Opinion

Gauging the 'public value' of arts graduates is a tricky job, says Sally Feldman

Many now-defunct public clocks once helped shape shared spaces. Tara Brabazon is delighted that a (digital) website is working to restore function and value to a neglected (analogue) public feature

As Kevin Fong scribbles on napkins, he wonders how Geri penned a whole book

Disseminating research via the web is appealing, but it lacks journals' peer-review quality filter, says Philip Altbach

Three academics at the University of Nottingham argue that the recent arrests of a postgraduate student and a staff member herald an erosion of civil liberties and a clear threat to legitimate research

Gloria Monday examines the importance of clear communication

The web's instant access to good, bad and unfiltered data means we need libraries, and librarians' expertise, now more than ever

Once an advocate of core subject teaching, Susan Bassnett now finds herself endorsing the broad diversity afforded by modern curriculums

With the REF research assessment has come of age but much still needs to be done, says David Eastwood

Links between IQ, class and wealth are real - but the social values that forged this chain are not immutable, Wendy Johnson observes

Relentless pressure to give a positive response to the National Student Survey breeds corruption and cynicism, says Frank Furedi

School libraries are suffering, and even closing, as resources are cut, staff ‘redeployed’ and the internet deemed more important to learning than printed matter and professionals who can sort the wheat from the chaff. Tara Brabazon says we must fight to defend the invaluable contribution libraries make to information literacy and to an informed citizenry

MPs have voted for common sense and common cause in passing the Human Fertilisation Bill intact, says Mary Warnock

The flaw of rankings is that all universities have good points, says Alan Ryan

The prospect of another research assessment exercise will lead only to discord, says Gloria Monday

Looking over the work produced by her masters students, Tara Brabazon is struck by their creativity, inspired by their enthusiasm and determination and humbled to see teaching help to change lives

Social engineers seem to infest universities but are curiously absent in public schools. How strange

Higher IQs mean upper-class domination is 'natural', academic says. Rebecca Attwood reports

... try the real world and see just how lucky we academics are, says Tim Birkhead

Despite prevailing orthodoxies, creative writing is stealthily reviving liberal humanism, says Jonathan Taylor

In applauding students for their IT dexterity, do we encourage the mere collection of facts and intellectual inertia? asks Bob Simpson

Complementary therapies can and should be studied with scientific rigour, argues David Peters, so that medicine as a whole may benefit

Diplomas represent a big departure in education, but they raise worrying questions for universities, says John Brooks

The UK can give its home cohort an international outlook without their going abroad. Let's hope the US doesn't learn to, writes Peter Brady

Academia needs to be more accommodating to those who cannot or choose not to work full time, argues Keith Kahn-Harris

The history of the CND is a reminder to academics that they have obligations above those of RAE targets and teaching outcomes, says Tara Brabazon

Felipe Fernández-Armesto analyses a survey of academic salaries in the US

Charles Lambert reflects on the struggle of foreign language teachers at Italian universities to attain respect and workers' rights

Peer review lets us reward excellence when we see it; spurious 'absolute' standards do not, says Ron Johnston

We know what must be done to widen access, says Deborah Eyre, who hopes the latest review will finally grasp the nettle

Muscians find it easier than academics to set their egos aside, be generous to their peers and play sidemen for a true great, argues Tara Brabazon

As Gloria Monday settles down to mark essays, she finds it a struggle to keep up with the copycats

The climate in which universities operate presents difficulties and opportunities. We must prepare for both, writes Ron Dearing

Does knowing your personality traits help you lead better? asks Sally Feldman

PGCert courses are valuable, but it is pointless to consider best practice without having practised, says Carrie Dunn

A Bill allowing the creation of interspecies hybrids and reproductive cloning would bring UK science into disrepute, argues David Jones

The young and vulnerable are powerless to resist the overt sexualisation used to sell us 'fun' brands like Virgin, writes Mary Evans

Tara Brabazon challenges her students to break from their reliance on Google and read Poulantzas in the original

The low opinion academics have of the public will not change until scholars open themselves up to debate, says Dennis Hayes

Kevin Fong treasures the scary euphoria of an unexpected home birth

Corporate speak is key to applying for promotion, says Gloria Monday

Students request more and better feedback, but focusing only on teachers' written comments is a mistake, says David Nicol

Researchers' drive to discover needs assistance from 'science managers' skilled in economic exploitation, Keith Mason argues

Angie Sandhu and Julia Swindells argue for mutual respect and an end to sex discrimination in the academy's intellectual exchanges

Tara Brabazon on Peter Saville’s remarkable staying power at the edge of fashion

Encouraging children to have higher aspirations will improve GCSE pass rates and help widen participation, says Steve Smith

Florida's not all guns and gators, says Alan Ryan - it funds a liberal arts college

Students and employers are increasingly dictating the courses that universities offer, as witnessed by the rise of business-related and TV-inspired subjects such as forensic science. But how far should demand drive the curriculum? Harriet Swain reports

Cardinal O'Brien's intemperate broadside against embryology research buries an opportunity for discussion in invective

Tim Birkhead on the trumpet-blowing and florid fiction of the academic CV

Many youngsters leave school unfit for university or work. Diplomas can change that, believes Claudio Vignali

Academics' insecurity about their lecturing skills has hit new lows in an age of unrepentantly rude mobile phone users, says Frank Furedi

If we want to find the significance of bluestones to Neolithic society, the Stonehenge diggers should look up, not down, says Lionel Sims

Tara Brabazon takes a listophile’s delight in a celebration of musical progress

Has-beens, wannabes and lechers wrestle with PowerPoint, bad English and alcohol in a deadly dull German townlet: yes, it’s academic conference season again

University rankings must include all relevant institutions and the information users are seeking, argues Joy Carter

In expanding its empire, human resources damages intellectual standards and peddles nonsense, argues David Colquhoun

Free information freely available is the rallying cry of Erik Ringmar, who wants others to join in putting restricted documents on the web

Beware digi-evangelists and search engines, says Tara Brabazon. It is still real-life librarians, past and present, who remain the true custodians of human knowledge