Today's news

IT students face tough jobs hunt
Information technology graduates have the worst chance of finding a job after university, according to a report that says their 14.6 per cent unemployment rate is almost three times the national average. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services and Graduate Prospects, which commissioned the report, suggest that the high rate may in part reflect graduates' higher expectations of job satisfaction, which could tempt them to wait longer before finding a job they judge suitable. Law graduates enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate at 3.8 per cent.
( Financial Times )

Attempt to design first silent passenger aircraft
An ambitious three-year project to design a silent passenger aircraft has been launched by engineers from Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Cambridge-MIT Institute, a partnership set up in 2000 with £65 million of government and industry money, intends to launch three other projects this winter to see how collaboration between academics and industry can be used to solve specific problems.
( Financial Times, Times )

Britain obesity rates close behind US
More than 40 per cent of men and women in the UK could be obese within a generation says the International Obesity Taskforce. The warning follows publication of a dossier yesterday by three research organisations designed to highlight the urgent need to stem an obesity "epidemic" in children. Susan Jebb, the head of nutrition and health research at the Medical Research Council's human nutrition research unit, called for the government to act and set real targets for bringing obesity levels down.
( Guardian )

Aspirin may become cure-all for over-60s
Doctors believe that within ten years there will be enough detailed medical evidence to support widespread use of the drug in the general population. Peter Elwood, medical epidemiologist at the University of Wales who first discovered the benefits of aspirin in treating cardiovascular disease, said he believed that the government should start a debate on advising certain age groups to take aspirin regularly.
( Times, Daily Telegraph )

Climate threatens butterfly's migration
The unique life cycle of the monarch butterfly, which migrates more than 2,000 miles to its wintering grounds, could come to an end within 50 years, according to computer predictions made by researchers at the University of Minnesota and Kansas University in the US.
( Independent )

Alan Johnson's high hopes for FE
Higher education minister Alan Johnson will make his first big set-piece address to a further education audience today when he addresses the Association of Colleges' annual conference. In marked contrast to his predecessor, Margaret Hodge, he will be offering the nation's college principals some encouraging words on their progress.
( Guardian )

Other higher education items
VCs set for financial battle with Hefce ( Guardian ) · Profile of new Medical Research Council chief Colin Blakemore ( Guardian ) · Cambridge primate project in funding jungle ( Guardian ) · Don your way: What's it like to work at the University of York ( Guardian ) · IP2IPO reserves £5m for Oxford University spin-outs ( Financial Times ) · 16 per cent of degree students who do work experience during their studies are often employed by the same company after graduating ( Times ) · Obituary: Richard Wollheim, the philosopher who concentrated on the relationship between art and psychology, has died aged 80 ( Daily Telegraph ).