Troubled Soton institute gets second council visit

Funding council officials are to re-visit Southampton Institute just a month after a council audit described irregularities at the institute as "minor".

The Higher Education Funding Council for England has confirmed a visit in the New Year to look into "new information".

Last month a HEFCE audit dismissed claims that a critical Higher Education Quality Council report on the institute was suppressed by management.

The institute has been under scrutiny since the HEQC's report criticised its overseas operations in June this year. Its campus in Athens later closed.

A spokeswoman from the institute also confirmed that "HEFCE audit services" would visit in January.

A HEFCE spokesman said: "We have received further information and we are looking at it. We will make a visit in the New Year."

* Southampton Institute and other institutions incorporated through the Education Reform Act 1988 are entitled to bring libel actions against the press, the High Court has ruled.

Mr Justice Baker Scott this week refused The Southampton Echo and The Observer leave to appeal against libel actions brought by the institute.