Staff at Oxford University have been told avoiding eye contact with students could constitute "everyday racism".

It is included in a list of "racial micro-aggressions" that has been published in a newsletter by Oxford's equality and diversity unit.
It described micro-aggressions as "subtle, everyday racism" which can be alienating.
Oxford University said the newsletter was one way of supporting its staff in its pursuit of equality of opportunity.
The newsletter said racial micro aggressions might include: "Not making eye contact or speaking directly to people."
'Trivialising racism'
Other examples cited were "not believing someone is British", and jokes drawing attention "to someone's difference, their accent, or nationality".
Emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, Prof Frank Furedi, said the newsletter's authors "need a reality check".
"It is almost as if they have become obsessed with the idea that racism is everywhere... and I think what they are doing is trivialising the real meaning of racism."
He added that the unit's interpretation "represents a new expansion of the meaning of racism", and could intensify conflict in an unnecessary way.
The equality and diversity unit's newsletter said micro-aggressions could be "well-meaning", and that people might be "mortified" if they knew they had caused offence.
But it argued this makes little difference if people feel they "do not belong" as a result, and said awareness of "subtle racism" was now included in its training.


One lane of the M4 in Monmouthshire has reopened after a five-vehicle crash.

The collision happened on the westbound carriageway between junction 23, Magor, and junction 24, Coldra, at about 15:25 BST.
Gwent Police said four people were believed to have been injured but the extent of their injuries is not known.
Earlier on Saturday, two people were taken to hospital following a crash at the same junction between a vehicle towing a horsebox and a motorbike.
That crash saw motorists face delays of up to 60 minutes as the exit slip road was closed - it was later reopened at 13:45.
The delays were not helped by the closure of the M48 Severn Bridge in both directions, which has been shut all weekend for maintenance work.


A Vietnamese man's Facebook post on his experience of arriving in the UK as a refugee has been liked and shared by tens of thousands of people, amid the current debate about Europe's migrant crisis.

Tat Wa Lay's post talks about how he was one of thousands of "boat people" who fled during and after the Vietnam War to escape persecution and poverty - his family was rescued from a rickety boat by a British Navy ship and sent to Hong Kong, before they were settled in the UK.
Now living back in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, he told the BBC's Nga Pham he had no idea his post would attract such attention.
"When I shared it on my Facebook page, I just wanted to reach out to all the people who have a negative opinion about the current refugee crisis.
I guess I wanted to change their mindset, to tell them that refugees are really not bad people and that we have so much to give back to the society.
I also wanted to promote kindness. I am totally overwhelmed by people's reactions to my Facebook post. It was shared more than 100,000 times just over a couple days.
So many people called and wrote to me how they found it moving, some even cried.
An old neighbour who had problems with us refugees when I was growing up in Bristol also contacted me to apologise about the past.
My Vietnamese friends joke that I have become famous, though it was of course not my intention.
I came back to Vietnam for the first time in 2010 to rediscover my roots. Since then, I've gone back and forth a few times.
I first found a job teaching English at a school in Ho Chi Minh City, and I am currently still working for the same school, only now I'm developing iPad apps to help kids learn English.
I plan to go back to the UK next year but I'm having so much fun here so it will probably be very difficult to leave.
My message to the people in Britain? Very simple: 'Happiness comes from making others happy'."
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.


Buddhist residents in western Burma have killed at least nine Muslims as sectarian tension worsens in the region, police say.

Reports say a crowd attacked a bus in Rakhine province after blaming some of the passengers for the gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman.
In another incident, at least 10 people were injured in the state capital Sittwe when police broke up a protest.
It is the worst violence to hit the province in recent months.
Sectarian and ethnic tension persists in the country despite a new, supposedly tolerant climate introduced by the civilian-led government which came into power 15 months ago.
The bus attack took place near the town of Taungup in Rakhine province, which borders Bangladesh, on Sunday evening, police and residents said.
It was thought to be carried out by mostly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine people.
"More than 100 people beat and killed those people," a resident told AFP news agency. "The residents even torched the bus."
The reason for the attack is unclear, but some residents say it was a revenge attack following the rape and murder of a Buddhist girl in another part of the province last month.
But the Burmese Muslim Association said most of those killed were Muslims visiting a mosque from central Burma.
That account was corroborated by unnamed residents quoted by Reuters news agency, who said those killed were not from the area.
No arrests have been made. A police investigation is under way.
In another, apparently unrelated incident at least 10 people were injured after police fired rubber bullets at a mob who attacked their police station in Sittwe, reports said.
A 13-year-old protester was among those injured, witnesses said.
There were contradictory reports about what triggered the protest, but some accounts suggested anti-Muslim sentiment could have played a part.
Rakhine is home to Burma's largest concentration of Muslims, including much-persecuted Rohingya Muslims, and their presence is often deeply resented by the majority Buddhist population.
In a joint statement quoted by Reuters, eight Rohingya rights groups based outside Burma condemned the attack on the Muslims on the bus, whom they termed "Muslim pilgrims".
Although it appears those on the bus were not Rohingyas, the groups said the attack followed months of anti-Rohingya propaganda stirred up by "extremists and xenophobes".


Taxpayers are paying more than £400,000 a year to subsidise a farm where a billionaire Saudi prince breeds racehorses.

The Newmarket farm of Khalid Abdullah al Saud - owner of the legendary horse Frankel - is among the top 100 recipients of EU farm grants in the UK.
The system's critics say Brexit will let the UK redirect £3bn in subsidies towards protecting the environment.
A spokesman for the prince declined to comment.
Farm subsidies swallow a huge chunk of the EU's budget. They were started after World War Two to stimulate production, but led to food mountains that had to be dumped.
A compromised reform process - the so-called "greening" of the Common Agricultural Policy - resulted in farmers mostly being paid depending on how much land they own.
The UK's top beneficiaries include estates owned partly or wholly by the Queen (£557,706.52); Lord Iveagh (£915,709.97); the Duke of Westminster (£427,433.96), the Duke of Northumberland (£475,030.70 ) the Mormons (£785,058.94) - and many wealthy business people.
Asked if the Queen thought it appropriate to receive taxpayers' subsidy based on the size of her land holding, a spokesman for the Palace said: "Subsidies are open to all farmers, and are received on the Queen's private estate. We would not comment beyond the detail that is already in the public domain."
A spokesman for the Duke of Westminster also declined the question, but said the farm produced quality food while taking the environment very seriously.
In EU-wide rankings, the UK scores highly on the transparency of information about who receives what, although the identity of some landowners on the list is concealed through offshore trusts.
The big conservation organisations Natural England (£970,580.50), the National Trust (£2,666,880.26) and the RSPB (£2,002,859.51) are among the top recipients.
Source: Defra
They also get extra public money under a parallel grant designed to encourage wildlife. The latter two argue for reform of the subsidies.
A campaign for reform is being launched by Greenpeace, which does not normally focus on farming, but says Brexit demands a re-examination of many policies.
The group said it was an "outrage" that subsidies were given to those such as Khalid Abdullah al Saud, who owns Juddmonte Limited farms. His stallion Frankel is said to be worth over £100m for breeding.
Greenpeace chief scientist Doug Parr told BBC News: "The subsidy system is utterly broken. We need public money spent on farming to be offering demonstrable public benefits."
The Taxpayers' Alliance added: "Farmers should be put on notice. Taxpayers shouldn't be handing out what are effectively land subsidies, often to extremely wealthy individuals."
Top of Defra's 2015 payments list is Aberdeenshire farmer Frank Smart, whose business netted grants of £2,963,732.77.
He told BBC News: "I don't want to discuss any part of my business with the media, thank you."
Mr Smart would not comment on complaints that he has been "slipper farming" - a technique in which farmers buy up land principally for the grants attached to it. The practice is not illegal but it has been heavily criticised.
One MP, the Conservative Richard Drax, is in the top 100 beneficiaries. His jointly-owned farm received £351,752.29.
Past EU attempts to radically reform the subsidies have been blocked by Europe's farmers.
Two ministers in the government's environment department, Defra, receive farm subsidies.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble declares an interest as a partner in CM Robarts & Son, (SIC) which nets £45,479.19 in direct payments.
George Eustice is a director of a Cornish farm receiving £2,313.
A Defra spokesman said Mr Eustice and Lord Gardiner had properly declared potential conflicts of interest and both had been cleared for discussions on the future of farm grants.
The spokesman said that in the context of Brexit, all policies were being re-examined, adding: "The secretary of state has underlined the need for continuity for farmers and  is looking forward to working with industry, rural communities and the wider public to shape our plans for food, farming and the environment outside the EU."
In the Tory leadership contest, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom promised farmers that she would continue farm subsidies.
The Treasury has already guaranteed direct payments for land ownership until 2020, although to the dismay of conservation groups has not committed to continue funding wildlife protection on farms.
The Tenant Farmers' Association wants to keep the £3bn total subsidies but split the cash between enhancing the environment, creating infrastructure to develop farm businesses, and public funding to promote British food.
The Country Landowners Association seems to think reform is inevitable.
"Brexit has given us the opportunity to develop a new food, farming and environmental policy which can deliver even greater benefits for the natural world," its spokesman Christopher Price said.
The farmers' union, the NFU, did not comment when asked if it accepted reform of the grants system was now inevitable.
Many environment groups believe reform of the labyrinthine grants system is beyond the capacity of Defra, which has lost many staff in recent savings. They want a broadly based commission to outline how much the government needs to spend on farming to meet the objectives of its 25-year plan to protect the environment.
Follow Roger on Twitter @rharrabin


Defence chiefs from the US, South Korea and Japan have vowed to strengthen intelligence sharing after North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile.

