Amid the icy relations between British ministers and their most powerful continental partners, today's meeting of research leaders from 45 countries comes at an opportune moment to demonstrate that...
Education secretary Charles Clarke suggested at a recent seminar that the prominence - perhaps even the existence - of think-tanks reflected badly on universities. Academics were not engaging...
As the studio and archive of surrealist poet André Breton go under the hammer, Dawn Ades deplores the destruction of a unique collection. The final curtain on a long drawn-out quest to save a unique...
There is a fine line between an intrusive, 'intensive' parent and a mother who just wants to ensure that her child makes the most of her chances. Alison Utley reports. A mother and father turned up...
The Roman general was invoked by Mussolini to legitimate his rule, but he is also cited as a warning against imperialism. Maria Wyke considers the continuing uses and abuses of Caesar's legacy. On...
The crisis in the Middle East makes the war studies department at King's College more vital than ever, its director tells Martin Ince Wars looms large over much of 21st-century life. But although UK...
Susan Searle brought a Midas touch to Imperial College, where she helped build an operation that turns ideas into gold. What is the secret of her success, asks Caroline Davis. At one time, Susan...
There is talk that Prince William may quit university to escape harassment by the tabloid press, but such intrusion is nothing new. Queen Victoria was forced to grapple with the mass media and its...
Plans for the national student survey are not in "disarray" as the front-page article claims ("Student survey plans fall apart", THES , March 21). On the contrary, we are making steady progress and...
The problems with satisfaction surveys are more complex than low response rates. The pattern of non-responses could bias the results. These are notoriously difficult to establish. Satisfaction...
Questions about satisfaction with teachers and institutions are not as valuable as consulting students on how well they are learning the course and what we (and they) can do to improve that...
Isn't it ironic that a government that dismisses the results of public opinion polls when it decides to go to war should expect future students to base their university choice on surveys of graduate...
The Quality Assurance Agency's future policy, as outlined by chief executive Peter Williams, is the third attempt in 100 years to put a buffer between state and universities ("Rest assured we will...
The university admissions debate has focused on students' secondary school experience, whether state or public. The inference is that, once matriculated, young people enter a level playing field. But...
My university is attempting to put into practice the very brand of governance Steven Schwartz advocates (Soapbox, THES , March 7). A small management group consisting of the vice-chancellor, pro vice...