“Labour’s proposal to include farmland in means testing has set farmers across the country on the warpath because they see it as blatant discrimination …” (more)
[Caitriona Murphy, Independent, 2 March]
“When the second iteration of my free mathematics MOOC starts this weekend, I anticipate at least 30,000 students will sign up. Not as many as the 65,000 I got last year, when it had novelty value – and a lot less competition! – but still a substantial number …” (more)
[Keith Devlin, Huffington Post, 2 March]
“Federal legislation that will reform how colleges treat sexual violence and stalking on campus is on its way to President Barack Obama’s desk after the House passed the Violence Against Women Act on Thursday …” (more)
[Tyler Kingkade, Huffington Post, 1 March]
“The lower house of the German parliament, known as the Bundestag, has approved a new bill that would require search engines to pay a license fee for re-publishing content longer than ‘individual words or short excerpts’. The bill passed by a vote of 293 to 243, with three abstentions …” (more)
[Cyrus Farival, Ars Technica, 2 March]
“On 14 January 2013 in the Royal Irish Academy, Ireland’s national academy for the arts and the sciences, a pioneering feasibility study was launched by Trinity College Dublin, to see if there was a fairer and a better way of admitting students to university in Ireland …” (more)
[Patrick Geoghegan, British Politics and Policy, 1 March]
“The Scottish government is to publish proposals aimed at allaying fears that university research budgets could be devastated after independence …” (more)
[BBC News, 2 March]
“Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton has denied workers whose unions left the Croke Park talks are being punished. Yesterday, it emerged that public service staff who retire before August of next year will have their pension entitlements calculated on their pre-pay cut …” (more)
[RTÉ News, 2 March]
“Union leaders and government representatives yesterday agreed on the terms of a possible new national pay deal – including measures extending the working week and cutting down on overtime premiums for most workers …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 2 March]
“Once again, the US Supreme Court is reconsidering nearly four decades of legal precedent – essentially, allowing public universities to use race and ethnicity as one among many factors when considering student admissions …” (more)
[John Aubrey Douglass, University World News, 2 March]
“The European Union (EU) appears ready in principle to endorse the European Commission’s proposals for developing open access to scientific information arising from publicly funded research. But officials say there is some way to go before a detailed system can be agreed …” (more)
[Alan Osborn, University World News, 2 March]
“Many American universities could face a volatile year in terms of financing in 2013, with a major credit ratings agency saying it expects to issue more ratings changes in the not-for-profit higher education sector this year …” (more)
[University World News, 2 March]
“Hundreds of extra postgraduate places are to be created at Scottish universities under a £30 million (US$45 million) scheme …” (more)
[Andrew Denholm, University World News, 2 March]
“Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s plan to include farmland worth over €750,000 in the means test for college grants has exposed an urban-rural divide within Labour …” (more)
[Michael Brennan, Independent, 2 March]
“Student grant applicants will be given clearer information this year on the ability to report reduced incomes, after hundreds had to make appeals that could have been avoided …” (more)
[Irish Examiner, 2 March]
“The two Coalition parties are experiencing deepening divisions on an imminent proposal by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn to include business and farm assets in the means test for student grants …” (more)
[Harry McGee, Irish Times, 2 March]
“Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has denied reports he told Fine Gael TDs that Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn had backed down on plans to include farm assets in the means test for college grants …” (more)
[Alison Healy, Irish Times, 2 March]
“Growing numbers of parents are waiting until a child is five to send them to school. New figures show that 61% of children starting school now are aged five, up from 51% in 1996 …” (more)
[Independent, 2 March]
“The United Arab Emirates is now ‘deeply inimical’ to university values, according to a lecturer from the London School of Economics and Political Science who was barred from entering the country …” (more)
[David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 2 March]
“Nicola Furlong’s family to face killer and watch footage of her last few hours. The family of Irish exchange student Nicola Furlong has arrived in Tokyo to face her alleged killer across a courtroom …” (more)
[David McNeill, Irish Times, 2 March]
“The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation executive has decided not to issue a recommendation to its 32,000 members on whether to vote to accept or reject the €1bn in savings being sought under Croke Park II …” (more)
[Irish Examiner, 2 March]
