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Academics fear thin end of wedge

Advantages to making research freely available are still limited when publication is via gold journals

Too many adjectives and adverbs spoil academic broth, scholar argues

BIS applies cap in 2014, but with terms allowing ‘back door’ expansion

Teesside’s Centre for Realist Criminology to probe stories behind the statistics

Plan to make higher education sustainable requires a simultaneous attack on three big problems, says expert

Funds to be available quickly for research into rare, unfolding events

Independence enables biomedical laboratory to offer stability and freedom to researchers

Dip into surplus to improve below-inflation 1% offer, union tells sector

Methodological controversy and a “publish or perish” culture explain why papers from US behavioural studies are more likely to exaggerate findings.

The acronym Mooc has made the Oxford Dictionaries Online – a web-based lexicon of current English by the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary

A Scottish lecturer’s union has launched an investigation into the use of zero-hours contracts by universities and colleges in Scotland

The first UK undergraduate medical degree to be offered by a private university has been launched, and will begin teaching from January 2015

By Ry Rivard, for

A student project to create an “edible campus” is among the beneficiaries of a £5 million fund from England’s funding council.

Penguins seldom come to Britain, it is said, because they are afraid of Wales.

A London-based private provider is to offer pathway programmes with a consortium of Northern universities, enabling international students to get on to degree courses

London South Bank University has announced that its new vice-chancellor will be David Phoenix, current deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Central Lancashire.

The latest edition of the University of Sydney students’ newspaper has been pulled from sale following concerns that its cover featuring 18 students’ vaginas could break obscenity laws

Students, young academics, professionals and entrepreneurs are being encouraged to present fixes to some of the world’s most pressing challenges - in three minutes.

It is not often that academics are mentioned in the same breath as Angelina Jolie and George Clooney for their humanitarian work, but for one University of Ulster academic, this unlikely scenario has become a reality.

The US government is to develop a new system of ranking colleges and universities in a bid to ensure the “best value” institutions have access to the most federal funding.

Half of scientific papers published in 2011 can be accessed online for free, a new study has suggested. 

In a significant victory for data miners, the open access publisher BioMed Central is to waive all copyright over datasets it publishes.

The Russell Group has warned that private school pupils are more likely than state school counterparts to choose science and languages subjects at GCSE, which could give them an advantage in university entry.

Computer science students face the highest rates of graduate unemployment, data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show

Allowing scientists to profit from their research would encourage entrepreneurship, says Institute of Cancer Research chairman Luke Johnson

Critics say universities are ‘not playing fair’

High fees prove no object to demand, but student standards may invite scrutiny

University of East London asks Sir David Melville to investigate international activities

Undergraduates ‘reproduce social inequality’, paper argues

51�Թ� Office bid would set huge hurdles for overseas students seeking private rentals, warns UKCISA

In 1714, an Act of Parliament set a top prize of £20,000 (now worth about £1.5 million) for a method of determining a ship’s position east and west from a fixed meridian line

Wyn Ellis, who made a plagiarism claim against an official, has received menacing calls

Academics claim breach of data protection rules on Rate Your Lecturer website

Data show how much work conservation biologists do outside office hours

BIS study on graduate premium challenges research-intensive claims

Ability concerns at University of Exeter business school forces rethink on international intake

51�Թ� project explores the paucity of female leaders in academia

Smart thinking on efficiencies funnels cash to research

Higher education could face more cuts after next month’s polls, many fear

Student numbers at private higher education institutions will be capped from 2014-15, the government has confirmed, while private providers will also be granted unlimited recruitment of high-grade students.

The University and College Union is among those invited to a Labour Party summit to discuss the controversial issue of zero-hours contracts.

Police have named the woman whose body was found in a lake at the University of East Anglia.

Nearly half of all university finance directors believe now is a good time to be taking “greater risk” onto their balance sheets, according to a survey by consultants Deloitte.

By Scott Jaschik, for

More divorced mothers are seeking legal advice about whether ex-husbands can extend support payments for children at university, a law firm has said.

Work between the UK research councils, Indian government and business can be improved by fixing practical barriers to collaboration, a report says.

A new government-commissioned study says a degree will earn graduates an extra £252,000 over their lifetime for women and £168,000 for men.

The upturn in students accepted into university this year could disguise big falls at some institutions, a vice-chancellor has warned.

The number of students accepted on to university courses is up 9 per cent despite a fall in the number of top grades awarded at A level.

Eastern institutions slow to make inroads into Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities table

Institutions consider a ‘range of strategies’ to win favourable scores from students