- A student philosophy society named after Friedrich Nietzsche has been barred from meeting at University College London after it was branded 鈥渇ascist鈥, news website The Daily Beast reported. The Nietzsche Club was added to the list of proscribed organisations by UCL鈥檚 student union in March after its 鈥淓quality is a False God鈥 posters attracted controversy, the site said. 鈥淚t is like starting a society to study Hitler,鈥 said history student Timur Dautov, who proposed the ban, which has now been temporarily suspended on legal advice. Mr Dautov added that the group鈥檚 existence was akin to having 鈥渇ar-right fascists, sexists and homophobes trying to organise on campus鈥, saying it posed a 鈥渄irect threat to the student body鈥. But Tom Slater, assistant editor of online magazine spiked who runs a campaign calling for open dialogue on campus, said that the group has joined 鈥渁n increasingly absurd list of objects, people and pop songs鈥 banned from universities on 鈥渢enuous grounds鈥.
- Going to university is not all about getting a well-paid job, according to Universities UK president Sir Christopher Snowden. Speaking to The Independent on Sunday on 8 June at the start of Universities Week, Sir Christopher, who is vice-chancellor of the University of Surrey, criticised those who promoted higher education as a way of earning more money in future. 鈥淭rying to measure everything by the X number of pounds it鈥檚 going to get you, that鈥檚 not the right way of doing it,鈥 he said. Or as A. N. Wilson put it in his Daily Telegraph piece on 4 June, 鈥渋t seems so ludicrous to put a cash value on the experience鈥 of university, which in his case was New College, Oxford. Strangely no mention was made of the student grants on offer for everybody in Mr Wilson and Sir Christopher鈥檚 university days 鈥 which makes it somewhat easier not to worry about how much you鈥檒l earn later.
- A third of university-trained nurses are rejected from the NHS because they cannot answer basic maths questions vital to dispensing drugs, The Sunday Times claimed on 8 June. Challenges that stumped trainees included how many 15mg tablets are required to make up 30mg. Nurses are well-trained and compassionate, but universities had to do more to equip them with maths skills, said Claire Murdoch, chief executive of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. Ieuan Ellis, vice-chairman of the Council of Deans of Health, which represents university faculties that teach nurses, denied that nurses were ill-prepared, saying that the data did not back up the claims.
- Could a computer ever churn out a credible undergraduate essay on its own? Probably, yes, if you give techies a few more years, The Independent reported on 9 June, after a program known as a 鈥渃hatbot鈥 fooled many people into thinking that it was a 13-year-old boy. 鈥淓ugene Goostman鈥 鈥 a script written by a team in Russia 鈥 is said to be the first program to pass the 鈥淭uring Test鈥, which says that a computer could be understood to be thinking if it was able to persuade 30 per cent of humans that it was a real person. This claim was disputed by some commentators, and Eugene鈥檚 perplexing broken English suggests he won鈥檛 be much help to struggling students for a while. Asked how he felt about his achievement, he said: 鈥淚 feel about beating the Turing Test in quite a convenient way 鈥 nothing original.鈥 Not quite a 2:2 insight yet.
- A bitter war of words between academics over the rights and wrongs of fracking 鈥 and more pertinently the independence of researchers in the field 鈥 reached a new notch this week after a letter to The Guardian calling for more government support for the industry was signed by 50 scientists. The letter, published on 5 June, argued that there were 鈥渦ndeniable economic, environmental and national security benefits鈥 to shale gas being developed in northwest England. But the independence of the letter鈥檚 signatories was called into question by fellow academics. David Smythe, emeritus professor of geophysics at the University of Glasgow, said in his own letter to the newspaper on 10 June that of the 21 university departments to which the signatories belong, 鈥渁t least 15 are in receipt of research funds from the oil industry. Unfortunately, the days of academic independence are over.鈥
Register to continue
Why register?
- Registration is free and only takes a moment
- Once registered, you can read 3 articles a month
- Sign up for our newsletter
Subscribe
Or subscribe for unlimited access to:
- Unlimited access to news, views, insights & reviews
- Digital editions
- Digital access to 罢贬贰鈥檚 university and college rankings analysis
Already registered or a current subscriber?
Please or to read this article.