dispatches - issue 4, December 2010
Our Higher Education group publishes a regular ebulletin
'dispatches' to keep you up-to-date with news and topical
issues affecting the sector. Please click on the links below to
view December's edition. Alternatively click here
to view/download the pdf of dispatches.
As universities come to terms with the immediate aftermath of the CSR, the fact that research funding has been maintained in real terms has largely been lauded as one of the few successes for the sector in the Chancellor’s announcements.
On 1 October 2010, the majority of the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 (the Act) came into force. The purpose of the Act is to consolidate and strengthen the law, as well as to introduce some new requirements.
Obtaining patent protection is often a longdrawn- out process. Slowness can sometimes be valuable for applicants, as it keeps options open, defers final decisions on technical scope of protection, and pushes back major expenditure.
In a recent decision by the ICO, the Queen’s University of Belfast was required to disclose previously unpublished research data to an unconnected researcher who had submitted a request under the FOIA and EIR, a decision that has caused concern in HEI circles.
Higher Education Institutions caught by the remit of the Carbon Reduction and Energy Efficiency Scheme are reeling from the unexpected announcement in the spending review of the scrapping of the recycling payments under the CRC.
Communication has become extremely important to UK universities through recent years of significant change and increased ‘marketisation’. Managing the effective communication of a university’s strengths to a complex set of stakeholders is arguably one of the greatest challenges.
Blake Lapthorn is delighted to have been appointed to the Legal Services Panel for the London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC).
