

Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
THE ELECTRONIC LITERATURE ORGANIZATION PRESENTS VOLUME 4 OF FIELD-DEFINING COLLECTION
Announcing the publication of the ELECTRONIC LITERATURE COLLECTION VOLUME 4, a freely accessible, Creative Commons-licensed collection of 132 digital-born literary works from 42 author nationalities in 31 languages. ELC4 debuted at the Electronic Literature Organization Conference in Como, Italy, May 30-June 1, 2022.
The Electronic Literature Collection, hosted by the Electronic Literature Organization, defines the field of electronic literature. Each volume recognises contemporary works, trends, and emerging creators in born-digital narrative and poetry. This collection is used as a foundational teaching text in university programs incorporating studies of electronic literature, interactive narratives, and e-poetry around the world.
Selected from more than 450 works, ELC4 presents the largest group yet of author/makers writing in Afrikaans, Ancient Chinese, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, isiXhosa, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mezangelle, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Setswana, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, South African Sign Language, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Yoruba.
The Collection includes commercial works such as groundbreaking VR experiences and narrative video games. These join the many other works that are open access: database fictions, autoethnographies by GenZ makers, works that play with AI, geospatial storytelling via mobile phones–among many other styles and platforms.
The Electronic Literature Collection Volume 4 was edited by Kathi Inman Berens, John T. Murray, R. Lyle Skains, Rui Torres, and Mia Zamora with the assistance of an international advisory board and three student fellows.
“We made a strong effort to discover artists who were previously unknown to us,” said the Editors. “Curators in Mexico, India, West Africa, and international consultants from six continents helped us discover and evaluate works in languages we don’t speak.”
“Our driving purpose was to expand the collection in terms of diversity,” added Skains, “and to make the origins of these works searchable and transparent to all collection users.”
Teachers looking to engage students in cutting-edge literary works will find they can freely access ELC4 on their phones. Classroom computers aren’t necessary. It’s like a free textbook!
Scholars will appreciate being able to download and study the code and media assets of featured works. The Electronic Literature Organization hosts versions of the works to ensure perpetual access, even after operating systems and software are updated or become obsolete.
FREELY ACCESS THE ELECTRONIC LITERATURE COLLECTION VOLUME 4 here:
https://collection.eliterature.org/4/
ELC4 is the fourth collection published by the Electronic Literature Organization in 22 years. All four are available freely via Creative Commons license: https://collection.eliterature.org/
The Electronic Literature Organization was founded in 1999 to foster and promote the reading, writing, teaching, and understanding of literature as it develops and persists in a changing digital environment. A 501c(3) non-profit organization, ELO includes writers, artists, teachers, scholars, and developers from around the world.
Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen just completed their ERASMUS Plus exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal. This was a very successful collaboration with colleagues in Nepal, despite the various turns of fate that were sent to challenge us. Indeed, the Profs toiled with the idea of giving this BU Research Blog the heading ‘The show must go on’ or ‘One man down….’ or even the far less punchy ‘The irony of doing a workshop by ZOOM in Nepal from a hotel 200 meters across the road’! In the end we decided that excellent collaboration requires resilience and a wee bit of ingenuity.
The trip to Nepal was marred by many little hiccups. It started at Heathrow where the airline insisted that they complete a now obsolete form about COVID-19 for the Government of Nepal, otherwise they would not let us on the flight. Arguing that Edwin had been to Nepal in April, and that no one then had asked for that particular piece of paper was fruitless. A quick online completion solved that first hurdle. The next hurdle was the flight leaving Heathrow over two hours late, which in turn meant missing the connection in Doha. Fortunately, the airline booked our academics on a replacement flight which left only hours after the original onwards flight had been scheduled to leave for Kathmandu. ingenuity. The trip to Nepal was marred by many little hiccups. It started at Heathrow where the airline insisted that they complete a now obsolete form about COVID-19 for the Government of Nepal, otherwise they would not let us on the flight. Arguing that Edwin had been to Nepal in April, and that no one then had asked for that particular piece of paper was fruitless. A quick online completion solved that first hurdle. The next hurdle was the flight leaving Heathrow over two hours late, which in turn meant missing the connection in Doha. Fortunately, the airline booked our academics on a replacement flight which left only hours after the original onwards flight had been scheduled to leave for Kathmandu.
The first five days in Kathmandu went well, apart from the to be expected tummy problems that go with monsoon in all low-income countries in South Asia. The teaching at MMIHS mainly focused on methodological issues. Our scheduled teaching sessions focused on the first-year MSc Nursing students (Vanora) and the first-year MSc Public Health students at MMIHS (Edwin).
