by Becca Bashford | Sep 18, 2020 | Academic freedom, Casual staff, CDBU Updates, Covid-19, Free speech, Government, In the News, Marketisation, News round-up, Opinion, Scotland, Uncategorized, Universities UK
Once again, the return of staff and students to university campuses has dominated Higher Education news. UCU insist that the risks of spreading Covid-19 is still far too high, especially without proper Track and Trace and testing protocols in place. Meanwhile, the DfE...
by Becca Bashford | Sep 4, 2020 | A-levels, Covid-19, Further education, Government, In the News, Marketisation, News round-up, Ofqual, Opinion, Scotland, Uncategorized
As the government scrambles to save face after the A-levels fiasco, universities are preparing to reopen their campuses to staff and students. UCU have called on the government to halt in-person teaching completely, warning that the mass movement of over a million...
by Becca Bashford | Sep 2, 2020 | A-levels, Covid-19, Further education, Government, In the News, Opinion, Uncategorized
Words by Steven Jones, Professor of Higher Education at the University of Manchester. One reason that the government took so long to U-turn over this summer’s A-level debacle is that the qualification itself holds a much loftier status in society, particularly among...
by Becca Bashford | Aug 22, 2020 | A-levels, Admissions, Casual staff, Covid-19, Further education, Government, In the News, Marketisation, News round-up, Ofqual, Opinion, Uncategorized, Unconditional offers, Widening access
After thousands of A-level and BTEC students were downgraded on results day, Gavin Williams and Ofqual – in a highly predictable U-turn – scrapped the algorithm and allowed students to use Centre Assessed Grades (teachers’ predictions) instead,...
by Becca Bashford | Aug 17, 2020 | A-levels, Admissions, Covid-19, Further education, Government, In the News, Ofqual, Uncategorized, Universities UK
Statement from the Council for the Defence of British Universities on A-level results. English universities have been remarkably silent about the fiasco over Ofqual’s determination of A-level grades. Universities UK issued an extraordinarily misjudged...
by Becca Bashford | Aug 4, 2020 | Academic freedom, Free speech, Government, In the News, Office for Students, Opinion, Uncategorized
Words by Eric Lybeck, Presidential Academic Fellow at the Manchester Institute of Education. Yesterday, Policy Exchange published a report on academic freedom in British universities drawing on a flawed survey with inconclusive results. This did not stop major...
