Debt sale to cost Pounds 350m
THE SALE of Pounds 1 billion of student debt to NatWest bank will cost the government about Pounds 350 million in subsidies at present net values, higher education minister Tessa Blackstone told MPs...
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Dons find devil in the details
OXFORD University dons met in closed session this week to discuss Sir Peter North's commission of inquiry into their future, writes Harriet Swain. More than 100 academics took part in a debate...
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Masonic secrecy under fire
CALLS for the compulsory declaration of Freemasonry membership in higher education were stepped up this week, as campaigners said that quasi-judicial university bodies should fall under the...
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Perfectly formed
Nothing is being left to chance at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. It issues applicants for its aptly-named research fellowships with an equal opportunities form asking for...
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Open season on grants
Meanwhile the success of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and others at upping the percentage of grant applications (they abolished the application dates - having no...
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Funding foresight
In this spirit, we are glad to report that education and employment secretary David Blunkett and Tony Blair, the prime minister, have won well-deserved praise from vice-chancellors for their shrewd...
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Canny credit
Universities still have a lot to learn about raising external funds. The overwhelming majority, for example, seem to think that because they are public bodies, outsiders should have free access to...
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Good vibrations
No wonder half of the nation's four million students went on strike last week if events at Leicester were at all typical. Not only were the protesters treated to a rousing speech by NUS national...
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Boxing clever
The AUT's general secretary, David Triesman, was clearly prepared to help his Scottish colleagues navigate their way through the procedural intricacies of the AUT Scottish council at Aberdeen...
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Test meaning
Those seeking an answer to those ageless conundra underlying the need to means-test European Union students when tuition fees come in (what's a Greek earn?) scented a breakthrough last week when Tory...
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Peer review
Alumnus to be proud of no 162 got himself rebuked in 17th-century English as the House of Lords reached the final stages of the Teaching and Higher Education Bill this week. Centre of what passes for...
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His other self
(Photograph) - Lord Crickhowell, the former secretary of state for Wales who retires this month as president of the University of Wales, Cardiff, contemplates the bronze bust commissioned by the...
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Childcare training a priority
CASH to train an estimated 100,000 new childcare workers must be made available if the government is to realise its plans for a revolution in childcare, experts have said. The government has already...
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Flexibility key to quality
A FLEXIBLE system for monitoring standards in higher education is about to be unveiled by the Quality Assurance Agency. Its consultation paper, to be issued to institutions on Monday, is expected to...
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Year of living diversely for UCL postgrads
PHD STUDENTS at a London college are to be given a helping hand under a scheme offering them a true interdisciplinary training and the funds to afford it. From this year University College Londonis...