Both the Saturday and the Sunday edition of The Kathmandu Post carried articles on the International Conference on Education in a Federal Nepal. The coverage of this two-day conference (which ran on Friday and yesterday) included Prof. Stephen Tee’s keynote speech and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen reporting on research findings of an education study amongst health educators in Nepal, as well as FHSS’s Visiting Faculty, Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University). The conference organised by HISSAN and supported by 16 education partners including Bournemouth University, Liverpool John Moores University and The University of Utah (USA) was attended by some 400 delegates.
Category / international
Interdisciplinary Research Week 2018

The third Interdisciplinary Research Week (IRW) is being held from 19th to 23rd March 2018. Join us to celebrate the breadth and excellence of Bournemouth University’s interdisciplinary research, and stimulate new collaborations and ideas amongst the University’s diverse research community.
The week-long event includes a programme of lectures, workshops, and discussions, aimed at promoting interdisciplinary workings; to provide an understanding of how to get involved in Interdisciplinary Research.
Programme
Inspirational Speaker – Professor Celia Lury
British Academy Visit – Interdisciplinary Research
Collaborating with Others: Becoming a Better Team worker
Networking: Making the Most of an Upcoming Event
New research realities and interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinary research with industry
Lighting Talks: What can and should be achieved in Interdisciplinary Research
Opening Ceremony Education Conference in Kathmandu
The two-day International Conference on Quality Education in Federal Nepal has just started in Kathmandu. Prof. Stephen Tee, executive dean of FMC and FMSS is one of the invited guests giving a short opening address. He spoke after the organisers had shown Prof. John Vinney’s recorded supporting message from Bournemouth University. Steve was part of the plenary session with the theme ‘Quality in Higher Education’.
This international conference has already attracted national media attention as the pre-conference press conference was reported in The Kathmandu Post today (click here to read news story).
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
BU-led Kosovo-strand of AHRC-project ‘Changing the Story’ commenced with Dorset artist residency in February, 2018
Bournemouth University leads the Kosovo-strand of a major four-year AHRC ‘Global Challenges’ project titled ‘Changing the Story‘. This project aims at supporting the building of inclusive civil societies (CSOs) with, and for, young people in five post-conflict countries. It asks how the arts, heritage, and human rights education can support youth-centred approaches to civil society building in Cambodia, Colombia, Kosovo, Rwanda and South Africa. The Kosovo strand benefits from an established track record of collaboration with University of Prishtina (Co-I) and Stacion: Centre for Contemporary Arts in Prishtina as well as several arts-based civil society organisations in the country. The BU-led strand focuses on formal and informal civic education through the arts in Kosovo, to be explored locally by a Postgraduate Research Assistant, attached to University of Prishtina, through a critical review and proof of concept exercise during the first year. In support, BU is contributing a fully-funded PhD scholarship under the title ‘Imagining New Futures: Engaging Young People Through Participatory Arts in Post-Conflict Kosovo‘, which is currently being advertised.
International collaborative activities commenced last week in collaboration with an internationally-acclaimed CSO partner in Dorset, devoted to developing global youth citizenship through culture and the arts. The award-winning Complete Freedom of Truth project (TCFT), with which BU collaborated already previously, kindly offered a one-week residency to Albert Heta, Director of Stacion: Centre for Contemporary Arts in Prishtina. This residency brought together a group of artists, workshop leaders and young people from across the UK between February 12 and 16 in Bridport. Albert’s visit from Kosovo was funded by the AHRC and facilitated by BU’s new Research Centre ‘Seldom Heard-Voices: Marginalisation and Society Integration’ of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (FHSS). Together with Albert, some of the Centre’s members also participates in the events organised by TCFT, exchanged experiences and discussed best practice of working with young people of various background through the arts towards social justice. TCFT has a long history of working with young people, internationally, starting in post-conflict Srebrenica in 2008. Based on our observations during one week in Dorset, including of the issues selected as important by the young UK-participants during this period, we are currently reflecting on the extent to, and ways in, which arts-based interventions with a given set of young people in one specific socio-cultural context and its underpinning conceptualisations (such as of empowerment or vulnerability of, and pressures on, young people) can or cannot be transferred to another, such as that in which young people in Kosovo negotiate their aspirations.
Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers
sssievers@bournemouth.ac.uk
Photo credit below: Robert Golden
Kosovo strand activities begin via a global youth citizenship project
Opportunity for Early Career Researchers: Research capacity for sustainable ecosystem-based management of estuaries and coasts workshop
In June of this year, Dr Luciana Esteves will be running a Researcher Links workshop, funded by the British Council, in South Africa. The workshop will support Early Career Researchers with an interest in the sustainable management of coasts and estuaries to network, increase their knowledge and develop potential collaborations for future research.
Coastal and estuarine ecosystems worldwide are under pressure from population growth, urbanisation and other land-based and marine activities. In the UK and South Africa, coastal areas greatly contribute to the local and national economy by supporting key urban centres and industries. Climate change tends to exacerbate existing problems, including but not limited to flooding, erosion, water quality and resource availability, which can have implications on environmental quality, food production, water supply and human health.Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has emerged as an integrated approach for the sustainable management of the trade-offs between socioeconomic development and nature conservation. EBM requires a transdisciplinary understanding of the natural system, nature-human interactions, and how they change through time.
The workshop will bring together researchers from South Africa and the UK to discuss how they can collaborate to support EBM through the development of long-lasting UK-SA collaboration and government-research partnerships. The workshop aims to attract researchers from the social and natural sciences to create the required combination of expertise to co-construct, advance and share knowledge to support estuarine and coastal EBM. The integration of scientific and practical knowledge will be facilitated by the participation of NGOs and government practitioners.
The workshop is currently open for applications. Early Career Researchers from the UK and South Africa are invited to apply by 16 March 2018. Further information about the workshop, eligibility criteria and how to apply can be found here.
Sociology graduate published this month
Just before the start of Bournemouth University’s Global Festival of Learning India (12-16 February) the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences published Michelle Vickery’s paper ‘Female infanticide in India and its relevance to Nepal’ [1]. This article developed out of Michelle’s undergraduate Sociology thesis which she completed as part of her undergraduate degree in 2016.
The Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences is an Open Access journal which means its content is freely available to any reader with internet access across the globe.
Over the last few years Bournemouth University academic have published papers on a range of topics related to India, for example on Media Studies [2-3], English literature [4] , Sociology [5], Public Health [6] , and environmental science and conservation [7-9].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
References:
- Vickery, M., van Teijlingen, E., (2017) Female infanticide in India and its relevance to Nepal.Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (JMMIHS) 3(1): 79-85.
- Sudbury, S. (2016) Locating a “third voice”: participatory filmmaking and the everyday in rural India. Journal of Media Practice, 17 (2-3): 213-231.
- Sudbury, S., 2017. Glocalizing the ‘other’: British factual television and documentary practices in global media cultures. In: Srinivas, M., ed. Glocalization: Media Beyond Borders. Mumbai, India: Department of Mass Media, Kishinchand Chellaram College.
- Goodman, S. (2018) ‘Ain’t it a Ripping Night’: Alcoholism and the Legacies of Empire in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. English Studies, (forthcoming).
- Sahay, G., Devkota, B., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2016) Rebel Health Services in South Asia: Comparing Maoist-led Conflicts in India & Nepal, Sociological Bulletin 65(1):19-39.
- Sathian, B. , De, A. ,van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. , Banerjee, I. , Roy, B. , Supram, H. , Devkota, S. , E, R. (2015). Time Trend of the Suicide Incidence in India: a Statistical Modelling. American Journal of Public Health Research, 3(5A), 80-87. http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajphr/3/5A/17/index.html
- Bower, S. D., Danylchuk, A. J., Raghavan, R., Danylchuk, S. C., Pinder, A. C., Alter, A. M., Cooke, S. J. (2017) Involving recreational fisheries stakeholders in development of research and conservation priorities for mahseer (Tor spp.) of India through collaborative workshops. Fisheries Research, 186, 665-671.
- Bower S.D., Danylchuk A.J., Raghavan R., Clark-Danylchuck S.E., Pinder A.C., Cooke S.J. (2016) Rapid assessment of the physiological impacts caused by catch-and-release angling on blue-finned mahseer (Tor sp.) of the Cauvery River, India. Fisheries Management and Ecology DOI: 10.1111/fme.12135
- Pinder, A.C., Raghavan, R., Britton, J.R. (2015) Efficacy of angler catch data as a population and conservation monitoring tool for the flagship Mahseer fishes (Tor spp.) of Southern India. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, DOI: 10.1002/aqc.2543
US Funding Event – Book your places now!
The Research and Knowledge Exchange Office is delighted to announce that US funding expert, Robert Porter, PhD, of Grant-Winners Seminars, will be delivering four US Funding sessions to BU Academics on 8th and 9th March.
