The Malaysian government's decision to stop using English to teach math and science has raised concerns that the country's competitiveness will suffer.
Oxford tops Guardian's 2010 university league table
Full Guardian university guide for 2010, along with advice on how to apply to university, fees, and how to get the best from your course
Oxford University holds on to its position as the UK's leading teaching institution in the Guardian's university league tables, to be published tomorrow.
The tables provide vital information for students who face the toughest ever competition for university places this year.
Oxford scores highly on teaching quality, student satisfaction and career prospects.
It also spends the highest amount per student. Dr John Hood, Oxford's vice-chancellor, warned last month that the university was suffering unsustainable losses because of the cost of teaching its undergraduates.
Oxford's traditional rival, Cambridge University, retains its second-place ranking, with St Andrews University moving up from fifth spot last year to third place in the 2010 tables.
Britain's oldest universities still dominate the high rankings this year, with the London School of Economics fifth, Edinburgh seventh, and Imperial College London eighth.
But universities founded in the 1960s have also made the top 10: Warwick retains fourth position and Loughborough the tenth spot; Bath ranks ninth, up from 13th last year. Sussex has leapt 15 places to 18th, and Herriot-Watt rises from 52nd to 22nd place this year.
Prof Paul Curran, vice-chancellor of Bournemouth University, which has come top of the post-1992 universities for the second year running, said its 32nd ranking was down to investing in staff.
"We focused very clearly on academic excellence and investing in academic staff and our performance has improved dramatically.
"We've recruited 150 new staff over two years and doubled the number of staff who have doctorates, which has improved the student experience.
"Academic staff who are really enthusiastic about their subject is what we think students want, and the results would indicate that."
Newer universities tend to do less well in the Guardian's tables because they spend less money on teaching, they have lower ratios of staff to students, and their students are less happy with the feedback they get.
Paul Marshall, executive director of the 1994 group of smaller, research-intensive institutions, said: "The excellent performance of 1994 group universities in these national league tables, achieving 10 of the top 18 places, highlights yet again that our members are second to none in delivering a world-class academic experience.
"Deciding on which university to attend is an increasingly important choice in a very competitive jobs market.
"Savvy students have worked out that 1994 group universities deliver the very best academic experience through a combination of world-class research, a commitment to research-led teaching, and the highest levels of student satisfaction."
Dr Wendy Piatt, director-general of the Russell group of older research-intensive universities, said they continued to excel.
"Evidence demonstrates that learning in an inquiry-based environment, where teaching is enriched by research, provides a real benefit to students.
"The high-quality teaching and research undertaken by our universities builds the UK's knowledge base and gives our students highly employable critical thinking and leadership skills."
She said Russell group institutions scored highly in the most important categories, including career prospects. "Our universities have, for many years, been developing a range of schemes to enhance graduate employability, including work-based learning, internships in coveted professions, and tailored guidance to help students consolidate the skills that are valued by employers," said Piatt.
The top three places in the league table for specialist institutions have shifted, though conservatoires still dominate.
The Royal Academy of Music ranks first, up from third place last year, taking over from the Courtauld Institute, which drops to second place in the 2010 tables.
The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama falls to third place from second last year.
• The Guardian University Guide and The Guardian Postgraduate Guide are now available from Guardian Books.
Teacher records should be 'wiped clean after false charges'
Teachers who are the victims of malicious allegations should have their records wiped clean to stop untrue claims about their behaviour permanently ruining their reputations, MPs argue today.
There are thousands of cases where allegations are made against teachers each year – the majority of which are believed to be unfounded – but the claims end up on their records for life, and a new vetting body should be charged with removing them when teachers are cleared, a report from the Commons select committee for education says today. It says the presumption of "innocent until guilty" is at risk.
The government should also consider granting teachers the right to anonymity in the run-up to court cases so that they are protected from the fallout if the case is dismissed.
Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP and chairman of the committee, said: "We heard evidence of gross injustice. One teacher was accused of wrongful use of force when he split up two boys fighting in the corridor. He was suspended for 18 months, there was a police enquiry, which concluded there was no case to answer after months. Then the local authority and children's services initiated an inquiry. That lasted for weeks. Then the school governors instituted an inquiry. He was suspended and sent home and told not talk to the rest of the staff and totally isolated. He's guilty until proven innocent.
"Headteachers need better guidance to stop this total waste of time and talent."
The committee heard evidence from the government that during the period 1 April to 30 September 2007, 4,069 allegations of abuse against staff were heard by local authorities, 52% of which were in schools. One union, the NASUWT, reported that the problem is rising. It had to provide solicitors to nearly 200 members in 2007, compared with 44 in 1991. Only 5% ended up with a court conviction or caution.
The report calls for the government to monitor rates of allegations properly to establish the scale of the problem, and criticises local authorities for carrying out lengthy investigations after police have cleared a teacher of a charge.
Headteachers should be given more discretion to handle allegations internally as calling in help from police and local authorities can escalate the situation.
The new Independent Safeguarding Authority, set up to vet people working in schools, should decide whether to remove allegations from teachers' personal files if they are proved unfounded.
Frank Mickens, Who Turned Boys and Girls High School Around, Is Mourned
The longtime principal of Boys and Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant is recalled fondly by one of his teachers a day after his death.
New York on Less: Are Parents Thinking Differently About Education?
City Room is asking parents how the recession is affecting their decisions.
Segregation in schools fuelled by 'white flight', report warns
Schools in parts of England are becoming increasingly segregated, deserted by white parents if they find their children becoming outnumbered by pupils from ethnic minorities, a report by a thinktank set up to promote community cohesion has warned.
Councils should consider allocating school places using lotteries in some inner-city areas to tackle a growing phenomenon of "white flight" in the education system, the Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) said.
Its study, which focused on 13 local areas including Bolton, Sunderland, Oldham, Hounslow and Bristol, concluded: "Many of the schools and colleges in the areas we have studied are segregated to a greater or lesser extent and the evidence available to us at a local level suggested that this was generally worsening over recent years.
"This reflects in part residential segregation, but it also reflects parental choice, despite the fact that most people we spoke to in focus groups wanted their children to have a mixed education. Parental choice tended to push people to what they saw as the safe option, where children with similar backgrounds went."
It added: "We heard strong evidence of 'white flight' in a number of areas."
ICoCo was set up in 2005 to research and promote community relations. Nick Johnson, its director of policy and author of the report, said: "'White flight' is certainly happening in specific areas of England. In the case of one school in Blackburn, once the number of non-white pupils got above 60%, white parents started saying they did not want their kids being the odd ones out." Segregation reduced the chance for young people to mix with their peers from different backgrounds, said the report.
Johnson added that councils should consider allocating school places by lottery, a scheme that has been trialled at some schools in Brighton. "If you did that in Blackburn or Bolton or Oldham, it would have a dramatic effect on the schools' composition ... if you accept the argument that all forms of segregation in education are bad, you do need to do something about it," he said.
The report found that less popular schools with spare places sometimes admitted large numbers of immigrant pupils in a short time. It cited the case of an unnamed school at which, at the end of 2005, 85% of pupils were white British. Over the next two terms, pupils from 15 to 20 Somali families were admitted.
"Many white parents reacted negatively, arguing that their children were being disadvantaged by large numbers of non-English speakers. By September 2006, 60 white children had been removed from the school ... and the percentage of black and minority ethnic pupils rose to 45%. But many white families stayed," the report said.
Researchers also found evidence of pupils of different ethnicities not mixing even when they were sharing classes and playgrounds.
California Approaches a Deal on Budget Cuts
California lawmakers neared a deal to close the state’s $26 billion budget gap in ways that will profoundly alter the state’s relationship with its cities and citizens.
Obama Attacks on Economy and Seeks Billions for Community Colleges
The president counterattacked on the economy in a speech in Michigan, and at the same time announced a plan to spend $12 billion to bolster community colleges.
