Today's news

Patten wins Oxford chancellorship race
Chris Patten, the EU commissioner and last governor of Hong Kong, will be the next chancellor of Oxford University. Following an uncharacteristically friendly race to the post, Mr Patten beat his closest rival, Lord Bingham of Cornhill, by 1,720 votes. For the first time, the single transferable votes system was used, allowing voters to list the candidates in order of preference. Mr Patten received 4,203 votes. In the first round of voting, Mr Patten secured 3,657 votes and Lord Bingham 2,251. The two other candidates, Lord Neill of Bladen and writer and comedienne Sandi Toksvig, received 1,290 and 1,179 votes respectively. Mr Patten is due to retire from his role as EU commissioner for external relations at the end of the year.
(Guardian)

Super-campus plan to turn boomtown into city
Swindon borough council is revising its local plan to feature a £200 million university campus catering for 8,000 students. The idea has come from an ambitious University of Bath where scope for developing in the city is very limited. It has enlisted strong support from the higher education minister, Margaret Hodge, after commissioning a favourable report from consultants on the practicalities of opening a "University of Bath at Swindon".
(Guardian)

Cambridge students asked to call alumni for cash
"Lisa (which might not have been her name) told me that she was an undergraduate at Cambridge. She was calling me from the vice-chancellor's office and wondered whether I had a few moments to discuss two matters. Firstly, she really wanted to hear about my own experiences at Cambridge which, she thought, would be of great assistance to her as a first-year undergraduate. Then there was the question of how I might be able to contribute to the Annual Fund, which would help future students benefit form the kind of education that I had enjoyed."
(Independent)

Taking the temperature of the job market
Special report on graduate recruitment.
Details: www.ft.com/gradrec2003
(Financial Times)