£200m PBSA Partnership Launched by QIP and Solibuild
23rd Mar 2023
Happy Saturday! Our weekly news round up is ready. Our short end-of-week round up provides a concise overview of the important student accommodation stories from the world this week. Enjoy the summaries and feel free to read the full articles by clicking on the titles.
1. US professors urge universities to 'End ties to China's Confucius Institutes'
Chinese soft-power diplomacy has suffered a major rebuke after the leading association of American university professors accused China's network of Confucius Institutes of flouting basic rules of academic freedom and integrity.
2. Australian students face prospect of uncapped tuition fees
The debate around university tuition fees is both prominent and controversial even outside the UK. Whilst US democrats and republicans are at loggerheads over the proposed legislation to enable students to refinance their loans at lower interest rates, the debate also rages on in Australia as to whether or not the tuition fee system should be deregulated.
3. Postgrads who volunteer work for free - and learn for free
Thousands of students volunteer every year through their universities. Postgraduates, however, tend to launch themselves at some projects with greater gusto and focus than their undergraduate counterparts, says Joe Bourne who manages volunteering projects at Lancaster University.
4. Four-year high UK house price inflation hits 9.9%
A new report published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that UK house prices increased by 9.9% in the year to April 2014. In England alone, this figure breached double figures, hitting 10.4%, whilst prices in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all experienced sub 5% gains.
5. Loans to foreign students blocked
Large numbers of students from mainland Europe face being blocked from taking out loans at UK taxpayers' expense after it emerged that thousands of Bulgarians and Romanians attempted to wrongly claim more than £65"‰million of public money.
6. Do we vote the same way as our parents?
Nine out of 10 students say they're not influenced by their parents when it comes to voting, according to a survey of over 1,000 students. Two-thirds say their opinions have changed since they started university. But parents' views do trickle down - if our gallery of celebrities is to be believed
7. Cable urges UK business to back British students in China
Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has urged the UK's top business leaders to support the 'Generation UK' campaign, a British Council initiative which aims to see 80,000 UK students work or study in China by 2020.
8. Compensation payments to students 'soar by two-thirds'
Compensation payments made to students soared by two-thirds last year due to complaints over the marking of degree projects, cancelled courses, cheating allegations and poor facilities amid growing competition for graduate jobs.
9. Have you found any hidden money yet?
Free cash on campus: too good to be true? The new Twitter account,Cash on Campus, has been tweeting clues about hidden money they've left on university campuses. Students around the country have been foraging for money after seeing the clues left on social media.
10. Final Opal portfolio for sale
Lone Star is marketing the last remaining student housing portfolio from the collapsed Opal Group, including three student halls and two hotels in Chester">ManChester. The £290m portfolio includes eight student accommodation buildings, with three in Chester">ManChester