Bookings are now open to faculty academic and researchers, in the first instance – please reserve your place now for as many sessions as you can attend:
Thursday, 8th March:
US funding opportunities for international researchers – This session will focus on the eligibility requirements, funding levels, proposal development guides and submission deadlines for key US funders.
Strategies for success in sponsored research – In addition to developing their writing skills, grant seekers must focus on the relational issues that are key to success. This session will address these contextual challenges
Friday, 9th March:
Grants in the Humanities & Social Sciences
Building the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant Proposal
Find out more about each session and book.
There is a networking lunch between the morning and afternoon sessions. When booking, please advise if you will require lunch and any dietary requirements
If space allows, attendance will be opened to PGRs after 28/2/18.
If you want to develop your international research portfolio, please contact your faculty Research Facilitator.
Latest editorial on Nepal by Dr. Regmi in FHSS
Last week the Journal of Manmoham Memorial Institute of Health Sciences based in Nepal published as its editorial ‘What can we learn from the Nepal Health Facility Survey 2015. [1] The Nepal Health Facility Survey 2015 is a first of its kind. It is a much needed start to help analyse and improve the workings of the country’s health system. This is very important and timely as one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is to reduce premature mortality by one-third from non-communicable diseases. Success in this effort will depend on the concerted efforts on health facilities (for both health promotion, prevention and management) for an early and optimal care. The editorial also raises some of the ethical and methodological issues associated with the first ever Nepal Health Facility Survey 2015. The lead author of the editorial is Dr. Pramod Regmi and our co-authors include Prof. Padam Simkhada (Visiting Faculty in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences). The Journal of Manmoham Memorial Institute of Health Sciences is an Open Access journal hence freely available to scholars and politicians and health managers across the globe, including those based in low-income countries such as Nepal.

Reference:
- Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P, Kurmi, O, Pant, P. (2017) What can we learn from the Nepal Health Facility Survey 2015? Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (JMMIHS) 3(1): 1-5
Making my Perfect Country: Nepal

BU Visiting Prof. Padam Simkhada and BU’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen published a blog post about Nepal’s significant progress in improving the health of women and a striking reduction on maternal mortality. The paper highlights that despite difficult terrain, conflict and political turmoil, Nepal was one of the few countries that managed to achieve Millennium Development Goal 5 on maternal health in 2015.

The post is published by the website Making My Perfect Country.
HE Policy update for the w/e 2nd February 2018
Fees, funding and the HE review
Sam Gyimah responded to a parliamentary question quashing the notion that UK students might be able to access student loans to study in international destinations.
THAT interview: Greening on maintenance grants & fees
Justine Greening (former Secretary of State for Education) made big news this week during her interview on the Today programme on Monday. This was her first interview since leaving the Cabinet. Reporting of the interview implies she criticised Government policy, primarily the abolition of maintenance grants, and failed to deny she was sacked from Cabinet because she blocked the HE major review. Read this short Guardian live blog for the salient quotes from Greening’s interview to decide for yourself how critical she really was.
Meanwhile Research Professional (RP) interpret Justine’s thoughts on fees as proposing ‘a mostly unnoticed alternative way to fund universities’, culminating in a thought provoking article on fees: A third way. RP report that Justine felt the government should move away from talking about loans to selling the idea of “time-limited graduate contributions” a phrase first coined by Martin Lewis (MoneySavingExpert.com). RP report that Greening went on: we need to have a student finance system that is progressive”, and that money raised from TLGC [time-limited graduate contributions] should be ring-fenced and put into a higher education fund “so that graduates today know that their contribution is helping to pay for students to get the same opportunities they had at university”.
She also suggested that employers could contribute to such a fund and that all graduates should pay into it for the entire 30 years. In this way, better-off students would not be able to have their fees paid upfront or repay their loans early as a consequence of large salaries. RP go on to debate how this resembles a graduate tax and the problems associated with a graduate tax scheme, including:
- The proposal also seems to abandon several of the principles that underpin the funding system. Student loans are not a form of taxation because they are attached to named individuals, are related to the amount borrowed, are subject to interest rates and can be sold to third parties.
- Importantly, taxation should be progressive. There is a small difference in the interest rate charged to graduates earning more than £41,000, but there is no difference in the percentage of earnings that graduates repay—9 per cent—across the pay range.
Returning to social mobility and the maintenance grants RP write:
- Greening, as an avowed champion of social mobility, offered her proposal as a way of removing the fear of debt as a barrier to participation. A higher education fund would be accompanied, in Greening’s mind, by maintenance grants for disadvantaged students, presumably paid for by the fund. In this respect, that part of the proposal begins to look a lot like a return to means-tested grants with a parental contribution.
- It is interesting that the former education secretary, who approved the politically unacceptable policy of index-linked rises in the fee level, should end up advocating a policy that is really neither one thing nor the other. It is a move away from the loan system but not an embrace of the direct taxation that underpins Labour’s offer to abolish fees. It is, if you will, a third way.
- Prime minister Theresa May’s primary concern is the perceived value for money of a university education. Selling TLGC on the doorstep as retail politics would involve a considerable gearshift away from one idea of the value of higher education towards another.
Wonkhe picked up on another element of the Greening interview: there were suggestions that some in government were pushing for variable fees by subject – Greening cautioned that this could encourage students from lower income backgrounds into non-STEM degrees.
Later on Sam Gyimah (Universities Minister) took part in the Today programme, to describe how living costs and value for money are of great concern to current students. Wonkhe report that he admitted that no change would be made by the next academic year (it would not be “credible” to do so), but was clear the review would have an independent element. There was the implication that fees would remain frozen until this was complete (as per Theresa May’s comments). See below for the OfS research into value for money launched last week.
Angela Rayner (Labour), Shadow Sec of State for Education) capitalised on Justine’s interview asking an oral parliamentary question:
Q – The Secretary of State’s predecessor this morning admitted that they were wrong to abolish maintenance grants, that the student finance system is regressive, that variable fees will punish the poorest and that their review is intended to kick the issue into the long grass, rather than make decisions. Apart from that, she is very supportive. But she is right, is she not?
A – Damian Hinds (Conservative, Sec of State for Education): We have a system of higher education finance in this country that means unprecedented levels of disadvantaged people can go to university and our universities are properly funded. In October the Prime Minister said that we would be taking quick action, raising the threshold for repayment and freezing the top fees for the next academic year. It is also right that we have a full review, looking at all aspects of value for money for young people and others going to university, and at the alternatives to university, such as taking a degree apprenticeship, as we discussed earlier.
Office for Students
The Office for Students confirmed they will run the TEF this year (as per timing and specifications already established by HEFCE). Chris Husbands (VC Sheffield Hallam) will remain as TEF Panel Chair (confirmed until August 2021).
Last week the OfS launched research into student perceptions of value for money. They state it will take forward its legal responsibilities to promote value for money. The research will cover:
- Fees and charges
- What students identify as value (services and opportunities)
- Immediate concerns around value for money
- Cross subsidisation
- Provider transparency
Nicola Dandridge (Chief Executive of OfS) said: “This important research will be invaluable in understanding more about what value for money means for students. The OfS has a duty to promote value for money and it has been clear from my visits to students’ unions that these issues provoke significant discussion. This research will allow us to deepen our understanding of this important issue, and prepare the ground for future inquiry.”
Data and Quality – designated bodies: Following the OfS Regulatory consultations (December) DfE have confirmed that HESA (data) and the QAA (quality) were the only applicants for the designated bodies and the sector response was virtually unanimous in support for the two bodies to be reappointed. The OfS will consider the sector’s response in their recommendation DfE which a final decision on their appointment due in late March.
Alternative providers
In the Lords there was question on safeguarding against plagiarism within alternative providers:
Q – Lord Storey: Whether there is clear guidance on the use of the plagiarism checker technology Turnitin by those universities that validate degrees from private and independent colleges.
A – Viscount Younger Of Leckie:
- Higher education providers, as autonomous organisations, are responsible for handling matters of this nature, including developing and implementing policies to detect and discourage plagiarism.
- Although the government does not provide guidance on, or advocate the use of, plagiarism software to help providers tackle the issue of plagiarism, we asked the Quality Assurance Agency, Universities UK and the National Union of Students to produce new guidance, which was published in October 2017.
- This guidance is the first set of comprehensive advice for providers and students on the subject. It makes clear that where providers are working with others to deliver programmes, such as through validation, care should be taken to ensure that partner organisations are taking the risks of academic misconduct seriously. Providers are also encouraged to consider steps to scrutinise potential partners’ processes and regulations when developing validation arrangements. This is in line with the wider expectations set out in the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, which all providers must meet. This establishes the fundamental principle that degree awarding bodies have ultimate responsibility for academic standards and the quality of learning opportunities, regardless of where these opportunities are delivered and who provides them.
- Going forward I expect the Office for Students to encourage and support the sector to implement strong policies and sanctions to address this important issue in the most robust way possible.
Nurse training
Within the Lords there was a question on nurse training:
Q – Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Whether they have any evidence that difficulties in recruiting UK nationals as nurses reflect changes in the UK’s higher education system in recent years.
