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Out with the old, in with the new: Chris Skidmore replaces Sam Gyimah as universities minister
This week, a new universities minister takes the helm – and despite a gradual rise in students from disadvantaged backgrounds attending university, the top public schools still dominate Oxbridge entry Eton and Westminster among eight schools dominating Oxbridge The...
read moreWhat are metrics good for?
Last week, the CDBU's Professor Dorothy Bishop gave a terrific lecture looking at what metrics can offer in evaluating universities - and where they fail. If you were unlucky to miss it, here's your chance to listen to the lecture....
read moreNews round-up: Tuition fees don’t all go on tuition – shock
A new study finds that the larger part of tuition fees is spent on support, admin and buildings rather than tuition – and the two-year degree makes one of its periodic reappearances Scrap REF and allocate QR funding by headcount, says professor Times Higher...
read moreWhat will the great Brexit brain drain mean for the UK’s universities?
Guest post: The uncertainty over the status of EU nationals following Brexit could lead to many EU academics leaving the UK. The result will be a less culturally rich landscape in our universities, argues Ashlie Rowan, a political correspondent at the Immigration...
read moreSaving adult education: how staff and students came to the rescue of a lifelong learning college
When the Vaughan Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Leicester was threatened with closure, a campaign was launched to re-open it as a community-owned college. Founder member Dr Miriam Gill looks forward to a brighter future for adult education in the...
read moreUniversities are not like banks: why Sir Michael Barber is wrong
Sir Michael Barber, head of the Office for Students, has said that the regulator will not come to the aid of failing universities. It’s a policy that could have disastrous consequences for students, argues Professor DVM Bishop In a much-publicised speech on November...
read moreNews round-up: The university regulator won’t ‘bail out’ failing universities
As it emerges that some universities are near bankruptcy, there has been a heated debate about whether the government should – or would – allow them to fail Stormzy: Oxford University turned down my scholarship offer The Guardian, 08/11/2018, Sarah Marsh and Dan...
read moreNews round-up: A no-deal Brexit would be bad news for British researchers
More discouraging news on Brexit, and UK universities' ties to Saudi Arabia have come under scrutiny Universities’ Saudi ties under scrutiny after Khashoggi killing Times Higher Education, 26/10/2018, Ellie Bothwell Western universities are under increasing pressure...
read moreBook review: Who Are Universities For? Re-making higher education by Tom Sperlinger, Josie McLellan and Richard Pettigrew
Patrick Ainley welcomes a book that rethinks the purpose of a university – and offers some radical suggestions of his own Everyone knows who universities are for. As another book in the Bristol University/ Policy Press shorts series concludes: ‘The English education...
read moreNews round-up: Imperial takes a bold step to protect it from the worst effects of Brexit
Brexit dominates the headlines this week, as Imperial announces a partnership with a German university and a scientist warns of the ‘catastrophic’ effect leaving the EU could have on cancer research University ‘dual nationality’ plan for Brexit BBC, 10/10/2018, Sean...
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