Higher education
Insects of the hour
Did you go to college? If so, then it is overwhelmingly likely that you have been the recipient of a…
How to destroy civilization
Yogi Berra was right: it’s déjà vu all over again. Just turn on the evening news. If you are old…
Our browbeaten universities
Are university vice-chancellors paid too much? The government clearly thinks so, and is planning to fine universities that can’t justify…
Carry on campus
British higher education is in a boom that’s bound to go bust
What Scottish professors have to fear from Nicola Sturgeon’s power grab
What Scotland’s professors have to fear from the SNP’s latest bright idea
Edmund de Waal’s diary: Selling nothing, and why writers need ping-pong
On the top landing of the Royal Academy is the Sackler Sculpture Corridor, a long stony shelf of torsos of…
Sorry, but I can’t join in the China panic
MS Queen Victoria, 38°N 19°E I’ll do my best, but I’ve got to be honest: being surrounded by shining Ionian…
Degrees of bureaucracy
At Oxford and elsewhere, university administration is out of control
My summer advice for graduate job-seekers: try the City last, and steer well clear of PR
August is the season for conversation about career choices. Every holiday party seems to include new graduates or next year’s…
University tuition fees are a tax. Accept that, and maybe we can make them work
Regardless of how many brains David Willetts has got, it’s not surprising that tuition fees are a mess. They’re a…
New York notebook
Bard College in upstate New York, where I teach in the spring semester, is an interesting institution, once better known…
Rome’s student politics
Foreign students getting on to courses under false pretences, overstaying their welcome and so on are nothing new. Ask the Romans.…
This year, I’m hiring graduates with thirds
Whenever I return to my old university, I am always struck by how incredibly focused, purposeful and studious everyone seems…