In a conference call, the US reaffirmed its commitment to the security of its two allies, the South's defence ministry said in a statement.
South Korean news agency Yonhap also said US F-22 stealth fighters and a nuclear-powered submarine would join military exercises next month.
The UN has also condemned the test.
The Security Council called it a grave violation of UN resolutions.
US President Donald Trump described North Korea as a "big big problem". He said he would deal with it very strongly, but didn't give details.
North Korea said it had "successfully" test-fired a ballistic missile on Sunday in a launch supervised by leader Kim Jong-un.
State news agency KCNA described the device, fired into the Sea of Japan, as a "surface-to-surface medium-to-long-range ballistic missile".


Plans to build more than 1,000 homes on the site of a former sugar factory in York will go on public display.

The British Sugar plant on Boroughbridge Road closed in 2007 and the buildings were demolished.
The land's owners, Associated British Foods (ABF), said its development would include housing and public open spaces on the 104 acre (42 hectare) site.
David Mills, of ABF, said he wanted to hear the views of local people on the scheme.
York City Council is applying for government grants to make the housing energy and water efficient and to pay for green transport initiatives.
David Mills said the open space would be "equivalent to the size of Rowntree Park".
The plans are on public display in York over the next few days.
If planning permission is approved, work is expected to start within 12 months.


Golf made a triumphant return to the Olympics at Rio following a 112-year absence and the sport's bosses are confident it has done enough to secure its Olympic status beyond the Tokyo 2020.

All events will be evaluated next year to decide whether they will be included after the next Games in Japan and, with so many top players choosing to stay away from the men's competition in Rio, there were fears golf would not survive.
But both tournaments in Brazil have been regarded as huge successes.
"If I had concerns before, I don't have those concerns anymore," Ladies European Tour chief executive Ivan Khodabakhsh told BBC Sport.
"The sport has certainly proved itself. We can also look forward to Tokyo, where golf has a much higher status, and with the television numbers we already have I have no doubt we will stay on board."
Following Justin Rose's thrilling showdown with Henrik Stenson, settled on the 72nd green of the men's tournament, the women's event was decided in emphatic fashion.
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Inbee Park cruised to a five-shot victory over world number one Lydia Ko, but the international nature of the leaderboard provided another significant boost.
While South Korea celebrated gold, Ko thrillingly claimed silver for New Zealand with a birdie at the last to leave China's Shanshan Feng with the bronze medal.
Each medallist represents a key market for the game. Americans Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller, Canada's Brooke Henderson and Britain's Charley Hull were also in contention.
Despite the often painfully slow pace of play, this geographical spread will undoubtedly have attracted the biggest global television audience ever to witness a women's golf tournament.
These are the metrics that matter most to the International Olympic Committee.
And gold went to one of the game's genuine superstars when Park added her precious metal to seven major titles.
If the IOC would allow us, I think we should include a mixed format in Tokyo, without taking away from anything we have now
Rose's victory the previous week attracted vast viewing figures in America, Stenson's Sweden and at home in the UK where 10 million people witnessed Britain's former US Open champion receiving his gold medal.
I understand the 36-year-old has been inundated with contract offers in the wake of a victory that he admitted resonated far more than his 2013 major triumph at Merion.
"It's great to showcase golf to billions of people," Khodabakhsh added. "They see how competitive golf is, that it's not just a pastime but a real high-performance sport.
"Usually women's sports take second position on TV and in the media and here we are centre stage on the same platform as the men.
"For us it is important to ignite the interest around the world. Golf is a fantastic sport - which father or mother wouldn't like to have their daughters pick up this sport now they have seen it?
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"I am sure this will be a huge game-changer for golf. It has been said many times before but the proof of it is now here."
The Ladies European Tour boss is, however, among those looking for a tweaking of the format for the Tokyo Games.
"If the IOC would allow us, I think we should include a mixed format in addition, without taking away from anything we have now," he said.
This could mean a mixed team event in the gap between the men's and women's tournaments in Tokyo.
Harnessing television interest will be the key because all Olympic sports lobby to find formats that generate more medals for their competitors.
US network NBC is the biggest power broker because it contributes most to IOC coffers. The dedicated Golf Channel is part of the NBC television empire and it invested heavily in covering the Rio tournaments.
So although Matt Kuchar's men's bronze was the only American success in Rio, there is reason to suggest powerful forces will be keen to secure and enhance golf's Olympic status.
It has surely become harder for people within the game to argue against its inclusion. Players have enjoyed levels of global exposure far greater than their traditional tournaments have ever achieved.
Now, for those who run the game, comes the appetising challenge of securing golf's Olympic status and harnessing a legacy of growth for all levels of the sport.
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Prince Charles met children taking part in climate change education and learned about efforts to save rare cattle in a visit to Wales on Friday.

The Prince of Wales opened the new head office of risk management firm Alcumus in Cardiff.
And he met community members at St Michael's Church in Llandovery.
He made a donation to help save White Park Cattle from extinction during a visit to a herd at Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire.
During his visit to Dinefwr Park in Llandeilo, the prince pledged support to the National Trust's Save the Herd campaign to help its effort to safeguard the White Park Cattle which have grazed the area for more than 1,000 years.
About 750 White Park breeding females exist in the world, said the trust, which aims to raise Â£36,000 to buy a new bull and cows.
Prince Charles also learned about the work of climate change charity the Size of Wales in Cwmbran, Torfaen, and he met with pupils taking part in its education programme at Blenheim Road Community Primary.
The charity runs programmes to demonstrate the importance of rainforests and encourages young people to take action against climate change.
The Duchess of Cambridge visited Torfaen and Caerphilly on Wednesday in her new role as royal patron of children's charities.


A woman has died from her injuries five days after a car crash in Berkshire.

Emergency services were called to the collision between a Nissan Qashqai and Vauxhall Corsa on the A308 Marlow Road near Maidenhead on Wednesday.
The driver of the Vauxhall - a 38-year-old woman - was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and died in hospital on Monday.
A nine-year-old girl in the same car was taken to hospital with serious injuries and has since been discharged.
The three occupants of the Nissan all sustained minor injuries.
No arrests have been made in connection with the crash.


Happy birthday to the BBC World News program - Asia Business Report.

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2 October 2015 Last updated at 03:04 BST
October 2nd marks fifteen years since the show first aired. It has been a very eventful time for business and for the broader economy in Asia.
Here are some of the huge changes in the region over that time.


A woman with terminal cancer has been given the chance to visit a museum in Amsterdam for the final time.

The unnamed patient was taken to the Rijksmuseum in the Netherland's capital, where she visited an exhibition on Rembrandt.
Stichting Ambulance Wens, the charity which helped her, shared an image on Twitter of her in a bed in front of a self-portrait of the artist.
That day a total of four people were helped to fulfil their final wishes.
Two others also wanted to see the Rembrandt exhibition, while one wanted to go sailing.
Stichting Ambulance Wens [Amsterdam Wish Foundation] says it has helped nearly 6,000 people since it was launched in 2007.
It typically helps people who have become immobile because of their illness.
Wim Pijbes, director general of the Rijksmuseum, said: "Ever since its opening in 2013 The Rijksmuseum has welcomed and accommodated the Last Wish Foundation.
"We give our full support to this extraordinary initiative, and have great admiration for everyone concerned in these very special moments."
Opened in February by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, the Late Rembrandt exhibition includes more than 100 works painted by the artist between 1651 and his death in 1669.
The picture the woman is shown looking at is called Self-Portrait with Two Circles and was painted in around 1660.
It is generally considered to be a masterpiece of Rembrandt's later years.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube


A rebel leader linked to al-Qaeda has been killed in a suicide bomb attack in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

Abu Khaled al-Suri was among several people who died when a base of Ahrar al-Sham, part of the Islamic Front, was targeted on Sunday, activists said.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a jihadist rebel group, is thought to have been responsible.
Suri was reportedly sent to Syria by al-Qaeda to end the infighting between ISIS and other rebel groups.
It is said to have left more than 2,000 people dead since early January.
Abu Khalid al-Suri was killed along with six comrades from Ahrar al-Sham in Sunday's attack, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Two rebels told the Reuters news agency that five men had entered the rival group's headquarters in Aleppo and opened fire before one blew himself up.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but a spokesman for the Islamic Front, Akram al-Halabi, said he believed ISIS was behind it.
"The first fingers of blame point to the State," he told the Associated Press. "Unfortunately this is going to make the infighting worse."
Suri, a Syrian-born militant whose real name was Muhammad Bahaiah, is believed to have been close to the late al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He fought against US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rebel sources said he was sent to Syria a few months ago on a mission to mediate in the conflict between ISIS and other rebel groups, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
An audio recording attributed to Suri was released last month in which he said ISIS had "sought to corrupt the jihad in Syria, as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan".
He called on the group to stop attacking other jihadists, adding: "Direct your car bombs at the infidels and do not busy yourself with fighting the mujahedeen and killing them."
Earlier this month, al-Qaeda's general command insisted that it had "no connection" with ISIS and was not responsible for its actions.
ISIS grew out of the former Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a jihadist militant umbrella group that included al-Qaeda in Iraq. It is believed to have helped create the al-Nusra Front in mid-2011.
In April 2013, ISI leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the merger of his group and al-Nusra - effectively a takeover - and the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
But the move was rejected by al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani and Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's overall leader, who recognised al-Nusra as its sole Syrian offshoot.
Since then, ISIS and al-Nusra have operated as separate entities, with the latter focusing on toppling President Bashar al-Assad and maintaining better relations with other rebels. ISIS has seemed to be more concerned by territorial gains and implementing its extreme interpretation of Islamic law.
Also on Sunday, several people were reported killed by a car bomb near a field hospital in northern Syria, close to the border with Turkey.
Activists said the blast happened in the rebel-held town of Atmeh, which hosts a camp for thousands of people displaced by Syria's civil war.
It was not immediately clear who had carried out that attack.
According to UN figures, 6.5 million Syrians have been displaced by the country's civil war, and 2.5 million are registered as refugees. Lebanon has taken the highest number of refugees, followed by Jordan and Turkey.


