The great don deficit
Laurie Taylor's weekly bulletin from the University of Poppleton

Laurie Taylor's weekly bulletin from the University of Poppleton

Higher education returned to the general election campaign in the final days before voting. Labour’s promise to cut tuition fees to £6,000 was not one of the promises etched in the party’s 8ft-high “...

Change happens only when people genuinely participate – but is the enthusiasm there for a structural shift in education?

The story “£6K fee choices: Film, not finance” (News in brief, 30 April) suggests that about 40 per cent of university applicants might select a different course if fees are lowered.Tuition fees are...
Rachel Carey’s choice of William Stoner as an example of an academic who might not survive in academia today (“An examined life”, Opinion, 30 April) is unfortunate, because he was a failure in nearly...
We write with reference to the consultation regarding the proposed closure of the Universities Superannuation Scheme’s final salary scheme. We suggest that the current timescales do not represent an...
Nigel Piercy’s recently reported personal insults about trade unionists seem designed primarily to court controversy and thereby attract publicity.We have, of course, been here before with Piercy’s...
Your Careers Intelligence piece about getting media exposure for one’s scholarly research (“Don’t bore us – get to the chorus”, 30 April) is right about the “thrill” of seeing one’s research getting...
David Colquhoun’s letter “Pressured peers” (30 April) discussed peer review and some of the reasons why the practice is flawed.PeerJ has been tackling some of the problematic issues of peer review...
Shahidha Bari should count herself lucky that she has an office so that she can pursue her job in quiet and privacy (“Give me room to breathe”, Opinion, 16 April). I have heard on the grapevine that...
Your financial health check of universities (“Keep squirrelling away the nuts”, Features, 30 April) showed that the sector reported net assets “excluding pension liabilities” of an impressive £40...

Ten research-intensive universities in the South of England will get more than £2,000 each year in quality-related research funding for every student at the institution, an analysis has shown

Critics cry ‘cop-out’ over decision on publishing report

Scholars have asked university communications departments to publicise their birthdays and businesses as well as academic conferences