Uncertain future
The future of national vocational qualifications seems to become more uncertain, and contradictory, by the week. It is uncertain because cases of fraudulently-issued certificates (THES, March 14)...
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Whistling in the dark
"Ex-super hunts spoofers" (THES, March 21) included a quotation from me which did not deal as fully as I would have liked with the question of "whistleblowing". Blowing the whistle on activities can...
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Missing the target
The remarks by Nelson et al on accountability ("Publish and be praised", THES, March 21) were naive in the extreme. They were also out of touch with recent events in this country. Their scheme for "...
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Surprise, surprise
The cover-up culture continues. Government prorogues Parliament and evades a public report. Crucial evidence fails to reach the principal meat hygiene expert. The nuclear industry withholds costly...
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Don's diary
Monday Work begins at 8.40am. After picking up the morning papers to scan (and produce a cuttings sheet for top management), there is a work report meeting with my female boss. These encounters have...
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Backbiting in a backwater
In the past 30 years I have been associated with 100 vice chancellors. Ten prime ministers have come and gone in Australia and the higher education system has been transformed from a group of 14...
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Moral anchors spin on centralising axis
A colleague from one of the former polytechnics is retiring this year. He is a professor and head of department in the humanities; as well as an excellent teacher and a sound administrator. He is too...
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Observatory chiefs eye cuts
DIRECTORS of the Royal Observatories in Edinburgh and Cambridge are being asked how to restructure the observatories, which are believed to be facing staff cuts of up to 50 per cent. The exercise is...
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Italy guilty of discrimination
ITALY discriminated against 1,500 foreign language lecturers excluded from competing for supply-teaching jobs at Italian universities over the past 16 years, the European Court of Justice has ruled....
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Jobs framework under fire
GOVERNMENT plans to subject higher education staff to a common framework of occupational standards based on national vocational qualifications have caused controversy even before their publication....
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Odds on
While his unlucky seat-hunting exploits have had a fair amount of attention, Labour's further and higher education spokesman Bryan Davies still has a better chance of becoming minister for further...
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Cash drought in climate research causes alarm
MPs on the Committee for Science and Technology are concerned at the inadequate funding of climatic change research. In its last report before the general election, the committee is expected to...
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Upton takes helm at Oxford Brookes
Graham Upton, pro vice chancellor at Birmingham University, has been appointed as the new vice chancellor of Oxford Brookes University. He will take up the post in September. Clive Booth, who has...
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Government urged to be mother of invention
Britain has become more innovative in the 1990s but still fails to match the performance of the United States, according to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. The Lords' report...
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Sen awarded Edinburgh Medal
Amartya Sen, professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University, was this week awarded the Edinburgh Medal at the Edinburgh International Science Festival. The medal is awarded annually to...