With Christmas not far off, universities will be hoping for some early presents in the form of good results in the UK’s long-awaited assessment of the quality of university research. Although the funding…
The domination of top British universities by people who have attended private schools remains controversial. Defenders of the status quo would argue that successful applicants to Russell Group universities…
First class teaching.
Schoolroom via Monkey Business Image/Shutterstock
The coalition is ploughing ahead with its plan to give schools more control of training new teachers. A recent announcement of government-funded places on teacher training courses for the next academic…
‘Trespassers will not be prosecuted’.
Giles Gasper
Bringing together great academic minds and diverse perspectives from different disciplines can transform university research. A recent project at Durham University called “Hearing the Voice” challenges…
What feedback awaits?
Lecturer via Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock
The way that newcomers are initiated into a group can reveal a lot about that group’s values. So what does the sexist ditty recently chanted by freshers students at the University of Nottingham tell us…
In third place, Oxford University is the top UK institution in the World University Rankings 2014-15.
Andrew Matthews/PA Archive
From the “best beaches” to the “best slice of pizza” to the best hospital to have cardiac surgery in, we are inundated with a seemingly never-ending series of reports ranking everything that can be ranked…
Still the rising star. Three Chinese universities are now in the top 200.
Wu Hong/EPA
Asian universities continue to stun the academic world. In just one year, four more have joined the ranks of the world’s top 200 universities. Now, almost one eighth of the world’s top 200 universities…
How many freebies can you carry?
Nottingham Trent University
Over the next few weeks there will be many nervous people across the country ready to embark upon a new chapter in life: university. For many young people going to university means moving away from home…
How to stand out from the online crowd.
Cloud graduation hats via T.Dallas/Shutterstock
Think of a university, any university. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard or Yale may spring to mind. Or your local university, or the one you or someone you know attended. I’m fairly sure that the University…
Congratulations… you made it in!
Birkbeck Media Services Centre
International orientation weeks for new overseas students are looming for universities across the UK. At all our international airports you will soon see welcoming parties assembling to meet and greet…
Hanging on every word.
Nottingham Trent University
In the current rush to achieve the highest student satisfaction and best positions on university league tables we are at significant risk of dumbing down what’s being taught at universities. At both traditional…
There are blue skies at the end of Clearing.
Man and laptop via Dean Drobot/Shutterstock
You’ve got your A Level results and things are not how you imagined they would be. Maybe you didn’t do as well as you thought you would. Or maybe you didn’t think you wanted to go to university but now…
With the university summer holidays now in full swing, many second-year students will be gearing up to start their first day at work in September instead of heading back to lectures. Sandwich years – a…
Emma McKeon, Alicia Coutts, Brittany Elmslie and Bronte Barratt after winning the 4x200m Freestyle Final. Emma and Brittany are also undergraduate students at Griffith University.
Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Australia sent 417 athletes to the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games – its largest ever contingent – and based on our 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic Games competitors, around 40% are university students…
Market forces take their toll.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire
“There is no conflict between fair access and academic excellence. Nor should there be.” So said Les Ebdon, director of fair access to higher education in his latest report to parliament. But when it comes…
Would it be so bad if not all universities conducted research?
Flickr/PromoMadrid
With higher education changes meaning universities will soon be looking for ways to cut costs, many have been wondering if universities will give up on research to focus on where the money is – teaching…
With true market competition, universities will have a new purpose to fulfil.
mirsasha/Flickr
The debate about opening Australian universities to competition has so far been dominated by discussions about fees. While this is of particular interest to students whose education will receive a smaller…
Imbalances in the share of growth across the regions continue to be deep-rooted, the Office of National Statistics has confirmed. By 2012, the South East was the only region that had only just crept ahead…
Sweaty-palmed and reciting facts over and over in their heads, the hordes of university and school students sitting down to exams this month will have precious little time to think about how their exam…
One more coffee, then we’ll get our £1m idea.
jisc_infonet
Creative ideas and how we turn them into successful business ventures and social enterprises are vital to the UK’s global competitiveness. But how do we best support this? Of course there are many different…