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News

The vice-chancellor of London Metropolitan University has defended his decision to cut the number of courses at his institution by two-thirds, and set out lessons for other universities that embark on similar overhauls.

Controversial plans to force Russell Group universities to show they are “in touch with ordinary Brits” have been condemned by academics.

1 April

This glass brain and spinal column, which pulsates electromagnetic light and reacts to human contact, is part of an exhibition currently taking place at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland.

29 March

This 19th-century stuffed cyclopic piglet and plaster cast of a rattlesnake - brought to Scotland by Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1904 - are among the strange and sometimes shocking natural history treasures of the Bell Pettigrew Museum at the University of St Andrews.

29 March

Plans for students to apply to university after getting their grades have been abandoned in the face of opposition from schools and universities.

28 March

The National Audit Office has called for tougher action against overseas students who are breaking visa rules, prompting Universities UK to warn that “legitimate concerns about immigration” should not be allowed to cause “irreversible damage” to the nation’s higher education export industry.

27 March

Tensions between publishers and funding bodies over open access to research papers have flared up again after the Publishers Association accused Research Councils UK of riding roughshod over publishers' concerns in a new draft policy on open access.

22 March