Don's diary: watch that cow
Friday An early start for Chennai, via Newcastle, Heathrow and Dubai. I am spending a week in southern India on behalf of the Sterling Group, an informal aggregate of 23 UK engineering departments...
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Rough with the smooth
Rough Science , the BBC2 programme in which scientists complete challenges using the most basic tools, returned to the airwaves this week. But the series - which aims to attract people to study...
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Halfwits?
Speaking at last week's launch of the panel of research council heads, RCUK, trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt gave an insight into how the government might have arrived at its 50 per cent...
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No nonsense
The University of Cambridge's internal standards watchdog, the board of scrutiny, has highlighted a flaw in Cambridge's online consultation on reforming its ancient governance structures. The...
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Dundee woos Harry
Dundee University is sending a copy of its new undergraduate prospectus to Prince Harry in a bid to attract a second royal to Scotland. The university says Dundee not only boasts 400-plus...
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Recipe for success
Celebrity cook Clarissa Dickson Wright went for seconds when when she was installed as rector of the University of Aberdeen this week. Ms Dickson Wright was the first woman rector for more than 500...
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Moo-ney making ideas
Nottingham Trent University has taken its cool "entrepreneurial" image a step further: by manufacturing its own ice cream. Made with cream from its herd of Jersey cows, the university's department of...
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Jag gag
A rash of one-liners is doing the rounds at Bath University following the purchase of £1.6 million vice-chancellorial lodgings in a Georgian crescent. The butt is v-c Glynis Breakwell's new Jaguar....
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Quinn scores
Sunderland University has announced an honorary fellowship for Sunderland and Republic of Ireland footballer Niall Quinn. The university said that the 35-year-old had been a great role model for...
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In the news: Iain Gray
Scotland's new "minister for everything" following the shock resignation of Wendy Alexander is Iain Gray, until now minister for social justice. He has inherited Ms Alexander's portfolio of...
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Tables help cut through swamp of data and hype
Universities increasingly see league tables as a fact of life and carp less about them, says Bernard Kingston University league tables are with us again. They are increasingly important in students'...
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Why I ... advocate faith universities
George Bernard Shaw declared that a Catholic university was a contradiction: university investigation opens discussion; Catholic dogma closes it. Shaw's contradiction can be refined as a conflict...
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Quality checker needs checking
The QAA has published a draft of its 'lighter-touch' audit, but Geoffrey Alderman still needs convincing. At the end of April, the Quality Assurance Agency published the draft of its Handbook for...
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Measures of success
As universities work to widen participation, Alan Wilson asks how we can chart their performance Since the Laura Spence debacle, widening access has been high on the political agenda, reinforced by...
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Drugs giant shifts base to US to entice scientists
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis is to move its research headquarters from the Swiss city of Basel to Cambridge, Massachusetts, as part of a drive to recruit top US scientists. The move will not only...