- The Russell Group took some flak in the letters page of The Guardian on 23August. Readers objected that it was not true to say that the groups universities are the best and took issue with its assertion that its members record 88per cent average satisfaction scores in the National Student Survey, compared with 85 per cent across the sector. If the NSS were similar to other polls carried out by Ipsos Mori, its accuracy would fall in the range of +/-3 per cent and the differences between the Russell Group and the overall average would not be statistically significant, said one anonymous reader. Earlier this month, research carried out for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills found that attending a Russell Group university had no statistically significant effects on graduate earnings. At least the groups entry fee for its four newest members 瞿500,000 each isstatistically significant.
- The University of Oxfords record of producing right-wing political leaders who spent their student days in violent clubs or societies continues to sparkle. Although Tony Abbott, favourite to win Australias federal election next month, was not a member ofthe rowdy Bullingdon Club (unlike Boris Johnson, David Cameron and George Osborne), he was a rugby union player and boxing blue. Phil Crowe, the Oxford rugby teams captain at the time, told The Guardian for aprofile published on 24August that MrAbbott, aRhodes scholar from 1981 to 1983, would sometimes respond to opposition players giving him ahard time with a quick right jab when the referee wasnt looking. Australian universities pleading for funds may have to bewary if Mr Abbotts Liberal-National Coalition wins the poll on 7September.
- Donald Trump is being sued for $40million (瞿25.8million) by NewYorks attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, over claims that the billionaire helped run a university that falsely promised to make students rich, the Daily Mail reported on 25August. Trump University engaged in deception at every stage of consumers advancement through costly programs and caused real financial harm, MrSchneiderman said. Many of the 5,000 students who paid up to$35,000 thought they would at least meet Mr Trump, but all they got was their picture taken in front of a life-sized picture of him, the attorney general added. After state education department officials told MrTrump to change the institutions name as it did not meet the legal definition of auniversity, it became the Trump Entrepreneur Institute in 2011. MrTrumps lawyer said the suit was politically motivated.
- In an extremely vigorous defence of academic standards, the University of Liberia has failed all 25,000 students who sat this years entrance exam for the institution, one of two state-run universities in the country. It means that the overcrowded university will not have any new first-year students when it reopens next month, the BBC News website reported on 26August. Iknow there are alot of weaknesses in the schools, but for a whole group of people to take exams and every single one of them to fail, I have my doubts about that, education minister Etmonia David-Tarpeh said. Its like mass murder. However, university spokesman Momodu Getaweh, displaying a Michael Gove-like commitment toacademic rigour, said: In English, the mechanics of the language, they didnt know anything about it. So the government has to do something.
- Without an annual rise inAlevel grades to fuel tabloid vitriol, it would normally be left to that other old chestnut UK students denied places because of quotas to fill the void. However, the coalition has lifted such quotas for high-grade students. What to do? Thankfully, medical degrees, still under strict number controls, can give life to the dead donkey. Enter the Daily Mail on 26August, which reported that a limit on the number of UK undergraduates studying medicine meant that the NHS had to recruit thousands of doctors trained overseas. Foreigners, private school students failing to get into university and problems with the NHS: aheady mix for middle-class readers enjoying their sunshine in the Dordogne.
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