Latest news with #UniversityofLiverpool
Telegraph
7 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
University staff walk out over calls to return to the office three days a week
More than 300 university workers will go on strike on Friday over demands to return to the office three days a week. University of Liverpool employees – who receive a guaranteed, inflation-linked pension for life, along with a generous tax-free lump sum – will walk out on Friday and Saturday to coincide with the university's open days. Members of the Unite union accused the university's leadership of 'riding roughshod' over the 'well-being and personal lives' of staff members. Current rules dictate that employees in administrative roles must come into work two days a week, but bosses are demanding staff attend in-person for three days. A University of Liverpool spokesman said the new requirement for staff to be in attendance 60pc of the working week is 'intended to strike the right balance as a face-to-face higher education provider'. They added: 'It will both enhance the experience of campus for our students and improve the impact colleagues have in their roles by spending more time together, whilst retaining the benefits and positives which staff value about working remotely.' But the changes have come in for criticism from the 340 staff members poised to walk out on Friday. One staff member said: 'It takes me 15 minutes on the train, but 45 minutes walking to get to campus. Now I'm hybrid working, I have to carry a backpack with all my work gear which can weigh up to 10kg due to laptop, headphones, lunch and anything else required for a day away from home. 'By the time I've finished two days on campus, I am so tired physically and mentally that I'm good for nothing the following day.' Unite said university managers have begun scheduling more in-person meetings ahead of the rule change. Unite regional officer, Sam Marshall, said: ' Strike action will cause huge disruption across the university campus, but this is entirely the fault of university management which has refused to listen to its workers and openly negotiate. 'The University of Liverpool leadership can stop the planned industrial action by being willing to negotiate in good faith.' Industrial action in Liverpool comes after staff in Edinburgh walked out this month. They went on strike amid disputes over senior management's plans to cut £140m from the university's annual budget, and its refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. As university employees go on strike, students are being saddled with ever-increasing debt after finishing their degrees. Figures from the Student Loans Company show loan balances were £5,000 higher in 2024-25 than the year before, with the average coming in at £53,000. Strikes from university staff come after civil servants threatened to not to work over new rules demanding more in-office working. Civil Service heads of department have reiterated a minimum office working threshold of 60pc for officials, with senior managers expected to exceed this amount. The so-called '60:40 rule' was introduced by the Conservative government in November 2023 and, at the time, was opposed by unions. The Labour government indicated it might change the policy when it came to office in July, but has stuck with it. The University of Liverpool said 'individual adjustments can be made where necessary' for staff members with personal circumstances which hinder a 60:40 model. A spokesman said: 'Formal consultation with our recognised trade unions has taken place in line with our agreed procedures and, while agreement was not reached, dialogue has been maintained to try to resolve the remaining areas of concern raised.'
Hindustan Times
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Explained: What are nuclear contamination risks from Israel's attacks on Iran?
Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear installations so far pose only limited risks of contamination, experts say. But they warn that any attack on the country's nuclear power station at Bushehr could cause a nuclear disaster. Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities in its military campaign, but that it also wants to avoid any nuclear disaster in a region that is home to tens of millions of people and produces much of the world's oil. Fears of catastrophe rippled through the Gulf on Thursday when the Israeli military said it had struck a site in Bushehr on the Gulf coast - home to Iran's only nuclear power station - only to say later that the announcement was a mistake. What has Israel hit so far ? Israel has announced attacks on nuclear sites in Natanz, Isfahan, Arak and Tehran itself. Israel says it aims to stop Iran building an atom bomb. Iran denies ever seeking one. The international nuclear watchdog IAEA has reported damage to the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, to the nuclear complex at Isfahan, including the Uranium Conversion Facility, and to centrifuge production facilities in Karaj and Tehran. Israel has also attacked Arak, also known as Khondab. The IAEA said Israeli military strikes hit the Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor, which was under construction and had not begun operating, and damaged the nearby plant that makes heavy water. The IAEA said that it was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so there were no radiological effects. In an update of its assessment on Friday, the IAEA said key buildings at the site were damaged. Heavy-water reactors can be used to produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make an atom bomb. What risks do these strikes pose ? Peter Bryant, a professor at the University of Liverpool in England who specialises in radiation protection science and nuclear energy policy, said he is not too concerned about fallout risks from the strikes so far. He noted that the Arak site was not operational while the Natanz facility was underground and no release of radiation was reported. "The issue is controlling what has happened inside that facility, but nuclear facilities are designed for that," he said. "Uranium is only dangerous if it gets physically inhaled or ingested or gets into the body at low enrichments," he said. Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at London think tank RUSI, said attacks on facilities at the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle - the stages where uranium is prepared for use in a reactor - pose primarily chemical, not radiological risks. At enrichment facilities, UF6, or uranium hexafluoride, is the concern. "When UF6 interacts with water vapour in the air, it produces harmful chemicals," she said. The extent to which any material is dispersed would depend on factors including the weather, she added. 'In low winds, much of the material can be expected to settle in the vicinity of the facility; in high winds, the material will travel farther, but is also likely to disperse more widely.' The risk of dispersal is lower for underground facilities. Simon Bennett, who leads the civil safety and security unit at the University of Leicester in the UK, said risks to the environment were minimal if Israel hits subterranean facilities because you are "burying nuclear material in possibly thousands of tonnes of concrete, earth and rock". The major concern would be a strike on Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr. Richard Wakeford, Honorary Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, said that while contamination from attacks on enrichment facilities would be "mainly a chemical problem" for the surrounding areas, extensive damage to large power reactors "is a different story". Radioactive elements would be released either through a plume of volatile materials or into the sea, he added. James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said an attack on Bushehr "could cause an absolute radiological catastrophe", but that attacks on enrichment facilities were "unlikely to cause significant off-site consequences". Before uranium goes into a nuclear reactor it is barely radioactive, he said. "The chemical form uranium hexafluoride is toxic ... but it actually doesn't tend to travel large distances and it's barely radioactive. So far the radiological consequences of Israel's attacks have been virtually nil," he added, while stating his opposition to Israel's campaign. Bennett of the University of Leicester said it would be "foolhardy for the Israelis to attack" Bushehr because they could pierce the reactor, which would mean releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere. Why are Gulf states especially worried ? For Gulf states, the impact of any strike on Bushehr would be worsened by the potential contamination of Gulf waters, jeopardizing a critical source of desalinated potable water. In the UAE, desalinated water accounts for more than 80% of drinking water, while Bahrain became fully reliant on desalinated water in 2016, with 100% of groundwater reserved for contingency plans, according to authorities. Qatar is 100% dependent on desalinated water. In Saudi Arabia, a much larger nation with a greater reserve of natural groundwater, about 50% of the water supply came from desalinated water as of 2023, according to the General Authority for Statistics. While some Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have access to more than one sea to draw water from, countries like Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are crowded along the shoreline of the Gulf with no other coastline. "If a natural disaster, oil spill, or even a targeted attack were to disrupt a desalination plant, hundreds of thousands could lose access to freshwater almost instantly," said Nidal Hilal, Professor of Engineering and Director of New York University Abu Dhabi's Water Research Center. "Coastal desalination plants are especially vulnerable to regional hazards like oil spills and potential nuclear contamination," he said.
AsiaOne
16 hours ago
- Politics
- AsiaOne
What are the nuclear contamination risks from Israel's attacks on Iran?, World News
Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities in its military campaign, but that it also wants to avoid any nuclear disaster in a region that is home to tens of millions of people and produces much of the world's oil. Fears of catastrophe rippled through the Gulf on Thursday (June 19) when the Israeli military said it had struck a site in Bushehr on the Gulf coast — home to Iran's only nuclear power station — only to later say the announcement was a mistake. Below are details on the damage caused so far by Israel's attacks, and what experts are saying about the risks of contamination and other disasters. What has Israel hit so far? Israel has announced attacks on nuclear sites in Natanz, Isfahan, Arak and Tehran itself. Israel says it aims to stop Iran building an atom bomb. Iran denies ever seeking one. The international nuclear watchdog IAEA has reported damage to the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, to the nuclear complex at Isfahan, including the Uranium Conversion Facility, and to centrifuge production facilities in Karaj and Tehran. Israel said on Wednesday it had targeted Arak, also known as Khondab, the location of a partially built heavy-water research reactor, a type that can easily produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb. The IAEA said it had information that the Khondab heavy water research reactor had been hit, but that it was not operational and reported no radiological effects. What fallout risks do these strikes pose? Peter Bryant, a professor at the University of Liverpool in England who specialises in radiation protection science and nuclear energy policy, said he is not too concerned about fallout risks from the strikes so far. [[nid:719286]] He noted that the Arak site was not operational while the Natanz facility was underground and no release of radiation was reported. "The issue is controlling what has happened inside that facility, but nuclear facilities are designed for that," he said. "Uranium is only dangerous if it gets physically inhaled or ingested or gets into the body at low enrichments," he said. Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at London think tank RUSI, said attacks on facilities at the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle — the stages where uranium is prepared for use in a reactor — pose primarily chemical, not radiological risks. At enrichment facilities, UF6, or uranium hexafluoride, is the concern. "When UF6 interacts with water vapour in the air, it produces harmful chemicals," she said. The extent to which any material is dispersed would depend on factors including weather conditions, she added. "In low winds, much of the material can be expected to settle in the vicinity of the facility; in high winds, the material will travel farther, but is also likely to disperse more widely." The risk of dispersal is lower for underground facilities. What about nuclear reactors? The major concern would be a strike on Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr. Richard Wakeford, Honorary Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, said that while contamination from attacks on enrichment facilities would be "mainly a chemical problem" for the surrounding areas, extensive damage to large power reactors "is a different story". [[nid:719289]] Radioactive elements would be released either through a plume of volatile materials or into the sea, he added. James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said an attack on Bushehr "could cause an absolute radiological catastrophe", but that attacks on enrichment facilities were "unlikely to cause significant off-site consequences". Before uranium goes into a nuclear reactor it is barely radioactive, he said. "The chemical form uranium hexafluoride is toxic... but it actually doesn't tend to travel large distances and it's barely radioactive. So far the radiological consequences of Israel's attacks have been virtually nil," he added, while stating his opposition to Israel's campaign. Why are Gulf states especially worried? For Gulf states, the impact of any strike on Bushehr would be worsened by the potential contamination of Gulf waters, jeopardising a critical source of desalinated potable water. In the UAE, desalinated water accounts for more than 80 per cent of drinking water, while Bahrain became fully reliant on desalinated water in 2016, with 100 per cent of groundwater reserved for contingency plans, according to authorities. Qatar is 100 per cent dependant on desalinated water. In Saudi Arabia, a much larger nation with a greater reserve of natural groundwater, about 50 per cent of the water supply came from desalinated water as of 2023, according to the General Authority for Statistics. While some Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have access to more than one sea to draw water from, countries like Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are crowded along the shoreline of the Gulf with no other coastline. "If a natural disaster, oil spill, or even a targeted attack were to disrupt a desalination plant, hundreds of thousands could lose access to freshwater almost instantly," said Nidal Hilal, Professor of Engineering and Director of New York University Abu Dhabi's Water Research Centre. "Coastal desalination plants are especially vulnerable to regional hazards like oil spills and potential nuclear contamination," he said. [[nid:719283]]
Straits Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Explainer: What are the nuclear contamination risks from Israel's attacks on Iran?
Explainer: What are the nuclear contamination risks from Israel's attacks on Iran? Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities in its military campaign, but that it also wants to avoid any nuclear disaster in a region that is home to tens of millions of people and produces much of the world's oil. Fears of catastrophe rippled through the Gulf on Thursday when the Israeli military said it had struck a site in Bushehr on the Gulf coast - home to Iran's only nuclear power station - only to later say the announcement was a mistake. Below are details on the damage caused so far by Israel's attacks, and what experts are saying about the risks of contamination and other disasters. WHAT HAS ISRAEL HIT SO FAR? Israel has announced attacks on nuclear sites in Natanz, Isfahan, Arak and Tehran itself. Israel says it aims to stop Iran building an atom bomb. Iran denies ever seeking one. The international nuclear watchdog IAEA has reported damage to the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, to the nuclear complex at Isfahan, including the Uranium Conversion Facility, and to centrifuge production facilities in Karaj and Tehran. Israel said on Wednesday it had targeted Arak, also known as Khondab, the location of a partially built heavy-water research reactor, a type that can easily produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb. The IAEA said it had information that the Khondab heavy water research reactor had been hit, but that it was not operational and reported no radiological effects. WHAT FALLOUT RISKS DO THESE STRIKES POSE? Peter Bryant, a professor at the University of Liverpool in England who specialises in radiation protection science and nuclear energy policy, said he is not too concerned about fallout risks from the strikes so far. He noted that the Arak site was not operational while the Natanz facility was underground and no release of radiation was reported. "The issue is controlling what has happened inside that facility, but nuclear facilities are designed for that," he said. "Uranium is only dangerous if it gets physically inhaled or ingested or gets into the body at low enrichments," he said. Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at London think tank RUSI, said attacks on facilities at the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle - the stages where uranium is prepared for use in a reactor - pose primarily chemical, not radiological risks. At enrichment facilities, UF6, or uranium hexafluoride, is the concern. "When UF6 interacts with water vapour in the air, it produces harmful chemicals," she said. The extent to which any material is dispersed would depend on factors including weather conditions, she added. "In low winds, much of the material can be expected to settle in the vicinity of the facility; in high winds, the material will travel farther, but is also likely to disperse more widely." The risk of dispersal is lower for underground facilities. WHAT ABOUT NUCLEAR REACTORS? The major concern would be a strike on Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr. Richard Wakeford, Honorary Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, said that while contamination from attacks on enrichment facilities would be "mainly a chemical problem" for the surrounding areas, extensive damage to large power reactors "is a different story". Radioactive elements would be released either through a plume of volatile materials or into the sea, he added. James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said an attack on Bushehr "could cause an absolute radiological catastrophe", but that attacks on enrichment facilities were "unlikely to cause significant off-site consequences". Before uranium goes into a nuclear reactor it is barely radioactive, he said. "The chemical form uranium hexafluoride is toxic ... but it actually doesn't tend to travel large distances and it's barely radioactive. So far the radiological consequences of Israel's attacks have been virtually nil," he added, while stating his opposition to Israel's campaign. WHY ARE GULF STATES ESPECIALLY WORRIED? For Gulf states, the impact of any strike on Bushehr would be worsened by the potential contamination of Gulf waters, jeopardizing a critical source of desalinated potable water. In the UAE, desalinated water accounts for more than 80% of drinking water, while Bahrain became fully reliant on desalinated water in 2016, with 100% of groundwater reserved for contingency plans, according to authorities. Qatar is 100% dependent on desalinated water. In Saudi Arabia, a much larger nation with a greater reserve of natural groundwater, about 50% of the water supply came from desalinated water as of 2023, according to the General Authority for Statistics. While some Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have access to more than one sea to draw water from, countries like Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are crowded along the shoreline of the Gulf with no other coastline. "If a natural disaster, oil spill, or even a targeted attack were to disrupt a desalination plant, hundreds of thousands could lose access to freshwater almost instantly," said Nidal Hilal, Professor of Engineering and Director of New York University Abu Dhabi's Water Research Center. "Coastal desalination plants are especially vulnerable to regional hazards like oil spills and potential nuclear contamination," he said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Hindu
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Global Education Comes to India: How Foreign Universities Are Reshaping Higher Learning
The establishment of international university campuses in India marks a significant shift in the country's higher education landscape. According to recent reports, 15 foreign universities are set to open campuses in India this academic year, with a strong focus on STEMB disciplines—Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Biomedical Sciences. The University of Liverpool has already received approval to launch its Bengaluru campus, following the University of Southampton, which was the first to receive a Letter of Intent under the 2023 UGC guidelines. Impact on India's Education Ecosystem Global Standards & Curriculum – These universities bring internationally recognized curricula, fostering a more competitive and globally relevant education system. Research & Innovation – Increased collaboration between Indian and foreign institutions can drive cutting-edge research, particularly in STEMB fields. Industry Partnerships – Strategic Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with organizations like AstraZeneca and Dream11 indicate a stronger industry-academia linkage, benefiting students with real-world exposure. International Recognition – India's education sector will gain credibility, attracting more foreign students and faculty. Benefits for Students Access to Global Education – Students can experience world-class education without the financial burden of studying abroad. – Students can experience world-class education without the financial burden of studying abroad. Better Career Prospects – Exposure to international faculty and industry collaborations enhances employability. – Exposure to international faculty and industry collaborations enhances employability. Diverse Learning Environment – Interaction with global peers fosters cross-cultural understanding and networking. Benefits for Faculty Collaborative Research Opportunities – Indian faculty can engage in joint research projects with international scholars. – Indian faculty can engage in joint research projects with international scholars. Professional Development – Access to global teaching methodologies and training programs. – Access to global teaching methodologies and training programs. Higher Compensation & Recognition – Faculty working in these institutions may receive competitive salaries and international recognition. Impact on Existing Indian Universities Healthy Competition – Indian universities may be encouraged to upgrade their infrastructure and curriculum to match global standards. – Indian universities may be encouraged to upgrade their infrastructure and curriculum to match global standards. Collaborations & Exchange Programs – Partnerships with foreign universities can lead to student and faculty exchange programs. – Partnerships with foreign universities can lead to student and faculty exchange programs. Policy & Regulatory Evolution – The presence of international institutions may push for reforms in higher education policies, benefiting the entire sector. This move aligns with India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which aims to transform the country into a global education hub and develop 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047 'This article is part of sponsored content programme.'
