Facelift for Oxford college
After 626 years New College Oxford was clearly in need of what any estate agent would call light cosmetic updating. When the students return after the break they will find the dean has very sensibly dramatically brightened up one shadowy corner of the college.
The Guardian
Extremists' protests halt GM crop trials
Genetically modified crop trials have been effectively halted in Britain because of protests by environmental activists, scientists said yesterday. The country's leading centre for GM crop research said it had been forced to move trials abroad or end them entirely because they were constantly torn up by protesters.
Daily Telegraph
First woman bowls over college
One of Cambridge University’s oldest colleges has appointed a female gate porter. Helen Stephens, 43, a former masseuse, is the first woman to work in the porters’ lodge of Jesus College, which was founded in 1496. She will work with 11 male porters dressed in blue suits and bowler hats. Her uniform has not been decided.
The Times, Daily Express
Top-level study of rainforests' secrets
British-based scientists are aiming to occupy the high ground of biology. Five giant cranes - each carrying an observation post and scientific laboratory - will tower over the treetops of rainforests in Brazil, Ghana, Madagascar, India and Malaysia in a $17 million (£9 million) attempt to explore one of life's most mysterious frontiers, the canopy.
The Guardian
Providing a credible benchmark
Report on an accreditation process for corporate universities.
Financial Times
Blackboard charts route through the online jungle
A Washington-based company helps universities make the most of the internet.
Financial Times
Dot-com survivor keeps head above water
A Singapore-based online university hopes for an upturn when its first students graduate this summer.
Financial Times
From the weekend's papers
Saturday
- Tory plans for university funding have come under scrutiny after a report said it would be difficult to privatise loans. Financial Times
- Strathclyde University is transforming its buildings into glass structures, at a cost of £200 million. The Guardian
- Robert Gordon University has put £850,000 into a new energy centre for postgraduate study. The Guardian
Sunday
- The creation of a creature that is half-man/half-animal may be thought to be the stuff of a science fiction novel, but this week an influential group of MPs will recommend that the government considers overturning its ban on such experiments. The Observer
- Criminal gangs are putting members through university so they can gain expert computer skills. Sunday Express
- Sick of debts, British students are turning their backs on British universities for courses abroad. Mail on Sunday