Feed Editor (Unlicensed) 18 Apr 2007 11:27:20 GMT UK news from The National Student - The independent, free, national student newspaper, magazine and the UKs leading online student portal. http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/index.htm Defender Newspapers http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss en-gb http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_student_big_logo.gif http://www.national-student.co.uk The National Student - The independent, free, national student newspaper, magazine and the UK's leading online student portal. Shocked drinkers saw their union president head butt a fellow student. Hundreds were packed into University of Central Lancashire campus bar Source when sozzled Students’ Union president Chris Lowden lashed out. Stocky Lowden was knocking back pints of Guinness before Joe Calzaghe’s boxing match against Bernard Hopkins on April 19. The rugby player then started his own heavy weight bout after head butting a reveller who pushed in at the bar. The scuffle involving around ten people had to be broken up by bouncers and bar staff. Lowden was then thrown out - of his own Students’ Union. 15 May 2008 10:06:21 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/drunk_nutter.htm 365C32FD-1CD0-4E6E-8BF6-A11ABC7AEFD9 Students in Manchester made their voices heard last month when a protest over standards brought rush hour traffic to a stand-still. On Tuesday April 22 over 200 students from newly-formed pressure group Reclaim the Uni marched around the University of Manchester campus, breaking through several lines of police before holding a sit-in in the university’s Arthur Lewis building. 15 May 2008 10:05:41 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/reclaim_the_uni.htm ED4DB600-97C2-4F79-A5A4-6110ABA4CBDA Four Manchester Metropolitan students are hoping to be an ‘Undressed’ success with their new venture. Fashion buying students Charlotte Kearney, Matthew Moxham, Anna Temple and Sarah Martin have set up their own underwear company. Undressed was formed in September last year as part of an assignment for their course and began full trading in January. They produce ‘slogan’ printed vest and knickers sets for women emblazoned with “strong empowering messages” such as ‘Venus favours the bold’; ‘History is her story too’ and ‘Being a lady is an attitude’. 15 May 2008 10:04:43 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/undressed_for_success.htm D9EAF01C-B64C-49ED-ABC1-C96FE838E745 A student stripogram has escaped being banged-up after judges ruled his weapon is not offensive. In May last year The National Student reported on Stuart Kennedy’s run-in with police. Known as Sergeant Eros, the dirty dancer’s policeman act attracted the attention of Grampian Police in Aberdeen who charged him with impersonating a police officer and carrying an offensive weapon. But a sheriff seems to have no problem with Eros’ truncheon as the charges of carrying an offensive weapon in a public place without a reasonable excuse were recently thrown out. 15 May 2008 10:04:13 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/cops_weapon_not_offensive.htm 16729DE6-83E2-440F-AAC8-8EE9685FEF16 Five students have been evicted from their home in Oxford without warning because the landlord failed to keep up with his mortgage repayments. The third-year students returned home one evening to find that their door had been kicked in and the locks had been changed. A note had been left on the door telling the students to contact Allen Harris Estate Agents. 15 May 2008 10:03:40 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/finalists_evicted_without_warning.htm 247396D7-FEF3-48C2-8FA1-581CC9A70B8C An increasing number of students are lodging complaints against their universities. A report released by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIAHE) revealed that the number of complaints had risen 25%, an increase for the third consecutive year. According to the OIAHE, almost two-thirds of the received complaints were regarding academic results, while disciplinary matters and plagiarism accounted for the remaining majority. One of the reasons for the friction between students and their universities is the desire for value for money, at a time when student’s fees are set to increase. 15 May 2008 10:03:02 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/student_complaints_rise_for_third_consecutive_year.htm A052A65E-BC95-4A3A-A639-BBD29CE111E4 Social networking sites have come under fire after thousands of students joined in a Leeds city centre water-fight which damaged the city’s newest park and may result in charges for the student organisers. What was meant to be a bit of bank holiday fun turned into a riotous and expensive civil problem. The revelry, which lasted almost an hour, resulted in fountains being drained and a prize-winning park dedicated to Nelson Mandela trashed. 