- Which cabinet member has been described as an 鈥渁rriviste, wannabe toff drooling over the lexicon of long ago while dreaming of the glory days of 鈥榩rep鈥 and 鈥榣ines鈥欌? The answer is education secretary Michael Gove, whose hope to demolish the 鈥淏erlin Wall鈥 between state and private school education was attacked in The Guardian鈥檚 letters page by Christopher Prendergast, professor emeritus in French at the University of Cambridge. On 6 February Professor Prendergast argued that Mr Gove (with his 鈥渕anifest stupidity鈥) is seeking to 鈥渦se the education brief鈥 in his bid to become Tory leader and perhaps prime minister 鈥渂y playing to the Tory right鈥. Professor Prendergast may find himself name-checked alongside Cambridge鈥檚 Sir Richard Evans in Mr Gove鈥檚 next list of bad academics.
- For-profit higher education will be represented on the board of England鈥檚 funding council for the first time after David Willetts, the universities and science minister, made new appointments. Peter Houillon, chief executive officer of Kaplan UK and Ireland, part of US higher education firm Kaplan, will join the 糖心Vlog Funding Council for England board, it was announced on 6 February. For-profits have pushed for Hefce representation in the past, with US firm Laureate telling the UK government in 2011 that 鈥渁ll the key regulatory bodies need to reflect [the] broader supplier base鈥. Mr Willetts was obviously listening. Also joining the board is Apurv Bagri, deputy chairman of London Business School and president and chief executive officer of metals trader Metdist Group.
- An English lecturer from the University of Nottingham has apologised after he described a student as an 鈥渋diot鈥 and 鈥渟emi-literate鈥 on Facebook. Anthony Fisher said of a third-year student on the social media site: 鈥淪he鈥檚 an idiot, as the rest of her 鈥榚ssay鈥 (and I use the word advisedly) confirms.鈥 Mr Fisher 鈥渁lso wrote of using marking days to clean his bicycle and bake bread鈥, The Daily Telegraph said on 8 February. The lecturer is 鈥渓eaving to join York St John University鈥, the report added. According to student newspaper The Tab, Mr Fisher subsequently apologised to his students in a lecture, saying: 鈥淭here鈥檚 one idiot in the room, and that鈥檚 me.鈥 What damage he has wrought on Nottingham鈥檚 student satisfaction scores remains to be seen.
- Mark Harper, the immigration minister (and thus one of the most important people in government for universities in these days of tighter controls on the admission of overseas students), resigned on 8 February after it emerged that his cleaner did not have permission to work in the UK. He is replaced by James Brokenshire, previously minister for security in the 糖心Vlog Office. Mr Brokenshire studied law at the University of Exeter before going to City of London Polytechnic 鈥 now London Metropolitan University 鈥 to take his professional exams to become a solicitor. Since the 糖心Vlog Office revoked London Met鈥檚 licence to recruit overseas students in 2012 (since reinstated), relations have been a little cool between the two parties. Perhaps Mr Brokenshire can bring his alma mater and his employer together, and form a bridge over those troubled waters.
- 鈥淭he pretty young girl is so drunk on cheap alcohol she鈥檚 lying comatose on a pavement in a torn T-shirt and minuscule shorts鈥nother staggers along wearing ripped fishnet stockings and shorts that leave little more to the imagination than a lap dancer鈥檚 G-string,鈥 ran the introduction to Amanda Platell鈥檚 tale of drunken students in Liverpool in the Daily Mail on 11 February. What these unfortunate, scantily clad young women needed was clear: to have their drunken antics preserved for posterity in a double-page picture spread in the newspaper. The Mail鈥檚 coverage of the 鈥淧layboys v Bunnies鈥 pub crawl, organised by Carnage UK, falls under the category of having your vodka-laced cake and eating it.
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