A – Viscount Younger Of Leckie:
- Until 1 August 2017, nursing, midwifery and allied health profession students had their training costs largely borne by the NHS, and this was not affected by changes to the wider higher education system.
- From 1 August 2017, most new undergraduate healthcare students receive tuition fee loans and, for full-time courses, living costs support, administered by the Student Loans Company. The former Department of Health also confirmed that it would fund up to an additional 10,000 clinical placements to support this expansion. These students are in their first year of university study.
- These reforms to healthcare student funding will help secure the future supply of nurses to the NHS by removing the artificial cap on training numbers in these professions, and enabling thousands of additional UK applicants to gain a place to study nursing at university.
Locally, Richard Drax (Conservative, South Dorset) used PM question time to ask the Government to improve rail links within South Dorset.
International Matters
UK-China Education Deals
The Prime Minister announced UK-China education deals on Wednesday. The package consists of exchange deals, partnerships and commercial contracts from pre-school to post-graduation. She said: “The close ties between the UK and China are reflected in our relationship on education. More than 150,000 Chinese students study at the UK’s world-leading institutions and make a significant contribution to our academic life.”
It’s well known that Chinese students are the largest group of overseas students within UK education. The Government notes that 9,000 young British are studying/interns in China (a 60% increase since 2013). The deal was reported in Professionals in International Education who cite HESA data to remind of the stagnation in HE international students studying in the UK over recent years. The HE sector has long been calling on Government to paint a more welcoming picture to overseas prospective students. However, so far Theresa May has stood firmly behind her plans to include students within the net migration targets. Could this be part of a softer, more welcoming, approach without her losing face over the target battleground (yet)?
The package:
- The UK-China Maths Teacher Exchange for primary schools has been extended to 2020 (two week exchanges both ways). By 2023 the Government estimates 11,000 schools will have experienced the East-Asian style maths Teaching for Mastery programme.
- More study exchanges and information sharing on vocational education
- Promotion of English proficiency in China.
The bill for the education deals is in excess of £550 million and is expected to create 800 UK jobs.
International Questions
At Prime Minister’s questions this week Daniel Zeichener (Labour) cited the value international students bring to the economy questioning why the PM’s policy continued to seek to reduce the number of international students. The Government responded that visa numbers were up since 2010.
In the House of Lords questions Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative) asked what plans the Government has to increase funding for promoting campaigns to encourage students in overseas countries to study in the UK.
Baroness Fairhead (Conservative) responded:
- The Study UK: Discover You (“Study UK”) campaign led by the British Council, aims to promote UK higher education, attract the brightest and best students to choose the UK and support UK universities in their international objectives. Study UK is a core component of the government’s GREAT Britain campaign (“GREAT”), which showcases the very best of what our whole nation has to offer in order to encourage the world to visit, study and do business with the UK.
- Study UK uses digital and face to face activity in key markets to promote the quality and distinctiveness of the UK education offer in the highly competitive international market for globally mobile students. The campaign also promotes the success of international alumni of British universities in their countries and promotes other forms of UK study – for instance, by encouraging international students to study online courses provided by UK universities.
- Activity to encouraged overseas students to study UK courses on the online FutureLearn platform led to over 100,000 extra enrolments by overseas students on MOOCs (“Massive Open Online Courses”) provided by UK universities in 2016/17. Students enrolled from 124 different countries. This year, the programme has driven more than 60,000 such new enrolments to date.
Lord Luce asked whether the purpose of the Commonwealth Education Ministers meeting would strengthen commonwealth cooperation between universities and schools for the benefit of young people.
Lord Agnew of Oulton responded: The purpose of the Conference is to strengthen cooperation across the Commonwealth for the benefit of young people of all ages. A key objective of this year’s conference is to address and define mechanisms through which education systems across the Commonwealth can enable sustainable development, and address major global challenges, such as climate change. This is a topic, which is of importance to young people across all member states.
Finally Chris Law (SNP) raised the reintroduction of the post-study work visa and asked if Scotland could tailor its own immigration policy for students.
Sam Gyimah (Conservative, HE Minister) responded: a lot of work is being done on international students by the Migration Advisory Committee. I am happy to consider the issue of Scottish visas specifically and come back to him on it.
Brexit – Policy Exchange have published Immigration After Brexit – What should post-Brexit immigration policy look like? They argue for a system limiting low skilled EU immigration but with more generous terms for high skilled professionals. There should be a customised “light touch” work permit system for EU professionals and — as Britain weans itself off low skilled migration — there should be priority for low skilled workers ready to work antisocial hours, thereby acting more as complements than direct competitors to the British workforce.
Brexit effect on the 2017 General Election – Kings College London has produced Voting in the 2017 general election: a Brexit election. A quick read for those interested in the voting surprises of the 2017 general election. The blog notes the slight tendency of those with degrees to vote Labour over Conservative. The article concludes:
- Even a year after the referendum, the BES found no sign of a decline in the ‘very strong’ sense of identification with Leave and Remain camps, which are substantially more important to voters than their party identities… so when problems arise, and they will as the Brexit negotiations progress, we can expect to see voters once again switching to parties that best represent their views on Brexit.
You can read BU’s response to the Migration Advisory Committee on International Students – economic and social benefits
Driving Innovation – an Asian perspective
HEPI have published Major shifts in global HE: A perspective from Asia. It discusses the rapid shifts in Asian HE (massification, rise of liberal arts, research importance, and graduate under-employment). Eastwood (VC, Birmingham) states: Asian universities have changed the paradigm for developing a university. Many have achieved a standing, a stature and a maturity much more rapidly than had previously been thought possible. This…includes challenges that are very familiar to us: challenges of making our universities fit, not just for tomorrow, but for a generation of students who are going to live and work differently. Universities are going to have touchpoints with their graduates over a much longer period of their lives than traditionally has been the case. Professor Tan’s Lecture includes some challenging questions for us in the UK. It shows our present debate on higher education has become too narrow and is in danger of becoming quite old fashioned.
On driving innovation the report says:
- As we all know, universities have substantial talent and research strengths. Through the mechanisms of commercialisation of intellectual property, start-ups, spin-offs and industry collaborations, universities contribute to the formation of new enterprises and the creation of new services and innovations. Universities can attract and boost industries and, in some cases, anchor industry clusters. This all contributes to the growth of national and in some cases global innovation systems. Humanities colleagues also contribute to addressing social and global challenges. They contribute to public understanding of issues and policy innovations that lead to societal advancement.
- Traditionally, there are three fundamental mismatches that impede close collaborations between universities and industry in R&D, namely in time frames, incentives and culture. The time frame of academics tends to be indefinite whereas industry is much more focused on doing things quickly. Academics like to publish papers; industry is largely concerned about commercial outcomes and profits. In terms of culture, again, our academic colleagues like the freedom to explore and to pursue long-term research, while industry is often about timelines, schedules and deliverables. In the same way, these traditional mismatches that impede university / industry partnerships in R&D, also affect the ability of universities to start up and spin off companies. But the landscape is changing, because industry players are adopting open innovation approaches and strategies when working with universities, to identify and recruit new talent through universities and to in-source intellectual property from universities. At the same time, in response to this, many more universities are embracing innovation and enterprise as core parts of their mission.
- What we have seen in recent years is that in certain fields – such as artificial intelligence (AI), computer science and data analytics – there are marked reductions in the time and barriers to move from a high quality basic research discovery to its high-impact application and commercialisation. So it is possible for universities to excel in basic research and create impact through its translation. As a result, more universities are moving into these areas because they represent a sweet spot between academic value and translational value. That means a higher quality of academic research and greater translational impact.
- While China has been rapidly increasing its investments in R&D, much of that investment has been spent in more applied research. [The new]…long-term strategic view of R&D is impressive. In some areas, like artificial intelligence and data analytics, China is making massive investments, and also has access to huge amounts of data. In these areas, China could move straight into a situation where it is creating research of high academic value as well as commercial impact.
- In Asia, rapid growth creates excellent conditions for universities to develop the education, research and entrepreneurial programmes that ride on the new opportunities and also to offer solutions to some of the serious challenges that rapid economic growth creates.
The report goes on to discuss supporting students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset (read page 21 onwards).
Advance HE
Advance HE is the new name for all the sector organisations that have merged following the Bell Review. Wonkhe have produced a tree diagram which shows the predecessor organisations and their successors. Given its size it’s best viewed online.
Widening Participation
Social Mobility League Table – A Wonkhe blogger discusses ranking social mobility as a method to incentivise better performance within universities. Andrew George (DVC, Brunel University) highlights that taking a broader range of students can cause a university to score lower in the traditional league table rankings. He argues that without including social mobility measures in league tables they will continue to reinforce social division. Recommendations of how this could occur and the benefits for diversity are discussed. The blog even mentions Bournemouth as within the top 10 for value added salaries 5 years after graduation.
