Research funding boost for Scottish universities
Eight Scottish universities will share nearly £8 million to develop Scotland's research base in areas including clinical trials and carbon storage in North Sea oilfields, it was announced today. The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council said the money would strengthen areas of academic research that were of importance to Scotland, but did not receive funding or major levels of funding. The awards were also intended to bring together existing strengths at different universities.
The Guardian , The Scotsman
Elite group to get lion's share of health research cash
Ten hospitals in England are to spearhead government research in a shakeup aimed at channelling more funds towards an elite group of doctors, nurses and medical academics. Ministers also promise researchers more funds for travel and conferences and a reduction in the amount of red tape they face in applying for grants, as they try to reverse a slide in the number of medical academics, down to 3,500 from 4,000 four years ago.
The Guardian
Top-up fees drive record number to Open University
Record numbers of young people are shunning traditional three-year degree courses and opting to earn as they learn with the Open University. Students say the prospect of debt has been the reason for deciding against starting a degree at a conventional university. Surveys have shown that the average student can clock up debts of £12,000 by the end of a traditional three-year course.
The Independent
Maternity rights for student nurses edge closer
The government is in talks with the nursing unions to agree a deal for maternity leave for nursing and midwifery students. The talks are a step towards victory for three student midwives who took the government to an employment tribunal to highlight the fact that when, as students, they had babies their bursaries were stopped and they did not qualify for maternity leave.
The Guardian
£50,000 course is open for business
One of the world’s oldest and largest business schools, the University of Chicago, has set up a graduate programme in London costing £53,800 for 16 weeks’ tuition. With 91 students from 37 countries enrolled for the Masters in Business Administration, the opening signals increasing competition for top business schools in London.
The Times
US enrolment figures unveiled
For-profit colleges are growing faster than other private or public universities in the United States, official figures showed yesterday. A report by the National Center for Education Statistics on enrolments in 2003 also show a growing gender gap as the number of women students increases faster than men. Participation by black and Hispanic students is rising at a faster rate than for other ethnic groups, according to the study for the US Department of Education.
The Guardian
Academic takes PhD in art of air guitar
The first academic study into the sweaty pursuit of air guitar playing is to use the work of French philosophers to explain why men and women do it differently. Doctoral research has begun under the supervision of Britain's first professor of pop music, who is also overseeing a PhD into the art of "moshing", the vigorous head-shaking dance popular among concert crowds. For the next three years, Amanda Griffiths, 32, a dance teacher from north Wales, will attempt to explain, in 60,000 words, why the attractions of an invisible guitar are generally overlooked by women, and how the girls who get involved do it differently.
Daily Telegraph
Dull charm of the British
Britain is rated highly for its people, culture and the way it is governed, but is widely regarded as somewhat dull. A poll of more than 10,000 people worldwide placed Britain as the fourth most popular out of 25 nations surveyed. Australia was ranked the world's favourite country, followed by Canada and Switzerland.
Daily Telegraph
Sound and vision
Article discussing the merger of Trinity College of Music and Laban.
The Guardian