Let them decide how good they want to be
In the final part of our series on universities in the 21st century, Tim Knox argues for freedom from social engineering, targets for participation and other constraints on the pursuit of quality. "A...
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Flaws in case for pay by region
If we take two professors aged 50 on the same salary, one in London, one in the North, where under today's rules they would probably be earning similar wages at retirement in 2015, in Andrew Oswald's...
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Flaws in case for pay by region
Unless professors of economics get recycled around Britain like a junk bond, it is hard to imagine that they (or any universal man) should have an equally sound grasp of what a pound might buy in...
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Flaws in case for pay by region
Oswald's arguments about teachers and nurses hardly apply to university teachers, because universities compete in a specialised national labour market, not a local one. The high cost of living in...
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Flaws in case for pay by region
Oswald resists the conclusions of his own argument because it leads to the need for a clear distinction between pay and allowances rather than their conflation. In short, if we want the same job done...
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The wrong league
What have students' entry qualifications and graduates' employability to do with the quality of training of effective teachers ("Elite schools rival sector in teacher training", THES, September 1)?...
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Spitalfields' soul
Universities do not have souls ("London Guildhall is accused of selling its soul to the City", THES, September 1). However, the old City of London Polytechnic did have a fairly democratic forum, the...
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A modem in the hand
Paul Taylor's indictment of technology ("Beware geeks bearing modems", Talking Shop, THES, September 1) misses the mark. Unlike Luddite,"geek" says nothing about the technological proclivities of an...
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A 'right' or wrong
Sarah Fitzpatrick (Opinion, THES, September 1) reminds us of the claim that graduates earn on average Pounds 400,000 more than non-graduates over their lifetime. That means Pounds 88,000 to Pounds...
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A 'right' or wrong
Sarah Fitzpatrick argued that because not everyone is guaranteed a place at university, regardless of ability, there is no longer a "right". By this bizarre logic, because a doctor does not operate...
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Two Derby pictures
Tom Wilson does not seem to have grasped the issues (Letters, THES, August 25 and September 1). I accept that the University of Derby "invited" the Quality Assurance Agency to investigate Natfhe's...
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THES/OUP science writing competition
Daniel Davis's £2,000 first prize for this year's THES/OUP science writing competition is accompanied by the Oxford English Dictionary on CD-Rom. Second prize went to David Thomas of the University...
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Cruel and calculating, but it's your best friend
Daniel Davis of Imperial College, London, won this year's Pounds 2,000 THES/Oxford University Press Science Writing Prize with this account of how the body's natural killer cells work "There is...
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Stemming diseases
Foetal cells hold great promise. John Sinden explains an embryonic science Stem cells are big news. Since the chief medical officer's report recommended that donated human embryos could be used as a...
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Turning science fiction into fact
Reports from the British Association for the Advancement of Science, London, September 6-12, Edward James says sci-fi is science's inspiration Science fiction was defined by one of its most famous...