PM Questions – The schools attainment gap between less and better off pupils was covered in PM questions this week. The Government responded that the 2011 reforms had improved school standards and the attainment gap has shrunk by 10% at GCSEs and Key stage 2.
HESA – WP data – HESA will release the UK performance indicators for widening participation at the end of the week. These will illustrate the proportion of UK-domiciled, full-time, first degree entrants from state schools and low-participation neighbourhoods at each HE provider.
Unpaid Internships
The Sutton Trust, a social mobility organisation, has published Internships – unpaid, unadvertised, unfair. They state: For young people who cannot afford to work for free, and for those who do not have the networks with which to secure a placement informally, internships are acting as a barrier to the best careers – and to social mobility.
The Key findings (direct from the report):
- Even if transport costs are provided, our new analysis shows the minimum cost of carrying out an internship in London unpaid is £1,019 per month (or £827 in Manchester). This is higher than we estimated in our last report in 2014, largely as a result of rising rents and inflation.
- Although there has been some progress since our last report on the subject, organisations continue to offer internships which are unpaid, and offer internships without formally advertising them.
- Current research suggests that over 40% of young people who have carried out an internship have done at least one of them unpaid.
- The most recent government estimate is that there are 70,000 interns in the UK at any one time, although there is no newer estimate available than 2010. In 2017, 11,000 internships were found to be advertised online, but many more are likely to have been offered unadvertised.
- New Sutton Trust analysis of the most recent HESA data suggests that roughly 10,000 graduates are carrying out an internship at six months postgraduation, with 20% of them doing so unpaid.
- There are concerns that some employers are either unaware that their interns should be paid, or that some employers are exploiting the lack of clarity in the law to avoid paying their interns.
Recommendations (from the report)
- All internships longer than one month should be paid at least the national minimum wage
- Internship positions should be advertised publicly, rather than being filled informally.
- Recruitment processes should be fair, transparent and based on merit.
In the latter half of 2017 there was discussion of unpaid internships within the House of Lords. Currently Lord Holmes’ has launched a private members bill to limit unpaid work experience to four weeks in length. The Sutton Trust recommendations coincide with this.
Consultations
Click here to view the updated consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.
There aren’t any new consultations and inquiries this week however you can read BU’s responses to
- Migration Advisory Committee on International Students – economic and social benefits
- Knowledge Exchange Framework
- Doctoral Education survey
Other news
Resilience toolkit: Unite Students and AMOSSHE (student services) launched a new resilience toolkit on Thursday for Student Services HE professionals aiming to improve resilience through emotional control, self-management and social factors in the student response to stresses, anxieties and the daily barriers they encounter.
Apprenticeships: FE Week announced 15 more universities are now registered as apprenticeship training providers (taking the total to over 100 universities). The article goes on to discuss the inspection arrangements but never explicitly makes clear whether all 100 universities are offering degree level apprenticeships.
Mental Health: Student minds have published What’s the role of academics in supporting students’ mental health? The shorter 2 page summary is here. HEPI also have a blog on the report.
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JANE FORSTER | SARAH CARTER
Policy Advisor Policy & Public Affairs Officer
Follow: @PolicyBU on Twitter | policy@bournemouth.ac.uk
HE policy update w/e 26th January 2018
It’s been a busy week. We have oodles of news for you, feel free to scan through and find the sections that are most interesting to you!
Ministerial update
The new Universities Minister, Sam Gyimah, has been more active this week.
The HE Review: The much heralded and still elusive HE Review was a popular topic again this week. Responding to a parliamentary question on the HE finance review Sam hinted: “This review will look at providing an education system for those aged 18 years and over that is accessible to all and provides value for money. It will also look how choice and competition is incentivised across the sector.”
Q – Layla Moran (Lib Dems) asked: with reference to Industrial Strategy…if he will make it his policy to extend the Government’s major review of funding across tertiary education to include the education system for people aged 16 years and over.
A – Sam Gyimah (Con): The government will conduct a major review of funding across tertiary education. In the Industrial Strategy, it was stated that the review will consider a range of specific issues within post-18 education. The government will set out further details on the review shortly.
The Telegraph quote Sam as stating a review of tuition fees will be a “positive move” for the Government. The article also backs up other emerging hints that he may champion small aspects of students’ lives such as not paying for a full year’s rent upfront and challenging high printing costs.
- “I mean it’s a small cost but it just shows there are lots of things around student funding – fees, living costs – I think it is good for us to look at them”
- “The point I was trying to illustrate is the case for reviewing – when you talk to students directly here are a lot of issues in play, not just fees”.
- “This regime has been in place since 2012. There are things that are working well and we shouldn’t forget what is working well. I don’t think we will go back to an era where students do not contribute in any way to their fees.”
The minister’s official title has been finally confirmed as Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (there was a little bit of speculation (by us) that the science and research bit had fallen off in the initial announcement, but it seems to have been an oversight). His responsibilities are:
- industrial strategy
- universities and higher education reform
- student finance (including the Student Loans Company)
- widening participation and social mobility
- education exports (including international students, international research)
- science and research
- innovation
- intellectual property
- agri-tech
- space
- technology
During the Education World Forum Sam signed an agreement with Egypt meaning UK universities are permitted to open branch campuses to offer education in Egypt. This is reported as giving the UK HE sector a competitive advantage in Egypt. Note: currently 82% of UK HE providers deliver degrees overseas. He said: “I welcome the contribution that this partnership will make to both UK and Egyptian economies and the wider benefits it will provide to students and institutions in both counties.”
Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar declared: “We are excited to see how IBCs [International Branch Campuses] will contribute to the fabric of Egypt’s higher education landscape and be catalysts for broader international partnerships between the UK and Egypt in research, innovation and mobility.”
The next big event is the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (April, hosted by UK), perhaps further partnerships may be forged at this forum.
Technology, IT, STEM and the Industrial Strategy
On Thursday the Prime Minister made a speech from Davos in which the industrial strategy and technology featured heavily. Here are the tech focussed excerpts:
“The impact of technology is growing in ways that even a few years ago we could not have imagined.
- Just last week, a drone saved two boys drowning off the coast of Australia by carrying a floatation device to them.
- The use of Artificial Intelligence is transforming healthcare. In one test, machine learning reduced the number of unnecessary surgeries for breast cancer by a third.
- The development of speech recognition and translation is reaching a level where we will be able to go anywhere in the world and communicate using our native language.
- While British-based companies like Ripjar are pioneering the use of data science and Artificial Intelligence to protect companies from money laundering, fraud, cyber-crime and terrorism.
We need to act decisively to help people benefit from global growth now.
So we are establishing a technical education system that rivals the best in the world, alongside our world-class higher education system. We are developing a National Retraining Scheme to help people learn throughout their career. And we are establishing an Institute of Coding – a consortium of more than 60 universities, businesses and industry experts to support training and retraining in digital skills.
And I know from my conversations with tech companies how seriously they are taking their own social responsibility to contribute to the retraining that will help people secure new opportunities in the digital economy. But this strategy and partnership with business goes further than getting the fundamentals of our economy right. It also seeks to get us on the front foot in seizing the opportunities of technology for tomorrow.
We are delivering the UK’s biggest ever increase in public investment in research and development, which could increase public and private R&D investment by as much as £80 billion over the next 10 years.
- We are at the forefront of the development, manufacture and use of low carbon technologies.
- We are using technology to support the needs of an ageing society, for example by employing powerful datasets to help diagnose and treat illnesses earlier.
- And we are establishing the UK as a world leader in Artificial Intelligence, building on the success of British companies like Deepmind.
But as we seize these opportunities of technology, so we also have to shape this change to ensure it works for everyone – be that in people’s jobs or their daily lives…we need to make sure that our employment law keeps pace with the way that technology is shaping modern working practices …to preserve vital rights and protections – and the flexibilities that businesses and workers value…we have to do more to help our people in the changing global economy, to rebuild their trust in technology as a driver of progress and ensure no-one is left behind as we take the next leap forwards”.
Catalyst Fund winners: HEFCE’s catalyst funding round aims to support the Industrial Strategy through developing curriculum programmes directly aligned within skills gap areas. Here are the Universities who obtained funding along with the area they will develop. From HEFCE’s press announcement:
…this funding is supporting a range of projects in many different sectors which align with the Industrial Strategy’s ‘Grand Challenges’ – from advanced engineering to data analytics, and from artificial intelligence to bioscience. HEFCE’s investment will help to enhance graduate outcomes and employability, and to upskill the workforce – providing the key skills that industry and employers will need and contributing to the UK’s productivity in the longer term.
And some questions in Parliament:
Q – Justin Tomlinson (Con): how many students have graduated with a degree in ICT & Computer Science in each year since 2010?
A – Sam Gyimah (Con): HESA 2016/17 data:
Academic year Number of qualifiers
2010/11 14,505
2011/12 15,225
2012/13 15,565
2013/14 16,080
2014/15 15,595
2015/16 15,280
2016/17 16,805
In relation to increasing the number of students studying for a degree in ICT and computer science, the government is undertaking a range of initiatives to promote digital and computing skills throughout the education system. For example, the government is investing £84 million of new funding over the next five years to deliver a comprehensive programme to improve the teaching of the computing curriculum and increase participation in computer science GCSE.
