Category Archives: Education

Vice-chancellor calls for review into student loans for those without A-levels

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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.

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RFK Jr urges medical schools to increase nutrition education training

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As part of his Maha agenda, health secretary wants schools to incorporate 40 hours of instruction

Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr unveiled a new effort on Thursday aimed at increasing the amount of nutrition education taught in medical schools.

For months, Kennedy has urged medical schools to expand their nutrition curriculum and warned that institutions refusing to do so could face cuts to federal funding, while those that adopt the changes may receive public acknowledgment.

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‘Some parents said they’d break my knees’: the teacher who exposed Putin’s primary school propaganda

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Grenade-throwing contests replaced PE and ‘denazification’ speeches became homework. Pavel Talankin’s undercover film about his school’s indoctrination drive won a Bafta and is tipped for an Oscar, but has left him in exile

In order to watch the Oscar-nominated documentary in which many of them have starring roles, pupils at Karabash School No 1 have had to source bootlegged copies, viewing the film in private, on their phones or their laptops.

Last week’s Bafta best documentary win for Mr Nobody Against Putin has been studiously ignored by Russian state media, and the prize the film won at Sundance last year was also met with silence. Staff at the school and government officials in the Kremlin seem united in their desire to pretend that they know nothing about the film.

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It’s been decreed: something must be done about student loans in England

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The education secretary wants a fairer system and the Tories have leapt in with their own plan – but why now?

For anyone who attended university in England in the last 15 or so years, the idea of student loans feeling like some sort of debt trap is hardly news. But three weeks ago, when the journalist Oli Dugmore discussed this on the BBC’s Question Time, it felt like a moment.

It was less the size of the initial debt, he explained, than the way above-inflation interest rates meant the interest charged alone was now almost as much as the original sum. “So was it mis-sold to me?” he asked, rhetorically. “Yes, I’d say so.”

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TikTok and Snapchat posts urge London pupils to join ‘school wars’ fights

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Met urges pupils not to get involved and asks platforms to ban accounts promoting ‘fights’ with images of weapons

Pupils aged 11 to 16 are being encouraged to join in school fights in posts circulating on TikTok and Snapchat, prompting police to urge children not to get involved.

The Metropolitan police have asked social media platforms to ban accounts promoting “school wars”, while headteachers have warned parents about the posts.

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UK ministers explore ways of easing burden of student loans

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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.

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Phillipson says Send reforms needed ‘even if money were no object’ because current outcomes ‘not good enough’– UK politics live

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Education secretary says education, health and care plans (EHCPs) shouldn’t be the ‘only way’ for children to get help

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has been speaking about the Send reforms at an event in Peterborough.

This is what she said about the need for inclusion.

Inclusion is a choice. It is an educational choice, and it is also a political choice because we could duck this challenge, ignore the injustice of a postcode lottery in life chances putting off fixing the Send system yet again.

The system works well for some at least.

We welcome the scale of vision contained in the white paper which has the potential to create an education system that fully values children and young people with additional needs and their families.

We also welcome the commitment to retain statutory education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for children and young people whose needs cannot be met through this new model. We know that many parents will welcome the legal requirement for schools to create individual support plans (ISPs) for all children with Send.

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Martin Lewis ambushes Badenoch on Good Morning Britain over student loans plan

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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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Defence secretary says he hopes to deploy British troops to Ukraine – as it happened

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European leaders said in December that Europe was ready to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine as part of a peace agreement proposal

Searches are expected to continue today at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s previous home – Royal Lodge, in Windsor – as calls grow for a probe into the former prince’s links with Jeffrey Epstein.

Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s police and crime correspondent, Vikram Dodd, about what could be next for Andrew here:

If the government bring forward this bill with the support of the King then we will back it. We have to be realistic. Andrew is the eighth in line to the throne, so there’s no chance of him becoming our monarch.

And so parliament really should be focused on things that are of more importance to the public, whether that’s the economy, crime, the health service, immigration. But if the bill does come before parliament, then we’ll support it.

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Amid Trump crackdown on Chinese students, one US university appears to block them altogether

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Purdue says no ban on Chinese students exists, but reportedly rescinded dozens of offers after warnings from legislators

Several universities have scrapped partnerships with Chinese institutions in recent months as a direct result of pressure from US legislators. But no university appears to have gone as far as Purdue University in Indiana.

