Category Archives: Universities

Funding model for UK higher education is ‘broken’, say university VCs

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Vice-chancellors urge review of tuition fees in light of caps on overseas students and rising costs

Vice-chancellors are warning the current funding model for UK higher education is “broken” and have urged the government to review the system of tuition fees, which have been capped at about £9,000 for more than a decade.

They have made clear that limits to overseas students announced last week on top of rising costs caused by inflation posed a serious risk to universities which would require more funding from government.

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UK students seek compensation for Covid-affected tuition

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Nearly 1,000 students attempt group action against UCL, accusing it of breaking promises

Lawyers representing almost 1,000 current and former students whose studies were affected by Covid and strike action told the high court in London their clients felt “cheated” by their educational experience and should be entitled to seek compensation through the courts.

They are seeking to bring a claim against University College London (UCL), accusing it of breaking its “promises” after tuition was moved online and access to libraries and laboratories restricted during the pandemic, with no discount to their “eye-watering” tuition fees.

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University investment funds urge ‘bold action’ to stop new fossil fuel projects

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Asset managers told they have key role to play on climate crisis in open letter before Shell’s annual meeting

A coalition of university investment funds has called on institutional investors to rebel against the boards of fossil fuel companies and their backers.

As Shell prepares for its annual shareholder meeting this week, representatives from the Universities of Newcastle, Sussex, Bristol and from Trinity College, Cambridge, have written an open letter to the asset management industry urging “bold action” to stop new fossil fuel projects.

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English universities warned not to over-rely on fees of students from China

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Higher education regulator asks 23 institutions for contingency plans in case of sudden interruption of income

England’s higher education regulator has warned universities against over-reliance on tuition fees of students from China, as Rishi Sunak backtracked on his earlier pledge to close UK branches of the Beijing-sponsored Confucius Institute.

The Office for Students (OfS) wrote to 23 universities with high numbers of Chinese students on Thursday, asking to see their contingency planning in case of a sudden interruption to overseas recruitment.

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Edinburgh University tries to defuse row after trans rights protests over film

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Executives holds talks with both sides after screening of gender critical documentary was cancelled

Edinburgh University hopes to defuse a crisis involving gender critical and pro-trans academics after clashes over the screening of the film Adult Human Female.

University executives are holding talks with both sides after pro-trans activists prevented the gender critical documentary from being screened on campus for the second time late last month, by blockading a theatre where it was due to be shown.

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Students occupy schools and universities across Europe in climate protest

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Twenty-two institutions have been shut down as part of proposed month-long campaign

A wave of student occupations has shut down schools and universities across Europe as part of a renewed youth protest campaign against inaction on climate breakdown. Twenty-two schools and universities across the continent have been occupied as part of a proposed month-long campaign.

In Germany, universities were occupied in Wolfenbüttel, Magdeburg, Münster, Bielefeld, Regensburg, Bremen and Berlin. In Spain, students in occupation at the Autonomous University of Barcelona organised teach-outs on the climate crisis. In Belgium, 40 students occupied the University of Ghent. In the Czech Republic, about 100 students camped outside the ministry of trade and industry. In the UK occupations were under way at the universities of Leeds, Exeter and Falmouth.

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Register of tutor-student relations proposed for England campuses

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Academics may face dismissal if relations involving romance, sex or financial dependency are not reported

Universities in England could face sanctions if intimate relationships between staff and the students they have academic responsibilities for are not disclosed, under plans by the higher education watchdog.

Academics who refuse to report relationships with their students that involve sexual activity, romantic intimacy or financial dependency, should be dismissed, the Office for Students (OfS) has proposed.

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Strikes by university staff called off after pay breakthrough

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Move follows agreement from employers on lowest-paid workers and review of salary grades

Strikes by university staff over the next two weeks have been called off after a breakthrough in negotiations over pay, pensions and working conditions, unions have announced.

Five unions – Unison, UCU, GMB, Unite and EIS – issued a joint statement with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) confirming three days of strikes will be suspended following talks at the conciliation service Acas, though discussions will continue.

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Students should be told of university course job prospects, says commission

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Social Mobility Commission says students should be informed of ‘earnings implications’ of course choices

Students should be given more details about how the courses they study after leaving school might affect their employment prospects, it has been suggested, as figures show near-record numbers of 18-year-olds applying to university.

