HIGHER EDUCATION
Cable sets out radical plans for academy’s future
THES - 16/07/2010
Vince Cable has opened the door to radical changes in the structure and funding of UK higher education in a landscape of reduced public investment, with potential innovations including bigger graduate contributions for high earners, the end of the distinction between further and higher education, state money for private providers and cash to reward teaching excellence.
Cubie votes to scrap final-salary pensions
THES - 16/07/2010
The coveted final-salary pension - long regarded in UK academia as crucial compensation for salaries below those on offer elsewhere - is set to be scrapped by the academy's largest pension scheme.
Early payers may yet get a break on fees
THES - 16/07/2010
Discounts for early repayment of student loans could still be announced this autumn in an attempt to ease pressure on the sector's funding, David Willetts has said.
New financial memorandum published
HEFCE - 16/07/2010
Following a period of consultation, HEFCE has set out a revised funding agreement with the institutions it funds.
'Threshold standards' to be upheld when inspectors call
THES - 16/07/2010
University inspections must assure the public that "threshold standards" are being met rather than simply checking processes, the bodies that represent and fund them have agreed.
University 'denied to thousands'
BBC News - 16/07/2010
Tens of thousands of people are set to miss out on a university place in the UK this year after record numbers applied.
FURTHER EDUCATION
As the cuts bear down, colleges seek to pair up and reinvent themselves
TES FE Focus - 16/07/2010
In the new age of austerity, talk of mergers, federations, private sector investment and shared services is rife among further education providers.
English language schools win court battle over visas
BBC News - 09/07/2010
English language schools have won a High Court battle over visa restrictions which they say are absurd and damaging to their businesses.
Spending cuts put 34,000 jobs at risk, warns union
TES FE Focus - 16/07/2010
Nearly 34,000 full-time jobs are at risk in colleges, more than half of which could be front-line teaching posts, according to figures from the University and College Union (UCU).
SCHOOLS
£260m 'wasted' in axing school building plans
BBC News - 13/07/2010
The scrapping of school building plans has cost education authorities at least £160m, says the Local Government Association. This is in addition to the estimated £100m which construction companies say they have spent on cancelled bids.
Children's Commissioner may be scrapped after review
Daily Telegraph - 13/07/2010
Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, ordered a review into the work of the commissioner, five years after it was set up. The review, costing £50,000, will look at the commissioner's powers, relationship with other areas of government and value for money. Mr Gove said: "The Government has committed, in our coalition agreement, to increase accountability and review the cost of quangos"
GE launches solar power scheme for schools
Independent - 12/07/2010
General Electric and a solar technology specialist, Solarcentury, will today launch a scheme to help schools to invest in renewable energy.
Gove 'to help schools disappointed by building cuts'
BBC News - 11/07/2010
Education Secretary Michael Gove says the government will "continue to invest in school buildings" despite cancelling Labour's £55bn redevelopment programme. He told the Sunday Express, ministers "hope to help people in all those areas who feel disappointed" by the news.
Gove's fifth schools list released
Daily Telegraph - 13/07/2010
MPs rounded on Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, yesterday after the Government released a fifth version of a list of schools affected by the axed £55 billion rebuilding programme.
GTC hearings triple to 500 a year as record number face charges
TES - 16/07/2010
The number of General Teaching Council for England (GTC) hearings will triple because of record amounts of people facing misconduct charges, The TES has learnt.
Michael Gove invites the public to hold the DfE to account
Department for Education - 16/07/2010
Ministers today published the Department for Education’s (DfE) key policy commitments and invited the public to hold them to account on delivery.
Shops into schools in five months
BBC News - 14/07/2010
Empty shops could be converted into schools within five months, says a multinational building consultancy.
