No two superheroes are alike

One of 바카라사이트 pleasures of my job is spending time in universities. As an outsider, I am still struck by 바카라사이트 incredible things that go on as a matter of course.

Take one recent example. At Keele University last week, I met an entomologist working to stop 바카라사이트 march of 바카라사이트 fall armyworm, which has leapt from South America to Africa.

With few of 바카라사이트 natural predators that keep it in check at home, this caterpillar is devastating staple crops such as maize in a continent forecast to have a third of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s population by 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 century.

Back at Keele, 바카라사이트 lab is busy, not devising expensive, polluting insecticides to sell to African farmers, but breaking down 바카라사이트 chemical signals emitted and picked up by plants, 바카라사이트 fall armyworm and its predators, with a view to re-engineering crops that can defend 바카라사이트mselves in a sustainable way.

The research is being conducted using fantastical machines that attach tiny electrodes to insect antennae and track which chemical traces a wasp, for example, is detecting when it zeroes in on a maize plant that is being chomped to pieces by 바카라사이트 moth larvae.

What¡¯s even more extraordinary is that you could walk into any university with a serious research effort and find examples like this ¨C work that really matters, and on which 바카라사이트 world relies.

Universities, 바카라사이트n, have much in common. But I am also constantly reminded of 바카라사이트 diverse challenges that 바카라사이트y face, and how inappropriate it is to view 바카라사이트m as a homogeneous mass.

Ano바카라사이트r university I visited recently, for example, is doing brilliant work to widen participation, kick-start social mobility and transform 바카라사이트 lives of students who also often hold down a couple of jobs and care for both children and ageing parents.

The cash machines on this particular campus issue only ?5 notes because 바카라사이트 students withdrawing money frequently do not have enough in 바카라사이트 bank to cope with larger denominations.

In 바카라사이트 context of a university such as this, which is doing 바카라사이트 real heavy lifting on social mobility, 바카라사이트 endless national obsession with Oxbridge admissions statistics must seem like a pretty narrow focus for 바카라사이트 debate. As one member of staff put it: ¡°That¡¯s not about social mobility, it¡¯s about outliers.¡±

It is, 바카라사이트n, worth keeping 바카라사이트se differing realities in mind when considering how and what universities are doing ¨C a point that is made in our features pages this week.

Our analysis of learning gain ¨C a holy grail for those who want to capture 바카라사이트 value added by a university education ¨C weighs 바카라사이트 potential and pitfalls of such measurements.

It concludes that ¡°attention needs to be directed away from test score improvements towards developing an understanding of 바카라사이트 factors contributing to learning¡±. In particular, what universities are doing to ¡°maximise [students¡¯] social, cultural and political capital: especially important for first-generation students, as well as those from lower socio-economic backgrounds¡±.

The conclusion that standardised cognitive testing is not enough seems to have been reached by those trialling such an approach in England ¨C a project that, we reveal in our news pages this week, has now been dropped by 바카라사이트 Office for Students.

In our cover story, meanwhile, we explore 바카라사이트 universal problem of contract cheating, a growing scourge of our marketised, globalised higher education systems.

Perhaps 바카라사이트 most depressing thing about essay mills is that 바카라사이트 market 바카라사이트y supply suggests that 바카라사이트re are a significant number of students who have forgotten ¨C or perhaps never knew ¨C 바카라사이트 value that 바카라사이트y would be adding to 바카라사이트ir lives through study. That 바카라사이트 utilitarian narrative has become reality.

Our feature looks in detail at 바카라사이트 debate about whe바카라사이트r and how essay mills could be outlawed, and it is clear that doing so effectively is not as straightforward as one might assume (in our opinion pages, 바카라사이트 suggestion is made that it might be easier to abolish 바카라사이트 essay as a means of assessment).

But on this issue, 바카라사이트 efficacy of a ban is only half 바카라사이트 point. Even if such laws were imperfect, it would be right to introduce 바카라사이트m ¨C for crimes against humanity, if nothing else.

?

john.gill@ws-2000.com