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By David Matthews. Students from the European Union in the UK are currently on an equal financial footing with their domestic counterparts: they are charged the same tuition fees and can access student loans.
All this would (probably) change if the UK decided to cut its ties with Brussels. EU students could be charged the higher fees faced by their international peers, in theory bringing a windfall for UK universities.
Writing in Times Higher Education this week, Alison Wolf, director of the new International Centre for University Policy Research at King's College London, says that some university finance directors would be "grinning widely" at the prospect of leaving the EU.
"If we left ... we could charge these students more money," she writes.
But if fees went up, would as many continue to come? Read more...

By Chris Parr. EU should place spiritual values above potential profit in funding considerations, Chris Parr hears.
Universities in the European Research Area have lost touch with the spiritual ideals of the European Union's founding fathers and should aim to restore such values to their scientific research, it has been claimed.
According to academics leading the Restoring Spiritual Values to European Science research project, policymakers in the ERA focus more on the potential for financial gain than on what research might achieve more widely. They want European science funding programmes to consider "spiritual" values when allocating grants.
John Wood, the principal investigator and former chief executive of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, said that the values of EU architects such as France's Robert Schuman and Germany's Konrad Adenauer, with their "Christian Democratic roots", "are not being reflected today in how science is undertaken". Read more...

By John Morgan. Hefce uneasy over University of Law deal and process for private applicants. John Morgan reports.
The government decision to approve the UK's first for-profit university was hurried through to help meet a deadline in its sale to a private equity firm, a document obtained by Times Higher Education suggests.
According to a paper given to THE under the Freedom of Information Act, the University of Law's application for university title was approved by correspondence without a full board meeting of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
The move helped to meet a deadline set by the government so that the institution's £200 million sale to Montagu Private Equity could be completed. University title was a crucial part of the sale package. Read more...

Von Stefan Bach. Der Doktor ist in Deutschland mit zu viel Prestige aufgeladen, kritisiert der Wirtschaftsforscher Stefan Bach in einem Gastbeitrag. Er fordert: Schluss mit dem Titelwahn.
Der Doktortitel erfreut sich in Deutschland anhaltender Beliebtheit in allen Schichten und Ständen. In den öffentlichen Verwaltungen wird seit jeher betitelt was das Zeug hält. Bei den gehobenen Managementeliten der Wirtschaft, wo es schon zu viele Doktoren gibt, macht sich der Professor breit. Zumeist in Form einer Honorarprofessur oder auch in Österreich oder anderen Ländern verliehen, was dann in einer Fußnote oder Klammer vermerkt wird.
Da wo der Doktortitel herkommt, in Wissenschaft und Forschung, wird er dagegen kaum als Namensbestandteil verwendet. Naturgemäß ist die Promotion Voraussetzung für die wissenschaftliche Karriere. Ergo haben alle promoviert oder vergleichbare internationale Abschlüsse wie den Ph.D. Die Hierarchien und Hackordnungen orientieren sich primär an wissenschaftlichen Leistungen und Rankings. Mehr...

Von Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares. Die Gebühr ist gerecht, kommentierte Ruben Karschnick. Nein, entgegnet Philipp Alvares. Es gebe nur eine Lösung: Der Staat muss die Ausbildung aller Bürger unterstützen.
Sind Studiengebühren gerecht? Ein gern genanntes Argument der Befürworter lautet: Akademiker verdienen in der Regel mehr und haben bessere Jobchancen als Menschen in Ausbildungsberufen. Diese müssen ihre Fortbildungen, zum Beispiel einen Meister, allerdings aus eigener Tasche zahlen. Da sei es nur gerecht, von Studenten ebenfalls einen Beitrag zu verlangen. Mehr...

By Graeme Paton. More pupils from top private schools are winning places at elite universities despite a Government drive to widen access to higher education, according to research. More than three-quarters of applications made by pupils from Britain’s best independent schools last year resulted in the offer a place, it emerged.
The success rate was up from just over seven-in-10 in each of the previous two years.
Some 95 per cent of applications to one Russell Group university – Exeter – led to the award of a place, while numbers were well over 80 per cent at other leading institutions.
The disclosure – in data published by two of the leading private school organisations – comes despite the introduction of tough new targets designed to force top universities to take in more pupils from “under-represented” groups. Read more...

