Alexander quits leadership race
Wendy Alexander, Scotland’s enterprise and lifelong learning minister, has caused astonishment by announcing she will not stand in the election to replace Henry McLeish as Labour’s Scottish leader. Education minister Jack McConnell is today expected to announce his candidacy in the contest, whose winner will be endorsed in December as Scotland’s first minister.
Pay cuts for Hong Kong staff
Newly-recruited academics at Hong Kong's eight publicly funded universities and higher education institutions will face reductions in both salaries and fringe benefits from next year. Similar measures to make the public services more cost-effective were introduced last year for civil servants.
Scottish Funding Councils announce new chief
Roger McClure, pro-rector of the London Institute, has been appointed new joint chief executive of the Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Councils. He succeeds John Sizer, who retires at the end of the year, but no date has yet been set for his taking up the post.
Leicester hall named in Diana's memory
Leicester University is naming one of its main halls in memory of Diana, princess of Wales. The hall is in the Richard Attenborough Centre, which she opened shortly before her death.
Durham casts new light on dark matter
A team of physicists at Durham University lead by Sir Arnold Wolfendale has challenged the view that cosmic radiation is caused by the decay of unseen “dark” matter. The team’s research suggests it could be caused either by an exploding star or by a pulsar.