In addition, with extra funding from GCRF (Global Challenges Research Fund), Bournemouth University and MMIHS supported by the local charity Green Tara Nepal planned ran a one-day research workshop in Kathmandu. This GCRF- funded ‘Systematic Review on Dementia Research Workshop’ was very well attended. Although the workshop budgeted for 30 people the attendance register shows that nearly double (n=59) the number of people attended at least part of the workshop. However, running the workshop was not without is problems. Two-days before the workshop Prof. van Teijlingen first had a positive COVID-19 lateral flow test followed by a positive PCR test. This put the burden of running the show very much on Prof. Vanora Hundley with Edwin being called in through Zoom. This is where the potential ‘irony’ title comes in. The irony of doing a workshop by ZOOM in Nepal ….. not from halfway across the globe but from a local hotel 200 meters across the road from MMIHS! The hotel’s internet connection was not as good as most of us have grown used to in Dorset, which added to the difficulty of running the workshop smoothly.
Despite all these challenges, the result was a very successful workshop that will continue to build our collaboration with colleagues in MMIHS and more widely across Nepal.
Finally, to end the story of hiccups, MMIHS forgot to inform the hotel that Edwin would be staying four extra nights. On the day he was originally scheduled to leave Nepal he received a phone call from reception asking what time he was checking out. When he said he thought extra nights had been booked for him, there was no reply. A little later he was told he could get another night, but he would have to move to another floor, and it would be for one night only, since all 91 room of the hotel were booked for the weekend for a big Asian wedding party. Luckily MMIHS found him another hotel a bit more outside the city centre for the remaining three nights.
We are incredibly grateful for the support of colleagues and friends in Nepal and at home in the UK, which helped smooth out some of the more interesting challenges.
Lessons learnt:
· Be ready to change and adapt to the needs of the situation.
· Strong relationships will help you deal with the unexpected.
· Keep positive when things get tough.
In the words of Steve Maraboli “Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.”
Last Sunday (29th May) Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen from the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) run a hugely successful introduction to research workshop in Kathmandu. Their Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) funded the Systematic Review on Dementia Research Workshop on Sunday, which was very well attended. They expected (and had budgeted for) 30 people to attend and in the end the audience was closer 50 people
.
The event was organised by our colleagues at Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu and it was supported by the charity Green Tara Nepal. Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen are currently in Nepal as part of the BU-MMIHS ERASMUS+ exchange and added this one-day workshop to their schedule. The audience included Master students in Nursing and Public Health, MMIHS lecturers and post-doctoral researchers. This capacity-building workshop offered an introduction to all aspects of a systematic review, from formulating the systematic review research question at the start to the publication of a systematic review paper. The workshop also benefited from a short presentation by CMMPH PhD student Mrs. Sulochana Dhakal-Rai who also happened to be in Nepal as part of the BU-MMIHS student-exchange.
The planning nearly went wrong as two days before the workshop Prof. van Teijlingen tested positive for COVID-19 on a lateral flow test which was later confirmed by a PCR test. The fact that the event went ahead despite my quarantine in a nearby hotel room was only possible because of Prof. Vanora Hundley hard work on the day. Vanora led the workshop on the whole day whilst Edwin appeared in several sessions via ZOOM. Ironically, sitting only 200 meters away from the university venue in his hotel room. The connection was not always great, it broke up several times during the day, but it worked well enough. The MMIHS colleagues were very thoughtful when it came to the group photo at the end as they included the laptop with his ‘live’ presence on Zoom.
I am Yagya Adhikari, PhD student at BU’s Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (FHSS). I am honoured to participate in the Turing Scheme (Traineeship) in Nepal. For me this student mobility programme ran for four weeks. In Kathmandu, I attended the Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) sessions. I also presented my proposal and discussed it with both MSc Public Health students and teachers and had the privilege to attend the lectures delivered by MMIHS academics. Furthermore, I shared my UK university experiences with the students and faculties. Some of the MMIHS students and faculties will soon participate in the ERASMUS+ exchange programme at BU.
Additionally, I invited to present my research proposal at the “Migration and Health Research Capacity Building Workshop for Early Career Researchers”, organised by BU, the University of Huddersfield, MMIHS and the charity Green Tara Nepal. It provided a forum for discussion and feedback from the participants. Similarly, I took part in the “Academic writing and publishing” book launch workshop at Nobel College, Kathmandu. It was facilitated by Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr Pramod Regmi both from FHSS.