Bolton Wanderers have brought in former Real Madrid defender Derik Osede.

The 22-year-old centre-back has signed a three-year deal with the Trotters after his contract ended in Spain.
He has come through the youth system with the La Liga side and played for Castilla, the Real Madrid B team, under ex-France midfielder Zinedine Zidane.
Although Madrid-born Osede has represented Spain at every youth level, he revealed to BBC Sport his desire to play for the Nigeria senior team.
He joins keeper Ben Amos and striker Gary Madine as Neil Lennon's signings so far this summer.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


There is no clear evidence to show that "academies raise standards overall", says a report from the Education Select Committee into England's school system.

MPs are calling for more "openness" in the strengths and weaknesses of such state-funded independent schools which are a majority of secondary schools.
They say that the government should be less "defensive" about academy schools.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan says academies are "central" to "delivering the best schools".
The report from the cross-party committee of MPs says that standards have risen in the state school system, but it is still too early to determine the impact of academies.
"Current evidence does not prove that academies raise standards overall or for disadvantaged children," says committee chairman Graham Stuart.
"It is clear though that academisation has led to greater competition, challenging many maintained schools to improve and incentivising local authorities to develop speedier and more effective interventions in underperforming schools."
The report calls for much more transparency on what really works in academies.
It argues that these autonomous state schools can be very successful, but the government needs to be much more open about the scheme and to improve supervision.
The report highlights the Ark and Harris academy chains as examples of success.
Nestled in a road lined with period properties and flat-fronted shops, The Petchey Academy is a bright modern building full of airy spaces and sharp angles
It was established in 2006 under the last Labour government to replace the struggling Kingsland School.
As a sponsored academy it is backed by the Jack Petchey Foundation and since it opened results have vastly improved.
Last summer 59% of children gained five GCSEs at A* to C including English and maths, compared to 17% at its predecessor school.
The principal, Olivia Cole, said being a sponsored academy has made all the difference.
"I know all academies are different but the model here works extremely well," she said.
"We are in competition (with other schools), but we also talk to each other and support each other through the local authority, and I really think it's helped drive up standards in the whole of Hackney whether maintained schools or academies."
She said the autonomy of academy status has allowed flexibility over the curriculum, while the freedom to set pay and conditions has helped staff recruitment.
"I think it's just a change in attitude. We were directly answerable to the Department for Education, and as a result we knew that if they were going to invest Â£32m in this amazing building then we had to do something in return, and also for the children this was really a last chance for the children in Hackney."
Pupil Snezana Milivojevic said: "I feel like we have a lot more opportunities than we had in year seven. We have trips to China, Spain, France and Belgium every year. The school has different links, like business partners.
"I'm doing something called careers academy, where I have a business mentor which is helping me find out what kind of career I want to go into which is really good, and not many schools have that so I feel privileged for that."
The MPs also want more clarity over funding, raising questions as to whether the Education Funding Agency can be both the funder and regulator.
"While some chains have clearly raised attainment, others achieve worse outcomes creating huge disparities within the academy sector and compared to other mainstream schools," says Mr Stuart.
There is a call for more transparency in the oversight of academies, including creating a way for schools to leave academy chains and to develop a plan for schools when an academy chain fails.
The report calls for Ofsted to be able to inspect academy chains - and last week the Department for Education conceded that inspectors would be able to carry out such inspections, but without delivering a formal judgement.
While academies have become a majority in secondary school they remain a minority of primary schools.
Before pressing ahead with an expansion of primary academies, the MPs say, research into their value should be commissioned as a "matter of urgency".
"There is at present no convincing evidence of the impact of academy status on attainment in primary schools," says the report.
"The Department for Education needs to be far more open about the implementation of the academies programme: it has much to gain from transparency," the MPs conclude.
On the quality of free schools, the report says it is "too early  to draw conclusions". But it calls for more clarity over funding and better co-ordination with local authorities.
The education secretary said academies and free schools have helped by "promoting new ideas and approaches, and helping to drive up standards in other local schools as a result".
"They have also created greater choice and are more accountable to parents and communities who have a much greater opportunity to hold them to account than has been the case with schools in the past.
"The interests of parents, pupils and communities are at the heart of the programme," said Mrs Morgan.
Tristram Hunt, shadow education secretary, described the report as a "damning verdict".
"The report finds that under David Cameron there is no convincing evidence that schools policy has delivered improvements."
Becky Francis, professor of education at King's College London, said the report illustrates that "the evidence on whether or not academies have had more success in raising attainment than other equivalent schools is mixed, and hard to pin down".
This is in part because there are many different types of school under the "academy" label and progress is from very different starting points.
Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said this was "an utterly damning report".
"Those parents whose schools have been forcibly converted to academies, often against their wishes and those of the staff, will rightly question just whose interests the government has been pursuing in the last five years."
Mary Bousted, leader of the ATL teachers' union, said the report showed: "Academy status is no magic potion to transform schools."


A leading expert has warned that children's brains can be damaged by heading footballs at an early age.

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Dr Ann McKee is a neuropathologist at Boston University and has extensively researched head injuries in the NFL.
"I think there are dangers to the adolescent brain being exposed to these injuries," she told BBC World Service.
"Before the brain is fully developed, before the neck and musculature is mature I think these kids are at risk."
In America, a study of 24 American football players aged between 16 and 18 found abnormalities similar to the effects of mild traumatic brain injury after one season.
Former England and West Brom striker Jeff Astle died aged 59 in 2002 from a brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is normally linked to boxers.
Astle was incorrectly diagnosed with Alzheimer's but earlier this year Dr Willie Stewart analysed Astle's brain and highlighted CTE, a progressive degeneration of the the brain caused by repeated head trauma.
He added that a number of footballers could be affected by the condition.
Former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski, founder of Sports Legacy Institute, told BBC World Service: "No child under the age of 14 should be heading a football.
"The reality is that no child under the age of 14 should be receiving intentional brain trauma, it doesn't matter what sport.
"One header is not dangerous, however a lifetime of thousands of headers is dangerous. It does appear to increase your risk of later life problems."


Thieves who targeted a Carlisle car dealership and removed catalytic converters from a number of vehicles are being hunted by police.

The theft, at Border Toyota on Parkhouse Road, took place overnight between Wednesday and Thursday.
Police said the offenders went to great lengths to unscrew the front bolts and cut the rear section of the exhausts on five Toyota Hilux vehicles.
The value of the catalytic converters taken amounts to Â£11,000.
Cumbria Police urged scrap dealers to be wary of catalytic converters traded in and to contact the force if they have any suspicions.


A faith leader who used his role as a "spiritual guide" to cover up a multimillion-pound property fraud and tax-evasion scam has been jailed.

Muslim cleric Mehboob Akhtar, of Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced along with nine others including his wife and daughter.
They were found guilty of lying to mortgage lenders to amass nearly Â£1m of property in a bid to "control and dominate" areas of the city.
Akhtar was jailed for 14 years at Birmingham Crown Court.
Read more updates on this story and more from across Stoke and Staffordshire
Following a trial last month, the 60-year-old, of Farman Close in Fenton, was convicted of 11 charges including five of conspiracy to commit fraud and cheating Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) out of Â£271,000.
The court heard how Akhtar, who was also known as Saint Pirwali Pandariman, masterminded the conspiracy over more than a decade, between 2003 and 2014.
Originally from Pakistan, he was a prominent faith leader in Fenton and helped raise several million pounds in donations to fight poverty through the area's Darbar Unique Centre, the court heard.
But judge Stephen Eyre said he had "let down his followers".
He said: "[You used] the prestige and devotion of others to facilitate this offending.
"Your role as a spiritual guide provided cover and you financed your activities through donations obtained in part because of your spiritual role".
The court heard how Akhtar kept his name off most of the paperwork, using his wife, daughter and niece to apply for mortgages.
When police searched homes and offices connected to the group in September 2012, they uncovered forged documents and emails relating to the conspiracy.
His wife Khadija Akhtar, 54, of Hartwell Lane, Stoke, was convicted of offences including cheating HMRC and conspiracy to obtain a money transfer by deception.
She was jailed for four years and three months.
Akhtar's daughter, Rushbamani Akhtar, 29, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years after being convicted of entering into an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Seven others - including two mortgage brokers - were sentenced after being convicted of charges including conspiracy to defraud and obtaining money transfers by deception:
After the sentencing, Ch Supt Martin Evans, from Staffordshire Police, said the sentences were the result of a "very long and complex investigation".


