Winning large research and capital grants could soon bring unwanted headaches for UK universities along with all the acclaim. From the next academic year, their accountants will be expected to adopt new…
There are class tensions existing very close to the surface of the government’s policy to increase the number of students from disadvantaged areas going to university. New data shows that the number of…
Peering into an already distant future?
Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive
Innovation policy in the UK has taken on a medieval cast. No sooner do we have Catapult Centres, than there is a call for Arrow Projects. This is the headline recommendation of a report to government by…
In December, the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, announced the government would be abolishing the existing cap on undergraduate student numbers from 2015. At the Guardian University Forum…
The UK is investing less on research and development across both the public and private sectors and remains behind Europe on the proportion of its GDP spent on research, prompting leading academics to…
Four years after mass protests, dreams of going to uni are dropping.
Tim Ireland/PA Archive/Press Association Images
It was clear that recent fundamental changes to the way we pay for university in England would have longstanding ramifications for young people’s plans for their future. Two years into the new fee regime…
Give me a white coat any day.
UCL Mathematical and Physical Sciences
The funding climate for the public sector in England has been as inclement as the actual weather recently. So the government’s recent allocation of £50m to bring down the barriers for entry into postgraduate…
The customers are always right.
Chris Ison/PA Wire/Press Association Images
I recall the time some years ago when the possible introduction of student fees was being debated and a government decision was imminent. I was attending a seminar on the subject organised by a think tank…
Gill Wyness, London School of Economics and Political Science
The announcement that the government intends to sell off part of the student loan book is perhaps no surprise, but it is bad economics. Debt from student loans is currently a groaning £46.6 billion on…
Australian universities should look to the American university model of philanthropic funding.
Piggy bank image from www.shutterstock.com
In the last few weeks, we have seen a number of universities begin to push for extra funding from Australian philanthropists. While this move to broaden the revenue base of universities is welcome, to…
Senator Carr promised to examine the proposed funding changes within existing budget constraints.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
The rise of student numbers in Australian universities that followed the lifting of a cap on enrolment quotas last year is concerning, newly-minted Higher Education Minister Kim Carr said today. Under…
We still don’t know what works when it comes to opening up universities.
In his spending review, Chancellor George Osborne announced cuts to the universities budget, targeted mainly at funding used to encourage students from under-represented groups to apply for university…