Radical French reforms delayed
French education minister Luc Ferry has been forced to postpone his flagship reforms that will give more autonomy to universities until at least autumn. Prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin last week...
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FE test-beds speed reform
The government has announced plans to "fast forward" reforms in further education, writes Tony Tysome. Lifelong learning minister Margaret Hodge said this week that the Learning and Skills Council...
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Exams 'threaten creativity'
Further education and sixth-form students have become so overloaded with exams that they may fail to develop the independent and creative thinking skills needed to succeed in higher education,...
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Rescue attempt rejected
Staff and students at a cash-strapped private university in Estonia have rejected a rescue plan put forward by its founder and former rector and have organised one of their own. Concordia...
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Tax reforms are key to a fairer deal on access
The Liberal Democrats would abolish fees, raise standards and offer greater choice, promises Charles Kennedy Universities have felt beleaguered for decades. Under the Conservatives, they suffered...
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Gary Day
Another fearsome Margaret is bent on world domination. But this one has a soul, even if it's only on the bottom of her 'snazzy' shoes.... Hello, it's me here. Margaret. No, not the model T. I'm...
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Toddling towards a U-turn?
After six months of honing their higher education policy, Charles Clarke and Margaret Hodge are agreed: the money going into universities would be better spent on nurseries. Ms Hodge was first with...
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Faecal fault to be fixed
The Diary must decline, with regret, an invitation from the York Archaeological Trust last week to witness an attempt to glue back together a 1,200-year-old human poo. The fossilised excrement,...
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Taxiing on the internet
The latest online-learning story concerns London's black cab drivers. Kingston University academic Walter Skok thinks that cabbies should learn routes online rather than spending years on mopeds...
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Counting sheep
Pupils at the Oxford regional final of the UK Maths Challenge warmed up with this: "It is claimed that a lion can eat a sheep in four hours, a leopard can eat a sheep in five hours, while a bear...
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Don's diary: taking the quantum world to taxi drivers
Week 1: Friday Today is the official launch day of my new book, Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed , a layman's guide to the mysterious quantum world. To mark the occasion I am invited to give a...
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Why I...believe new universities mean lower academic standards
What is a university? Since the 1980s, it has been increasingly difficult to give a clear answer to this question. When the government of the day decided to rebrand polytechnics as universities,...
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GM seeds of hope
Europe's hostility to modified crops should not stop their use in the third world, says Sandy Thomas The debate on genetically modified crops is now officially under way. Three years or so on from...
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Local deal: fair play for fair pay
There is only one winner in national bargaining - the employers, argues Peter Knight In last week's THES , Tom Wilson of lecturers' union Natfhe extolled the virtues of national collective bargaining...
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Tough love works for fledglings
Striking a balance between starving and spoon-feeding postgraduates is a tricky business, says Gina Wisker Doing a masters and, later, a PhD were two of the most important ventures I ever undertook....