Students and faculty at the public university say that an unofficial policy is in effect to automatically reject students from China and a number of other countries altogether.

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Councils in England call for ‘radical’ means testing of Send school transport

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Demand is rising at unsustainable rate and could cost £3.4bn by 2030-31, local authorities warn

Families who have children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) should be means tested for school transport, according to councils in England, who say demand is rising “at an unsustainable rate”.

Local authorities are urging the government to be “radical” in its Send reforms, which are expected imminently, warning that annual costs on home-to-school transport for children with Send could rise to £3.4bn by 2030-31, up from £2bn last year.

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Britons living in Europe face repayment hikes amid Reeves student loans row

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Exclusive: UK graduates in Germany, Belgium and possibly other countries informed of rises as salary threshold is cut

Britons living in some European countries face a huge rise in their student loan repayments later this year, the Guardian can reveal, in a move that threatens to trigger a fresh backlash for Rachel Reeves.

UK graduates working in Germany and Belgium – and possibly other countries – have been told that their monthly repayments will increase from April, the Guardian can reveal.

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University students in England get two-thirds of funding of a decade ago, analysis finds

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University leaders says planned levy on international student fees will leave many institutions even worse off

University students in England get just two-thirds of the funding they would have received a decade ago, after inflation and government cuts have reduced the resources available for teaching, according to vice-chancellors.

University leaders said the situation was likely to get worse if the government went ahead with a new levy on international student fees in Wednesday’s budget.

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Greek secondary school teachers to be trained in using AI in classroom

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Some teachers and pupils voice concerns about pilot programme after government’s agreement with OpenAI

Secondary school teachers in Greece are set to go through an intensive course in using artificial intelligence tools as the country assumes a frontline role in incorporating AI into its education system.

This week, staff in 20 schools will be trained in a specialised version of ChatGPT, custom-made for academic institutions, under a new agreement between the centre-right government and OpenAI.

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Harvard to investigate Larry Summers’s Epstein ties as he exits OpenAI board

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Newly released Epstein documents drag the ex-treasury secretary into deeper scrutiny as Harvard widens its review

Harvard is set to launch a new investigation into former university president and Bill Clinton economic adviser Larry Summers about his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as it also emerged Summers has resigned from the board of OpenAI.

The moves comes after Summers said he would be stepping back from public engagements after emails revealed the extent of his relationship with the late sex offender.

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Royal College of Psychiatrists faces member backlash over Qatar partnership

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More than 150 psychiatrists sign letter condemning contract to host exams in country with well-documented human rights abuses

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is facing a backlash from members over a controversial partnership with Qatar’s state healthcare provider.

The college has signed a contract with the state-owned Hamad Medical Corporation to host international exams in Doha, enabling psychiatrists from across the Middle East and beyond to apply for membership.

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China-critical UK academics describe ‘extremely heavy’ pressure from Beijing

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Reliance on overseas students’ tuition fees under scrutiny as scholars describe chilling effect of being targeted

UK academics whose research is critical of China say they have been targeted and their universities subjected to “extremely heavy” pressure from Beijing, prompting calls for a fresh look at the sector’s dependence on tuition fee income from Chinese students.

The academics spoke out after the Guardian revealed this week that Sheffield Hallam University had complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China, which had led to a big project being dropped.

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UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China

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Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities

A British university complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project being dropped, the Guardian can reveal.

In February, Sheffield Hallam University, home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a leading research institution focused on human rights, ordered one of its best-known professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China.

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UK rule change allows some Palestinian scholars to bring families from Gaza

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Previous visa policy had forced the students ‘to choose between their education and their family’

Some Palestinian students taking up scholarships at UK universities will be allowed to bring their families with them from Gaza after the government announced it would consider case-by-case exemptions to its evacuation policy.

After lobbying by MPs and supporters, the UK government has said partners and children could be allowed to accompany students on government-backed Chevening scholarships or studying for longer research degrees, such as PhDs.

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All schools in England with removal grants to be Raac-free by 2029, says Phillipson

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Education secretary promises ‘clear timelines’ are in place to permanently remove crumbling concrete

All schools in England that received grant funding to pay for the removal of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) should be free of it by the end of this parliament, the education secretary has pledged.

Setting out a new timeline for dealing with the crumbling concrete crisis in schools, Bridget Phillipson said: “We inherited a crumbling education estate, but I won’t let that be our legacy.

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