Category Archives: University of Sussex

University of Sussex taking legal action over £585,000 free speech fine

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Vice-chancellor Sasha Roseneil accuses Office for Students of seeking to ‘persecute’ rather than solve problems

The University of Sussex is taking legal action to overturn a record fine levied by England’s higher education regulator, accusing the regulator of seeking to “persecute” it rather than solve problems.

This week the Office for Students (OfS) said it would fine Sussex £585,000 for two “historic” breaches of its regulations related to freedom of speech and governance. It comes after a three-and-a-half-year investigation into the resignation of Prof Kathleen Stock, who was the target of protests at Sussex over her views on gender identification and transgender rights.

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Sussex university students warned they may not graduate if fees remain unpaid

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Those struggling to pay debts include students from overseas who have seen the value of their currency crash

Hundreds of students at the University of Sussex have been warned they may be unable to graduate or re-register for the next academic year if they fail to pay outstanding debts.

Those affected include students from Nigeria and Iran who have been struggling to pay their fees after the value of their currencies crashed. Other international students, as well as UK students, are also among those in debt.

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Help, it’s 1,000 trillion degrees in here! The Big Bang artwork that makes scientists cry

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What would it have been like to be inside the Big Bang? We meet the ultra-hi-tech art duo who are using light, sound and sub-atomic astro data to recreate the biggest explosion ever

‘Step into the heart of the Big Bang,” says the advert for Halo, a walk-in, 360-degree, audiovisual installation about to open in Brighton. Come off it, I want to retort. You couldn’t “step” into the Big Bang without first travelling 13.8 billion years back in time and then being extremely miniaturised. After all, the universe was, according to one estimate, just 17cm in diameter at its inception.

What’s more, it was dark inside the Big Bang. In fact, there was no light at all. True, if you stuck around for 380,000 years, according to Nasa, you might have been able to see something because that was when free electrons met up with nuclei and created neutral atoms that would have allowed light to pass through. But who has 380,000 years to hang around waiting in the dark?

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