Latest news

FE fraud runs to 'millions', says skills council
Investigators are probing dozens of fraud cases involving millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money in further education colleges and vocational training providers. The Learning and Skills Council said it was dealing with 33 cases of alleged fraud. Just over half involved inflated claims for funding, about a quarter concerned falsified student numbers and 10 per cent breaches of financial regulations. Seven out of ten cases involved FE and sixth-form colleges and the rest training providers.

Psychologists show refs the red card
Football referees are more likely to penalise players if their team has a bad reputation, according to research presented at the British Psychological Society’s conference. Psychologists from Staffordshire University who studied 38 referees found that if they were told a team had a reputation for foul and aggressive play they were 50 per cent more likely to hand out red and yellow cards.

Salary boost for US dons
Average academic salaries in the United States have caught up with 1971-72 levels when adjusted for inflation, a survey of more than 1,400 universities and colleges by the American Association of University Professors, to be published next month, will say. Faculty salaries increased by 2.2 per cent in real terms between the 2000/01 and 2001/02.     

Bell's ringing endorsement for Stirling
Stirling University’s principal Colin Bell has welcomed the award of city status to Stirling. He said the university’s staff and students were very much part of the local community.