As my PhD research title is “Parental migration and its impact on health and well-being of left-behind adolescents in Nepal,” I plan to conduct fieldwork next year. Thus, the visit allowed me to familiarise myself with Nepal’s current socio-economic context and understand the ethical procedure prior to data collection and fieldwork.
Networking is another outstanding achievement for me. I interacted with researchers involved in migration and health research in Nepal. One of the cardinal benefits of the tour was the exchange of knowledge and expertise between BU and MMIHS. It was also crucial to strengthen the network amongst public health sector professionals of both nations and establish new connections. The visit helped me understand the recent challenges of conducting research at the field level and gave me the insight to mitigate the issues. In addition, it helped me lay the foundation of my study and proffered me the prerequisite tools to address my research question.
I forged ties with several organisations working in health, migration, and mental health. Some of the key associations we shared our expertise with were Green Tara Trust and Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation Nepal (TPO Nepal). Furthermore, I discussed the proposed research tools for my PhD and the availability of validated questionnaires in the Nepali translated version. It was a win-win visit for both BU and MMIHS Nepal. As a research student, I returned with a rich experience, and I look forward to fostering collaborations in future. Overall, it was a fantastic opportunity to explore and interact with students, academics and researchers internationally.
We’ve tried to keep it short this week. But the politics is still sticky on a number of issues and the culture wars are not over…
REF results: you’ve probably read everything you want to, but here is a blog from Dave Radcliffe of the University if Birmingham on QR funding: QR allocations could be seen as the antithesis of levelling up. Funding is concentrated into a handful of established universities. It is even one of the last bastions of London weighting (£34m is allocated to London institutions in addition to their QR allocation). Research England will need to determine what it means to continue funding excellent research wherever it is found.
Researcher responsibility: The Lords Science and Technology Committee ran a sessions on delivering a UK science and technology strategy. Evidence was provided by:
The first session focused on the Government’s strategy for science and technology, its commitments and risks, and the capacity to deliver this. The second session discussed the role played by academia and researchers in achieving the UK’s goal of becoming a science and technology superpower by 2030. Summary of both sessions provided by Dods here.
China: George Freeman (Minister for Science, Research and Innovation) published a written ministerial statement announcing that BEIS will end its bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding in China. BEIS will not be using ODA funding to support research and innovation partnerships with China as they’ve previously done through ODA vehicles, such as the Newton Fund and Global Challenges Research Fund. Existing ODA-funded activity with China through these will finish by the end of financial year 2022/23. The technical assistance provided through the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions programme (UK PACT) will also end (same timescale). Instead technical assistance to China on climate change issues will be smaller in scale and use non-Official Development Assistance sources.
Visa fees limit talent: UUK press the Home Office for change; Universities UK (UUK) lodged a report with the Home Office highlighting that visa fees of more than £15,000 for a researcher and their family to come to the UK is a major problem that academics and researchers face when trying to progress their careers in the UK. UUK say the UK Government’s own research suggests the UK must attract an additional 150,000 researchers and technicians if it is to have the workforce needed to manage the government’s ambitious target to increase investment in research and development to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. The report highlights significant feedback from universities and international staff that the most expensive visa arrangements in the world could hamper UK universities from unlocking their significant potential to support the government’s targets. The analysis comes shortly after the recent Home Office announcement of further visa fee increases.
UUK raise the following issues:
UUK calls on the Home Office to:
Vivienne Stern MBE, Director of Universities UK International, said: The government has taken some welcome steps recently to make the UK more attractive to international research talent. We think they can go even further, and that doing so will contribute to making the UK one of the most exciting places in the world to pursue a research career. Simple steps to ease the financial and bureaucratic burden for applicants could make a massive difference to individual decision making, and help make the UK a magnet for talent.
UK AI R&D Commercialisation; The Office for Artificial Intelligence (AI) has published research on the UK’s AI R&D commercialisation process. The report was commissioned by DCMS to explores which channels are most effective at transforming AI R&D into marketable products. Read the full report here.
Most prevalent routes for AI R&D commercialisation in the UK
The Office for Students (OfS) warned universities and colleges to “steer clear of normalising post-pandemic grade inflation”.
Nick Holland, Head of Provider Standards at the OfS, has also written an accompanying blog post, in which he outlines what action the regulator is taking to tackle grade inflation.
Susan Lapworth, interim chief executive at the OfS, said:
We don’t have to point out that there has been a certain level of outrage at the “unmerited” word” – isn’t quality improvement supposed to be a good thing?
