Category Archives: Higher education

Portsmouth University loses discrimination case against Indian lecturer

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Dr Kajal Sharma was only one of 12 senior academics not to be reappointed to her post

A university has been found to have discriminated against an Indian lecturer on the grounds of race after it failed to reappoint her for a job she had been doing for five years, replacing her with a white candidate with no experience of the role.

Dr Kajal Sharma was one of only two senior lecturers at the University of Portsmouth who were not reappointed to their jobs when their contract came to an end, while 11 out of 12 white colleagues were successful, an employment tribunal heard.

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Chinese students in UK told to ‘resist distorting’ China’s Covid policies

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Exclusive: comments by diplomat involved in recent Manchester clash appeared threatening, student says

A senior Chinese diplomat involved in the recent violence against pro-democracy protesters in Manchester has suggested Chinese students in Britain should “resist distorting and discrediting” China’s Covid policies.

The comments by China’s consul general in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, at a symposium to discuss the work of international students were said by Lyndon Lee, 23, a second-year law student at the University of York, to appear threatening.

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Who are the female union leaders overseeing UK strike action?

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Four women at some of the biggest unions are on the frontline of the fight for better pay and conditions

Christina McAnea is the general secretary of Unison, the UK’s biggest union. Brought up on Glasgow’s Drumchapel estate, McAnea left school at 16 to join the civil service, before going to university at the age of 22 and earning a degree in English and history.

A longtime union official, the no-nonsense McAnea has couched Unison’s demands for better pay and conditions for NHS workers, who include paramedics and ambulance staff, as a battle for the future of the health service.

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Poorer students over £1,000 worse off this year, warns IFS

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Raising maintenance loans in England in line with forecasts, not actual inflation, could cause ‘significant hardship this winter’

England’s poorest students will be more than £1,000 worse off this academic year than the last, according to a new analysis that warns of “significant hardship for many this winter”.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the reduction – which means students from the poorest families will be £125 out of pocket each month – is due to the falling value of maintenance loans, which students take out to cover their living costs.

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Cap on foreign student numbers could send UK universities ‘over the edge’

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Chair of Migration Advisory Committee warns that some institutions would struggle to survive financially

Universities could go bankrupt if the government limits the number of foreign students in a bid to bring down net migration, an adviser on immigration policy has warned.

Rishi Sunak’s potential plan to clamp down on international students taking “low-quality” degrees could “send many universities over the edge”, particularly in poorer regions, the chair of the government’s Migration Advisory Committee said.

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Nurses to strike for two days as December disruption deepens

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Royal College of Nursing announces unprecedented action, likely to to be first in a series of strikes by NHS staff over winter

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has announced its members will stage national strikes – the first in its 106-year history – on 15 and 20 December, with action expected to last for 12 hours on both days.

The unprecedented industrial action will seriously disrupt care and is likely to be the first in a series of strikes over the winter and into the spring by NHS staff, including junior doctors and ambulance workers.

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Lack of clues about University of Idaho killings fuels fear and rumors

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The baffling murders of four students at an off-campus home last week have sown frustration and alarm in the small city of Moscow

Col Kedrick Wills, director of the Idaho state police in the small northern Idaho city of Moscow, had a simple message. “We know that people want answers. We want answers, too,” he said a recent press conference.

A manhunt has now been underway for more than a week in this remote college town where a still-unidentified suspect stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in the early morning hours of 13 November.

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Town vs gown and car vs bike: row erupts over Cambridge congestion plan

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Residents rally over scheme they believe will benefit only bicycling students and dons

In 1381, a mob sacked university buildings and burned books in the town square, shouting: “Away with the learning of clerks!” More recently, battle lines have been drawn over plans to build homes on green belt land and attempts to ban wild swimming in the river Cam.

Now, tensions between town and gown are rising again in Cambridge. This time, it’s over proposals to introduce a £5 congestion charge on weekday car journeys to the city, with a protest march to Parker’s Piece common planned for 27 November.

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Minority ethnic Britons’ educational success not reflected in pay, study finds

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‘Clear evidence’ of discrimination in terms of salary and careers despite academic progress, IFS study finds

Most minority ethnic groups in the UK have made remarkable progress in educational achievement but “clear evidence” of discrimination remains in their pay and careers, according to a study published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The IFS report found that most of the largest minority ethnic groups obtain English and maths exam results at least as good or better than those achieved by white British students in England, and are more likely than white teenagers to go on to university.

