News

Institution’s experiment combining classroom and online education aims to clear gridlocked ‘gateway’ courses

Students dissatisfied with contact hours, QAA overseas provision review shows. Jack Grove writes

Postgraduates recount ill-treatment by academics as well as bosses

Graduates from 1994 Group members are more likely than those of any other mission group to go on to taught postgraduate study, research has found

Nick Hillman says coalition approach to finance may shape global academy

More than 350 people, including several academics, have signed a petition protesting against the University of Leeds’ treatment of an international postgraduate student

Patricia Piccinini’s Sky Whale, created by Cameron Balloons in Bristol, was inspired by the artist’s reflections on evolution

Body defends science and social mobility funds from spending review

Arguments intensify over union’s austerity plans in run-up to congress

David Willetts has said the estimated public cost of the new student loans system “could rise further”, a factor that critics fear could leads to cuts elsewhere in the higher education budget and the redesign of the student support system.

Comedian Johnny Vegas has mounted a heart-felt defence of art school, claiming that the new fees regime will dissuade students from deprived backgrounds studying for creative degrees to the detriment of society.

Sixteen UK higher education institutions are to benefit from a £50 million investment in research projects designed to drive economic growth, the universities and science minister has said.

A department of Imperial College London has withdrawn the offer of an internship placement being sold by auction after the move received heavy criticism.

The government’s innovation agency the Technology Strategy Board will see a £50 million boost to its budget this year, the government has announced.

There is “no sign” that students paying up to £9,000 in tuition fees in 2012-13 are receiving more for their money from universities, according to a survey of contact hours, workload and satisfaction.

A study into transnational education has found that it can help train students to fill skills gaps in host countries, but also warned that it can contribute to a brain drain and has not led to enhanced research

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed

Editors have noted a “certain level of sloppiness” creeping into research papers, the executive editor of the Nature Publishing Group has said.

Students who use a Btec qualification to progress to a degree are slightly more likely to gain employment than their counterparts who take A levels, but will be paid less per hour, research has found.

Universities should lower their entry tariff requirements for students born in August to reflect the lower achievement levels of children born in the summer, a new study suggests.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has called on British universities to help remedy the suppression of Burmese universities by the nation’s former military regime

A new grouping of southeast institutions accounts for a third of EPSRC-funded work. Paul Jump reports

More than half of academics are either not aware of universities’ knowledge transfer services or do not use them, a survey has found

Asia breaks into the Universitas top 10 rankings

Undergraduate-led learning environment is eroding academics’ authority, Jack Grove writes

These striking posters are part of the personal material donated by playwright Willy Russell to Liverpool John Moores University’s Special Collections and Archives

Entrepreneurial and academic excellence are pursued side by side, and the dividends are clear to see

Research reveals conservative fears of left-wing influence are unfounded

Obama defends discipline from Republican attacks

Open online courses’ cohort much less massive at finish line

Embattled French leader’s attempts to fix university sector’s problems have met with a mixed response

East London institution is mired in difficulty as leadership disintegrates

Institution targets untapped foreign market

Data infrastructure centre ‘decimated’, says 16-year veteran

Questions are raised about whether colleges have outgrown the university’s federal structure

David Willetts and Vince Cable appear to prefer visiting Russell Group to post-92s, writes John Morgan

But investigation finds that practice ‘did not always meet’ expected standards

Will Yale’s lure empty out the sixth forms?

Unity decries decisions made ‘ad hoc’ without consulting scholars

V-c believes ‘radical solution’ is the way to rise up the rankings. John Morgan reports

Universities UK has moved to head off any prospect that the new immigration bill, announced today in the Queen’s Speech, might herald a crackdown on the use of public services by overseas university students.

One of the largest US massive open online course providers has announced a deal with publishers that will allow students free access to relevant excerpts from text books for the duration of their studies.

University College London is seeking a new site for its £1 billion Stratford campus after abandoning contoversial plans to redevelop a housing estate in East London.

The University of Salford has accepted more than 200 students on to courses that it is considering closing within weeks and may face a “significant backlash” as a result, an internal document suggests.

A grant of $500,000 (£320,000) from the Carnegie Corporation of New York has enabled Yale University to join forces with a wide range of international institutions to develop a global network of scholars devoted to the study of Asian topics.

Planned reforms of higher education in Ireland have come under fire in a speech by the outgoing president of the sector’s main union.

From Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Edward Cullen in the Twilight series, vampire characters have long had the ability to capture the public’s imagination.

Details have been released about proposals to allow universities in England to win more undergraduate places if they can show they are recruiting strongly.

A “big data” health research centre at the University of Oxford has been announced as the latest to benefit from the government’s UK Research Partnership Investment Fund.

College leaders have voted to scrap the University of London Union after backing a review which said the student union’s federal structure was outdated and offered poor value for money.

Four more universities have announced plans to offer massive open online courses via the UK-based Futurelearn platform, taking the total number of higher education institutions involved to 21.

Two-minute blasts from students’ own music collections to allow dancing in lectures every 20 minutes is one of the techniques being employed by a university to encourage less sedentary behaviour while learning.

Students from ethnic minorities are less likely to be offered a place at a leading research-intensive university than white pupils with the same A-level grades, the UK’s admissions service has confirmed

Blog posts reveal a lack of ‘socio-academic’ confidence among doctoral students paying their own way