University News

The National Union of Students has launched a campaign urging universities and colleges to ban payday lenders advertising on campuses.

The NUS said that the University of Northampton, Northumbria University and Swansea University have already joined the campaign and called on others to follow their lead.

The announcement comes at a time when Britain's biggest payday lenders have been accused of failing to act responsibly.

Pete Mercer, NUS national vice-president, said: "Students are struggling to make ends meet and this is having a real impact on their wellbeing and their education.

"It's great that these institutions have already joined our campaign and I hope that others will soon follow suit."

However a spokesman from the Consumer Finance Association, which represents all major short-term lenders, said the NUS was "denying choices to its members" without fully understanding the industry or the way students manage their finances in 2013.

• UK
• Payday loans
• University

We expect that the total number of full-time students in higher education this year will be bigger than in any year before 2010.

Therefore this shows the benefits of our reforms coming through already. More students are going to their first choice institution. Moreover, acceptance rates for applicants from disadvantaged areas increased this year.

Our reforms are helping students to make well-informed choices using better information.

• Education
• University

Fewer students at UK universities represents the failure of the Government's higher education policies.

Higher tuition fees forced a scramble for places last year, which simply highlights the unfair nature of the Government's hike in fees.

If we are to open up university to our most talented people, we need to remove punitive financial barriers.

The Tory-led Government's policy to raise fees to #9,000 has put a brake on aspiration and has led people considering applying to university to decide against doing so at precisely the time that higher-level skills have never been more important to secure their future."

• Education
• University

The fact that women remain more likely to enter higher education than men are to apply is a striking and worrying finding.

The headline numbers in this report signal the challenging environment for recruitment in 2012 for some parts of UK higher education.

However, the underlying findings are more subtle - for example, although demand for higher education has fallen in England, the actual entry rates for young people are close to trend.

The continuing increase in participation from more disadvantaged groups is very encouraging, as is the absence of any signal that they are turning away from higher fee courses.

• Education
• University

Ucas has raised concerns about the "worrying" drop-off in men entering higher education.

The report found that among UK 18-year-olds, women were a third more likely to enter higher education than men this year.

In 2012, the entry rate fell for both men and women but the decrease for men was four times greater than for women.

• Education
• University

The Ucas report released today shows a drop in student beginning starting university courses this year.

The reports findings highlight that;

• 53,900 fewer students started their studies this autumn, compared to last year
• Women are a third more likely to start a degree course than men
• Students who began degree courses this autumn were the first to pay tuition fees of up to £9,000

• Education
• University

Tens of thousands fewer students started university courses this autumn following the move to triple tuition fees, it has been suggested.

Concerns were also raised about the "worrying" drop-off in men entering higher education in the Ucas report on university entry for 2012 revealed.

The report suggests that the fall was affected by fewer people deferring their degree last year so they could avoid paying newer, higher tuition fees.

Students who began degree courses this autumn were the first to pay tuition fees of up to £9,000.

• Education
• University

Close to 5,200 university leavers sought employment in the the Far East, North America and mainland Europe last year, according to reports.

That figure is up by 1,000 since the beginning of the economic crisis.

Graduates from the top universities are significantly more likely to be tempted overseas, the Telegraph reported, citing official figures.

Almost one-in-10 British graduates from institutions such as Durham, Exeter, Cambridge and Oxford who found jobs in 2011 were working overseas.

Among British students from St Andrews he rate jumped to 12 per cent.

• UK
• graduates
• University

The University of Ulster has announced it will honour the majority of course offers it emailed to students in error.

The Northern Ireland university's School of Engineering mistakenly responded to 370 applications with congratulatory offers, despite the school only having 194 places.

The error was blamed on a "computer glitch".

For all students for whom we have a complete set of examination results, we are able to honour the offer made.

There remain 20 students for whom the school has not yet received the full set of examination results. Decisions on these students will be taken as soon as this information is available.

• UK
• Education
• University

The University and College Union (UCU) general secretary has responded to new reports into the drop in university applications following a rise in tuition fees. Sally Hunt said:

Young people not applying for university have few other opportunities with levels of high unemployment and the difficulty securing other forms of education or training.

We need to be investing in our young people, not directing them towards a lengthy dole queue.

• Education
• University
• fees