Deadline for 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) Submissions Looms.    (31/10/07)

    The deadline for submissions for Britain's 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is November 30. [More]

University of Newcastle V-C tells the Government to Get Real.    (29/10/07)

    The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle, Professor Nicholas Saunders, today was given a chance by The Sydney Morning Herald to sling a couple of hundred well chosen words at our political leaders. [More]

Australian Democrats Publish Higher Education Policy: "Education is an investment not a cost"    (26/10/07)

    Yesterday Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, Australian Democrats spokeswoman for higher education launched the party's higher education policy. The policy outlines five key objectives. [More]

The University Researcher and the University Teacher: a UK Analysis.    (25/10/07)

Amanda Goodall at the Warwick Business School University of Warwick has published Experts Leading Experts: A Longitudinal Study of Leadership and University Performance. [More]

Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future by the The InterAcademy Council.    (24/10/07)

    The 174-page the peer-reviewed report is the product of the diverse viewpoints of 15 experts nominated from more than 90 national academies. [More]

Israeli University Lecturers Set for Long Strike.    (24/10/07)

    This past Sunday was the start of the academic year in Israel but a long simmering dispute between university staff and the Israeli government has now erupted into what looms to be a prolonged strike. [More]

Snapshot: Coalition Promises to Higher Education as of 24/10/07.    (24/10/07) [More]

From a Peripatetic Oz Scholar.    (23/10/07)

    From time to time TFW is pointed to written comment so pertinent to the local scene despite referring to matters half a world away it's, well scary. [More]

James Watson's Comment About the Intelligence of Blacks"...whereas all the testing says not really",  Results in His Suspension from the Chancellorship of the Watson School of Biological Sciences at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.     (23/10/07)

    "...all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really." [More]

Group of Eight Releases Its First Salvo on the Federal Election Campaign.    (20/10/07)

    The Group of Eight have entered into the 2007 federal election campaign with an introductory two page media release with the promise of more comment to come. [More]

"Funding Basic Research Brings Unexpected Benefits," Philip Esler.    (18/10/07)

    Philip Esler was Professor of Biblical Criticism at St Mary's College, University of St Andrews, Scotland until 2005 when he took up the position of Chief Executive of the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council. [More]

Michael J. Spence Named Sydney University's Next Vice-Chancellor.    (17/10/07)

    Currently Dr. Michael Spence is the Head of the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford, Fellow and Tutor in Law at St Catherine's College Oxford, and CUF Lecturer at the University of Oxford. [More]

A Suggestion That Universities Australia Address Our Federal Political Leaders With a Request They Outline Their Higher Education Priorities.    (17/10/07) [More]

Nobel Prize for Economics Given for the Development of Mechanism Design Theory.    (16/10/07)

    In some situations, rational people will act in ways that leave everybody a loser. But such perniciousness can sometimes be avoided [More]

FASTS Notes Australian Scientists' Contribution to IPCC Nobel Peace Prize.    (15/10/07)

    Over 100 Australian scientists have contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which shares this year’s Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice-President Al Gore. [More]

OECD Reports China's R&D spending has risen by 19% a Year Since 1995.    (15/10/07)

    China now ranked sixth in research spending. [More]

Royal Society Comments on 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Award.    (15/10/07)

    "Climate change is one of the most significant issues of our times and one which has major implications for global security..." [More]

Consortium, Which Includes ANU, Announces Giant Magellan Telescope will be Built at Las Campanas, Chile.    (12/10/07)

     the 7 mirrors will have a light-gathering power of a single 22-meter (866 inch) instrument. [More]

Doing the Maths on Maths.    (11/10/07) 

    A while back we recalled a discussion between Daniel Koshland, when he was editor of Science and his quasi alter ego Dr Noitall. [More]

Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Gerhard Ertl for Providing "the Scientific Basis of Modern Surface Chemistry".    (11/10/07) 

    The chemical community has welcomed this year’s award -- not least because it has gone to a "proper" chemist, rather than one who could be considered a biologist. [More]

European Physicists 2007 Nobel Laureates.     (10/10/07) 

    The discovery of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) secured the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics for Albert Fert of the University of Paris-South and Peter Grünberg of Jülich Research Centre in Germany. [More]

It's Capecchi, Evans and Smithies by a Knockout.    (10/10/07) 

     The three have been awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for their development of knockout mice. [More]

Those Ig Nobel Prizes are Awarded Again.    (09/10/07) 

    Comes the beginning of October and it's the time of year when some few scientists' hearts beat faster, even arrhythmically. First it's the awarding of the Ig Nobel Prizes and then of course that phone call from Sweden. [More]

The Chief Scientist and the Pulp Mill at Bell Bay.    (09/10/07) 

     Is Gunns proposed pulp mill at Bell Bay on Tasmania's Tamar River approved or not approved? Perhaps its somewhat approved. [More]

Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Technology, Sydney Comments.    (08/10/07) 

    "Australia is the second-lowest taxed country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the second-worst off in total government investment in human capital." [More]

UK to Introduce New Incentives for Maths and Physics Teachers.    (06/10/07) 

    Yesterday the British government launched a campaign to recruit more qualified maths and physics secondary school teachers, in order to reverse their long-term decline. [More]

University of California (Berkeley) Courses Hit YouTube.    (05/10/07)

    The University of California, Berkeley has made available on a dedicated channel on YouTube some 300 hours of videoed lectures ranging from Bio Engineering and Physics for Future Presidents to Introduction to Non-violence. [More]

Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull Lists 45 Conditions to be Met for Gunns' Bell Bay Pulp Mill to Proceed.    (04/10/07)

    The federal Minister for the Environment, Malcolm Turnbull, with Chief Scientist, Jim Peacock at his side announced what appears to be an each-way bet as regards the decision to allow Gunns, Limited to construct and run a $1.7 billion pulp mill at Bell Bay, Tasmania. [More]

Science Meets Parliament EU Style.    (04/10/07)

14 scientists are heading for Brussels this week in a European version of Science Meets Parliamen. [More]

The Higher Education Endowment Fund Gets an Advisory Board To Do What?    (03/10/07)

    The Advisory Board will be responsible for conducting sector consultations, advising the Minister on program development and making recommendations ...The distribution of funds will be at the discretion of the Minister... [More] 

Tread Wery, Wery Softly So As Not to Overly Upset Julie, Warrior Princess.    (02/10/07)

    The October newsletter from the Group of Eight sports the item "RQF under spotlight at ARMS conference". [More]

US Multi-billion-dollar Expansion of Solar Power Supply Using Australian's Technology.    (02/10/07)

    One of the claims made by the consortium is that solar power will soon be providing baseload electricity - that is, day and night - at prices competitive with coal. [More]

Science, Political Visibility and the Shifting of Votes -- FASTS Executive Director Comments.    (02/10/07)

    "We need to rethink the current [public] policy emphasis on commercialisation of research and its associated focus on patents, licences and start-ups." [More]

Fred Hilmer, Vice-Chancellor of the University of NSW Champions Research.    (01/10/07)

    Fred Hilmer, University of New South Wales vice-chancellor since June last year was Chief Executive Officer of John Fairfax from 1998 - 2005; research wouldn't seem to be a significant part of his intellectual environment. [More]