The UK’s poor record on literacy

As the Nobel prize for literature is awarded to a Canadian, the UK discusses the sorry state of adult literacy, writes Alison Goddard.

An editorial in The Financial Times today discusses the consequences of the poor reading skills of young adults in the UK. It says that (£) illiteracy and innumeracy risk blighting Britain’s future. The Office for National Statistics has published experimental data which show that young people who drop English and maths do not take them up again. The BBC reports that tens of thousands of teenagers in England do not have basic English and maths by the age of 18. The Daily Telegraph says that too many teenagers are allowed to drop out of education. The Herald reports that Glasgow has introduced a system to track youngsters to identify why some leave school without qualifications.

Elsewhere we have a report that is available only to HE subscribers which describes how the immigration bill will target students. Yesterday we also published behind our paywall an analysis by Bill Rammell, vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and former higher education minister, of how to ensure British universities are truly international. And The Daily Telegraph reports competition for British universities from overseas, where increasing numbers of university courses are being taught in English, while The Herald reports that Scottish universities will visit India to promote Scottish higher education.