Ethan Scott Brown died after being wrongly told he would not be eligible to graduate from the University of Glasgow
The family of a student who took his own life after being wrongly told he would not be eligible to graduate have said the University of Glasgow “will be held to account”.
Ethan Scott Brown, 23, was due to graduate in December 2024 after studying geography.
Continue reading...Institutions have for years turned to China for funding opportunities but national security concerns are mounting
The security alert issued by MI5 regarding a Chinese state-owned conglomerate accused of conducting espionage in the UK reveals the extent to which British intelligence remains concerned about Beijing’s influence, and risks casting a shadow over UK-China cooperation at a time when the bilateral relationship is enjoying a revival.
The UK’s domestic security service on Wednesday warned researchers and academics to cease work with the China Academy of General Technology (CAGT), an organisation MI5 described as a “significant threat”.
Continue reading...Belgian government unable to agree on evacuation of 13 students to take up scholarships at universities
Students who are unable to leave Gaza and take up scholarships at Belgian universities have said they are devastated after Belgium’s government hit deadlock on a plan enabling them to leave the war-torn territory.
Ahmed Abujami, a 28-year-old doctor in Gaza, said he was “deeply disappointed” after Belgium’s five-party coalition government last Friday failed to agree on an evacuation plan for 13 students and researchers in the territory. Abujami has a scholarship to do a one-year master’s degree in public health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. He hopes to gain skills and experience to rebuild Gaza’s shattered health system.
Continue reading...Economics graduates also appear to be affected as demand for them falls in well-paid roles in finance
AI may be warping the job prospects for students in the previously high-demand subjects of computer science and economics, according to a detailed look into the careers of recent UK graduates.
Data obtained for the 2027 Guardian University Guide published on Saturday shows that coding and software development were the fastest-falling occupations for graduates last year, while employer demand for graduates in well-paid roles in financial categories such as economists and management consultants also declined.
Continue reading...Office for Students made decision to punish University of Sussex with fine last year after claiming it breached free speech regulations
England’s higher education regulator has apologised for a string of mistakes in its decision to punish the University of Sussex with a record fine that was later overturned by the high court.
The Office for Students (OfS) tried to impose a £585,000 fine against Sussex last year after claiming the university breached free speech regulations involving its former professor Kathleen Stock. It was forced to back down in April after a judicial review initiated by Sussex found the OfS “had closed its mind” and acted with bias.
Continue reading...Nathan Cofnas told by Ghent University to work remotely as US ambassador claims credit for lifting of suspension
Prof Jason Arday’s accuser Nathan Cofnas has been barred from teaching on Ghent University campus for three months but has been allowed to continue his research position.
Cofnas, an American academic, was suspended from his postdoctoral research position at the Belgian institution earlier this month pending a “preliminary investigation” launched after Arday’s death.
Continue reading...University says it continued to provide support after resignation of academic, who was found dead on Friday
The University of Cambridge has defended its mental health support for the academic Jason Arday.
The university said it had continued to provide Arday with extensive mental health support and security measures, including installing panic alarms and screening racist emails and post, after he resigned from his post as professor of sociology of education this month.
Continue reading...Group calls for ‘thorough and transparent investigation’ of hiring of professor who resigned after his claims came under scrutiny
The University of Cambridge has announced a review into the way it vets and hires senior academic staff in an effort to fend off external and internal criticism of its appointment of Jason Arday as a professor.
But a group of Cambridge academics quickly rejected the university’s response, saying: “We strongly believe that a thorough and transparent investigation into the wider circumstances of this damaging episode is essential.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Academics call for inquiry, saying university must be held accountable for ‘grotesque racism unleashed’
The University of Cambridge’s leaders deserve blame for the “grotesque racism unleashed” by Jason Arday’s appointment as professor, according to academics calling for the university to hold an independent inquiry.
The Guardian understands that senior dons at Cambridge are circulating a joint letter calling for an inquiry into the processes and circumstances around Arday being given the position, with many suggesting the university wanted a “quick fix” to improve the diversity of its staff.
Continue reading...The new London and South East University Group will be UK’s third largest higher education institution
The UK’s first “super-university”, which will merge the universities of Greenwich and Kent, is set to launch in September.
The new London and South East University Group, to be known as the LASEUG, will have more than 50,000 students on four campuses across London, Medway and Kent, making it the third largest higher education institution in the UK.
