London Diary: Six Indian varsities make it to THE top 200

Amid all the bad news, here’s something to cheer up Indians. For the first time, three Indian universities feature in the top 200 of Asia’s best higher education institutions in a survey by the Times Higher Education, Britain’s leading educational journal.

These are King George’s Medical University (Lucknow) which tops the list of Indian universities that feature in the survey followed by Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi and Mahatma Gandhi University, New Delhi. Never mind if they are at the rather lower end of the list (139, 143, and 154 respectively). Let’s cheer them just for the fact that they were able to get there at all.

Three other Indian universities, which have prominently featured in previous years also, are there again: this time in the top 100 with Indian Institute of Science (37th) leading India’s participating universities for seventh consecutive year; Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (55th) and Indian Institute of Technology Indore (78th).

THE (Times Higher Education) annual Asia University Rankings use the same performance criteria as the THE World University Rankings but are recalibrated to reflect the specific attributes of Asian institutions. The universities are judged in five areas: teaching, research, citations, international outlook, and industry income.

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Eyebrows at Cambridge

Is it “inappropriate behaviour” to raise an eyebrow when speaking to a female colleague? Or “racist” to dismiss something said by a black or ethnic minority person as “stupid”?

Cambridge University has been forced to drop a new policy intended to offer women and ethnic minority students a "safe" environment after widespread criticism that it would have a chilling effect on student-teacher interactions. The most controversial bit of the proposed policy was to allow students to report anonymously incidents of "micro-aggression".

Critics questioned the "sweeping" definition of what might constitute "micro-aggression" pointing out that teachers could be reported for simply raising an eyebrow, turning their back on students, giving backhanded compliments or referring to a woman as a girl.

Senior academics warned it would encourage students to defame teachers they didn’t like and create a climate of mutual suspicion with everyone looking over their shoulders before opening their mouth. One said it “draws from the same well that gave birth to the barbaric Inquisition”.

Partha Dasgupta, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Cambridge, said: “Suppose a senior and junior colleague are engaged in a joint research project, working through the calculations, and the senior person says, ‘That’s a stupid idea’ — that’s common place, a very natural way of conversing, what if they decide to use that against them? It curtails the free flow of ideas. I’ve been here for 35 years, I have a deep affection for this university, it’s one of the greatest universities in the world, I don’t like it to be tarnished with useless complaints.”

Well, now, he can relax.

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No to Her Majesty’ s portrait

Much hoo-ha after students at Oxford University Magdalen college voted to remove a portrait of the Queen from their common room describing her as a symbol of "recent colonial history".

As if on cue, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson backed by Boris Johnson rushed to condemn the decision as “simply absurd” pointing out that she was Head of State and “a symbol of what is best about the UK”. He went on about how Her Majesty had “worked tirelessly to promote British values around the world”.

Oxford's Chancellor Chris Patten also waded into the row calling the move “offensive and obnoxiously ignorant”. A number of other grand and not-so-grand academics and politicians too weighed in to rail against “woke culture” etc.

To its credit, however, Magdalen College refused to intervene saying the decision was one for the students, not for the college. It was students who had put up the portrait in the first place, and now they had decided to remove it. The college had got nothing to do it, it said telling critics to back off.

Take a bow, Magdalen College.

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Vegan parents beware

Here's some bad news for vegan parents who insist that their children too follow in their footsteps.

According to new research, children on vegan diets grow shorter than their omnivore peers. They also have weaker bones and suffer from vitamin deficiencies. A study by University College, London found that those who followed a plant-based diet were on average 3cm shorter than those who ate meat.

Researchers said that just eating plant-based diets was "no guarantee of health" and called for more advice to be provided to the public "as to how they can eat healthily on plant-based diets".

“This is particularly relevant for children, as they may have higher nutrient needs while they are growing. We aim to conduct further research, to help maximise the health benefits of plant-based diets in children", said UCL's Professor Jonathan Wells.

Don't say you were not warned.

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And, lastly, Jimmy Carter took the idea of US-UK relationship so seriously that on a visit to the UK he apparently kissed the late Queen Mother (present Queen’s mum) on the mouth. She duly ticked him off.