15 May 2008 10:02:11 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/leeds_water_rampage.htm BF8C17E1-9716-4EFC-A319-850BD9C473A1 Students from the University of St Andrews have protested the closure of one of the university’s budget halls of residence. On May 2 around 150 students joined the demonstration against the closure and demolition of Fife Park. Despite a replacement hall being planned, protesters from the Lower Rents NOW! campaign are unhappy with the announcement that rents in the new block will be double that of Fife Park rising from £52 to between £110 and £130 per week. Campaigners claim this will dramatically increase the price of private accommodation and have a negative effect on social diversity at St Andrews which already has a reputation for exclusivity and elitism. 15 May 2008 10:01:40 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/lower_rents_now.htm 5BFDEBE7-6D5B-4AF8-BCB4-A04CFFBA8C8D By far the biggest academic issue at the moment is the purchase of custom essays by students. Many of these students are looking for an easy ride to scholastic excellence. Companies providing bespoke essays to students have been universally condemned by lecturers, student groups and the majority of students for profiting from aiding lazy or below-par students to cheat. Yet many students, in particular foreign students, are parting with their cash regularly on such essays turning this market into a multi-million pound industry. 15 May 2008 10:01:03 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/for_cheats_or_not_for_cheats.htm 367B1AF0-122D-45AC-8522-97AB201D4425 A satirical musical about Princess Diana was banned from opening to the public last month due to fear of causing offence. The University of Brighton ruled that Rupert Dannreuther’s controversial musical, which was created for his degree course, should be shown to select guests only at a university owned theatre-bar. Publicity for Diana The Musical shows a line drawing of a skeletal princess wearing a tiara. 15 May 2008 10:00:27 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/public_ban_for_diana_musical.htm AFC45CDA-0ABC-4DDB-AB5D-57775499A793 An Oxford university graduate has revealed how graduates can earn up to £30,000 a year writing essays for custom-essay sites. The writer who wishes to remain anonymous said he was commissioned by a firm that sells essays by Oxford graduates on the internet. The graduate said he gets paid about £500 for an undergraduate essay. 15 May 2008 09:59:43 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/grads_earn_30k_a_year_from_custom_essays.htm AE691C84-8AF0-47B5-ADE1-B85D63BEE6E8 Students at Manchester had their dissertation deadline and word count changed just days before the work was due in. Third-year Religion and Theology students were sent a single-line email informing them the deadline would be one day earlier due to a ‘typo’ on the course page. 15 May 2008 09:58:18 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/manchester_dissertation_debacle.htm 9CECDAB1-DB9D-4813-B8A8-8DE272F9F8AD Hundreds of Chinese students gathered in Manchester and London on April 19 to protest against what they see as ‘media distortion’ in the reporting of Free Tibet protests during the Olympic Torch relay and the Lhasa riot. They claim the reporting is biased towards the Free Tibet movement and the Tibetan government in exile. 15 May 2008 09:57:56 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/chinese_students_protest_media_distortion.htm EAFE06FB-E5C0-4155-84EB-5C0BF864765B Students inflicted the biggest defeat on the National Union of Students’ Labour leadership for 20 years when they rejected a new constitution in a shock vote on April 1. NUS conference sees 1,500 students elected from universities and colleges across the country coming together every year to set the policy of their national union. But this year, the very first vote the conference faced was on whether to ‘ratify’ a new constitution - and abolish itself. The reformers needed 717 votes for a two thirds majority, but only secured 692 for the executive’s plan which would have removed the power of left-wing groups from the democratic process. If the changes had passed, then the conference would have been replaced with a much smaller rally, called ‘congress’, and a series of ‘zone conferences’ that would discuss policy but not actually vote on it. An appointed board of ‘professionals’ would have run the union instead of students. 20 Apr 2008 13:37:59 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/conference_says_no.htm 680F9CBA-EB88-4128-BAD0-B1939EA59E08 Wes Streeting was elected as the new president of NUS in an election that was widely seen as a foregone conclusion - but by a smaller majority than some expected. Streeting, who is the leader of the Labour Students faction in NUS, beat his closest rival, ‘genuine independent’ Ciaran Norris, by 496 votes to 376. The other two candidates polled lower than expected in the early rounds, with Student Broad Left’s Ruqayyah Collector eliminated on 136 votes and Education Not for Sale’s Daniel Randall on 119. Many of their votes transferred to Norris, but not enough to push him past Streeting. 