A review of research into the employment effects of higher and further education by the government’s Social Mobility Commission showed wide variations in earnings, with some courses failing to boost salaries, while the most lucrative courses for graduates often admitted few students in England from disadvantaged backgrounds.

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Ministers and unions dig in amid widespread strike action across UK

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Little prospect of breakthrough as strikes hit schools, trains, universities and border checks across country

Unions and the government appeared as far apart as ever, after Wednesday’s widespread strike action closed thousands of schools across England and Wales.

Striking workers from participating unions held rallies in cities including Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham and London, as teachers, university staff, rail workers and civil servants stopped work to demand better pay.

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Disruption across UK as strikes hit schools, trains, universities and border checks – as it happened

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UK public warned of ‘significant disruption’ from strikes involving teachers, civil servants, Border Force staff and train drivers

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, speaking from a teachers’ picket line in Warwick, said:

I think Gillian Keegan [the education secretary] is hoping our strike is ineffective and people won’t do it again.

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Number of EU students enrolling in UK universities halves post-Brexit

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Data shows sharp decline in students from Italy, Germany and France with Brexit seen as primary deterrent

The number of EU students enrolling in British universities has more than halved since Brexit – with sharp declines in scholars from Italy, Germany and France, figures reveal.

Brexit is seen as the primary deterrent, with home fees and student finance no longer available to EU students who do not already live in the UK with settled or pre-settled status.

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Impromptu takedown of painting in Netherlands ignites cancel culture row

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Controversial image of male Leiden University board members smoking cigars had long been topic of discussion

A spur-of-the-moment decision by academic staff to take down a 1970s painting depicting male Leiden University board members smoking cigars has sparked a debate in the Netherlands over cancel culture.

The artwork on the wall of a university meeting room had been a topic of discussion for years, with some students claiming that it both endorsed patriarchy and the act of smoking.

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UK student housing reaching ‘crisis point’ as bad as 1970s, charity warns

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Growing numbers of students are experiencing hidden homelessness or accepting poor accommodation

Student housing is reaching a “crisis point” not seen since the 1970s, when students slept in sports halls and their cars, and is set to worsen in the new year, a charity has warned.

Since the start of the academic year, students at universities across the UK have complained of fierce competition for rooms in flatshares for the 2022 and 2023 academic years.

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Higher education regulator to make freedom of speech priority next year

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OfS expected to gain new powers to regulate freedom of speech issues in England

The Office for Students will make freedom of speech and “off-limits” subjects on university campuses one of its top priorities for next year, despite the regulator receiving only around 60 complaints over the last four years.

Susan Lapworth, the OfS’s chief regulator, said students’ experience of higher education in England was “not just measured through statistics,” and could be affected by the attitudes towards issues such as freedom of speech at the institutions they attend.

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Trinity College Dublin considers returning Inishbofin skulls

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Skulls’ removal from island in 1890s was colonial-era violation, say campaigners

Under cover of darkness in 1890, two headhunters climbed over a gate and crept into a graveyard on Inishbofin, a remote County Galway island on Ireland’s Atlantic coast. In the ruins of a medieval monastery they found dozens of skulls. They selected 13.

“When the coast was clear we put our spoils in the sack and cautiously made our way back to the road,” Alfred Haddon later wrote in his diary. He and his accomplice, Andrew Dixon, smuggled the skulls on to a boat and sailed away.

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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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Minister becomes eighth Tory MP to announce they are stepping down at next election – UK politics live

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Dehenna Davison, seen as one of the rising stars of the Conservative party, has announced she is standing down at the next election

Downing Street has confirmed that the inquiry into bullying allegations about Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, is being expanded to cover claims relating to his period as Brexit secretary, my colleague Pippa Crerar reports.

The inquiry was originally set up to consider two complaints, relating to his time as justice secretary and foreign secretary. But at the Downing Street lobby briefing a No 10 spokesperson said:

I can confirm that the prime minister has now asked the investigator to add a further formal complaint relating to conduct at the Department for Exiting the European Union and to establish the facts in line with the existing terms of reference.

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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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