Schwartz to leave Brunel University
Steven Schwartz, the controversial vice-chancellor of Brunel University, today surprised the higher education sector by announcing he was leaving to head an Australian institution. After only three years at the west London institution, Professor Schwartz said he had accepted the job of vice-chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney "subject to satisfactory contract negotiations". He added: "It is a wonderful opportunity to join a university recognised for its innovation, strong research and international outreach, and a chance for Claire and I to spend more time with our children in Australia."
The Guardian
University funding in Scotland 'unfair system'
Scotland's rejection of university top-up fees will force poor people to pay for middle-class welfare, a leading academic claims today. Steven Schwartz, the vice-chancellor of Brunel University, said the rejection meant government funding north of the Border, which could have been channelled into health and schools, will go into higher education instead. He said purely public funding of universities was unfair because middle-class children were six times as likely as those from the working class to take degree courses.
The Scotsman
Graduates seek better work-life balance
High-flying graduates in Britain are more likely to seek careers that offer longer holidays and a sense of contributing to society than their counterparts in the rest of Europe, according to research into new recruits. They are keener on flexible hours and less concerned about salary, but they want security, paid overtime and decent pensions. They share an impatience to get ahead and a desire to work internationally with young people from similar educational backgrounds in ten other European countries. However, they lack fluency in a second language compared with graduates from Scandinavia, Germany, Holland and Switzerland.
The Daily Telegraph
£50m student campus given the green light
Plans for a new £50 million university campus in the Lothians have won council approval. More than 4,000 staff and students will be housed at the 35-acre Queen Margaret University College campus at Craighall, near Musselburgh, when it opens in autumn 2007. The campus, which will replace existing QMUC sites at Corstorphine and Leith, will boast "environmentally intelligent" buildings, modern academic facilities, a public square and woodlands.
The Scotsman
Number of carers 'set to rise by 3m', says study
An ageing population means that the number of economically active people involved in caring for another is likely to rise from 6 million to 9 million by 2037, according to a report published today. The study by Sheffield Hallam University's Centre for Social Inclusion reported that "as many as one in ten working men and one in seven working women currently provide unpaid care".
The Financial Times
New calculator makes solving tricky sums easy
A novel calculator interface makes solving tricky sums easy, as users can simply write them onto a screen and then watch the answer appear. The inventors of the device, which could easily be incorporated into stylus-controlled handheld computer and its inventors say it reduces the number of errors that users make. This is because the interface does away with the awkward and unnatural syntax of conventional button-based calculators, says Harold Thimbleby at the University of Swansea. These often require data to be entered in a non-intuitive order. In contrast, calculations on the new interface are written exactly as they would be on paper.
New Scientist
Hay fever sufferers endure worst June on record
This summer is already the worst on record for hay fever sufferers - and there will be no respite in the weeks ahead, scientists say. Jean Emberlin, research director of the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit, based at University College, Worcester, is lobbying the Department for Education and Skills to move GCSEs and A levels to the beginning of May to help the 38 per cent of teenagers who are affected by hay fever. She said: “At the moment they just award an extra 2 per cent if a pupil supplies a GP certificate and proof of the pollen count on exam day."
The Times
From the weekend's papers:
Saturday
Heriot-Watt University student jailed for £25,000 tax scam. The Scotsman
Sunday
Imperial College investor Gary Tanaka arrested. The Sunday Telegraph
Venture funds to gamble on student futures. The Sunday Times
Imperial's commercial arm plans £200m float. The Sunday Telegraph
Students are making thousands a year playing online poker. The Daily Star Sunday