lord browne

Newly published memoirs by Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP, cast new light on the Yukos affair just as Yukos shareholders filed a lawsuit for $98 billion against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights. The book includes an insider's view of Russia's oil oligarchs, which could hypothetically reinforce the claim that Khodorkovsky's prosecution was politically motivated. The European court held its first hearing on March 4.

Yukos was pursuing very energetic and fraudulent activity in the Duma [and it eventually became] very hard for the government to get a single law through the Duma without a green light from Yukos.   -Yegor Gaidar

 

It will put pressure on the inquiry into student finance, headed by Lord Browne, to recommend a substantial increase in the present cap on tuition fees of £3,240 a year. This is unlikely to be a major financial threat to students from the poorest backgrounds. Even those who advocate lifting the cap completely and allowing universities to charge what they want – such as the chancellor of Oxford University, Lord Patten, and the Association of Graduate Recruiters, which represents 750 of the biggest employ  

The Government should scrap its target of admitting 50 per cent of people under 30 into higher education, according to a new report from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR). It has also proposed a phased increase in tuition fees by 2020 with safeguards in place to ensure that those who cannot afford the increases are not disadvantaged from higher education. The AGR believes that the government target has watered down the importance of degrees.

reaffirm the value of a degree.   -Carl Gilleard

 

The Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance has set out its initial findings and called for views on how the system should be funded in the future. A paper published on 15 March summarises evidence from about 80 submissions presented to the review, which is being led by Lord Browne of Madingley. The document says there is "clear agreement" that the introduction of top-up fees has not led to a fall in full-time participation, but there is also a consensus that the student fin  

Labour's target of getting 50% of young people to go to university has driven down standards and devalued degrees – and the next government should abolish it, leading graduate recruiters argued today. The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), which represents 750 employers, many of them blue-chip companies, also called for a phased increase in top-up fees. It said its proposals would force higher education institutions to be more open about the job prospects their courses offered.  

The expansion of university places has "devalued the currency of a degree" and forced thousands of students onto poor courses that lack academic rigour, it is claimed. In a stinging pre-election attack, the Association of Graduate Recruiters said the "artificial" growth in undergraduates had created problems for organisations who can no longer differentiate between courses. It also warned that targets designed to increase the number of students from poor backgrounds risked being met at the expense of

devalued the currency of a degree   -Association of Graduate Recruiters

 

Students and their parents, as well as the parents of those children who are likely to go to university in the future, are likely to take a dim view of the proposal yesterday by the Association of Graduate Recruiters for the cap on student top-up fees to be phased out. Fees are currently limited to £3,200 a year but an independent government review, led by the former BP head Lord Browne, which will report after the general election, is considering raising the cap to £7,000. Complaints about the proposed  

Tuition fees will not be imposed on university students in Scotland under the present government, said education secretary Mike Russell. The MSP gave the assurance at the annual National Union of Students Scotland (NUS) conference in Dunfermline, but did acknowledge that funding for institutions will come under increased pressure in the coming years. He said "alternative solutions to tuition fees" should be fully explored in a debate involving government, universities and students about how Scottish h

This will be a relief for many hundreds of thousands of Scottish students studying at university, particularly following a great deal of speculation from university leaders in recent times.   -Liam Burns

 

The Royal Academy of Engineering (founder and senior fellow Prince Philip) wants to attract more young people 'from a diverse range of backgrounds' as part of a programme to raise the profile of the profession, increase the output from universities and make a bigger contribution to Britain's economic recovery. There was a heavyweight turnout for a campaign which has made a lively debut with Dick Olver, chairman of BAE Systems stirring a hornet's nest by calling on fitters and others to drop engineer from  

Top universities are calling for middle-class students to be stripped of subsidised loans in a move that could add more than £1,000 a year to the cost of a degree course. They believe the current student support system is far too generous and needs to focus on the poorest. Cambridge and University College London are the latest to join Oxford University's demands for wealthier students to lose out on taxpayer-funded loans.

This has an unwanted regressive effect. The implied substantial subsidy from the public purse might be better targeted.   -University College London