Callum Cant was a 16-year-old schoolboy when students took to the streets in 2010 in the biggest protest for a generation. He watched on television as up to 50,000 marched through the centre of London against the trebling of tuition fees to £9,000 a year; he saw the police kettle in Parliament Square and the ambush of Conservative party offices at Millbank and he was strangely moved by what he saw. “These people were fighting for a future that was not theirs. They were fighting for my future.” R...

The number of students placed by UCAS in higher education has exceeded half a million for the first time, UCAS’ End of Cycle Report reveals today (19 December 2014). Some 512,400 people secured places in UK universities and colleges, up nearly 17,000 on 2013 (+3.4%). More UK students than ever were accepted into UK HE (447,500, +3.2%) alongside record numbers of students from outside the UK. Read more

Only 56 per cent of students that planned to do postgraduate study in 2013 went on to do so within six months, and the proportion was even lower for black and minority ethnic, disabled and mature students. Read More

Patterns and Trends in UK Higher Education, published by Universities UK on 15 November, collates information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency and other sources about 2012-13, the first year of the new charging regime. The report confirms that the number of first-year undergraduates enrolled at institutions across the UK fell by 16.7 per cent in 2012-13, compared with the previous year. The number of first-year postgraduates also dropped, by 3.8 per cent. Read More

There has been a steep rise in the number of GCSE and A-level grades changed after schools challenged the results, according to official data. A total of 77,400 grades were changed for the summer 2014 exam series across England, Wales and Northern Ireland - up from 54,400 in 2013. Read More

The UK’s research bodies should “ease up” on promoting competition between academics in favour of encouraging collaboration between disciplines and institutions. Read More

More disadvantaged pupils in England's primary schools are moving on to secondary school able to read, write and add up, official data shows. Two-thirds of pupils (67%) on free school meals gained a Level 4 in reading, writing and maths this year - up four percentage points on 2013. Read More

HEFCE’s conference on student success in higher education | HEFCE blog: On Monday, we held a conference to outline the broad range of work we are undertaking to maximise the outcomes of higher education for students, the economy and society. From my perspective, it was a great day and I hope that our invited speakers and delegates got as much from the day as we did. Read More

Around half of UK secondary schools did not provide a single applicant to study medicine over a three year period, new research suggests. The University of Nottingham study commissioned by the Medical Schools Council (MSC) found that 20 per cent of schools and colleges provide 80 per cent of applicants to medicine, with grammar  and independent schools responsible for about half of all applications. Read More