Formation Continue du Supérieur

By John Morgan. Is the new student loans system an affordable, progressive system of graduate contributions - or a dodgy move to get debt off the books that could bring grave fiscal consequences? John Morgan sifts through the rhetoric, rates and RABs
On a freezing day in December 2010, Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat business secretary, moved the government's motion to raise the cap on undergraduate tuition fees to £9,000. He told MPs that the replacement of the government teaching grant with higher fees repaid by graduates was "a central part of a policy that is designed to maintain high-quality universities in the long term, that tackles the fiscal deficit and that provides a more progressive system of graduate contributions based on people's ability to pay".
After a five-hour debate, conducted as 50,000 protesters and 3,000 police officers massed outside the Houses of Parliament, MPs voted by 323 to 302 to support the motion.
But there is another debate still running: about the implications of that decision for the finances of the government, higher education and individual students.

By Jamie Doward, The Observer. Local Government Association figures show regional variations in job availability as almost half of graduates are still looking for work after three months.
Around half of all this year's graduates will struggle to find full-time jobs for many months after leaving university if current employment trends continue, according to new research. Analysis conducted by the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals that 51% of graduates were in full-time employment within three months from leaving university in 2010, the latest figures that are available, compared with 57% in 2003; The analysis reveals there is huge variation in post-university employment levels across England and Wales, with some areas seeing around one in three (36%) graduates in full-time employment, while two in three (60%) are in work in other parts of the UK.

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Thousands will rally in support of female punk band Pussy Riot in 100 cities across the world on 1 October, when a Moscow court is due to hear an appeal by three members – two of them students – against a two-year prison sentence for performing a ‘punk prayer’ in a Russian Orthodox church.
The Pussy Riot ‘phenomenon’ is turning up as a focus of university conferences and research programmes, as well as in curricula ranging from gender studies, politics and cultural studies to media and new technologies. The Moscow three – Maria Alyokhina (24), a student at the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing; Nadezhda Tolonnikova (22), a philosophy student at Moscow State University; and Yekatarina Samutsevich (30), a computer programmer and graduate of the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia – were arrested in March this year. When they were found guilty of hooliganism and sentenced on 17 August to two years in prison, the verdict caused a worldwide storm of media reports, responses and protests, as well as postings on YouTube and numerous blog pages.

By Andrew Marszal, Education Digital Editor. Eighty-five per cent of UK students are satisfied with their university courses, a new high since the launch of the National Student Survey in 2005.
Student satisfaction with UK university courses has reached its highest level since 2005. Britain's most satisfied students: 2012 results.
Eighty-five per cent of UK students said they were either "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with the quality of their course – up from 83 per cent last year – while eight per cent of students reported themselves dissatisfied.