Oxford takes double first
Oxford has made it five in a row as Britain’s top university in the new edition of The Times Good University Guide , which is published today. It stretched its lead marginally over Cambridge, which had enjoyed an unbroken nine-year run at the top until being overtaken by Oxford in 2002. The dark blues have now established their dominance over their ancient rivals, although Cambridge retains a considerable lead in the rankings for individual subjects. Oxford Brookes, ranked 54th, completes an academic double for the city as the highest placed of the “new” universities.
The Times
St Hilda's. It's a girl thing
Oxford University’s last bastion of female-only education faces extinction. A vote by the governing body of St Hilda’s College will decide on Wednesday whether to end its 113-year history as a single-sex institution. More than half of the body wants change. A poll of undergraduates indicates that a bare majority also favours admitting men. However, 80 per cent of St Hilda’s graduates disapprove.
The Times
Future is Fulbright for John after winning Harvard place
A high-flying history student from the Edinburgh has won one of the world's most prestigious academic scholarships. John McDermott, 22, will follow in the footsteps of former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Edinburgh crime writer Ian Rankin, by taking up a Fulbright scholarship worth £32,000. The bursary will see Mr McDermott, from Craigleith, study for a masters in public policy at Harvard, the alma mater of seven American presidents.
The Scotsman
Students are a step ahead with a doorbell alert for deaf
A vibrating wrist band which alerts people who are deaf or hard of hearing when the front door-bell rings has been invented by a group of students at Heriot-Watt University. The 18 students produced the idea as part of their course in management studies. The device is activated by a signal triggered by the doorbell. Group leader Steven Morris, 21, said: "We needed to develop a business idea and launch plan and we thought it would be great to work on something practical which could be of real help to people, so we put together a prototype."
The Scotsman
Backing for baby cloning to beat disease
A proposal to create babies that are both cloned and genetically altered to prevent serious hereditary disease is outlined today by the leader of the team that created Dolly the sheep. Ever since news that Dolly had been cloned from an adult cell made headlines around the world, Professor Ian Wilmut has repeatedly said he is "implacably opposed" to cloning a human being. But in his forthcoming book After Dolly , he argues that, when the techniques are shown to be safe, society should consider cloning with genetic modification to prevent the birth of babies with serious diseases.
The Daily Telegraph
'Desert fish will help to feed the world'
Deserts will produce much of the farmed fish and the clean power of the future, a United Nations report says. Aquaculture already thrives in deserts such as the Negev in Israel and Arizona, according to the report published to mark World Environment Day. It says saline water in desert wells and sunlight can be used to mimic tropical seas, making them ideal for farming fish and shrimp. Another benefit is that fish farming uses less water than the production of a vegetable crop.
The Daily Telegraph
Letters
UK academic pay better than US.
The Independent
From the weekend's papers:
Saturday
- Oxford college bans skimpy nighties at the breakfast table. The Times
- Dons urged to settle dispute. The Times
- Oxford University has launched a part-time postgraduate degree in nanotechnology taught entirely online. The Guardian
- MA students at York can study the effects of binge drinking. The Daily Telegraph
- Questions raised over ban on research using great apes. The Guardian
Sunday
- Top universities are asking for a breakdown of A-level scores to help them choose the real high flyers. The Sunday Times
- Students need lessons in economics of university life. The Observer
- TV shows are inspiring more students than ever to apply to forensic science courses. The Sunday Express
- Smart drugs to make people think faster will be commonplace within 20 years, according to the government’s chief scientific adviser. The Sunday Times