Politics

A cut to tuition fees not coupled with a rise in taxpayer funding would damage universities, Lord Mandelson has said as Labour finalises its policy.

Fear of offending makes a pig’s ear of free speech, says Christopher Bigsby

An organisation with more than 200 US university members has formally urged the federal government to ditch plans for a college ratings system

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, which many academics fear will suppress freedom of speech in universities, has received Royal Assent.

The next government should create a new lead regulator, the Council for Higher Education England, and toughen rules for private providers

Their lack of protest over reforms means that universities have lost the chance to transform the sector, laments Anthony Kelly

UUK letter disparaging policy ‘compromises ability to influence party’s thinking’

The battle to protect academic freedom in the government’s counter-terrorism bill appears to be nearing a conclusion after final amendments were agreed

Hefce chief Madeleine Atkins also says counter-terror role for funding council was ‘gift not asked for’

Peers also slam government figure on student terrorists used to persuade Lords of need for new laws

Minister also uses Hefce speech to draw comparisons with Labour over HE funding

The next parliament is likely to include a disproportionately high number of MPs who graduated from Oxbridge, new research suggests.

Anshuman Mondal, author of Islam and Controversy, deplores ‘impoverished’ discussion of rights and obligations

From post-Taliban Afghanistan to quality control: Global Education Dialogue offered insights on topics such as access for women and private providers

Board claims in public letter that Labour has ignored the ‘legitimate concerns of vice-chancellors’

Move described as ‘early job application’ for council to be chief regulator after the election

Chief scientific adviser is ‘amused’ by funding conspiracy theories but dismisses them as ‘complete invention’

Writing may be on the wall for Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, according to policy thinktanks

Proposed amendment seeks to emphasise importance of freedom of speech

English vice-chancellors have warned Labour not to commit to lowering fees to £6,000, saying the policy would lead to funding cuts for universities

A new study has found restrictions on freedom of expression at four out of five UK universities

Fewer than four out of 10 MPs think that UK universities do a good job of using their funding efficiently, according to a new poll

Why are today’s students so preoccupied with protecting themselves from potentially ‘harmful’ ideas, asks Tom Slater

A vague policy on higher education could help the party win the next election, argues Nick Hillman

Party’s policy announcement awaited as prospect of call for £6,000 fees continues to vex sector

A cross-party group of MPs has launched a fresh bid to get international students removed from the UK’s net migration target.

Twenty-four university leaders have urged the government to exempt universities from the counter-terrorism bill or risk harming academic freedom

Lecturer agrees an out-of-court settlement after the UCU sought to reclaim its legal costs

Former AAUP head and others aim to sway ‘non-fanatical’ supporters of sanctions with The Case against Academic Boycotts of Israel

Academics seek to determine role of Sir Mark Walport after announcement of Nurse review of research councils

Calls to sack Robert Lambert would deprive us of academic expertise, argues Stefano Bonino

Liberal Democrat Julian Huppert decries ‘illiberal’ campuses and ‘selfish’ calls by v-cs to raise tuition fees

Endorsement comes after ministers are accused by Labour of misleading Parliament

By Michael Stratford, for Inside Higher Ed

Academics in Saudi Arabia have been urged in an open letter signed by 18 Nobel Prize winners to condemn the public flogging of blogger Raif Badawi

A student at the University of Kent has been named as the Green Party’s spokesman for higher and further education

The University of Bedfordshire has become the second higher education institution in the UK to commit to not investing in the fossil fuel industry

The UK is ranked fifth among the world’s most developed nations for the number of young people with higher education, after rapid progress since 2000

Labour leader also pledges to say more on HE policy ‘by time of manifesto’

Science and universities minister says more must be done on issue

Lawyer says government condemns terror attack on Charlie Hebdo but legislation could have a ‘chilling effect’ on campus debate

Theresa May criticised after Home Office proposes new rules for overseas cohort

Freedom of speech has become a “sexual fetish” in the West in light of the Charlie Hebdo terror atrocity, according to academic and writer Will Self

Government plans to tackle “extremism” will have a “seriously inhibiting effect on bona fide academic debate in universities”, MPs and peers warn

The University of Huddersfield vice-chancellor Bob Cryan has defended the Duke of York, its patron, in the face of “ridiculous” sex allegations

David Cameron and George Osborne have trumpeted universities’ involvement in plans to boost the economy of the North West

The counter-terrorism bill will co-opt academics into the ‘securocrat’ and chill debate on campus - it must be fought, says Martin Hall

Plan to force overseas students to leave the UK after graduation appears to have been blocked by George Osborne

Raising tuition fees to £9,000 has not helped drive improvements in teaching despite the government’s insistence it would improve standards

James Dyson has become the latest to criticise plans mooted by home secretary Theresa May’s to send overseas graduates home after their course

The universities minister offered no guarantees in the review of the agencies

Alan Ryan is dismayed to see that the US is still bedevilled by lethal racism

Imagine having the power to direct higher education leaders, scholars or policymakers to take - and stick to - a new approach in 2015

Award-winning writer and scholar Marina Warner and Warwick vice-chancellor Nigel Thrift are among those recognised in the New Year Honours

David Willetts has criticised “mean-spirited” plans by his Tory colleague Theresa May to put further restrictions on overseas students

Theresa May is reported to be drawing up plans to send all overseas students back home once they finish their courses.

Coalition partner’s fees ‘betrayal’ could bring 2015 poll shifts in student-heavy constituencies. The campus political landscape assessed

Nicholas Boyle, the author of 2014: How to Survive the Next World Crisis, reflects on the predictions he made about the past 12 months

Union claims that conflict of interest means leader of a government body formed to help students caught up in a visa crackdown must go

Chair of PAC tells civil servant he is ‘failing’ to account for public money and says situation is ‘nothing short of a scandal’