Expert Comment

This month saw the launch of the new report from the American Council on Education on the globalization of higher education, “Strength through Global Leadership and Engagement.” I was lucky enough to be one of the three overseas members of the 19-person advisory board that oversaw its production, and I can attest to the fact that the meetings were not only happy and productive under the inspirational chairing of John Sexton and Molly Corbett Broad but have, I think, made the report into something special.

Professor of Economics Mark Harrison examines the critique of fiscal policies in Plan B – a detailed alternative economic blueprint for the country launched last week.

Rubbish piled up in the streets. Bodies left unburied. Such was the 1978/9 Winter of Discontent when workers’ anger over pay settlements led to industrial disputes across the country. In an event to celebrate the re-opening of the University of Warwick’s Modern Records Centre, home to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) archives, Tony Benn and Sir Richard Lambert discussed the possibility that we may return to the season of strikes.

The current furor regarding the validation of degrees at a distance by the University of Wales – a unitary institution accrediting degrees in the United Kingdom and abroad – is a sure sign that some form of regulation of higher-education quality standards is not only desirable but necessary. In particular, the problems at the University of Wales are likely to affect the international reputation of the blameless Welsh universities that are not part of the institution and this clearly cannot be right.

As images of 'feral' youths rioting on the streets of the UK jostled for position on TV screens with excited A-level students celebrating their results, Professor Hilary Pilkington examines the way young people are viewed by society and how they engage with their communities