Give up inspection
The powers that be have a month to sort out a system of quality assurance for higher education. There is a widespread view that it cannot be done: that too many incompatible demands are being made....
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Radicals react to squeeze
New Zealand universities must specialise, reduce academic tenure, and make students contribute to tuition fees to cope with funding cuts and shifting demand for courses, according Otago University...
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Part-timers key to better quality
Until recently I worked at London University as a part-time teacher of the austere-sounding English for academic purposes. I was based at a language centre which had flourished with the boom in cash-...
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False dichotomy for Asia
It is rather disappointing that Michael Leifer (THES April 21) has chosen to rely uncritically on popularised conceptual categories in his analysis of the East Asian situation without reflexively...
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Well-known benefits in team playing
Martin Harris (THES April 21) concluded "sharing of information with all members of the community. . . can seemingly only be achieved in large and complex organisations in ways which are inherently...
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Uncertainty in pension funds
In discussing additional voluntary contributions to the Prudential or other insurance company (as opposed to the added-years scheme) Michael Connock (THES April 14) draws attention to the value of...
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EU sends funds for Swahili rescue
Swahili culture in Kenya, under threat from urban modernisation, is to receive Pounds 2.5 million from the European Union towards its preservation. Most of the money will be used to restore...
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Malawi Aids tales get set to music
When Kondwani Phwandaphwanda was accepted as a music student at Malawi's prestigious Chancellor College he was excited at the prospect of moving from his home village to the sophisticated town of...
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Question time for taboo on tenure
The knotty issue of academic tenure - politically untouchable until now - is suddenly under the microscope in the United States. Colleges are starting to offer alternatives to tenure for professors,...
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Murder closes door
United States universities and colleges are expected to think carefully about their admissions procedures following the case of the student admitted to Harvard who had murdered her mother and...
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Scientists are media shy
Australian scientists regard the popular media with suspicion, believing it trivialises and distorts their work, according to a survey of nearly 180 scientists from mainland states. Communicating via...
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Draft for graduates angers Russians
Russian academics, scientists and creative artists last week appealed to President Yeltsin not to approve a military service law which envisages the compulsory drafting of all new graduates and...
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History has an identity crisis
Moldovan students have won a temporary victory in their lively protest strike against the government's introduction of a new history curriculum in universities. They suspended their strike until May...
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Malaysian call for a voice
Academics from Malaysia's eight universities are complaining they have been kept in the dark over government plans to corporatise universities, and want a say in the planning process. Wan Abdul Manan...
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Paris faculty bans far-right student union
A Paris university law faculty has banned an extreme right-wing student union from its premises after 20 years of unhampered activity there. The board of governors of Assas Paris II law faculty...