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"The Times Higher Education Supplement" was the first newspaper to publish an international ranking of universities in November 2004. This article describes the evolution of the international rankings from their origin in a limited peer review exercise through the gradual refinement of a national ranking based on, as far as possible, publicly available, verifiable, and accepted data. The author describes the methodology of the international ranking and presents the case for the integrity of commercially produced rankings, national and international, which can be as objective, robust, and transparent as initiatives from within the university community itself.

Describes how "The Times" and "The Times Higher Education Supplement" use publicly available and verifiable data to publish university league tables as an aid to the application process for young people seeking the most appropriate course programs and institutions. (EV)

University league tables in their present form have been around for two decades. One of their objectives has been to help would-be university students (and their parents) make an informed choice of university and course. In the United Kingdom, historically, they have taken the form of a numerical hierarchy topped (predictably) by Oxford and Cambridge universities. This approach has been discussed, criticised and defended both in political and media fora. A project that started five years ago, supported by Mayfield University Consultants, is now online, proposing an alternative flexible ranking approach, The Complete University Guide, which enables prospective students, parents, and other stakeholders to customise a ranking according to their preferences and specific needs. Specifically, it allows users much more flexibility in the way they utilize the tables to decide on their university of choice. (Contains 5 footnotes.)

Issues relating to the participation of the United Kingdom and UK universities in the development of the European higher education area and the European Research Area are examined. It is argued that is in the UK's interests to be involved in the development of these areas as, if they are successful in their aim of making European universities more competitive internationally, it would be better to be actively involved than isolated in the increasingly competitive global market.

Unwillingness to confront the legacy of slavery is harming the prospects of black mal es, according to Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University and the first African-American to head a US Ivy League institution. Findings are imminent from the Brown's Committee on Slavery and Justice.

An overview of the growing use of virtual learning environments (VLE) in the higher education sector and the two key commercial players in the VLE market, WebCT and Blackboard.

An overview of Brunel University and how it has implemented a new IP telephony system which allows access via any phone or PC. Simon Furber, Brunel's network manager, acknowledges that such a system requires a significant initial investment in equipment but argues that it is good value for money and could pay for itself in five years.

An analysis of the results of a survey of the opinions and aspirations of 318 academics aged under 40 and working at universities in the United Kingdom. The survey revealed that while they all had issues with certain aspects of the academic life, the majority believed that the academic life was nothing to avoid and would not place any barriers in the way of their children if they wanted to pursue and academic career.

Issues highlighted by a nationwide survey of academics in the United Kingdom conducted by the Times Higher Education Supplement and ICM Research are examined. The survey reveals that academics are having to change their teaching methods in order to effectively deal with a broader range of students; that they fear that easier university entry standards are leading to an increase in dropout rates; that the majority, 58%, believe that easier university entry is encouraging dumbing down of courses; and that they are struggling under an increase in red tape.

Official figures exaggerate graduate employment prospects in some the most popular subjects in higher education in the United Kingdom by failing to distinguish between graduate jobs - jobs requiring a graduate qualification - and non-graduate jobs, according to an analysis of graduate destinations revealed in The Times Good University Guide. The survey revealed that degrees leading to professions and other elite occupations, such as medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry, had almost 100% graduate employment rates, but other subjects had much higher rates of graduates in non-graduate type jobs - with American studies having the highest proportion with 34%.

The UK is making preparations for any possible evacuation of hundreds of British academics and students from universities in China as a result of fears concerning the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) virus. With many university campuses in China closed in order to contain the spread of the virus, the British Council has asked university authorities in China to make sure that all of their UK students have registered with the British Embassy so that they can be issued with any new advice in as expeditious a manner as is possible. To date, there has been no general call for UK students to return home.

A survey of university vice-chancellors reveals that two-thirds of them will charge the full 3,000 pounds sterling in tuition if the British government goes through with its proposal to allow universities to charge tuition. Related articles on the public's opinion about tuition and the plans of Scottish universities are included.

Despite Alabama law prohibiting fraternities and sororities from being segregated, not many examples exist of African-Americans in typically all-white organizations. Problems with discrimination laws in higher education complicate the issues. Article presents information on a Halloween incident at Auburn University in which students dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes and had a simulated lynching.

