Higher

Diary of a Fresher: 'I've an eclectic bunch of friends – and all my lecturers are dotty'

After a tumultuous start, life here is beginning to settle down. The frantic jockeying for position in the first few weeks is over, and it's no longer acceptable to introduce yourself to random people or shamelessly ask for names. Socially, the beginning of the year was a slow burn for me – I ended up meeting one potentially good friend a day, until I was able to enter the dining hall on my own and always find someone I wanted to sit with. By then the time for meeting new people had suddenly and mysteriously drawn to a close. Everyone is now pretty much stuck with whatever friends they've made, and I'm left with several moderately good mates and countless acquaintances whose names I can't quite remember. Such is life. The first weeks of university would be a fascinating social experiment if I weren't in the middle of it.

Inside Higher

Leading Article: Degree of expertise

Thursday, 20 November 2008

Professor Roger Brown, the former vice-chancellor of Southampton Solent University, is one of the few big thinkers about higher education. He says what he thinks and what he thinks does not chime with prevailing orthodoxy, certainly when it comes to university funding. But his latest thoughts on maintaining standards are worth examining, partly because Brown used to run the now-defunct Higher Education Quality Council and partly because he really knows what goes on in a higher education institution.

The LSE's jaw-dropping £71m structure is a building to wow students

Thursday, 20 November 2008

The LSE has put up a beautiful modern structure to provide more teaching space, offices for academics and a venue for public events. All happy? Not quite.

Michael Franks: Come on, Oxford, tell us what you'll do with £1bn

Thursday, 20 November 2008

In May this year, Oxford appealed to graduates and supporters for £1.25bn. The graduates are being targeted partly for their money, of course – although only a tiny number can afford to give large amounts – but also for their support. The aim is to raise the number of Oxford alumni who make donations to their alma mater towards levels in the USA, where graduates give billions of dollars to their universities.

Degree of convenience: Why wait until the autumn to start at university?

Thursday, 13 November 2008

Oxbridge interviews are renowned for off-the-wall questions challenging the obvious, so here's one from a student: "Why do all your undergraduate degree courses start in October?"

David Willetts: 'Students should be given better information about degree courses before they apply'

Thursday, 13 November 2008

David Willetts is looking unusually pink, well-scrubbed and excited – and for good reason. He has cycled into work and had a quick shower. And he has just learnt that Gordon Brown made a big boo-boo when he increased student grants last year. The government simply hadn't done its sums properly and is having now to cut grants to balance the books.

Education Diary: Who's for hot seat at Hefce?

Thursday, 6 November 2008

Tongues are wagging about who will succeed Professor David Eastwood, the widely admired and liked chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. This is considered to be a highly influential job, advising ministers, disbursing money to universities, and urging them to do the Government's bidding. But it has become less popular now that ministers intervene so much in universities' affairs, and the money is less than you would earn as a vice chancellor of a university such as Birmingham, where Eastwood is bound. Two names appear to be in the frame: Professor Paul Welling, the Australian who heads Lancaster University, and Professor Steve Smith, Exeter's boss. Smith has said that he doesn't want it. That leaves Welling. But there could, of course, be a dark-horse candidate. An announcement is expected by Christmas.

Leading Article: Another funding furore

Thursday, 6 November 2008

The news that MPs on the innovation, universities and skills select committee are going to take a long, hard look at higher education is welcome — particularly in the light of the cock-up over grants. Undergraduate support is being cut after poor estimates were made of how many students were eligible for funds. The review will feed into the Government's review of top-up fees, providing some much-needed evidence on the extent to which the fees are hindering access.

Cyber taste of success: The future of university applications lies online

Thursday, 6 November 2008

The quality and quantity of information that university applicants receive is becoming a hot topic. The first report last month of the National Student Forum (NSF), a new body established by the Department for Innovation, University and Skills to represent UK students, expressed dissatisfaction at the data universities provide to potential applicants, calling it "inadequate" and "incoherent". According to the NSF, details on courses, funding and institutions is patchy.

Diary of a Fresher: "The handout reads like a mistranslated computer manual"

Thursday, 30 October 2008

Lectures are pretty new to me. Theoretically, they are optional, but "optional" turns out to be one of those university euphemisms which actually mean the opposite. Not that I considered slacking off for a moment, of course, but it would be nice to have the option of reading for an hour instead, should the lecture turn out to be an incomprehensible translation of a handout delivered at 9am.

The brain drain leaving Britain 'vulnerable'

Thursday, 30 October 2008

Our top graduates are shunning jobs as researchers – and we're falling behind in the race to recruit from abroad, according to a report from Warwick's vice-chancellor. He explains why to Lucy Hodges

More higher: