Irish reforms face dilution
IRISH minister for education Niamh Bhreathnach has run into new political difficulties over her controversial universities' bill. The Government-appointed Higher Education Authority has advised her...
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A foundation of sand eels
THE NATIONAL Environment Research Council's sea mammal research unit, which recently moved from Cambridge to St Andrews University, is to be a key player in a study of the impact of a nearby sand-eel...
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Water chestnut adds crunch to vegetables
LIMP, soggy vegetables and over-soft fruit could soon be a thing of the past following a breakthrough study of plant-based food texture by the Institute of Food Research. For the first time,...
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Striptease tickles feminists' fancy
ROWDY female pre-marital outings known as hen or bachelorette parties, which seem to glorify the bride-to-be as a sex object, can lead to "women's empowerment", say two Canadian professors. For the...
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Cheating racket used time zones
SEVERAL hundred students in the United States who paid to join an elaborate cheating scheme will have their graduate exam results revoked and are almost sure to lose their university places - some at...
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Academic accused of forgery
A PROFESSOR of the Albanophone University of Pristina is facing charges of forgery for signing the degree diploma conferred on an ethnic Albanian from Montenegro. The Montenegrin authorities do not...
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Afghans fight to keep peace
Balkh University in Mazar-e-Sharif is an oasis of peace in war-torn Afghanistan, solid on the outside but ramshackle on the inside. When the extremist Muslim Taliban forces seized Kabul in September...
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Pope's pal pips priests to post
For the first time ever a woman and a layperson has been named head of a faculty of Rome's Lateran University. Angela Ales-Bello, 57, takes over the faculty of philosophy: a role of supreme...
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Library powers town grid
Imagine a public library which is also one of the most advanced solar power generators in Europe: a building that can satisfy its own energy requirements with a totally clean form of electricity....
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Legal heads unite over Euro-law compendium
The European University Institute in Fiesole, near Florence, has condensed 45 years of European law into one volume, Paul Bompard writes. It presents in the clearest form possible all legislation...
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The biggest shift since Henry VIII?
The establishment of the Greenwich Observatory by Charles II in 1675 was the state's first venture into funding science. It says something for the wholesale disposal of family silver on which the...
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Too tired to turn new ideas to profit
Dear Ron, please do something, particularly about the money. This might be the best way to sum up the submissions sent in to the Dearing review of higher education by today's deadline. The...
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A training agency fit for the scrap heap
TEACHER Training Agency chief executive Anthea Millett's recent lecture and some of her claims for agency achievements warrant a response. One claim is that linking funding to quality has given...
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Loamshire quality questioned by degrees
It was always probable that the uncontrolled expansion of higher education would call into question the assumption that a degree of a similar class in one university would be the equivalent of the...
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Pressing a bitter battle of words
The failings of university presses are notorious among academics - but authors have their own shortcomings. Brian Brivati outlines a charter for a better working relationship between both sides....