Category Archives: Higher education

Students owe nearly £500m of ‘hidden debts’ to UK universities, figures reveal

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FoI data shows 180,000 students and graduates weighed down by private debt amid cost of living crisis

Students have accrued nearly £500m in “hidden debts” to their universities, including library fines, unpaid accommodation and support loans, according to figures that highlight the cost of living crisis on UK campuses.

The figures from freedom of information requests sent to 148 UK universities showed that 180,000 students and graduates owe private debts totalling £486m to universities, averaging about £2,650 each.

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Indiana University orders school paper to cease print edition and fires director of student media

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Editors at the Indiana Daily Student say administration’s move to control news content amounts to censorship

Indiana University has ordered its student-run newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student (IDS), to cease printing new editions and fired the school’s director of student media, who also served as the paper’s adviser, according to multiple reports. Students at the school are criticizing these moves as censorship.

The university’s directive to halt print editions came just hours after Jim Rodenbush, the school’s director of student media, was terminated, according to a letter from IDS editors.

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Happy, stressed, overwhelmed: Palestinians evacuated from Gaza start their studies in UK

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Abdallah, 27, and Soha, 31, describe adjusting to their new lives after leaving their war-torn home

The young man emerging from a backstreet accommodation block in a bustling corner of east London looks much like any other student, getting to grips with his studies at the start of a new term. But 27-year-old Abdallah carries more of a burden than most. A qualified doctor, he has recently been evacuated from Gaza to begin his studies at Queen Mary University of London on a fully funded, government-backed Chevening scholarship.

As well as his work in hospitals, he has been striving for months on behalf of the dozens of Palestinian scholars like himself who have been stranded in war-torn Gaza awaiting evacuation by the British government to take up places in UK universities.

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‘A surreal journey’: Palestinian students evacuated from Gaza arrive in UK

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First 34 students, who have full scholarships, welcomed after months of campaigning by academics and others

A group of Palestinian scholars who have been awaiting evacuation from Gaza to take up their places at universities across the UK finally arrived on Monday after “a surreal journey from devastation to opportunity”.

The 34 students, who all have fully funded scholarships, arrived in London and Manchester onboard three flights from Queen Alia international airport in Jordan. A number took onward flights to Northern Ireland and Scotland where they will purse their studies.

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Healthcare graduates most satisfied with choice of course, UK data shows

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Official agency’s figures indicate those who took journalism or marketing far more likely to regret their decision

The UK’s most satisfied graduates are those who studied healthcare subjects, while those who opted for journalism or marketing are far more likely to regret their choices, according to data obtained by the Guardian.

Vets, midwives and paramedics were the happiest with their degrees after entering the workforce, alongside those who studied vocational subjects such as architecture, computer science and construction, and were most likely to say they would study the same course if they were making their university choices again.

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Universities around the world cut ties with Israeli academia over Gaza war

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Educational bodies from Europe to South America are boycotting Israeli institutions, though Universities UK said it did not support the action

A growing number of universities, academic institutions and scholarly bodies around the world are cutting links with Israeli academia amid claims that it is complicit in the Israeli government’s actions towards Palestinians.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 63,000 people have been killed in the territory – the majority of them civilians – with the true toll likely far higher. UN-backed experts have confirmed parts of Gaza, much of which has been reduced to rubble, are now in a “man-made” famine.

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UK universities cut back on crucial research because of reduced funding

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One in five institutions spending less, including in areas such as cancer and heart disease, says report

Universities are cutting back on vital research, with world-leading work on deadly conditions such as cancer and heart disease under threat from an erosion in funding from government and charities, according to a report.

The report, compiled by Universities UK, found that one in five UK universities have reduced their research activity, including cuts to life sciences, medicine and environmental sciences, and many said they were expecting to make steeper cuts in the future because of mounting financial pressures.

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UK to evacuate nine Gaza students with university scholarships

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Move follows months of pressure from MPs, academics and campaigners, with dozens of other students still stranded

Nine students in Gaza with full scholarships to study at British universities have been told the UK government is working to facilitate their evacuation.

The students – who have all been awarded Chevening scholarships, funded by the Foreign Office in recognition of their potential as future leaders – welcomed the development on Wednesday, but dozens more Palestinians in Gaza with university places are still awaiting news.

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‘Censorship’: over 115 scholars condemn cancellation of Harvard journal issue on Palestine

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In an open letter, writers denounced abrupt scrapping of a Harvard Educational Review issue dedicated to Palestine

More than 115 education scholars have condemned the cancellation of an entire issue of an academic journal dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher as “censorship”.

In an open letter published on Thursday, the scholars denounced the abrupt scrapping of a special issue of the Harvard Educational Review – which was first revealed by the Guardian in July – as an “attempt to silence the academic examination of the genocide, starvation and dehumanisation of Palestinian people by the state of Israel and its allies.”

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Trump administration threatens to strip Harvard University of lucrative patents

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White House escalates offensive on Ivy League university by calling for review of federally funded research

The latest phase of the Trump administration’s offensive against Harvard University is a comprehensive review of the university’s federally funded research programs, and the threat to strip the school’s lucrative portfolio of patents.

In a letter to the Harvard president, Alan Garber, posted online on Friday, Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, accused Harvard of breaching its legal and contractual requirements tied to federally funded research programs and patents.

