholly effective]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419132&c=1The letters by Robin Parker and by Sally Hunt ("Fear of failure?", 16 February) on the Review of Higher Education Governance in Scotland, chaired by Ferdinand von Prondzynski, point to the need for a serious discussion of its report as a...

]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419132&c=1General<![CDATA[A levels are A-OK]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419133&c=1In response to the article "Do not throw that IB pearl away, richer than the impoverished A level" (9 February), I say, look to the extended project, vice-chancellors, not the IB: there you will find the pearl!

]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419133&c=1General<![CDATA[Polyglots go free]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419134&c=1While I wholeheartedly agree with Tony Chafer's views on the decline of language degrees ("Mind our languages", 16 February), he has missed one relevant fact: students who go abroad on the Erasmus programme for a full year do not, in fact,...

]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419134&c=1General<![CDATA[Unnatural disaster]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419135&c=1Malcolm Gillies, the vice-chancellor of London Metropolitan University, reports a "tsunami of late applications" as the reason why London Met is facing a fine of up to £6 million from the Higher Education Funding Council for England ("The...

]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419135&c=1General<![CDATA[Ring out the old]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419136&c=1"Policemen look so young these days"; thus said my ancient mother. Now it is editors ("Times Higher Education announces new editor", 16 February). Surely you have not stooped to Photoshopping, like some less reputable journals?

]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419136&c=1General<![CDATA[Speak out against damaging visa policy]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419042&c=1Are we ordinary academics in danger of replicating Universities UK's pusillanimous stance towards the government's ill-considered directives on higher education by rolling over without a fight against disastrous visa restrictions on international...

]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419042&c=1General<![CDATA[Fear of failure? (1 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419043&c=1I read with interest the opposition that some Scottish principals expressed at proposals to improve university governance ("Scotland's university chiefs cool on governance review", 9 February). I would be surprised if the conservatism on...

]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419043&c=1General<![CDATA[Fear of failure? (2 of 2)]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419044&c=1Your report "Scotland's university chiefs cool on governance review" is as disappointing as it is incomplete. It is, however, surprising - in the light of the furore over executive pay and bonuses - that some principals are so openly rejecting...

]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419044&c=1General<![CDATA[Down but not out]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419045&c=1The article "Crisis, what crisis? Fall in applicants meets with indifference" (2 February) was informative in looking at the national decline in figures but it did not look into some of the wider issues that have led to changes in the pattern...

]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419045&c=1General<![CDATA[Get keen on green]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419046&c=1An open letter to David Willetts, universities and science minister

]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419046&c=1General<![CDATA[Mind our languages]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419047&c=1The opinion article by Sir Adam Roberts ("Tongue-tied UK badly equipped to join in the conversation of nations", 2 February) issues a timely warning about the decline of languages in UK higher education.

]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419047&c=1General<![CDATA[Slippery slope]]>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419048&c=1As a retired academic, I was amused to read this notice posted on the icy road running through the university near my house today:

]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419048&c=1General