Move to mark fails as passes was 'a mistake'
VICE chancellor Mike Fitzgerald has admitted that an internal Thames Valley University memorandum ordering assessors to turn student fails into passes was amistake. In a frank interview with The THES...
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Government ducks pay review
THE GOVERNMENT has rejected Sir Ron Dearing's recommendation to nominate a chairman for his proposed pay review committee for university staff. The Department for Education and Employment has written...
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Beckett deflates cash hopes
Higher education should not expect more money from industry, Margaret Beckett, president of the board of trade, said this week. She told the House of Lords select committee on science and technology...
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Scots colleges want their own loan rangers
Scotland's higher education institutions could form their own debt collection agency to recover fees from students under the government's new loan proposals. The Committee of Scottish Higher...
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Tuition fees to hit PFI, say lenders
Private investors will shun deals with universities under the Private Finance Initiative because of fears that tuition fees will drive students away from higher education, potential lenders claimed...
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Meningitis cases rising
FEARS of an impending meningitis epidemic increased this week as two Southampton University freshers died and three more were admitted to hospital, writes Julia Hinde. University welfare officers are...
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Benefits of training for small firms questioned
There is no evidence that education and training can help small firms to prosper, a report for the Department for Education and Employment has found. The report warns that "policy-makers need to...
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Clubbing together
After railing publicly against Oxbridge college fees, Geoffrey Copland, vice chancellor of the University of Westminster, fears a knock at the door. No, not from his Russell Group colleagues, or his...
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Spaced out
Mike Disney, professor of physics at the University of Wales, Cardiff, is taking a lead in town- gown links as he blows the city's trumpet on the London Underground. Huge posters of the university...
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Border disputes
Edinburgh University, accused in recent years of excessive anglicisation, has been pointing to the vast range of Scottish courses on offer. But the Scottish history department clearly needs to do...
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Wishful thinking
There was great agitation at this week's Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals annual forum after Scottish education minister Brian Wilson revealed that some students were more equal than...
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Room for a spin
In the highly charged atmosphere of spin and counter-spin keeping government circles in a tizzy, ministers cannot be too careful. So education minister David Blunkett was anxious to calm the nerves...
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What's in a name
Considering he is bidding for the most thankless job in British trade unionism, Fawzi Abrahim is showing some grit in his attempt to become general secretary of lecturers' union Natfhe. This week...
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Greenspan's sneeze
We hope that the treasurer of New York University keeps quiet about alumni to be proud of when attending meetings of finance chiefs of US universities. Alan Greenspan, head of the US Federal Reserve...
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Part-timers ill-served, say vice chancellors
The Dearing report failed to see the growth potential of part-time study, postgraduate education and continuing personal and professional development, vice chancellors say. In its official response...