From today's UK papers

FINANCIAL TIMES

The government is to consider paying employers' national insurance contributions where they take part in basic skills training.

A team from Aoyama-Gakuin University in Tokyo has induced magnesium diboride, a cheap "off-the-shelf" chemical, to exhibit superconducting properties at a temperature of -234C, much higher than previously observed in a readily available compound.

A new type of robot under development at Staffordshire University should give disabled people greater independence.

THE GUARDIAN

Profile of Niall Ferguson, the media-friendly Oxford historian.

THE INDEPENDENT

Cannabis and other drugs were smoked in Stratford-upon-Avon in Shakespeare's time, researchers from the Transvaal Museum in South Africa have found after analysing old clay pipes from the neighbourhood.

Peter Scott, vice-chancellor of Kingston University, argues that the last thing English secondary education needs to be is more specialist.

High house prices and low salaries mean London's universities and colleges face a growing crisis in recruiting and retaining staff.

Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford, and chemist Peter Atkins continue the argument about state support for religious schools.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

The British Museum has announced a £100 million expansion plan.

THE TIMES

Just as the UK considers adopting Scholastic Assessment Tests for university admission, the president of the University of California has said they should be dropped.

MISCELLANY

University of Oxford scientists say that farmed mink would be happier if they were allowed to go swimming. ( Financial Times , Daily Telegraph )