Postgraduate courses ‘social mobility barrier’
The cost of postgraduate university courses could become an extra obstacle to social mobility, warns a study from the Sutton Trust charity. It says if students need postgraduate degrees for a tough jobs market, poor students should not be priced out. There are fears that increased undergraduate tuition fees could deter people from staying on [...]
Top UK universities fall in rankings
Leading UK universities are slipping down an international league table. Ten UK universities are in the top 100 of the Times Higher Education World Rankings for 2012-13, compared with 12 last year and 14 in 2010-11. Excluding Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, Durham and University College London, several top universities slipped down. The table’s authors warned [...]
GAGAGO Summer competition: win a CAMERA
Brilliant camera competition! Summer’s out and with so many celebrations to make the most of, including graduation, the Olympics and the sunshine (here’s hoping), what better way to capture the moment than with a brand new Canon camera, mahoosive memory card (8GB) and a case to keep it from harm’s way! Take your best shot [...]
Ignorance expensive, warns UCU lecturers’ union head
The UK could become “yesterday’s country equipped with yesterday’s skills” if education cuts continue, the UCU lecturers’ union leader has warned. Sally Hunt told delegates at the University and College Union’s annual congress that “it is ignorance that is the expensive option, not education”. The funding cuts come as UK graduation rates are dropping below [...]
LSE votes against setting £9,000 tuition fees
First of the elite Russell Group of top universities to charge less than the maximum fee. The London School of Economics has become the first Russell Group university to declare that it will not charge the full £9,000 tuition fees next year; instead the annual tuition fee for UK and EU undergraduates will be £8,500. [...]
Graduate jobs market is ‘tough competition’
Students leaving university this year are going to face intense competition for jobs – with a survey indicating a 33% increase in applications. The High Fliers recruitment survey suggests students are applying more often and earlier for graduate jobs. The survey was based on the experiences of almost 18,000 final-year students at 30 leading UK [...]
University leavers’ prospects improve for first time since recession
The job prospects of this year’s university leavers may be improving for the first time since the recession, according to new research. A poll by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has found that more than a third of companies are planning to increase hiring this year. The findings could be a glimmer of light [...]
Budget 2010: Tax on bankers’ bonuses will fund 20,000 extra university places
An extra 20,000 university places will be available in England this September on science, maths, engineering and technology degree courses, the chancellor Alistair Darling announced in the budget today. Darling told the Commons that the cost of the “one-off” places would be £270m and would come, in part, from switching resources from existing budgets and higher [...]
Call to scrap 50% university student target
The government target of getting 50% of people under 30 into higher education should be scrapped, the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has said. It also wants a phased increase in student top-up fees by 2020, with safeguards for disadvantaged families. AGR’s chief executive Carl Gilleard said the proposals would help “reaffirm the value of [...]