Peanuts and Monkeys: Why Students Will Not Drive Better Teaching Along with Higher Tuition Fees
on Oct 21, 2009 in tuition fees University Life Peter Mandelson student loans In a thinly disguised attempt to prepare the ground ahead of raising the cap on university tuition fees (which seems inevitable no matter whether Labour or the Conservatives win the next general election), the business secretary Peter Mandelson has s...

The Twittering Tutor
on Oct 16, 2009 in University Life teaching twitter Literature One of the pleasures of university life is the three months in summer when students depart, and rather than having to swim against a tide of preparation and marking, one actually gets to tread water, reflecting on what has gone before, and planning n...

Review of A.S. Byatt, The Children's Book
on Oct 14, 2009 in A.S. Byatt The Children's Book Literature As a young, so-called literary critic, it is nice to know that my literary tastes and acumen are up there with the best. I had just written a review of A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book, when I came across James Wood's essay on it in the London Review...

A Mad Tale's Best for Winter
on Oct 12, 2009 in fate Shakespeare A Winter's Tale Literature I went to see The Winter's Tale last weekend, but a strong production (see postscript) could not conceal the cracks in Shakespeare's original, and my prior impression of the play was confirmed: it is something of a mess. The problem begins with Leon...

Review of The Case of the Imaginary Detective / Wit's End, by Karen Joy Fowler
on Oct 6, 2009 in Karen Joy Fowler Wit's End The Case of the Imaginary Detective Literature I have just posted a review of an interesting novel by Karen Joy Fowler, entitled The Case of the Imaginary Detective (also published as Wit's End in the United States). The novel - a sort of detective fiction, but really concerned about authorship a...

On Paying More and Getting Less
on Oct 2, 2009 in tuition fees University Life student loans Now although I regularly talk about my subject or teaching, I do not very often blog about policy at my university. I do not want to end up like Night Jack, the not-so-secret policeman blogger. But having already been made hot under the collar by the...

Grumpy Young Man
on Sep 7, 2009 in University Life credit crunch Politics Although it has had many casualties, last night I realised at a comedy gig that the recession has been great for comedians, providing a rich vein of material. One comedian joked that in the present crisis, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, lo...

Getting Feedback on Teaching Effectiveness
on Aug 19, 2009 in University Life surveys Higher Education Academy teaching questionnaire Last week, the UK's postgraduate support body, Vitae, published a survey of distance learning and part-time doctorates. The next day in the UK, universities and the higher education press were pouring over the results from the annual National Student...

Your Fired
on Aug 18, 2009 in grammar Literature The Times this morning reports on the grammar stickler Stefan Gatward who, exasperated by living in a street which was signed "St Johns Close," went around painting apostrophes in the correct location, so that the sign reads, correctly, "St John's Cl...

Demolishing American Myths About the National Health Service
on Aug 12, 2009 in National Health Service Republicanism Politics healthcare reform Sometimes, from my seat in the United Kingdom, it is hard not to laugh at politics in the United States. Take the fierce war about healthcare reform currently being fought in town halls throughout the country. Waking up bleary-eared to the radio news...