Queen’s Speech – background briefing notes. The most relevant bits for HE:
Higher Education Bill “Reforms to education will help every child fulfil their potential wherever they live, raising standards and improving the quality of schools and higher education.” The purpose of the Bill is to: Ensure that our post-18 education system promotes real social mobility, helping students onto pathways in which they can excel, and is financially sustainable. This will help support people get the skills they need to meet their career aspirations and to help grow the economy.
The main benefits of the Bill would be:
The main elements of the Bill are:
Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (page 131)
The purpose of the Bill is to: Fulfil the Government’s manifesto commitment to strengthen academic freedom and free speech in universities in England.
The main benefits of the Bill would be:
The main elements of the Bill are:
The government still don’t seem to appreciate the irony of this and their actions on other things: last week Donelan announced the Government would be temporarily suspending its engagement with the National Union of Students (NUS) over a series of allegations surrounding antisemitism.
The Government has published an update impact assessment (IA) for the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. The revised IA shows they have increased their estimated net cost to business from £4.6m per year, to £4.7m. It has also increased its overall estimate costs to universities and SUs over the next decade from £48.1m to £50.3m. The original impact assessment was reported on by PoliticsHome’s Nao Hoffman last September, as concerns were raised about the potential financial burdens by Shadow HE Minister Matt Western.
Here’s a Wonkhe blog: As I’ve said before, in most of the on campus free speech cases you have an EDI complaint at one end of the see-saw, and a Free Speech justification at the other – which in turn implies an OIA complaint in the former, and a “Free Speech OfS Tsar” complaint at the other.
Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (page 25) “A bill will be brought forward to drive local growth, empowering local leaders to regenerate their areas, and ensuring everyone can share in the United Kingdom’s success. The planning system will be reformed to give residents more involvement in local development.”
The purpose of the Bill is to:
The main benefits of the Bill would be:
The main elements of the Bill are:
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator on Higher Education (OIAHE) published its Annual Report for 2021 which shows a further increase in the number of complaints received – once again their highest ever figure.
Other categories of complaint:
The latest update from the OfS on unconditional offers was published. It seems to show that unconditional offers are not such a problem (any more).
Wonkhe have a blog: It’s the start of a very good recycling job – I expect future modified iterations of this work to focus on the continuations of students with less impressive entry qualifications instead. Almost as if having solved one problem at the behest of a moral panic it is time to move on to the next one.
Apparently the data seems to show that lower grades are the problem. You will remember that the argument always went that “unconditional offers are bad because students aren’t motivated and then get lower grades”…and then they drop out, goes the story. You will recall, the Queen’s Speech above includes plans to limit access based on grades. How convenient.
OfS announced the appointment of a consortium led by the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) to help universities and colleges identify and make use of effective practice in supporting student mental health. Partnering with TASO are What Works Wellbeing, Universities UK, SMaRteN, King’s College London, Student Minds and AMOSSHE. OfS state the work will lead to the creation of a central, online hub to share what works to support student mental health.
The Government announced that Matt Warman MP (former digital minister) will lead a review into how the government can best support a thriving future UK labour market. The ‘Future of Work’ review will inform the government’s plans to ensure the UK is equipped with the right workforce, skills and working environment to seize the new economic opportunities of Brexit, Levelling Up and Net Zero.
The review is also expected to explore the role of local labour markets in facilitating access to good jobs as part of levelling up across the country, as well as where skills development is most needed to drive future economic growth. The review will provide a detailed assessment on key issues facing the labour market and set out recommendations for Government to consider.
The Government has stated that the review will build on existing government commitments (including those made in response to the Matthew Taylor Review) to assess what the key questions to address on the future of work are as we look to support people to progress in work with the skills they need and grow the economy.
The terms of reference for the Future of Work review can be found here.
Graduate outcomes: The DfE published additional data as part of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset showing what industry graduates were working in at one, three, five and 10 years after graduation.
Climate change: New UUK blog Most parents don’t recognise role of universities in tackling climate change finds that only 4 in 10 parents believe UK universities are equipping students with knowledge on climate change. While almost every UK university has a sustainability strategy, less than half of parents recognise that universities are researching solutions to climate change. And only 24% of parents of 16-18 year olds believe UK universities are communicating effectively to the public about their efforts.
Other key findings
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Many BU academics may have recognised that RDS hosts annual UK Research Office (UKRO) visits to BU. These sessions are led by RDS and delivered in collaboration with BU European Advisor at the UKRO. Although, not all may be aware that BU is one of UKRO’s subscriber organisations.
