News

Dozens of further education colleges will offer degrees for less than £6,000 a year from 2012-13, while from the following year private providers may be able to charge £9,000 backed by state funding, it has emerged.

Zombie Institute aims to invade prospective science students' brains. Sarah Cunnane reports

If this shoe looks good enough to eat that is hardly surprising - it is made of cheese.

London Met's bonfire of the humanities may spark breach of contract concerns. John Morgan writes

Over half of current final-year students would not have gone to university if they had faced tuition fees of £9,000 a year, according to a new study.

By Scott Jaschik, for Inside Higher Ed

Lecturers at the University of Stirling are due to strike on 26 April in a dispute over job losses.

A group of 11 universities has produced more than half of all the spin-off companies to have been launched by higher education institutions in the past 10 years, according to new figures.

A nightmarish vision of the worst that the future could hold for English universities was set out at the Association of University Administrators conference at the University of Nottingham this week.

Glasgow Caledonian University has had its licence to sponsor foreign students temporarily suspended by the UK Border Agency.

Cooler heads prevail at the student union's annual convention, reports Sarah Cunnane

Disregard diktats and focus on your core missions, universities told. Hannah Fearn reports from Aarhus

Institutions are warned over price-setting as MPs are asked to investigate. Simon Baker reports

Democracies could be facing a dangerous future because they work so well. Matthew Reisz reports

Australia's growing sector must redouble its efforts to recruit new academic blood, writes Simon Baker

UEL and London Met plans may signal 'unequal distribution of cultural capital'. John Morgan writes

Thousands of students in England may be taking longer to accept offers of university places this autumn because they wrongly believe they will face tuition fees of up to £9,000 from their second year, it has been suggested.

Critical voices question national negotiations in era of differing income levels. John Morgan writes

As the bids come in to run a new city campus, John Morgan examines the decision to go global

Bright graduates are losing out through grade inflation, economists say. Paul Jump reports

The threats and opportunities for universities arising from the government's "Big Society" agenda came under scrutiny at a conference at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Clement Attlee (1883-1967) served as deputy prime minister in Winston Churchill's wartime coalition government before going on to win a spectacular victory in the general election of 1945.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council has hit back at accusations that it is singling out neuroscience for cuts.

Report on increasing access to research papers rejects pay-per-view proposal, writes Paul Jump

Swansea University wants staff to take pay cuts of between 3 and 4 per cent in exchange for a “no redundancies” deal.

The vast majority of English universities - if not all - are planning to charge tuition fees above the lower threshold of £6,000, information released by the Office for Fair Access reveals.

Paul Wellings, the vice-chancellor of Lancaster University and chair of the 1994 Group, is leaving the UK to take the helm of an Australian university.

A flurry of tuition fee announcements have been made as the deadline approaches for universities to submit draft access agreements to the Office for Fair Access.

By Steve Kolowich, for Inside Higher Ed

The UK’s leading farming college has joined the growing group of institutions that plan to charge tuition fees of £9,000 a year in 2012.

The US higher education system is blighted by a “very long tail of really bad institutions that are taking people’s money for degrees that don’t give any advantage at all to students”, according to the head of Australia’s quality watchdog.

Imperial College London and King’s College London have announced that they are to become partners in the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation.

A Chinese student with a passion for volunteering and London life has been named the British Council’s international student of the year.

The government faces possible legal action by independent colleges that claim changes to the student visa system are discriminatory and risk crippling their businesses.

Union bid to expose hard-line v-cs who refuse to call for talks on pensions, writes John Morgan

GuildHE calls for a rethink of proposed income threshold for innovation grant. Simon Baker reports

Nine Nobel laureates have thrown their weight behind a campaign urging academics to refuse to assess the impact section of research council grant applications they referee.

Poor job security a major issue in survey of chemist and physicist PhD graduates, writes Paul Jump

Academics are as stressed as health professionals, a global analysis finds. Matthew Reisz reports

Vice-chancellors have demanded more input into government policy after many reacted with dismay to a ministerial attack on universities planning to introduce tuition fees of about £9,000 a year.

Hispanists claim they are still under-represented despite concessions in Ref. Paul Jump writes

Dismayed funders question viability of institution's language-promotion mission. Hannah Fearn writes

Despite government inducements, Turkish postgraduates who study abroad are reluctant to join a 'toxic' system resistant to reform. Hannah Fearn writes

Discrimination by prominent media figures comes under fire at symposium. Matthew Reisz reports

Those accused of March occupation are told they face community service. John Morgan reports

New principal emphasises importance of links with local industries. Hannah Fearn reports

This model ship, made of matchsticks by members of the "Upington 26", is on display in the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town.

Female scholars are still fewer in number, lower in status and less well paid. Sarah Cunnane reports