Today's news

Edinburgh University soars up global rankings
Edinburgh University has shot up the rankings of the world's most prestigious educational institutions. The university leapt 18 places from 48 to 30 in the top 100 list in The Times Higher Education Supplement 2005 World University Rankings published today. Glasgow University was up one place from 101 to 102, while St Andrews University's ranking fell dramatically from 70 to 136. British universities made up 24 of the top 200 worldwide, with 54 in the US, and 17 in Australia. Cambridge and Oxford rose to third and fourth places in the world university rankings.
The Scotsman, The Times Higher Education Supplement (Oct 28)

Soas agrees plan to resolve 'divisive' redundancy conflict
The School of Oriental and African Studies yesterday announced an internal review and plans to seek expert mediation to avoid industrial action over "deeply divisive" plans to make two librarians redundant. University bosses admitted that the dispute over plans to lay off two specialist academic librarians has damaged the school's reputation. The removal of the Chinese and Japanese/Korean specialists from the library has drawn accusations from the international academic community that the university is seeking to downgrade these specialist areas.
The Guardian

A degree counts for less in job market
The Government's policy of urging an ever-increasing number of young people into university - a record 400,000 this year - is failing in significant respects as graduates flood the job market, research published by the Department for Education and Skills showed yesterday. Four years after graduating, nearly a third of "the class of 99" were either in non-graduate jobs or jobs that were not appropriate for someone with their qualifications.
The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times

Liverpool to establish Chinese university
The University of Liverpool is setting up a new university in China, it has announced. Liverpool's vice-chancellor, Drummond Bone, claims it is the first of its kind. Unlike the University of Nottingham, which operates a Chinese campus, Liverpool's venture is being described as a brand-new, separate Chinese university. It will be jointly run with Xi'an Jiaotong University, which is consistently in the top ten Chinese universities for teaching and research, and is provisionally being called the Liverpool/Xi'an Jiaotong University.
The Guardian

Ramsay in running to become St Andrews rector
Students at a historic university will go to the polls today to decide whether celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay will become their new rector. The controversial cook and television star is in the running for the post at the University of St Andrews. He faces competition from four other candidates, including the recently retired director of the World Wildlife Fund Scotland, Simon Pepper. If elected, Ramsay, 38, who recently came under fire for saying women could not cook, would preside over the university court and represent students at the highest level.
The Guardian, The Scotsman

Cash machine stolen in £6,000 university heist
A gang of thieves has stolen an entire cash machine containing £6,000 from a city university. The thieves staged a night-time raid in the student union building at Heriot-Watt's Riccarton campus and wheeled their haul outside on a porter's trolley. Detectives are investigating the possibility that it was an inside job involving either students or staff.
The Scotsman

Active kids 'have healthier bones', study claims
Children who take regular exercise and eat a healthy diet reduce their risk of suffering brittle bones in later life, researchers claim. A study found that youngsters who did at least 13 hours of exercise a week had stronger and bigger bones than those who had about five hours of activity. The team from the University of Manchester concluded that exercise combined with a healthy diet would help to protect children from osteoporosis in old age.
The Daily Mail