Concerns about zero-hours contracts

The grumbles rumble on, writes Alison Goddard.

This morning The Financial Times reports comments made by Vince Cable, the business secretary, that (£) the government will intervene if it identifies abuses of zero-hours contracts, which are thought to be common in universities.

Following the publication yesterday of the Universities UK report on the dramatic fall in the number of part-time and mature undergraduates, we have two further articles that are available only to subscribers to HE: a viewpoint from David Maguire, vice-chancellor of the University of Greenwich and member of the Universities UK review group, who argues that the distinction between part- and full-time study should be abolished; and an account of the conference held yesterday by Universities UK. They form part of our package on part-time study.