Today's news

Car bombs kill six in Baghdad university
Four car bombs hit Baghdad on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding almost 50, police said. Two blasts occurred near the Mustansiriya University, killing at least three and wounding 15. Earlier, another car bomb killed at least three people and wounded 25 near the Ministry of Health in the city centre. The three blasts were followed by another attack that wounded eight.
The Scotsman, The Guardian

Leeds University takes a work on the Wilde side
A rare copy of The Chameleon, an Oxford student magazine which played a part in the downfall of Oscar Wilde, has been donated to Leeds University. The playwright's work for the obscure journal was highlighted at his indecency trial because another contribution was a poem by Wilde's undergraduate lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, which ends with the now celebrated line "The love that dares not speak its name". The gift, from literary benefactors Fay and Geoffrey Elliott, also includes 12 unpublished poems by Sir John Betjeman, and more than 500 works from the 1890s.
The Guardian

Plan to scrap rise in medic student fees is a non-starter
English students taking medical degrees in Scotland will face a huge rise in tuition fees after a plan to avoid the increase was ruled incompatible with EU laws. Earlier this month it was revealed how Nicol Stephen, the deputy First Minister, was planning a U-turn on the Scottish Executive's proposals to more than double university tuition fees for English medical students. Mr Stephen, who is also the minister for lifelong learning, had hoped to introduce a scheme which would reserve a quota of places for Scottish students.
The Scotsman

Graduates worse off until 33
Graduates will have to work well into their thirties before they overtake the earnings of school-leavers who never went to university, a study reveals. Traditionally students have been told that getting a degree will improve their job prospects and earning potential. But the spiralling cost of higher education now takes a heavy toll on their bank balances. It is only when the average graduate with a three-year degree turns 33 - after 12 years of full-time work - that their earnings overtake someone who began work at 18.
The Daily Mail

'Bodies to bone' gene found by scientists
A genetic "spelling mistake" in a single gene that turns muscles into bone has been found by scientists. The faulty gene is the "skeleton key" that will help unlock the mechanism by which a rare but devastating disease gradually freezes victims by imprisoning them in a second skeleton. Eventually, this extra bone growth crushes the internal organs, causing death. The disease is fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, or Fop. The gene which causes it was revealed yesterday in the journal Nature Genetics by an international team led by Dr Frederick Kaplan, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
The Daily Telegraph, The Times

Letter
Anger over poorly paid academics.
The Independent

From the weekend's papers:

Saturday

• University student unions are threatening to split from the National Union of Students over its support for an exam boycott. The Financial Times
  
• Senior lecturer of a Muslim college vows to keep fundamentalist doctrines on the curriculum. The Evening Standard
  
• Bottom-slapping don says woman encouraged flirting. The Daily Telegraph
  
• Protest over Oxford biomedical research laboratory. The Times

Sunday

• 'Disadvantaged' to get easier access to university. The Sunday Telegraph
  
• Universities recruit Britain's top authors to teach as creative writing courses boom. The Sunday Telegraph
  
• New Buy-for-Uni mortgage for students in Bath. The Independent On Sunday
  
• Indians apply to UK universities in caste wars. The Sunday Times