News

France moves away from grandes écoles model in bid to foster new elite. Jack Grove reports from Paris

State should fund one-off extra recruitment to cope with 'crisis', David Blanchflower tells John Morgan

French elite protest harsher attitude to foreign graduates' post-study status. Clea Caulcutt writes

The head of outreach programmes at the University of Cambridge has said that students at the institution are "appreciably better" than they were 20 years ago.

Respondents deliver resounding 'no' to proposals floated in HEA consultation. Jack Grove reports

New humanities head calls for scrutiny of teaching practices ahead of fees rise. Simon Baker reports

Universities will have to ditch the conservatism that has allowed them to survive in the past and change at a much greater pace if they are to prosper in the future, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has argued.

A campaign has been launched to save the University of East Anglia’s School of Music after an internal review recommended its closure.

More than 450 private colleges have been stopped from recruiting international students after most of them failed to sign up to the Home Office’s new rules for inspection of the sector.

Governments are often right to be sceptical about the over-ambitious claims of social scientists, a leading sociologist has argued.

Lancaster University has announced plans to collaborate with Guangdong University of Foreign Studies to build a new university campus in Guangzhou, China.

An academic involved in the scandal over links between the Gaddafi regime and the London School of Economics is to leave the institution ahead of a report into the affair.

Top researchers in biology have yet another publishing option following the launch of a major open-access journal by the Royal Society.

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed

Funding chiefs in England have told the government they have “concerns” about the timetable for implementing a new regulatory framework for higher education, warning the challenge of bringing in some reforms by 2013 should “not be underestimated”.

Proposals have been published for the biggest shake-up in university admissions for 50 years.

A businessman and cross-bench peer has criticised government plans to dramatically reduce the number of student visas.

Employers have agreed to hold fresh talks with the University and College Union over the sector’s biggest pension fund, following the start of industrial action.

Two sixth-form students have launched legal action against what they claim is the government’s “unlawful” decision to treble the tuition fee cap to £9,000.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has declined to mothball its controversial shaping capability policy but agreed to work more closely with learned societies on implementing it.

The sector's main pension fund is likely to be judged as having a £2.9 billion deficit, potentially requiring an injection of funds from universities and damaging the case for the University and College Union's industrial action against changes to the scheme.

Most stained-glass windows feature scenes from the Bible or the lives of saints.

Plans to involve three bodies in resolving student complaints are "a recipe for confusion", the government has been told.

Effort to mitigate AAB and core-and-margin effects spells trouble for post-92s. Simon Baker reports

Watchdog says institutions may suffer for selling what they can't provide. David Matthews reports

Differential offers are a legitimate means to 'control market', Ulster v-c says. David Matthews writes

Ahead of Lord Woolf’s report on the scandal of the LSE’s links with Libya, Christopher Davidson examines the issue of UK university funding by Gulf autocracies in the light of the Arab Spring

Sector can use toolkit to gauge whether it is worth investing in coaching. David Matthews reports

The new head of the Science and Technology Facilities Council has "an understanding of academic research, which his predecessor sadly lacked", a senior academic has said.

Lack of language skills hampers UK graduates' efforts to find employment. Jack Grove reports

When in China, don't mention Tibet but do wash well, firm's code advises. David Matthews reports

"No one would want to be a shambling, rotting corpse," said Marcus Leaning, senior lecturer in media studies at the University of Winchester. "Yet since the early 2000s, there has been a proliferation of zombies expanding out of traditional media. I am interested in the meaning of zombies to producers and fans."

'Abysmal' Australian provision may isolate nation as East rises. Phil Baty reports from Adelaide

A survey showing that one in 10 British students has no interest at all in visiting, working or volunteering overseas has been described as "truly shocking" by the chief executive of the British Council.

Movement demands increase in low levels of state investment in the academy. Paul Jump reports

Dracula, extraterrestrial bugs and the undead are aiding the study of microbiology. Jack Grove writes

But head of leading non-profit institution vows to block 'political' representation. John Morgan writes

To judge by the gleefully bull-headed ignorance shown by politicians, bloggers and others, scientific evidence and scholarly analysis may soon count for nothing. Jon Marcus considers where this anti-intellectual climate leaves the academy

The merging of two prestigious fellowship schemes could set a new global standard in support of early-career independent researchers, it has been suggested.

University of Wales declares that reports of its demise are premature. David Matthews reports

Initial Ucas data indicate big drop in applications from those aged 19 and over. Jack Grove writes

The vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge has offered a robust defence of research as “inherent to the very fibre of a university” and bemoaned the “deafening” silence from government over persistent concerns about postgraduate funding.

Part-time students are to be given an extra year of grace before they become eligible to start repaying tuition fee loans after the government agreed to changes that had been put forward by the sector and Liberal Democrat peers.

A cross-party committee of peers in the House of Lords is to investigate how the European Union can help higher education across the continent to boost jobs, growth and innovation.

By Kaustuv Basu, for Inside Higher Ed

The 40 per cent reduction in public spending on universities over the next four years will help contribute to the biggest fall in education spending over such a period since the 1950s, a respected policy institute has estimated.

The first set of figures on university applications for 2012 entry, when the fee cap rises to £9,000, shows a 9 per cent fall compared to the same time last year.

Researchers should not feel obliged to pursue research favoured by prestigious journals, David Willetts has said.

The chair of the council of the University of Wales has stepped down after the education minister called for him to consider his position.

One in five higher education institutions in England is seeking to lower its fee levels to less than £7,500 to bid for additional student places, the Office for Fair Access has said.

The research councils might never recoup the money they have spent on the troubled Shared Services Centre, the National Audit Office has warned in a critical report.

Lessons for UK as book details often inappropriate focus of American institutions. Matthew Reisz writes