A disabled woman who collected her university degree on a stretcher has had a life-changing operation after well-wishers raised £100,000.

Melanie Hartshorn has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) which causes her skull to sink into her spine.
It is so severe the 27-year-old from Cramlington had to take her Newcastle University exams lying down.
Her mother Molly said three surgeons in Barcelona had operated for nine hours to fuse her skull to her spine.
The surgery cost £80,000 and £20,000 was raised to pay for an air ambulance flight to Spain.
It involved fixing her cranium to her vertebrae to allow her to sit up and prevent brain damage.
Sections of her daughter's ribs were used in the operation, Mrs Hartshorn said.
"She will be in a medically induced coma for at least 20 hours then they will try to wake her and see how she copes," she added.
There were no complications, severe bleeding or heart problems, which had been a concern, she said.
Miss Hartshorn's condition is degenerative and she has needed multiple operations because her joints dislocate and cannot hold her body together.
Mrs Hartshorn said doctors had told her "they have never seen anyone with such extreme problems".


A doctor seriously injured when an ambulance she was travelling in crashed is to receive more than £1m in damages.

The payout was agreed as part of a settlement reached in Dr Cathy Armstrong's lawsuit over the accident in County Fermanagh in January 2011.
The consultant anaesthetist was treating a critically ill patient en route to hospital when their ambulance was in collision with a truck.
A court was told her serious back injuries may have ended her career.
She sued the driver of the other vehicle, with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service later joining as a second defendant.
Earlier this month, the High Court in Belfast heard that Dr Armstrong, now aged in her 50s, lived for her work and planned to continue as long as possible, before what was a "life-changing event".
On the day of the crash, she was treating a swine flu patient being transferred by ambulance from the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen to Belfast.
A police car had been travelling ahead, clearing the route for their emergency journey.
It overtook the other truck as he was about to make a right turn on the main A4 road at Brookeborough.
The ambulance travelling behind was in collision with the truck, crashing off the road and overturning down an embankment.
It was claimed that the truck driver's manoeuvre was "foolhardy in its mildest form", as he should have realised an ambulance was approaching if he had properly used his mirrors.
Reports referred to in the case predicted Dr Armstrong may not make a return to work.
Proceedings were adjourned to allow out of court negotiations.
Dr Armstrong's barrister later announced that a settlement had been reached.
Although the exact terms are not being disclosed, legal sources have said she would receive a figure in excess of £1m, plus legal costs.


Some 50 people have been convicted in a major corruption case centred on the Spanish resort of Marbella.

The case, involving bribery, property fraud and money laundering, resulted in convictions for senior officials.
These included former city planning chief Juan Antonio Roca, who was jailed for 11 years and fined 240m euros (Â£202m, $300m) for pocketing huge sums.
Two of the coastal city's former mayors were also handed jail terms over the scams, which came to light in 2006.
Marisol Yague and Julian Munoz received sentences of six and two years, respectively.
A total of 85 men and women were accused in what is thought to be the biggest-ever case of local political corruption in Spanish history.
Roca, who managed the city's planning department in the 1990s, became one of Spain's richest men before he was accused of masterminding the corruption.
He was initially given the job at the peak of Marbella's construction boom by the city's notorious, late mayor, Jesus Gil, who died in 2004.
The verdict read out in court in the province of Malaga detailed a corruption ring involving building permits being handed out to a succession of officials in return for envelopes stuffed with cash.
Roca himself became extremely rich, with a portfolio of ranches, expensive cars and boats.
The sentences for Roca and the two disgraced mayors were significantly less than those demanded by prosecutors.
They had sought a 30-year term for Roca, who was detained in 2006, but the court took into account his admission of the scale of corruption.
Marbella's local government was forced to replace large numbers of personnel after the case was exposed.


Joy Beverley, one third of the vocal harmony group the Beverley Sisters, has died at the age of 91.

The singer, from Bethnal Green in London, was the eldest sister in the trio, who were known for songs including Little Drummer Boy and the Irving Berlin standard Sisters.
They had their own BBC TV show in the 1950s and were made MBEs in 2006.
Joy was also married to Wolverhampton Wanderers' star Billy Wright until his death from cancer in 1994.
She died on Monday after suffering a stroke last week her son, Vince Wright, told the Express and Star.
"We all thought the world of her and we are devastated she is gone," he said.
"She was a very bubbly, but private, character. We are all going to miss her terribly, she has been a part of our lives for so long now it really is going to be a big loss for all of us."
Joy, born Joycelyn V Chinery in 1924, and the twins Babs and Teddie, born in 1927, were brought up in Bethnal Green in east London.
Their parents were George and Victoria Beverley - who performed as music-hall duo, Coram and Mills.
During their formative years, money was scarce and the sisters shared a bed until they were teenagers.
Speaking in 2002, Joy insisted they did not notice being poor. "Mother was very clever," she told the Independent. "If we said we wanted a bike, she'd say: 'Oh, I love you too much to give you a bike.'"
During the Second World War the girls were evacuated to the Midlands. There they secured a contract to become "Bonnie Babies" in an advertising campaign for the bedtime drink Ovaltine.
Radio appearances for the BBC followed - with support from bandleader Glenn Miller they became professional singers, renowned for their close harmonies and glamorous lifestyles.
After the war the siblings were given their own TV show, initially called Three Little Girls in View and later retitled Those Beverley Sisters as the group's profile improved.
In 1951, the trio signed a recording contract with Columbia Records that helped them become the highest paid female act in the UK, earning more than Â£700 a week at a time when the average weekly wage was Â£5.
They were the first British female group to break into the US top 10 and enjoyed chart success with Christmas records like I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.
Other favourites included Bye Bye Love and Always and Forever.
But they all but retired after Joy married Billy Wright, then captain of the England football team, at Poole Register Office in 1958.
"I felt it was time we had an ordinary life," she recalled in a 1995 interview. "We'd had a successful career and I felt no guilt."
But the trio reunited in the 1980s, resurrecting old songs such as It's Illegal, It's Immoral Or It Makes You Fat for gay clubs and variety shows.
The sisters entered the Guinness Book Of Records in 2002, as the world's longest surviving vocal group without a change in the line up.
The same year, they sang for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at a Jubilee concert.
In 2006, the group were made MBEs for services to music, and arrived at Buckingham Palace - as always - in identical outfits.
Joy is survived by her twin sisters, three children, Vince, Vicky and Babette, as well as three granddaughters and one grandson.


Rory McIlroy's ability to compartmentalise his career is perhaps his most impressive quality.

While he has compiled his best season to date, culminating in this week being crowned Race to Dubai winner for the second time in three years, he has been battling the stress of court proceedings against his former management company.
After the failure of a recent mediation process, the legal case with the Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management agency is scheduled to go to court in February next year.
McIlroy pulled out of two recent events in China to concentrate on preparing for the legal proceedings.
But he has spent the last 10 days in Dubai to ready himself for the season-ending World Tour Championship, an event he won two years ago to clinch the money list title.
This time he has wrapped up the Race crown ahead of schedule while the Horizon case has been bubbling under the surface. He claimed the Open and US PGA titles as well as the WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone in August.
McIlroy's other victory, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, came in the immediate aftermath of his May split from fiancee Caroline Wozniacki.
This was the first win that showed his ability to put aside off-course troubles and it kick-started his stellar summer.
"I've been able to put a few things out of my mind this year and just focus on golf.  It's really been the first year I've been able to do it," McIlroy told BBC Sport.  "I guess getting used to it has been a big part of being able to do it.
"It's nice to get back to the golf tournaments and golf courses and to solely think about that. And just get back to an environment that I'm 100% comfortable in.
"It's almost like a holiday coming back to playing tournaments."
McIlroy admits that the time in lawyers' offices can take a toll. "It is stressful in some ways, it takes up quite a lot of time," he said.
"I think anyone who has been in this position will tell you it's not the nicest thing to go through."
He is confident the case will not derail his bid to complete a career grand slam at the Masters next April.
"It'll be over in a few months and I'll have a clear mind and a clear head going to Augusta which is the important thing," he said.
"As long as everyone appreciates that and knows that then everything will be OK."
The world number one confirmed that the case will not affect his playing schedule next year. "We've done it in a way which has been nice in that it won't impact on any tournaments that I have planned to play next year," McIlroy explained
"All the tournaments that I usually play at the start of the year, I'm going to play again.
"It might take out a couple of weeks where I would normally practise but I'm not missing any tournaments which is important to me."
Aside from contesting the court case, which centres around his terms when he was a Horizon client, McIlroy is making the most of his growing influence on the game.
His charitable foundation will be backing next year's Irish Open at Royal County Down. The event is already reaping rewards from the relationship as McIlroy has persuaded American star Rickie Fowler to join the field.
And the involvement of leading players in backing and promoting tournaments is a trend that is gathering momentum.
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Last week Scotland's most recent major winner, Paul Lawrie, announced he will be staging a 64-man matchplay event on the European Tour at the Murcar Links next August.
The 1999 Open champion has exploited the business contacts he has nurtured in the prosperous Aberdeen area and it has resulted in another British date on the Tour schedule.
It is a move that might encourage other home players to try to follow a similar route. This particularly applies to English stars like Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald.
All three are based in the United States but would do their British profile a power of good, as well as tapping into the golf-starved market in England, if they could follow suit.
Certainly Welshman Jamie Donaldson can see the potential benefits, and he told BBC Sport that he would be keen to follow Lawrie's example.
"I'd love to get involved in something like that," said the man who sealed Europe's recent Ryder Cup victory.
"Especially if there is no Wales Open next year, that would be incredible to get involved in.
"Obviously I've still got a lot left to do in my playing career, but certainly at the end of it I would love to get involved in stuff like that.
"Also if there's people who want to get involved, I don't mind. I'd love to spearhead another Welsh Open, maybe at a links course if not Celtic Manor again.
"There's so many great golf courses in Wales. I'd love to bring another Welsh Open to what is a great golfing country.
"I would gladly get involved in anything that helps the European Tour to bring more events on," added Donaldson.
More immediately, the Pontypridd man is looking to end an outstanding season on a real high in Dubai. That is something else he has in common with McIlroy.


