Logo-ed up to the grave

An interesting if slightly macabre report from the Chronicle: University of Georgia graduates may love their alma mater, but for now, they can't take it with them. For nearly five years, W. Scott Walston sold caskets tastefully adorned with the university's logo. Then in 2003, someone dug up an obscure University System of Georgia rule …

US overspends on universities?

Amusing snippet in the Chronicle Economist Says U.S. Spends Too Much on Higher Education A paper released today by Richard K. Vedder, a professor of economics at Ohio University...says that most incremental appropriations to higher education lead to higher spending rather than lower tuition, and new funds often go to non-instructional purposes, such as administrative …

Fees: “Almost impossible to understand”

According to a piece in the Guardian. Some students have been put off applying because the funding system is now among the most complex in the world, says the report by the consultancy London Economics, commissioned by Million+, a group representing former polytechnic universities previously known as the Coalition of Modern Universities. "The combination of …

2007 World Rankings: UK improvements

The detail of the QS-Thes table is due to be available on-line from 9 November according to THES. While we wait, the QS site will let you download the table. And the BBC carries the story too. 19 UK universities appear in the top 100: 2= Cambridge 3= Oxford 5 Imperial College 9 University College …

Surrey catches on

According to the BBC website, Surrey is aiming to emulate the University of Nottingham's internationalisation achievements in China and Malaysia. The Guardian also carries the story. The University of Surrey wants to offer degrees in which students might move each year between partner universities in three countries. This could include universities in the US, China …

Tories take new line on Students’ Unions

Follow up to earlier post on Willetts speech. After his widely reported statements on fees, David Willetts also commented (generally not noticed by the press) on Students' Unions: “We value student unions. We salute them and what they achieve for and on behalf of students. Without them, universities would be much poorer institutions, as would …

New Conservative position on fees?

Which seems to be: neither higher nor lower, we should neither raise nor lower the cap According to a Guardian report on a recent speech: The Conservatives today called for the review of tuition fees planned for 2009 to start now to allow for enough preparation time. The government has promised a review of the …