Law

The private English Language company, Into has threatened to sue the University and College Union (UCU) in the latest development in the row over the English Language teaching market and, what UCU sees as the privatisation of Higher Education.

Newham College, Cambridge, has won a major victory over HM Revenue and Customs after a five-year VAT battle through the courts.
In 2001, the university made arrangements to mitigate the £1.3 million VAT costs on its £7.5 million library. The law lords ruled that the college had properly taken advantage of a structure which allowed it to recover the tax on building a new library – a rare victory for a VAT-saving scheme.

There has been a 25 per cent increase in official student complaints against universities. The Office of the Independent Adjudicator received 734 complaints last year, compared with 586 the year before. Predominantly based around exam result challenges, the complaints have also been over the quality of education for international and older postgraduate students.

Responding to reports claiming that international students are being allowed to overstay their visas, Universities UK (UUK) has said it is crucial that students are treated fairly and flexibly.