- The Daily Mail exposed a聽premium-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 鈥渆ntry requirements鈥. Ucas 鈥減rovides an聽0871 number costing up to 41p聽per minute on mobile phones to match students to vacancies鈥, the Mail reported on 16聽August. A Ucas spokesman said that calls from a BT landline cost 9p聽a聽minute, adding that while 鈥渙ther providers may charge more for calling this number鈥 Ucas did not benefit from extra charges.
- England鈥檚 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 Radio聽3鈥檚 Private Passions on 18聽August that drug addiction should be treated as a聽medical and public health issue rather than as a criminal one. And former researcher Dame Sally lamented that while women suffer from self-doubting 鈥渋mpostor syndrome鈥, men carry a confidence-giving 鈥渂ullshit gene鈥. 鈥淚聽have been much entertained by many men, as I聽have gone through my career, who are great at bullshitting,鈥 said Dame Sally, identifying the secret to success in many companies, schools, universities and other institutions.
- On 17聽August, The Daily Telegraph reported on concerns that 鈥渓eading universities are discriminating against private school pupils by engineering admissions in favour of teenagers from the state system鈥. 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 鈥渟imply taking more students from selective grammar schools and middle-class comprehensives鈥. 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 鈥渋vy-covered building鈥 may soon cease to be the norm for millions of students, The Sunday Telegraph reported on 18聽August. 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 鈥渋n Volvo estates packed with hi鈥慺is, pot plants and bean bags鈥 would still take place. What lazy stereotyping Mr聽Willetts uses in implying that many campuses remain dominated by the middle classes 鈥 Saabs are just as popular as Volvos for parents dropping off their children at university.
- Everything is bigger in the US 鈥 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 (拢5,100) for a聽four-night stay at a聽Bangkok 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, 鈥渞ecords show he had run up more than $200,000 in credit card charges to the [university鈥檚] foundation, a聽private group that raises money for scholarships and educational programs鈥, The Boston Globe said on 18聽August. Dr聽Dobelle left a previous post as president of the University of Hawaii amid criticism of his spending. Dr Dobelle countered that he had made Westfield 鈥渢he hottest college in New England鈥 and said that spending on a limo ride to New York for journalism students showed that 鈥淚聽do things for kids鈥. 鈥淚鈥檓 a聽change agent. You know you鈥檙e going to take a聽hit,鈥 added the former mayor of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, before comparing himself to Apple founder Steve Jobs. 鈥淚聽can鈥檛 believe you guys hired him,鈥 said Donna Mercado Kim, the president of Hawaii鈥檚 Senate and a聽longtime Dr聽Dobelle critic, who asked for an audit of his spending after he took donors to a Janet Jackson concert. 鈥淵ou really have to do your homework. With the Internet and computers, there鈥檚 really no excuse.鈥
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