What is the best way to measure deprivation among students?

The Scottish government wants a fifth of university students to come from the most disadvantaged parts of the country by 2030.

The headline measure being used is the applicant's postcode area.

This is based on data from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), which highlights the challenges facing the area - including income, poverty and unemployment.

But, of course, it does not follow that the applicant who lives in such an area is disadvantaged personally.

Earlier this month it emerged that a very small number of university students from the 20% most deprived areas (SIMD 20) had attended independent schools.

This meant that they would count towards a university's numerical target to widen access, although there is no suggestion that the applicants were given any special help to get in.

So if SIMD 20 is an imperfect measure, is another broad brush measure available instead?

There are no simple answers.

Parental income

This may sound fairer but is potentially more complicated than it sounds.

Current parental income could be misleading as a measure of a disadvantaged upbringing. The main breadwinner may have recently lost their job or retired.

It would also mean applicants having to provide information to the university admissions service which they do not currently have to give.

Eligibility for free school dinners

This certainly would indicate financial disadvantage. However some older children may not take up free school meals.

Coming from a single parent family

To directly equate the fact a child only lives with their mother or father with disadvantage almost sounds like moralising.

Many single parents who are widowed, divorced or whose long-term relationship broke up would almost certainly resent any implication that their child was disadvantaged by this factor alone.

Obviously some children who grow up in single parent families do face genuine hardship and disadvantage. There are very real issues, for example, surrounding the availability of childcare to allow a single parent to return to work.

But, of course, other single parents hold down good jobs and are able to rely on their extended family, friends or professionals to provide additional childcare.

Living in rented accommodation

Living in a rented house should not be confused with living in temporary or substandard accommodation or living on a "sink estate".

By historic standards, a relatively large proportion of Scots now own their own homes. In the 1980s and 90s, many became the first in their families to own property when they bought their council house. Before then many who lived in the best council houses might have been thought of as "skilled working class" or "lower middle class".

However that does not mean for a moment that someone who lives in social housing today could automatically be considered disadvantaged.

In some places, the price of property would make it hard for many people with good jobs to buy a home. Meanwhile the right to buy council houses has been abolished.

Rape message left in University of Nottingham bathroom

A university is investigating after a message reading "uni girls love rape" was left on a bathroom floor.

The message was made using toilet paper in a shared bathroom at the Florence Boot Hall at the University of Nottingham.

A picture of the message has been posted on Twitter, with users describing it as "absolutely vile" and "disturbing".

The university said it had been removed and an investigation had been opened.

A spokesperson said: "Our security team will speak with police once we've gathered evidence through investigation to see if they believe a crime has been committed."Posting the picture on Twitter, @victoriakayexo asked: "What the hell is this doing in one of the University of Nottingham Florence Boot Halls shared bathroom?

"This is disgusting. What is wrong with people."

In reply to her picture on Twitter, one user wrote: "This is absolutely vile, would like to see some action taken to investigate this."

Another added: "Wow I'm rethinking taking up my place at Nott. What an awful advert for the type of students."

Replying to the picture, the university's Twitter account said: "This disgusting message was removed as soon as staff were made aware of it.

"It doesn't reflect the values of the Uni and the behaviour we expect within our community. We're investigating to find who placed it there."

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Queenie Djan, president of the university's feminist society, said she was "disgusted and angry, but a part of me is not completely shocked".

"This isn't the first time views similar to this have been expressed," she said.

"There have been abundant complaints about sexual harassment at our uni and these are falling on deaf ears.

"I feel the uni isn't taking enough steps to combat views like this."

In response the university said: "We absolutely refute these claims.

"We take all allegations seriously, carry out investigations and take action where appropriate.

"We encourage students to report these types of incidents to us so we can continue to tackle and challenge inappropriate behaviour."

Students want more hours for their tuition fees

Students want more teaching hours at university - as an annual survey shows that fewer than two in five think they are getting value for money.

The survey of 14,000 UK students found tuition fees, teaching quality and lack of contact hours were the biggest causes of dissatisfaction.

Measures of well-being, such as anxiety among students, have also worsened.

Yvonne Hawkins, of the Office for Students, said the survey was a "clear signal there is more work to be done".

But Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) which produced the report, said the findings on value for money showed more positive views were emerging.

There were 38% of students saying they had good or very good value for money from their course, up from 35% last year.

When this was broken down into the devolved parts of the UK, it showed that 35% of students in England thought they were getting good value, compared with 60% in Scotland, where Scottish students do not pay fees.

In Wales, 48% of students thought they were getting good value and 36% in Northern Ireland.

Future earnings

The survey comes ahead of data being published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies which is expected to show which courses deliver the best financial returns.

This is expected to show that courses such as medicine and economics are likely to have future earnings that are 20% above the graduate average, once other factors such as students' backgrounds are taken into account.

but studying subjects like creative arts are more likely to deliver a 15% below-average financial return in future earnings.

Going to a more selective Russell Group university also is likely to increase the financial return.

The government has commissioned a review of post-18 education in England, which will examine whether tuition fees and university represent good value for students and the taxpayer.

This annual Hepi report shows the factors that influence whether full-time undergraduate students feel they are getting a good return on their investment.

The survey shows a strong link with the perceived quality of teaching and whether students felt they were getting enough hours with academic staff.

Students with longer hours were much more likely to be satisfied - with those with fewer than nine hours a week of contact time likely to be the most unconvinced about getting value for money.

The annual report showed that despite fees in England having increased sharply from £1,000 to £3,000 and then £9,000, university courses barely changed in terms of average contact time.

Student happiness

Although many students thought fees were too high, there was also support for the principle of students making a financial contribution for their degree.

The study also showed that almost two-thirds of students, if they had to make the choice again, would still continue with the same course and at the same institution.

But Asian students were less likely to feel satisfied with their time at university, compared with white students.

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Alison Johns, chief executive of the higher education equality agency, Advance HE, which co-produced the report, said: "It is worrying to see the disparity in the experience of different ethnic groups and I would support more work to get to the root causes of this."

How students reported their own sense of well-being continued to decline. Only 17% of students described themselves as being happy and 14% reported a positive sense of "life satisfaction".

"Our survey exposes the areas where improvements are needed. But some of them, like improving students' mental well-being - can only be fixed through the concerted and collective effort that involves universities, government and others," said Mr Hillman.

Ms Hawkins, director of teaching excellence and student experience for the higher education regulator, the Office for Students, said she noted that "a slightly higher proportion of students feel they have received good value for money this year".

But she said "significant numbers of students report not being satisfied with their higher education experience. Overall the results send a clear signal that there is more work to be done".

Emmanuelle Algret, 20, from Shropshire is currently completing a science foundation year at the University of Nottingham with a view to moving on to a pharmacy course.

On value for money she says: "There are a lot of courses that are value for money and have a lot of contact time such as medicine and pharmacy.

"I have a friend who is doing a history degree and they only get 10 hours of contact time, which isn't great because we all pay the same money.

"It's too easy to blame the universities though because the course we take is our choice."

The debates over the cost of university come as UK universities take four of the top 10 places in international rankings.

This year's QS World University Rankings puts Oxford in fifth place, Cambridge in sixth, Imperial College London in eighth and University College London in 10th.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology from the US is once again ranked in top place.

10 things about Harvard graduates: Liberals, virgins and iPhones

Harvard University has been a launch pad for many high-powered careers - and this summer has seen another crop of graduates leaving the flagship US university.

But if these are going to be the next generation of political and business leaders, what are their beliefs and experiences?

The Harvard Crimson student newspaper has carried out a close-up survey of these new graduates, showing their attitudes on politics, sex and technology.

Here are 10 things revealed about this new young elite.

1. An anxious generation. Among the class of 2018, 41% have at some point sought mental health support from the university's health services. About 15% had also sought support off campus. It's a striking reminder that these young people have studied at a time of rising concerns about stress and wellbeing on campus.

2. More than one in five leave Harvard as virgins. There was a similar number who had never had any "dating" experience while at university. Where dating did take place, dating apps were used by 69%. But more than a fifth of these new graduates reported having been "sexually harassed" at some point during their time as students.

