Today's news

Pair may undercut pack with £2,000 fee
Two universities are considering charging top-up fees of less than £3,000 a year in a move that would shatter the national consensus that all institutions will inevitably charge the maximum.
The Times Higher Education Supplement

Clarke steps in to closure row
Charles Clarke has asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England to find ways to safeguard “nationally important” subjects. The Chemistry Society described the Secretary of State’s response as “a bit thin and a bit late”.
Times Higher , Financial Times , Guardian, Times , Daily Telegraph

Abuse experts criticise thesis over “positive” portrayal of child sex
The Times Higher Education Supplement reports that a Glasgow University academic’s thesis challenged assumptions that adult-child sex was always abusive. Experts warned the view would play into the hands of paedophiles.
Guardian

Buckingham v-c blames politicians for crisis
Terence Kealey says that a political failure neither to fund university teaching properly nor to allow a free market is to blame for course closures.
Daily Telegraph

Two-year degrees unveiled
Charles Clarke has asked the funding councils to identify ways of offering “compressed” two-year degrees and find the institutions prepared to offer them.
Daily Mail , Evening Standard

Condom turn-off
A survey sponsored by Mates, the condom manufacturer, found that 56 per cent used other birth control methods and a fifth used nothing.
Daily Mirror

Use more state cash to tackle animal rights extremists – HLS
Huntingdon Life Sciences said that police needed more resources to combat extremist who targeted the animal testing company’s suppliers.
Financial Times

Mental health warning for cannabis users
Young people who are genetically vulnerable to psychosis are twice as likely to have hallucinations, paranoia and schizophrenia if they use cannabis, according to a study by psychiatrists at the University of Maastricht.
Daily Telegraph , Guardian , Daily Mail , Independent

Ukraine students seek to bridge divisions
Students in Kharkov have adopted the colour green as a third way alternative to the orange of the opposition and the blue and white of the supporters of the pro-Russian faction.
Guardian

Military recruiting ban reimposed
Harvard Law School has reintroduced a ban on military recruiting on campus, on the grounds that the armed forces discriminate against gays.
Chronicle of Higher Education