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Speculation mounts that reform has diminished leadership role

Chester tackles bodily totems and taboos. Matthew Reisz reports

Spending on defence research and development in the UK has declined by 57 per cent since 1989, data from the Office for National Statistics show.

The University Alliance mission group has gained another new member from Million+ while also announcing it is signing a partnership with its Australian counterpart.

A Jewish academic who claimed the UCU’s policy on Palestine constituted harassment has been rebuked by an employment tribunal for misusing the legal process

The University of Sussex has been granted an injunction that it says will pave the way towards ending the seven-week occupation of its Bramber House conference centre.

Students from ethnic minorities are less likely to gain places at top universities than white pupils with the same A-level grades, a new study has claimed.

The UK Border Agency is to be split in two, between a visa body and a law enforcement body, and brought back under the control of Home Office ministers.

The project manager who oversaw a huge overhaul of London Metropolitan University’s undergraduate teaching has said that universities need to be careful not to raise false hopes when they promise to “consult” on major decisions.

Unions representing higher education staff are asking for a pay rise in 2013-14 that is likely to be worth more than 3 per cent.

By Ry Rivard, for

Sir Alan Langlands is to leave his job as chief executive of England’s funding council to become vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds, where he has been welcomed as a “stellar figure” in higher education.

The University of Oxford is set to review its policy on postgraduate admissions after a college reached a settlement with an applicant who claimed it discriminated against poorer students.

Regent’s College will become the latest private provider to gain university status, with the charitable institution hoping to boost its international prospects and join Universities UK as a result.

Teams from six universities will make up the UK’s second cyber security research institute, it has been announced.

All threatened strike action at the University of Birmingham has been called off after the University and College Union reached an agreement with the institution’s management over compulsory redundancies and performance management.

Universities should teach undergraduates how to start up companies, the prime minister’s enterprise advisor has said.

Students and academics need to be much more involved in the management and improvement of universities if the future of higher education is to be safeguarded.

Tim McInnis, the former director of the alumni relations office at Durham University, has left the institution to join a cancer charity.

Academics have been making their voice heard on Twitter after education secretary Michael Gove mocked 100 university professors who had criticised his plans to reform the national curriculum.

Three-quarters of Russell Group universities are failing to meet benchmarks on numbers of state school pupils, according to new figures.

Michael Gove has reiterated his desire to move initial teacher training towards school-led providers by pledging an extra £10 million for schools to train the next generation of teachers.

Outspoken MP George Galloway has tabled an early day motion calling for a University of Oxford college to reinstate a library invigilator who was sacked for failing to stop students film an internet dance video in her library.

Proposal for government to directly fund universities could ‘damage reputation’, say respondents to White Paper consultation

Bonnie Greer pledges to champion entrepreneurs and tackle race and gender inequality. Matthew Reisz writes

Secretary general points to body’s valuable support for the developing world

Foreign students struggle to gain recognition for Oxford Brookes’ distance-learning qualification.

Premium route to highly trusted sponsor status will cost £8k a year. David Matthews reports

Christopher Higgins details academy’s cost burden to Booksellers Association conference

Obama’s State of the Union address draws line in sand, QAA conference hears

Scholars tired of ‘constant’ data requests. Frances Mechan Schmidt writes

Simon Nelson brings BBC experience to the launch of the UK’s first course platform. Chris Parr reports

A sideways look at the week’s big stories

Lisa Downing explains to Matthew Reisz how society’s unspoken prejudices are given voice in the discourse surrounding killers

Austerity a greater threat than Moocs and private providers, writes John Morgan

Master of Trinity says technology transfer offices can be more hindrance than help

Ministers advised to reverse ban on second degree funding

UK women made up 40 per cent of A-level maths students in 2011 but just 6 per cent of professors in the subject, data collated for the London Mathematical Society show

Further shrinkage as funding reforms take fuller effect

Tutor warns of efforts to ‘sucker’ applicants as institutions game system

Publication not always relevant to business success, industry and sector figures argue

Founder of free online university confident despite Mooc competition

Campaigners at the University of Sussex plan to host a national demonstration against privatisation in higher education.

University Campus Suffolk is to begin the process of gaining its own degree-awarding powers, its board has confirmed.

George Osborne’s budget has revealed that the government appears to be scrapping plans to grant VAT exemption to for-profit higher education providers, a move that was aimed at exposing universities to greater competition.

Universities will not be asked to admit more students from deprived backgrounds in their new access agreements, the director of fair access has indicated.

The chief executive of the Higher Education Academy is to be the new head of the University of the West of Scotland.

A librarian at a University of Oxford college has reportedly lost her job after a group of 30 students filmed an internet dance video in the library.

In a further demonstration of the lure of the so-called golden triangle, pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has announced plans to relocate its UK-based research and development activities from Cheshire to Cambridge.

The University of York has unveiled Belgian cognitive psychologist Koen Lamberts as its new vice-chancellor.

Five engineers who laid the foundations for the modern internet have won the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

By Ry Rivard, for

The graduate premium in starting salaries increased by a quarter between 2005 and 2010, according to new research.

The UK needs to boost its output of science, technology, engineering and maths graduates by almost 50 per cent to satisfy market demand, a thinktank has calculated.