News

More traditional US institutions are playing for-profits at their own game by offering short professional courses. Jon Marcus reports

Dense, wordy, wooden, Foucault-flaunting prose? There is another way, scholar tells Matthew Reisz

Universities may be forced to use swipe cards that monitor student attendance to comply with tough new immigration rules, a vice-chancellor has warned.

As the internationalisation of higher education increases competition between institutions, universities risk losing sight of their true academic values, according to a report by the International Association of Universities.

This photograph features a scene from the 1904 revival at the Moscow Arts Theatre of Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths, about a group of impoverished Russians living together in a shelter by the Volga river.

Liam Burns has been re-elected as president of the National Union of Students

Two Islamic societies at London Metropolitan University have launched a scathing attack on “undemocratic, ill devised and misleading remarks” by the vice-chancellor, who proposed banning alcohol from parts of the campus in case it offended Muslims.

The Northern Ireland government has issued the region’s two universities with a checklist of targets as part of its higher education strategy.

The University and College Union has called on the governors of London Metropolitan University to “intervene and re-direct” the institution after a survey returned a 91 per cent vote of no confidence in the vice-chancellor.

The National Union of Students has called on university heads to donate their tax savings to its new programme for student-led outreach.

The head of a new Australian research centre says the institution is not prepared to stand idly by as a new energy source is developed. Susan Woodward reports

Universities have pitched their latest pay offer for next year well short of the 7 per cent claim from the unions, tabling a 0.8 per cent offer that was quickly rejected.

By Mitch Smith, for Inside Higher Ed

The Arts and Humanities Research Council has insisted that the appointment of more than 200 new members to its peer review college is unrelated to a spate of resignations last year.

The president of the National Union of Students will face a strong challenge for his job at next week’s annual elections.

“My revenge is just begun,” proclaimed Count Dracula in the original 1897 novel. “I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side.”

Ancient mores met modern times at a conference exploring 'Romosexuality'. Matthew Reisz writes

Paper sprouts fresh charges against Thai official found to have plagiarised PhD. Paul Jump writes

Academic freedom key to innovation in China, says politician. Carolynne Wheeler reports from Beijing

Website will 'maximise' impact by bringing debate to policymakers and public. John Elmes reports

But while mergers boost competitiveness, campus commutes leave some cold. Ed Dutton writes

The Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards 2012 celebrate the talented and dedicated staff working to steer universities and colleges through a time of unprecedented change. The awards feature 15 categories crowned by the top honour, the Outstanding Leadership and Management Team. The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London on 21 June.

Devolved governments are constricting autonomy of universities, Hepi says. David Matthews writes

Concerns have been raised over fair access to internships after the publisher of The Guardian became the latest firm to express an interest in providing higher education.

Master's course offers expert oversight from 'spa with strippers' tour operator. Jack Grove reports

Group says philanthropists are already shutting their chequebooks. David Matthews writes

A study into the costs of answering Freedom of Information enquiries suggests that less than £10 million was spent across the sector last year.

Queen Mary job cuts may lead to sliding standards and debased teaching. Paul Jump reports

New Bedfordshire v-c voices concerns but says role won't be platform for politics. John Morgan reports

Spending on the highest-paid staff at Russell Group universities has doubled in less than a decade, according to a report.

A transatlantic wrangle over whether material collected in an oral history project can be used as evidence in a criminal investigation has moved to a US appeals court.

This sample comes from the laboratory where Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) left a number of glass plates coated with bacteria overnight in 1928. It was this that led him to stumble upon the antibiotic powers of "mould juice" - later known as penicillin - and so make the breakthrough that formed the basis for one of the great revolutions in modern medicine.

The vice-chancellor of a Ugandan university opened in collaboration with the University of Buckingham resigned less than two months into its first term, it has emerged.

David Willetts has said that he intends to let universities know “by the end of the month” whether the grade threshold at which university places are removed from the cap on numbers is to be lowered in 2013-14.

The charitable College of Law, one of only five private providers in the UK with degree-awarding powers, has been sold to a private for-profit firm.

Graduate starting salaries are set to fall to their lowest real-terms level since 2003 this summer as 90 per cent of businesses freeze their offers to recruits, according to analysis released today.

By Allie Grasgreen, for Inside Higher Ed

Efforts to promote race equality in higher education have petered out and had "little impact", a conference has heard.

The president of London Metropolitan University students’ union has called for the vice-chancellor to apologise after he suggested the sale of alcohol should be banned from parts of the campus because some Muslim students believed drinking was “immoral”.

The University of Bedfordshire has appointed Bill Rammell, formerly a higher education minister under Labour, as its new vice-chancellor.

The universities of Oxford and Cambridge have joined the campaign against a cap on tax relief for philanthropic donations amid fears that it could cost the sector millions of pounds.

State to consult public, staff and students over disputed university reforms. Graham Jarvis writes

For-profit higher education firms received half of all spending from a US government programme that allows military servicemen and women to study while on active duty, according to figures released by a senator.

A lecturer in the subject urges his peers to escape the commercial straitjacket. Matthew Reisz writes

Service outlining prospective students' likelihood of dropping out worries some, writes David Matthews

As many as 300 academics are chasing each junior research post at top institutions.

V-c: London Met's large Muslim population makes booze 'culturally sensitive'. David Matthews reports

Administrators to get status for good 'behaviours' in accreditation scheme. David Matthews writes

Academic study of these runes on the island of Orkney is among the work that is helping to boost the University of the Highlands and Islands' international standing in the field of Viking studies.

Sector experts cool on 'bureaucratic' engagement plans proposed by watchdog. Jack Grove reports

Some capital funding for universities is being reallocated to further education colleges as a result of the government's core-and-margin system.

Finance school's vice-principal is keener on a level playing field than private suitors, John Morgan hears