20 Apr 2008 13:36:29 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/wes_for_pres.htm EA4AD0C3-6C24-4339-8DF5-3760189BA3A8 It was widely reported in the press after conference that NUS has now officially ‘dropped its fight’ for free education in favour of lobbying to keep the top-up fees cap. The reality is more subtle. Wes Streeting was elected as NUS president on a clear Labour platform of fighting for ‘fairer funding’, not free education, and has given interviews to the Guardian, the BBC and others making this clear. Calling the vote 'the rise of student realism', he said: 'The majority of us want to have a real and serious voice in the fight for a fairer funding system.' But in the actual motions debate, Streeting’s ‘lobby MPs’ amendment passing simply deleted the free education one, thanks to the arcane ‘compositing’ process. The conference did not have any debate about free education, and did not vote to drop the principle of scrapping fees. 20 Apr 2008 13:35:21 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/has_nus_dropped_fees_fight.htm 71D7193F-E582-4A7A-BB3F-340ED48A548D NUS Conference passed one of its most radical policies for years in the conference’s very last debate. Students voted to pass a motion titled ‘Don’t Attack Iran’, leaving sections intact that call for support for university occupations opposing any invasion. In an echo of the radicalism of 1968, the motion commits NUS to: "Take action against escalation towards an attack on Iran, and for such action to include occupations." University occupations are a form of sustained sit-in protest, often used by radical students on the continent but rare in Britain. Some delegates tried to delete the part about occupations, but were unsuccessful. 20 Apr 2008 13:34:23 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/occupy_unis_to_stop_iran_war.htm EAB39A33-908A-4D01-8EC6-9D27A0536741 A man campaigning as a pirate has become the new student union president of York University. 'Mad Captain Tom Scott' promised to put a cannon on the top of York's central venue and to give all student officers swashbuckling lessons. Captain Tom sunk his rivals to win a huge majority of the vote - leaving the rest of the candidates red-faced. Captain Tom has promised to take the top post and stay as the captain all year claiming that ordinary students are ‘disillusioned’ with how student politics works. He cited his reason for running as: "mystery, adventure, and the lure of the seas". 11 Mar 2008 18:28:06 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/pirate_president.htm E33EBE4C-4ACE-4ED9-9257-7A8ECCD6BD8A York students are being paid £630 to be injected with a non infectious form of HIV. The programme forms part of clinical trials aimed at finding a cure for the disease. The university’s biology department are carrying out the trials - who earlier this year ran into controversy after a report claimed the department’s lecturers paid 'little or no attention' to the health and safety of students after losing a radioactive chemical. 20 Apr 2008 13:33:50 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/students_injected_with_hiv.htm AA76AF41-3FD0-4568-A0BD-4D6634A21240 In a shocking development the government has announced that almost three times as much money as previously thought has been paid in student loans and grants to prisoners. In March, The National Student reported that an estimated £250,000 had been paid out to inmates, but now, the Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary John Denham has put the total at £730,000. Despite fewer prisoners having received money than originally thought - 154 not the estimated 250 - the final figure is massively larger than first predicted. Denham has now ended the 'long established but unjustifiable provision'. 20 Apr 2008 13:32:53 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/prisoners_got_more.htm 1D548611-3F5D-4EB9-B177-B13A23C9D817 University of Bristol Students’ Union (UBU) has lost its Fairtrade status due to a failure to meet key criteria. Last month Epigram reported that the union is also to be stripped of its Sound Impact award, an environmental accreditation honour, partly due to its failure to provide Fairtrade tea and coffee. UBU was last year awarded a bronze Sound Impact award after meeting 20 essential criteria relating to reducing the union’s environmental impact. The union found out that it would not qualify for an award this year on February 29, at the same time as events were taking place for their Fairtrade Fortnight. 20 Apr 2008 13:32:20 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/unethical_union_to_lose_fairtrade_status.htm 3EC546E2-860B-485D-970F-F2E02950E917 The radical 'Viva Essex' slate at the University of Essex took five out of five sabbatical positions after the NUS discovered voter fraud had deprived them of their full victory, last month. The ‘Vivas’ had won four out of the five positions after the first count, but the incumbent president Richard Doughty had managed to hang on to his position, leaving the new team ‘headless’ and slate leader Dominic Kavakeb shocked and devastated. However, a three-week independent investigation by NUS found fraud in the online voting system used for the elections, and was able to identify 180 votes that had been cast from only four internet addresses. After these votes were removed, the presidency was switched from Doughty to Kavakeb, and an election that had been ‘bittersweet’ for the ‘Vivas’ turned into a landslide. 