Category Archives: Higher education

Columbia University calls for inquiry into leadership as student protests sweep 40 campuses

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Professors at Emory University arrested as campuses follow Columbia’s lead in demanding ceasefire and divestment

At least 40 pro-Palestine protest camps have arisen across US campuses following Columbia University’s example earlier this month, as the New York school’s senate called for an investigation into its leadership, the New York Times reported.

While many remain provocative though peaceful, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment by their institutions from companies with ties to Israel, hundreds of students and outside protesters have been arrested, and there have been some fierce clashes with police.

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Foreign states targeting sensitive research at UK universities, MI5 warns

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Ministers considering more funding to protect important research sites, with China seen as a particular concern

MI5 has warned universities that hostile foreign states are targeting sensitive research, as ministers consider measures to bolster protections.

Vice-chancellors from 24 leading institutions, including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London, were briefed on the threat by the domestic security service’s director general, Ken McCallum, and National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) chief, Felicity Oswald.

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Israel, Gaza and divestment: what we know about the Columbia student protests

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The university is to hold virtual classes after protests on campus culminated in the arrest of more than 100 students

Over 100 students at Columbia were arrested last week after refusing to leave a pro-Palestine protest encampment set up on the university’s main campus. The arrests have since set off a chain of events, including the re-establishing of the encampment and solidarity protests on other US college campuses.

On Monday, Columbia announced it will hold classes virtually to try to “reset” the situation on campus. Here’s what we know so far about what’s happening at Columbia.

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‘Media firestorm’: Israel protest at professor’s home sparks heated free-speech debate

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Pro-Palestinian students interrupted a dinner held by a top free speech defender at Berkeley. A polarized and very public controversy has followed

During a dinner for students that the dean of the University of California, Berkeley law school held in his house’s backyard earlier this month, a woman wearing a hijab and checkered Palestinian scarf suddenly stood up with a microphone and amplifier. What followed lasted only a couple of minutes, but has led to a fierce debate about the limits of free speech, drew death threats to those involved, and created a “media firestorm,” as the dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, has put it.

Some short and chaotic viral videos illustrate part of what happened. One of them shows the woman, Malak Afaneh, as she gives a Ramadan greeting; she is accompanied by a small group of other student protesters. As Afaneh begins reading a speech about the Israel-Gaza war, Chemerinsky and his wife, the law professor Catherine Fisk, quickly cut Afaneh off.

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Yale students continue hunger strike in protest over Israel’s war on Gaza

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Protesters into seventh day of hunger strike in support of Palestinians and in effort to demand university divestment

A group of students at Yale University were on Friday into the seventh day of a hunger strike in support of Palestinians in Gaza and in a protest to pressure the university to divest from any weapons manufacturing companies potentially supplying the Israeli military.

The group titles itself Yale Hunger Strikers for Palestine and one protester, the graduate student Miguel Monteiro, described losing weight and feeling dizzy, while attempting to put the group’s efforts into a wider perspective.

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Columbia president assailed at highly charged antisemitism Congress hearing

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Minouche Shafik appeared beleaguered as House members grilled her over reported upsurge in antisemitism on campus

The head of a prestigious US university clashed with members of Congress today in highly charged hearings over a reported upsurge in antisemitism on campus in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, appeared beleaguered and uncertain as one Congress member after another assailed her over her institution’s supposed inaction to stop it becoming what one called “a hotbed of antisemitism and hatred”.

This article was amended on 17 April 2024 to correctly identify the school where Elizabeth Magill resigned as president last year. The school was the University of Pennsylvania, not Pennsylvania University.

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German university rescinds Jewish American’s job offer over pro-Palestinian letter

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Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy at the New School, condemned killings in Gaza carried out by the Israeli military

A leading Jewish American philosopher has been disinvited from taking up a prestigious professorship at the University of Cologne after signing a letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the killings in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces.

Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy and politics at the New School for Social Research in New York, said she had been cancelled by the university, which has withdrawn its invitation to the Albertus Magnus Professorship 2024, a visiting position, which she had been awarded in 2022. The letter was written in November 2023 following the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas, prompting Israel’s attack on Gaza.

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Sadiq Khan pledges new Erasmus-style overseas study scheme for London youngsters

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City’s mayor outlines ‘internationalist’ vision in manifesto as he bids for third term in May

London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan is to offer young people studying in the capital a new version of the EU’s Erasmus scheme of student exchanges as part of his bid for a third term.

He will unveil plans under which students would receive grants and other help to study and undertake work experience, not just in the EU but other major world cities, with reciprocal arrangements for students from overseas to do the same in London.

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Goldsmiths academics to strike over ‘incomprehensible’ redundancies

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Union says cuts will make the creative powerhouse unrecognisable and risk unprecedented industrial unrest

Staff at Goldsmiths, University of London have voted to strike over plans for an “almost incomprehensible” number of redundancies, a trade union has announced.

More than 87% of University and College Union (UCU) members at the south London institution voted for strike action in a ballot with a turnout of 69%, as well as backing action short of a strike, such as a boycott on marking papers and submissions.

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Tory MP Robert Halfon quits as minister and James Heappey confirms resignation, paving way for mini reshuffle – as it happened

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Robert Halfon quits as skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister as James Heappey confirms decision to step down

In interviews this morning Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, admitted that special educational needs provision was in crisis, Ben Quinn reports.

Universities in England could be told to terminate their arrangements with foreign countries if freedom of speech and academic freedom is undermined, the government’s free speech tsar has said. As PA Media reports, Prof Arif Ahmed, director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the Office for Students (OfS), said many universities and colleges in England have “international arrangements” – including admitting overseas students on scholarships and hosting institutes partly funded by foreign governments. PA says:

The higher education regulator launched a consultation on guidance about freedom of speech, ahead of universities, colleges and student unions taking on new free speech duties.

The guidance includes examples to illustrate what higher education institutions may have to do to fulfil their new duties – due to come into effect in August – to secure freedom of speech within the law.

University A accepts international students on visiting scholarships funded by the government of country B. Scholars must accept the principles of the ruling party of country B, and direction from country B’s government via consular staff. Depending on the circumstances, these arrangements may undermine free speech and academic freedom at University A. If so, that university is likely to have to terminate or amend the scholarship agreement.

If it means that there are people who are employed by an institute who are preventing legitimate protests or shutting down lecturers from covering certain kinds of content regarding that country for instance, or that country’s foreign policy … If that behaviour amounts to a restriction of freedom of speech within the law, and someone brings a complaint to us, then we may find that the complaint is justified and then we make recommendations …

If there are problems, universities will have to do everything they can to act compatibly with their freedom-of-speech duties. Insofar as that means a rethinking of their relationship with other countries, obviously that’s something that would be a good idea for them to start thinking about now.

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‘You have to stand out’: six Dagenham teenagers on their future prospects

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Final year students from Goresbrook school talk about housing, higher education and social media – as well as hopes and fears

Zainab Shehzadi has a long list of worries: robots stealing jobs from humans, the damage wreaked on the climate by previous generations, turmoil in other countries, fighting fierce competition to secure a job that pays enough to live a comfortable life.

It’s a lot for a 17-year-old to take on, but she sees it as a reflection of the uncertain world she has grown up in. “We’re living in an age where everything is changing very rapidly,” she says.

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Cambridge college unmasks alumnae who were Bletchley Park codebreakers

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Names of 77 ex-students of women-only Newnham College who worked at Bletchley Park are revealed for first time

They worked day and night during the second world war, deciphering Nazi messages, breaking Enigma codes and analysing top-secret military documents. But until now it was not known just how many of the intrepid female codebreakers who worked at Bletchley Park had studied at the same place, forming a hidden network of scholars who secretly changed the course of history.

