BLOG INDEX
Is Britain closing its doors to overseas academics?
Report in the Guardian today regarding how increasing visa restrictions are compromising UK HE. "When organisers of a workshop held earlier this month at All Souls College, Oxford, invited an eminent Algerian academic to be a keynote speaker, they assumed his visa...
read moreIntellectual freedom in academic scientific research
guest post by Prof Sir John Meurig Thomas (Materials Science, Cambridge) CDBU welcomes a diversity of views. Please contact us if you would like to be part of the conversation. This article is a slightly modified form of one that appears in Angewandt Chemie 2013 the...
read moreWhy universities matter
Tamson Pietsch spoke recently at the Guardian’s Future of Higher Education Summit about the importance of universities, and it's now gone up on their website. You can watch the talk here, or read the text below. "As a panel we were asked to speak about what the sector...
read more“An Assault on Academic Values” writes Thomas Docherty in the Chronicle of Higher Education
Thomas Docherty, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Warwick and a member of the [Steering Committee](http://cdbu.org.uk/?page_id=74) for the Council for the Defence of British Universities, has just [written a piece in the US’s...
read moreInsecure academics – just how much do universities rely on casual teaching staff?
A Freedom of Information request from the University and College Union reveals a reluctance by universities to share information about their use of teaching staff on hourly contracts Casual staff have always played an important role in university teaching. Many...
read moreStaff satisfaction is as important as student satisfaction
Opinion piece by Dorothy Bishop, 13 November 2014 Universities have become obsessed with competition: it is no longer enough to do well; you have to demonstrate you are better than the rest. And to do that, you need some kind of metric. Organisations have grown up to...
read moreNews round-up: The pensions strike is over, and the OU vice-chancellor resigns
Academic staff have voted to accept an offer to reopen negotiations with employers, and the position of the OU’s vice-chancellor finally becomes untenable Student nurses face financial hardship over loan error, says nursing body The Guardian, 16/04/2018, Patrick...
read moreNews round-up: A new higher education regulator is launched and pension strikes continue
The pensions dispute rumbles on, the OfS admits to making a mistake over the Toby Young appointment, and the OU vice-chancellor faces a vote of no confidence Universities give out unconditional offers like candy, say head teachers The Times, 31/03/2018, Rosemary...
read moreNews round-up: demand for higher education is set to grow
Demand for university places is going to grow by 300,000, but the rise in tuition fees means fewer people are choosing to study part-time More than 40,000 fewer part-time students go to university due to tuition fees hike, study suggests The Independent online,...
read moreYes, tuition fees in England are among the highest in the world
It turns out the CDBU were right about tuition fees Prime minister Theresa May has admitted that tuition fees in England are among the highest in the world. It’s good to see an acknowledgement from government of something that we first drew attention to three years...
read moreRadical changes on an international scale: On the parallel ‘reforms’ of British and Czech university systems
On 27 November 2012 Professor Howard Hotson was invited by the Institute of Philosophy to speak at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic on the ‘radical shake-up’ of the UK university system. His lecture attempted briefly to put the ongoing marketisation of...
read moreCDBU Founding Member Lord Rees To Debate Universities Minister David Willetts
One of the Founding Members of the Council for the Defense of British Universities (CDBU), the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees, is to debate against David Willetts MP, Minister of State for Universities and Science, on the subject “Can British Universities Keep Ahead in...
read moreThe CDBU is launched at the British Academy
What is to be done? This was the leading question aired at the inaugural meeting of the Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) at the British Academy on the evening of Tuesday, 13 November. Such was the consensus amongst Founding Members of the need...
read moreRoundup of Coverage for CDBU Ahead of Tuesday’s Launch
We’re delighted to see that the new Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) has been receiving plenty of press coverage from outlets around the world, ahead of our official launch at the British Academy on Tuesday 13th. Here are some of the highlights:...
read moreWe must stand up for universities’ right to teach the truth
Attempts to promote 'alternative facts' should be resisted, argues Professor James Ladyman It should surprise nobody that when Chris Heaton-Harris MP wrote to universities asking for details of academic staff discussing European affairs, he was immediately supported...
read moreConsequences for institutional autonomy and academic freedom
No 4 in a series of Guest posts by G. R. Evans The problem-areas flagged up here are technical but they are also of fundamental importance to academics because they affect academic freedom and the institutional autonomy of providers of higher education. These are...
