News

Newcastle University scooped the top prize last night at the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards 2013

State school children from London and other cities in England are more likely to go on to university after A levels than those from more rural districts, new figures suggest.

Massive open online courses could prove a distraction to universities and cost them money, according to a consultancy that advises governments, investors and institutions on higher education issues.

The UK government must be among those reassuring the public that genetically modified crops are “a safe, proven and beneficial innovation”, environment secretary Owen Paterson has said.

Knowledge-transfer experts map path to market for university inventions

NUS’ outgoing leader tells John Morgan that v‑cs and Russell Group must press the sector’s case to government

V-c points to reform’s intellectual and vocational benefits

No such thing as higher education sector, PA Consulting poll hears

These images represent highlights from a collection of almost 200 rare books, incunabula and manuscripts donated by the businessman Henry Davis (1897-1977) to the University of Ulster

Cuts to widening participation funds anticipated to meet spending review targets

Madeleine Blaess’ journal gets screen treatment

Fire-damaged survey ordered by Charles I yields its secrets at last

Great medical record captures public heart and state wallet

Rick Rylance offers academy guidance for business collaborations

THE Leadership and Management Awards charity IntoUniversity in vanguard of outreach

Universities deciding mechanisms to apportion RCUK cash

Minister wins fans for affirming value of data

Medical research charities want funding protected in spending review

Hefce reveals 215 assessors chosen from outside academy

UCU criticises ‘gun to head’ of 2,800 non-academic staff

The UK loses some gloss in the second global table of institutions shy of middle age

Staff at the University of Liverpool will ballot for strike action over plans to alter employees’ terms and conditions.

The outgoing head of King’s College London is to take charge of a University of Oxford college.

The International Monetary Fund has announced it will use the edX massive open online course platform to deliver economics courses to government officials and eventually the public.

A firm grasp of written English and a passion for a chosen course subject are the most desired attributes in university applicants aside from exam grades, according to a survey of admissions officers, but their social background does not figure so highly.

Students are occupying the University of Warwick’s council chamber to protest against the “marketisation of higher education”.

Scientific research in the UK has been harmed by the current spending freeze, a report has claimed

Vince Cable, the business secretary, says he has “ruled out categorically” any rise in interest rates for graduates who took out student loans before 2012, while stressing that plans for a sale of student loans are ongoing

The former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has been announced as the new chancellor of the University of South Wales

By Elizabeth Redden, for Inside Higher Ed

The UK’s platform for free online university courses has announced its first international members.

The proportion of students entering Russell Group universities who are state-educated has fallen in the last decade, a report from a government commission on social mobility has said.

The University of Liverpool has been accused of “putting a gun to the head” of almost 3,000 staff who a union says face losing their jobs unless they accept altered working terms and conditions

The Queen’s Birthday Honours List includes a knighthood for Eric Thomas, the University of Bristol vice-chancellor and Universities UK president

The government should urgently clarify its plans for the sale of the student loan book and reassure existing graduates that their repayments will not be raised, according to Labour’s shadow higher education minister.

Science ministers from the G8 group of the world’s richest countries have jointly endorsed the need to increase access to publicly-funded research.

Students are starting their search for a graduate job earlier than ever, a new survey has revealed.

Lecturers’ union agrees to trim national committee but not on scale called for by general secretary Sally Hunt

Convention for Higher Education’s rallying cry against coalition’s university reforms

Digital collection of 5 million pages aims to ‘open window’ on to India’s recent past

Founder Michael Bulman digs in as academics expound on offering’s weaknesses

Psychology lecturer picks up gong for her work on sex and relationship advice

Diverse university models and academic freedom are key to resilience, participants hear

Just one in 10 at the grade is female at some institutions, Hesa shows

Western universities scramble to spot fraudulent applications from China’s hypercompetitive students

Anthropologist gets her hands dirty with Big Apple’s sanitation workers

House of Lords event hears how council and the scholars it has saved have enriched the UK

Woolwich murder reignites debate over university radicalisation

The University of Sheffield has nudged the University of Cambridge into third place in a list of the UK institutions earning the most research income from engineering, Higher Education Statistics Agency data show

Foreign academics had to account for their whereabouts each week, university master complains

Just four European countries spend less as a proportion of national income