Hackers defaced the websites of Natal, Stellenbosch, Rhodes and Witwatersrand universities last week. Internet lawyer Reinhardt Buys described it as "a week considered to be the worst yet for IT security at local tertiary institutions".

The University of Pretoria's radio station, Tuks FM, is having the book thrown at them by Happy Sindane's lawyer for using Happy's image, with his eyes blanked out, in a controversial advertisement. The poster, advertising jobs at the radio station, has the slogan "Want to find jou ma?", which is linked to the confusion over Happy's identity. It is also a play on the station's marketing slogan, "Jou ma", which is an abbreviation of an Afrikaans slur.

In order to beef up the teaching staff and instil discipline in pupils, about eleven students from the University College of Education, Winneba, Ghana, have been posted to the Kwahu South district for one month. This improvisation will be implemented in schools of the same district.

President of the University of Tennessee John Shumaker has resigned after allegations of financial and ethical improprieties. Tennessee governor Phil Bresden accepted Shumaker's five-sentence letter of resignation. "I believe that this is in the best interest of the university," the president wrote. "I simply cannot permit our students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees to be distracted from their important work by letting the controversies of the past several weeks continue."

A new experimental college-admissions test in the US appears to augment the SAT's ability to predict college students' first-year grade point averages, according to a recent report presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association. The researchers who developed the test, which is designed to measure intelligence more broadly than does the SAT, suggested that it would also reduce ethnic and racial disparities in admissions scores.

Due to the merger, salaries of public-service when working as a lawyer, students are abandoning these careers opportunities because they are unable to repay student-loan debts that often exceed $80 000. This was according to a report released at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association.

In a move to expand its growing tertiary-education business, Kaplan Inc has bought two Californian institutions that offer degrees in information technology and allied health. Kaplan's higher education division now operates 57 institutions in 15 states, after the purchase of the CEI Institute and the CEI College. Having 10 campuses between them, these Californian institutions serve more than 1 800 students in nine cities, including Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Hundreds of Witwatersrand Technikon students were thrown out of their hostels after protesting against a new rule designed to protect them. This forbade any visitors to their rooms. Evictions took place after hours of rampaging, in which the students barricaded streets with burning tyres, and stoned passing motorists. Police arrested about 300 protesters.

Sources: Independent Online AllAfrica.com, Chronicle of Higher Education

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