Support and administative staff are among the unsung heroes of higher education recognised in the New Year's honours list. Among them is David McInally, the University of the West of Scotland's...
From: The Office of the Chief Executive and Vice-Chancellor Subject: New Year's Message Dear Colleagues, Yes, another old year draws slowly to a close and another new year starts to beckon. But...
A colleague of mine recently finished writing a textbook. As I leafed through the huge pile of page proofs on his desk, he told me how his publisher (an academic publisher no less) had asked him what...
Scotland is understandably proud of its universities. They produce 1 per cent of the world's published research despite the country providing only 0.1 per cent of the planet's population. Five of...
There is one persistent and overlooked problem within the academic recruiting structure - age discrimination. My experience is not unique: I know of five other colleagues in Bristol in a similar...
I agree with Guy Brown that ageing is the challenge facing our society in this century and that research to overcome that challenge is grossly underfunded ("Long life's journey into death", December...
It is so easy to expose Universities and Colleges Employers Association misinformation. Jocelyn Prudence (Letters, December 14) repeats her claim of an average or mean salary for full-time teachers...
So much noise and so little signal and sense and reflection ("Hepi has 'doubt' over citations", December 14). "Quality" versus "impact": what have the research assessment exercise panels been...
I think I can resolve the research assessment exercise-research excellence framework issue once and for all (Letters, December 14). Combine the virtues of peer review and metrics. Submit one's four...
So the vice-chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire wants to be called "president" (December 21/28). When I worked for the DTI in the 1990s, Michael Heseltine wished to be known as its...
Philip Cowley pronounced himself shocked that in a poll of 300 members of the Political Studies Association 3 per cent could consider former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy the best Prime...
The story "Campuses suffer leadership and information deficits" (December 21) was based on a paper I and my colleagues presented at the annual Society for Research into Higher Education Conference in...
Many university libraries have made the decision to "dump their print", especially in the case of journals. Rather than sending them to an incinerator or landfill, universities should consider giving...
Conor Farrington was sceptical when two American Rhodes scholars slated everything about Oxford. Then he found himself at Harvard ... Condemnation of Oxford University as "outdated", "frustrating"...
The evils of mass tourism have been overstated and the ethical benefits of ecotourism missold, says Jim Butcher. We should stop feeling guilty and start enjoying our precious time off. In the new...