3.Liberals in a Trump era. Politically these young graduates, who began at Harvard during the Obama administration, are opponents of the current presidency, with 72% saying the US is going in the wrong direction. Only 3% of those who voted backed Donald Trump, and two-thirds of these graduates describe themselves as liberal or very liberal.

4. Campus free speech? There were signs that students are self-censoring their views and not debating openly. About two-thirds of students had "at some point chosen not to an express an opinion in an academic setting out of fear it would offend others". This was particularly the case for Republican supporters. But almost half of students wanted to have "trigger warnings" if courses were going to include something that could be upsetting or offensive.

5. Raising a glass. Alcohol has proved to be the most durable of student diversions. Even if these young people are seen as over-stressed high achievers, they're still very likely to have a drink. More than 90% drink alcohol, and most drink every week. But tobacco has virtually been entirely stubbed out. There are almost no regular smokers, and more than three-quarters have never even once smoked tobacco. More students had tried cannabis than tobacco.

6. School shootings. There have been high-profile protests by young people in the US in the wake of school shootings. Harvard students backed calls to restrict access to firearms, with almost nine in 10 supporting tighter gun control

7. Smart students, smartphones. This is a cohort of students completely immersed in digital technology. Almost all of these new graduates own a smartphone, which are so prevalent that they're almost taken for granted. There is a strong bias towards iPhones, used by 87% of those leaving Harvard, with 80% using some other Apple computer device.

8. Harvard introduced an honour code in which students promised not to engage in academic cheating. But this survey suggests that this has not changed behaviour and that levels of cheating have remained broadly the same, with about a fifth of students owning up to having cheated at some stage. Very few of these say that this was detected.

9. Widening access. Entrance to top universities is always controversial. More than 60% back the principle of affirmative action and prioritising the admission of some students based on ethnicity. It was most popular among black and Hispanic graduates and least popular among Asian and white graduates.

10. What next? These graduates are entering an era of polarised views. It's also a United States divided by geography. These new high-flyers are not going to be spread across the country - they're planning careers that will see them clustering in three areas, New York, Massachusetts and California. About a 10th expect to head overseas. The biggest job destinations immediately after college are consulting, finance and technology. But if this gives a picture of where the new money will be made, 60% of the new graduates still expect to be depending on money from their parents.

Black applicants 'face more university fraud claims'

Black students are more likely to have their university applications flagged for potential fraud or errors than any other ethnic group, according to data from the Ucas admissions service.

Of the 5,160 forms flagged between 2013 and 2017, 52% were from black students.

Ucas said it was unclear why this is the case and it would work with organisations representing ethnic minority groups to examine the issue.

White students - 73% of all applicants - had 19% of flagged applications.

About 16% of flagged applications were from Asian students, who made up 11% of applicants, Ucas said.

Black applicants made up around 9% of all university undergraduate applicants in the period.

Ucas released the figures after an investigation by the Independent last month brought the issue to light.

The details come amid increasing focus on black and minority ethnic students in higher education, and their experiences at universities and colleges.

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Ucas said a student's ethnicity was not used in any of the processes that can lead to an application being flagged.

It said it would now be "reaching out to representative organisations to strengthen the voices of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic students in our decision-making and processes".

But Labour MP David Lammy, a former minister for higher education, told the Times Ucas "needs to be able to explain this huge disproportionality and satisfy students from ethnic minorities that their applications will be looked upon fairly."

Earlier this month, Mr Lammy was involved in a Twitter row with Oxford University over the number of black students it has admitted in the past three years,

'Generally fair'

Ucas says its verification service aims to prevent students from gaining an unfair advantage, or a higher education place, through deception.

As well as using fraud detection software, there are systems for detecting similarities and duplicates between applications, and an alerts process for universities and colleges who believe an application warrants further investigation.

ucas said about 40% of the applications flagged for concern are cancelled and this was broadly proportionate to the percentages flagged in each ethnic group - suggesting that the verification is "generally robust and fair".

Overall, there were 2.9m university applications over the last five years. Of these, 5,160 (0.18%) had applications flagged and 2,085 (0.07%) were cancelled.

Clare Marchant, Ucas's chief executive, said: "There is more work for us to do to ensure that flagging is as robust as it can be across all areas of the verification service.

