Police in the city have issued a direct warning to undergraduate drinking societies and organisers of other student celebrations that they could be breaking the law. The warning, timed to coincide with the traditional May Ball season, comes amid increasing alarm over student end-of-term antics at the university. In one of last year’s most notorious incidents, Nadia Witkowski, a 23-year-old classics finalist at Trinity was cautioned for assault after a bout of jelly wrestling between four bikini clad students got out of hand.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 12:50 GMT

A WARWICK University student attending a marquee party died after plummeting 100ft off a cliff in Cornwall . Matt Pollard, 20, a first year engineering student, had left the masked ball at Helston when tragedy struck. He had been celebrating with friends at a ball attended by hundreds of young revellers held near a cliff top in the Cornish town. He and his pals ventured outside in the early hours of Sunday morning when he plunged off the edge. Local police have described his death as a tragic accident. Matt, of Mullion, Cornwall, fell at about 2am and landed on rocks. Event staff called the police and paramedics arrived at the scene where they were winched down to him by rescue helicopter.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:31 GMT

An 18-year-old student has been robbed at knife point as he walked to college. Police say a hooded man pulled a four inch blade on the youngster in a lane between Caeconna Road and Perntregethin Road, in the Portmead area of Swansea. The robbery happened around 0700 BST on Wednesday and police have described the incident as "very unpleasant". They are appealing for information and have issued a description of the suspect who was a white male around 5ft 5ins tall and of medium build. He was wearing a black hooded top and had a scarf covering his face. He was also wearing black tracksuit bottoms. Acting Det Insp Keith Morgan said the student handed over his Samsung mobile phone and a black coloured fabric wallet.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:32 GMT

Hundreds of voters across England were denied their right to vote by long queues and by polling stations apparently running out of ballot papers. Several hundred Sheffield University students have now united in protest after long polling station queues were split into two, one for students and a ‘fast-track’ queue for local residents. The polling station in St Johns Ranmoor Church was, like many other stations around the country, struggling to cope with the demand of evening voters. It lies in the constituency of Liberal-Democrat leader Nick Clegg who later called on whoever formed the next government that such events should "never, ever" happen again.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:34 GMT

Students have raged against election officials after they were prevented from voting at a polling station in Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's constituency. The National Union of Students has condemned officials after students were turned away from Ranmoor polling station in Sheffield Hallam. Students complained of being segregated from other members of the electorate, with the latter being fast-tracked. "Where students and other voters have been disenfranchised, local authorities should hang their heads in shame," said Wes Streeting, NUS national president. "It is outrageous that citizens should be denied their basic right to vote and we demand inquiry into how this situation occurred. "We are alarmed by reports that students were placed in a separate, slower queue. Students' unions have worked tirelessly to reverse the trend of low voter turnout amongst students and other young people. What message does this send to first time voters whose votes will not be counted?"
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:37 GMT

When student Richard Newman found a Monopoly sticker on his McDonald's meal, he had no idea what it was. So the 35-year-old simply threw it away, not realising it was the rarest sticker in the game - and it could have won him half a million pounds. The PhD philosophy student and his girlfriend collected the Mayfair card when they bought burgers and french fries at a drive-thru McDonalds. Not knowing it was for the Easy Win Monopoly game, they stuck it to his car steering wheel, and later threw it away. But two weeks later, he visited the restaurant again and won the matching Park Lane sticker. Twigging that they could have won a prize, his girlfriend Chloe Gray, 27, checked on the rules of the game. And the couple then discovered that the pair of properties could have netted them £500,000.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:40 GMT

A man has been arrested by police investigating a series of attacks on students in Leicestershire. The 35-year-old was arrested on the Loughborough University campus after a female student reported he was acting suspiciously. Officers said his description matched that of a suspect wanted for two indecent assaults and another attack on male students in the area. The man has been released on bail while inquiries continue. Extra police and security patrols set up in the area will carry on for the time being, officials said.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:42 GMT

Student fees will have to rise to £7,500 a year to maintain standards in higher education, a leading university vice-chancellor warns today. The claim by Professor Michael Farthing, the vice-chancellor of Sussex University, comes as lecturers take part in a one-day strike over job cuts. Sussex is one of 14 colleges and universities where lectures will be called off as a result of a strike by members of the University and College Union (UCU). The university is threatening to make 107 staff redundant and lecturers are considering boycotting the marking of students' exams this summer if the dispute is not settled. Professor Farthing, whose budget has been reduced by 1 per cent this year, said he would like to see the government review of student finance – which is due to report later this year – recommend a substantial increase in the current cap on top-up fees of £3,240 a year.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:44 GMT

THE number of students investigated for cheating at Edinburgh University has more than doubled in just two years, new figures show. The university investigated 165 students for possible plagiarism in 2008-9, compared with just 68 in 2006-7. The number of those given a formal warning plus an academic penalty also rose, from 47 to 90.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:47 GMT

Tuition fees could dramatically rise to up to £14,000 a year after it emerged an official inquiry is likely to lift the cap on charges. Students could face staged fee increases of up to £1,000 a year as universities move towards charging the full cost of degree courses. At the same time, 'free' student loans with a zero per cent real terms interest rate would be scrapped. Middle and higher income students would take the full force of the changes since bursaries would be offered to applicants from poorer backgrounds to ensure they are not deterred from going to university. The scenario is being actively considered by Lord Browne, the ex-BP boss appointed to lead the review of university funding. The committee was originally expected to raise the current £3,225 a year fee cap to £5,000 or £7,000. But now it has emerged it could allow universities to charge the full cost of degree courses. Students on arts and humanities courses at top institutions could be charged £7,000 a year and science students £14,000 a year.
Submitted by ukstudentnews.co.uk - submitted 8 May 2010, 16:51 GMT