EDUCATION
Opening the doors to Iraq's students
Guardian
05/05/2009
This year 500 Iraqi students will be coming to UK colleges and universities under a new scholarship scheme, and thousands more will follow.
Swine flu – information and advice for HE and FE institutions
DIUS
01/05/2009
DIUS has issued sector-specific guidance for HE and FE institutions regarding sensible precautions that can be taken to mitigate the possible effects of swine flu.
EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
A painful death and a £42m debt
Guardian
28/04/2009
31 buildings currently housing the Learning and Skills Council will become surplus to requirements, and all but one of them have leases still to run, in some cases for up to 10 years. It may cost the taxpayer nearly £42million to enable the LSC to vacate the premises.
Building decisions expected next month
Times Educational Supplement
01/05/2009
The Learning and Skills Council is aiming to approve about £750 million of college building projects in just over a month's time.
Talk is cheap when salary pacts are no binding
Times Educational Supplement
01/05/2009
Discusses the national pay bargaining system as around 90 colleges have still not implemented the 2004 pay agreement.
'They're trying to get teaching on the cheap'
Guardian
28/04/2009
The Universities and Colleges Union is gearing up to fight what it sees as the start of a national trend - the replacement of teachers in colleges by less qualified assessors.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
FEC review calls for tighter governance and monitoring
Times Higher Education
30/04/2009
The long-awaited review of the impact of full economic costing finds no evidence that uplift cash is being used incorrectly but recommends that audit trails should be tightened to ensure that institutions use the extra money they receive for the intended purposes.
Funding shortfall threatens universities
Financial Times
29/04/2009
Some of England's top universities have warned their status as first-class global institutions is under threat because they are running up deficits of up to £7,000 per student on teaching.
RCUK/UUK Review of the Impact of Full Economic Costing on the UK Higher Education Sector
Research Councils UK
29/04/2009
A Research Councils UK and Universities UK report assesses the impact of revised funding arrangements introduced in 2005. The report concludes that the principle of full economic costing is well founded and that its objectives are, in general, being met.
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/cmsweb/downloads/
rcuk/reviews/fec/fecreport.pdf
State demands £106 million research refocus
Times Higher Education
30/04/2009
Academics are bracing themselves for cuts to research programmes after the Government ordered the research councils to deliver £106m savings from within the science budget to "support key areas of economic potential".
Student life: one long holiday?
Guardian
05/05/2009
The Equality Bill will change the way universities respond to students' religious requirements.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
Cuts jeopardise plan to rebuild nation's schools
Times Educational Supplement
01/05/2009
The Building Schools for the Future scheme has been allocated £9.3 billion up to 2011. Experts warn that the future of the scheme beyond that date looks extremely doubtful.
Schools miss out on cash surplus
BBC News
29/04/2009
A National Audit Office report has found that the Department for Children, Schools and Families has under-spent by £4.4bn over the past nine years and needs to improve its accounting procedures.
Sir Jim Rose presents findings of most fundamental review of the primary curriculum in a decade
DCSF
30/04/2009
The review of the primary curriculum and a series of recommendations to modernise it for 21st century pupils has been published. Key proposals are: • ICT joins English and maths as centre piece of new primary curriculum, with extra training for teachers, • New focus on speaking and listening, • Personal development to be key to raising standards, • Summer born children can start school in the September after their fourth birthday.
The unofficial opposition
Guardian
05/05/2009
Academies, once one of New Labour's most controversial ideas, have been embraced by the Tories, too. But has resistance to them really gone away?
You've had your years of plenty. Get ready for the years of lean.
Times Educational Supplement
01/05/2009
Considers the future funding situation for schools as a result of the global economic crisis
