By Peter Stanford. Mathematician, Jo Boaler, tells Peter Stanford how Massive Open Online Courses can open up oversubscribed subjects to a huge pool of online students – and they’re free. 
Even the largest university lecture hall can only squeeze in a couple of thousand students, so addressing her remarks to an audience of 40,000 was, British-born, California-based Professor Jo Boaler admits, a whole new teaching experience. More...

By Alice Philipson. A rise in tuition fees has fuelled an increase in yobbish behaviour by Oxford students because they feel "more like customers" now, locals have claimed. 
 Residents say the new intake of students this autumn at Oxford Brookes University has sparked the worst noise and anti-social behaviour for years. Many have complained about drunken, slurring students being sick and urinating outside their houses, and couples sneaking into gardens to have sex. More...

By Richard Williams. Salary matters, as do pensions; but in some ways, the most important thing is the preservation of an open and flexible culture of work, says Professor Richard Williams. 
My father had a long and varied career in Higher Education. He was a professor of astrophysics, but also held a variety of managerial roles, inside and outside the university. It always seemed like a good life. He worked hard, no question: travelling, working some evenings and weekends. But it was fun. More...

By Jessica Winch. With tuition fees at £9,000 a year, watchdogs are to check that universities offer value for money. 
 The consumer watchdog is worried that too few students are getting value for money from university. On October 22, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched a review of the higher education sector, calling for information from students, institutions, employers and regulators. The intervention follows a near tripling of tuition fees to £9,000 a year and a relaxing of controls on the number of students each university can recruit. More...

By Hayley Dixon. The deficit in the University pension scheme is as much as £10.5 billion, an analyst has claimed, and to plug the hole institutions may need to raise fees by £1,000 a year. 
 Tuition fees may have to rise by £1,000 a year to cover a massive black hole in a University pension fund which is worse than previously thought, an analyst has been claimed. The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), used by staff across the UK, has one of the biggest deficits in the country which it is claimed would be £10.5bn if judged by private sector standards. More...

By Graeme Paton. Apprenticeships will be overhauled with a greater focus on English and maths as part of a new drive to tackle the “scourge of youth unemployment”, the Prime Minister will say today. 
 Training schemes for school-leavers will be toughened up with new industry standards under proposals designed to make British apprenticeships the best in the world, according to David Cameron. In a series of changes, he will announce that future apprentices will need to demonstrate competence through more rigorous academic assessments, including increased English and maths requirements. Apprenticeships will be at least a year long and will be graded on a three-point scale – pass, merit and distinction – to put them more on par with other qualifications, it is revealed. More...

By Graeme Paton. Twenty universities and colleges will mark students' work using new "grade points" in favour of the 200-year-old system of first, second and third class degrees. 
 Universities could drop traditional degree classifications in favour of US-style “grade points” amid fears the existing system is too crude, it has emerged. At least 20 institutions – including six members of the elite Russell Group – will trial a new system of grading students’ work as part of a drive to boost transparency. More...