Today's news

Blair faces rebellion on top-up fees
Labour rebels are limbering up for a showdown with the prime minister on top-up fees in a debate opposing the scheme, brought by the Liberal Democrats today, and in a second debate opposing all forms of student fees being brought by the Conservatives on Wednesday. A total of 173 Labour MPs have signed early day motions opposing the fees, which critics argue will create a two-tier university system and prevent poor students going to the best institutions.
(Guardian)

Universities risk closure over funding problems
One in five British universities is in financial trouble and risks being closed or taken over, an audit by HSBC has concluded. The report, Taking the Pulse, claims that the sector will encounter significant problems unless its income increases substantially. However, the authors say that the fees could tip the poorer, less prestigious universities over the edge by making it harder for them to attract students. (Times)

LSE in link-up with US business school
The London School of Economics and Political Science is launching a joint venture with the US business school Duke to develop corporate management education programmes. The move, to be announced today, means the LSE now has a portfolio of degree and non-degree management courses, in effect making it a business school via the back door. LSE already runs an executive MBA programme with New York University's Stern School of Business and HEC, the top-ranked Paris business school.
(Financial Times)

MBAs expect lower earnings
Students graduating with an MBA this summer expect to earn less than they did before embarking on their degree, according to a survey from three international business schools. The survey, developed by the Instituto de Empresa in Spain, Manchester Business School in the UK and Tuck at Dartmouth College in the US, concludes that new MBAs may be more interested in ethics, friends and family and job satisfaction than in money. However, most students questioned expected they would have to work long hours - at least 60 a week.
(Financial Times)

Gene to halt ovarian cancer found
Scientists at Cancer Research UK's oncology unit in Edinburgh have found a gene that was not working properly in 9 out of 10 ovarian cancer tissue samples. When healthy copies of the gene were inserted back into human cancer cells, the gene suppressed ovarian tumour growth. It is hoped the discovery could lead to new ways of treating the disease.
(Daily Telegraph, Times)

Precious writings to be salted away
The John Rylands Library in Manchester, one of Europe's most precious manuscript collections is to be moved to a cavernous salt mine in Cheshire during a £15 million refurbishment designed to open up its neo-Gothic splendour to a wider audience. The library's 600,000 volumes and vast collection of historical documents will spend the next two years below the Cheshire town of Winsford, once the hub of the salt-mining industry.
(Times)