University
A beginner’s guide to witchcraft
Next year, Exeter University will offer an MA in Magic and Occult Science: the first of its kind in a…
The great sociology con
My default mood at the moment is bleak despair, although it can sometimes be triggered into nihilistic loathing, which I…
In defence of drunken freshers’ weeks
Students need a drunken freshers’ week
Degrees of failure: the great university rip-off
Is university still worth it?
Diary
When someone asks ‘How are you?’ you have to assume your interlocutor is only being polite. Anyone who returns a…
Barometer
Swing when you’re winning What are the biggest UK by-election swings? — The 1983 Bermondsey by-election saw a 11,756 Labour…
I’m proud of my rip-off degree
Whenever the right gets itself in a froth over ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees, I keep my head down. You see, I…
The decline of traditional university study is no bad thing
University vice-chancellors will find some uncomfortable reading in their New Year in-tray today. Last month the chairman of accountancy giant…
Who's to blame for our censorious students?
Without freedom of speech, you do not have a university. More than any other value, it is freedom of speech…
Is university good value for money?
Opinion polls these days don’t normally raise more then passing interest. But there are always exceptions worth a second look.…
Why is Durham offering training for student sex workers?
As a first year university student from a disadvantaged background, I know all too well the constant struggle students can…
In 1980s Bennington it was a badge of dishonour not to have slept with your professor
It is incredibly hard to convey the fleeting invincibility and passionate self-significance that we feel on the cusp of adulthood.…
Is Cambridge university ashamed of Winston Churchill?
When I first started at Churchill College, Cambridge, I was proud that I had joined an institution whose very existence…
America’s campus culture wars come for St Andrews
The University of St Andrews has been keen on American imports for some time. Americans make up 16 per cent…
Cambridge deserves better than Stephen Toope
Regular readers may be aware that in recent months I have been having a running-spat with a Canadian lawyer called…
Have we hit peak graduate?
The Tory party has turned sharply against the idea of ever larger numbers going to university. The reasons for this…
Studying history isn't what it used to be
Is history in danger of becoming a thing of the past on campus? In recent weeks, Aston in Birmingham announced a consultation on…
Gavin Williamson is right to call out educational snobbery
Politicians give speeches all the time, but with differing levels of significance. Can you think of a genuinely important political…
British universities are a modern-day racket
One of the great myths of Scottish higher education is that it’s free. Outside observers can be forgiven for making…
What have the Anglo-Saxons ever done for us?
It has been a while since I’ve considered the vexed question of Byrhtnoth’s ‘ofermod’. More than 30 years, in fact.…
The lessons I learned at my Oxford gaudy
I went to a gaudy last weekend. Several British universities now host these splendid events; mine was at Worcester College,…
At last, the TV-hogging space invaders have returned to university
‘Hands up which other university parents are bloody glad to have got rid of their lumpen, food-gobbling, space-invading kids…’ When…
Dear Mary: How do I cope with university flatmates who can’t cook?
Q. For many years I employed around 60 people with whom I worked in an open-plan office. I moved on from…
American universities are fuelled by amphetamines – so I tried them
New York A biography of Freud to my left, a black leather lounger to my right. We were 30 minutes…