read moreBanning extremists and ‘radical reform’
Opinion piece by Howard Hotson The new counter-terrorism bill emerging from the Home Office late in 2014 includes a significant piece of ad hoc university legislation: the requirement that universities ban ‘extremists’ from speaking on campus. This proposed...
read moreThe man who sighed too much
Opinion piece by Howard Hotson, October 29th 2014 Professor Thomas Docherty ‘Professor suspended from top university for giving off “negative vibes”.’ Thus read the headline in The Telegraph on Friday 24 October. ‘Professor at top university was suspended for nine...
read moreThe Bologna Process – the difference between theory and practice
Professor Judith Marquand has just published Democrats, Authoritarians and the Bologna Process: Universities in Germany, Russia, England and Wales. Here she explains what the Bologna Process has meant in different countries When I told the principal of an Oxford...
read moreBritain has one of the best higher education systems in the world. So what did Jo Johnson do to cheerlead us?
Professor Jo Wolff goes hunting for positive remarks from Jo Johnson about universities – and offers some advice to successor Sam Gyimah ‘Farewell unis and science’, tweeted Jo Johnson, channelling Private Eye’s E.J. Thribb. Academics were astonished by such an honest...
read moreBook review: A university education by David Willetts
Professor GR Evans finds much that is self-justifying and sometimes misleading in a new book by former universities and science minister David Willetts David Willetts defends himself more than once about the purpose of this book. He dismisses the possibility that it...
read moreJo Johnson: an end of term report
Professor DVM Bishop bids a not-so-fond farewell to universities minister Jo Johnson. So Jo Johnson is gone, brought down by poor judgement demonstrated by, first, the appointment of Toby Young to the Board of the Office for Students, and...
read moreNews round-up: Ditch predicted grades for university admissions
A think tank attacks grade inflation, while a new study calls for an end to the UK admissions system based on predicted A-level grades Too many firsts risk universities’ credibility, says think tank BBC, 21/06/2018 Universities risk losing their credibility due to...
read moreWho needs external examiners? We do
UCU has asked external examiners to resign in support of the strike over pensions. But what exactly does an external examiner do? Professor GR Evans reflects on the value of an undersung role On 15 March the University and College Union (UCU) asked external examiners...
read moreSpeedy entrances and sharp exits: letting in more alternative providers
No. 3 in a series of Guest posts by G. R. Evans One of the most controversial suggestions in the White Paper of May 16 is a change to the long-standing policy that on the rare occasion higher education providers get into difficulties the funding council will support...
read moreRoll up, roll up for the HERB 2.0 show
The themes playing out in the higher education debates in the houses of parliament seem strangely familiar, writes Professor David Midgley HERB 2.0 (the Higher Education Research Bill) has been playing in both houses of parliament recently. Like HERB 1.0, which...
read moreUpdate on Amendments to the Higher Education and Research Bill
David Midgley has kindly provided this useful summary of recent developments: The text of the Bill as amended by the Lords in report stage is now available at https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2016-2017/0112/17112.pdf. The most significant changes...
read moreA ‘cohesive and self-critical academic community’: an ideal under threat
Opinion piece G.R.Evans An article in Times Higher Education on 2 March collected suggestions from a ‘panel of university administration experts’ on the best way to frame a job advertisement. Wondering where suitably qualified and ‘excellent’ teachers are going to be...
read moreNew DAPs anyone? Is the proposed multiplication of types of degree-awarding powers a good idea?
Preamble: The Higher Education and Research Bill will reach undergo line-by-line examination in the House of Lords on 6th March, when it reaches the Report Stage. This post is the third in a series of opinion pieces by G. R. Evans, reflecting on the Amendments tabled...
read moreThe managerial humanities: or, why the digital humanities don’t exist
Daniel Allington is a lecturer in English Language and Applied Linguistics at the Open University. The piece below is taken from his blog: http://www.danielallington.net As we all know, the digital humanities are the next big thing. A couple of years ago, I gave a...
read more‘Poor value’ doesn’t mean poor quality
Media coverage of a recent student survey suggested higher education was poor value for money. But, asks Professor David Midgley, what does ‘value for money’ actually mean to students? The announcement of the 2018 Student Academic Experience Survey (SAES) by the...
