Latest education news
9th of July 2010
Jack Riley: Dropping the drawbridge at Cambridge
You have to be very careful identifying causality in education. Boris Johnson’s belief that since he learned Latin and turned out alright our children should learn Latin and will, in the end, turn out alright, is one example of an inference too far, for example. Today’s story about how a spate of state school applications has seen Cambridge college Emmanuel ride to the top of the Tompkins Table may be another such case.
1st of July 2010
Rosie Waterhouse: Will the voice of moderate Muslims be heard at City?
I wrote an opinion piece in this space three months ago, headlined "Universities must take action on Muslim extremism". Naively, I did not anticipate the furore that followed. I was moved to write because of my anxieties about the increasingly confrontational activities of the student Islamic Society at City University London where I teach. They had staged events with the "brothers" and "sisters" segregated, invited radical Islamist speakers and planned to show a DVD of the Yemen-based preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been banned from Britain for his alleged links to terrorists. The DVD was not shown after the then vice-chancellor, Malcolm Gillies, intervened.
Leading Article: A graduate tax would not serve universities well
The news that two contenders for the Labour leadership, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, are talking about a graduate tax to replace tuition fees shows just how political the whole issue of student funding is becoming again, and how fragile the consensus on fees is.
Flexibility is key: Distance learning can save you time and money by fitting your training round your life
Nick Gianissis, 42, was working as an air cabin crew member when he decided to retrain as a teacher. By enrolling in a distance learning course with The Open University (OU), he was able to earn his first degree while flying around the world, graduating with an MSc in social sciences last October.
24th of June 2010
Changed your mind about your course? There’s another route to apply for higher education
You have probably heard quite a lot about the UCAS Clearing system? But have you heard about Extra, which is just as valuable? It's especially important for those of you who have changed your mind about your courses since you first made your application. Maybe the universities or colleges you picked have turned you down. If so, Extra is for you. Last year, more than 5,500 applicants got a place through Extra.
Graduate news: How to get a well-paid job as a consultant
Consultancy is one of the top 10 graduate career choices, but what do these consultants do and how can someone who has never run a business tell someone else what to do?
Diary Of A Third Year: 'I've spent nearly £30,000 in the name of education'
Despite finishing university, I'm not yet a graduate. Until I don my mortar board and gown,I am a graduand, a grand-sounding title that means I'm in academic limbo, between student and graduate. Only on 19 July will I finally become a paid-up member of the graduate community. Paid-up is certainly the right phrase. In all, my degree has cost me £29,000.
17th of June 2010
Enhance your employability
In economically uncertain times, it's far from easy for graduates, armed only with a degree, to get that vital first foothold on the employment ladder. So it's no surprise that postgraduate Masters courses in the business and management field are enjoying rude health, with university business schools already putting up the "full" sign on a large proportion of programmes starting this autumn.
Leading Article: Two Brains nails his colours to the mast
The higher education minister David Willetts, also known as Two Brains, is not only brainy but also very well informed, as he showed in his speech last week at Oxford Brookes University. It was, first and foremost, a joy to read. It sounded like a speech that had been written by the minister himself rather than a civil servant because it was not bland and boring but, rather, interesting and full of sharp references to last year's select committee report on higher education, the Dearing report and Ed Balls. He points out that the former schools secretary doesn't seem to understand that tuition fees in England are not paid upfront but are effectively a capped graduate tax.
10th of June 2010
Diary Of A Third Year: 'I've finished. The next day I woke up and panicked.'
That's that, then. On Saturday, I finished my formal education. After a three-hour exam in an evangelical church the size of an airplane hangar, I stopped being a student. Others finished their exams with blazing sunshine, I emerged from mine with rain pouring down. It was a bit of a let-down. There was no explosion of joy, confetti or champagne. Instead my seminar group simply stood in the rain, moaning about the exam paper. Those who had predicted the questions correctly had a smug look on their face, and those who had guessed wrongly (like me) glowered.
Graduate news: John Lewis in search of flair and passion
The world and its granny knows that John Lewis provides you with everything you need from cradle to grave. Less well known, however, is the recent change to its recruitment programme, which from September will run two brand new career tracks – a buying graduate scheme and a merchandising graduate scheme.
Leading Article: Lecturers should get real about the cuts
University lecturers are threatening national strike action over redundancies. They have rejected proposed changes to their pensions and are asking for a 4 per cent pay rise this year. Are such demands from the University and College Union realistic in such austere times for the economy? We would argue they are not, given the dire state of the public finances and the expected shortfall in the Universities Superannuation Scheme pension pot.
3rd of June 2010
Leading Article: University bosses should take a pay cut
The new Business Secretary, Vince Cable, is quite right to single out the pay of vice-chancellors for attack. There have been extraordinary increases in vice-chancellors' salaries in the past decade: last year, their pay and benefits rose by more than 10 per cent.
27th of May 2010
Diary of a Third Year: Faking interest will be invaluable for meetings
I'm a few days from the end of my degree. Three exams stand between the real world and me. The gravy train is kicking me off at the next stop. There will be no more chunks of cash each term from the Student Loans Company. My part-time job will have to become a full-time one and letters will arrive demanding the council tax, from which I will no longer be immune.
Lecturers square up for a fight to hold on to their gold-plated pensions
Agreat perk of being an academic in an "old" university, established before 1992, is that you join a Rolls Royce pension called the Universities Superannuation Scheme. This gives you a comfortable final salary pension when you come to retire. For this reason the scheme is hugely valued by lecturers and seen as a kind of reward for not having been very well paid during their careers.