Update: 12:05

Stirling in mourning as v-c passes away suddenly
Colin Bell, principal and vice-chancellor of Stirling University, died suddenly yesterday evening. Professor Bell, 61, collapsed in his office at around 5pm and was taken to Stirling Royal Infirmary. He was pronounced dead shortly after. Police were notified as a matter of routine.
Professor Bell took up office as Stirling's principal in September 2001. He had previously been vice-chancellor of Bradford University for three years. His career included time in Australia, where he was professor of sociology at the University of New South Wales between 1975 and 1979, and at Aston University, where he was professor of sociology between 1980 and 1984. After a spell as social scientist at Leicester University's medical school, Professor Bell moved to Edinburgh University in 1986 as a research fellow. He became professor of sociology in 1998 and was vice-principal of Edinburgh between 1993 and 1998. Professor Bell had also been chair of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's quality assessment committee and he was a member of the Quality Assurance Agency's degree awarding powers committee. He was a former member of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. Professor Bell was married to Janette Webb, also a sociologist. They had two daughters.

Strathclyde £2m medicine research unit opens
Cancer Research UK's £2 million drug-formulation unit at the University of Strathclyde, which opens today, is the largest academic facility of its type in the UK. The unit heralds a new era of high-speed research that will get medicines to more cancer patients than ever before. Scientists will be transforming drug discoveries into forms that can be tested in clinical trials.