The government is also seeking to strengthen the role that higher education providers can play in providing digital and computing skills. This will be through supporting the establishment of a new Institute of Coding to serve as a national focus for improving digital skills provision at levels 6 and 7 with a £20 million fund to improve higher-level digital skills, with joint collaborations between universities and businesses, and to focus on computer science and digital skills in related disciplines. This will ensure the courses better meet employers’ needs.
Additionally, there is funding to support universities to develop conversion courses in engineering and computer science that allow graduates from other subjects to undertake further study and pursue careers in engineering and computer science.
Following last week’s National Audit Office report on STEM another parliamentary question to the Minister requested data on the numbers graduating with a STEM degree. Here’s the data which shows growth between 15/16 and 16/17:
Academic year Number of qualifiers
2013/14 174,950
2014/15 170,480
2015/16 172,480
2016/17 181,215
Source: HESA Student Record
Tech skills gap: The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee continued to investigate Higher, Further and Technical Education this week. Witnesses discussed the skills shortage in the tech sector, they stated that employers struggled to hire employees with the skills and expressed concern as deficiencies in education and training. Concern was expressed at the lack of diversity in those studying STEM subjects. A KPMG representative stated universities needed to encourage a wider curriculum within STEM subjects to encourage greater gender diversity. The (in)adequacy of apprenticeships and the damaging inflexibility of the apprenticeship levy was also discussed. It was felt using the levy to support smaller packages of training would better support the tech skills shortages. As would the opportunity for graduates to return to university to brush up on specific skills necessary for the business environment.
- The skills gap was attributed to high sectoral growth as well as digitisation in the wider economy. Computer scientists and mathematicians were cited as particular skills gap areas. Alongside challenges filling the higher end of the digital skills section – software development, machine learning and cybersecurity,
- The lack of mid-grade technicians and apprenticeships was touched upon but the witnesses felt volume of gradates was still a problem even though more were coming through. In particular, the witnesses felt that graduates were lacking ‘soft’ leadership and team-building skills, as well as lacking skills in the artistic and design-orientated side which fed into software development.
- Universities were criticised for not doing a good enough job in making sure their graduates came out of university with appropriate skills for working in new digital roles. It was stated that Universities should provide every student with some degree of coding experience.
- One witness stated that traditional university subjects did provide the skills necessary for working in innovative tech startups.
- Post-graduation support: A witness expressed that graduates should have the opportunity to go back to universities to brush up on skills
Harassment and Hate Crime
Last week there was a partnership announcement detailing funding for a new programme to support universities in tackling antisemitism on campus consisting of a visit to the former Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau and a seminar dealing explicitly with campus issues and how to identify and tackle anti-Semitism. This week a new question was tabled:
Q – Ian Paisley (DUP): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle anti-Semitism on university campuses.
A – Mr Sam Gyimah (Con): This government takes anti-Semitism extremely seriously. There is no place in our society – including within higher education – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism, including anti-Semitism.
Higher education providers are autonomous organisations, independent from government. They have a clear responsibility to provide a safe and inclusive environment. In September 2015, the government asked Universities UK (UUK) to set up a Harassment Taskforce to consider what more can be done to address harassment and hate crime on campus, including antisemitism. The taskforce’s report, ‘Changing the Culture’, published in October 2016, recommended a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and hate crime.
On 27 July 2017, UUK published a directory of case studies detailing the innovative projects universities have developed to address the taskforce’s recommendations. These include Goldsmith’s hate crime reporting centre (case study 11) which is a joint initiative with the local authority in Lewisham and the Metropolitan Police, which provides students and staff with a safe space to report incidents. These are published on UUK’s website . In addition, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has provided £1.8 million for projects to improve responses to hate crime and online harassment on campus. HEFCE is currently working with UUK to test the sector’s response to the Taskforce’s recommendations and the results of this will be published early this year.
Employability
Damian Hinds is advocating public speaking and sport to teach children the resilience needed by the workplace. The Telegraph quote Damian as stating the “hard reality” is that teaching children how to build “character resilience” and workplace skills is crucial for a thriving economy. He also spoke at length on digital technologies noting the current generation of children are “digital natives” that should be taught how to create apps rather than how to use them. He noted that some current teaching staff experience trepidation and are failing to embrace technology. That significant funding (£84 million) is being pump primed to improve computer science teaching, the number of IT teachers will treble (GCSE level) and a National Centre for Computing will be established. The Telegraph also state Damian urged schools to focus on the core subjects such as maths, English, sciences and languages – rather than waste time on alternative qualifications. Too much focus on alternative qualifications was ‘well-meaning but did little to recommend pupils to employers’.
Last week Damian announced a package of measures focused on disadvantaged geographic areas to support underperforming schools. £45 million will go to multi academy trusts (MATs) with a proven track record of success to help them build their capacity, drive improvement and raise standards in areas facing the greatest challenges in England.
BU2025
Work is proceeding on the new BU2025 strategic plan, with announcements this week of an updated draft and a set of responses to feedback. BU staff can read them here.
We will be expanding our horizon scanning work to looking at the Fusion themes and other areas from a policy point of view, with a new regular section in this update covering updates relating to the Industrial Strategy, the work of APPGs (All Party Parliamentary Groups), ministerial announcements and so on.
Widening Participation
Bumper happenings within WP this week – new Access and Participation plans progress through parliament, young carers publication, pupil premium funding, UCAS WP data revelations, parliamentary questions and the failure to make progress with social mobility is examined.
New Access Plans – content Currently parliament is progressing the Higher Education (Access and Participation Plans) (England) Regulations 2018 to replace OFFA’s Fair Access Agreements with Access and Participation Plans (the motion was approved in Parliament). These are anticipated to be very similar but heavier in their content on supporting students during their degree (on course achievement, skills and personal support measures) as well as improving their employability prospects. Also mentioned are:
- Closing the gap on the differing achievement outcomes between student groups (e.g. ethnicity gaps)
- Monitoring and evaluation compulsory, with expectation providers move to invest in the most effective interventions (as evidenced by the monitoring and evaluation)
- The views of the student body should be taken into account as the provider develops the plan (this has greater importance and emphasis placed on it than past recommendations to include students)
- OfS powers to enforce and refuse provider’s plans
Section 9.1. talks of the government policy directives to OfS, stating “it is the intention that guidance will be issued to the OfS in due course…in relations to its access and participation activities.”
The annual guidance on plans to the sector will come from OfS early in 2018 for the 2019/20 plans. The process for developing and agreeing the new plans should be the same as the existing Fair Access Agreements with no additional burden.
Access and Participation Plans – Parliamentary Discussion During the parliamentary discussion that agreed the motion to approve the new plans it was stated the Government intends to use HERA (the Higher Education and Research Act) to make further progress on access and participation. Other key points were:
- Institutional autonomy was acknowledged.
- New and alternative providers will be able to charge the full higher fee from the outset if their Access and Participation plans meet scrutiny.
- The expectation that providers will spend a proportion of their higher fee income on Access and Participation continues.
- Where there are serious concerns that a provider has not complied with commitments in its access and participation plan, or other conditions of registration, the OfS will have access to a wide and more flexible set of sanctions and intervention measures to tackle these issues with the individual provider than were available to the Director of Fair Access previously. This could include further monitoring, monetary penalties, suspension from the OfS register or deregistering providers in extreme cases.
Baroness Wolf (Cross bench) raised concerns about regulation: “I have to say that the very short history of the OfS inclines me to feel that we are faced not with a Government who want to leave a regulator to regulate, but one who wish to tell the regulator precisely how to manage”.
- Government response: HERA sets clear limitations in this context in order to protect academic freedoms and institutional autonomy. For the first time, it also makes explicit that guidance cannot relate to parts of courses, their content, how they are taught or who teaches them, or admissions arrangements for students. The OFS will absolutely be left to do its job as the regulator.
The Baroness also expressed trepidation about supporting/tracking individual students and risks to marking anonymity
Lord Addington (Lib Dems) was concerned there was no universal guidance, baseline or good practice for support for disabled students, that supporting each student’s individual needs lead to disparities and that universities should be held to a national universal standard as a minimum.
- Government response: We want institutions to think imaginatively about the support that individual students might need, and we will support them in that. That is because each institution is different: they have different needs and courses, and are based in different parts of the country… it is absolutely essential that they be allowed to decide for themselves how disabled students are looked after. However, the Government spokesperson did undertake to write and set out more on disability adaptation.
Baroness Blackstone (Labour) questioned how the plans and the OfS would address the mature part time decline problem.
