007 lent a hand
The next James Bond film, Die Another Day , due for release on November 22, will feature high-tech surgical instruments from Imperial College, London. The college lent the film producers its Da Vinci...
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Doofaas and Boojums
After learning that the project to put postdocs into schools has been dubbed Inspire, after INovative Scheme for Postdocs In Research and Education (back page), the Diary was delighted to discover a...
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No fine for cone return
More than 100 items including traffic cones and street signs have been returned under an amnesty at St Andrews University. Students had been asked to return the spoils of their nights out on the town...
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Thoroughly modern gals
Charm school Lucie Clayton College - described as an alternative to university for post A-level students - is to merge with business school St James's College. The merger marks the end of an era....
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Kissed-off Dutch don
A former university lecturer is campaigning against Dutch people giving each other three kisses when they meet. Dolph Kohnstamm, who worked at the University of Amsterdam, described the triple pecks...
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Two new chiefs
The Diary congratulates Geoffrey Crossick, pro vice-chancellor of the University of Essex, on his appointment as chief executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board. Professor Crossick is...
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Luton debacle summed up this strategic myopia
Cash and good planning are needed to bolster an undermined field, say Eric Evans and Jane Longmore. A quiet note of optimism is, at last, apparent in the arts and humanities. This comes after two...
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Why I... am disillusioned with degrees
Time and experience have made me a dab hand at fare dodging. God save the persecuted touts that lurk in the corners of London Underground! I have them to thank for almost affordable travel cards....
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A law for the jungle
We should extend the right to liberty and equality to non-human animals, argues Steven Wise. The shock and novelty of the idea that basic legal rights for at least some non-human animals should be...
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Let's call it protection money
Differential fees have a crucial role to play in a mass system, argues Gordon Graham. Over the past ten years, British universities, like their US counterparts before them, have been democratised....
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Brunel sells campus and plans restructure
Brunel University has sold its Twickenham campus and unveiled plans to further restructure while offering its staff "incentives for excellence". The campus, a six-hectare riverside site, has been...
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Network funds better mental-health teaching
Four subject centres have received £75,000 for joint work to improve approaches to mental-health teaching in higher education. The centres plan to draft a code of good practice, develop web teaching...
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Department report details spending
The annual report of the Department for Education and Skills, formerly the Department of Education and Employment, was published this week. The departmental report details spending plans in all...
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Academic age equates to answer to everything
The answer to life, the universe and everything is also the average age of all academic staff - 42 - according to data published this week by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. The total number...
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Universities unite in call to hike fees
Ministers will face increased pressure to raise student tuition fees if the government does not give universities enough cash in next month's comprehensive spending review. The THES has found growing...