"We've already made enhancements to our fraud detection service, introduced an additional review of applications prior to cancellation, and ensured all staff involved in verification activities have had up-to-date unconscious bias training.

"We have set out a programme of work to further review verification processes in collaboration with universities and colleges, and we will be inviting organisations that represent Black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups to work with us to help us take a thorough look at key areas of our business, to improve the experience for all applicants."

A Universities UK spokesman said: "Ucas's fraud detection software does not look at personal information such as name, address or ethnicity, so the flags seem to be based on very specific parts of the application," he said.

"Where flags have been resolved following a review by Ucas staff, this should not have an impact on a university's admissions decision."

'New landscape' for university funding as budget increases

Universities and further education colleges in Wales will see overall funding rise by £17.5m over the next year.

The overall budget is increasing to £138.2m for the forthcoming academic year.

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (Hefcw) chief executive Dr David Blaney said this reflected "a new funding landscape".

He said it would ensure institutions were better resourced in future.

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The sector has already received an extra £21.4m over the last few months, which included:

• An extra £6.24m to deal with demographic changes and the impact of Brexit
• £1.2m towards setting up an Institute for Coding
• £1.7m to ease pressures on the performing arts

The money coming in is going up overall but Hefcw, for another year at least, has to make funding adjustments in cash given to universities based on the actual available budget when everything has been worked out.

This means a reduction of £12.5m to 13 higher education institutions although the gap is closing and is expected to disappear completely by 2019-20.

For Cardiff University - with by far the biggest allocation - it is £6.1m less through this funding adjustment.

However, while all universities are taking their share of this, funding to the sector overall has gone up.

With the recommendations of the Diamond review of student and university finance coming in, Hefcw expects its future income to rise during the lifetime of the current Welsh Government.

University bosses' pay rules 'woefully inadequate'

The final version of a new code on university bosses' pay has been dubbed "woefully inadequate" by the main union representing university staff.

The voluntary code is published amid concerns about spiralling pay rises for senior staff and calls for restraint.

The Committee of University Chairs, which wrote the code, says it will mean a more transparent and open system.

But the University and College Union said "a bizarre gentleman's agreement" would not curb excessive pay.

A draft version of the code was first published in January.

The final version:

• bans vice-chancellors from being members of committees that decide their pay
• requires universities to justify senior staff salaries
• includes guidance on "fair and appropriate" pay for senior staff.

The code is voluntary - but institutions which choose not to adopt it must explain publicly how their alternative arrangements meet the principles of the guidance.

Each institution must publish yearly details of its vice-chancellor's pay, including how this salary compares with the median earnings of the whole of its workforce.

If the difference is significantly above average, the institution must explain why.

Perks like free housing and cars, bonuses, expenses and other allowances will be included in the calculations.

Value for money

CUC chairman Chris Sayers said the guidance would "balance the need for recruiting the best talent with the need to demonstrate value for money".

"We are confident the new code will promote more transparency and improve the public's understanding of confidence in how decisions around pay are made."

Universities Minister Sam Gyimah said he was particularly pleased about the ban on vice-chancellors sitting on committees which set their pay.

But the UCU says the code does not go far enough.

The union points out that vice-chancellors will still be able to attend meetings as long as they leave the room when own their pay is discussed.

In fact, the guidance suggests that university bosses should be invited to meetings to advise on the pay of other senior staff, including professors.

"It is very important that the head of institution is present at meetings to discuss these staff and ensure that the committee's decisions are well-informed," says the guidance.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said she found this "staggering".

"A bizarre gentleman's agreement where the boss steps outside while their pay is discussed is not how you tackle excessive pay.

"If university leaders are to be held properly accountable, we need students and staff to be sitting on the committees which set their pay," she added.

The Office for Students called the code's publication "a positive step" but said it was now time for vice-chancellors and university governing bodies to "show real leadership on this issue".

"While the code provides useful guidelines, tough questions need to be asked about high pay in the sector," said OfS chief executive Nicola Dandridge.

OfS will publish its own information requirements for higher education bosses' pay later this month and Ms Dandridge warned: "Where an institution breaches our regulatory conditions, we will not hesitate to intervene."