A discussion on the mobility of students from Commonwealth countries and how the developing countries could be helped is presented.

The UK graduation rate rose to 35% of young people in 1997 from 20% in 1990, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The UK has the highest number of graduates in the European Union and more than the US.

Participants of the Oct 1998 Unesco conference in Paris, France, agreed new policies on higher education for the 21st century. They called for greater international cooperation over high education and the importance of making higher education accessible to all. It was estimated there would be 100 million people worldwide in higher education by 2025, from 13 million in 1960. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin reminded the member nations universities should teach good citizenship and democracy as well as academic subjects. Some 4,000 participants were at the conference from 182 countries.

Commonwealth education ministers will hear, later in December 2006, how universities can drive economic and social devlopment and preserve cultural diversity. The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) will make its first direct intervention since the inaugural gathering of ministers in 1958.

Universities in the US have rejected a proposal that they share information on student performance. Margaret Spellings, US Education Secretary, wants to encourage universities and colleges to share and publish data on student performance.

Commonwealth universities in Australia and North America are facing problems recruiting staff, according to a report from the Association of Commonwealth Universities. The survey found that 56 percent of the 123 Commonwealth universities responding faced moderate to significant recruitment problems.

Universities are increasingly adopting mind-mapping software as a dynamic way to generate ideas. Mind maps are similar to whiteboards but ar more flexible, allowing attachments of documents, graphics, notes, sound, video and photographs.

Canada has put on hold a flagship Commonwealth scholarship scheme only months before ministers plan to discuss how to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the scheme in 2009. The Treasury Board has decided to suspend its CDlr 13.5 million per year funding in June 2007 and this also applies to the Fulbright Awards.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is seeking ways to compare higher education quality internationally by assessing students produced by each country. Under the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) secondary school students sit two-hour tests intended to gauge knowledge as they approach the end of compulsory education. A parallel test for university undergraduates is believed to be a logical step.

In principle, some 66 percent of academics are prepared to take industrial action over wages, even if this affects students, according to a poll by ICM. Only 20 percent of those polled said that industrial action which affected students could never be justified.

A 3-year review of the fitness of league tables for their purpose has been completed and a report published in Berlin in May 2006 by an expert group convened by the Unesco-European Centre for Higher Education and the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington DC. The outcome of the review is the Berlin Principles of Ranking of Higher Education Institutions which focuses on good practice which will be useful for the evaulation and improvement of ranking systems over time.

Claude Allegre, former Minister of Education in France, has publicly endorsed new Labour's scheme of undergraduate tuition fees for English universities but has acknowledged that it would provoke rioting in other EU states. He has said that he thinks a programme of fees backed with bursaries and loans to be implemented in the UK from October was an 'interesting case'.

The National Union of Students (NUS) will consider a nationwide boycott of Coca-Cola at its conference in March 2006 in protest at alleged violations of human rights in Colombia and environmental damage in India. Coca-Cola has a GBP 7 million a year contract to supply its drinks to 200 colleges and universities in the UK.

An analysis of the discussions surrounding the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (Gats) and how it is likely to impact on the international higher education sector. International university organisations have voiced concern about the inclusion of education in Gats, arguing that it opens the door to diluted standards and privatisation, but the WTO contends that national governments will still be able to demand that foreign education service suppliers meet the standards expected to national suppliers.

Officials from Unesco aim to bring Palestinian and Israeli academics together at a round-table meeting in 2006 in order to discuss ways to revitalise universities located in the Occupied Territories. Georges Haddad, director of Unesco's higher education division, has noted that it would be a 'disaster' if the opportunity to go to university was denied to thousands of young people in Palestine.

Attempts to rebuild the university system in Iraq are being hampered by insurgency, doubts about the country's long-term stability, and, according to the country's ambassador to Unesco, Muhi al-Khateeb, a perception of corruption. However, Akhtar Najmaddin, Minister for Higher Education of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, argues that the Kurdish region offers a relatively safe have for international collaborators.

The rapid expansion of the university sector in the United Kingdom has slowed and the country is falling behind other industrialised nations, according to new figures released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The figures reveal that in 2003 the UK had an university student enrolment rate of 48%, below the OECD average of 53% and far below the 83% of Iceland or 81% of New Zealand%.

The Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network aims to use satellite and wireless technology to provide Caribbean states with distance learning services. The multi-million dollar project, which will reach universities and colleges across the region, is supported by the Caribbean Community and Common Market, the UN Development Programme, the Organisation of American States, the World Bank, the European Union and the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas.

An education at an university in the United Kingdom is one of the least affordable in the world, according to the 'Global Higher Education Report: Affordability and Accessibility in Comparative Perspective' study produced by Alex Usher and Amy Cervenan of the US-based Educational Policy Institute, an independent, non-profit organisation researching educational opportunity. The study took into account not just tuition fees but also the cost of living in the various countries examined. Sweden came out as the most affordable country in which to study, followed by Finland and the Netherlands.

Today's students need and expect a far greater degree of spoon-feeding than previous generations of undergraduates in the UK, according to a survey of over 300 academics aged under 40. The survey found that nearly four in five academics believed that students expected a greater degree of help than they did when they were students. The survey also revealed that academics believed that the introduction of top-up fees and the drive to expand student numbers will have little or no impact on their careers.

Claims by the European University of Lefke (EUL) in Turkish Northern Cyprus of guaranteed progression to degree courses at universities in the UK are being viewed with dismay by UK universities who fear that their reputations could be damaged. Representatives of a number of UK universities refute claims put forward by EUL in its reference materials that its students will be able to move on to institutions in the UK, noting that the average EUL student is of such a low standard that they would never meet the standards of UK universities.

An analysis of the growth of the higher education sector in the United Kingdom and the arguments that have sprung up about the true size of this growth. The figures reveal that while the number of students has grown to over two million at present from under 500,00 in the mid-1960s, spending per student has actually fallen considerably and is only just starting to increase again.

An analysis of the proliferation of university league tables and the various different sort of league tables that are available around the world. In the United States, students can access league tables that show issues as varied as the top 50 colleges for African-Americans or which universities are the most squirrel-friendly.

An analysis of the potential impact that accession to the European Union (EU) could have on the labour markets in the three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Charles Woolfson, prospective Marie Curie chair at Latvia University's EuroFaculty, argues that it is vital that academic monitoring of the labour market in the Baltic States be undertaken in the aftermath of accession to the EU as there is potential for increased conflict to arise as the Baltic neoliberalism that arose in the aftermath of the fall of Communism comes up against the expectations of labour relations as they are practised in the existing EU states.

Mohammad Sharif Fayez, Afghanistan's higher education minister, has warned that an 'explosive' situation could erupt if would-be university students find themselves unable to get places when the academic year commences in March 2003. Over 24,000 students enrolled in 2002 but government predictions indicate that this could rise to 40,000 in 2003 once university entrance examinations have been conducted. Fayez has stated that there is no capacity to absorb the extra students.

Universities around the world are facing a 'global manpower war' as they compete for a contracting pool of graduates with doctorates in order to replace retiring faculty, claims Michael Gibbons, secretary general of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Gibbons bases his warning on an Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada study which demonstrated that there are not enough PhDs being attracted to academia in order to make a significant dent in the number of posts being vacated by ageing faculty members.

Fort Hare, the university in Alice, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela, Chris Hani and Oliver Tambo studied, has fought back from its position in 2000, when it was threatened that it would disappear as an independent institution and merge with Rhodes University, and will now take on the East London campus of Rhodes and develop a role in the regeneration of East London, one of South Africa's major seaports and industrial cities. According to the vice-chancellor of Fort Hare, Derrick Swartz, the new plan will give the university access to a major metropolitan market for the first time.

This article examines the publication of credit ratings by universities in the UK, focusing on how the ratings can help universities secure loans and raise money in the markets. Topics include the management and designation of ratings.

Universities throughout the developed world need to respond to complaints from students, according to a study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The study, which tackles the consumerist approach that is growing among students and examines the response of universities to this, notes that increased expectations are not related directly to the greater financial contributions that students are having to make towards their higher education and that student expectations are rising even in areas where state grants are increasing.

Senior staff at the University of Kabul have stated their belief that the international community should be doing more to support their attempts to restore their institution following decades of destruction. The president of the university, Mohammed Akbar Popal, believes that the response of the international community, of which the university believed it was a part, has not been what was expected and has actually been a little bit discouraging.