Today's news

    

Universities in £1bn debt crisis
UK universities are at least £1 billion a year short of the money needed to keep buildings and equipment in working order, according to an audit commissioned by the government.
(Guardian)

Student expansion leads to financial strain and falling standards
The huge expansion in student numbers is coming at a high price with financial strains and falling standards.
(Guardian)

Blair condemns protesters who thwart science
Prime minister Tony Blair has promised to break down the “anti-science fashion” in Britain, declaring that the government will never give way to misguided protesters who stand in the way of medical and economic advance.
(Times)

Working-class graduates kept out of highly paid jobs
An old boys’ network is preventing working-class graduates with excellent academic records from being appointed to highly paid jobs, according to new research.
(Independent)

New breast cancer drug breakthrough
A powerful new breast cancer drug has produced dramatic results. Dr Jeffery Tobias, a trial investigator from University College Hospital, London, has called the results of the tests of Arimidex “exceptional”.
(Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, Times, Independent)

Childcare for students
Teenage parents are to be given free childcare worth up to £120 a week so they can study for A levels at further education or sixth-form colleges, or at school.
(Times)

Rocketman ready for manned flight
Salford University lecturer Steve Bennett has announced the countdown to the launch of the world’s first private piloted spaceship. He aims to climb into the capsule of Nova and power himself 20,000ft into space next year.
(Times, Daily Telegraph)

L’Oreal endows Oxford chair
Cosmetics company L’Oreal has invested £1.8 million in a chair of marketing at the University of Oxford’s Said Business School.
(Financial Times)

Mind –bending genius of Beckham
England player David Beckham is the Einstein of football physics because of his ability to carry out multi-variable physics calculations in his head to compute the kick trajectory required and then execute it, according to research by engineers at the University of Sheffield sports engineering research group, Yamagata University in Japan and company Fluent Benelux.
(Daily Telegraph)

Male pill developed
A contraceptive pill for men that can be implanted under the skin has been developed by scientists at Edinburgh University.
(Daily Mail)

Men take control in zapper battle
Men seize the remote control while watching television as a show of power, according to a study by the London Business School.
(Daily Mail)

Paltrow to star as Plath
Gwyneth Paltrow is to play Sylvia Plath, the tortured poet and wife of former poet laureate Ted Hughes, in a film.
(Daily Telegraph, Times, Independent)

Chinese University puts emphasis on social side
The Chinese University of Hong Kong has remodelled its entire MBA curriculum with a greater emphasis on social responsibility.
(Financial Times)