Fast zwei Milliarden Euro: Der Stiftungsfonds der Elite-Uni Cambridge verfügt über eine Menge Geld. Sie ist damit die reichste britische Hochschule. Die Konkurrenten aus Oxford sind nicht ganz so erfolgreich.
Viel unterscheidet die beiden ältesten britischen Spitzen-Unis nicht, jedenfalls nicht in Bezug auf ihr akademisches Ansehen. Doch beim Geld sieht es anders aus: Während Cambridge von der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters als reichste Unis des Landes gewertet wird, gibt Oxford mehr Geld aus, als es einnimmt.
Reuters hat sich Stiftungsfonds der Unis angesehen und bewertet: Welcher Fonds wuchs am meisten durch Spenden und gewinnbringende Investments, nachdem die Ausgaben bereits abgezogen waren? Demnach konnte Cambridge seine Stellung als reichste britische Uni verteidigen - der Uni-Fonds wuchs zum Ende des akademischen Jahres im Juli 2012 um 6,5 Prozent auf 1,65 Milliarden Pfund (umgerechnet fast 2 Milliarden Euro). Der Oxford-Fonds hingegen schrumpfte um 0,2 Prozent auf 854 Millionen Pfund (990 Millionen Euro). mehr...

Günstig am Glockenbach, schick in der Schanze, nobel in Neukölln? Zehntausende Erstsemester suchen diesen Sommer wieder dasselbe - ein Zimmer im Szeneviertel ihrer Hochschulstadt. Nebeneffekt: Studenten werden damit zu Preistreibern.
Wer zum kommenden Semesterstart eine günstige Wohnung im Zentrum von Hamburg oder einer anderen beliebten Universitätsstadt sucht, hat es nicht leicht.
Besonders in den Szenevierteln, in die es viele Studenten zieht, sind die Mieten in den vergangenen Jahren zum Teil stark gestiegen. Das liegt nicht nur an renditeversessenen Hauseigentümern, sondern vermutlich auch an unerfahrenen Studenten. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt eine Studie der Hamburger Beratungsgesellschaft "Analyse & Konzepte". Weil viele Medien über teure Mieten und knappen Wohnraum berichteten, ließen sich gerade Erstsemesterstudenten oft auf überteuerte Angebote ein und leisteten so ungewollt einen Beitrag dazu, dass die Mieten steigen. mehr...

By David Matthews for Times Higher Education. Some British universities still lack clear policies on whether international students may use proofreaders or translators to help them with their work, it has emerged. The issue has flared up amid concern that English-language entrance requirements are set too low, with one former proofreader saying that she often had to tidy up a "mish-mash of translation, 'paraphrasing' and Wikipedia citations." Ros Hampton, head of conduct and appeals at the University of Wolverhampton, wrote on the public academic discussion service Jiscmail that she was "looking at the advice (or lack of it) that my institution provides with regard to the use of translators and proof readers." Read more...

By Chris Parr. The first courses on the UK’s first massive open online course platform Futurelearn will be unveiled in mid-September, it has been announced.
Specific details of the first Moocs to be made available are thin on the ground, although Futurelearn has confirmed that they will cover topics including literature; history; social sciences; computing and IT; and physical science, and be designed to work on mobile devices.
Times Higher Education revealed in December last year that the University of Warwick’s Business School was planning to offer a behavioural science Mooc on Futurelearn, although it has not been confirmed that this will be one of the first courses to go live. More...

By David Matthews. A new government-commissioned study says a degree will earn graduates an extra £252,000 over their lifetime for women and £168,000 for men.
It comes amid debate over the value of a degree following the rise in tuition fees in the last academic year. The estimate is substantially higher than the £100,000 graduate premium calculated in 2002 by the Department for Education, which has been repeatedly cited by universities and politicians since. The Impact of University Degrees on the Lifecycle of Earnings: Some Further Analysis, released today, argues that men with a degree earn 28 per cent more than those without one, while for women the differential is 53 per cent. More...

By David Matthews. Students should not be turned into consumers, sector expert Jürgen Enders tells David Matthews. Since the beginning of the year, the UK’s pool of higher education experts, long derided as being too small to cover so many universities and students, has arguably taken a turn to the right.
Nick Hillman, special adviser to the universities and science minister David Willetts, was named the new head of the Higher Education Policy Institute at the beginning of August. He helped to devise the coalition’s £9,000 fee regime for undergraduates, but has insisted that he will “speak truth unto power” and “go wherever the evidence leads”. More...

By Jack Grove. More divorced mothers are seeking legal advice about whether ex-husbands can extend support payments for children at university, a law firm has said. Pannone, a family law firm with offices in London and Manchester, said its staff had seen a surge in enquiries about maintenance payments to help support children in higher education since tuition fees rose to £9,000 last year. 
Many women did not realise that they could apply for maintenance beyond the end of a child’s secondary education, said Pannone associate Naomi Rainey. More...