Policy Update

Monday

Refugees

A senior lecturer has suggested that universities should consider focusing on targeted support for refugee students, through policies such as fee waivers, scholarships and schemes to pair refugees with host students. UK universities ‘should provide targeted support for refugee students’ (THE).

Tuesday

Green Paper

The University of Cambridge has said the Green Paper could cause considerable damage to the sector and its international reputa­­tion. University of Cambridge: Green Paper plans risk ‘considerable damage’. (THE).

FOI

Proposals by ministers to exempt universities from revealing information in the public interest will be rejected by the commission reviewing the legislation, it has been indicated. FOI commission ‘will not propose exempting universities from law’ despite proposals from ministers (The Telegraph).

Wednesday

Gender Pay Gap

The Women and Equalities Committee has heard that strong commitment to social justice has helped to diminish discrepancies in earnings between men and women working in higher education. Gender pay gap narrows. (Research Professional).

Widening Participation

Higher education institutions should focus on developing talent from a young age in order to encourage more children from disadvantaged backgrounds into university, an education expert has claimed. Universities should ‘nurture pupils from primary school’ (The Telegraph).

Thursday

Ucas

Ucas has urged parents and teachers to be more aware of other options for getting into university, as rising numbers of students apply to university without the traditional three A-levels. A-levels are not the only route to university, says Ucas. (BBC News).

Student Number Controls

The removal of SNCs has led some English universities to increase their student intake by more than 20 percent in a year, while others have recorded drops of up to 10 per cent according to new UCAS figures. Several London post-92s see falls in battle for students (THE).

Friday

OECD

A new study from the OECD argues that students who are struggling with literacy and numeracy should not be able to go to university. Students with poor literacy and numeracy skills should not attend university, study suggests (The Telegraph).

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