Today's news

Universities to dock pay of lecturers who boycott exam duties
University vice-chancellors are to cut the pay of lecturers who refuse to set, invigilate or mark students’ exams and coursework. The move came as Alan Johnson, the new Education Secretary, called on academics to end their boycott, which threatens to disrupt the graduation of up to 300,000 students this summer. Many students are due to start exams next week. Lecturers, led by the Association of University Teachers and its sister union Natfhe, are calling for a 23 per cent pay rise over three years. They have refused the latest 12.6 per cent offer. 
The Times Higher Education Supplement (May 12) , The Times, The Daily Mail

New call by lecturers for Israeli academic boycott
Britain's largest lecturers' union is expected to reignite an international controversy about academic freedom with a new call for a boycott of Israeli lecturers and academic institutions which do not publicly oppose "Israeli apartheid policies". The motion will be put to representatives of the 67,000-strong National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education at its national conference at the end of the month. The motion "invites members to consider their own responsibility for ensuring equity and non-discrimination in contacts with Israeli educational institutions or individuals.
The Guardian, The Times Higher Education Supplement (May 12)

Johnson steps into lecturers' pay dispute
Alan Johnson, the new Education Secretary, yesterday urged lecturers' leaders to put the universities' pay offer to their members and end the marking boycott that threatens the graduation of thousands of students. Mr Johnson's appeal was immediately rejected by Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, who said members at the union's annual conference "gave a clear democratic mandate in a unanimous vote to reject the offer and continue with the assessment boycott".
The Guardian

Rise in higher education widens social divide
The huge expansion of higher education in Scotland has led to widening inequalities between middle-class pupils and those from poorer backgrounds, research has revealed. Academics at Edinburgh University found that children with richer parents have benefited most from the large increase in the number of university courses since the 1980s. However, the research also found that Scottish working-class youngsters consistently outperformed their English counterparts.
The Scotsman

Now is the time to get a Chinese education, Britons told
Britain risks missing out on the economic revolution in China unless thousands of British undergraduates can be persuaded to study at Chinese universities, the Higher Education Minister said yesterday. On a visit to China, Bill Rammell said that the British Government and universities had to do far more to promote China among British students as a place to study. Much more also had to be done to promote the study of Mandarin at schools and universities. Too many universities, he said, were concentrating solely on recruiting students from China, instead of encouraging two-way traffic.
The Times

Museums 'forced into crisis by anti-elite obsession'
The Government's determination to use museums and art galleries as instruments of social policy is causing them serious long-term damage, the Art Fund, the country's top art charity, said yesterday. Museums are being starved of cash to buy new works of art because all available public money is being used to support Labour's obsession that museums should focus on improving "access, social inclusion, outreach and education", claimed the fund.
The Daily Telegraph, The Times

Scientists discover first new primate genus for 83 years
It stands just three feet tall, is covered in long brown fur and communicates using a distinctive honking bark. It may look and behave like any other monkey, but to scientists this new species of African primate represents one of the most important finds in a generation. A study of the species living in the remote mountain forests of Tanzania has found that it belongs to its own unique classification or genus - the first new primate genus for 83 years.
The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian