Latest education news
11th of March 2010
Study better in cyberspace
The future is incontestably digital: the internet is changing the way we do all sorts of things, from shopping to working to running our social lives. Education, though, has so far largely remained anchored in the old world – but even this is beginning to change.
4th of March 2010
David Green: We should not cut university places
It is absolutely right that in the current financial climate, universities should be asked to do more for less to help the country. Higher education has a crucial role to play in helping the UK climb out of recession, and it is not unreasonable to expect universities to take their fair share of spending cuts.
Diary Of A Third Year: 'Student elections are a mixture of the sincere and the silly'
Most politicians would think twice before agreeing to a picture of themselves shirtless and dressed as a cat on their campaign posters. But then they're not running to become president of a student union. Welcome to the weird world of student politics.
25th of February 2010
Leading Article: Smart drugs: facts needed
Surveys in America suggest that 16 per cent of university students are using "smart drugs", such as Ritalin and Modafinil, to make them more alert and able to perform better academically. Do we need to have a debate on the ethics of such drugs on the argument that they give students an unfair advantage over their peers? Barbara Sahakian, professor of clinical neuropsychology at Cambridge, thinks so. She has even called for universities to investigate measures such as random dope testing to tackle the issue.
18th of February 2010
Rosie Waterhouse: Save us from the tyranny of student surveys
Over the next three months, final-year undergraduates at British universities will be encouraged to take part in the National Student Survey commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council. The NSS is just one of an ever-increasing number of surveys and forums by which students are invited to give "feedback" on their university experience.
Diary Of A Third Year: Not even fear can prepare you for life after university
Students are the masters of procrastination. There's always something more interesting than work. As a deadline nears, vacuuming the house and cleaning the windows suddenly begin to appeal. They can be an ergophobic bunch, but there is one force that compels even expert procrastinators to work: The Fear.
Leading Article: Getting universities on the agenda
Lord Mandelson has taken aim at academics for being resistant to change. "They think they have a right to be set in aspic in what they do, they are using the argument about spending reductions as a screen or a cloak behind which resistance to any sort of change and reform can be conducted." Was the Business Secretary referring to academics collectively at the University and College Union or to the university bosses at the elite Russell Group? We do not know.
11th of February 2010
Leading Article: Crisis in university applications
There are various reasons why university applications have risen by 22.2 per cent this year. Some are technical, such as changes to the deadline for some art and design courses and the phasing out of the nursing diploma. But, even allowing for these changes, there is no doubt that applications have increased significantly. It is something to be celebrated, a welcome sign that aspirations and attainment are on the rise.
Philip Booth: How to raise fees the painless way
The case for requiring undergraduate students to contribute to the cost of their tuition is now widely accepted. Lifetime earnings premiums of between £100,000 and £200,000 from undergraduate study are typical and, whatever the merits of government support for specific groups of students, it is difficult to make a case that all students should have all their fees financed by the taxpayer.
4th of February 2010
Diary Of A Third Year: 'Exams are a relic of a bygone age and must be abolished'
The exam season has nearly ended. The crowds in the library are thinning and there are fewer groups of smokers outside exam halls. For me, though, the exam season has been a breeze – mainly because I haven't had any.
28th of January 2010
Sir David Melville: We need the best tutors to prepare future workers
The education and skills system is facing up to the fact that the UK's mountainous budget deficit will lead inexorably to major funding cuts. The relative protection of schools means that reductions will impact chiefly on further and higher education and the intermediary bodies in the skills system. So, what does this mean?
Leading Article: Calling a spade a spade
It is rather refreshing to have David Lammy, the Higher Education minister, speak his mind about universities and the cutbacks. Higher education establishments certainly cannot complain that ministers are not coming clean with them. Writing in the magazine Policy Review, Mr Lammy said it would be a good few years before universities could expect to see any really significant increase in public funding. Therefore they could either contract or try to drum up funds from other sources by offering bespoke teaching to industry or setting up campuses abroad.
21st of January 2010
The LSE is getting back to its social science roots
This term, Britain's social-science powerhouse, the London School of Economics (LSE), is introducing an ambitious compulsory new course for first and second-year students taught by some of its most glittering academics and concentrating on the big questions of today.
Leading Article: Are British universities crying wolf over budget cuts?
The Russell Group's warning that British universities risk being brought to their knees by cuts of almost £200m over the next three years may be over the top. This is a reduction of around 12 per cent and other areas of public expenditure will have to suffer this kind of pain as well in order to reduce the public debt. Higher education is not being singled out – and it has, as anyone who has visited a university recently knows, seen amazing expansion. New buildings, new labs, swanky halls of residence have sprouted all over England. University income is at record levels. The cuts are expected to fall mainly on capital projects. That is regrettable but it is not the end of the world. It is unlikely to mean that our universities fall from gold to bronze standard and it is unlikely to affect our ability to recover from the recession.
Diary Of A Third Year: Ski trips to the Alps are a mixture of immaturity and lewdness
It's 12.30am at Dover ferry port. Covered in face paint, a student from Manchester University is being held with his arms behind his back, as another tries to pull his trousers down. Two policemen appear. Seeing the police, one lets go, while the other continues to pull at his friend's pants. A policeman coughs. The trouser-puller turns, sees them and makes a swift exit. Welcome to the world of university ski trips.
Peter Crisp: Universities must start having private thoughts
The uncharitable might observe that British universities are the NHS of the education sector: publicly funded, bureaucratic, world renowned for their research, managed by committee and not customer driven.
15th of January 2010
Bullying in Universities: It exists
We all know bullying occurs in children’s playgrounds, inside and outside of secondary schools and sometimes even in the adult workplace, but what about University?
14th of January 2010
Leading Article: Southampton on the map
Professor Don Nutbeam, the new man in charge at Southampton University, has had some useful experience, both in public health and in the first Blair government, not to mention his years helping to run Sydney University in Australia. He knows how to get things done.