Personal Blogs

Here is another article about changes to university funding.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n24/keith-thomas/universities-under-attack

It seems to me that the government have a flawed understanding of what universities are about and how collaboration rather than competition is the default and best mindset of academics.  There are occasions when competition is appropriate (as when applying for grants) but generosity has been the main attitude I have experienced when communicating with academics from other universities.

A very interesting article by Stefan Collin in the London Review of Books.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n21/stefan-collini/brownes-gamble

I think this is a good point:

" But this, other problems aside, comes perilously close to reducing important human experiences to a set of ‘preferences’ as reported on a tick-box questionnaire. I would hope the students I teach come away with certain kinds of dissatisfaction (including with themselves: a ‘satisfied’ student is nigh-on ineducable), and it matters more that they carry on wondering about the source of that dissatisfaction than whether they ‘liked’ the course or not."