MPs slam college 'oligarchies'
Colleges were attacked as unaccountable "self-perpetuating oligarchies" by an influential committee of backbench MPs this week, as ministers began a fundamental review of lifelong learning, writes...
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RAE can 'corrupt' research
The research assessment exercise is damaging in both practical and philosophical terms, delegates to a conference on the RAE's intellectual consequences argued this week, writes Harriet Swain....
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Wellcome fights for campus
The Wellcome Trust sought for the second time this week to convince government that its plans to double the size of its genome research facility in Cambridgeshire deserve the go-ahead. The trust...
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The search for cover
Behind closed doors and using sealed bids, Wolverhampton University is choosing a new insurer for its Pounds 100million estate. By the start of the new academic yearthe university wants to have...
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How to Assess student groupwork
WHAT Mike Heathfield describes a method of measuring individual effort without losing the benefit of teamwork. WHY Lecturers need to find a fairer way to allocate grades that reflects the different...
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Poppleton's cash call
Poppleton's v-c, Professor Lapping, (Laurie Taylor, THES, March 19) is quoted as saying that, "At 50 pence per minute this (an 0845 number for students to listen to pre-recorded tutorials) represents...
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Assessing anonymous marks
In its campaign for anonymous marking ("Pride and prejudice", THES, March 19), the National Union of Students is using a bludgeon to attack what may be the wrong target and thus perhaps threatening...
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Assessing anonymous marks
Andrew Pakes makes a very confused case for anonymous marking and fails to consider the unfortunate consequences. As evidence of discrimination, he cites high failure rates of Asian students, more...
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Assessing anonymous marks
Andrew Pakes's call for anonymous marking is naive, politically correct claptrap. First, his argument contradicts itself. Pakes starts by stating that he is not attacking lecturers, but goes on to...
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Assessing anonymous marks
Anonymous marking, as an essential part of an equal opportunities policy in universities and colleges, will assist in ensuring the non-discriminatory fair treatment of all students within the...
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Natfhe's neutrality
Whistleblowers claims backing from Natfhe over the matter of teaching material at Liverpool John Moores University (THES, March 19). That is not the case. Natfhe is neutral on the issue that The THES...
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Isn't it about time Labour abolished the TECs?
Unaccountable, overburdened, outdated -TECs have had their day, writes Julian Gravatt Training and enterprise councils are an idea whose time has gone, and they should be abolished. An innovation of...
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Why I believe research on the dodo could help save other species from extinction
Alan Cooper, Evolutionary biologist University of Oxford Everyone has heard of the dodo - it is fantastically shaped, it looks incredible, it turns up in Alice in Wonderland, it is synonymous with...
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Design and metaphor
The relationship between built form and academic pursuit has never been stronger, says Jeremy Melvin There is a certain inevitability about Norman Foster designing a management faculty, Ted Cullinan...
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Management of maintenance when a quick fix fails
Cars, unlike buildings, have a habit of spluttering to a halt unless regularly maintained. Buildings, as many universities well know, can stagger on for decades, becoming unreliable and depressing...