EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
Change of heart on mergers - Minister steps in over worries about super-sized colleges improving the quality of education
The Times Educational Supplement
18/01/2008
Funding chiefs have revealed they are thinking again about the way college mergers are approved as super-sized colleges are formed at record speed. Nearly one in ten colleges is now in merger talks.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
Attempt to defuse degree row
BBC Education News
17/01/2008
The government has announced small concessions on its plans to cut funding from students taking a second undergraduate degree.
Chaplaincies 'need to combat campus extremism'
The Guardian
17/01/2008
University chaplaincies should be more involved in managerial decisions relating to religion on campus to help combat extremism, according to a report published by the Church of England this week.
Confrontational students raise the stakes in online abuse
The Times Higher Education
17/01/2008
Academics are pragmatic about abuse but believe web bullying is on the rise.
For-profit college to offer two-year law degree
The Times Higher Education
17/01/2008
The UK's first for-profit private company to gain the power to award its own degrees, BPP College, is to offer a two-year law degree alongside a standard three-year course.
Green dreams
The Guardian
22/01/2008
A new report 'Greening Spires' is a showcase put together by the lobby group for higher education, Universities UK. The article acknowledges that Academia is making moves to tackle climate change but questions whether they have gone far enough, fast enough.
Nuclear reaction
The Guardian
16/01/2008
The government's white paper on expanding nuclear energy will create new business for some UK universities. However there is widespread concern about how the UK will be able to meet the skills needs involved with building new nuclear power stations.
OIA announces new head
The Guardian
21/01/2008
The new head of the student complaints body in England and Wales is to be Rob Behrens, a former senior civil servant.
Promoting freedom of speech to achieve shared values and prevent violent extremism on campus
DIUS Press Release
22/01/2008
Shared values are at the centre of new guidance aimed at helping universities and colleges prevent violent extremism and promote good relations on campus, Bill Rammell, Minister of State for Further and Higher Education announced.
Record number of students gain university places
The Guardian
17/01/2008
The number of full-time students gaining places at UK universities in 2007 rose to a record 413,430, bouncing back after a decline in the first year of top-up fees.
Secretary of State sets out priorities for higher education in the year ahead
DIUS Press Release
21/01/2008
Increasing the number of students in higher education, forging new relationships between employers and universities and widening participation are the key priorities laid down today by John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, in his annual grant letter to the HEFCE.
Universities union urges vote on staff pay
The Guardian
16/01/2008
The University and College Union (UCU) is holding a ballot of its members about proposals to change the way the union negotiates future pay deals for university staff. If members vote against the proposals it is likely to signal the end of national pay bargaining and weaken the position of unions to negotiate with employers over pay and conditions.
Whitehall seeks £1.5bn 'savings' from sector budget
The Times Higher Education
17/01/2008
But a 'value for money report' suggests source for half of cuts is yet to be identified.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
Balls raises prospect of school co-op model to rival academies
The Financial Times
21/01/2008
Co-operative schools could rival city academies as the model for raising standards in education, Ed Balls, the education secretary, has suggested. Mr Balls has praised plans by a college to become what the government describes as England's first co-operative school.
Charity rules for private schools
BBC Education News
16/01/2008
Independent schools will have to show they are offering a public benefit if they want to keep their charitable status, updated regulations state.
Millions wasted on school contract bids
The Observer
20/01/2008
Hundreds of millions of pounds are being lost by a government scheme that aims to rebuild or remodel every secondary school in the country, it has emerged. This is because of the costly and burdensome bidding process used by the government, according to Ty Goddard, a director of the British Council for School Environments, which represents hundreds of schools, local authorities, architects and building companies. He has written to Ed Balls to highlight the problem.
Schools sign up for software to tackle internet plagiarism
The Guardian
19/01/2008
More than 100 schools and colleges have turned to the computer software universities use to combat plagiarism because of growing alarm at sixth-form pupils cheating in their coursework.
Schools and local authorities told to comply with school admissions law
DCSF Press Release
17/01/2008
A new appeals code for parents has come into force, The Schools Minister, Jim Knight, used it as an opportunity to write to all local authorities and remind them that they must adhere to the School Admissions Code which came into force almost 12 months ago.
Watchdog exposes PFI charges gap
BBC Education News
17/01/2008
A watchdog has found significant differences in the prices being charged for work at schools and hospitals built under the private finance initiative.
