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 Education, 23/11/2018, Anna McKie Quality-related research funding should be distributed...Read More

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 Coughlan A top UK university is planning a ‘unique’ post-Brexit arrangement with a German...Read More

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 at the outset that CDBU was opposed to managerialism and consumerism, so...Read More

In December, Jo Johnson, the Universities and Science Minister, launched a review of university research funding. The goals of the review appear well-aligned with those of CDBU: ‘to cut red tape so that universities can focus more on delivering the world-leading research for which the UK is renowned’. The review is chaired by the President...Read More

*Opinion piece by Dorothy Bishop I spent Sunday reading the Green Paper “Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice“, a consultation document that outlines radical plans to change how universities are evaluated and funded. The CDBU is preparing a response, but here’s the problem. BIS is not seeking views on whether the...Read More

Opinion Piece by Roger Brown Introduction In Everything for Sale? with Helen Carasso (Routledge, 2013) the writer argued that the main changes in higher education policy over the past thirty or so years could be explained in terms of the progressive marketisation of the system by governments of all political persuasions, a process that began...Read More

Opinion Piece by Marina Warner Current policies are imposing business practices on education, and the consequences are blighting the profession, and will continue to inflict ever deeper blight on the people engaged in it – at all levels. The relinquishing of financial support by the state is not accompanied by diminution of authority: indeed the huge...Read More

Opinion Piece by Derek Sayer* Editorial Note: In our previous blogpost, we noted that while there was agreement that REF2014 was problematic, there was less agreement about alternatives. To make progress, we need more debate. We hope that this piece by Derek Sayer will stimulate this, and we welcome comments. Please note that comments are...Read More

Discussion piece by the CDBU Steering Group Results from the research excellence framework (REF) were publicly announced on 18th December, followed by a spate of triumphalist messages from University PR departments. Deeper analysis followed, both in the pages of the Times Higher Education, and in the media and on blogs. CDBU has from the outset...Read More

Opinion Piece by Derek Sayer*  At the behest of universities minister David Willetts, HEFCE established an Independent review of the Role of Metrics in Research Assessment in April 2014 chaired by James Wilsden. This followed consultations in 2008-9 that played a decisive role in persuading the government to back down on previous plans to replace...Read More