Today's news

Students killed in clash at a Beirut university
Students for and against the government hurled rocks and furniture at each other today as Lebanon's power struggle turned violent on a university campus, security officials said. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said one of the militant group's supporters was killed, but security officials could not immediately confirm the death. Security officials said at least 17 people were injured. Other TV stations reported that about 25 people were hurt. Soldiers firing shots in the air dispersed the rioters at the Beirut Arab University in the Tarik el-Jadideh neighbourhood, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Red Cross ambulances took the injured to hospital.
The Independent, The Times, The Guardian, The Scotsman

Ethnic minority students less likely to get first degrees, study finds
Black and Asian students are less likely than their white counterparts to get a first-class degree, putting them at a disadvantage in the job market, a new report warns. A study by the Department for Education and Skills found that those least likely to attain firsts were black Caribbean, black African and Chinese students. The report says: "Although the participation of students from minority ethnic communities in higher education is higher than for students from white communities, the attainment of those who complete a first degree programme (as measured by class of degree) is markedly lower than that of their white peers."
The Financial Times

Top ranking for business school
Glasgow University Business School has been given accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, joining the ranks of some of the world's best business schools. Principal Sir Muir Russell said the accreditation was testament to the high-quality research and teaching at the school, adding: "The accreditation process is rigorous and meticulous and the standards required are exacting."
The Scotsman

Tatchell booked to speak at city student festival
Gay and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell is among the speakers lined up to appear at a student festival in Edinburgh. He will be joined by former UK Ambassador to the UN, Lord Hannay, and David Johnson, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy. The Edinburgh University Student Association Festival, now in its fourth year, runs from January 29 to February 3 and is one of the most social events on the university's calendar.
The Scotsman

Doctors hope to switch off brain's craving for tobacco
Smokers who suffer damage to a particular part of the brain can give up quickly and easily without feeling any urge for a cigarette, according to research that promises new approaches to treating nicotine addiction. A study of smokers who suffered strokes has shown that part of the brain, the insula, appears to be intimately involved in their addiction, indicating that it could be targeted to help people to give up the habit. Patients who had strokes that damaged the insula, which is thought to be involved in emotions and cravings, lost the urge to smoke immediately, and many have not touched a cigarette since.
The Times, The Daily Telegraph

How Coleridge's daughter hid her poetic passions
In life, the only daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge kept her light under a bushel, dying at 49 with her work largely unknown. Now, 150 years on, she is emerging as a considerable poet in her own right. A British academic has discovered 120 unknown poems by Sara Coleridge at a university in Texas which, he says, rank her as a significant poet. Though Dr Peter Swaab does not make extravagent claims for the Lake Poet's daughter - he ranks her as "an important minor poet'' - he says that the astonishing discovery casts remarkable light on the struggles of an intellectual woman constrained by Victorian mores.
The Daily Telegraph