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Barcelona students to take mandatory climate crisis module from 2024

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Course thought to be world first agreed after university bowed to pressure from seven-day End Fossil protest

All students at the University of Barcelona will have to take a mandatory course on the climate crisis after the establishment agreed to meet the demands of activists conducting a sit-in occupation.

In a move thought to be a world first, all 14,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students will have to take the course from the 2024 academic year. It will also devise a training programme on climate issues for its 6,000 academic staff.

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Foreign Office vetting deterring top scientists from UK, Royal Society warns

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Frustration growing at delays that leave some unable to take up prestigious posts for up to seven months

The best international scientists are being deterred from heading to the UK due to a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) vetting scheme that is leaving researchers in limbo for months, the Royal Society has warned.

The government’s Academic Technology Approval Scheme (Atas) is designed to prevent the export of technology with potential military applications and was significantly expanded last year amid a national security crackdown. But lengthy delays are leaving some unable to take up prestigious posts for up to seven months and frustration is growing that the issue is harming the UK’s reputation abroad.

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NUS president plans to fight dismissal over antisemitism claims

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Shaima Dallali ‘considering all available legal remedies’ after ousting from national student body

Shaima Dallali, the president of the National Union of Students, plans to fight the organisation’s move to oust her, as supporters expressed alarm at the handling of the antisemitism allegations that led to her dismissal.

The NUS said Dallali was dismissed as president this week after an independent investigation into the allegations found “significant breaches of NUS policies” – but that it would not reveal further details because of employee confidentiality.

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Norway arrests ‘Brazilian researcher’ accused of spying for Russia

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Investigators believe man posing as academic at University of Tromsø, in sensitive far north, was using false identity

Norway’s domestic security agency has arrested a man claiming to be a Brazilian academic whom it suspects of being a Russian spy.

“We have requested that a Brazilian researcher at the University of Tromsø be expelled from Norway because we believe he represents a threat to fundamental national interests,” the police security service (PST) deputy chief, Hedvig Moe, told the public broadcaster NRK.

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Richard Harris archive donated to Cork University

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Late Irish actor’s poems, photos, plaques and even his wedding list among items handed over by family

Richard Harris blazed through life as an actor, singer, boozer and womaniser but few knew he was also a hoarder.

Poems, photos, letters, script notes, artefacts, documents, rugby plaques, his wedding guest list – he kept it all. After his death in 2002, the trove spanning 50 years of cinema and theatre gathered dust in a lock-up in Oxford, known only to his family.

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Students protest Ben Sasse’s views on LGBTQ+ rights at University of Florida

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Likely appointment of Republican Nebraska senator as president of the university sparks protests during his campus visit

Less than a week after being revealed as the likely next president of the University of Florida (UF), the Republican senator Ben Sasse was met with protests when he appeared on campus in Gainesville on Monday.

“Hey-hey, ho-ho, Ben Sasse has got to go,” protesters chanted, seeking to draw attention to the Nebraskan’s views on LGBTQ+ rights.

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Most students think UK universities protect free speech, survey finds

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King’s College London finds 65% believe campuses places of ‘robust debate’ – but growing number disagrees

Most UK students say their universities are places of free speech and debate – although a growing number are aware of free speech being restricted on campus, a study published by King’s College London has found.

The analysis, by KCL’s Policy Institute, found that 65% of students agreed that “free speech and robust debate are well protected in my university”, a higher proportion than the 63% who felt that way in a survey three years ago.

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Forget Oxbridge: St Andrews knocks top universities off perch

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Latest Guardian University Guide shows leading trio are in league of their own for undergraduate courses

Oxbridge is being replaced at the apex of UK universities by “Stoxbridge” after St Andrews overtook Oxford and Cambridge at the top of the latest Guardian University Guide.

It is the first time the Fife university has been ranked highest in the Guardian’s annual guide to undergraduate courses, pushing Oxford into second and Cambridge into third.

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Hong Kong journalist union chair arrested weeks before Oxford fellowship

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Ronson Chan was preparing for stint in UK before being arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer

The head of Hong Kong’s journalist union has been arrested, weeks before he was due to leave for an overseas fellowship at Oxford University.

Ronson Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct in a public place.

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Euan Blair firm gets licence to award degrees

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Multiverse, founded by son of former PM, is first apprenticeship provider allowed to award degrees

Tony Blair was the prime minister who met his aim of enrolling more than half of all young people in university by this century. Now his son is pioneering a way of awarding degrees with no need for a university at all.

Euan Blair’s company, Multiverse, has become the first apprenticeship provider granted a licence to award degrees on the job.

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