Today's news

Oxford under fire over planned cuts
Oxford University's proposals to cut the number of British undergraduates it will take in the future by about 1,600 were under fire last night and initiated speculation that Labour plans to increase top-up fees in a third term.
Daily Mail, Times, Daily Express, Financial Times

Newcastle cheers chemistry boost
A university that caused an academic outcry when it scrapped pure physics degrees has seen an increased interest in other sciences. Newcastle University said the number of applications to study chemistry had gone up from 330 last year to 367 this.
BBC

Academics fight to break 'stranglehold' on journals
Hopes of opening up research findings to a wider readership and breaking the stranglehold of publishers over academic journals will be aired at a conference at Southampton University today. Southampton, the first UK university to make all of its academic and scientific output freely available, announced that its repository will in future be an integral part of its research infrastructure.
Guardian

Optimistic sports plans
Bath University is preparing its facilities to be the pre-Olympic training ground for the American team should London win the bid to host the games in 2012.
Daily Mail

I only get four hours' teaching at university
A first-year history student at Manchester complains in a letter about being bored and demotivated.
Daily Telegraph

Laser ray paves the way for improved gene treatment
A laser technique developed by scientists at the University of St Andrews could pave the way for cheap and easy gene therapy in humans, it has been revealed. Researchers believe that the adaptability of the technique means it could have wide applications, including the delivery of anti-cancer agents directly into cells, and in advanced studies of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The Scotsman

Obituary
The Reverend Vivian Green, the former sub-Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, who died on January 18 aged 89, was best known as an ecclesiastical historian but also wrote authoritatively on subjects as diverse as the Hanoverians, the Swiss Alps and the history of Oxford colleges; in 1995 he was unmasked as the man on whom John le Carré based his fictional spymaster George Smiley.
Daily Telegraph