By Graeme Paton. Middle-class students attending former polytechnics are seeking to preserve their status by captaining sports clubs, running social events and securing internships, according to research. Undergraduates from affluent backgrounds are more likely to throw themselves into extra-curricular activities to get ahead and “maintain their middle-class position”, it was claimed.
Academics said that these students were likely to feel “out of place” at modern universities after missing out on elite institutions.
The study found that many students sought to “overcompensate” – captaining hockey and rugby teams or running student union events – to make sure they maximised their time at university.
They were also more likely than students from working-class families to burnish their CVs with internships to boost their chances of securing a good job after graduation, according to Times Higher Education magazine. Read more...

By Rebecca Smithers. Twenty-three employees begin BA in business management, first honours degree course in UK funded by a restaurant chain. KFC is subjecting its zingers, popcorn chicken and BBQ rancher burgers to some academic rigour after launching a BA in business management. The first employees with places on the course – the UK's first honours degree funded by a restaurant chain – have begun their studies in conjunction with De Montfort University in Leicester. The firm has invested £600,000 to fund half of a three-year BA in business management for 60 restaurant managers over the next five years, with the first intake of 23 – who enrolled in January – starting work at the university on Thursday. The first intake of 23 employees will combine residential sessions at the college with full-time work. Read more...

By Angela Harrison. Universities in the UK were given a record amount in philanthropic donations last year, research suggests.
UK institutions were given £774m in 2011-12, up 14% on the year before, according to a survey.
The "funds" raised include donations, pledges, legacies and "gifts in kind".
The study, by the National Centre for Social Research, shows a varied picture, with Oxford and Cambridge accounting for half the new funds.
Six institutions secured more than £20m in new funds, while 29 received less than £100,000.
Some universities saw their donations fall and the average level of donations received by individual universities fell, suggesting that while some universities did very well, others did not. Read more...

By Richard Garner. Charitable gifts soar to £774m as universities adopt US-style approach to fund-raising. Philanthropists provided record levels of funding to British universities last year, as institutions increasingly tap wealthy alumni and corporate sponsors for donations.
A study of charitable giving to universities reveals they have received £774m in donations in the past year – a rise of 14.4 per cent on the previous year's figure, itself a record, and 33 per cent up on two years ago.
Researchers say universities are adopting a US-style approach to fund-raising. In the States, Ivy League universities such as Harvard rely heavily on donations from former alumni and sponsors.
The lion's share of this year's increased funding – 45 per cent – is going to Oxford and Cambridge universities, both of whom have reached £1bn targets for fund-raising in the past two years. Read more...

By Andrew Denholm. SCOTTISH universities received more than £40 million of philanthropic donations last year, new figures show. Almost 20,000 people gave to a Scottish institution in the last financial year, including a total of 14,328 alumni, according to The International Council for Advancement and Support of Education (Case).
Its research shows the average university north of the Border had 1591 donors during the course of the year, donating a total of almost £2.3m. However, the numbers are small in comparison with the total income Scots universities receive – which topped £2.8 billion in 2011/12. Universities have worked hard to develop a culture of philanthropy among graduates. Read more...

By Elizabeth Gibney. Former president says online courses could drive down costs. The way higher education is delivered in the US needs to undergo a “dramatic change”, which could be driven by the accreditation of massive open online courses, according to the nation’s former president Bill Clinton.
At public colleges and universities, the cost of tuition has been rising above the rate of inflation for more than a decade, and although the federal government has increased its funding for students in a bid to reduce levels of student debt, this has been negated by a drop in average family incomes.
“A lot of people will have student debt that goes beyond the federal student loan programme. I think the only sustainable answer is to find a less expensive delivery system,” Mr Clinton told Times Higher Education. Read more...

Nikita is an undergraduate student from Russia studying business administration at Ajou University.
As a fluent speaker of Korean and English, he says he's quite satisfied with his college experience.
He hopes to get a job in Korea after graduation, but he does not yet know where to go for more information about employment opportunities.
"In university, we are given academic information, not real information that we can use in practice. When you are faced with after-graduation, faced with choices about what to do, what should I do, yes, it's not enough."
The number of international students in Korea enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs as well as language courses has steadily increased in recent years from about 33-thousand students in 2006, to 89-thousand in 2012. Read more...

By Jennifer Fraczek. Too many students, too little space: A study confirms a shortage of spots for master's degree programs. Not just students, but also the reputation of German universities abroad could suffer as a result.
A report recently released by the Centre for Higher Education (CHE) said up to 36,000 bachelor degree students may not find a spot in a masters' program by 2016. The think tank, which is tied to the Bertelmann Foundation and the German Rectors' Conference, developed its predictions based on analysis of bachelor students and demand for graduate programs.
This worst-case scenario would come to pass if 85 percent of bachelor graduates sought to continue their studies, according to CHE's Frank Ziegele. Such an estimate is realistic considering some masters' degree programs already have higher enrollment rates. "In the field of engineering, we had a 90 percent rate last year," said Matthias Nick, chair of the university's student council at RWTH Aachen, in western Germany. Read more...