read moreThe Bologna Process – the difference between theory and practice
Professor Judith Marquand has just published Democrats, Authoritarians and the Bologna Process: Universities in Germany, Russia, England and Wales. Here she explains what the Bologna Process has meant in different countries When I told the principal of an Oxford...
read moreBook review: A university education by David Willetts
Professor GR Evans finds much that is self-justifying and sometimes misleading in a new book by former universities and science minister David Willetts David Willetts defends himself more than once about the purpose of this book. He dismisses the possibility that it...
read moreNew government proposals could lead to an influx of Trump University-style providers, the CDBU warns
The Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) has warned of the dangers posed to higher education by opening the sector to private providers without adequate scrutiny. There is a real risk, it says, that the loosening of controls proposed by government...
read moreNews round-up: Ditch predicted grades for university admissions
A think tank attacks grade inflation, while a new study calls for an end to the UK admissions system based on predicted A-level grades Too many firsts risk universities’ credibility, says think tank BBC, 21/06/2018 Universities risk losing their credibility due to...
read moreNews round-up: Are coroners obscuring the number of student suicides?
The mental health of both academics and students comes under scrutiny, and a survey shows that most students don’t feel they are receiving value for money when it comes to teaching Cardiff plans review after suicide of ‘overworked’ lecturer Times Higher Education,...
read moreNews round-up: Oxford’s progress on diversity has been ‘glacial’, and geography is the chosen subject of the privileged
Discussions about how to improve access for less advantaged students show no sign of abating - and subject-level TEF comes under attack from the Russell Group 'Relax A-level grades for some medical students' BBC, 24/05/2018, Katherine Sellgreen Academic entry...
read moreNews round-up: MPs describe the interest rates on student loans as “absurd”
Student loans and the problem of how to widen access have been in the news again – while the post-1992 universities are about to take a big financial hit DfE ‘failed’ to monitor UK Student Loans Company Times Higher Education, 11/05/2018, Ellie Bothwell The UK...
read moreNews round-up: Half of all academics suffer from stress-related mental health problems – but there is good news for EU students
More evidence that an academic career is highly stressful, while the UKRI counts the cost as it fails to register as a charity Half of UK academics ‘suffer stress-linked mental health problems’ Times Higher Education, 06/07/2018, Jack Grove About half of all UK...
read moreNews round-up: Ditch predicted grades for university admissions
A think tank attacks grade inflation, while a new study calls for an end to the UK admissions system based on predicted A-level grades Too many firsts risk universities’ credibility, says think tank BBC, 21/06/2018 Universities risk losing their credibility due to...
read moreNews round-up: Are coroners obscuring the number of student suicides?
The mental health of both academics and students comes under scrutiny, and a survey shows that most students don’t feel they are receiving value for money when it comes to teaching Cardiff plans review after suicide of ‘overworked’ lecturer Times Higher Education,...
read moreRoll up, roll up for the HERB 2.0 show
The themes playing out in the higher education debates in the houses of parliament seem strangely familiar, writes Professor David Midgley HERB 2.0 (the Higher Education Research Bill) has been playing in both houses of parliament recently. Like HERB 1.0, which...
read moreA conflict of interest: the statutory instruments shaping the Office for Students
On Monday, the Labour Party tried unsuccessfully to block the legislation that would enable the new Office for Students to regulate universities. Professor GR Evans takes a look at the arguments During the debates on the Higher Education and Research Bill, members of...
read moreWhat is teaching intensity – and how do you measure it?
The government believes that university courses can be rated according to the level of teaching intensity they provide. Professor GR Evans detects a lack of joined-up thinking “Prospective students deserve to know which courses deliver great teaching and great...
read moreWho needs external examiners? We do
UCU has asked external examiners to resign in support of the strike over pensions. But what exactly does an external examiner do? Professor GR Evans reflects on the value of an undersung role On 15 March the University and College Union (UCU) asked external examiners...
read moreSubject level TEF: are the metrics statistically adequate?
Opinion piece by D. V. M. Bishop The Teaching Excellence and Outcomes Framework (TEF) was introduced at an institutional level in 2016. It uses metrics from the National Student Survey, together with information on drop-out rates, and on student outcomes. These are...
read moreNews round-up: Half of all academics suffer from stress-related mental health problems – but there is good news for EU students
More evidence that an academic career is highly stressful, while the UKRI counts the cost as it fails to register as a charity Half of UK academics ‘suffer stress-linked mental health problems’ Times Higher Education, 06/07/2018, Jack Grove About half of all UK...
read morePart-time students in decline
Opinion piece by Dorothy Bishop My mother came to England after the war, having met my father when working as a translator for the British Forces in allied-occupied Germany. She’d come from an academic family in Gottingen, and it’s hard to imagine her state of mind in...
read moreResolving the pensions dispute: who has the power to agree?