- Government response: We are working towards launching a new maintenance loan for part-time students studying degree-level courses from August this year. In addition, the Government are looking at ways of promoting and supporting a wide variety of flexible and part-time ways of learning [accelerated courses]
The lack of student and sector diversity on the OfS Board was also criticised by other members. The lack of a FE represented was noted by the Government and taken back to DfE for consideration.
Finally, on the WP Tsar:
- we expect that bringing resources and expertise from HEFCE and OFFA together in a single organisation, while still having a dedicated champion for widening participation appointed by Ministers, will provide a greater focus on access and participation.
- HERA ensures that the Director for Fair Access and Participation will be responsible for overseeing the performance of the OfS’s access and participation functions, for reporting to other members of the OfS on the performance of its functions.
Library Briefing preceding the Access and Participation Plans
Alongside the Access and Participation Plans legislation the Commons Library has produced a succinct briefing paper on Widening Participation strategy in HE in England. It provides an excellent summary of WP to date and further hints of how the tide has turned in the type of interventions universities are expected to pursue:
- It notes the increase in disadvantaged young people attending university along with sharp rises in the number of young black students and disabled students. Set against decline in attendance from mature and young white low income males.
- Section 2 gives an excellent history of the changing policies behind the WP agenda dedicating several inches to the proposals for universities to set up or sponsor schools to improve attainment. The document notes the Conservative manifesto commitment:
- It notes no further commitments or announcements have been made on this since the election.
- It is well known that Theresa May is a firm fan of sponsoring schools to raise achievement, however, it remains to be seen whether her Cabinet reshuffle may herald a refreshed push in this direction.
- An ‘innovative Evidence and Impact Exchange for Widening Participation’ will apparently be linked to the OfS.
- The transparency duty is mentioned again later on: We will use the transparency duty in the Higher Education and Research Act to shine a stronger light on the universities who need to go further in improving equality of opportunity for students from under-represented and disadvantaged groups.
- The document notes the alternative providers perform well on WP measures (proportion of WP students within the whole student body).
Finally the report mentions two guides:
- OFFA’s The Evaluation of the Impact of Outreach
- The Sutton Trust’s Evaluating Access
Young Carers
The Local Government Association have published Meeting the health and wellbeing needs of young carers which provides basic factual information and shares a number of good practice case studies. The document is a good background read of interest to those with an interest in outreach, social care, or of wider interest to those supporting students who are adult carers. Leaf through the full document to access the case studies.
A parliamentary question to the Universities Minister on BAME access to the arts:
Q – Alex Sobel (Labour): what steps his Department is taking to assist people from BAME backgrounds to be better represented in university arts courses and stage schools.
A: Mr Sam Gyimah (Con):
- The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has commissioned research to understand the existing barriers that prevent people from lower income households and under-represented groups, such as those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, specifically from becoming professionals in the performing arts. It is important that the performing arts are representative of society as a whole.
- One of the ways this can be achieved is by doing more to ensure more people from BAME backgrounds go on to higher education. However, for some groups of students from ethnic minorities there is more to do to improve their participation – their retention, success and progression to higher education.
- That is why the most recent guidance to the Director of Fair Access in February 2016, asked him to focus on activity to continue to improve access and participation into higher education for students from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds.
- We are also introducing sweeping reforms through legislation. The Higher Education and Research Act includes the creation of the Office for Students, which has a statutory duty to consider the promotion of equality of opportunity for students as it relates to access and participation. It also includes a transparency duty requiring all universities to publish applications, offers, acceptance and retention rates broken down by gender, ethnicity and social economic background. This will help to hold universities to account for their records on access and retention.
Pupil Premium Funding: The Education Endowment Foundation have published The Attainment Gap 2017 considering the value of pupil premium funded trial initiatives aiming to close the achievement gap. Read the Key lessons learned (page 16). They found small group and 1:2:1 interventions were effective but of other trail programmes reviewed 1 in 4 didn’t succeed any better than the current measures schools are taking.
Social Mobility Committee – under questioning: The Education Select Committee’s Accountability Hearings took on the former members of the Social Mobility Commission this week (you’ll recall that previously all the members of the commission dramatically resigned in protest over the Government’s lack of progress in addressing social mobility).
Witnesses:
- Rt Hon Alan Milburn, former Chair, Social Mobility Commission
- Rt Hon Baroness Shephard, former Deputy Chair, Social Mobility Commission
- David Johnston, former Commissioner, Social Mobility Commission
The committee heard that Theresa May’s government lacked clarity around the issues of social mobility and that the Government had neither the ability or the willingness to progress the recommendations of the Social Mobility Commission.
Several questions on FE Colleges took place, with the questions continuing to meander through T-levels, apprenticeship training, and even Learn Direct.
Commencing the second session, the panel were asked whether issues with social mobility had been raised with the government. Alan Milburn, former chair of the Social Mobility Commission asserted the failure of the government to give commitment to the Commission as an independent body, failure to appoint new members leading to a lack of information that the Commission could provide. Baroness Shephard referenced the prime minister’s speech on the steps of Downing Street on the day of taking power where she emphasized social mobility, but went on to criticise her and query the lack of engagement since then. It was stated that since the 2017 election there had been no engagement,
While there had been good initiatives and some good ministers trying to do the right thing, Milburn explained that it didn’t seem that the Government had either the ability or the willingness to put their collective shoulders to the wheel when it came to delivering social mobility and cited the complex Brexit negotiations as the focus of the Whitehall machine. He commented that he felt that the Government lacked the headspace and the bandwidth to really match the rhetoric of healing social division with the reality.
When questioned on whether the Social Mobility Commission was really needed Shepherd responded that if actions and initiatives were left solely to the political process most good initiatives would just fall to the wayside…a more non-political/ cross party body was needed to get things moving.
Milburn concluded by voicing worry that the promises of doing better than previous generations no longer applied with declining youth employment levels and home ownership. He asserted that these issues could not be ignored and stated that there were political, social and economic incentives for parties to put social mobility as the cornerstone of their pledges.
(Excerpts taken from the Committee’s summary by Dods.)
UCAS surprises: Meanwhile amongst the rhetorical doom and gloom of failed social mobility and access challenges an alternative picture emerged from UCAS. With the number of disadvantaged and ethnic minority students entering universities on the rise again. Including a rise in offer rates 71% (2012) to 78.3% (2016/17).
Les Ebdon, Director OFFA, responded:
- “Today’s figures are a positive sign that further progress has been made in widening access to higher education in England, and that the work of universities and colleges is paying off.
- “While encouraging, the detail of the figures show that there are still stark gaps between different groups and at individual universities and colleges. The reasons behind these disparities are multiple and complex, and the challenge now for universities and colleges – as well as the new Office for Students – is to bring about a transformational step change in fair access. Incremental change is not enough for those students who are missing out.”
Admissions & Marketing
A HEPI guest blogger describes Lessons for higher education from private – and quasi-private – schools it talks of the increasing influence of parents in their children’s HE institution choice. Comparing private schooling and HE decisions on matter of affordability, pay off (HE as a conveyor belt into higher-paying employment), and the rise in alternative routes to the workforce: In a world where university itself is no longer the unquestioned guarantor of career success, ‘savvy’ parents are motivated to seek more cost-effective and/or efficacious routes.
It states the hands-on parental influencing has implications for:
- the positioning of marketing material and events;
- universities’ outreach to sixth-form influencers; and
- the stress placed upon students by their increasingly expectant parents.
It concludes by commenting: While the sector remains as rich as ever in statistical data, the appetite of higher education institutions to seek real insight into the buying behaviour of their prospective market remains, in comparison to the business sector, surprisingly weak. The guest blog was written by Mungo Dennett, Director or a strategic research company working with schools and universities.
HE regulation
There’s an interesting article in Friday’s FT about a National Audit Office blog Is the market for HE working?. The blog pulls out key aspects from the increasing marketisation within HE. It provides a good, simple introduction to this multi-faceted debate. It highlights the (market failure) struggles students face when choosing a HE institution:
- Users find it difficult to discern quality and service differences when exercising choice because the ‘product’ is complex, personalised and/or they are unlikely to purchase the service more than once in their lifetime.
- Users struggle to make well-informed choices due to too much or too little information.
- Users’ knowledge of the service is only discernible during, or after, ‘consumption’.
- Users are, or feel, ‘locked in’ once the service is bought and switching provider is not considered realistic or desirable.
- Users play an important role in co-producing the value that they derive from the service.
- Disadvantaged groups struggle to access the services, and or have worse outcomes than other user groups.
- It’s difficult for providers to enter the market or poorly-performing providers to exit it.
It notes there are too few incentives for providers to push take up of the government’s priority courses (e.g. expensive science); that providers have other routes to attract learners when teaching quality isn’t impressive; and that the DfE’s plans for new providers to enter the market (and more providers to exit) are untested and risky because its unclear how well students will be protected during provider exit (nor whether an influx of new providers creating competition will help drive HE quality improvement).
It raises two major concerns associated with the government’s current objectives:
- Increased competition creating a two-tier system will see WP students suffer worse, and graduate employment gaps widen.
