Politics

Medical research charities want funding protected in spending review

Martin McQuillan warns of a possible Manhattan Project for the sector

US politics is not keen on the theoretical, Alan Ryan discovers

Minister wins fans for affirming value of data

NUS’ outgoing leader tells John Morgan that v‑cs and Russell Group must press the sector’s case to government

No such thing as higher education sector, PA Consulting poll hears

Scientific research in the UK has been harmed by the current spending freeze, a report has claimed

Vince Cable, the business secretary, says he has “ruled out categorically” any rise in interest rates for graduates who took out student loans before 2012, while stressing that plans for a sale of student loans are ongoing

The Queen’s Birthday Honours List includes a knighthood for Eric Thomas, the University of Bristol vice-chancellor and Universities UK president

The government should urgently clarify its plans for the sale of the student loan book and reassure existing graduates that their repayments will not be raised, according to Labour’s shadow higher education minister.

Science ministers from the G8 group of the world’s richest countries have jointly endorsed the need to increase access to publicly-funded research.

Convention for Higher Education’s rallying cry against coalition’s university reforms

House of Lords event hears how council and the scholars it has saved have enriched the UK

Woolwich murder reignites debate over university radicalisation

Teacher-turned-scholar Jon Berry sends a message to the education minister on the theory behind best practice

The education secretary’s attacks on the academy are a smokescreen for the damage caused by his radical policies, argues Martin McQuillan

Just four European countries spend less as a proportion of national income

IPPR report offers stark warning over £6,000 plans

The banning of psychoactive drugs amounts to one of the worst cases of scientific censorship in modern times, researchers have argued.

Labour’s shadow business secretary is “open” to setting a target to increase overseas students if the party returns to power as the major export industry has been “taken hostage by the Home Office” under the coalition.

By Elizabeth Redden, for Inside Higher Ed

The Home Office has concluded that the student visitor route into the UK is being used as intended and not as a back door route to work or settlement

Ministers should extend student loans to many more part-time students to remedy a “crisis” in recruitment, a thinktank commission is set to recommend

George Osborne has given his strongest hint yet that science funding will be protected in the coming spending review

Business secretary will argue against sector cuts and for extra investment

Mayor confident in capital’s academic brand values

The academy must repel UKIP’s charges, argues Christopher Phelps

Minister and BIS take close interest in study with enormous policy implications

Fewer British universities are hitting their overseas student recruitment targets this year in the wake of the government’s visa changes and Indian student numbers have again been hit, according to Universities UK.

A student Islamic society has apologised after a video was posted on its Facebook site claiming the killing of a soldier in Woolwich was a government hoax.

Moving medical education and research funding to the Department of Health would “pose a significant threat to the UK’s leading position” in the fields, medical schools have warned George Osborne.

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed

Tuition fees major concern for schoolchildren, Sutton Trust discovers

G. R. Evans’ rallying cry: scholars, do the spadework to defend the sector

Russell Group’s latest members have agreed to stump up £500,000 each

Plans to cut student support may be undermined by court ruling

When anthropologists pointed out that cultural factors impeded tropical disease treatment campaigns, some fellow scientists reacted with outrage

Vince Cable has said any sense of “triumph” over new figures showing a decline in student immigration is “absurd”, as he issued a strong defence of international student movement

Call to put differences aside, ahead of UCU Congress in Brighton

Stay-at-home students who attend a local university should be eligible for cut-price tuition fees of £5,000 a year, according to an influential commission of higher education experts

The University of Greenwich has launched an investigation into whether there has been extremism on its campuses after confirming that one of the suspects in the murder of a British soldier studied at the institution

Net migration to the UK has fallen again mainly thanks to a 23 per cent drop in the number of students coming to the country to study.

Lowering tuition fees to £6,000 – a policy put forward by Labour - could cost the Treasury the same as the current £9,000 set-up, a study has claimed.

£9,000 limit poses threat to quality and income, conference hears

Brighton event aims to form charter of core university values

Treatment to avoid cuts would do more harm than good, critics say

Alastair Bonnett visits Lincoln’s Social Science Centre, a cooperative, free university attempting to build a different kind of knowledge economy

Less than 10 years since their introduction, tuition fees will soon disappear from the country. Frances Mechan-Schmidt reports

A new website has been launched to help universities tackle violent extremism and radicalisation on campus.

A campaign has been launched to promote part-time study following the dramatic fall in the number of such students choosing to enter higher education.

Universities minister David Willetts has defended the student finance system against criticisms that it is unsustainable and will not bring in the amount of money required to fund the sector long term.

Nick Hillman says coalition approach to finance may shape global academy

Body defends science and social mobility funds from spending review

Germany and Eastern Europe rocked by string of high-profile cases within their governments. Paul Jump reports

David Willetts has said the estimated public cost of the new student loans system “could rise further”, a factor that critics fear could leads to cuts elsewhere in the higher education budget and the redesign of the student support system.

Comedian Johnny Vegas has mounted a heart-felt defence of art school, claiming that the new fees regime will dissuade students from deprived backgrounds studying for creative degrees to the detriment of society.

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed

Research reveals conservative fears of left-wing influence are unfounded

Obama defends discipline from Republican attacks

Embattled French leader’s attempts to fix university sector’s problems have met with a mixed response