Today's news

Academy laments engineer shortage
The UK will drop further behind other countries unless it can bring more young people into engineering, Lord Broers, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, has warned. "If we don't get the best young minds into this, we're going to gradually slip back and back," he said. "And we have slipped in a lot of industrial fields." The academy has been talking to ministers about how to attract more students into engineering and applied science. In April it held a conference with the Higher Education Funding Council for England on widening the appeal of engineering, which ministers have designated a "strategic" subject.
The Financial Times

Work experience is the key to transition
University careers services are pants: “under-funded, under-resourced and poor quality”, according to a survey published today by the Graduate Recruitment Company. The survey, Lost in Transition, based on interviews with 700 graduates and ten careers advisers, found that two thirds of graduates are dissatisfied with the services on offer and that a fifth don’t use them. But who cares if students spend more time in the bar than they do in the careers department? “If candidates are not being directed to the right jobs then that is worrying for employers because they have to sift through a lot of applications and there is a lot of wastage,” says Paul Farrer, the chief executive of GRC.
The Times

High cost of living
The cost of accommodation may not be the first concern for parents debating which university for their offspring, but the differences between typical student rent around the country could easily add thousands of pounds over three years. Research by the accommodation for students website, which was based on 19,000 properties in 60 university locations across the country reveals that the average weekly rent for a student in the UK is now £57.66, which is 10 per cent higher than last year.
The Evening Standard

Acne may be good for the heart
Suffering from spots during youth could boost men’s long-term health, a study revealed today. The research found that students who suffer from acne while at university had a reduced chance of suffering from heart disease in later life. More than 10,000 students from Glasgow University were monitored between 1948 and 1968 as part of the survey. The students were then traced years later and it was found that those who had suffered from acne had a lower risk of developing coronary heart disease.
The Scotsman

Is Scotland set to get the big chill?
Temperatures in Scotland are set to plummet as a result of global warming, according to surprising new findings by Edinburgh scientists. An Edinburgh University study has discovered that Ice Age conditions could return to the northern hemisphere sooner than was previously thought. The research, based on analysis of changing climate patterns at the end of the last Ice Age, disputes the widely-held view that global warming will be uniform across the world. According to the university scientists, we have just emerged from 11,400 years of climatic stability.
The Scotsman

Aliens would need abundant oxygen, research shows
If aliens do exist there are only a limited number of places in the universe in which they might live, according to new research. A team of scientists from Bristol University, the University of Washington and Nasa have argued that the atmosphere on a planet has to be rich in oxygen for complex life to exist. On earth, it took almost 4 billion years, half the predicted lifetime of the sun, for oxygen levels to reach the point where animals could evolve. The researchers have concluded that life on other planets orbiting short-lived suns would probably not have enough time to evolve into complex forms.
The Guardian

Letter
Regarding the role of research.
The Times

Letter
Regarding students in their 70s.
The Times

Letters
Regarding top-up fees.
The Independent