A new website has launched to help students with children prepare for university life.   The www.studentparents.org  website is a practical response to research conducted by NUS, developed by a consortium of organisations, led by education charity BrightsideUNIAID and funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

HMIE  is publishing  series of aspect reports on provision within Scotland's College sector.  The most recent addition, now available on the HMIE website today, focuses on provision for young people in Scottish colleges who were previously described as not in education, employment or training (NEET) and more recently have been identified as those requiring more choices and more chances.

Lord Browne of Madingley has today (12 October 2010)  published his Independent Review into Higher Education Funding and Student Finance in England & Wales. 

Construction on Forth Valley College Stirling Campus has got underway. Nicola Sturgeon cut the first sod on the East Kildean site.

Find out more on Forth Valley College's website

The number of young people taking Open University courses has seen a sharp rise.  There has been a 34% increase in 18 to 24-year-olds doing a distance learning degree.

Read the full article in the Scotsman

Research from the Higher Education Policy Institute showed that graduate unemployment had risen from 11.1% to 14% - but that it was male graduates in particular who were failing to find jobs.

Intense competition for graduate jobs means that more than three quarters of employers require at least a 2:1 degree grade, a survey suggests. 

College bosses have warned they might have to turn away more students than ever before.

Linda McTavish, the convener of Scotland`s Colleges Principals Convention, spoke out after details of a £690 million funding package were announced

Read the full article in the Herald online

More students are staying on at Scottish universities rather than dropping out, but institutions here still have some of the worst retention rates in the UK, new figures show.

According to official statistics, 2900 students left university before the end of their first year in 2007-08, some 9.9% of the total.

Read the full article in the Herald

Scottish  universities have been fined a total of nearly £1 million for over-recruiting students during the recession.

Four of the country’s higher education institutions have been penalised by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) as a result of the record number of students taking up places in 2009-10.

Read the full article in the Herald