Do grades still make the grade? 2
Stephen Gorard makes claims that link qualifications to class and income. But an association or correlation between two variables does not imply a causal connection, as any undergraduate is taught....
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Do grades still make the grade? 3
Stephen Gorard advocates a hurdle system for university access. My experience of such a system was excellent. I passed the matura (similar to the baccalaureate) with reasonable grades and...
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Do grades still make the grade? 4
Stephen Gorard asks "Why use qualifications as a means of rationing higher education?". For mathematics, in which university courses build on foundations laid at school, the answer is obvious: to...
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Do grades still make the grade? 5
I'm delighted that the widening participation review concluded that universities should scrap entry requirements. I argued a couple of years ago that selection was discriminatory, that there should...
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Do grades still make the grade? 6
Stephen Gorard writes about "respecting the choice of those who reject higher education". Pupils I have worked with who come from poor and largely bookless homes will be intrigued by the notion that...
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Big benefits 1
The conclusions drawn in "Transfers prove costly" (September 15) do not reflect the performance of university technology-transfer offices (TTOs). While the costs of TTOs are known, income generated...
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Big benefits 2
It is correct that covering costs of technology transfer or making a profit is extremely difficult, but it is not impossible. A properly organised and managed unit should at least break even, but...
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Understanding needed 1
I was deeply moved by the tragic case of Diana Winstanley ("Suicide don under 'huge stress' in job", September 15). I have personal grounds for empathy. My university refused to give me leave, even...
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Understanding needed 2
It is unfortunate that the article about Diana Winstanley's suicide was largely framed in terms of university staff support services. As Sally Hunt said, workloads and other sources of staff stress...
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All's fair...?
David Rodin begins his analysis of the morality of the Israeli-Hezbollah war by saying that it has been characterised by the use of terrorism on both sides (Features, September 15). He then spends...
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No sunken ships
I have long admired Leonard Susskind's contributions to science, but I was puzzled by his discussion of my and Peter Woit's books (Features, August 25). After more than 30 years of investigation,...
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A grandparent's habits die hard
A boy whose grandfather had access to abundant food as a teen may be more likely to die young. Robert Winston investigates the before-birth influences that can alter a person's life At the end of the...
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We are the enemies within
Bill Durodie argues that it is not a clash of civilisations but our own cultural self-loathing and pessimistic outlook that motivates young terrorists, many of them born in the West In a recent...
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Jump in with both feet...
...and prepare to face all those eager students. It's your first teaching assignment and you pale at the thought of standing in front of them - so how do you cope? Mandy Garner consults some first-...
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Labour's lost love
On the eve of the Labour Party conference, Jonathan Rutherford looks at how the demoralised Left can rise above the disillusionment engendered by new Labour How are we to live? The Left once...