- University Challenge quizmaster Jeremy Paxman has entered the perennial 鈥渄umbing down鈥 debate by claiming that today鈥檚 students are cleverer than their predecessors. Mr Paxman, who has hosted the BBC Two quiz show for almost 20 years, told the Radio Times that the quality of contestants is proof that there is nothing wrong with the next generation of graduates, The Times reported on 9 July. In fact, students may be getting brighter because questions have become harder over the years, he said. However, their capabilities may be more cerebral than practical. Students were stumped by a round of questions on clothes-label washing instructions, Mr Paxman said, 鈥淸getting] every single one wrong鈥
- Eyebrows were raised after the University of Reading managed to find almost 拢1 million for a Samuel Beckett manuscript. The Daily Telegraph鈥檚 Tom Chivers wondered whether the doodle-strewn notebooks containing the first draft of Beckett鈥檚 1938 novel Murphy were worth 拢962,500. Writing on 12 July, Mr Chivers asked: 鈥淲hat can we learn about Beckett from the fact that he liked to draw half-formed spirals or what looks like a gorilla in a baseball cap?鈥 Students also queried the purchase. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 where all the tuition fees are going,鈥 Badal Naik, outgoing president of Reading students鈥 union, told the Daily Mail. Reading鈥檚 vice-chancellor, Sir David Bell, said the acquisition would 鈥減rovide unparalleled opportunities to learn more about one of the greatest writers in living memory鈥 and was funded by the sale of less significant assets from the university鈥檚 拢40 million art portfolio.
- Academics from the university that discovered the remains of Richard III have criticised an 鈥渆xploitative and insensitive鈥 artwork by Damien Hirst that shows the artist posing with the head of a corpse, The Independent reported on 13 July. With Dead Head - a photograph of a grinning 16-year- old Hirst taken at the anatomy school in Leeds where he used to sketch body parts - is on display at the New Art Gallery Walsall. But Sarah Tarlow and Matthew Beamish - scholars in the University of Leicester鈥檚 archaeology department - say the artist鈥檚 1991 work is 鈥渁n abuse of power鈥 and 鈥渂reaches all professional standards of those who regularly deal with the bodies of the dead鈥. The pair contrast it with Leicester鈥檚 treatment of Richard III鈥檚 bones. 鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 dream of鈥olding his skull and grinning. Or putting a silly hat on him,鈥 Mr Beamish said.
- 罢丑补颈濒补苍诲鈥檚 Chulalongkorn University has apologised for a student mural depicting Adolf Hitler among a group of superheroes, the Bangkok Post reported on 15 July. The university received complaints about an image of Hitler giving a Nazi salute in a graduation mural outside the university鈥檚 arts faculty building alongside Superman, Batman, the Incredible Hulk and other superheroes, all featured below a large banner with the word 鈥淐ongratulations鈥. According to Supakorn Dispan, the faculty dean, students intended to show that 鈥渟uperheroes are there to protect the world鈥 and that 鈥渢here are both good and evil people鈥. They were unaware of the offence that the work might cause, he added. The university has apologised after complaints by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which said it was 鈥渙utraged and disgusted鈥 by the mural.
- The fate of David Willetts was still to be decided in an expected reshuffle looming as 探花视频 went to press. The universities and science minister had been said to be 鈥渧ulnerable鈥 on 12 July by Isabel Hardman, editor of the Spectator鈥檚 Coffee House blog. On 14 July, the Mail on Sunday reported that 鈥渟enior sources鈥 had predicted that Elizabeth Truss - a junior minister in the Department for Education - would be promoted to a job 鈥渏ust outside the Cabinet鈥, which fits the bill for the universities and science brief. But on the same day, Matthew d鈥橝ncona warned in The Sunday Telegraph against removing Mr Willetts, saying that 鈥渁 government that ejects a politician of Willetts鈥 calibre, intellect and experience simply to make space for (say) an Etonian with a full head of hair is practising self-harm鈥. That must have delighted Mr Willetts even if it drew unwarranted attention to his almost imperceptible bald spot.
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