The Independent - Student RSS Feed

Freshers’ week: seven days to savour

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:20:24 GMT

Freshers’ week: seven days to savour

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:20:21 GMT

Be an entrepreneurial graduate

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:12:13 GMT

Universities, businesses and Government see huge potential in creating environments where students learn to be entrepreneurial. The result could be sustainable new businesses and social enterprises and employees who show an entrepreneurial spark.

Flying Start Global entrepreneurs

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:12:13 GMT

Flying Start Global is a joint programme run by the NCGE and the Kauffman Foundation (US), for the UK’s best graduate entrepreneurs in science, technology, engineering and maths. Graduates spend six months in the UK and six months in the US.

‘We are one of the best in Europe’

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:05:22 GMT

Sweet smell of success

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:02:54 GMT

I have always been quite an inventive person, but many universities are like an academic conveyor belt and I wanted my ideas to be worth more than just A grades,” says Angelo Grubisic, 27, from Southampton. “Southampton University helped me see light at the end of the tunnel.”

Casestudies: graduate entrepreneurs

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:56:24 GMT

Graduate entrepreneurs: just what the doctor ordered

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:45:59 GMT

Few items of clothing are as undignified as the hospital gown. The flimsy piece of fabric leaves little to the imagination and can quite literally add insult to injury. So Fatima Ba- Alawi’s business idea to develop a new patient-friendly design was always going to be a winner.

Comment: How universities and graduates can thrive

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:38:57 GMT

The economic downturn, the credit crunch, international competitiveness and demographic changes are having a profound effect on the UK economy and a significant bearing on higher education. As a result, government policy towards supporting post-compulsory education is changing, as are expectations from the public sector, industry and learners.

UCAS Clearing Search 2008

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:00:27 GMT

Olympic swimming training 'too hard on young athletes'

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Young swimmers hoping to emulate the double Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington's Beijing exploits at the London 2012 Games are being subjected to an unacceptably heavy training regime and excessive "surveillance", a study has concluded.

Johann Hari: Oxbridge walls that can't be scaled

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Nothing causes a louder shriek in Britain than if you challenge the right of the rich to pass their privilege untouched on to their children. The shadow chancellor George Osborne has just decreed that the richest 1 per cent will – under David Cameron – be allowed to inherit £2 million estates they have done nothing to earn without paying a penny of it towards schools and hospitals. The "horror" of inheritance tax – introduced in the great progressive wave of the Edwardian era – will be over. This has been greeted with a gurgle of pleasure by Conservatives; why should anyone get in the way of wealth "cascading down the generations", as a Tory Prime Minister once put it?

Students in colleges have no one to complain to – so is it time for a watchdog?

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

All is not well in the world of further education. Dissatisfied learners who exhaust a college's internal complaints system have little option but to turn to the Learning and Skills Council, which is due to disappear by 2010, or their MP – who will probably refer their enquiry to the local LSC.

British universities are waking up to the idea of US-style fundraising

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

One evening in May this year, 200 arty types met for cocktails in the roof garden of the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City. The choice of venue was deliberate. The Gramercy Park used to have a bohemian reputation. Humphrey Bogart lived there with his first wife, Helen Menken, just after marrying her. The Kennedy family also took up residence there, and during the Great Depression Babe Ruth hung out in the bar.

Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Robson Green, actor

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Robson Green, 43, has appeared in Casualty, Rocket Man and Wire in the Blood, which returns to ITV1 on Friday 12 September. "Unchained Melody", performed in the series Soldier, Soldier, was the first of three No.1 singles for Robson & Jerome.

Being a school bursar isn't just about money - it's a serious management role

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

If Linda Jackson spots a child who's been sent to the head's office at the primary school where she is bursar, she usually hears the first version of the misdemeanour from the over-anxious child.

The Careers Adviser: 'Should I retake my final year? Is there any advice for foreign students about jobs in the UK?'

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Review: Reading Festival 2008

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:11:42 GMT

The swarms of excited music fans, no matter what the weather, put the carnival spirit into Reading Festival ‘08, which boasted one of the most anticipated line-ups of recent years. The weekend was dominated by American artists and some of the most revolutionising bands of the last decade, including Rage Against the Machine (RATM), Queens of the Stone Age and Metallica.

Review: The Green Man Festival 2008

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:51:01 GMT

Co-founder of the festival Jo Bartlett once said: “I look upon each Green Man as a work of art.” Although largely painted in various shades of grey, this year’s event was exactly that.

Chinese student follows his dreams to Cambridge

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:44:11 GMT

Review: Get Loaded in the Park 2008

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:38:40 GMT

Despite often being overshadowed by the major summer festivals, Get Loaded in the Park on Clapham Common held its own this year, not even allowing the cider drought halfway through the day dampen, or rather, dry out spirits.

Splash out without drowning in debt

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Filling your wallet with all those grown-up-looking plastic cards is one of the joys of starting university. Matriculation card, bank card, drinking society card: you name it, there's a card for it. But students could be carrying significantly lighter wallets when the Boomerang card swings into action this September.

Pharmacists aren't just doling out drugs - they're giving medical advice, too

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

If you think a pharmacist still wears a white coat and just dispenses pills, think again. Changes to medicine in the past decade have seen the profession move to the heart of the health agenda, and pharmacists are in demand across all areas of public health – patient care, product development, academic research or specialist areas such as veterinary medicine.

My Way: Penny Stephens of the Jet Centre gives her tips for success at work

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Penny Stephens is creative director of the Jet Centre, a private aviation company based at Stansted airport, whose customers include Rod Stewart, Sir Alan Sugar and the Spice Girls.

I Want Your Job: Sound engineer

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Dr John Dibb, 60, works as a "professional listener". He's a senior development engineer for the British speaker manufacturers Bowers & Wilkins, and is based in Steyning in West Sussex.