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A third of students who started university since fees were introduced in 1998 are earning too little to make repayments on their loans, ministers have admitted. Nearly 400,000 graduates have not made repayments on their loans up to seven years after they graduated because they are not yet earning above the £15,000 threshold. It comes amid concerns that graduates now face the toughest time in a generation as firms cut down on recruitment in the credit crunch. Students leaders are warning that the promise of cheap loans to pay for fees has all but evaporated, with the RPI, the rate of inflation, running at 4.8%. Official figures, released in response to a parliamentary question from the Liberal Democrats, suggest that the financial return on the £20,000 debt most students graduate with is slow to arrive. Ministers claim graduates earn up to £100,000 more over their lifetime, but figures show that up to seven years after graduating a third are not yet making repayments.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 6 October 2008, 12:09 GMT

Thug Russell Douglas subjected a student to an unprovoked and sustained attack in Lincoln, repeatedly hitting his victim. A court heard how Douglas (19), a warehouse worker who lives with his mum and dad in Leicester, visited Lincoln during Freshers' Week and went drinking with some university friends. Lincoln Magistrates' Court was told Douglas, who is applying to join the Army, had himself been assaulted in the Engine Shed and was then ejected. He then encountered student Joshua Williams, to whom he said "what are you staring at – why are you looking at me?" before pushing his victim's female friend out of the way and attacking him. CCTV footage played to the court showed a number of blows inflicted before Douglas left the scene. Magistrates heard Mr Williams suffered cuts above his left eyebrow, to his left cheek bone and behind his left ear, a swollen nose, a bump to the head and a damaged tooth. "Mr Williams remembers getting up and running towards the Engine Shed with blood from his nose and eyes," said Marie Stace, prosecuting. "He could not remember anything more about the incident. "When he got to the Engine Shed he was covered in blood."
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 6 October 2008, 18:26 GMT

TWO young Edinburgh writers have just returned from a trip to Africa, as part of an effort to highlight global poverty. Jemma Neville and Elliot Ross won the all-expenses paid trips after writing thought-provoking articles on Malawi's disability rights and education for a UK-wide journalism competition. On their trip they went to Tanzania and Mozambique with local experts, to learn about witchcraft and the education system. Jemma explored accusations of witchcraft against older women, which can lead to acts of violence, and even murder. Elliot travelled to Tanzania to witness work with rural communities in one of the poorest countries in the world. Their reports will be submitted to the Guardian International Development Journalism contest.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 6 October 2008, 18:28 GMT

In my last student house, we left a pack of chicken out on the side and when we came back from holidays the whole thing was crawling with maggots," says Guy Unsworth, 21, from Southport. It's an alarming story since I'm about to find out what's inside his current fridge. I'm undertaking this dangerous investigation after researchers at Bournemouth University studied 300 student fridges and found that 88% contained uncovered leftovers such as open packets of meat, and 16%, rotten food, which means higher levels of cross-contamination and increased risk of illness. Students need to get educated about their storage habits.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 7 October 2008, 6:43 GMT

This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system Properties in student towns continue to represent a sound opportunity for investors, new figures have shown. According to data from the Halifax University Town House Price Review out of the 64 student towns surveyed 35 averaged higher house prices than those in neighbouring areas. Halifax calculated that the average price premium that an owner of property in a university town could expect compared to the county average was £20,335, with the most marked price increase noted in Belfast where prices have risen by 105 per cent over the last five years.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 7 October 2008, 6:45 GMT

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A third of graduates who started university after 1998 are not paying back their student loans yet. Some 400,000 graduates are earning below the £15,000 income threshold to pay back their loan, since the introduction of tuition fees. The figures have come to light after a response to a parliamentary question from the Liberal Democrats. Lib Dem universities and skills spokesman Stephen Williams said: "It is shocking that nearly a third of graduates are not yet earning enough to repay their student loans. "Having forked out for at least three years to get a degree, many new graduates would be expecting to be in well-paid employment. "Aside from their student loans, many of these young people will have also stacked up large amounts of commercial debt which they will be struggling to repay on their relatively low wages."
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 7 October 2008, 6:47 GMT

The mother of a young undergraduate who drank himself to death in an end-of-term drinking game last night attacked the 'heavy drinking culture' that is casting a shadow over university life. Jason Venezia, 19, downed half a litre of vodka in just 20 minutes as he tried to win a bet with his friends. The first-year psychology student had been promised £40 if he could drink the remaining three-quarters of the litre bottle - at a rate of one shot every 45 seconds. But after drinking 15 shots and with a quarter of a litre still to go, Mr Venezia was left unable to stand or talk and his two friends put him to bed. The Warwick University student was found dead the next afternoon of acute alcohol poisoning.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 7 October 2008, 19:24 GMT

