I had promised my new PhD student that there was nothing to fear at the review meeting – but this was before I realised that she was under the impression that it was appropriate to submit a chapter of creative writing at this stage of her study. The reviewers expected a draft PhD thesis literature review.

The chair of the meeting, who also happened to be Head of School, made no attempt to hide her anger. She was absolutely furious.

Later, I felt obliged to give fail grades to a bunch of final year students who thought that scribbled lists on a whiteboard would pass muster as concept maps.