It seemed that the pensions dispute had been resolved – and then union members voted to reject it. So who decides when an agreement has been reached, asks Professor GR Evans The press was quick off the mark to announce a resolution to the pensions dispute when talks...
read moreNews round-up: academics go on strike over pensions
The universities minister says that students should be compensated for missed teaching time as a result of the pensions strike, and a report says that there should have been greater scrutiny in the appointment of Toby Young to the board of the Office for Students EU...
read moreWe must fight the attack on pensions: the future of British universities is at stake
Academic pensions may seem like a niche interest. But, argues Dr Rowan Cerys Tomlinson, proposals to change the current pension scheme represent an assault on the entire sector I became an academic for many reasons: because of my intellectual curiosity, because I...
read moreEducating for unemployment
by Prof. Patrick Ainley (University of Greenwich) Ken Roberts (pictured), Professor of Sociology at Liverpool University, described ‘The real trend in social mobility from upward to downward’ at the latest seminar in a series on precarious labour hosted by the...
read moreGerman media coverage of the CDBU
Continuing our coverage of overseas reactions to the foundation of the Council for the Defence of British Universities, Germany’s leading newspaper and radio news outlets have also picked up the story. Germany’s most celebrated daily newspaper, the Frankfurter...
read moreRoss McKibbin Advises Opposing Marketeers on Their Own Ground
One of the leading historians of twentieth-century Britain, Dr Ross McKibbin of St John's College Oxford, has greeted the foundation of the CDBU with an insightful piece 'In Defence of British Universities' in the London Review of Books. Those who would defend...
read moreSalford VC Martin Hall joins CDBU
Professor Martin Hall, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford and historical archaeologist, has written a piece in support of CDBU on his personal blog, which has also been reproduced on the higher education blog Wonkhe. Here are a few excerpts: The CDBU is...
read moreThe new REF: biased, unaccountable and unchallengeable
Changes to the 2021 Research Evaluation Framework will increase the stress on academics and strengthen the hand of the managerial elite, argues Josh Robinson, lecturer in English literature at Cardiff University Two of the changes implemented for the 2021 Research...
read moreNews round-up: Ditch predicted grades for university admissions
A think tank attacks grade inflation, while a new study calls for an end to the UK admissions system based on predicted A-level grades Too many firsts risk universities’ credibility, says think tank BBC, 21/06/2018 Universities risk losing their credibility due to...
read moreNo, academics are not obsessed with research – we care deeply about our students
Mary Curnock Cook, the former chief executive of UCAS, delivered an annual lecture to the CDBU on January 23. Professor Dorothy Bishop, who was there, responds to accusations that academics prioritise research over teaching Ms Curnock Cook is a brave woman: she noted...
read moreValue for money – are students right to complain?
Stories about vice-chancellors’ large salaries have led people to ask whether universities provide value for money. We should begin by tackling the question of how we meet infrastructure costs, argues Gill Evans, emeritus professor of medieval theology and...
read moreThe Bill on the Governance of Scottish Universities
The Bill before the Scottish Parliament on the governance of Scottish Universities has implications not only for Scotland but anybody interested in the relationship of governments to the universities in their territories. Here are some weblinks to this debate:...
read moreWill Unistats sink the TEF? We live in hope
Now that all the data used to inform TEF ratings is publicly available, argues Professor D V M Bishop, TEF itself becomes redundant I have been vocal in my criticism of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF): its rationale is disingenuous, it is based on measures...
read moreNews round-up: Are coroners obscuring the number of student suicides?
The mental health of both academics and students comes under scrutiny, and a survey shows that most students don’t feel they are receiving value for money when it comes to teaching Cardiff plans review after suicide of ‘overworked’ lecturer Times Higher Education,...
read moreNews round-up: Oxford’s progress on diversity has been ‘glacial’, and geography is the chosen subject of the privileged
Discussions about how to improve access for less advantaged students show no sign of abating - and subject-level TEF comes under attack from the Russell Group 'Relax A-level grades for some medical students' BBC, 24/05/2018, Katherine Sellgreen Academic entry...
read moreTEF: so what is a ‘subject’?
