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Obama higher education plan signals policy shift

University applications from UK-based students have fallen by 8.7 per cent, official figures show, with those in England falling further still.

The effect of the government’s student visa policies on private higher education colleges has been “swift and probably even more devastating than was predicted”, according to a think tank.

A professor of architecture has been appointed as the next head of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

The government has named its preferred candidate to lead the university access watchdog the Office for Fair Access.

A motion of no confidence in University College London provost Malcolm Grant tabled by the institution’s students’ union has been defeated.

An independent commission has been set up to see if higher tuition fees are deterring poorer students from applying to university.

The government is to clamp down on over-recruitment of students by universities in order to keep costs under control, according to this year’s grant letter.

One professor has had enough of Hollywood's clichéd depictions of faculty, says Jon Marcus

New chair of Political Studies Association stresses discipline's key social role. Matthew Reisz reports

Two-fifths of academics surveyed resent pressure to commercialise their work. David Matthews reports

Undergraduates should have study skills classes throughout their entire degree course rather than just a handful of sessions in their first year, the National Union of Students has said.

Scholars say moves against critics and their families echo communist repression. Thomas Escritt writes

The government's apparent move to suspend the higher education bill will not automatically derail the expansion of private provision, according to government critics and leading private institutions.

These images are taken from an ornately designed leather-bound scrapbook, now in the collection of the Humanities Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, that Jane Webb Loudon (1807-58) seems to have put together for family and friends.

Universities UK is lobbying the government to create a net migration count that excludes university students from abroad - with some billing it as the only way for the government to hit its target to cut the immigration figure.

Growth in foreign students shows 'convergence', but sector's diversity remains. Simon Baker writes

Mission groups blame school policy for Britons' lack of linguistic enthusiasm. Jack Grove reports

Academic work that is entered into the research excellence framework as worth "double" a normal submission can, in every discipline, be accompanied by a "reserve" option in case reviewers do not agree that it should count twice, it has been decided.

Maintaining lecturers in Europe 'expensive and inefficient', minutes say. Simon Baker reports

A scientist was forced to leave his job at the University of Manchester after being subjected to a "barrage of shouting and verbal abuse" by a senior professor, a tribunal has ruled.

Scholars considering research future don't put too much hope in spin-offs. Matthew Reisz reports

Barack Obama has called on state departments to prioritise higher education in their budgets – but has warned universities that spiralling tuition will be met with a cut in taxpayer funding.

The University and College Union is moving towards another strike in newer universities over lecturers’ pensions.

The government has launched a new cross-department venture to encourage universities to expand internationally.

The University of Sussex has been urged to rethink a decision to close most of its lifelong learning department.

Fourteen doctoral training partnerships for the biosciences have been unveiled.

David Cameron is reported to have made a dramatic intervention in the university reforms, shelving the higher education bill that was due this spring.

The University and College Union may suspend its work-to-rule industrial action on pension cuts in pre-1992 universities, after talks with employers.

By Kaustuv Basu, for

Business schools are facing a 10-15 per cent drop in applications for MBA programmes, new figures suggest.

A team of academics is to help retailers make better use of social science research.

Nations are “always in crisis”, a former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts has argued, as he praised the arm’s-length system of public funding embodied by the Arts Council, which meant that artists did not have to be polite or grateful to governments.

The British Academy and Leverhulme Trust have announced a major new investment in humanities and social sciences through the academy’s small research grants scheme.

Delays to the annual grant letter may be down to government plans to announce an easing of the AAB rules that are to introduce competition for students between institutions.

The number of people working within the higher education sector in the UK has dropped by 2 per cent over the last two academic years.

Measures to cut red tape and reduce tax burdens on universities will strengthen their autonomy, David Willetts has said.

After a feverish build up in which commentators forecast the “digital destruction” of the multi-billion dollar textbook industry, Apple has unveiled a “new textbook experience” and free online courses for students - as long as they own Apple products.

Simon Baker on the hoped-for impact of reforms spurred by an official review of student visa policies

Investing more money in for-profit universities could "jump-start" the global economy, it has been suggested, and is the best way to create jobs and sustain economic growth in developing markets such as Asia and Latin America.

The University and College Union has been urged by some of its members to reconsider its policy of boycotting the research excellence framework.

Core-and-margin model could cut places at most higher-priced universities. David Matthews writes

Bullying and fear of being fired may deter staff from lifting lid on scientific misconduct. Jack Grove writes

Students who are aware that their work will be checked by plagiarism-detection software are just as likely to cheat as those who are not, a study suggests.

Design subjects will be hit hardest by the closure of 16 programmes. David Matthews reports

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David has rebutted a scathing attack on its standards by a private college that used to teach its degrees.

Both the beautiful leafy sea dragon and the repellent botfly larvae erupting from a horse's stomach come from the University of Reading's Cole Museum of Zoology, one of the finest in the country devoted to comparative anatomy.

The University College London students' union is pressing ahead with a motion of no confidence in the provost, Malcolm Grant, despite being warned by the university that the move could have a "significant impact on our approach to future investment".

Ministry bows to academic pressure and reverses stricter post-study rules. Clea Caulcutt reports

Job losses expected across all faculties as London Metropolitan bids to save £7m. Jack Grove writes

Brain-scanning equipment has been shut down and research projects have stalled at laboratories across the country because of a global helium shortage.

Open access may sound death knell for costly, little-read monographs. Matthew Reisz reports

Scholars should go easy on the jokes as a bad crack can cause all sorts of problems. Jack Grove reports