German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to push for tougher European laws to protect personal information on the internet.

In a TV interview with the public broadcaster ARD, she said Germany wanted internet companies "to tell us in Europe who they are giving data to".
Her comments follow revelations about a US spying operation that collects users' data from internet companies.
Mrs Merkel also said she expected the US to abide by German law.
Tensions have been running high between the two countries following reports that the US has been eavesdropping on EU and German officials.
"I expect a clear commitment from the US government that in future they will stick to German law," she said.
The BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin says the chancellor is under pressure to disclose how much her government knew about the activities of the American National Security Agency (NSA), and to ensure that Germans' closely-guarded privacy is not compromised.
In her Sunday evening interview, she pledged that her government would take a "very strict position" in ongoing talks on European Union-wide data rules.
She noted that the different systems in place across the EU make it difficult to control who has access to internet users' data:.
"We have a great data protection law. But if Facebook is registered in Ireland, then Irish law is valid, and therefore we need unified European rules," she said.
Chancellor Merkel sent her interior minister to Washington last week to meet Attorney General Eric Holder and Vice President Joe Biden to to find out how much spying there has been and on whom.
The opposition has accused her government of failing to get answers from its allies in the US.


Latest reports from southern Afghanistan suggest that Sangin district in Helmand province is now almost entirely under Taliban control after days of fierce fighting.

The police headquarters and the main government building fell to the Taliban on Wednesday, a local senator said.
The Taliban say their fighters have seized the entire district.
However, the Afghan defence ministry said fighting was continuing and that reinforcements had been sent.
Sangin saw almost a quarter of British military fatalities during the UK's combat mission in Afghanistan.
District governor Haji Suliman Shah told the BBC he had been airlifted from the district HQ to Shorabak base - formerly Camp Bastion - in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah early on Wednesday, along with 15 wounded security force members.
A few hundred police and soldiers have taken refuge at an army barracks about 7km (four miles) from Sangin, and are besieged there.
Read more about Sangin
Harsh lessons from Sangin
Who are the Taliban?
Ashuqullah, a police officer at the barracks, told the BBC the "entire" town was controlled by militants. "We have not seen any help," he said.
"Support troops have been airdropped at a distance... but all roads are blocked and in the militants' control," he added.
There were many wounded at the barracks needing urgent evacuation, he said.
Speaking in Kabul, Afghanistan's acting Defence Minister Masoum Stanikzai described the situation in Helmand as "manageable" and said fresh support troops had been sent in.
Afghan government forces had been "thinly spread" over the whole country, he said, and had been trying their best to hold all areas.
A small contingent of British troops has been sent to Helmand "in an advisory role," the British government said on Tuesday.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed on Wednesday:
"The Sangin district centres, its police HQ, and other establishments were under continued attacks of the mujahideen and today... with God's grace the district was fully captured by the mujahideen.
"The white flag of the Islamic emirate is at full mast at the district now.''
Haji Daud, the head of the Sangin district people's council, told the BBC that Sangin residents had fled the district to neighbouring areas.
Responding to the defence minister's claims, he said: "Those whose family - brothers and siblings and parents - are not fighting on the front, they always say the situation is not dangerous in the area..."
"Those who make such comments do not care to defend Helmand."
Pharmacy owner Sarwah Shah, who fled to Lashkar Gah, told the BBC that all of the families living on his street in Sangin - around 20 to 30 houses - had fled.
Another resident Agha Wali said he had fled Sangin with his children two days ago. He had had to leave all his possessions behind, he said.
The Taliban have already seized control of all but two districts in Helmand.
On Monday the deputy governor of Helmand complained of a lack of government support in an open letter on Facebook to President Ashraf Ghani.
"Helmand will collapse to the enemies and it's not like Kunduz, where we could launch an operation from the airport to retake it. That is just impossible and a dream," he wrote.
In September, the Taliban briefly overran the northern Afghan city of Kunduz in one of their biggest victories since 2001.


A man has admitted killing a stranger with a single punch after he mistakenly thought he was stealing from a woman's handbag in West Lothian.

Mariusz Winiarski, 35, attacked Brian Stirling in King Street, Bathgate, on 17 December last year.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Mr Stirling (54) had been holding the woman's handbag before Winiarski attacked him.
Lord Burns, deferred sentence until May and remanded Winiarski in custody.
Defence counsel John Scullion said Winiarski, who had been drinking, saw the victim looking into the handbag.
He said: "His initial reaction was the deceased was stealing from her. He accepts the conclusion he reached was entirely wrong and he accepts his reason in punching Mr Stirling cannot be justified."
He added: "He accepts full responsibility for the tragic consequences of his actions."
Winiarski was originally charged with murdering Mr Stirling, but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide.
He admitted assaulting and killing Mr Stirling, formerly from Bathgate, by punching him on the head, causing him to fall to the ground where the victim struck his head. Mr Stirling later died of his injuries.
The Polish national, who worked as a driver, also admitted assaulting Mr Stirling's friend Robert Parker by punching him on the head outside Dreadnought nightclub in Bathgate.
Advocate depute Lynsey MacDonald said Winiarski did not know either of the men that he attacked.
The defence counsel said that although it was a case in which a prison term was "almost inevitable" a background report would be required on the first offender before sentencing.


The US state department has poked fun at a Russian newspaper which it says faked a letter by a US official.

The Izvestia newspaper claimed US official Randy Berry wrote a letter of support to Russian gay rights campaigner Nikolay Alexeyev.
It said the letter emerged after hackers gained access to Mr Alexeyev's emails.
The US embassy corrected the letter's grammar and spelling before posting a photo to its Facebook page.
The reaction was prompted by an article about the Russian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community claiming that US authorities were paying Mr Alexeyev to destabilise the situation in Russia, with the letter as proof.
The author of the article quotes the letter allegedly signed by Mr Berry, US special envoy for the human rights of LGBTI persons.
Mr Berry apparently thanks Mr Alexeyev for organising a public rally "in support of ceasing Russian aggression against Ukraine" on 1 May 2015.
But US diplomats expressed astonishment at the suggestion that Mr Alexeyev would contact a US official using his Gmail address.
They have offered to correct any further "fake letters" before publication, saying: "Dear Izvestia. Next time you are going to use fake letters, send them to us - we will be happy to help correct your mistakes. Yours sincerely, State Department."


A teenager has become "stuck in the system" a month after her medical treatment for brain damage ended, her family fears.

Jordana King, 17, from Port Talbot, contracted encephalitis - an inflammation of the brain - in June.
She is awaiting transfer from Swansea's Morriston Hospital to a rehabilitation unit, with her family worried delays could jeopardise her recovery.
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board said her care plan is being reviewed.
In June, Ms King, who is a Jujitsu brown belt, was taken ill with two forms of encephalitis which left her brain damaged.
At one stage she could not eat, drink or wash herself, with her father Darol describing it as "like having a newborn baby".
After being treated at the neurology department at Morriston Hospital, she is awaiting transfer to a rehabilitation unit which will offer speech, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
Her family believe this will be at Cardiff's Llandough Hospital.
The family said experts told them rehabilitation was a matter of urgency and are worried delays may jeopardise her chances of making a full recovery.
"She's stuck in the system. We can't speak to Llandough (hospital) because she's not there yet," said Mr King.
"Morriston can't do anything, they've done everything they can.
"She's in no man's land now. The consultant can't do any more because he's a medical consultant, so she's just in limbo at whoever's mercy really."
In a statement, the health board said it was "very pleased" to see her condition improving although "there is still a long way to go".
It added: "Because Jordana's progress is good, we are updating her care plan regularly.
"Jordana needs speech and language therapy, but it is not clear, because of her improvement, whether she still needs to go to Llandough for specialist care, or whether that care can be provided closer to home.
"This is being reviewed at the moment, and we will continue to discuss all available options with her family."


Tillakaratne Dilshan has been appointed captain of Sri Lanka for next month's tour of England.

