News

By Allie Grasgreen, for Inside Higher Ed

British lecturers fighting discriminatory employment practices at Italian universities have been cheered by a meeting on the issue between the countries’ two ministers for universities.

The US attorney general has been asked by a senior higher education representative to intervene to tackle the “chilling effects” of anti-immigration laws at a state level.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has appointed former employment lawyer Chuka Umunna as the new shadow business secretary following a cabinet reshuffle today.

Four-year courses at universities in Scotland will incur additional expense. David Matthews reports

The University of Wales' international business will continue to expand despite its decision to stop validating degrees unless they are "designed and fully controlled" by the institution.

Short-term contracts and a lack of permanent openings risk causing long-term damage to UK academic science, a report prepared for David Willetts warns.

New 'Sorbonne League' at heart of effort to create world-class elite. Jack Grove reports from Paris

Funding council chief's no-show to defend policy 'beggared belief'. Paul Jump reports

Academy leaders should exploit the public interest in higher education. Simon Baker previews a debate

Universities' efforts to collect impact case studies for the 2014 research excellence framework may be in full flow, but uncertainty and confusion still abound.

Simon Baker gets the scoop on a website offering expert insight on breaking news direct to the public

Underinvestment blamed on funds siphoned off for loss-making courses, writes David Matthews

The University and College Union has urged the UK funding councils to allow female academics to submit one fewer output to the research excellence framework for each pregnancy they have had during the census period.

The sector's international unit has criticised the government for failing to include internationalisation in the recent higher education White Paper, while underlining the need for "positive messaging" to overseas governments.

North American administrators call high rates of plagiarism 'tip of the iceberg'. Jon Marcus reports

Sally Hunt welcomes challenge from increasingly influential Left wing of union. John Morgan reports

Curricula ignoring modern professional needs and UK's industrial heritage. Matthew Reisz reports

As her Greenwich time ends, Baroness Blackstone tells Matthew Reisz why coalition reforms will fail

This mummified crocodile from the Greco-Roman period is held by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley and was recently the subject of large-scale conservation treatment and technical study.

The UK and others are best for efficiency and bang for buck. John Morgan analyses the rankings results

Academics are being asked by their union to work minimum hours in the first stage of fresh industrial action over pensions - potentially followed by strikes and a boycott of the research excellence framework.

Willetts hails fewer limits to business links with universities at Tory conference. Simon Baker writes

The Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to Israeli researcher Daniel Shechtman for his discovery of quasicrystals.

A college that offers courses validated by the University of Wales has been linked to an alleged scam that helped foreign students to cheat their way to qualifications.

All business people should be able to “knock on the doors” of a university and ask for training and help with research, David Willetts has told the Conservative Party conference.

The tightening of visa rules poses a “serious risk” to the academic health of University of Oxford, its vice-chancellor has warned.

The University of Wales has pulled degree accreditation from all courses except those designed and fully controlled by the institution.

The government has announced nearly £200 million in new science capital spending which it hopes will cement the UK’s status as “home to the greatest scientists and engineers”.

Three scientists, including one who died just days ago, have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011.

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed

Up to 6,000 undergraduate places that are being auctioned off to low-cost institutions will go to further education colleges rather than universities, the Labour Party has claimed.

The government has come in for fierce criticism from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford in strongly-worded submissions to the White Paper consultation.

The University of Wales, Newport, has responded to proposals for a radical contraction in the number of Welsh universities with plans for a new institution in the South East of the country.

Many students face a shortfall of over £8,000 a year when state support is compared to the cost of living for the 2011-12 academic year, a new analysis suggests.

Plight of refugee academics compounded by Western 'inhospitality'. Matthew Reisz reports

Administrators favour funding applied subjects over 'pure' and 'soft' disciplines. David Matthews writes

Consumer rights champion Which? has urged the government to scrap plans to penalise students who repay their tuition fee loans early.

The editor of a major new history of medicine brings two disciplines' perspectives to bear. Matthew Reisz reports

Cuts and inflation eat away at spending review deal - and researchers' goodwill. John Gill writes

£30m campus in broadcast hub will boost industry links and graduate prospects, v-c tells John Morgan

John Morgan on British Council vow to continue scholarly mentoring work despite deadly attack

Feeder colleges for non-EU students may go under as third fall foul of rule change. Simon Baker writes

Australia is to relax its visa rules for overseas students, increasing the competition faced by UK universities just as the coalition government tightens British regulations.

...that is the question, but scholars are arguing over whether they should ask it. Matthew Reisz reports

Top earners would 'overpay' under scheme vaunted at party's annual conference. Simon Baker reports

Lancaster University and the University of Liverpool could unite to form a "federal structure" akin to the University of California as other research-intensive universities explore collaborations to secure a place in the global elite.

The Scottish Funding Council has stressed that "no decisions have been taken" after it emerged that it had asked the University of Dundee and the University of Abertay Dundee to consider merging.

Highly productive sector must be creative to keep up without new funds, study says. Paul Jump reports

This collection of 29 horses' teeth was assembled by Louis Auzoux (1797-1880), a French doctor who made models of humans, animals and plants for use in teaching medicine and anatomy.

Women in their forties and early fifties are the least satisfied among principal investigators with the way they are treated by their universities, a survey has found.