Kelly Rowland, the singer and former member of Destiny’s Child, performed for an audience of award winning students in London last night. The first Xcel Student of the Year Awards recognised the achievements of students from all backgrounds across the country. Miss Rowland made a special appearance at the ceremony to sing for guests. The award ceremony, presided over by former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, was the first time student achievement has been recognised at a dedicated national event. It was run by Xcel, the magazine dedicated to widening participation in UK universities. The overall Student of the Year award went to Alexander Rose from the University of Arts who set up the STOP campaign against knife crime after losing five of his friends in violent attacks.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 7 October 2008, 19:26 GMT

A student at one of Britain’s top universities stole because an internet chatroom buddy told her it would help relieve stress. Hardworking Lin Yang, described by her university lecturer as “honest and diligent”, stole from shops in Reading town centre because she was overwhelmed with the amount of work she had to do. At Reading Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, September 25, the 24-year-old admitted one count of shoplifting more than £350 worth of items from John Lewis in Broad Street. The University of Bristol student Yang, short and wearing spectacles, also asked magistrates to take four other similar offences into account. Andrew Isaacs, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was seen entering John Lewis. She walked around the shop, picking up items and trying them on. She made no attempts to pay. She was asked back in the shop.” In total she stole items worth £354.50 including six scarves, slippers and three wallets.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 7 October 2008, 19:28 GMT

A STUDENT was beaten over the head with a wooden pole and robbed of cash in an Edinburgh park, a court heard yesterday. David Manson, 20, attacked Jamie MacKenzie, 18, as he walked home through the Meadows with a friend after a night out. His accomplice, Hugh Ferguson, robbed Mr MacKenzie's friend Alexander Lewis at the same time, after threatening him with a knife. Minutes earlier, Ferguson, 26, had brandished the knife at Louise Sutherland, a 20-year-old medical student.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 October 2008, 12:04 GMT

More than 110,000 teenagers are still waiting for a decision on their applications for a £30-a-week allowance to help them continue studying, more than a month after the start of the academic year. Schools minister Jim Knight said that staff were working at weekends and doing extra shifts to try to clear the backlog of claims for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) received by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). And he revealed that he has urged colleges to use their hardship funds to support students who are still awaiting a decision. Teenagers aged 16-18 are entitled to claim up to £30 a week EMA if they remain in full-time education at school or college after the end of compulsory schooling, or undertake an LSC-funded diploma or entry to employment course. The cash is available to youngsters from households with a total income of less than £30,810. In a letter to the chairman of the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee Barry Sheerman, Mr Knight revealed that 111,000 applications for this academic year remain to be processed.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 October 2008, 20:39 GMT

Paul Kavanagh, 46, has been made the subject of a restraining order after magistrates heard how he besieged Jacqueline Pickstock, with more than 300 text messages in one weekend as part of a campaign of harassment which continued even after a police warning. He struck up a friendship with the 31-year-old mature student while acting as her supervisor when she was studying for a criminology degree at Southampton Solent University, Hants. They later became a couple but she ended the relationship after three months in July of last year in favour of another man. Kavanagh, of Christchurch, Dorset, began telephoning and bombarding her with mobile phone text messages, Bournemouth Magistrates Court heard. When she had her telephone blocked he resorted to leaving letters in her pigeon hole declaring his lover for her and sending emails.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 9 October 2008, 17:55 GMT

A new Student Neighbourhood Pack has been launched in Bournemouth to encourage good relationships between students moving to the town and their new neighbours. The launch coincides with a Home Office week of action to raise awareness of such community initiatives. Whilst Bournemouth benefits both financially and culturally from the annual influx of students, it is recognised that this can have an impact on residential neighbourhoods. If these concerns are left unaddressed it can cause ill-feeling and potential conflict. Whilst the Council can intervene with legal action when anti-social behaviour offences are committed, the majority of issues are not actionable offences but differences in lifestyle. Bournemouth Crime Reduction Partnership led by Bournemouth Borough Council has introduced the information packs which contain helpful advice for students aimed at helping them settle into their new community.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 9 October 2008, 17:56 GMT

A student cyclist has died after becoming trapped under a bus in central Preston. Heavy lifting equipment and airbags had been used in an attempt to free the Chinese woman following the accident on Fylde Road early on Thursday afternoon. However, Lancashire Police said that she died at the scene. They were trying to ascertain the identity of the cyclist, though it is known she was a student at the University of Central Lancashire.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 9 October 2008, 17:58 GMT

ADVISERS have recommended replacing the blanket tuition-fee discount for all Welsh students at Welsh universities with more money for the most needy, it was reported yesterday. Undergraduates living in Wales are exempt from top-up fees if they study at a university in Wales. Thanks to a non-means tested grant from the Assembly Government they pay £1,255, unlike those from the rest of the UK who can be charged up to £3,145. Education Minister Jane Hutt is considering the findings of an expert group she set up in June to look at widening access to higher education and support for students. According to the BBC, it has recommended a new system with cash handed out on the basis of family incomes. More help would be offered to those who are least able to pay.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 9 October 2008, 17:59 GMT

