Today's news

Wider teaching as a matter of course
Feature on how MBA programmes are evolving in response to corporate scandals, the global market and demand for team players. A recent survey concluded that corporations wanted three things from MBA courses: more global managers, MBAs who could work in multifunctional teams and MBAs with integrity. The corporate scandals, many of which have involved business school graduates and the dearth of jobs for MBAs graduating between 2000 and 2003, are behind the soul-searching.
Financial Times

Sunday:
Universities ‘won’t enforce state quota’
Universities will be free to reject state school candidates without the fear of fines, said Sir Martin Harris, the Government’s new admissions watchdog. He said he would not enforce benchmarks published this month by the Higher Education Statistics Authority that would have forced Oxford and Cambridge to boost their state school intake by 20 per cent. He said that institutions would be judged on the bursaries they offered to poorer candidates and their ability to increase the number of applications from disadvantaged students - not the proportion they offered places to.
Sunday Telegraph , The Times Higher

Saturday:
Young guns in lab coats
Profiles of some of Britain’s brightest stars in medical science. Those featured include Geraint Rees, 36, a senior clinical fellow in neuroscience at University College London; Lisa Saksisa, 34, who conducts research into Alzheimer’s disease in the department of experimental psychology at Cambridge University; and Dagan Wells, 33, an assistant professor at Yale Medical School who researches techniques to improve fertility treatments.
The Times (Body and Soul supplement).

Debt clearing
Students with big debts who think bankruptcy is a solution may be in for a rude shock. The Insolvency Service has new powers to extend the bankruptcy process for up to 15 years when an individual’s bankruptcy is the result of "reckless or irresponsible spending".
The Guardian (Rise supplement).

Howard pledges £20m for students
Students on maths, science and language courses would get bursaries of £2,000 a year under a £20 million Tory plan to encourage students to take courses vital for Britain’s economic future. Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, also promised to scrap the Office for Fair Access and university tuition fees, cut back on inspections and reduce the administration costs of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
Independent , Times , Guardian

Gap-year travellers urged to adopt mañana culture
Gap-year travellers should leave their watches, personal organisers and attitude at home and switch to "mañana mode" and relax, according to the Rough Guide to a Better World . Gareth Thomas, a minister at the Department for International Development, which funded the guide’s £1 million cost, said it was also "for anybody else who wants to make a difference to the developing world".
The Times

Scientists to be protected from animal activists
Animal rights activists will be banned from mounting intimidation campaigns against scientists and their families outside their homes under a law aimed at preventing pioneering researchers from being harried out of the country. Government officials said that the powers to crack down on harrassment and intimidation would be given to police officers under an addition to the Serious Organised Crime and Policing Bill to be included in the Queen’s Speech on November 23.
Daily Telegraph