University

Fewer kids should go to university

30 May 2024 6:02 pm

Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday what many of us have quietly suspected for some time. As a nation, we have…

My message for Columbia’s protesting students

25 May 2024 9:00 am

There are several frustrating things about American college campuses, just one of which is the sheer volume of column inches…

A beginner’s guide to witchcraft

28 October 2023 9:00 am

Next year, Exeter University will offer an MA in Magic and Occult Science: the first of its kind in a…

The great sociology con

19 August 2023 9:00 am

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

19 August 2023 9:00 am

Students need a drunken freshers’ week

Degrees of failure: the great university rip-off

19 August 2023 9:00 am

Is university still worth it?

Diary

22 July 2023 9:00 am

When someone asks ‘How are you?’ you have to assume your interlocutor is only being polite. Anyone who returns a…

Barometer

22 July 2023 9:00 am

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

18 July 2023 10:28 pm

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

3 January 2023 2:34 am

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?

30 September 2022 9:05 pm

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?

1 September 2022 4:38 pm

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?

13 November 2021 7:00 pm

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

6 November 2021 9:00 am

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?

26 October 2021 5:00 pm

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

2 October 2021 9:14 am

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

18 June 2021 2:26 am

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?

5 June 2021 10:00 am

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

12 May 2021 5:30 pm

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

9 July 2020 10:32 pm

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

22 January 2020 10:08 pm

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?

14 December 2019 9:00 am

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

12 October 2019 9:00 am

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

5 October 2019 9:00 am

‘Hands up which other university parents are bloody glad to have got rid of their lumpen, food-gobbling, space-invading kids…’ When…