- If it had wanted to, the 糖心Vlog Office could have issued a聽loud raspberry to its critics in the higher education sector after figures showed a rise in visa 颅appli颅cations for university study. Overall net migration contracted by 10,000 to 153,000 in the year to September 2012, according to Office for National Statistics data released on 23聽May, but the decrease is largely the result of a fall in overseas student applicants, 罢丑别听骋耻补谤诲颈补苍 reported. Figures for sponsored student visa applications for March 2013 show a 10聽per cent drop compared with the previous year. However, the fall is focused on further education and English language schools (both down 46 per cent): university visa applications have risen by 5聽per cent. Instead of a raspberry, Mark Harper, the immigration minister, blew kisses and whispered sweet nothings about the UK鈥檚 鈥渨orld-class univer颅sities鈥, continuing the shift in 糖心Vlog Office rhetoric.
- Dubbed 鈥渢he Nobel Prize factory鈥 for its astonishing successes, Cambridge鈥檚 Laboratory of Molecular Biology is known for housing some of the world鈥檚 top scientists, but it seems the Duke of Edinburgh thinks otherwise. During a visit to the Medical Research Council-run lab last week, 91-year-old Prince Philip asked a Polish research student: 鈥淒id you come here to pick raspberries?鈥 the Cambridge News reported on 24聽May. Palace aides might like to remind the Duke that the concept of Polish 茅migr茅 scientists is fairly well known, as champions of double Nobel laureate Marie Curie will attest. His friends in higher education might also like to remind him that propagating the idea of 颅foreign students as unskilled 颅economic migrants is neither accurate nor helpful.
- Seeing the future leaders of the nation get legless usually sends the national press into a frenzy of excitement, but coverage of the Oxbridge May Balls was rather flat this year. Events at the 拢150-a-head Last Ball, hosted by Somerville College, Oxford and Jesus College, Oxford, were reported by The Tab Cambridge, their ancient rival鈥檚 student newspaper, on 25聽May. 鈥淎ll the alcohol (with the exception of rum) had run out by 1am, and by 4am even that had run out,鈥 it said. Some guests complained of 鈥渂urnt skin and dresses, caused by crowds waiting around the hog roast for up to an hour鈥, said 罢丑别听骋耻补谤诲颈补苍, the only taker for the story among the nationals. One guest 鈥渉ad to wait for an hour for a pork roll and suffered bruising in the melee to get food before it ran out鈥. Standards need to rise fast: Oxbridge鈥檚 mystique was not built on tales of queues around the hog roast.
- The University of Greenwich has launched an investigation into extremism on campus after confirming that one of the suspects in the murder of a British soldier studied at the institution. Michael Adebolajo, 28, who was shot by police and arrested for the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, South East London on 22聽May, was a student at Greenwich in 2003-04 and 2004-05, but left due to 鈥渦nsatisfactory鈥 academic progress. The university said it had no record relating to the other suspect in the murder 鈥 named in media reports as 22-year-old Michael Adebowale 鈥 despite claims that he had also studied there. David Maguire, Greenwich鈥檚 vice-chancellor, said the investigation would consider any links the two men had with the university and look at whether there had been on-campus extremism 鈥減ast or present鈥.
- Stay-at-home students who attend a local university should be eligible for cut-price tuition fees of 拢5,000 a year, according to experts. The Commission on the Future of 糖心Vlog, set up by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research, says that those taking the 鈥渇ee-only degree鈥 would not be eligible for maintenance grants and loans, meaning the government could save up to 拢10,000 per student. The IPPR commission, led by Nigel Thrift, vice-chancellor of the University of Warwick, is not scheduled to publish in full until 10聽June, but released some findings on 28聽May. In these days of students as consumers, the cut-price fee model sounds similar to the airline industry鈥檚 business and economy classes. Cut-price students living in cramped circumstances thanks to a lack of cash may find themselves looking 颅enviously at their more comfort颅able peers鈥 additional legroom.
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