EDUCATION
Partners in time
Education Investor
24/04/2009
Following comments by Schools Minister Jim Knight at a conference, speculation is rife that Partnerships for Schools, the Building Schools for the Future delivery body, is set to extend its responsibility to virtually all capital investment in the education sector.
EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
Additional 16-18 learner allocation funding
LSC
23/04/2009
Following the Budget announcement the LSC will be able to fund 54,500 extra learners. They will be writing to schools and colleges by the end of April to give them reassurance they will receive the funding for learners they have already planned for and the next steps.
Additional FE capital funding
LSC
23/04/2009
The LSC will be writing to all college principals shortly to explain what the additional funding announced in the Budget means for the overall capital funding programme.
As academies get tagged on to new quango's FE remit, critics ask: is it bound to get in a tangle?
Times Educational Supplement
24/04/2009
Originally designed to oversee 16 - 19 education, the Young People's Learning Agency which is not due to come into being until Autumn 2009, now has a vastly expanded role.
Budget 2009: £250m to safeguard sixth-form places
Guardian
22/04/2009
The chancellor, Alistair Darling, has promised £250m this year and £400m in 2010-11 to provide extra places in school sixth forms and further education colleges to prevent them having to turn away students.
Budget cash for college buildings
BBC News
22/04/2009
An extra £300m is being put into the college building programme which was hit by a funding crisis caused by poor management. Ministers have admitted it will only help a limited number of colleges, and will go on the most urgent improvements.
Extra funding to guarantee every young person a place for post-16 learning
DCSF
22/04/2009
Every young person who wants to study or to take up training will have their place guaranteed by the Government, thanks to a £655 million funding announcement in the Budget.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
Bankruptcy should be a real option, argues think-tank
Times Higher Education
23/04/2009
Policy Exchange report 'Sink or swim? facing up to failing universities' suggests that failing universities should be allowed to go bankrupt and private education providers should be allowed to take over failing institutions.
Budget 2009: Universities braced for funding cuts
Guardian
22/04/2009
Universities are bracing themselves for cuts in funding as a result of the Budget. DIUS is expected to save £1.9bn, including £400m in 2010-11, mainly through making the research councils, universities and colleges "more efficient".
Student criminal conviction rules tightened
Guardian
28/04/2009
The university admissions service, Ucas, is considering whether to drop a requirement for students to declare criminal convictions when they apply to university following case of medical student denied a place at Imperial.
Student loans could earn interest
Guardian
22/04/2009
Deflation means loans linked to RPI could be paid back automatically if interest rate calculation not changed.
University squeeze means 30,000 students could miss out on courses
Guardian
24/04/2009
Vice-chancellors - who have been told to cap student numbers or face fines for over-recruiting - are warning of a crisis in the admissions system, following a surge of applications from mature students attempting to escape the recession.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
Flying the flag
Education Investor
24/04/2009
Overseas expansion could prove a lucrative market for the UK's independent schools.
The green stuff
Education Investor
24/04/2009
Schools account for about 15% of the public sector's carbon footprint. Building Schools for the Future should be at the forefront of efforts to promote sustainability in construction and design.
Tories plan to create thousands of primary academies
Guardian
25/04/2009
Michael Gove, the Conservative shadow schools secretary says that primary schools will be free to apply for academy status within two years of a Conservative election victory. He also disclosed that he wants city academies to become the norm among secondary schools by the end of a first-term government, suggesting that as many as 1,000 secondary academies will be outside local authority control within five years.
