Royal Holloway and St George’s revive merger talks Previous round of negotiations curtailed by financial crisis in 2009 By Chris Havergal 21 September
Give non-graduates more respect, says ex-Tory minister Gap between graduates and non-graduates is UK’s ‘biggest social divide’, Baroness Stowell warns By Anna McKie 21 September
The ‘lost art’ of mischief-making academic indexes Evolution of indexes closely tied to development of universities, says author, who outlines how they have been used for centuries to settle scholarly scores By Matthew Reisz 21 September
‘National collection’ plan to join up UK historical resources Ambitious AHRC-funded programme should help break down barriers and enable scholars to ask difficult questions about heritage By Matthew Reisz 21 September
Welsh v-cs fear ‘unintended consequences’ of English reforms Universities Wales chair says institutions are waiting on Westminster reforms, when England should instead be following their lead By Anna McKie 21 September
Stephen Toope to step down as Cambridge v-c next year Canadian cites challenge of being separated from family during pandemic By Chris Havergal 20 September
Progressive reform of English student loan system ‘impossible’ Any changes to borrowing terms likely to hit average earners hardest, warns IFS By Chris Havergal 20 September
England’s ITT reforms pose needless risk at the worst possible time If it all goes wrong, universities will not be able to avert truly disastrous consequences, says Rama Thirunamachandran By Rama Thirunamachandran 19 September
George Freeman replaces Amanda Solloway as UK science minister Former life sciences minister founded series of Cambridge biomedical start-ups before entering politics By Chris Havergal 17 September
English coastal towns ‘lose one in three graduates’ to cities IFS report suggests retention of graduates may be key to ‘levelling-up’ agenda By Simon Baker 17 September
Zahawi arrives with entry bar and loan changes on?agenda New education secretary may have limited opportunity to significantly change direction of travel at Westminster, say experts By John Morgan 17 September
European universities plan long-term travel cuts post-Covid Most institutions plan to swap short trips with virtual meetings By Anna McKie 17 September