Beware of autocratic regimes bearing gifts: spotlight illuminates dark side of donations
Institutions warned to take care when accepting cash from overseas. Rebecca Attwood reports
Institutions warned to take care when accepting cash from overseas. Rebecca Attwood reports

An amateur woodworker, keen fisherman and renowned sociologist, William R. Freudenburg worked on risk management and offshore oil issues for more than 30 years.He started his life in the academy as...
In your report "Doctor yes: the rise and rise of PhDs as standard" (17 February), you state: "Not only do pre-1992 universities have a higher proportion of academics with PhDs, they are also...
So "Brunel University has appointed an 'entrepreneur-in-residence', who has been given free rein to work wherever and with whomever he chooses within the institution" ("Free-range businessman hatches...
Christopher Grey offers a nice explanation of the difference between a salary and a stipend (Letters, 3 March). Unfortunately, it hinges on the word "vocation", which by definition means a calling,...
I am startled by the rush to judgement against UK universities for promoting educational links and engaging with autocratic regimes such as Libya. Is it so much worse than China? If not, why aren't...
Members of the University and College Union at 63 UK universities have voted to go on strike in defence of their pensions ("Fresh dig at Left influence in union", 3 March). They have made it quite...
In the next few days, the government is expected to announce its policy on student visas.Last week, Labour's shadow business frontbench team hosted a consultative seminar attended by representatives...
David Blunkett suggests that we are moving towards a hierarchy of universities shaped by the wealth of the students they attract ("If I were you, Mr Willetts...", 3 March). Was it not ever thus? Yes...
The president of the British Academy, Sir Adam Roberts, does not deny that there are threats to the humanities and social sciences, but says that we need to identify them "accurately, with more...
If Sir Adam Roberts is right (and we must all hope he is), government thinking is moving away from the Browne Review's "aggressive utilitarianism" towards a more sustainable cost-based approach to...
At last week's meeting of University College London's academic board, the head of the School of Life and Medical Sciences delivered an oral report introducing proposed changes to its organisational...
ߣߣÊÓÆµ's fine piece about the recent Cambridge conference The Arts and Humanities: Endangered Species? is inevitably selective about what was an extremely rich, diverse and wide-...
Nazi advocate or German nationalist? Research into businessman Alfred Toepfer and his foundation, which offers scholarships to Oxbridge students, has raised allegations of a cover-up of his support...

A university's brand - crucial in helping to attract students, staff and funding - is built on esteem. ߣߣÊÓÆµ's first World Reputation Rankings reveal how academics view the strength...