20 Apr 2008 13:31:33 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/viva_essex.htm B9FAC573-0586-4D40-9917-87834EF54B42 The debate over lifting the top-up fees cap finally came out into the open at a debate between Bristol University vice -chancellor Prof Eric Thomas and leading left-wing MP John McDonnell on March 10. The rare event saw the two big-hitters battle it out over “the higher education issue that dare not speak its name”: lifting the fees cap. 20 Apr 2008 13:30:24 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/the_future_of_fees.htm DEFBCD49-842A-41E2-83EF-7917371D2B3F Eight children's charities are urging ministers to outlaw universities trawling Facebook and other social networking websites for information on prospective students. They say that educational establishments and employers are combing the internet to dig up ‘digital dirt’ on young people who have applied for positions. 20 Apr 2008 13:29:37 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/plea_to_ban_unis_trawling_facebook.htm C998CD22-B8DD-4A62-ACED-9714C8FAEBAD Universities have warned that students using essay buying sites to cheat on assignments are proving harder to catch than other types of plagiarism. Students are selling essays to companies who sell them on to other scholars who wish to cheat to obtain higher grades. Robert Clarke, a lecturer at Birmingham City University, has identified 4,000 sales on a small number of websites. 20 Apr 2008 13:28:37 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/essay_site_cheats_harder_to_catch.htm 311C4C07-7BE4-4485-939A-EE582D97DFCB In response to being criticised by a range of universities across the UK for promoting health-damaging drinking habits, companies organising so-called ‘pub crawls’ are accusing the student’s unions themselves of bearing the brunt of the blame. Earlier this month the National Union of Students called for a campaign to promote ‘responsible drinking’ amongst students, in a motion put forward at its annual conference. In some of the UK’s biggest university cities, including Derby, York, Liverpool, Wolverhampton and London, students agree that people are being pressured to drink, leading them to being exposed to the risk of transmitting sexual diseases and being criminally victimised. 20 Apr 2008 13:27:39 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/nus_accuses_companies_organising_pub_crawls_of_being_irresponsible.htm B981503A-9774-4C97-809E-7769D0487700 A masters student has been suspended indefinitely from her university for criticising her course in a video posted on Youtube. Naomi Sugai, posted a minute and a half video complaining about shortcomings on her £4,750-a-year business course at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge 20 Apr 2008 13:27:14 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/student_suspended_for_criticising_course_on_youtube.htm 31B65530-0640-47B1-BFB9-A8643E8B2338 New research shows boys are more confident about their academic ability than girls but are less likely to go to university. This confidence is what a research team worry may lead to an imbalance in the gender of our graduates. Led by Dr Arnaud Chevalier from Royal Holloway at the University of London, the research team found boys are more confident than girls in thinking they can get a good job without going to university. 20 Apr 2008 13:26:48 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/female_students_are_doing_better_at_university_but_men_are_earning_more.htm 6266E448-6EE6-4BCD-B800-B463C733A701 A doctor from the University of Exeter Student Health Centre has voiced concern that students may be buying a potentially harmful drug to aid their studies. Exepose reported that Dr Vik Mohan said that modafinil which is only licensed in the UK for prescription against cases of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and Narcolepsy, is being used by some students to aid concentration when studying. 20 Apr 2008 13:26:07 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/students_taking_potentially_harmful_drug_to_aid_studies.htm 07C107F7-4F1A-4D0D-9865-C97D686917B4 A whistleblower has accused student political leaders of 'backroom deals' and 'dirty games' aimed to ensure Labour Students’ leader Wes Streeting becomes the next president of the National Union of Students. Kevin Atkinson has spoken out after serving as an elected officer at Manchester Metropolitan University for five years. He sits on NUS’ national executive as an observer for the North West region. He said: "I was in the upper echelons - what you might call the ‘inner circle’. I’m speaking out now because of the unbelievable arrogance I found there." "They patronisingly say ‘we know what’s best for students’ while sitting in Westminster and never speaking to anyone. They only care about their political careers - not about students." Atkinson says that this year’s elections have been "stitched up" by a deal that will see NUS president Gemma Tumelty’s ‘Organised Independents’ faction being handed the vice-president higher education position for Aaron Porter, in exchange for them not standing a candidate against Streeting for president. 