Universities

December 27, 2018

The politics of research and science

Australia’s conservative coalition government has been caught intervening in the allocation of research funding. Labor is promising a comprehensive review of the country’s research needs…

April 10, 2018

Shifting sands of scientific progress

The economic, commercial and geo-political status of nations is derived from their scientific and technological prowess. A new report charts how this balance of power…

February 19, 2018

May under pressure to explain funding shortfall

The Prime Minister has promised a review of the flawed university tuition loan system, but tertiary education leaders are left wondering how a financial black…

February 18, 2018

Student loan system in desperate need of overhaul

The influential Treasury Committee has told the Government it must cut interest rates, reintroduce maintenance grants and offer more help to part-time students, Aban Contractor…

February 15, 2018

FOI: Most UK university chiefs help set their own pay

Ninety-five per cent of university leaders are either members of their remuneration committee or entitled to attend meetings, Aban Contractor reports. The majority of university…

January 22, 2018

University staff set to strike in pensions’ row

Staff and university leaders are at loggerheads over plans to change the Universities Superannuation Scheme. A move the union says could cost lecturers £200,000 in…

October 24, 2017

Universities fight McCarthyite witch hunt

A Conservative MP stands accused of compiling a ‘hit list’ of university professors who teach Brexit courses, reports Aban Contractor. Theresa May’s Government was today…

October 20, 2017

A future that leaves equality behind

Times are a changing for education, health, employment and income. John Egan reports on the findings of the OECD on emerging inequalities. For a young…

October 16, 2017

UK universities provide a £95bn economic boost

When it comes to annual turnover, universities have overtaken other large industries, including advertising and marketing, air and spacecraft manufacturing sectors, Aban Contractor reports. Universities…

October 2, 2017

Brexit: university manoeuvres

A French revolution sees a new grouping of top universities prepare to take on the world, Aban Contractor reports from Paris. The discussions that followed…

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Macron to block new Brexit talks on N Ireland
President Macron warned Boris Johnson last night that he would veto any attempt to renegotiate the Northern Ireland Brexit deal. In comments before meeting the prime minister today at the G7 summit in Cornwall, the French leader said it was “not serious” to reopen the agreement. Macron made it clear that he would block any attempt to revise arrangements in Northern Ireland or extend “grace periods”, including the trade in sausages, at the end of this month. “I think it’s not serious to want to review in July what we finalised after years of debate and work in December,” he said. “This is not an issue between the UK and France, it is an issue between Europeans and the UK.” The Times, June 11

Thousands Belfast protest against NI protocol
Warnings have been issued by police after thousands of people gathered in west Belfast to protest over the Northern Ireland protocol. Loyalists gathered in Woodvale on Thursday evening to stage a demonstration and a parade that took place along the Shankill Road. Footage on social media showed the burning of a united Ireland banner which was displayed on the nationalist side of the peace wall earlier this year. Police estimated that more than 3,000 people took part, in excess of the number allowed to gather in public currently under the coronavirus regulations. Under the protocol in the Brexit withdrawal agreement, designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland in effect remains in the single market and EU customs policy is enforced on goods coming from mainland Britain. The Guardian, June 11

G7 leaders to pledge 1bn Covid-19 vaccine doses for poorer countries
Leaders of the G7 economies convening in the UK will announce a pledge to provide 1bn coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer countries as part of a plan to “vaccinate the world” by the end of 2022. The move, to be outlined at the start of the three-day summit on Friday, is designed to address criticism that western governments have secured the bulk of life-saving Covid-19 vaccines to immunise their own populations. The vow is also an attempt to counter “vaccine diplomacy” by Beijing and Moscow, which have been quick to sell their jabs to developing nations. Financial Times, June 10

UK economy grows in April as shops reopen
The UK economy grew 2.3% in April, its fastest monthly growth since July last year. Shoppers spent more on the High Street as non-essential shops reopened, and people bought more cars and caravans. There was also more spending in pubs, cafes and restaurants as restrictions eased the Office for National Statistics said. Despite the surge in activity, the UK economy is still 3.7% below its pre-pandemic peak. Construction fell in April, compared to strong growth the previous month, but the sector remains above its pre-pandemic peak. But Chancellor Rishi Sunak said that the figures were “a promising sign that our economy is beginning to recover”. BBC news, June 11

China’s law to counter US and EU sanctions
China has passed a law to counter foreign sanctions in response to US and EU pressure over trade, technology, Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Individuals or entities involved in making or implementing discriminatory measures against Chinese citizens or entities could be put on an anti-sanctions list and may be denied entry into China or be expelled from the country. Their assets within China may be seized or frozen and they could be restricted from doing business there. China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress standing committee, passed the law on Thursday, according to state television CCTV. All 14 vice-chairpersons of the committee are under US sanctions for passing the Hong Kong national security law last year that critics say has crippled political freedoms. The Guardian, June 11

Famine hits 350,000 in Ethiopia
Famine has afflicted at least 350,000 people in northern Ethiopia’s conflict-ravaged Tigray region, according to the UN and international aid groups. The organisations had warned for weeks of an impending disaster related to the conflict. Of 5.5 million people facing food insecurity in Tigray and neighbouring zones during May and June, 350,000 were in the most severe phase of food security as laid out by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a system used to determine the scale of a hunger crisis. Mark Lowcock, a top UN official, said that the number of people affected by the famine was “higher than anywhere in the world” and the worst in any country since Somalia’s famine in 2011. New York Times, June 11

Hancock hits back at Cummings and denies lying to PM
Health secretary Matt Hancock on Thursday hit back at Dominic Cummings, denying he lied to Boris Johnson and saying the government had been better run since the departure of the prime minister’s former chief adviser. After trenchant criticism by Cummings, Hancock blamed “clinical advice” for his decision to authorise the discharge of people infected with coronavirus from hospitals to care homes. It served to spread Covid-19 in care homes, where tens of thousands died. And giving evidence to two House of Commons select committees investigating the UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the health secretary defended the government against criticism that it had been late to introduce its first lockdown in March last year. Cummings claimed tens of thousands of people died unnecessarily because of multiple government failures during the Covid-19 crisis. Financial Times, June 10

US-UK talks undermined by N Ireland concerns
Joe Biden will meet Boris Johnson in person for the first time on Thursday, with hopes over a new US-UK ‘Atlantic Charter’ undermined by “deep” concerns in Washington over the post-Brexit situation in Northern Ireland. Biden’s anxiety was conveyed directly to London earlier this month by America’s most senior diplomat in Britain, who warned the UK to stop inflaming tensions in Northern Ireland over new Brexit trading rules. Yael Lempert is reported to have issued a démarche, a formal diplomatic reprimand, urging Britain to make “unpopular compromises” if necessary to ease tensions over the so-called Northern Ireland protocol. Downing Street did not comment but the incident confirms that the NI row is souring the lead-up to the G7 summit, which starts on Friday in Cornwall, and damaging relations with Britain’s main economic partners and allies. The EU is threatening trade sanctions if Johnson unilaterally breaks promises he made relating to Northern Ireland, and the G7 summit host will face awkward encounters in the coming days with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the EU itself. Financial Times, June 10