A STUDENT under huge pressure at university and work lay down in front of a train and killed himself hours after being discharged from hospital, a St Pancras inquest heard on Tuesday. Deng Athian, 25, was studying at East London University when his family became concerned at a sudden change in his character and took him twice in one day to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. As his family prepared to take him back to the hospital for a psychiatric assessment, Mr Athian climbed out of a bathroom window and along a garden wall at his mother’s Brassey Road home to get onto railway tracks near West Hampstead station. Coroner Dr Andrew Reid questioned the duty psychiatrist at the Royal Free Hospital who had seen Mr Athian when his concerned family took him there by ambulance early on February 14, six hours before he died. Senior house officer Dr Pany Petrochilus said she examined Mr Athian but saw no evidence he was a threat to himself. He was working five days a week at Habitat in the O2 Centre in Swiss Cottage as well as trying to complete a university course.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 9 October 2008, 18:01 GMT

A student at the University of Portsmouth won a gold medal at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing for Great Britain. Daniel Bentley, 24, a graphic design student made his debut for Great Britain at the games and was part of the The GB mixed Boccia team who beat China in the semi-finals. Boccia (pronounced botcha) is similar to bowls and is designed as a sport for thosetossing large stones at a stone target and came to the UK in the 1980s
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 11 October 2008, 8:34 GMT

Jeevan Sivalingam, affectionately known as Jeeves, a medical student who was about to enter his fourth year at Imperial, unfortunately passed away on the afternoon of the 13th of September 2008. He had been cycling near his home in South London when he collided with a tram. By all account he did not suffer as he immediately fell unconscious before passing away later in hospital. He was born on the 18th of June 1987 and his mother had become pregnant with him despite having undergone a sterilization. His parents were told that the chances of this happening were 1 in a million and so when they decided on a name, the thought it appropriate to call him “Jeevan”, which roughly translates into English as “life”. Throughout his life Jeevan maintained a reputation of being cheeky, funny and full of life. This is something that his many friends throughout Imperial can confirm. Many of these friends were in the Medics Hockey Club, which he was a devoted member of for 3 years. He committed himself to this club fully both on the field and off, and there is no doubt he will be missed.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 11 October 2008, 8:38 GMT

The University of Bristol has once again recorded mediocre results in the National Student Survey, scoring below average in many categories. Overall, only 83% of students consulted were satisfied with their experience at Bristol, leaving the University in a dismal 92nd place in the national rankings. The survey was conducted amongst 220,000 final year students across 258 UK universities. Each student was asked 22 questions across seven categories, with the overall rankings measured by responses to the final 'Overall Satisfaction' question.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 11 October 2008, 8:45 GMT

SOAS Students’ Union (SOASSU) has passed a motion calling on NUS President Wes Streeting to resign over his handling of “racism” at NUS events. Streeting has been embroiled in a row sparked by allegedly racist remarks made by KCL Students’ Union President Chris Mullan at an NUS training event. SOASSU resolved that “under Wes Streeting’s leadership, the NUS and its members have been brought into disrepute and should therefore resign immediately so as to repair our Union’s good name”. The motion added that, “when it concerns the well-being, comfort and safety of Afrikan (sic) and Muslim students, in particular, this duty has been neglected at best.” Streeting has been criticised for failing to immediately condemn Mullan and Nottingham University Students’ Union sabbatical officer Craig Cox, who held up a sign saying “BRING BACK SLAVERY”. An NUS investigation into Mullan’s remarks cleared the KCL President of allegations of racism, but recommended that he receive equal opportunities training.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 11 October 2008, 8:47 GMT

A man has been arrested and charged with the rape of a student near Platt Fields Park in Fallowfield last week, as reported in Student Direct. The 20-year-old male, from Whalley Range, is charged with three counts of rape, as one of two men who attacked the student when she asked them for directions. The woman, also 20, had got lost returning from a friend’s house when she sought the help of the two young men. It is believed that she was taken to a park in the Platt Fields Park area, and assaulted at around 11pm on Sunday 21st September. The alleged assailant appeared before Manchester City Magistrate’s Court last Monday, and will be held in police custody until 15th December, when he is due to appear in Manchester Crown Court. Controversially, an Amnesty International Report has revealed last week that almost half of university students in Northern Ireland believe a raped woman is partially or totally to blame if she has been flirtatious.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 11 October 2008, 8:49 GMT

There are fears that an Oxford postgraduate may have suffered permanent brain damage after he was bludgeoned over the head during a brutal robbery. Kentaro Ikeda, a student at St Edmund's Hall, was riding along a cycle path in the early hours of the morning when he was suddenly set-upon and savagely beaten. Shocked passers-by later found the 26-year-old victim lying unconscious on the deserted track in a pool of his own blood. They immediately dialled 999 and frantically tried to revive the unconcious student whilst paramedics raced to the scene. He was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital and put into intensive care after doctors discovered that he had suffered a severely fractured skull. With the Japanese postgraduate recovering in hospital, detectives launched a major hunt to track down those reponsible for the mugging.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 11 October 2008, 8:51 GMT

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