The learning tower of Pisa
ITALY's state university system is well known for its inefficiency, its administrative chaos and its erratic academic standards. Although there are undoubtedly faculties where high standards are...
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Italy faces discrimination rap
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to take new action against Italy over alleged job discrimination against foreign language lecturers. The commission said it had received representations from lecturers and...
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Fledgling state sees its wings cut
THREE years after South Africa's first democratic elections, the redistribution of higher education funds from historically privileged to disadvantaged universities and technikons is to begin in...
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Misleading search for twelve first-division players
John Brooks argues that all universities must decide how best to balance the teaching research divide The great strength of the higher education system is its ability to evolve to meet both national...
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Pros and cons of a super league
Frank Webster, below, believes Britain would benefit from creating a cluster of research universities to which 5-star departments could transfer. There are more than 100 higher education institutions...
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The age of rights
JOHN GRAY's less than supportive review of Norberto Bobbio's Left and Right: The significance of a political distinction (THES, November 15) makes errors of omission and emphasis. Two-thirds of his...
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Ignorance of funders
WE NOTE and support the chorus of criticism over the classification of geography and psychology as "classroom-based" disciplines (THES, December 20). Like them, archaeology is believed to have been...
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Sexism at Christmas
IN A year when some women will be celebrating their first Christmas as ordained priests, you offer us an entirely male view of Christmas (THES, December 20). If we must have such dubious pieces at...
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Lottery rationale
DIANA GARNHAM makes a number of important points about the grants recently announced by the National Lottery Charities Board for medical research charities (THES, December 20). The board can indeed...
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Caveats from the great exercise
YOUR informative analysis of last year's research assessment exercise (THES, December 20) lacked a breakdown in the analysis of medical subjects, especially hospital-based clinical subjects. A...
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Caveats from the great exercise
THE NEGATIVE comments on nursing research in your editorial undermine the real progress that is being made in this area from a historically low base. Comparing the 1992 and 1996 assessments, the...
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Caveats from the great exercise
A LITTLE caution is required against the rhetoric of "improved" research in United Kingdom universities. It should be remembered that the RAE panels were asked to take a prospective view of the...
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Caveats from the great exercise
IMAGINE two university departments, each with six research active staff. The first contains three researchers of international excellence, and three who are young and full of promise. The second...
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Caveats from the great exercise
YOUR OPINION piece about the RAE entitled "Open, improving and accountable" stated: "But it is equally plausible that the great research race has got more people out of bed earlier and in front of...
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Experts follow gun trail
ACADEMICS at Leicester University are warning that the Government may be jumping the gun on firearms legislation. While the House of Lords is considering amendments to gun laws in the wake of the...