Prime Minister unveils election pledges at University of Nottingham

Prime Minister unveils election pledges at University of Nottingham The Prime Minister used a speech at The University of Nottingham to set out his party’s five key pledges ahead of the imminent General Election. Visiting the University’s Jubilee Campus on Saturday, March 27th, Gordon Brown pledged to secure the nation’s economic recovery, raise family living …

Broken Universities?

Our universities are broken, it seems According to a new report from the Adam Smith Institute, higher education should not receive public money in the way that it does: In The Broken University, education expert James Stanfield examines what is seen and what is not seen in the UK higher education sector. In contrast to …

Creating a private university in Winchester?

Auriol Stevens: 'We should think about creating a private university in Winchester' In a recent article in the Independent Auriol Stevens offered a novel proposal for the establishment of a different kind of university: Should top independent schools set up a new private university on the lines of American liberal arts colleges, providing high-quality teaching, …

French universities argue over Sorbonne title

"French universities squabble over who has rights to Sorbonne" The Times has a fascinating report on a dispute among French universities over who has the rights to use the title Sorbonne: Fights over the Sorbonne, the seat of learning on the Paris Left Bank, usually involve students, riot police and ideology. The latest, however, is …

Research money could be better spent on teaching students

Research consumes much time and money that could be better spent on teaching students Good article in the Scotsman by Professor John Haldane of St Andrews offering a view on the balance of funding between teaching and research. The article is a version of Professor Haldane's excellent presentation at the Lord Dearing memorial conference held …

Parents’ Weekend at Stanford

High interest in Parents' Weekend at Stanford According to Stanford News the high interest in their Parents' Weekend is a pleasant surprise and more than 3,000 family members are expected to visit Stanford for the popular annual event, which will feature lectures, open houses, campus tours and a new resource fair. The details of the …

Freedom of Information Requests to UK Universities

A new website offers help with FOI requests Reports are compiled by sending the same FOI request to all 125 UK universities and tabulating the responses. These are a useful way of highlighting aspects of a university which differ from the majority or examining key features of the higher education system. If you have a …

“Drop the ‘mickey mouse’ degrees”

"Drop the 'mickey mouse' degrees" says head of Royal Society of Chemistry It's silly season again. According to a blog post from Richard Pike of the RSC: ‘Mickey Mouse’ degree courses should be swept away, and priorities in university education and research should reflect the challenges facing the country over the forthcoming decades. No longer …

University news: David Cameron backs a website

"Tory leaders last night vowed to help more teens get to university" Important news on more public information for students appearing first in the increasingly education-focused and university-oriented organ that is The Sun. (See earlier post for Sun coverage of academic offences.) David Cameron kicked off the campaign by backing the newly launched BestCourse4Me.com website, …