Sheffield University criticised for hiring private investigator after protest
Sheffield University has been criticised for hiring a private investigator to look into the possible involvement of two student activists in a protest in one of its buildings. The two students received letters on 9 November informing them that the university had hired Intersol Global,…
BBC rejects charge of elitist Oxbridge bias in University Challenge
The BBC has rejected charges of elitism aimed at its University Challenge quiz show and defended allowing separate Oxford and Cambridge colleges to enter the contest while limiting other universities to one entry each. The long-running show, which will broadcast a quarter-final match on Monday…
Record £4.8bn interest added to student debt in Britain last year
Rishi Sunak’s government has more than doubled the amount of money it makes from charging interest on student loans, official figures show, as graduates face borrowing costs of almost twice the rate set by the Bank of England. According to the latest snapshot of the…
Labour to ditch its promise to abolish tuition fees in England
Keir Starmer has said Labour is set to ditch its longstanding commitment to abolish university tuition fees in England, arguing it was necessary to “move on” from the idea because of the economic situation. Starmer said his party was “looking at options” for how to…
Young people are wising up to the Great British student rip-off – and they’re voting with their feet
This week begins one of the worst deals offered by any British professional institution. Almost all universities are about to stop teaching students and subject them to pointless exams, mocks and quantification, before passing or failing them, then packing up and reassembling some months later…
The Guardian view on Brexit barriers and the young: a new deal is needed
An estimated three-quarters of young people aged between 18 and 24 voted remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Many did so in the conviction that leaving the European Union would turn Britain into a smaller, more insular place, closing off possibilities and prospects in their…
Top marks for these scathing school reports
Regarding your recent letters on school reports (Letters, 28 April), during my time teaching in a comprehensive school in the 1980s, a colleague submitted a report on a pupil that included the observation: “Wayne is at his best when he is absent, which is not…
NEU threatens huge Manchester protest during Tory conference
The National Education Union’s leadership has threatened to organise a huge protest during the Conservative party conference, accusing Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, of being deluded about teachers’ pay and staff shortages. The NEU’s joint general secretary Kevin Courtney told delegates at the union’s annual…
Student faces deportation from UK after arriving early for course at university’s request
An international student who travelled to the UK two months early after being given the wrong enrolment date by his university is facing deportation after it reported him to the Home Office. Rasikh Aziz was incorrectly told by the University of Law that he must…
Texas guts ‘woke civics’. Now kids can’t engage in a key democratic process
The defining experience of Jordan Zamora-Garcia’s high school career – a hands-on group project in civics class that spurred a new city ordinance in his Austin suburb – would now violate Texas law. Since Texas lawmakers in 2021 passed a ban on lessons teaching that…
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