Don't go on the defensive
Alan Ryan ponders why institutions are so uptight about freedom of information
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What are you reading?
A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers
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Leader: Autonomy can be an illusion
US academics may face less red tape than those in the UK, but they must also appease students, whose opinions can halt careers
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From where I sit: Drought, saving and spending
How bad is the drought in India? The evidence of a crisis in the countryside - farmers forced to sell their cattle, shortages of water and fodder, failure of crops - has been vividly described by P....
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Graham Rees, 1944-2009
Graham Rees, a world authority on Jacobean printing and the works of Francis Bacon, has died.He was born in Salisbury on 31 December 1944 and educated at St Albans School and the University of...
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What does it mean to be 'qualified'?
As the wailing continues over the school-leavers "qualified" for university entry for whom there are no places available, we should reflect on what "qualified" means. Anyone who scrapes through A...
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Tune in to excellence 1
I am distressed at the prospect of the First Secretary and a host of civil servants spending their valuable time poring over "spidergrams" to judge universities' performance ("Pressure grows to...
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Tune in to excellence 2
Publication of comparative performance data in the form of spidergrams has been tried before. Between 2001 and 2004, the Home Office published similar statistics for police authorities in such form....
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Selective memory
I can't help thinking that the article on Malaysia ("Quintessentially Britain, truly Asia", August) may have crossed the line in suggesting that memories of the British colonial period are generally...
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An incomplete picture
Having just taken over as head of the School of Teaching, Health and Care at Bradford College, I was alarmed to read in your article "Call to raise entry criteria for trainee teachers" (20 August)...
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Place the students first
João Magueijo's opinion article caused me great concern regarding the self-awareness of some of our leading academics ("Dummies' guides to teaching insult our intelligence", 20 August). Good...
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Darwinian politics
In his obtuse review of Andre Pichot's The Pure Society: From Darwin to Hitler ("Allocating blame in a selective way", August), Simon Underdown indulges in the pop-science fantasy that a clear line...
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Don't give me a break
Craving periods of uninterrupted time? A year without having to respond to emails? Tim Birkhead may be disappointed ("Lo, He created study leave", August).Although study leave may enhance...
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Poppleton is recruiting
I fear there has been some confusion in your advertising department.An advertisement for the University of Poppleton has been mistakenly attributed to the Higher Education Academy (page 53, 20 August...
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Bear facts about the Bard 1
Your annual feature on exam howlers ("The French Resistance made good use of the internet, you know", August) reminded me how keenly students of Shakespeare have illuminated plays I thought I knew...