5 Mar 2008 12:43:29 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/dirty_games_nus_presidential_election_stitch_up.htm 18A90229-0D29-4E1D-8C04-1111086B68C7 A first year student returned home to discover everything in his bedroom had been wrapped in newspaper. Tom ‘Burchy’ Burchfield’s room at the University of Bristol had been papered from head-to-toe in several newspapers including local student newspaper Epigram. His walls, ceiling, floor, duvet, mattress, curtains and sink, as well as every other item in his room, were covered. The full list included his clothes, DVDs, books, mugs, squash racquet and even a loose teabag! Click to view the full story and see video of the prank! 5 Mar 2008 12:42:26 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/wall_to_wall_coverage.htm FB53E197-ABA7-4CF0-AC91-A774D2EF710E A No Platform policy has been rejected in a student vote at the University of Bath. In a landslide victory for the ‘no’ camp, 619 out of the 785 votes cast in the University of Bath Students’ Union referendum were against the policy. 158 people voted for the policy with eight people abstaining. The policy was put forward to allow the students’ union to react more swiftly to controversies like the one surrounding a proposed visit by British National Party leader Nick Griffin to the campus last year. 5 Mar 2008 12:41:41 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/bath_says_no_to_no_platform.htm CCD47534-8EBB-4E45-98C9-168CDE105F23 Students across the UK joined protests against their universities’ links with the arms trade, last month. Protesters at University College London attempted to sell fake weapons on campus while students at Lancaster held an open-air debate on the arms trade. Campaigners say that anger is growing amongst students at universities’ investment in the arms companies, and their research links. 5 Mar 2008 12:40:55 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/students_protest_across_uk_over_university_arms_links.htm 2602A895-FBFE-4729-B9A0-84E6EB5EBEEE A student newspaper has been forced to remove its front cover after a complaint was received about its lead story. The piece on unclaimed student bursaries, in the February 6 edition of the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union (UPSU) newspaper Pugwash News, featured a statement from NUS vice president for education Wes Streeting stating that the funds meant for students were ‘lining the pockets of vice chancellors’ nation-wide. The Pugwash piece focused specifically on bursaries meant for students in Portsmouth and consequently may have implied that Streeting’s comments were directed at Portsmouth vice chancellors. 17 Feb 2008 13:57:21 GMT http://www.national-student.co.uk/national_news/newspaper_forced_to_remove_front_cover.htm E10142D0-8157-4CF1-BA55-9B633C937F49 Credit reference agencies are to receive details about the repayment of student loans for the first time. These repayments have previously been kept private between the Student Loans Company and individual graduates. From later this year details of payments will be sent to the three credit reference agencies in the UK: Experian, Equifax and Callcredit. 5 Mar 2008 12:40:31 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/student_loans_to_feature_in_credit_checks.htm A37ACFBB-F96F-4316-8782-38F4856C20E5 An independent inquiry looking into how the use of new technologies by the ‘Google generation’ will shape higher education was launched last month. The inquiry will consider the impact of new technologies such as social networking and mobile devices and the behaviour and attitudes of students who are approaching or have just arrived at university, and the issues this poses for universities. 5 Mar 2008 12:40:07 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/inquiry_into_googles_impact_on_uni_launched.htm 28A4D40D-8E51-40EB-B956-6B9865ED62B9 A media student at the University of Lincoln pawned university equipment in order to pay his rent. Kevin Robinson, 32, admitted borrowing a camcorder worth over £1,000 and selling it on to Cash Converters for £250 in August last year. 5 Mar 2008 12:39:25 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/university_camera_sold_to_pay_rent.htm 3400C267-3001-413D-A03B-E0F5EB7D4964 A decade after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement students at Queen’s University Belfast are now studying terrorism and political violence. Queen’s now offers a Masters degree in Violence, Terrorism and Security, and despite the obvious irony of studying terrorism in Belfast the university has great expertise in the field, both at home and further afield. 5 Mar 2008 12:38:33 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/new_terror_degree_at_queens.htm F71E101A-96E2-43A9-9532-818CADE1F0BB Cambridge students and lecturers donned orange jumpsuits on February 20 to protest the continued detention of inmates by the US at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. 200 students took part in Cambridge University Amnesty International group’s ‘Orange Wednesday’ by dressing in the infamous orange uniform of those detained to register their anger at the continued human rights abuses committed as part of the ‘War on Terror’. The demonstration organised as part of the group’s ‘Terrorism, Security and Human Rights’ Campaign culminated in volunteers congregating on King’s Lawn at King’s College in the shape of the Amnesty candle. 5 Mar 2008 12:37:48 GMT http://national-student.co.uk/national_news/orange_wednesday.htm 7DF00634-D33D-48A3-8680-459E95182324