- Increased competition will not result in providers charging different tuition fee levels
During the parliamentary consideration of the new Access and Participation Plans this week Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour) tackled marketisation stating: The key to our concern is whether Ministers, instead of promoting scholarship and encouraging research or a concern for truth, have as their goal turning the UK’s higher education system into an even more market-driven one at the expense of both quality and the public interest. It is worth reminding the House that this is not a broken system which needs shoring up and intervention. It is the second-most successful higher education system in the world, with four universities ranked in the top 10. When and how will the Government give us an assurance that they are stepping back from their market-driven obsession and that they intend for the OfS to be a sensible, balanced regulator?
Freedom of Speech
The Select Committee on Human Rights continued its investigation into Freedom of Speech in Universities. Sir Michael Barbet (Chair, Office for Students) was one of the witnesses called this week. The session considered the approach to the issue adopted by the newly formed Office for Students, and the impact of Charity Commission regulations on student events with external speakers. It looked in detail at how the Charity Commission worked with students’ unions, where the responsibility for dealing with events that breached human rights and the law lay, and the clarity of Charity Commission guidance. When asked if Sir Michael had considered how the Office for Students might work with the Charity Commission he confirmed that the two organisations would be preparing a Memorandum of Understanding around their future working
The session also explored the role of the Office for Students in promoting freedom of speech in universities in England. Sir Michael explained that he wanted to see maximum freedom of speech throughout universities, not just in the students’ unions. He acknowledged the universities’ need to have policies in place because they have a responsibility for what happens on their campuses. He acknowledged that some codes of practice were over-complicated, but that good practice did exist. He did not want the Office for Students to issue a single code of practice, saying that would be up to universities and students’ unions.
Questioning how the Office for Students would monitor compliance with the duty to promote freedom of speech among universities followed. Sir Michael reiterated his commitment to maximum freedom of speech and said he would only review university codes of practice on a risk basis. Any intervention would be to promote free speech, he told the committee. Sir Michael clarified that the Office for Students would have no jurisdiction over the students’ union.
When questioned whether the Office for Students was the right body to receive Prevent returns, questioning whether it would have the right expertise. Sir Michael emphasised the need to protect the institutional autonomy of universities and the need to balance that with security. He believed the Office for Students was the right body to this, as the agency that would know about universities, rather a policing agency. He continued to receive challenge on this point.
(Summary courtesy of Dods, Political Monitoring Consultants.)
Contact Sarah if you would like further information on the content of the session.
Other news
International Students: This week the Financial Times ran another story on the economic benefits of international students. The article rehashes HEPI’s study and last week’s mayoral letter, however, the main thrust calls on parliament to unite and overrule what it sees as Theresa May’s lone standpoint of negativity towards international students through their inclusion in the net migration targets. On international students the FT states: the evidence is overwhelming – they bring widespread economic benefit to the UK.
HM Opposition: The Fabian Society issued a report on Labour’s National Education Service plans.
The report features an introduction from shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner MP and contributions from experts in further and higher education, including shadow minister Gordon Marsden MP, former education and employment secretary Lord Blunkett and leading figures from the NUS, UCU, Open University the Learning and Work Institute.
Between them the report contributors argue for a National Education Service that is:
- Accountable – democratically accountable and open at every level
- Devolved – with local decision-making which delivers coherent, integrated local provision, albeit within a national framework
- Empowering – ensuring that learners, employees and institutions are all enabled and respected
- Genuinely lifelong – with opportunities for retraining and chances to re-engage at every stage, and parity for part-time and digital distance learning
- Coordinated – flexible pathways for learners between providers and strong partnerships involving providers, employers, unions and technology platforms
- Outcome-focused – designed to meet social and economic needs, with far more adults receiving productivity-enhancing education but also recognising that learning brings wider benefits
The report also suggests that the ultimate price-tag for the new service may be more than Labour pledged in its 2017 manifesto.
Wonkhe blogger and VC of the Open University Peter Horrocks considers Labour’s National Education Service within the context of the relentless industrial automation in Five things that might save us from the robots, a quick focussed read (with only one shameless Open University plug).
The Universities team within parliament regularly run training events for academics to understand how to begin the process of utilising their research to influence government policy. The Government increasingly leans towards evidence-based policy making and understanding who, when and where the best opportunities are to influence the Government is crucial. Here are the event details: Book a place at Research, Impact and the UK Parliament at Plymouth Marjon University on Wednesday 21 March 2018 at 1.30pm.
At the 3 hour training event, you will learn:
- How to contact MPs and Members of the House of Lords from Parliament’s Outreach & Engagement Service
- How to work with Select Committees from a clerk of a House of Commons Select Committee
- How Parliament has been cited in REF 2014 impact case studies from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
“This event was excellent – well organised, highly relevant, focused, all speakers strong, content highly practical” – RIUKP Attendee
Tickets cost £40 and include afternoon tea. Here’s the link to: Book your place at Research, Impact and the UK Parliament now.
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JANE FORSTER | SARAH CARTER
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Systematic Review birthing centres by CMMPH PhD student Preeti Mahato
BU PhD student Mrs Preeti Mahato published her latest scientific paper ‘Determinants of quality of care and access to Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care facilities and midwife-led facilities in low and middle-income countries: A Systematic Review’ in the Journal of Asian Midwives [1]. This paper is co-authored by Dr. Catherine Angell and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, who are both based in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) and Prof. Padam Simkhada, BU Visiting Professor and based at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Journal of Asian Midwives is a free Open Access journal, freely available for anybody across the globe to read online.
The authors highlight that maternal mortality is a major challenge to health systems in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) where almost 99% of maternal deaths occurred in 2015. Primary-care facilities providing Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (BEmONC) facilities, and facilities that are midwife-led are appropriate for normal birth in LMICs and have been proposed as the best approach to reduce maternal deaths. However, the poor quality of maternal services that leads to decreased utilisation of these facilities is among the major causes of maternal deaths worldwide. This systematic review studied factors affecting the quality of care in BEmONC and midwife-led facilities in LMICs.
Thematic analysis on included studies revealed various factors affecting quality of care including facility-level determinants and other determinants influencing access to care. Facility-level determinants included these barriers: lack of equipment and drugs at the facility, lack of trained staff, poor attitudes and behaviour of service providers, and poor communication with women. Facility-level positive determinants were: satisfaction with services, emotional support during delivery and trust in health providers. The access-to-care determinants were: socio-economic factors, physical access to the facility, maintaining privacy and confidentiality, and cultural values. The authors include that improving quality of care of birthing facilities requires addressing both facility level and non-facility level determinants in order to increase utilization of the services available at the BEmONC and midwife-led facilities in LMICs.
This is the fifth paper co-authored by CMMPH’s current most published PhD student. The evaluation of birth centres in rural Nepal by Preeti Mahato under joint supervision Dr. Angell and Prof. Simkhada (LJMU) and Prof. van Teijlingen.
References:
- Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2017) Determinants of quality of care & access to Basic Emergency Obstetric & Neonatal Care facilities & midwife-led facilities in low & middle-income countries: A Systematic Review, Journal of Asian Midwives 4(2):25-51.
- Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 18-30. http://ecommons.aku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=jam
- Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Sheppard, Z., Silwal, R.C. (2017) Factors related to choice of place of birth in a district in Nepal. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare 13: 91-96.
- Mahato, P.K., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C., Sathian, B. (2015) Birthing centre infrastructure in Nepal post 2015 earthquake. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(4): 518-519. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14260/11579
- Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sharma, S., Mahato, P. (2016) Sustainable Development Goals: relevance to maternal & child health in Nepal. Health Prospect 15(1):9-10. www.healthprospect.org/archives/15/1/3.pdf
Prof. Stephen Tee speaking next month at education conference in Kathmandu
Prof. Stephen Tee, Professor of Nurse Education & National Teaching Fellow, has been invited to give a key note speech at an International Conference on CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF QUALITY EDUCATION IN NEPAL IN FEDERALISM ERA in Kathmandu, the capital in Nepal.
This International Conference is organised by the Higher Institutions & Secondary Schools’ Association Nepal (HISSAN) in collaboration with 13 international universities including Bournemouth University. Members of the Conference Advisor Committee includes BU professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen. Prof. Tee will be speaking about ‘What can Nepal learn from latest UK technology-enhanced teaching?’ He is in great position to speak about learning technology due to his dual role at BU as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences as well as Interim Executive Dean of the Faculty of Management, moreover with his role as Assistant Editor of Nurse Education Today.

The USA shutdown, following the current budget impasse, has started to affect many federal services across the country, but the effect can also be felt abroad. I just noted on the PubMed webpages the above warning: “Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.” This delay in funding in the most up-to-date health research database will not have a major effect today (Sunday 21 Jan.) as it will have on hundreds of thousands of federal staff facing unpaid leave and many more people facing interruptions in the provision of basic service across the USA. It is however a sign of globalisation, with internal political disputes in the USA affecting people across the globe, including health researchers at Bournemouth University.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Latest FHSS health & migration paper published
Today saw the latest publication on the health and well-being of migrant workers by BU staff. The paper ‘A survey of health problems of Nepalese female migrants workers in the Middle-East and Malaysia’ was published in the Open Access journal BMC International Health and Human Rights [1]. The paper is based on data collected by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Pourakhi (Nepal).
