Last updated 08/12/2006
FURTHER EDUCATION
Boost investment to solve skills crisis, Leitch report urges
Guardian
05/12/2006
The UK must spend significantly more on boosting skills for everyone at every level and give employers a much stronger voice in deciding what should be funded to avoid sinking into slow decline and a bleak future. That is the basic message according to Lord Leitch, whose long-awaited review on the nation's long-term skills needs was finally published today.
Btecs axe ‘may fall to soon’
TES
01/12/2006
College principals fear the government is planning to sweep away successful vocational programmes too soon as it paves the way for new specialised 14-19 diplomas. The first tranche of diplomas are to be introduced in schools and colleges in selected areas from 2008 and the aim is that all 14 to 19-year-olds will be able to take them from 2013.
College for blind to close for failing disability laws
TES
01/12/2006
A college run by the Royal National Institute for the Blind is to close because it breaks disability discrimination laws. Ofsted criticised management for failing to plan for the Special Education Needs and Disability Act and said that it had made insufficient progress in addressing significant weaknesses identified at the last inspection.
HIGHER EDUCATION
£8m for new initiative to boost public engagement
HEFCE Website
05/12/2006
A new £8m initiative has been launched to promote excellence in public engagement and encourage UK universities to engage with the public. The funders (HE funding councils and research councils) are currently inviting HEIs to bid to become Beacons for Public Engagement.
Biofusion announces deal with Cardiff University
The Financial Times
02/12/2006
Biofusion has raised GBP 7.7m in a share placing, and has also announced a deal with Cardiff University to commercialise research-generated IP and to expand into non-life science research.
Christian unions warned against legal action
The Guardian
30/11/2006
A report from an independent think-tank has warned that court battles would not resolve underlying issues of religious identity on university campuses and would only create division.
Oxford VC awaits reform verdict
The Guardian
01/12/2006
The VC of Oxford’s plans to bring an end to academic self-rule and to hand decision-making at the university to outside business leaders have been defeated. He now awaits a decision on whether his reform plans will be put to a postal ballot.
Private landlords price students out of university flats
The Times
04/12/2006
Universities have been blamed for pricing many students out of halls of residence and studio flats because they have been contracting-out accommodation to private companies. Nearly a quarter of students live in either halls of residence provided by the university or accommodation built by corporate providers. However, 55% of student bed spaces are supplied directly by private companies, according to a survey by the National Union of Students and Unipol.
Students face increased rent bill
BBC News
30/11/2006
A survey by the National Union of Students suggests rent bills for UK students have gone up 23% in two years. However, the Higher Education Minister, Bill Rammell, said the financial support package introduced this year for students was better and fairer.
SCHOOLS
A-level shake-up and baccalaureate planned for sixth forms
The Guardian
01/12/2006
Teenagers face a radical reform of exam courses at 16 as the government tries to prove it is not committed only to A Levels by trebling the number of state schools and colleges offering the international baccalaureate. The government promises to support up to 100 extra schools and colleges in training staff to offer the qualification by 2010.
Barred for selling cigarettes to pupils
TES
01/12/2006
A teacher who allegedly sold cigarettes to pupils and tried to cover up her actions by persuading them to lie has been suspended from teaching for six months. She denied the charge of unacceptable professional conduct at a conduct committee for England’s General Teaching Council.
Blair wants another 400 academies
TES
01/12/2006
Tony Blair is pushing forward his changes to education in England by announcing a major expansion of the city academies programme. In his legacy speech to the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust conference in Birmingham, the PM said he wanted 400 Academies to serve struggling areas - an increase on the previous target of 200 by 2010.
Campus Woking: 40 schools in one
TES
01/12/2006
Surrey is preparing to outdo the government’s most ambitious super-school plans with a giant federation of 40 schools in one town, dubbed ‘Campus Woking’. Sufficient votes in favour of this project could see Woking’s 11,00 pupils in one big school with departments all over town.
Foreign Language teaching in UK schools faces crisis
The Observer
03/12/2006
Ahead of a major report on how government policy wrecked foreign language teaching, a letter signed by professors and heads of language departments from dozens of top universities calls for the government to reverse its controversial policy allowing pupils to drop languages at 14 and to address the slump in teenagers taking GCSEs in foreign languages.
Private schools are no better for A-Levels
The Times Online
03/12/2006
Private schools often do little better than state schools at A level, according to research suggesting that the brightest pupils perform just as well whatever type of school they attend. The findings, from David Jesson of York University, raise serious questions about whether parents who make financial sacrifices to pay private school fees of up to £20,000 a year are getting good value for money.
