20 years ago

Universities are cashing in on full fee-paying overseas students taking up university places for which they are unqualified. Accusations of "double standards" were levelled at British universities during the International Baccalaureate Organisation's (IBO) Information Conference last week. Robert Blackburn, director of the IBO London, told the conference that he knew of two cases in the past academic year where students with only part of the International Baccalaureate were awarded places.

A project involving universities across the globe is hoping to produce an agricultural alert system to save millions of lives by giving health authorities early warning of insect plagues, drought and crop failures. A conference in Cairo brought together universities and other scientific establishments in a global research network to tackle the plague of locusts affecting Africa and the Middle East. The collaborative research programme will be co-ordinated by the United Nations.