Third rate but popular

· Luton vice-chancellor Les Ebdon has fully forgiven Sir Richard Sykes for his comments about "third rate" universities, such as Luton. In fact he's thinking of sending a card to thank him. "Our applications are up!" he explains. "People have been more enthusiastically taking up offers we've made this year than previous years. We saw the improvement come about the time when there was all the fuss about the Richard Sykes' comments. It was an opportunity for us to say all the good things about the university, and even Charles Clarke came up with the 'bloody brilliant' comment about our teaching." Getting rather excited, he adds: "When I next see him, I'll say thank you." When might that be? It could be at the next Imperial alumni meeting, seeing as the Luton VC is an ex-Imperialist, which gets Notebook wondering even more: does Professor Ebdon, as a successful ex-student, make an alumni donation to Imperial? Alas, Ebdon's enthusiasm wanes. "I don't think that's the kind of thing I should reveal." Spoilsport.

· Talking of Luton, the university has been singing from the tree tops about a new Russian student arriving in October to do a business masters. She could have chosen Oxford's dreaming spires. She could have gone for a spell in the historic city of Edinburgh. The London School of Economics was also an option. But when Svetlana Oglobina was awarded a prestigious Foreign-Office scholarship to study in the UK, she opted for Luton University. The 29-year old, speaking from her home in Irkutsk, Siberia, told Notebook she was looking forward to her time in Luton: "I know that it is a very nice and cute town not far from London, it's quiet and little." Her home university has a long-term link with Luton, which helped make her mind up. Paul Burns, dean of Luton Business School, said: "These scholarships are prestigious awards, which enable overseas students to study at any university in the UK, and we are delighted Svetlana chose us." Svetlana: good luck.

· Being a tad superstitious we also want to wish lots of luck to the following FE and specialist colleges: Minstead training project, Sparsholt college, Newbury college, Berkshire, Queen Alexandra college, Harbourne, Birmingham, and Chesterfield college, Derbyshire. Their Ofsted reports are being published this Friday... the 13th.