Continue reading...The programme, aimed at keeping 1m girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, withdrawn after aid cuts
A leading higher education programme, aimed at keeping 1 million girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, has been axed by the British government just two years after it was announced.
The scheme, Strengthening higher education for female empowerment (SHEFE), which was unveiled with some fanfare two years ago by the outgoing Conservative government, had a £45m budget to increase access to higher education for 1 million students worldwide. It has now had its tender withdrawn, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.
Continue reading...Democrat Jamie Raskin seeks ‘comprehensive accounting’ and requests interview with outgoing Bard president
Harvard University and Bard College are facing new questions about the institutions’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein amid allegations that the convicted child sex trafficker leveraged his ties to the universities and their faculty to traffic women, while also burnishing his reputation to avoid detection.
Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, said in a statement that Harvard and Bard had both previously attempted to investigate the role their universities and leadership played in facilitating Epstein’s abuse, but that those attempts either failed or fell short of a full accounting of what occurred.
Continue reading...Arrest of Min Zin, who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy, comes just month after Trump visit to Beijing
China has arrested a US scholar who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy on suspicion of spying.
Min Zin was suspected of “engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security,” China’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, Lin Jian, said on Friday.
Continue reading...One-off programme to begin in July after recent MenB outbreaks in Kent, Dorset and Berkshire killed three people
Teenagers in their final school year and young people starting university will be offered two doses of a vaccine to protect them against meningitis B, the government has announced.
The one-off vaccination programme, which will begin in late July, comes after an unprecedented outbreak of meningitis B in Kent earlier this year along with clusters of cases in Dorset and Berkshire that, together, led to the deaths of three young people.
Continue reading...More than 52,000 people respond to Commons committee’s call for evidence amid criticism of loan terms
Thousands of graduates have told an official inquiry their horror stories and bad experiences relating to student loans, underlining what the chair of an MPs’ committee called massive levels of “frustration and upset”.
Amid an ongoing row over the ballooning cost of degree course debts, more than 52,000 people responded to a call for evidence by the Commons Treasury select committee as part of its inquiry into student loans and the taxation of graduates.
Continue reading...Ruling is blow to Office for Students after it issued record fine for allegations over professor’s trans rights views
Sussex University has overturned a £585,000 fine by England’s higher education watchdog after the high court rejected claims the university had breached free speech regulations involving its former professor Kathleen Stock.
The ruling is a damaging blow to the credibility and management of the Office for Students, after the court rejected the regulator’s lengthy investigation, following Sussex’s handling of the protests aimed at Stock over her views on transgender rights and her subsequent resignation in 2021.
Continue reading...Relatives call on institutions to help them find remains of ancestors who led fight against British colonisers in 1890s
Descendants of freedom fighters executed and beheaded in southern Africa by colonial British forces have called on the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Cambridge to help them find their ancestors’ looted skulls.
Zimbabwean descendants of the first chimurenga heroes, who led an uprising against British colonisers in the 1890s, have long believed the museum and university hold several of the skulls.
Continue reading...Adam Tickell, of University of Birmingham, says money is loaned to people who ‘are not really capable of graduating’
A leading vice-chancellor has questioned whether students without A-levels should be eligible for government-backed student loans, as part of an effort to solve England’s university funding crisis.
Adam Tickell, vice-chancellor of the University of Birmingham, said universities face an “almost existential challenge” and falling public support that requires a radical review of higher education funding.
Continue reading...Government reviews options for plan 2 loans, such as increasing repayment thresholds, amid growing pressure
Ministers are examining ways to ease the burden of student loans after weeks of pressure over a policy pulling more people into repayments, the Guardian understands.
The Treasury and the Department for Education are reviewing different options to offer relief to graduates with Plan 2 student loans, often paying tens of thousands more than their original loan amount.
Continue reading...Finance campaigner marches on to set and tells Tory leader her policy to cut interest rates will only help top earners
Kemi Badenoch has faced what could be described as the stuff of nightmares for a UK politician being interviewed about a personal finance policy: being ambushed and contradicted live on air by Martin Lewis.
As the Conservative leader was being interviewed on ITV about her party’s plans to cut interest rates for some student loans, Lewis, a campaigner and finance expert, marched on to the set to announce that he completely disagreed.
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