News

A search of a university lake where the body of a woman was found last week provided no further clues to her identity.

A US professor who Tweeted that if overweight PhD applicants “didn’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs” then they “won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation” has been formally censured by his university.

Fresh light on how academic libraries in low- and medium-income economies are contributing to universities has been shed in a new report.

The pass rate for Scottish Highers has risen again, while more Scottish students have also won places at universities or colleges in the country.

Liberal Democrat members will be asked to endorse the current £9,000 tuition fees system as the party’s official policy and rule out a graduate tax

A legal challenge has been launched over law changes that unions claim make it easier to remove staff on fixed-term contracts.

By Lauren Ingeno, for Inside Higher Ed

Three universities have joined a national scheme to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain places at highly selective universities. 

Two thirds of UK undergraduates do not believe a postgraduate degree is worth the cost, a survey of more than 1,100 students has found

Computer generated jokes can make people laugh, researchers have found, although they are still not as funny as human witticisms.

The former deputy head of the Higher Education Academy has taken over at the helm of the organisation.

Some 165 US university presidents and chancellors have called on political leaders in Washington to boost funding for research and education.

Lack of experience of large research budgets won’t harm Hefce chief, say supporters

Government emphasises international students’ economic benefits

Findings likely to be of interest to BIS as student loan costs grow

Awards will go to arts, humanities and social science departments that hire and support women

This poster from 1935 (left), designed by graphic artist MacDonald Gill, was used to promote the commercial telephone service between London and New York introduced by the Post Office in 1927

Joint degrees with ultra-Orthodox colleges counter to universities’ gender equity policies

Times Higher Education analysis adds to fears about degree comparability

Bank provides €970 million to develop new Curies

The former chief scientific adviser is relishing his new advisory role at the Oxford Martin School, tackling global challenges

Nick Hillman promises to speak truth to power and not toe party line

Wales and the North East of England have the lowest university application rates in the UK, Ucas data demonstrate

Research finds woe for squeezed middle, windfall for high-paid graduates

Wikipedia ‘edit-a-thon’ bolsters profile of women who changed science

Institutional ‘risk registers’ flag growing worry that top managers will be lured abroad

Can the government push through an overhaul of the sector in tough times?

John Ashdown-Hill says university failed to acknowledge his crucial contribution to discovery of king’s remains

The number of students starting modern languages degrees fell by 12 per cent last year – double the overall drop in student numbers, new figures show.

Universities need more freedom to run one- or two-year compressed degrees tailored to the needs of companies, according to business leaders.

Research into replacing and reducing animal use in scientific experiments is to benefit from £4.8 million in public investment in 2013-14

A £9.8 billion shortfall in the main university pension scheme could be payable if Scotland left the UK following a vote on independence in 2014

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed

The system of planning teacher training in England has “broken down”, risking a teacher shortage in the future, MPs have been warned.

The government has said it is “realistic” for UK international student numbers to grow up to 20 per cent over five years under current visa rules

The archives of the British Universities North America Club have been saved by the Bodleian Library following a Times Higher Education appeal

Academics at King’s College London and the universities of Edinburgh and Oxford have won prizes in a heart science image competition

The Open University has ended its six-and-a-half-year affiliation with the University Alliance mission group.

The proportion of PhD students in England expected to obtain degrees has risen slightly, but at some institutions around a fifth may never qualify.

Funding for research undertaken in UK higher education has risen by 86 per cent in real terms since 1995, data from the National Audit Office show

Report calls for a more ‘transparent and inclusive’ structure, but scientists await council’s response

Research councils face criticism over decision to allow advisers to submit applications

Participants in Edinburgh Napier study did better than expected

Sector may lose places after new inspection regime reports dip in standards

Leadership Foundation head discusses major priority on his watch

The notebooks of Lieutenant William Dawes (1762-1836), part of the special collections at Soas, University of London, are a major source of information about one of the many indigenous languages of Australia

Young academics quit their day jobs to document alternative higher education projects around the world

University of Southampton collegium gathers promising scholars to collaborate on coastal eco-cities project

Scholars join strippers to discuss artistic responses to online pornography

Opprobrium for two-year extension to medical courses

Revamped IT systems are ready for admissions deluge, states Mary Curnock Cook

Low rents, cheaper fees and lack of construction ideal combination