Few Solutions In Book on Charters
Journalists, particularly me, tend to get excited about charter schools, the independently run public schools that have produced -- at least in some cases -- major improvements in achievement for children from low-income families. The charter educators I write about are often young, energetic, witty, noble and pretty much irresistible. But their charter schools, which use tax dollars with little oversight, are relatively new and untried. Like all experiments, they could easily fizzle.
Schoolchildren shun healthy school meals
The campaign to revolutionise canteens kickstarted by Jamie Oliver three years ago has made only a marginal difference to pupils' eating habits, figures reveal
Nearly 5 million children in England still shun healthy lunches in their school canteen, new figures show, casting doubt over the success of the government's "school meals revolution".
Set in motion by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver three years ago, the campaign involved ridding schools of junk food and fizzy drinks, and imposing new nutritional standards on canteen meals.
But figures released today by the School Food Trust show that, despite determined efforts to improve take-up, the consumption of school meals has only marginally increased in the last year.
Between 2007-08 and 2008-09, the proportion of primary school pupils eating canteen meals rose from 43.8% to 43.9%, while the proportion of secondary school pupils who chose a school meal rather than brought in a packed lunch or had a takeaway at lunchtime grew slightly from 35.5% to 36%.
This equates to just 3 million schoolchildren out of a total of 7.9 million in England.
The findings reveal the inherent difficulties in the government's three-year drive to halt childhood obesity and encourage healthy eating. In September 2006, the government banned junk food in school. A year later, it set new rules for school vending machines, tuckshops and breakfast clubs, and last year it started to roll out new nutritional standards for school meals.
The former schools minister, Jim Knight, told parliament in 2007 that "increasing take-up of school lunches is a priority for this department and for the School Food Trust". He said he wanted to increase take-up by 10 percentage points between 2005-06 and autumn 2009.
Opposition MPs say the government has missed this target. The School Food Trust said this year's figures could not be compared with previous years because they had calculated the data differently and more local authorities were involved in this year's study.
But the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, David Laws, said: "We now know that barely a third of secondary pupils are eating school meals." He blamed the "rushed introduction" of new food standards.
He said: "The government stands little chance of meeting its targets unless there is both more investment in the school meals service and a massive change in expectations, so that sitting down for a proper lunch once again becomes the norm for every child."
Neil Porter, chairman of the Local Authority Caterers Association, said secondary pupils were particularly stubborn when it came to switching to school meals. He said: "Increasing secondary meal take-up will continue to be a challenge for us all. We need to focus on improving partnerships with headteachers, encouraging whole-school food policies and demonstrating to young people the benefits of choosing healthier food."
School caterers have warned that pupils will have less choice in future, because the new nutritional standards imposed on them are too strict. School canteens are said to be too dowdy and in need of a revamp.
But the government said today's figures were a significant step after a "massive culture change" in school food. Diana Johnson, the schools minister, said: "Four years ago, the majority of children were eating unhealthy meals at school. Chips, chocolate and sugar-filled fizzy drinks were available every day as a choice for school lunch. Today there is no school where this can now happen – all schools must provide a portion of vegetable and fruit as part of a nutritionally balanced main meal.
"We know that it is often the state of dining facilities and poor organisation, not nutritional changes, that put children off school dinners. That is why we have invested significant funds in improving dining facilities, and the School Food Trust is supporting schools to improve the way they organise their meals."
Prue Leith, chair of the School Food Trust, said she was convinced that "we are winning the battle for the hearts, minds and tastebuds of children and parents".
"It is particularly pleasing that secondary schools have turned the corner," she said.
Pre-Jamie Oliver
Battered sausage and iced doughnut
Chips, turkey twizzlers and coke
Beefburger and ice lolly
Post-Jamie Oliver
Lasagne and salad, and chocolate treacle sponge with custard
Lamb casserole with lentils and herbs, and fresh fruit with a biscuit
Pasta, tomato and cheese bake, and a strawberry milkshake
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