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Brown University reaches deal with Trump administration to restore $50m in funds

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Ivy League school will commit to nondiscrimination in admissions and campus programs, and grant officials access to data

Brown University has reached an agreement with the Trump administration that will reinstate nearly $50m in research funding and close several federal investigations into the institution, university president Christina Paxson announced in a campus-wide email on Wednesday.

The settlement follows the Trump administration’s threat in April to freeze $510m in federal support to Brown. This makes Brown the third Ivy League school to reach a resolution with the federal government this month.

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UCLA agrees to $6.5m settlement with Jewish students over pro-Palestinian protests

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Lawsuit alleges protesters made antisemitic threats with the ‘knowledge and acquiescence’ of university officials

The University of California, Los Angeles, will pay nearly $6.5m to settle a lawsuit by Jewish students and a professor who said the university allowed antisemitic discrimination to take place on campus during last year’s pro-Palestinian protests.

The lawsuit alleged that with the “knowledge and acquiescence” of university officials, protesters prevented Jewish students from accessing parts of campus, and made antisemitic threats. Under the settlement agreement announced on Tuesday, the university admitted it had “fallen short” and agreed to pay $2.33m to eight groups that support UCLA’s Jewish community, $320,000 to a campus initiative to fight antisemitism, and $50,000 to each plaintiff.

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ChatGPT launches study mode to encourage ‘responsible’ academic use

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Tool gives guidance rather than serving up complete essays or answers, amid rising AI misuse at universities

ChatGPT is launching a “study mode” to encourage responsible academic use of the chatbot, amid rising cases of misuse of artificial intelligence tools at universities.

The feature, which can be accessed via the chatbot’s tools button, can walk users through complex subjects in a step-by-step format akin to an unfolding academic lesson.

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Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students

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Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000

Tim Winton knows what it’s like to be the first in a family to go to university – “what a breakthrough that is, the kind of opportunities it provides”.

It was at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, studying arts, that he wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer, launching a four-decade writing career.

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Ministers urged to help students trapped in Gaza with places at UK universities

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Forty people who have been offered scholarships unable to travel without biometric data they have no way of getting

Pressure is mounting on ministers to intervene on behalf of 40 students in Gaza who have been offered full scholarships to study at UK universities, but are unable to take up their places this September because of government red tape.

A high-level meeting is understood to have taken place at the Home Office on Tuesday after MPs and campaigners highlighted the students’ plight, calling on ministers to take action to help secure their safe passage to the UK. Some students are reported to have been killed while waiting, while others are said to be in constant danger.

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Revealed: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication

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As Harvard’s feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an ‘education and Palestine’ issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom

In March 2024, six months into Israel’s war in Gaza, education in the territory was decimated. Schools were closed – most had been turned into shelters – and all 12 of the strip’s universities were partially or fully destroyed.

Against that backdrop, a prestigious American education journal decided to dedicate a special issue to “education and Palestine”. The Harvard Educational Review (HER) put out a call for submissions, asking academics around the world for ideas for articles grappling with the education of Palestinians, education about Palestine and Palestinians, and related debates in schools and colleges in the US.

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Oxford University Press to stop publishing China-sponsored science journal

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Move follows concerns several papers in Forensic Sciences Research did not meet ethical standards on DNA collection

Oxford University Press (OUP) will no longer publish a controversial academic journal sponsored by China’s Ministry of Justice after years of concerns that several papers in the publication did not meet ethical standards about DNA collection.

A statement published on the website of Forensic Sciences Research (FSR) states that OUP will stop publishing the quarterly journal after this year.

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‘The American system is being destroyed’: academics on leaving US for ‘scientific asylum’ in France

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Almost 300 researchers have applied for for positions at Aix-Marseille University after Trump unleashed his attack on academia

It was on a US-bound flight in March, as Brian Sandberg stressed about whether he would be stopped at security, that the American historian knew the time had come for him to leave his home country.

For months, he had watched Donald Trump’s administration unleash a multipronged attack on academia – slashing funding, targeting international students and deeming certain fields and even keywords off limits. As his plane approached the US, it felt as though the battle had hit home, as Sandberg worried that he would face reprisals over comments he had made during his travels to the French media on the future of research in the US.

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UK universities have failed to protect gender-critical academics, report finds

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Report’s author raises ‘stark concerns about barriers to academic freedom’

UK universities have failed to protect gender-critical academics from bullying and career-threatening restrictions on their research, according to a report.

The report, by Prof Alice Sullivan of University College London, recommends that students and staff “taking part in freedom-restricting harassment should face consequences commensurate with the seriousness of the offence”.

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Trump sent ‘explicit’ threat to cut funds from University of Virginia, senator says

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Mark Warner says school would face slashes to jobs and financial aid if its president did not resign over DEI practices

The University of Virginia (UVA) received “explicit” notification from the Trump administration that the school would endure cuts to university jobs, research funding and student aid as well as visas if the institution’s president, Jim Ryan, did not resign, according to a US senator.

During an interview Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, Mark Warner, a Democratic senator for Virginia, defended Ryan – who had championed diversity policies that the president opposes – and predicted that Donald Trump will similarly target other universities.

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