27 July 2011 Last updated at 16.01

London 2012 celebrates one year to go

 

With one year to go until the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, preparations are on track and London’s vision to host a Games that inspires the world is set to become reality.

http://www.london2012.com/news/2011/07/london-2012-celebrates-one-year-to-go.php

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

28 June 2011 Last updated at 21:01

Is the student customer always right?

By Sean CoughlanBBC News education correspondent

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13942401

After the thunder and lightning of the tuition fees battle, this future vision of higher education in England is an attempt to change the mood music.

Instead of images of riot police and pitched battles in Westminster, this higher education White Paper puts the government on the side of the student.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One in nine adults has no qualifications

Analysis of official figures shows wide variations between constituencies, splitting country into 'haves and have-nots'

The Guardian, Friday 22 July 2011 Jeevan Vasagar, education editor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jul/22/one-in-nine-no-qualifications

University graduates in Birmingham. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

One in nine adults has no qualifications, according to an analysis of official figures which highlights wide variations between different parts of the country.

In some parliamentary constituencies such as Glasgow East and Birmingham Hodge Hill, more than a third of people of working age have no qualifications, compared with just 2% in other areas, according to the study.

The analysis reveals pockets of educational underachievement next door to highly educated neighbourhoods.

The UCU, the college lecturers' union, analysed figures from the Office for National Statistics showing the proportions of adults aged 16-64 with no qualifications last year.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

March 2011 Last updated at 16:03 GMT

Tighter rules for UK student visas

By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12820645

The rules for student visas into the UK are to be much tougher - after fears that this route of entry is being used dishonestly.

Home Secretary Theresa May said student visas were being abused and "too many were here to work and not to study".
She announced plans to cut the number of student visas by up to 80,000 - about a quarter of the current numbers.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper warned that rules must not damage an industry worth £5bn a year.
Mrs May told the House of Commons that the misuse of student visas had become a "symbol of a broken and abused immigration system".

Language rules
Tightening rules to stop false applications would be "in the best interests of legitimate students," she said.
The tougher rules will include a requirement for students to be able to speak English.
Mrs May said she wanted to end the situation where would-be students arrived at UK airports unable to even describe the courses they were about to begin.

There will also be tighter regulations on allowing the dependents of students to join them in the UK - and less flexibility in the number of years that overseas students can spend in the UK after courses are finished. In response to concerns that students visas are being misused by economic migrants, there will be limits on the hours of paid work which overseas students will be allowed to carry out. Universities had previously expressed fears about the loss of overseas students from tighter visa rules - but Universities UK said that their concerns had been taken into account.