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News in brief - 16 October 2014

Work performanceBlack dog days for most staffNearly two-thirds of higher education staff say that their work performance has suffered as a result of mental health problems, according to a survey. A...

Pensions puzzle

The Employers Pension Forum published a Q&A purporting to explain the reasons for the proposed changes in the Universities Superannuation Scheme with the date 11 August 2014. I read it in...

Divergence is a dead end

The call by Ferdinand von Prondzynski for sustained divergence of higher education in Scotland misreads history and misinforms regarding the best route to future development (“Staying together but...

An invigorating influence

Amanda Goodall and Andrew Oswald’s lament about the state of the social sciences (“Time for a makeover?”, Features, 9 October) suggests that they are unfamiliar with the healthy and vibrant...

Liberal studies

Frank Furedi convincingly argues that the virtues of a liberal education have been supplanted by an economic instrumentalism reinforced by an ideology that sees the recipients of higher education as...

Single watchdog is better than several

The announcement by the ����Vlog Funding Council for England of a review of the arrangements for carrying out quality assessment (“Watchdog ‘no match’ for a sector in flux”, News, 9 October)...

Piled Higher and Deeper, by Jorge Cham - 16 October 2014

The week in higher education - 16 October 2014

Three Japanese-born scientists shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the blue light-emitting diode (LED), but not everyone was so keen to congratulate the trio. The inventor of the original...

Wendy Purcell hires discrimination lawyers as Plymouth University prepares final report

V-c hires law firm amid suggestions the case against her includes a complaint about her management style

University of Manchester’s Graphene City is waiting for take-off

The UK risks losing the global race to exploit the thinnest material on the planet, warns university leader

Ukip: cut foreign university students from migration figures

Party policy is to remove non-European Union students from the UK’s net targets

Charities’ role in supporting medical research

A group of medical charities spent more on health research last year than two government funding bodies, according to a report

SNP: let us reintroduce post-study work visas

Scottish government wants immigration powers devolved to Holyrood

Fossil fuel divestment plan provokes heated response

Senior professors express ‘outrage’ at Glasgow’s decision to reduce investment

Can we have our feedback, please?

One of our senior academics has been officially reprimanded for “repetitive feedback failure”.According to leaked minutes from the University Staff Supervision Panel, Professor Lapping of Media and...