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The increasing establishment of higher education in the Gulf has brought with it major opportunities for academics from the U.K. But it also involves various challenges, some of which are discussed.

A new report 'What Vice-Chancellors really think about marketing' has revealed that a cultural clash between academia and business is preventing marketing from fulfilling its potential in higher education. It has been seen that Vice-Chancellors appreciate what marketing has to offer and all it can do in promoting university strategies.

The challenges that British universities will have to overcome with the advent of students from Generation Y are discussed. Generation Y are considered those born between 1979 and 1995 are expected to form 40 per cent of the workforce by 2014.

The controversial departure of Lee Harvey as director of research and evaluation at the Higher Education Academy highlights the politics and personality clashes that are undermining the organization's credibility and autonomy.

A global study on academic careers by the Academic Careers Observatory (ACO) reveals a Pounds Sterling 18,000 net average pay disparity between faculty at European and American universities. The ACO also identifies four different models of higher education performance among European nations.

UK universities warns that the Higher Education Funding Council for England's decision to discontinue the Overseas Research Student Awards Scheme (ORSAS) will undermine Britain's ability to attract the best foreign students.

Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S. and dedicated his 'last lecture', 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams' to his three children while reminding those present about obstacles to be overcome to reach higher goal. He was the founder of the Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Centre.

Goolam Mohamedbhai president of the International Association of Universities believes that local priorities and challenges in society should be examined while assessing the importance of establishing a world-class university in the country.

The setting up of 5 billion pound independent university called the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia is reported. The university will be a financially and administratively independent institution to be administered by an independent board of trustees and will fund its own research through its endowment.

Internal survey conducted at De Montfort University to study incidents of bullying among technical and non-academic staff is reported. The report found that workplace bullying has fallen from 19.45 percent in 2006 and the figures are found to be much lower than levels recorded nationally across all sectors.

Quality Assurance Agency's (QAA) function of conducting audits on a regular basis and the degree classification system is discussed by a panel of MP's. The panel members suggested that QAA must identify institutions likely to cause concern and audit them regularly and that universities should not use their autonomous status to operate different standards.

Increase in the number of applicants to U.K.'s smaller specialist institution by the GuildHE is reported. This growth in popularity is attributed to the increasing focus on learning and teaching that the smaller institutions are able to offer.

The use of statistical indicators for assessing research quality and for the allocation of funds is discussed. Academics feel that the combination of peer reviews and statistical indicators should be used cautiously only to supplement and not replace the judgment of expert.

A move to a U.S.-style 'system university' structure by Australia to improve its standing in the global education sector is discussed. Under this system groups of universities would be linked under on board of trustees or governors who will decide on the teaching curriculum, research to be encouraged and on the improvement of mobility.

Jonathan Shepherd, a surgeon and director of Cardiff University's Violence Research Group, believes that the criminal justice system's efforts to tackle crime could benefit from medicine's research-led approach. He calls for collaboration between university-led research and policing and probation work as an effective means to fight, and even prevent, crime.

Academics in Louisiana, U.S.A., are opposing a state legislation that could allow teaching of creationism or 'intelligent design' together with theories of evolution in the state's public schools.

The introduction of a two-year working visa for foreign students will boost the U.K.'s reputation in the international higher education sector as the prospect of working in Britain may attract more overseas student to the country's universities.

A report by Universities UK (UUK) warns of three possible scenarios for the future of British higher education, namely, forced closures, intense competition from the private sector, and a loss of status overseas.

Managers at Coventry University ended their discussion with the University and College Union after an impasse over plans to introduce performance-related pay for lecturers. The university will now ask individual academics to opt for the new pay structure or retain their existing contracts.

An award-winning book on the Irish Republican Army (IRA) by Canadian historian Peter Hart, titled 'The IRA and its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916-1923', is facing criticism over supposed inconsistencies and the use of unnamed sources ten years after it was first published in 1998.

Research reveals that an influx of foreign students, especially from China and India, has provided a major boost to Australia's income from the education sector since about 2001. A study by the Quality Assurance Agency reveals a similar rise in overseas student recruitment in the U.K.

Eric Thomas, vice-chancellor of the University of Bristol, wants U.K. universities to expand their global collaboration strategies beyond the politically-motivated focus on India and China to Japan, Mexico, and Brazil. Thomas argues that the most significant contribution to higher exchange would be through collaboration with American universities.

Former Education Minister Baroness Blackstone proposes that a graduate tax be levied on all degree holders from the U.K. who have benefited from the nation's higher education system, including those who graduated several years ago.

Dr. Bernard H. Casey, a lecturer in advanced economics at Birkbeck, University of London, who has run a free end-of-module revision session for students since 1989, is facing disciplinary action for running the extra class after being denied permission to do so in 2008. Birkbeck authorities believe the class could have a negative effect on the students.