Higher

Landmark statement: the �31m waterside hub is as unique as the coalition that runs it

Will the new campus in Ipswich give Suffolk a lift?

Higher education has arrived in Ipswich – and with it, daring architecture and a groundbreaking model for universities. Lucy Hodges hits the campus

Inside Higher

Leading Article: Teams take poll positions

Thursday, 12 February 2009

As we stumble towards the next general election, opposition politicians are dusting down their ideas. In higher education, there is not much to divide Conservatives from Labour – David Willetts is keeping pretty quiet about tuition fees because he knows it's the one issue that almost defeated Tony Blair.

Diary of a Fresher: 'Sorry, but we don't care as much as your generation did'

Thursday, 5 February 2009

Recently, university students across the country have been getting all political over Gaza. It's very nice to think that this is proof that proper student activism didn't die at about the same time Old Labour did, but, sadly, I'm not convinced. As far as I can tell, the general atmosphere here is one of apathy. Yes, we have a thriving student union, societies for each of the main political parties, not to mention the rather brave bunch of people who decided to occupy a certain faculty over the recent Israeli activity in Gaza. But rather than being something fundamental to our lives and identities as students, politics has the feel of just another extra-curricular activity, like wine-tasting or rowing or live-action role-playing. It's all very niche.

Leading Article: Mixed fortunes

Thursday, 5 February 2009

The announcement by the Higher Education Funding Council that it will provide an extra £8m of funding for science, technology, engineering and maths departments (the Stem subjects) in universities has led to sighs of relief at almost all Russell Group institutions. Hefce's statement followed widespread anxiety that otherwise the top universities could lose research money as a result of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) – and that would affect Britain's standing in the world.

University on the ropes: Is it the beginning of the end for London Met?

Thursday, 5 February 2009

A dispute that, according to MPs, threatens the very survival of London Metropolitan University, the capital's biggest higher education institution, is spilling over on to London's streets. Last week lorry drivers on Holloway Road in Islington watched as a group of students and staff picketed a meeting of London Met's governors.

Where February is the new September

Thursday, 29 January 2009

Courses beginning in winter offer part-time students and others greater flexibility

How can higher education nurture the green shoots of economic recovery?

Thursday, 29 January 2009

Lucy Hodges talks to a man with answers

John Rentoul: Why it's not too soon to study Blair

Thursday, 29 January 2009

It was 19 months ago that Tony Blair left office with a quizzical, "That is that; the end", and yet it feels like a different era. His government already seems to have moved from current affairs to history. Just as well, really, because Queen Mary, University of London, has launched a course on the Blair government for final-year history students. It is an unusual venture, bringing contemporary history right up to date, and building on the tradition established by Peter Hennessy, the department's leading professor, of historical inquiry based on primary sources and first-person testimony.

Why it pays to start your course early in the year

Thursday, 22 January 2009

Enabling students to enrol for courses in January and February gives them more flexibility

Diary of a Fresher: 'Perhaps the real purpose of uni is to facilitate growing up'

Thursday, 22 January 2009

At a recent dinner party – one of the many joys of being home – I was asked a slightly unsettling question: what, exactly, had I learnt during the months I'd been at uni? What disturbed me wasn't the question itself, but rather that I couldn't immediately think of an answer.

Andrew Oswald: Competition is the key to the best research

Thursday, 22 January 2009

Slowly, joyfully, painfully, we are coming to terms with the results of the Research Assessment Exercise 2008. For some, it ruined Christmas. But world-leading work was found to be widely spread across the universities of the United Kingdom. That is worth knowing. Nevertheless, the 4* label, on a strict interpretation of its definition, was surely used too liberally, and the Higher Education Funding Council needs to remember that, in some subjects, critical mass is essential.

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