The all-rounder, 34, will lead the side in all formats, succeeding Kumar Sangakkara, who quit after the  World Cup final defeat by India in April.
Former captain Marvan Atapattu, 40, has been named batting coach for the tour.
But the selectors have postponed naming a replacement for Mahela Jayawardene as vice-captain because a number of prospective candidates are injured.
All-rounder Angelo Mathews, 23, has been tipped to take over the role, but he is nursing a side strain suffered during the World Cup semi-final win over New Zealand.
Dilshan has led his country once before, during last June's tour of Zimbabwe, when his team won the final of a one-day tri-series which also featured India.
However, he has never previously captained the side in a Test match.
The opening batsman was the leading scorer during the World Cup - which Sri Lanka co-hosted along with India and Bangladesh - with 500 runs at an average of 62.50.
He also took eight wickets at 15.75 with his right-arm off-spin as his side made it to the final before losing by six wickets to India.
His predecessor Sangakkara resigned the captaincy three days after the defeat in Mumbai, citing the need for a younger leader be put in place to guide the side through to the 2015 World Cup.
Sangakkara replaced Jayawardene as captain in March 2009, with the latter reverting to vice-captain.
However, Jayawardene too quit his role in the aftermath of the recent World Cup, after becoming the first player to score a century in the final and end up on the losing side.
The country's four selectors, headed by former national skipper Aravinda de Silva, also resigned after the tournament.
Sangakkara had initially offered to stay on as interim Test captain while a successor was found for the shorter formats.
Dilshan is also famous for popularising the "Dilscoop" - a scoop over the wicketkeeper's head - at the ICC World Twenty20 in England in 2009, when Sri Lanka were losing finalists and Dilshan was named as player of the tournament.
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1100s - Swedish crusades subjugate Finns and convert them to Christianity.
Baron Gustaf Mannerheim is seen as the father of modern Finland
1323 - Territory of present-day Finland becomes part of the Swedish realm
1808 - Russian invasion of Sweden supported by Napoleon.
1809 - Finland is ceded to Russia by the Swedes. The Finns retain a considerable amount of autonomy. They keep their own legal system, religion, and are exempt from Russian military service.
1812 - Helsinki becomes capital.
1899 onwards - Russian Tsar Nicholas II inaugurates policy of Russification of Finland, to include conscription of Finnish men into the Russian army and the imposition of Russian as the official language. Protests and a campaign of civil disobedience begin.
1906 - Finland passes the Parliament Act, which establishes universal suffrage, including the right for women to stand for elected office, for the first time in Europe.
1917 - The Russian Revolution allows Finland to declare its independence.
1918 - Bitter civil war, which leads to some 30,000 deaths. A rebellion by leftwing Red Guards is put down by General Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.
1919 - Finland becomes a republic. Kaarlo Stahlberg becomes first president.
1939 - Outbreak of World War II. Finland declares its neutrality. In November the Soviet Union invades. The Winter War begins.
1940 - Despite fierce resistance, the Finns are forced to concede. The Treaty of Moscow gives around 10% of Finnish territory to the Soviet Union.
1941 - Germany attacks USSR in June. Finland launches military campaign to retake territory lost under Treaty of Moscow. Britain declares war on Finland in December.
1944 - The Red Army invades. An armistice is signed in September. Finland concedes more land to the Soviet Union and agrees to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in war reparations.
1947 - Peace treaty signed between Finland and Soviet Union.
1948 - Finland signs friendship treaty with the Soviet Union and agrees to resist any attack through Finnish territory on the Soviet Union.
1950 - Urho Kekkonen becomes prime minister and is subsequently elected as president in 1956. He pursues a policy of friendly neutrality with the Soviet Union.
1952 - Payment of reparations completed.
1955 - Finland joins United Nations and Nordic Council.
1973 - Trade agreements signed with the European Economic Community and Comecon.
1989 - Soviet Union recognises Finnish neutrality.
1990 - Economic difficulties as former Soviet and eastern European markets collapse.
1991 - Centre Party coalition elected. Austerity measures introduced.
1992 - Friendship treaty with Soviet Union of 1948 declared null and void. New treaty with Russia involves no military agreements. Finland applies for membership of the European community.
1995 - Finland becomes member of the European Union. The social democrats emerge as strongest party in elections and form a "rainbow coalition" government with Paavo Lipponen as prime minister.
1999 - Paavo Lipponen's social democrats are returned to power.
2000 February - Tarja Halonen elected as Finland's first female president.
2002 January - Euro replaces the Finnish mark.
2002 May - Parliament narrowly approves construction of a fifth nuclear reactor, the first in Western Europe since 1991 and the first in the country for 30 years. Green Party decides to withdraw from government coalition in protest.
2003 March/April - Anneli Jaatteenmaki's Centre Party narrowly defeats Lipponen's Social Democrats in general election. Forms new coalition with Social Democrats and Swedish People's Party.
2003 June - Prime Minister Jaatteenmaki resigns in leak row. Matti Vanhanen takes over as prime minister.
2004 March - Former PM Anneli Jaatteenmaki acquitted of charges of illegally obtaining secret documents about Iraq war while she was opposition leader.
2006 January - Tarja Halonen re-elected for second term as president.
2006 May - Parliament votes in favour of EU constitution, paving way for ratification.
2007 March - Centre Party wins parliamentary elections by a razor-thin margin and goes on to govern in a centre-right coalition.
2007 November - An 18-year-old gunman kills seven children and a school principal before shooting himself, drawing attention to Finland's accommodating gun laws.
2008 June - Parliament approves EU's Lisbon Treaty.
2008 September - A 22-year-old gunman kills 11 people - including himself - in a shooting spree at a vocational college, prompting the government to impose stricter rules for handgun ownership.
2008 December - Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari receives 2008 Nobel Peace Prize.
2009 May - May start-up date for OL3 nuclear reactor postponed until 2012. The project is also about $2.4bn dollars (1.7bn euros) over budget.
2010 June - Matti Vanhanen resigns as Centre Party leader and prime minister, and is succeeded by Mari Kiviniemi.
Once a world-wide technology giant, Finnish phone-maker Nokia was hit by the rise of the iPhone
2010 July - Finland becomes world's first country to give its citizens a legal right to broadband internet.
2011 April - National Coalition Party conservatives emerge as largest party in parliamentary elections. Populist True Finns break through to third-party status on the back of anti-EU sentiment.
2011 June - National Coalition Party leader Jyrki Katainen forms grand coalition with six other parties, excluding the True Finns.
2012 February - National Coalition Party candidate and former finance minister Sauli Niinisto wins presidential election, easily beating his Green rival Pekka Haavisto. He is first conservative president since 1956.
2014 June - Alexander Stubb becomes prime minister and National Coalition Party leader after Jyrki Katainen steps down to pursue an EU career.
2014 December - Parliament approves plans by a Finnish-Russian consortium to build a nuclear power station, prompting the Greens to leave the government of Prime Minister Alexander Stubb.
2015 April - Centre Party of former IT executive Juha Sipila beats Prime Minister Alexander Stubb's conservative National Coalition in parliamentary elections.
2015 May - Defence ministry instructs nearly a million reservists of their deployment amid rising tension between Russia and east European neighbours.
2016 October - Finland signs an agreement on closer defence collaboration with the United States amid growing concern over Russian military activities in the Baltic Sea region.
2016 December - Finland emerges from a downturn lasting nearly a decade, according to central bank growth forecasts.


Nearly 100 artists, makers and designers have signed up for the annual Spring Fling open studio event in Dumfries and Galloway next year.

It will take place throughout the region from 27 to 29 May.
It is the 15th edition of the festival and includes a "birthday exhibition" at the Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries prior to the main event.
A selection of works will also be taken to New Brewery Arts in Cirencester earlier in the year.
Joanna Macaulay, Upland's Events and Exhibitions Manager, said: "Our 15th birthday will be a special year for us and a chance to look at how Spring Fling has blossomed to become the premier event of its kind in Scotland.
"Something we value enormously is the strength of support we get from within the region.
"But the other side of Spring Fling is that it is a highly effective way of drawing the attention of the wider world to the wonderful work created in Dumfries and Galloway."
She said they were also looking forward to the event in Cirencester from 25 March to 14 May.
Next year's Spring Fling will see 15 new exhibitors who have never taken part before.
The majority of them live and work in Dumfries and Galloway but a small number have a "strong connection" to the area but are currently based elsewhere.
A "neighbours" scheme which sees artists and makers in nearby areas take part will this year include people from Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, Cumbria and Northern Ireland.


Italy's economy failed to grow between April and June as the country struggled with its creaking banking sector.

GDP growth shrank to 0% in the second quarter compared to 0.3% in the first quarter.
Germany's economy also slowed in the second quarter, albeit less markedly than had been expected.
Europe's largest economy expanded by 0.4%, down from 0.7% in the first quarter, but above forecasts of 0.2%.
Overall, a second estimate of GDP across the eurozone confirmed that growth halved to 0.3% from 0.6% in the first three months of the year.
GDP also fell across the 28-nation European Union to 0.4% from 0.5% between the first and second quarters.
In Italy, analysts had expected GDP to grow by between 0.1% and 0.3%.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Renzi, is battling to reduce the bad debt in its banking sector, which is currently buried under â‚¬360bn worth of bad loans. Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Italy's third largest bank and the world's oldest lender, is saddled with â‚¬46.9bn of bad debt.
Alberto Bagnai, economic policy professor at the University of Chieti-Pescara, said: "There is no way to solve the banking problem without economic growth. If the whole nation doesn't start earning more it can't pay back its debts - public or private."
The government expects the country to grow by 1.2% this year. However, the International Monetary Fund recently reduced its economic growth from 1.1% to 1%.
The new data means that growth in the Eurozone's three biggest economies - Germany, France and Italy - has either slowed or completely stalled between the first and second quarters.
France recorded no growth between April and June after GDP rose by 0.7% in the first quarter, boosted by business from the Euro 2016 football tournament.
In contrast, Greece reported a rare rise in GDP - which increased by 0.3% compared to a 0.1% fall in the first quarter. Holidaymakers are choosing the likes of Greece and Spain over politically volatile Turkey.
Nikos Magginas, an economist at National Bank of Greece, said: "Domestic demand was probably better than expected because of tourism. The numbers point to a positive turnaround in the economy in the second half of the year."
In Germany, exports and consumer spending were stronger than forecast but investment in construction and machinery slowed.
Commenting on "Europe's engine room", Carsten Brzeski, economist at ING-DiBa, warned that Germany must increase investment to support growth.
However, he said it could be hampered by ``increased uncertainties after the Brexit vote, continued structural weaknesses in many eurozone countries and a renewed global slowdown''.
Joerg Zeuner, economist at KfW, said: "The decision to leave the EU will hit the British economy, and the slowdown will spread to Germany through muted exports.
"The UK is an important market, especially for German car makers, but also for our chemical and pharmaceutical industries."
New data also revealed that German inflation rose in July, up by 0.4%, fuelled by rising food and services prices.
Inflation was tempered by the falling cost of energy and clothing. Destatis, Germany's statistics office, said stripping out energy, inflation would have been 1.3% in July.


