News

Elite Anglo-American names dominate first THE World Reputation Rankings. John Morgan reports

Two executives who were separately involved in two of the highest-profile university management disputes in recent years have joined London Metropolitan University.

Breaching £6,000 threshold will have access cost, Offa guidance says. Rebecca Attwood reports

This wasps' nest was once home to a large colony of common wasps (Vespula vulgaris).

But scholars downplay severity of concerns about Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's thesis, writes Paul Jump

Over the next few weeks, most universities in England will nail their colours to the mast and set their undergraduate tuition fees for 2012-13, when the cap will rise to £9,000. It will mark the culmination of six months of upheaval that started with Lord Browne of Madingley's game-changing report last autumn. Here, Simon Baker looks at five different viewpoints of how one institution, Bucks New University, has prepared for the new world order

Tough line taken after series of assaults and deaths linked to student drinking. Clea Caulcutt reports

Students at the University of Cambridge have reacted with anger after the vice-chancellor blocked an attempt by about 150 academics to change the terms of a vote over whether to allow the institution to set tuition fees at £9,000 a year.

Germany has the best political and financial support in place to encourage international study, according to the British Council.

The increasingly influential University and College Union Left group has lost out in elections that lead to the union’s presidency in 2013.

Universities that miss their targets on recruiting students from poor backgrounds will not be hit by sanctions, according to detailed guidance from the access watchdog today.

Income from tuition fees paid by overseas students rose by 17.8 per cent last year to represent almost £10 out of every £100 earned by the English higher education sector.

Applications have opened in what the government is billing as the largest ever funding programme for translational research in medicine.

Universities that get into financial difficulties are staying at higher risk for longer, and problems are likely to worsen under the revamped funding regime, a new report warns.

Sir Howard Davies has resigned as director of the London School of Economics, and the school’s governing council has launched an independent inquiry into its relationship with Libya and with Saif Gaddafi.

Two experts on higher education law have warned that ministers' latest guidance to the access watchdog treads dangerously closely to interfering in a key area of academic freedom.

Region's share of global papers doubles, but quality is still a concern. Paul Jump reports

Review raises fresh concerns about Left influence in union, John Morgan writes

Brunel hopes to profit from entrepreneur-in-residence's insights. Hannah Fearn reports

Visa proposals are already discouraging foreign applicants, expert warns. Sarah Cunnane reports

International collaboration casts light on early modern social history. Matthew Reisz reports

Council chief sings praises of collaboration and calls for formulaic support, writes Paul Jump

Minister appeals for Greeks studying overseas to return to revamped academy. Hannah Fearn writes

This watercolour of the medical kit owned by the great Victorian missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813-73) was painted shortly after his death in what is now Zambia.

But parent and student opinion did not make it into final report, FoI reveals. John Morgan writes

Government plans to open up degree-awarding powers to organisations that do not teach have been described as "revolutionary".

Mixed response from sector as 20 per cent figure for first REF is announced. Paul Jump reports

Funding cuts blamed for endangering democratic freedom of the humanities. Matthew Reisz reports

Southampton site to reveal comprehensive figures on courses and campus. Rebecca Attwood reports

Sixty-three of the UK’s most prestigious universities face strikes over changes to pensions after members of the University and College Union backed stoppages.

A formal campaign against the government’s higher education reforms is to be set up at the University of Oxford.

The University of Exeter, which is led by Steve Smith, president of Universities UK, plans to set undergraduate tuition fees at £9,000 a year, the maximum allowed.

Tainted money, allegations of plagiarism and surrender to the demands of angry student occupiers: the London School of Economics’ links to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Mu’ammer Gaddafi, has become an ethical and public relations quagmire.

The weighting given to impact in the first research excellence framework will be less than originally envisaged, the Higher Education Funding Council for England has confirmed.

The University of Gloucestershire has appointed a senior official at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as its new vice-chancellor.

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed

To keep prices down, loans will be extended to private-sector students and caps on places will be loosened, but minister wants more time to prepare White Paper

Research “impact” will count for less than the proposed 25 per cent in the research excellence framework, funding chiefs are expected to confirm next week.

For good or ill, the US academy is having to learn to live with student evaluation sites, finds Jon Marcus

Ministers' muddle caused by belief that access chief could 'impose' fees, Rebecca Attwood writes

UK universities could be eclipsed by those in emerging economies such as China and instead become more aligned with their middle-ranking counterparts in continental Europe if public funding continues to fall, a leading education economist has warned.

The "hard Left" has little chance of gaining control of the National Union of Students and support for its "fetishism" with street protests and occupations is already dwindling, the outgoing president of the National Union of Students has said.

EUA report finds co-funding just one of the threats to financial sustainability. Paul Jump reports

Senior lawyers have voiced fears that the coming rises in tuition fees could harm the quality and diversity of their profession and have called for limits on the number of trainee barristers.

Minutes show that UCL board mooted flouting cap on numbers to fill budget gap, writes Simon Baker