Universities urged to draw up their own ethical policies
Universities should work out their own ethical policies before problems occur, says a report published today by the Council for Industry and Higher Education and Universities UK. Most have policies on specific areas like ethical research but, unlike businesses, none, have general ethical policies that deal with potential issues from admissions, equal opportunities and what care students can expect, to arguments over free speech and racial prejudice on campus.
The Guardian, The Financial Times
Ministers announce training centre for maths teachers
Ministers today announced a £15m public-private deal with Plymouth University to set up a national centre for training top maths teachers. The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, which was recommended last year in a report into maths teaching by Professor Adrian Smith , will receive £15m in funding over three years. The centre will be run jointly by the university's Centre for Innovation in Maths Teaching, and a private company, Tribal Group.
The Guardian
Businesses to fund £5m tax research centre
More than 50 of the country's largest companies have joined forces to fund a £5 million business tax research centre based at Oxford University. The Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation is being set up to address widespread concern among multinationals about the competitiveness of the British tax system, at a time when many countries are reducing tax rates to attract investment.
The Financial Times, The Times
Bird flu reminds scientists of virus that killed 50m people
Fears that avian flu will trigger a global pandemic that could kill up to 150 million people intensified yesterday after research revealed similarities between the virus and possibly the deadliest germ in history. Scientists have re-created the “Spanish flu” virus that killed up to 50 million people in 1918-19 and shown that it shared traits with the H5N1 strain of avian flu. An analysis of the re-created pathogen has shown that, like its modern cousin, it began as a bird virus and jumped species into humans developing mutations that made it peculiarly virulent and lethal.
The Times, The Independent, Nature, The Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman
Medical researchers' US drugs group boost
Wyeth, the US pharmaceutical group, is gearing up for a multi-million pound investment in British university medical research signalling its renewed confidence in the UK as a centre for clinical trials to test new drugs. Frank Walsh, executive vice-president and head of Wyeth's discovery research division, told the Financial Times global pharmaceutical and biotechnology conference in London that his company would make "major investments in academic medical centres" in the UK.
The Financial Times
Atom-swapping reaction wins chemistry Nobel
Three organic chemists have scooped the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research that represents a “great step forward in ‘green chemistry’”. Yves Chauvin at the French Petroleum Institute in Rueil-Malmaison, France, Robert H Grubbs at the California Institute of Technology, California, US, and Richard R Schrock at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Massachusetts, US, will share the €1.1 million prize.
New Scientist
Study supports school dinners
The health of children who eat school dinners is no worse, and may even be better, than pupils who bring in packed lunches, a study has claimed. Researchers from St George's, University of London, said that while the nutritional content of school dinners had been causing concern, there was little information comparing the health of pupils who do and do not eat them.
The Scotsman, The Evening Standard
Letter
Regarding funding and bursaries.
The Financial Times