Creditors and customers of Co-op Bank are part of a bold experiment, which - if it works - could set a useful precedent for how banks can be rescued without placing a burden on taxpayers.

And if it doesn't work? Well, it could all get quite messy.
The background, as if you didn't know, is that the regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, determined that Co-op Bank has a £1.5bn shortage of capital - the financial buffer that all banks must have to protect savers and depositors from losses.
There were two causes of that hole.
Most importantly, the previous management of the bank failed, in an almost catastrophic way, to keep tabs on losses being generated by bad loans - most of which were commercial property loans made by Britannia Building Society, and which Co-op inherited when it bought Britannia in 2009.
The second cause of Co-op Bank's weakness is that the regulator has imposed more demanding requirements on all banks for the amount of capital they have to hold.
As I've mentioned before, Co-op Bank is a PLC - a bank with a conventional public company structure - that is owned by a mutual, the sprawling Co-op Group.
Now both Co-op Bank and Co-op Group have new management, led by Co-op Group's chief executive, Euan Sutherland.
They can't be held responsible for the disaster at Co-op Bank - and in fact they are on the point of setting up an independent commission whose job will be to evaluate how it all went so badly wrong, and why it took so long for the bank's capital hole to be spotted.
As I have said a few times before, the previous executives of Co-op Group and Co-op Bank, and the erstwhile regulator, Financial Services Authority, have a lot of explaining to do.
The current top regulator of banks, Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority, has told MPs that at the end of 2011 the FSA instructed the Co-op Bank to strengthen its capital.
But that is not remotely the same as saying the FSA knew that the Co-op Group had roughly half as much capital as it needs - which is what we now know.
If the FSA didn't know about that yawning capital gap, why didn't it know?
And if it did know, why didn't it take evasive action at that very moment - which would have been its duty - to replace management and fill the capital hole?
The failure of the regulator to act till only a few weeks ago is altogether odd.
What about current Co-op executives? Well, to state the obvious, they have to determine how to rescue Co-op Bank.
What they have had to balance are the interests of Co-op Bank's creditors - its depositors and holders of assorted bonds and preference shares - and the interests of the Co-op Group's many millions of members.
Now it is clear to Mr Sutherland and his team that Co-op Group could not afford to find the full £1.5bn that Co-op Bank was told by the PRA that it needs to raise within just a few short months.
Or, to be more precise, it might have been able to find all that, but at too great a price - they calculated - for Co-op Group's millions of members.
For example, a fire-sale disposal of Co-op's funeral homes or pharmacies would have been at a discount price that would have hobbled the group to a serious and possibly irreparable extent.
So, on the basis of legal advice, they concluded that their duty to Co-op Group's members precluded them from taking on the full cost of rescuing the bank.
As I mentioned on Tuesday, this may seem a bit counter-intuitive, since the owner or owners of a bank (or any other organisation) would normally be presumed to be the rescuers of that bank, until all their resources are exhausted.
But apparently Co-op Group's duty of care to its members meant it could not conduct the rescue alone.
So what were the alternatives?
Well, the Co-op Group gave serious thought to admitting that Co-op Bank had failed, and putting it into a process called "resolution" - where the Bank of England would have temporarily taken over the ownership and stewardship of the bank, to keep it functioning and come up with a scheme to protect depositors.
The best way of understanding "resolution" is as a version for banks of the "administration" process that companies go into when they can't repay creditors: it was designed after the great crash of 2008 to take account of the importance that banks play in the economy and the imperative of minimising losses (if any) for depositors.
Co-op Group's board decided that it would wish to avoid putting Co-op Bank into resolution, if it possibly could, so as to avoid increased damage to the "Co-op" brand.
Lustre would not have been added to the reputation of the co-operative movement for it to be blamed for the first big bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.
So Co-op Group came up with a compromise, under which it would put £1bn of new capital into Co-op Bank, and £500m would come from writing off and converting into equity capital some of what is owed by Co-op Bank to holders of subordinated debt and preference shares (see my blog of Tuesday for more on this).
The various forms of subordinated debt are loans to Co-op Bank that are in theory higher risk than other loans to Co-op Bank, and they pay a higher rate of interest to compensate for this risk.
Preference shares are shares that pay a fixed rather than variable dividend, and - unlike ordinary shares - they normally don't have voting rights.
Holders of the subordinated debt are largely investment institutions, but they also include thousands of retail investors.
Co-op Group's management regarded heaping losses on the holders of subordinated debt and preference shares as fair, given that, if Co-op Bank were to go into resolution, these investors would almost certainly incur much bigger losses: under the resolution rules, these creditors would have the bank's losses foisted on them, to protect depositors, and no cushion of new equity capital provided by Co-op Group.
The Prudential Regulation Authority approved this rescue plan. In fact, the regulators relished it - because foisting losses on holders of subordinated debt, what is called a "bail in" as opposed to a "bail out" in the hideous jargon, is the stuff that makes the regulatory community drool with excitement.
The point is that if losses can be foisted on providers of subordinated debt, then banks that get into difficulties can be rescued without taxpayers having to inject money, or at least much less money than in 2008.
So that is the bold and exciting experiment being conducted at Co-op Bank, the regulators' wet dream of a bank rescue in which private-sector investors do all the heavy lifting.
But, as is apparent in the case of the Co-op, there are snags with the bail-in, under current conventions: the bail-in (or what Co-op Group calls a "Liability Management Exercise") will take weeks and months to execute - and, actually, could be rejected by the providers of the subordinated debt.
You presumably don't need telling why rejection by bondholders would be problematic: it would see the Co-op Bank collapse into resolution (or so Co-op Group insists), which (as I have said) would probably see much bigger losses piled on the subordinated debt holders and preference share holders, and create uncertainty for depositors with more than the insured limit of £85,000 in the bank.
So whether they like it or not, and subject to a difficult negotiation over what percentage of Co-op Bank's new shares they get for writing off their loans to the bank, the subordinated debt holders may ultimately agree to the rescue.
However for every week that passes before the rescue is actually completed, depositors with the Co-op have the time and perhaps a nagging desire to take their money out.
That raises the risk that the Co-op would become dependent on emergency funding that would be provided by the Bank of England.
And the Bank of England can only sustain that support without seizing control of Co-op Bank - placing it in resolution - for as long as it remains confident that the hole in the Co-op Bank's capital will be filled, or that Co-op Bank is solvent.
We saw, during the banking crisis of 2007-8, how ruthless the Bank of England can be when it loses confidence in the solvency of a bank.
Or to put it another way, the longer it takes for a private-sector rescue of Co-op Bank to take place, the greater the risk of the patience of regulators being exhausted.
All of which is a meandering way of saying that the bail-in looks like a great idea, but it can be stressful, traumatic and even disastrous if its execution drags on.
The plan in this case is to complete the bail-in, the liability management exercise, by early to mid November.
Given the loyalty of Co-op Bank's customers, that may well be soon enough.
But some might say it is a bit strange and arguably unsatisfactory that the Prudential Regulation Authority has been unable to find a faster timetable for its cherished bail-in.
It may sound like bad news that Co-op Bank has been told by its regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, that it must not pay the interest on £110m of debts called perpetual subordinated bonds.
But actually the managers of the bank, and of the bank's owner, Co-op Group, would view it as good news.
Because it reinforces the message to the holders of these bonds, and £1.2bn of other bonds, that the group is in dire straights - and it is in their interest to agree to a rescue deal that would force big losses on them.
What I have learned is that Co-op Group has considered putting its bank into the financial equivalent of administration, called resolution, which is where the bank would in effect be taken over by the Bank of England, to keep it functioning and protect depositors - while forcing potentially much bigger losses on bondholders.
It is to avoid resolution that the Co-op Group has asked bondholders to sign up to what's known as a bail-in, which would see them writing off some of what they are owed and converting some of their debts into shares.
Some bondholders are complaining this isn't fair, and that Co-op Group should bear more of the pain. But Co-op Group says it is doing all it can afford.
As to quite how it got into this mess, the new executives of Co-op have asked Sir Christopher Kelly, the former chair of the committee of standards in public life, to investigate the behaviour of the previous executives.


Firefighters rescued a woman who became trapped in a tyre at a playground in Flintshire on Wednesday.

