From 007 to Registrar

A distinctive new approach to the campus novel Unlikely as it may seem this brief book offers the most exciting representation of a Registrar since Lucky Jim. Set in a real university (York) but with fictional (we hope) characters there is plenty to enjoy here: The present and past lives of James Kerr, university senior manager …

Still waiting for a decent new campus novel?

Fertile territory for Higher Ed fiction? Previous posts on Higher Ed fiction have looked at the end of the campus novel and some flickers in the embers with a few more recent offerings including the Marriage Plot. More recently I also posted on satire in HE which covered, among other things, an unpromising series of British …

That Higher Ed joke isn’t funny any more

Satire in Higher Education. I've written before about books covering higher education in general and the commented on the end of the campus novel as well as its  possible reinvention. More recently, there has been a series of books intended to capture the humorous and darker side of British higher education life: A comic portrayal of modern …

Zombie University

Zombies in the Academy: Living Death in Higher Education Very excited at the news of the publication of Zombies in the Academy: Living Death in Higher Education. Ever since the launch of the zombie course at the University of Baltimore there has clearly been plenty of room for further undead related higher education activity. This …

Secrets and Interdisciplinarity in 1928: The Combination Room

A reminder of the opening of the Trent Building The office recently received a copy of this commemorative brochure from the opening of the Trent Building of what was then University College Nottingham. The booklet contains a set of line drawings of the Trent Building together with a detailed and somewhat florid commentary by the …

The best book ever written about university life?

Cornford's Microcosmographia Academica A reminder about or introduction to a brief and essential piece of reading for everyone working in higher education. The almost timeless (well, apart from the fact it only features blokes and has an ever so slightly Oxbridge feel) Microcosmographia Academica is of course the essential text for all those with a …

The reinvention of the campus novel?

A new direction for the campus novel? The Chronicle Reviewc has an excellent article on a new campus novel from Jeffrey Eugenides about leaving campus behind. A five year old post on my other blog includes reference to a couple of articles, including one by David Lodge, on the 'end of the campus novel'. The …

“Top scholars should lead research universities”

Top scholars should lead research universities: Review of fascinating new work in University World News. Research universities should be led by brilliant scholars and not merely talented managers, says Warwick University fellow Amanda Goodall. It is not sufficient for leaders to have management skills alone, Goodall states in a new book. In Socrates in the …