- The Daily Mail exposed apremium-rate telephone hotline that has caused outrage among parents. Frustrated teenagers who dialled the number were kept on the line for up to 50 minutes, after being encouraged to indulge in dubious chat about entry requirements. Ucas provides an0871 number costing up to 41pper minute on mobile phones to match students to vacancies, the Mail reported on 16August. A Ucas spokesman said that calls from a BT landline cost 9paminute, adding that while other providers may charge more for calling this number Ucas did not benefit from extra charges.
- Englands chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has admitted to having eaten hash cookies during her student days at the University of Manchester, but said she gave up after experiencing hallucinations. The emeritus professor at Imperial College London also told BBC Radio3s Private Passions on 18August that drug addiction should be treated as amedical and public health issue rather than as a criminal one. And former researcher Dame Sally lamented that while women suffer from self-doubting impostor syndrome, men carry a confidence-giving bullshit gene. Ihave been much entertained by many men, as Ihave gone through my career, who are great at bullshitting, said Dame Sally, identifying the secret to success in many companies, schools, universities and other institutions.
- On 17August, The Daily Telegraph reported on concerns that leading universities are discriminating against private school pupils by engineering admissions in favour of teenagers from the state system. Eleven Russell Group universities have opted to boost state school entry as part of their access agreements, the newspaper said. Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, said universities risked simply taking more students from selective grammar schools and middle-class comprehensives. It is not just universities that are fighting tooth and nail to protect their lucrative fee income.
- David Willetts has predicted that the traditional three-year degree in an ivy-covered building may soon cease to be the norm for millions of students, The Sunday Telegraph reported on 18August. The universities and science minister told the newspaper that more school-leavers would be attracted to job-focused courses at local colleges or at for-profit providers or would take online programmes. But he added that the annual autumn pilgrimage to university in Volvo estates packed with hifis, pot plants and bean bags would still take place. What lazy stereotyping MrWilletts uses in implying that many campuses remain dominated by the middle classes Saabs are just as popular as Volvos for parents dropping off their children at university.
- Everything is bigger in the US including university expenses claims. Evan S. Dobelle, the president of Westfield State University in Massachusetts, is facing a review of his spending by university trustees after running up huge bills on a work credit card, including $8,000 (瞿5,100) for afour-night stay at aBangkok hotel on a trip to drum up business in Asia and $4,000 for limousine rides. By the time Westfield closed his credit card in 2010, records show he had run up more than $200,000 in credit card charges to the [universitys] foundation, aprivate group that raises money for scholarships and educational programs, The Boston Globe said on 18August. DrDobelle left a previous post as president of the University of Hawaii amid criticism of his spending. Dr Dobelle countered that he had made Westfield the hottest college in New England and said that spending on a limo ride to New York for journalism students showed that Ido things for kids. Im achange agent. You know youre going to take ahit, added the former mayor of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, before comparing himself to Apple founder Steve Jobs. Icant believe you guys hired him, said Donna Mercado Kim, the president of Hawaiis Senate and alongtime DrDobelle critic, who asked for an audit of his spending after he took donors to a Janet Jackson concert. You really have to do your homework. With the Internet and computers, theres really no excuse.
Register to continue
Why register?
- Registration is free and only takes a moment
- Once registered, you can read 3 articles a month
- Sign up for our newsletter
Subscribe
Or subscribe for unlimited access to:
- Unlimited access to news, views, insights & reviews
- Digital editions
- Digital access to 啦晨楚s university and college rankings analysis
Already registered or a current subscriber?
Please or to read this article.