The week in higher education – 28 May 2020

Holding a degree ceremony online was not the strangest thing about graduation day at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. That distinction went to the university’s choice for its honorary doctorate: an eight-year-old therapy dog named Moose. The Labrador retriever was decorated for his six years of service at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, where he has “helped out” in thousands of counselling sessions run by his owner, Trent Davis, HuffPost reported. “Dogs provide a source of comfort and grounding,” said Mr Davis. “For a lot of humans, unfortunately, other humans haven’t always been the best to them in their lives, so dogs can be a little bit safer.” Moose was even awarded a real diploma for his “dogtorate” and was pictured wearing a mortarboard and lab coat alongside fellow canine counsellors Derek and Wagner.

Having had Roy Keane on his case for a decade at Old Trafford, Gary Neville knows a thing or two about mental toughness. But the former Manchester United right-back believes today’s footballers will have to become more resilient than his own generation because of the mental turmoil caused by the pandemic. With professional footballers unable to train together during the coronavirus lockdown and many facing an uncertain future next season, Mr Neville is urging players to consider gaining a degree or other qualification to protect themselves mentally from the uncertainty of a life in sport. “If their entire sense of self is based on their career as a footballer, then any change to that puts players at risk of mental health issues,” said Mr Neville, who is the co-founder of University Academy 92, whose degrees are awarded by Lancaster University. “Higher education is a real possibility for players,” said Mr Neville. “By gaining a degree or other qualification, they can build their mental resilience by developing an identity off the pitch.”

A giant stone pledging free tuition is to be removed from a Scottish university, the Daily Record has reported. Inscribed with the words “The rocks will melt with the sun before I allow tuition fees to be imposed on Scotland’s students”, the unusual monument was unveiled at Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, in 2014 by Alex Salmond on his last day as the country’s first minister. Now the university has said the rock will be removed and “carefully looked after until an alternative location is found for it in future” − presumably a very obscure one. With Scotland’s university system caught between a rock (free tuition) and a hard place (expected falls in the number of fee-paying English and international students), many have wondered whether Scotland’s famous fee promise can last. Moving the block to a remote Hebridean island would certainly show that the pledge is not as rock solid as it once was.

A man who dropped out of university two weeks before he was due to graduate would not usually be the ideal candidate to offer an inspiring message to completing students. But it appears that an exception can be made when that man has picked up two Oscars and achieved global superstardom. Brad Pitt followed in the footsteps of fellow movie star Tom Hanks last week by delivering a message of support for graduating students at his alma mater, Missouri State University, The Mirror reported. “It must be very strange doing this in these trying times, but no, we’re rooting for you. Our money’s on you to make this world a better place. And we wish you all the best in your future endeavours,” he said in a video shared by the institution on Twitter. “You did it, you made it! Enjoy, congrats again, and think big!”

The average Australian vice-chancellor’s pay packet may have reached seven figures last year, according to annual reports released by 13 universities. While three leaders suffered declines in their pay packages – encompassing salaries, bonuses, benefits and pensions – eight pocketed increases of between 1 per cent and 8 per cent. And at two universities where the vice-chancellors’ tenures were either consolidating or ending, remuneration rose by 19 per cent or more. If these pay patterns were replicated across the sector, university leaders’ earnings would have risen by more than 5 per cent last year. Vice-chancellors would have pocketed an extra A$43,000 (£23,000) on average, bringing their annual compensation to some A$1.03 million. Such windfalls contrast with the pay increases doled out to staff, who typically attracted lifts of less than 2 per cent or A$2,000.

The University of Notre Dame was one of the first major US universities to announce that it would resume in-person teaching in the autumn. The private Catholic institution said classes would begin in August, two weeks earlier than usual, and finish by Thanksgiving Day in late November, forgoing the usual autumn break in October. University president John Jenkins told the Today Show that medical experts had warned that it could be dangerous to bring students back together after they have scattered across the world for the annual holiday. Day-to-day life on campus would include “extensive testing” for the coronavirus, the wearing of masks, social distancing and quarantining, he added. Meanwhile, in a sign of differing approaches by higher education institutions across the country, the California State University system announced that it would not reopen its 23 campuses in the autumn and would instead conduct the semester entirely online.