Pourakhi, meaning self-reliant in Nepali, was established in 2003 to advocate for the rights of women who returned to Nepal after having worked abroad. The current Chair Manju Gurung is co-author on our paper.
Since 2003, Pourakhi has established a number of programmes around pre-employment, pre-departure, employment and post arrival support. In 2009, it opened a Shelter Facility to provide a safe space for women who returned to Nepal and were not able to rejoin their family and community. Pourakhi recognized that many women who returned from abroad had been victimized abroad and needed to seek relief from the government. In order to provide assistance to these women, In addition, Pourakhi established programmes to empower women after they return to Nepal from foreign employment. More specifically, Pourakhi established a financial literacy programme to educate women and an in business skills.

Pourakhi has been instrumental in ensuring that the voices of migrant women workers are heard and reflected in national policy and law. Additionally, it has successfully lobbied the government to ratify a number of international laws needed to protect the rights of female migrant workers.
Although Pourakhi began as an organisation by and on behalf of women, it has recognized that all migrant workers have the right to safe migration. Therefore, Pourakhi now assists both woman and men in all stages of the migration process.
The other two Nepali-speaking co-authors are Prof. Padam Simkhada from Liverpool john Moores University, who is also Visiting Professor in Bournemouth University’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and Dr. Sharada Prasad Wasti who is working for the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University, Washington, DC in the USA.
Reference:
- Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Gurung, M., Wasti, S. (2018) A survey of health problems of Nepalese female migrants workers in the Middle-East and Malaysia, BMC International Health & Human Rights 18(4): 1-7.
Congratulations to Prof. Vanora Hundley on latest international paper
Congratulations to FHSS Prof. Vanora Hundley and her co-authors from across the globe who published ‘Progression of the first stage of spontaneous labour: A prospective cohort study in two sub-Saharan African countries’ in the journal PLOS Medicine [1].
The authors highlight that since the early 2000s researchers using new statistical methods to have informed changes in recommended labour practices in some settings, they have also generated a lot of controversy. As a result of persistent questions as to whether racial characteristics influence labour progression patterns, recent studies have been conducted among different populations, but not yet in any African population. The authors conclude that
- As labour may not naturally accelerate in some women until a cervical dilatation of 5 cm is reached, labour practices to address perceived slow labour progression should not be routinely applied by clinicians until this threshold is achieved, provided the vital signs and other observations of the mother and baby are normal.
- In the absence of any problems other than a slower than expected cervical dilatation rate (i.e., 1 cm/hour) during labour, it is in the interest of the woman that expectant, supportive, and woman-centred labour care is continued.
Congratulations to all authors!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Oladapo OT, Souza JP, Fawole B, Mugerwa K, Perdoná G, Alves D, Souza, H, Reis, R, Oliveira-Ciabati, L., Maiorano, A, Akintan, Alu, F.E, Oyeneyin, L, Adebayo, A, Byamugisha, J, Nakalembe, M, Idris, H.A, Okike, O, Althabe, F., Hundley, V, Donnay, F. et al. (2018) PLoS Med 15(1): e1002492. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002492
Two papers on health & migration in Nepal
This last week two separate papers have been accepted on aspects of health and well-being among migrants workers from Nepal. The first in the International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care is based on a completed PhD project in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences with Dr. Pratik Adhikary as first author [1]. This paper ‘Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad’ is co-authored by two former FHSS staff Dr. Zoe Sheppard and Dr. Steve Keen, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH).
The second paper ‘A study of Health Problems of Nepalese Female Migrants Workers in the Middle-East and Malaysia’ was accepted by the Open Access journal BMC International Health & Human Rights [2]. The lead author of this paper is Bournemouth University (BU) Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University) and two of his co-authors are based in Nepal: Manju Gurung (chair of Pourakhi Nepal) and Dr. Sharada Prasad Wasti and one at BU: Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen .
There is a growing momentum in migration research at BU with further academic papers being published related to studies on migrant workers from Nepal [4-8], relatives of migrant workers [9], migration into the UK [10-12], Eastern European migration issues [13-15], migration and tourism [16], migration and the media [17] as well as migration in the past [18].
References:
- Adhikary P, Sheppard, Z., Keen S., van Teijlingen E. (2018) Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad, International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care (accepted). https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-12-2015-0052
- Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Gurung, M., Wasti, S. (2018) A study of Health Problems of Nepalese Female Migrants Workers in the Middle-East and Malaysia, BMC International Health & Human Rights (accepted Jan.).
- Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen E., Raja, AE. (2008) Health & Lifestyle of Nepalese Migrants in the UK BMC International Health & Human Rights 8(6). Web address: www.biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/8/6.
- van Teijlingen E, Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P. (2009) Alcohol use among the Nepalese in the UK BMJ Rapid Response: www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/339/oct20_1/b4028#223451
- Adhikary P., Keen S., van Teijlingen, E. (2011) Health Issues among Nepalese migrant workers in Middle East. Health Science Journal 5: 169-175. www.hsj.gr/volume5/issue3/532.pdf
- Adhikary, P., Sheppard, Z., Keen, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Risky work: Accidents among Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi, Health Prospect 16(2): 3-10.
- Aryal, N., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P., Bhatta, YKD., Mann, S. (2016) Injury and Mortality in Young Nepalese Migrant Workers: A Call for Public Health Action. Asian-Pacific Journal of Public Health 28(8): 703-705.
- Simkhada, PP., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Aryal, N. (2017) Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health & well-being: A review of the literature, Journal of Travel Medicine 24 (4): 1-9.
- Aryal, N., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Dhungel, D., Ghale, G., Bhatta, GK. (2016) Knowing is not enough: Migrant workers’ spouses vulnerability to HIV SAARC Journal of Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases & HIV/AIDS 8(1):9-15.
- Scammell, J., 2016. Nurse migration and the EU: how are UK nurses prepared? British Journal of Nursing, 25 (13), p. 764.
- Holscher, J., 2017. The effects of Brexit on the EU, the UK and Dorset – a migrant’s account. BAFES Working Papers, 1-11.
- Sapkota, T., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Nepalese health workers’ migration to United Kingdom: A qualitative study. Health Science Journal 8(1):57-74.
- Filimonau, V., Mika, M. (2017) Return labour migration: an exploratory study of Polish migrant workers from the UK hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-22.
- Janta, H., Ladkin, A., Brown, L., Lugosi, P., 2011. Employment experiences of Polish migrant workers in the UK hospitality sector. Tourism Management, 32 (5): 1006-1019.
- Mai, N., Schwandner-Sievers, S. (2003) Albanian migration and new transnationalisms, Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies 29(6): 939-948.
- Dwyer, L., Seetaram, N., Forsyth, P., Brian, K. (2014) Is the Migration-Tourism Relationship only about VFR? Annals of Tourism Research, 46: 130-143.
- Marino, S., Dawes, S. (2016). Fortress Europe: Media, Migration and Borders. Networking Knowledge, 9 (4).
- Parker Pearson, M., Richards, C., Allen, M., Payne, A., Welham, K. (2004) The Stonehenge Riverside project Research design and initial results Journal of Nordic Archaeological Science 14: 45–60.
New paper international midwifery
Over the Festive Season the International Journal of Childbirth published the latest article from staff based at the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) [1]. This paper ‘Women, Midwives, and a Medical Model of Maternity Care in Switzerland’ is co-authored with Bournemouth University Visiting Faculty Ans Luyben (a Dutch midwife working in Switzerland), Sue Brailey from the School of Health & Education at Middlesex University and Lucy Firth at the University of Liverpool.
This Swiss paper builds on a body of work within CMMPH around a medical/social model of childbirth. BU academics have applied this model in multidisciplinary studies, including the disciplines of midwifery, [2-4] sociology, [5] and media studies [6].
References
- Brailey, S., Luyben, A., Firth, L., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Women, midwives and a medical model of maternity care in Switzerland, International Journal of Childbirth 7(3): 117-125.
- van Teijlingen, E. (2017) The medical and social model of childbirth, Kontakt 19 (2): e73-e74
- MacKenzie Bryers H., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models: critical analysis of the concept of risk in maternity care, Midwifery 26(5): 488-496.
- Ireland, J., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Normal birth: social-medical model, The Practising Midwife 16 (11): 17-20.
- van Teijlingen E. (2005) A critical analysis of the medical model as used in the study of pregnancy and childbirth, Sociological Research Online, 10 (2) Web address: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/2/teijlingen.html
- Luce, A., Cash, M., Hundley, V., Cheyne, H., van Teijlingen, E., Angell, C. (2016) “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 40 http://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-0827-x