Opinion piece by Professor G. R. Evans The subject-based Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) promises to give prospective university students clear, easy-to-understand information so that they can see at a glance where ‘excellent teaching and...
read moreNews round-up: Ditch predicted grades for university admissions
A think tank attacks grade inflation, while a new study calls for an end to the UK admissions system based on predicted A-level grades Too many firsts risk universities’ credibility, says think tank BBC, 21/06/2018 Universities risk losing their credibility due to...
read more‘Poor value’ doesn’t mean poor quality
Media coverage of a recent student survey suggested higher education was poor value for money. But, asks Professor David Midgley, what does ‘value for money’ actually mean to students? The announcement of the 2018 Student Academic Experience Survey (SAES) by the...
read moreNews round-up: Are coroners obscuring the number of student suicides?
The mental health of both academics and students comes under scrutiny, and a survey shows that most students don’t feel they are receiving value for money when it comes to teaching Cardiff plans review after suicide of ‘overworked’ lecturer Times Higher Education,...
read moreWhen is a loan not a loan? When it’s a student loan…
The use of terms like ‘loan’ and ‘debt’ to describe student finance are completely misleading, argues Professor Dorothy Bishop In February 2018, the House of Commons Treasury Committee published a remarkable report entitled ‘Student Loans’. A response by government,...
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Universities UK – who does it represent and what does it do?
Professor GR Evans looks at the history of an organisation that has rarely been out of the news in recent weeks – and asks what powers it really has Universities UK has been in the news recently during the upset caused by the proposals to make major changes to the...
read moreNews round-up: Half of all academics suffer from stress-related mental health problems – but there is good news for EU students
More evidence that an academic career is highly stressful, while the UKRI counts the cost as it fails to register as a charity Half of UK academics ‘suffer stress-linked mental health problems’ Times Higher Education, 06/07/2018, Jack Grove About half of all UK...
read moreNews round-up: Ditch predicted grades for university admissions
A think tank attacks grade inflation, while a new study calls for an end to the UK admissions system based on predicted A-level grades Too many firsts risk universities’ credibility, says think tank BBC, 21/06/2018 Universities risk losing their credibility due to...
read more‘Poor value’ doesn’t mean poor quality
Media coverage of a recent student survey suggested higher education was poor value for money. But, asks Professor David Midgley, what does ‘value for money’ actually mean to students? The announcement of the 2018 Student Academic Experience Survey (SAES) by the...
read moreWhen is a loan not a loan? When it’s a student loan…
The use of terms like ‘loan’ and ‘debt’ to describe student finance are completely misleading, argues Professor Dorothy Bishop In February 2018, the House of Commons Treasury Committee published a remarkable report entitled ‘Student Loans’. A response by government,...
read moreThe new REF: biased, unaccountable and unchallengeable
Changes to the 2021 Research Evaluation Framework will increase the stress on academics and strengthen the hand of the managerial elite, argues Josh Robinson, lecturer in English literature at Cardiff University Two of the changes implemented for the 2021 Research...
read moreWho shall regulate the regulators?
The appointment process for the new Office for Students has been heavily criticised in a new report, writes Professor David Midgley – and it hasn’t even launched yet When the membership of the Board of the Office for Students (Ofs) was announced on 1 January 2018, a...
read more
Widening access
News round-up: Ditch predicted grades for university admissions
A think tank attacks grade inflation, while a new study calls for an end to the UK admissions system based on predicted A-level grades Too many firsts risk universities’ credibility, says think tank BBC, 21/06/2018 Universities risk losing their credibility due to...
read moreNews round-up: Oxford’s progress on diversity has been ‘glacial’, and geography is the chosen subject of the privileged
Discussions about how to improve access for less advantaged students show no sign of abating - and subject-level TEF comes under attack from the Russell Group 'Relax A-level grades for some medical students' BBC, 24/05/2018, Katherine Sellgreen Academic entry...
read morePatrick Ainley on widening participation and system reform
In a post for the LSE British Politics & Policy Blog, CDBU member Advisory Board member, Patrick Ainley argues that widening participation to higher education has not led to fair or equal access to higher education or outcomes in the labour market as systemic...
read more 