Higher education

insects

Insects of the hour

20 June 2020 4:20 am

Did you go to college? If so, then it is overwhelmingly likely that you have been the recipient of a…

civilization

How to destroy civilization

3 June 2020 9:14 pm

Yogi Berra was right: it’s déjà vu all over again. Just turn on the evening news. If you are old…

Our browbeaten universities

16 September 2017 9:00 am

Are university vice-chancellors paid too much? The government clearly thinks so, and is planning to fine universities that can’t justify…

British universities are whipping up a mad boom that’s bound to go bust

14 May 2016 9:00 am

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

17 October 2015 8:00 am

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

10 October 2015 9:00 am

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 (especially not while I’m on a cruise)

29 August 2015 9:00 am

 MS Queen Victoria, 38°N 19°E I’ll do my best, but I’ve got to be honest: being surrounded by shining Ionian…

How come our cash-strapped universities can afford so many administrators?

6 June 2015 9:00 am

At Oxford and elsewhere, university administration is out of control

Why a City job should be graduates’ last resort

16 August 2014 9:00 am

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. It’s time to admit it

5 April 2014 9:00 am

Regardless of how many brains David Willetts has got, it’s not surprising that tuition fees are a mess. They’re a…

Ian Buruma’s notebook: Teenagers discover Montaigne the blogger

22 February 2014 9:00 am

Bard College in upstate New York, where I teach in the spring semester, is an interesting institution, once better known…

Ancient Rome’s fraudulent foreign students

15 February 2014 9:00 am

Foreign students getting on to courses under false pretences, overstaying their welcome and so on are nothing new. Ask the Romans.…

Why I’m hiring graduates with thirds this year

6 July 2013 9:00 am

Whenever I return to my old university, I am always struck by how incredibly focused, purposeful and studious everyone seems…