A crew from Deeside was sent to the play park in Sealand just before 13:00 GMT.
The woman had stepped through the hole in a car tyre and became wedged inside.
Firefighters spent 10 minutes sawing the rubber and the woman was not injured.


US President Barack Obama has said his meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro will help both countries "turn the page" after decades of hostility.

He described the meeting on the fringes of the Summit of the Americas in Panama as "candid and fruitful".
Mr Obama said that the former foes would continue to have differences but could advance mutual interests.
The meeting was the first formal talks between the two countries' leaders in more than half a century.
"What we have both concluded is that we can disagree with a spirit of respect and civility," said President Obama. "Over time, it is possible for us to turn the page and develop a new relationship between our two countries."
His remarks came at the end of a regional summit which has been dominated by the historic thaw between US-Cuba relations.
Cuban leader Raul Castro said that the two countries had "agreed to disagree" when necessary.
"We are disposed to talk about everything, with patience," he said. "Some things we will agree with, and others we won't."
Earlier, the Cuban leader referred to Mr Obama as an "honest man" after a lengthy speech largely taken up with the history of the relationship between the US and Cuba.
"When I talk about the revolution, the passion oozes out of me," the Cuban leader said. "I have to ask President Obama for forgiveness. He is not responsible for the things which happened before his time."
Latin American and Caribbean leaders at the summit in Panama have welcomed the reconciliation.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff hailed it as a courageous effort to end the last vestiges of the Cold War, which she said had caused great damage in the hemisphere.
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina gave the main credit to Cuba, saying it had fought with unprecedented dignity against the US blockade.
This summit was always going to be about the interaction between President Obama and Raul Castro.
The White House had hinted that they were interested in a one-to-one meeting although none had been officially scheduled.
In the end, it took place in a small nondescript room in a Panama City conference centre.
The two leaders did not look exactly at ease, sitting on small chairs slightly angled towards each other, but their tone was cordial.
Mr Obama called the meeting "historic". Mr Castro said he would continue taking steps to normalise relations between the two former foes.
The meeting was in essence symbolic. With the cameras flashing away, no decisions were made.
But its message was clear: we have our differences, but we can do business with each other.
When 'historic' seems apt
The US broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1959 after Fidel Castro and his brother Raul led a revolution toppling US-backed President Fulgencio Batista. The Castros established a revolutionary socialist state with close ties to the Soviet Union.
Mr Castro has called for the lifting of the US economic blockade on Cuba and the country's removal from Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism.
For Washington, political reform and human rights in Cuba are key issues.  Mr Obama is expected to remove Cuba from the terrorism list in the coming days.
The Summit of the Americas brings together the leaders of North, Central and South America. This, the seventh, is the first which Cuba attended.
Attempts to improve relations between the US and Cuba began in December when Mr Obama declared Washington's approach "outdated".
As US ties with Cuba improve, those between Venezuela and Washington remain fractious.
The US imposed sanctions last month on a group of Venezuelan officials it accuses of human rights abuses. Mr Obama also issued an executive order declaring Venezuela a threat to US national security.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described the order as "disproportionate".
President Maduro spoke briefly at the summit to President Obama, who stressed that the US was interested in supporting and not threatening Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader disputed that view, but according to a tweet from one of his aides "there was a lot of truth, respect and cordiality" during the short conversation.
The summit also highlighted differences between President Rafael Correa of Ecuador and the US.
Mr Correa said the US had failed to live up to its ideals: "Let's talk about human rights. In Ecuador we don't have torture, the death penalty or extrajudicial renditions."
In response, Mr Obama said the US does not claim to be perfect. "We make a claim to being open to change," he said.


Indigenous Australians who were exposed to radiation from British nuclear tests will receive upgraded healthcare, the Australian government has announced.

From 1952 to 1963, Britain detonated bombs at Maralinga and Emu Field in South Australia, and the Montebello Islands off Western Australia.
Although the sites were remote, many Aboriginal people were forced to move.
Those who remained were exposed to high levels of radiation, which was later linked to significant health problems.
They will now be eligible for a war veterans' Gold Card, which covers most medical costs, Veterans' Affairs Minister Dan Tehan said.
"The measure will provide Gold Cards to indigenous people present at or near Maralinga, Emu Field or the Montebello Islands at the time of the British nuclear tests in the 1950s or 1960s," he said.
It follows a royal commission - Australia's highest form of inquiry - in the 1980s, and decades of campaigning by survivors and advocates.
The nuclear tests were conducted with support from the Australian government.
The new healthcare subsidy will form part of a A$133m ( Â£76m, $98m) investment in Australia's federal budget, which will be unveiled on Tuesday.


Things are working out a little differently to how Doncaster Rovers striker Liam Mandeville expected.

The 19-year-old has played a pivotal role in his side's strong start to the League Two campaign, with his five goals in six games in November helping him win the EFL Young Player of the Month award.
But the rigours of professional football are a world away from what Mandeville had planned.
"I only came here when I was 16. I wasn't really planning on being a footballer really, it was a bit of a last-minute thing," he told BBC Sport.
"I was just playing for a Sunday league team back home in Yarm when I got a trial and luckily I got in.
"I actually wanted to be a lawyer or an investment banker. I did all right at school and I thought I'd go down that route."
He continued: "My first week here was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I couldn't feel my legs by the end of it.
"It was a big transition but I started doing well and my belief grew."
Mandeville's performances, which also saw him named the Professional Footballers' Association's fans' League Two player of the month for November, have also drawn praise from manager Darren Ferguson.
The former Peterborough boss said: "He's done very well. He's now fulfilling the potential we always thought was there.
"He's trained very, very well and he's probably the last one off the training ground every day.
"He's got a lot of attributes that I want from an attacker; he's got good vision, he can finish with both feet and he's very good technically."
Rewind a year and things were not looking quite so bright for the teenager.
Mandeville was loaned out to seventh-tier Whitby Town to get some more experience of the senior game but his spell there saw him play just once.
"It's a good club but I didn't have the best personal experience there," said Mandeville, who believes it was an important period for his development.
"The manager got sacked and it wasn't ideal but it brought me back to reality.
"Maybe I wasn't doing things as professionally as I should have been and I really kicked on from that experience."
That opinion is shared by Ferguson, who believes Mandeville's tough spell back in North Yorkshire was "a wake-up call".
It bodes well for both player and club that the striker is able to handle adversity so well.
He missed the first penalty of his professional career as Rovers fell to a 2-0 defeat at fellow promotion hopefuls Plymouth on Saturday.
Mandeville, who had scored all three of his previous spot-kicks, has been backed by his manager to overcome the setback.
"I think you can learn more about a player after something like that and I would have no hesitation at giving him a penalty again," Ferguson said.
"He's very good at them and he sent the keeper the wrong way, it was just a little lapse in concentration.
"He's a strong boy mentally and he's shown all his ability now that we've given him a platform to go and play. He's got that confidence and belief that he should be in the team. For young players, that is a big thing."
Ferguson, who Mandeville describes as "a great coach", has endured a mixed first 15 months in South Yorkshire.
A long winless run saw the club fall to a surprise relegation from League One last season.
The board decided to stick with their man in the summer and are reaping the rewards as Rovers are third in the table, five points clear of the play-off places.
In different circumstances, Ferguson's father Sir Alex promoted a number of players from Manchester United's academy and they formed the basis of the first team in 1995.
With David Beckham, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt all featuring regularly, the Red Devils went on to win the double that season and the treble three years later.
However, in an age when managers can feel the seat getting hotter with every defeat, is there a concern that other bosses will not feel safe to risk putting so much trust in young players?
"I don't know about that, possibly," Ferguson said. "My philosophy has always been about developing players as a whole but you have to understand that younger players take more time and you'll get some inconsistency.
"If I feel they are good enough then it is my job to take the responsibility off them and I am happy to do that. I don't want too much pressure on them, I want them to concentrate on playing.
"The most important thing for me is that if they have the ability, then age is irrelevant."
If Ferguson can help his young squad to the kind of success that his father enjoyed, then Mandeville might be able to put off his academic career for a little while longer yet.


The son of a nightclub owner has been charged with his father's murder after he was found stabbed in central London.

The body of David West, 70, who ran the HeyJo club in Mayfair, was discovered at an address in Ormond Yard behind Jermyn Street on Friday evening.
His son, also called David West, 44, of Jermyn Street, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday charged with murder.
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a single stab wound.
Mr West senior made his fortune from a discount alcohol and tobacco business in Calais.
He also owned the Abracadabra restaurant in Jermyn Street, near the HeyJo club.
In 2007 Mr West hired Cherie Blair, the barrister and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, to challenge the smoking ban that was about to come into force in enclosed public places in England.


A "robotic orchestra" partly built in Aberystwyth using components including a vacuum cleaner has taken part in this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.

Aberystwyth University staff also made instruments from a computer printer and church organ pipes.
The electronic ensemble powered by computers and led by a robot conductor was also joined by four musicians.
The performance will broadcast on BBC Four on New Year's Eve at 20:00 GMT.
Dave Price, of the university's department of computer science, spent three days at the Royal Institution working on the production.
He said: "Our robotic instruments worked beautifully and didn't miss a beat during the rehearsals."
A drum bot, electronic keyboards, and robotic bass guitar were provided by other universities around the UK, while Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, contributed a robotic theremin player.