By Holly Else. Business secretary Vince Cable has called for an increase in funding for science in a speech at the Royal Academy of Engineering. More...

By John Morgan. Private providers have been asked to help prepare the government for a key hearing on private higher education just days before it happens More...

By Chris Havergal. The Welsh government has said it will “look at all the options” before deciding whether to follow England’s lead in introducing postgraduate loans. More...

By Chris Havergal. Emeritus professor warns over growth of higher education courses that veer towards the ‘mundane’. Universities risk preserving powerful knowledge for social elites by teaching “truncated and limited” courses that attract students from poorer backgrounds, it has been warned. More...

By Chris Havergal. University graduates earn an average of £9,000 more per year than non-graduates but the gap is narrowing, official statistics show. More...

By Holly Else. More than 70 universities and colleges will share £200 million to boost teaching facilities in science, technology, engineering and maths. More...

Top 100 universities for employability revealed. The University of Cambridge has replaced the University of Oxford at the top of a global ranking that measures how universities perform on graduate employability.
The Global Employability University Survey 2014 has 13 UK institutions making the top 150 of the list, with University College London and Imperial College London joining the Oxbridge institutions in the top 15. The list is dominated, however, by US institutions, which claim six of the top 10 spots.
The results, compiled by French human resources consulting group Emerging Associates along with Trendence, a German polling and research institute, are based on surveys of 2,500 international recruiters in 20 countries. More...

By Thomas Phillip Gleeson. Is anyone else overwhelmed by updating their many webpages, blogs, streams etc?
Jason Priem described the shift from a paper-native academia to a web-native academia, in an excellent article last year in Nature, a shift well beyond the traditional peer-reviewed journal to more diverse outlets of information, interaction and discussion. I am part of the first generation of researchers who are excited to use social media but we need more and better tools to make social media work even better for ourselves and others. Something like HootSuite for Prof 2.0. More...

By Jennifer Polk. This wonderful phrase and metaphor for understanding what a doctoral degree is — a passport to many different career and life paths — comes from this wonderful TEDx talk by Nadia Jaber. She’s a PhD candidate in molecular and cellular biology at Stony Brook University in New York State. Nadia’s talk is entitled “Reimagining the PhD”. More...

By Shari Graydon. Your research is important and deserves as much attention as possible. But if no one can understand what you’re talking about, what’s the point?
University Affairs magazine and Informed Opinions have teamed up to bring you a video series on how to communicate your research to a wide audience. Hosted by Shari Graydon, it will offer tips on making what you know and do more accessible and engaging. More...