London students 'the best off'
Although London is the most expensive place to study, it is also the most cost-effective, a survey published today shows. Living in London costs the average student £243 a week (£7,290 over an academic year). But he or she earns an average of £150 a week. St Andrews, by contrast, is the cheapest of the 24 university towns surveyed, with living costs of £190 a week. However, average earnings in term time are just £63 a week, making it £34 a week more expensive than London.
Daily Telegraph
20,000 students caught cheating by universities
Up to 20,000 students were caught cheating at universities last year. They were found copying, buying essays from the internet and having exam answers sent to mobile phones. Many lecturers admit thousands more could be slipping through the net. Universities have been urged to introduce sophisticated computer software checks, but that still leaves the hundreds who cheat in exams.
Daily Mail
Spotted beyond Pluto, the tenth rock from the Sun
It is a tiny white dot even in the most powerful telescopes, but a dot that moves, albeit slowly, against the background of distant stars. That means it must be a planet, so now object 2003UB313, spotted two years ago by astronomers in California, has been officially identified as the 10th planet in the solar system, and tentatively christened Xena.
The Times
Cannabis hope for bowel disease
Cannabis-based drugs could be used to treat thousands of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease in the future, researchers say. A team from the University of Bath and the Royal United Hospital in Bath say that cannabis-based drugs may help to heal the lining of the gut.
The Times , Daily Telegraph
Smokers 'more likely' to have antisocial children
Women who smoke during pregnancy nearly triple the risk of having unruly and badly behaved children, according to research. Scientists also made an association between smoking during pregnancy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Two studies support the notion that expectant mothers who smoke expose their unborn children to relatively high concentrations of nicotine, which can alter brain development.
The Times
Historians seek to give Dehli back its name
The Indian capital should be renamed Dehli to correct a 150-year-old mistake, according to historians in India. They have launched a campaign to correct the "mis-spelling", which they say happened during British rule because the colonialists could not pronounce Hindi names. K M L Misra, a former head of history at Agra College, said: "For 800 years Delhi was called Dehli but the British couldn't manage the breathy sound of Hindi and the spelling of the city later came to reflect this." Mr Misra and several members of the Agra Archaeological Society have written to the Indian president, the secretary of cultural affairs for Delhi and the Hindustan Times demanding change.
Daily Telegraph
Paxman's old college is top of the class
St Catharine's College, the alma mater of Jeremy Paxman, host of BBC television's Newsnight and University Challenge , has become the most successful college at Cambridge University for the first time, this year's exam results show. The college, the second oldest in the university, came top of the annual Tompkins table, despite its scholars' devotion to sport. St Catharine's has a strong reputation on the field of play and is one of the few colleges regularly to turn out three rugby XVs. It leapt by seven places - knocking Emmanuel College off the top spot, which it held for the past three years.
The Independent
From the weekend's papers:
Saturday
- Imperial College is debating whether to break away from the University of London by awarding its own degrees in a move that raises new questions about the future of the university. The Guardian
- Employers risk problems by failing to keep track of their graduate intake. The Guardian
- Obituary: Arthur Tattersall, secretary of University College London. The Independent
Sunday