The week in higher education – 5 December 2024

Not only can rats drive, they enjoy doing so. That’s what researchers from Virginia found in a study that placed the rodents in small vehicles made out of plastic cereal containers and taught them to operate the cars by using a wire accelerator. “Before long, they were steering with surprising precision to reach a treat,” said Kelly Lambert, a professor of behavioural neuroscience at the University of Richmond, quoted in The Times. Dr Lambert found that the rats were so keen to drive that they would run up to the side of their cage when she entered the laboratory and – in some cases – drive a longer route than necessary to reach their treat. “Unexpectedly, we found that the rats had an intense motivation for their driving training, often jumping into the car and revving the ‘lever engine’ before their vehicle hit the road,” Dr Lambert said. The study wasn’t aiming to create a species of rodent Formula 1 drivers (unfortunately) but, rather, look at neural reward pathways. According to Dr Lambert, the “key to a healthy brain” may be “planning, anticipating and enjoying the ride”.

What feels like the most talked-about election of the year is finally over, with a right-wing candidate the victor. No, we’re not referring to the US, but the University of Oxford, where former UK foreign secretary Lord Hague of Richmond has been elected chancellor. In the final stage of the election, the former Conservative Party leader beat Scottish lawyer and current pro vice-chancellor Lady Elish Angiolini by 1,603 votes. As the 160th recorded chancellor, the appointment marks a full circle moment for Lord Hague, who graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1982 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. The result means that the university continues its record of, over 800 years, never appointing a female chancellor. Perhaps when Lord Hague’s term is over in 2035, Oxford may finally be ready to break with tradition.

Students at the University of Cambridge are being warned to avoid using their phones on the stairs for fear they may fall. According to The Sun, health and safety posters have been put up around campus showing a man lying at the bottom of a set of stairs with a mobile in his hand. The poster reads: “Heads up, phones down! Don’t be the next accident.” Students can also use a QR code on the poster to report an “accident or near miss”. Despite the Sun’s derision that “Britain’s brightest students” were being told how to use stairs, the university defended the posters, saying it “takes the health and safety of staff and students seriously”. It seems students may need some convincing. In response to the posters, one asked: “Why would anybody report a ‘near miss’ episode of staircase use? ‘Hi, I just saw this guy who was using his phone while going down the stairs, he tripped, and almost fell.’”

Students at the University of Nottingham worried about finding a job when they graduate may find opportunities in an unlikely place – the bathroom. Health and hygiene company Essity – which produces nappies, period products and tissues, among other items – has begun advertising careers on loo roll in university toilets. “As we specialise in the production of toilet paper in the UK, it felt like the obvious way of getting our message out there,” a spokesman for the company told the Daily Mirror. “Our research shows that looking for a graduate position can be daunting, so we wanted to make it very easy and relevant to what we do.” Could this novel idea put the university’s graduate careers advisers out of work? It seems unlikely, but at least if it does, they won’t have far to look to find a new position.

British universities are reluctant to display a portrait of the country’s monarch. Figures published in The Times show a measly 7.5 per cent of universities and higher education institutions took up an offer of a free framed picture of Charles III made by the previous government to all public institutions. In comparison, 25 per cent of Church of England churches and 33 per cent of schools accepted a portrait. Most enthusiastic among the institutions was the coastguard, with all centres taking up the offer. While most domestic students are unlikely to be perturbed by the lack of royal representation at their university, for any international students hoping to catch a glimpse of the monarch during their time in the UK, it seems their best bet may be to select a university near the coast.