By John Glen. Less government intervention would give universities the freedom to compete. Universities in the UK are institutions of which we can be rightly proud. Many provide world-class tuition and research, drive innovation and economic growth, and sit at the heart of British intellectual life.
In recent years, the political debate around higher education has been about fees. The bold steps by the Coalition to reduce the funding burden on the taxpayer were a move towards a more stable financial footing for universities. But it would be wrong to think that reform must stop here. We need to find a sustainable funding solution. The sector is often stifled by unnecessary government regulation and misguided interventions from quangos. There are still many areas where universities should be given greater freedom and independence to allow the higher education sector to flourish. Read more...

There is no argument that English has taken a firm hold as the language of modern science. How far should non-English speaking countries go to maintain their own languages?
Several days ago I came across an article in Israel's online Ynet news (belonging to the daily Yediot Achronot newspaper) by Shachar Chai, discussing a decision by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to allow doctoral theses in English. The bulk of this article, however, addresses the bitterness of the President of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, Professor Moshe Bar Asher, with this decision.
I heartily agree with the idea to allow writing in English. For me, this gets close and personal – so I say "better late than never". I received my doctorate from the Hebrew University in 1998, after a protracted battle for permission to write it in English. A timely retirement of the equivalent of Graduate Studies Dean paved the way for a younger, and more receptive one who acquiesced to my request. Read more...

As UCAS publishes its latest figures, Kathryn Jones considers the role financial support packages play in student attraction. We are midway through our regular student number planning sessions at Birmingham City University (BCU) to review recruitment targets for the coming cycle and to forecast the pattern in 2014/15 and beyond. In terms of the undergraduate market, as you would expect, we are considering the impact of fees, the emerging trends at subject level and the expansion to ABB of the government's core and margin policy. The question that repeatedly comes up, however, is whether financial incentives have made any difference to our current offer or have the potential to do so. It's an interesting debate and I don't for one minute pretend to have the answers. But it's also one that requires a little clarity.
As a firm believer in the virtues of, and rights to access, higher education, I share the view with many others that there should always exist financial support that is essentially needs-based and intended to ensure that no one is deterred from university on thebasis of cost alone. The National Scholarship Programme has an instrinsic merit that should not necessarily be linked to recruitment targets or bottom line. Read more...

Par Olivier Rollot. « L’université a évolué pour mieux accueillir les étudiants » Jean-Loup Salzmann, président de la Conférence des présidents d’université
Élu fin 2012 à la tête de la Conférence des présidents d’université (CPU), Jean-Loup Salzmann est un militant de toujours de l’université. Président de l’université Paris XIII depuis 2008, il revient sur son évolution et comment elle s'est mise toute entière au service de la réussite de ses étudiants. A quelques semaines de l’adoption d’une nouvelle loi traçant les contours de l’enseignement supérieur pour les quinze années à venir, il revient également sur ses grands enjeux.
Olivier Rollot : Les inscriptions dans l’enseignement supérieur viennent de commencer. Que voulez-vous dire aux élèves de terminale, et peut-être surtout à leurs parents, qui hésitent encore dans leur choix d’orientation?
Jean-Loup Salzmann : Que l’université a beaucoup évolué. Il suffit de se rendre aujourd’hui sur un campus pour s’en rendre compte. L’image qu’en ont encore trop de parents, celle de locaux délabrés, d’affiches qui envahissent les murs, est dépassée depuis bien longtemps. Aujourd’hui l’université c’est de moins en moins des cours dans de grands amphis mais des étudiants studieux qui profitent de services numériques et de bibliothèques ouvertes de plus en plus longtemps. Sans oublier qu’aujourd’hui les études à l'université s'accompagnent d'une véritable vie de campus. L'accès au sport, à la culture, à la vie associative participe aussi à l'épanouissement personnel de nos étudiants et donc à leur réussite!
O. R : Les parents ont encore souvent peur que l’université ne mène pas à un emploi.
J-L.S : Là encore il y a longtemps que tout le monde à l’université est mobilisé pour assurer l'insertion professionnelle de tous ses diplômés. Et même les syndicats étudiants. Plus personne n’ose dire que favoriser l’insertion c’est être « au service du patronat ». L’insertion professionnelle fait aujourd’hui clairement partie des missions essentielles de l’université. Suite de l'article...