The names of the 77 alumnae of Newnham College – a women-only college that is part of Cambridge University – who were recruited to intercept, decrypt and translate military messages during the war have been revealed for the first time in a college exhibit and roll of honour.

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UK science minister apologises and pays damages after academic’s libel action

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Michelle Donelan had accused two members of Research England’s advisory group of ‘sharing extremist views’ in letter to UKRI

Michelle Donelan, the science minister, has apologised and paid damages after accusing two academics of “sharing extremist views” and one of them of supporting Hamas.

In a statement posted on X, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology said she had deleted a tweet and letter published last year, and accepted what she termed a “clarification” from one of the academics, Prof Kate Sang at Heriot-Watt university in Edinburgh.

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Scientists unearth mysteries of giant, moving Moroccan star dune

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Parts of the structure are younger than expected while an east wind blows the whole thing across the desert, researchers find

They are impressive, mysterious structures that loom out of deserts on the Earth and are also found on Mars and on Saturn’s biggest moon, Titan.

Experts from universities including Aberystwyth in Wales have now pinpointed the age of a star dune in a remote area of Morocco and uncovered details about its formation and how it moves across the desert.

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University of Florida terminating all diversity, equity and inclusion positions

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Move is to comply with state law passed by Governor Ron DeSantis that prohibits public funding of DEI programs

The University of Florida is terminating all its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions to comply with a state law passed in January that prohibits state or federal funds from being used to fund the programs.

The university, with more than 30,000 undergraduates, said in a memo issued on Friday that it was closing its office of the chief diversity officer, eliminating DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halting DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors.

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Researchers study brain activity of surgeons for signs of cognitive overload

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Team at Imperial College London say techniques could be used to flag warning signs during surgery

It is a high-stakes scenario for any surgeon: a 65-year-old male patient with a high BMI and a heart condition is undergoing emergency surgery for a perforated appendix.

An internal bleed has been detected, an anaesthetics monitor is malfunctioning and various bleepers are sounding – before an urgent call comes in about an ectopic pregnancy on another ward.

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University of Florida student senate passes ‘green new deal’

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In a rebuke to Governor Ron DeSantis’s denialism, the student body calls for campus-wide measures to tackle the climate crisis

The University of Florida student senate voted in favour of a “green new deal” late on Tuesday, becoming the first public university to adopt such a resolution through student government.

The mandate – which was unanimously passed – calls for sweeping campus-wide measures to tackle the climate crisis that include just transition, total divestment from fossil fuels, disclosure of the university’s financial ties within the private sector and a ban on receiving research funding from the fossil fuel industry.

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Academics win claim against Oxford University over ‘sham contracts’

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Rebecca Abrams and Alice Jolly claimed they were denied important workplace rights for 15 years

Two academics who sued Oxford University for employing them on “sham contracts” as gig economy workers, have won their claim for employee status in a ruling that could have implications for other higher education workers on precarious contracts.

Rebecca Abrams and Alice Jolly, both respected authors, taught on Oxford’s prestigious creative writing course for 15 years, but were employed on fixed-term “personal services” contracts, which they claimed denied them important workplace rights.

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‘The situation has become appalling’: fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point

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Last year, 10,000 sham papers had to be retracted by academic journals, but experts think this is just the tip of the iceberg

Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in an international scandal that is worsening every year, scientists have warned. Medical research is being compromised, drug development hindered and promising academic research jeopardised thanks to a global wave of sham science that is sweeping laboratories and universities.

Last year the annual number of papers retracted by research journals topped 10,000 for the first time. Most analysts believe the figure is only the tip of an iceberg of scientific fraud.

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UK universities to review international student admissions after recruitment controversy

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Move comes after accusations of lowering entry standards to foreign applicants who pay far higher tuition fees

Vice-chancellors are to review international student admissions by British universities, including how to identify “bad practice” among agents employed to attract people from overseas, after controversy over recruitment.

Universities UK, which represents university leaders, announced a series of reviews into the use of recruitment agents and international foundation programmes, as well as the code of practice governing admissions.

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