A student will soon be flying by the seat of his pants in a 1940’s original biplane.

Flying mad Ross Willington, who turns 20 today, has been crowned Student Pilot of the Year and will get the chance to fly a Tiger Moth.

Ross, who is in the second year of a pilot studies degree at Liverpool University was given the honour yesterday by Liverpool Flying School at John Lennon Airport.

But the keen pilot, who dreams of flying a rescue plane for the coastguard or ambulance service, couldn’t take to the air because of poor flight conditions.

He said: “I’m very excited about flying the plane, it was great putting on the vintage flying gear and sitting in the cockpit.

“Flying a Tiger Moth is a once in a lifetime experience and will be completely different to flying a modern plane with updated aerodynamics.

“In this plane I will get the thrill of flying and that ‘flying by the seat of your pants’ feeling.”

Ross was chosen as the best student pilot by Martin Keen, owner of Liverpool Flying School and instructor.

Martin said: “We teach the practical part of the university course, helping the 25 students get their 20 hours flying time.

“Ross is always so enthusiastic, always on time and loves flying. He is also one of the best academically which is why he deserves this new accolade.”

Liverpool University runs the pilot studies course as part of its Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical/Electrical Engineering faculty.

Students use flight simulators and do their theory at the university before gaining their Private Pilots Licence at the airport.

Dr Mark White, from the university added: “There’s still so much to learn about flying and our course is helping create future ‘super pilots’.”

A university is asking landlords to be patient after some students were left with no money because of delays to loans and grants.

Students at the University of Brighton are among those still waiting for their first maintenance payments as the Student Loans Company (SLC) struggles to cope with demand.

The university has been bailing out cash-starved students with emergency hardship loans for items such as rent, food and course materials.

More British school-leavers are heading to American universities to avoid a culture that produces exam junkies, according to a leading headmaster. The “Obama effect” has also been credited for encouraging record numbers of British teenagers to begin studying in the United States this autumn.

America is the most popular foreign destination for British school-leavers but Britain is also the No 1 choice for American teenagers studying abroad.

Leading universities are hoping to win the freedom to impose big increases in what they charge students for tuition after a review of fees that began yesterday.

The review, which is not expected to report until after the election, is being led by the former BP chief executive Lord Browne of Madingley, who has said in the past that a fourfold increase would not be unreasonable.

Vice-chancellors and other academics were careful not to put a figure on the maximum that they will be allowed to levy on students, saying that the independent review should consider evidence first. Top universities made clear that they were hoping for the freedom to raise fees substantially.

More than 150,000 university applicants missed out on a degree place this autumn — 25,000 more than in 2008 — despite record enrolments.

Universities in England defied government orders to recruit no more than an additional 13,000 students. Figures released yesterday show them acceptingthat they accepted nearly 20,000 more applicants than last year.

Universities in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also increased their intakes.

But the largest-ever enrolment of 477,000 students throughoutacross Britain still left many disappointed. Almost 15,000 withdrew their applications and another 139,000, including many who did not achieve the required grades, were left without a place.

The limits on recruitment ordered by John Denham, as Universities Secretary, in a year when applications rose by 10 per cent, prompted fearshad led to fears of even larger numbers of unplaced applicants.

But 47,000 students — more than twice the number forecast by the Universities and College Admissions Service — were successful in the clearing process, which follows the publication of A-level results.

By now, university students will have settled into the new term and be looking hard at the rent they are paying on their halls of residence or student digs. Some might even be wondering, is this the most intelligent way to get accommodation?

The answer is: not necessarily. With property prices in the doldrums, buying a place and using it to offset your costs by renting it out to fellow students has become a more realistic prospect than in many years.

There once was a time when student accommodation meant mouldy walls, a broken toaster and a leaking shower, a time when students had to wear multiple jumpers in the winter to keep warm.

Parents might have been appalled, but the dingy student grotto used to be a rite of passage: a rejection of home and clean sheets and spotless ovens. Not any more. The launch this month of several high-profile luxury student studios, with wi-fi, a flat-screen TV and even a dishwasher is part of a new trend in university living: accommodation for the posh student.

Whereas private accommodation providers made up about 2 per cent of the full-time student accommodation market a decade ago, today the figure is closer to 10 per cent. Unite, the largest provider in the UK, has been opening an average of 13 student residences a year for the past seven years has and created 2,856 beds this year alone.

Students could be hit by higher tuition fees under a Tory government. The Conservative party has signalled it will consider demands to raise the annual fee to £7,000.

Many vice-chancellors are pressuring for a rise from the current total of £3,000, with some even calling for unlimited, American-style fees.

But shadow universities secretary David Willets is adamant that the university bosses must show how students will benefit from the increases.

Non-EU students studying at UK universities have almost doubled in numbers over the last decade, a new report shows.

229,640 students came from non-EU countries in 2007/08, whereas 10 years ago there were 117,290 studying for their degree in Great Britain.

“The report demonstrates how the diversity of the UK higher education sector has increased over the last 10 years, giving students from a wide range of backgrounds the opportunity to study at and beyond first degree level,” said Professor Geoffrey Crossick, the author of the report.

Online fraudsters are targeting British students and foreign holidaymakers by purporting to rent out property that does not exist. The scams work by offering to let property in prime areas at below market rents and asking for deposits, or in some cases full payment, upfront.

Police say they have received hundreds of complaints about online advertisements for flats. Potential tenants are persuaded to part with credit card details or cheques before seeing the property, which then turn out to not exist. And the payments are not returned.