Patrick Ainley, formerly professor of training and education at the University of Greenwich, welcomes an essay collection aiming to rethink the purpose of tertiary level learning but thinks that it does not go far enough   The Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) is a think tank connected to the trades unions combining ‘grassroots...Read More

You might not have had the time to wade through last week’s 200-page Augar Review on higher education. Fortunately, David Midgley, emeritus professor of German literature and intellectual history at the University of Cambridge, has written an essential  guide to the main points   It was clear what made the headlines when the Augar report...Read More

When the Vaughan Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Leicester was threatened with closure, a campaign was launched to re-open it as a community-owned college. Founder member Dr Miriam Gill looks forward to a brighter future for adult education in the city   ‘”If you’re going to save your department, you’re going to...Read More

Sir Michael Barber, head of the Office for Students, has said that the regulator will not come to the aid of failing universities. It’s a policy that could have disastrous consequences for students, argues Professor DVM Bishop   In a much-publicised speech on November 6, Sir Michael Barber, head of the Office for Students (Ofs),...Read More

Brexit dominates the headlines this week, as Imperial announces a partnership with a German university and a scientist warns of the ‘catastrophic’ effect leaving the EU could have on cancer research   University ‘dual nationality’ plan for Brexit BBC, 10/10/2018, Sean Coughlan A top UK university is planning a ‘unique’ post-Brexit arrangement with a German...Read More

The fall in applications has led to fierce competition between universities, a drop in income and an uncertain future for both students and staff, argues Professor GR Evans The A-level results are out. Applicants are getting to grips with fending for themselves in Clearing (no, they will not let your mother telephone for you). But...Read More

More evidence that an academic career is highly stressful, while the UKRI counts the cost as it fails to register as a charity   Half of UK academics ‘suffer stress-linked mental health problems’ Times Higher Education, 06/07/2018, Jack Grove About half of all UK university staff have suffered depression, anxiety or other types of mental...Read More

Opinion piece by Dorothy Bishop My mother came to England after the war, having met my father when working as a translator for the British Forces in allied-occupied Germany. She’d come from an academic family in Gottingen, and it’s hard to imagine her state of mind in finding herself in Ilford with a husband, a small...Read More