The Pick - Shakespeare's Globe
From first base to learning space
From first base to learning space

Jack Forbes, a pioneer of Native American studies, was not afraid to take "unpopular and risky" decisions, and helped to found the first Native American college in California.Professor Forbes was...
In a letter to ߣߣÊÓÆµ on 10 March ("Employers, it's Acas or action - your choice"), Sally Hunt, the University and College Union's general secretary, threatens strike action to...
Earlier this month, 681 "deeply concerned" academics from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge wrote an open letter to The Independent newspaper, claiming that they had been forced to "fly blind...
Can someone explain why none of the three research excellence framework panellists selected to represent Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American studies on the modern languages panel has any previous...
Responses to the Bailey Review on the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood led by Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers' Union, are due this week.The report promises to address...
In his article about whether or not Alfred Toepfer was a Nazi advocate ("Tainted money", 10 March), Richard Evans reports that "(Michael) Pinto-Duschinsky notes that a subsidiary of the Toepfer...
As a zoologist (and a pedant), I was intrigued by the wasps' nest image in "Odds and Quads" (10 March). First, the nest is upside down. Second, the picture has no indication of scale - it is...
The current debate on variable tuition fees and competition seems to miss the point that there are some areas where price is a relatively trivial element in decision-making. I am sure that a...
Those who drew up the questions for the UK's 2011 Census obviously have blank spots in their education. Individuals are asked to indicate whether they have a higher degree, for example, an MA, PhD or...
I note that Lord Hutton's plans for public sector pensions mean that university staff would have to work longer to get full pensions ("Peer's pension advice signals end to final-salary deals", www....

Academics without the freedom to exercise judgement are not true academics. Frank Furedi explains why scholars must resist the rise of proceduralism
There's no such thing as a typical academic, but some have more unusual backgrounds than others. Matthew Reisz discovers some startling stories

Woody Allen's latest satire has worthwhile things to say of the US. Pity it's set in Britain, says Duncan Wu

'Why are we here? Where do we come from?' Brian Cox has the answers, says Gary Day