Intellectual literacy hour
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Research libraries have long been the proud curators of historic print collections and regarded as places of quiet study. But with the explosion of the internet and electronic publishing, users are increasingly turning their backs on libraries as a physical space, using them as virtual, digital environments instead. Libraries’ role in warehousing large book collections [...]
Desperately seeking students
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Almost every day, scores of desperate teenagers tune in to Nippon Housou Kyokai - Japan’s equivalent of the BBC. Not for some light relief from schoolwork, but for a show that helps them to cram for tough university entrance exams.For how much longer though? Japan has one of the oldest and most well-respected higher education [...]
State teachers views of Oxbridge stop pupils from applying
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Teachers at state-run secondary schools are out of touch about the number of pupils from their sector who apply successfully to Oxford and Cambridge Universities, according to a survey today.More than a third think that fewer than 20% of Oxbridge students come from state schools, even though the latest figures show that the figure is [...]
Why pick a fight with Open University
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Tony Blair was famous for wanting to pick fights within the Labour family in order to define himself favourably with middle Britain’s voters. The Brown government is in danger of stumbling into scraps by accident.This week, MPs debated John Denham’s plans to shift %26pound;100m from the %26pound;7.5bn higher education budget - in England only - [...]
All their own work
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Every August, ministers are forced to answer claims that A-levels are getting easier. Though the government counters these charges robustly, it now accepts that the exams have become an inadequate proof of readiness for university.The suggested solution is an “extended project” (EP) that young people can do in addition to their A-level subjects. And it [...]
Read all about it
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How do you define national character? That was the task of history lecturer Dr Peter Mandler from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, when researching his latest work The English National Character. Widely accepted definitions were hard to pin down but after conventional searches failed he finally struck gold - after a word search in the [...]
A degree of deception
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There was a time when a backstreet education meant sending off a coupon in a magazine and getting back a certificate from the University of Nowhere. These quick-buck “degree mills” have given way to a much more sophisticated and lucrative kind of operation. Today’s bogus universities have fronts so elaborate and “professors” so convincing that [...]
MPs question #163;100m cut in adult learning
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The Conservatives hope to create friction today between ministers and backbench Labour MPs by calling on the Commons to condemn plans to cut funds for adult learners with degrees.Some 211 MPs, including 86 Labour MPs, have signed an early-day motion querying a plan to remove %26pound;100m from the budget for those studying for qualifications at [...]
Stratification Grows for Elite Colleges
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New figures on university endowments confirm it’s not just the “haves” and “have nots” in academe these days. Beyond the great majority of colleges, there’s a growing group of the newly rich schools, and , at the top of the heap , a tiny cadre of ultra-wealthy institutions.
The latest endowment figures from NACUBO, a college [...]
