News

Oxford academic at centre of case says ‘clearly punitive investigation’ undermined ethnographic research   

The UK’s public spending watchdog has been asked to investigate possible misuse of public money in the student loans system by for-profit colleges.

The University of Oxford has become the latest higher education institution to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students.

Governing councils give the green light to look at detail of deal

A Canadian university president at the centre of a row about the sacking of a professor who spoke out about planned cuts has been dismissed.

Life sciences ecosystem may lose out if US firm was ever to take over Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca

Tim Draycott, who led the development of the PROMPT course, on the fellowship that gave him three years’ precious thinking time. Plus the latest higher education jobs and appointments

Courses with ‘de facto’ accreditation might address frustration at lack of graduates’ skills, minister says

Poll reveals a cut in fees and more hours of teaching top student wishlist

Petition to oust head follows Twitter hoax set up in her name

The amount of research council funding universities receive has increased in real terms by about half since 2002-03, according to a new report

Welsh Assembly committee says institutions should receive minimum award regardless of quantity of world-class research

Derecognising Unite and Unison has led to greater employee engagement with the university, says the University of Reading’s John Brady

Some fear plan to streamline approvals from trusts will not end local roadblocks

First module of digital resource, covering 1920 to 1979, shines light on colonialism’s end, communism and Cold War

UK government urged to assess financial fallout before embracing similar system

Bright Blue modernisers warn Conservatives to differentiate their university agenda to avoid possible inroads by the UK Independence Party

Unhindered by league tables, a for-profit business-focused institution says it is happily widening participation

University of London proposal will have negative impact on the discipline and postgraduates, academics warn

Proposal to shift all active members to career average system to tackle £13 billion deficit

Scholars at Risk Network warns of threats to academic freedom after the killing of a lawyer defending a scholar

A postcolonial scholar began a troubling quest after learning about his father’s role in counterinsurgency in India

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calls for ‘globalisation’ and more exchanges at university leaders’ summit at University College London

The venerable term is now used by three universities and three institutional clusters in Paris

Private providers should be monitored more closely to ensure they are delivering similar quality to universities, a mission group has argued.

Students’ hours of study can vary by up to 25 hours a week depending on their course, a survey of undergraduates has found.

There are fears that new higher education legislation in Wales could make universities subject to “micro-management” by the Cardiff government.

The Russell Group will spend £9 billion on capital projects over five years, “comparable” to the UK’s spend on hosting the Olympics, a report claims

Scott Jaschik writes for InsideHigherEd on a row that has captivated Canadian higher education

Open letter from UUK board members points to research funding and mobility as being ‘central’ to success

A climate scientist has distanced himself from newspaper suggestions that his paper on global warming was rejected by a journal for political reasons

Proposal prompts resignation of advisory board chair

The chief executive of the National Union of Students has left the organisation after less than a year in charge

Claims and counterclaims fly over group that monitors extremist speakers

Most universities in the UK and the US now have a presence on Twitter, but which institutions can claim to be using the micro-blogging social network most effectively?

A committee of MPs has written to David Willetts over the potential risks to UK science of the proposed takeover of AstraZeneca by US giant Pfizer.

Too many policy experts look to the US and Australia as “some higher education funding nirvana”, according to the vice-chancellor who chairs Million+.

UCU branch ‘strongly opposes’ changing scope of statute

Union threatens action over subtraction of a day’s pay for a two-hour walkout

The former Soviet satellite is working to raise standards and to court foreign students

Universities could be allowed to seek cash without asking funding council’s permission

Senior scholar says his filmed 5-minute debates may expose the “tensions and contradictions’ in academics’ work

Academic proposes biomedical public-private partnerships to protect the ‘R&D ecosystem’ from commercial affairs

University’s 10-week project featured talk by Michael Berlin on First World War conscientious objectors

A Wales-funded public policy institute is to supply evidence to policymakers and create an ‘innovation culture’

Universitas 21 grading introduces new measure of purchasing power

Study reveals challenges for US universities seeking alliances in Argentina, Brazil and Chile

Behind the scenes at science plays: the writers, their intentions and what they achieve

The research funder is seeking a head for its new science strategy department. Plus the latest higher education jobs and appointments

The proportion of capital investment that universities financed using internal funds has leaped 20 per cent over the past four years, according to data released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency

Lecturer’s contract not renewed after he set up out-of-hours module to broaden curriculum

Small increase in fundraising staff prompts questions over sector’s ability to meet £2 billion target by 2022

Consumer legislation will provide tools to ‘whack’ universities, Westminster Higher Education Forum hears

Signatories commit to greater transparency to assuage public concerns