UKRO supports the UK research and innovation community from Brussels and works with partners across government and stakeholders to maximise UK engagement in Horizon Europe programme. UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations; they even have non-UK associated members from Belgium, Norway, Finland and other countries.
UKRO also delivers free UK National Contact Point services for those interested in Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and European Research Council programmes, however some sections of UKRO website are only available to staff at subscribing organisations.
Any BU employee can access UKRO services by creating their own profile. We encourage all BU academic staff to register – this is a quick and simple process which only requires institutional email address.
For all users in subscriber organisations UKRO provides the following services:
You can read more about EU-UK Relationship and UK Participation in EU-funded Programmes on UKRO portal and on a dedicated European Commission website.
If you are not sure or still have questions, contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.
* It is possible to use UKRO’s dedicated workspaces for European project meetings. UKRO office is located within easy walking distance of most European Commission buildings, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.
Earlier this spring Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health in the Department of Nursing Sciences, traveled to MMIHS as part of this exchange. His visit in April 2022 included running the ‘Migration and Health Research Capacity Building Workshop for Early Career Researchers’ in Kathmandu. Bournemouth University organised this two-day event jointly with the University of Huddersfield, MMIHS, and the charity Green Tara Nepal.
Two current Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Ph.D. students are also benefittng from being involved in this exchange. Yagya Adhikari returned back to the UK a week or so ago whilst Sulochana Dhakal-Rai will be arriving in Kathmandu tomorrow. Both will use this ERASMUS+ opportunity to developed aspects of their Ph.D. thesis.
Reference:
This month CMMPH has two new research papers focusing on COVID-19. The first one published in World Medical & Health Policy reports on a quantitative study of the availability of hand-washing facilities in households across Nepal [1]. This study used secondary data from Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2016 to assess the association between households’ wealth status to handwashing stations. The findings reported a statistically significant association between age of the household head, residence place, ecological zone, province, wealth status, having of mosquito net, having a radio, and TV at respondents’ household to fixed hand-washing stations at their households.
The second paper published three days ago in Vaccines is a qualitative study of of interviews with Nepali immigrants living in the UK and their attitudes towards COVD-19 vaccination [2]. Vaccination saves lives and can be an effective strategy for preventing the spread of the COVID-19, but negative attitudes towards vaccines lead to vaccine hesitancy. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Nepali community in the UK. This study found that attitudes towards COVID-19 are generally positive. Nine overlapping themes around barriers to COVID-19 vaccination were identified: (a) rumours and mis/disinformation; (b) prefer home remedies and yoga; (c) religion restriction; (d) concern towards vaccine eligibility; (e) difficulty with online vaccine booking system; (f) doubts of vaccine effectiveness after changing the second dose timeline; (g) lack of confidence in the vaccine; (h) past bad experience with the influenza vaccine; and (i) worried about side-effects. Understanding barriers to the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine can help in the design of better targeted interventions. Public health messages including favourable policy should be tailored to address those barriers and make this vaccination programme more viable and acceptable to the ethnic minority communities in the UK. This Vaccine paper includes two FHSS Visiting Faculty as co-authors: Prof. Padam Simkhada and Dr. Bibha Simkhada.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
References:
Parliament was prorogued on Thursday 28 April. The State Opening of Parliament will take place on 10 May and the Queen’s Speech will set the agenda for the forthcoming Parliament.
Tech transfer: The Government has announced that Dr Alison Campbell OBE has been hired as CEO of the new Government Office for Tech Transfer which will support the Government to manages and commercialise its (estimated) £104bn worth of knowledgeable assets. Dr Campbell was previously the Director of Knowledge Transfer in Ireland’s national office helping businesses to benefit from access to public sector research expertise and technology. She started her career in the biotech industry and previous positions include interim CEO of the Medical Research Council’s technology transfer company (MRCT), and leading technology transfer and research support at King’s College London.
Technology transfer is the broad term applied to the transfer of assets, such as intellectual property rights, technology or new knowledge, from one organisation to another, with the aim of stimulating the development and adoption of new products, processes and services that benefit society.
The new government unit will sit within BEIS and is being developed to ensure that the public sector is maximising the value of its knowledge and innovation assets including intellectual property, software, processes and data. The unit will launch later in 2022 to provide specialist skills to support the way government manages its knowledge assets.
R&D Expenditure: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the latest figures on R&D and related expenditure by UK government departments, UKRI and HE funding bodies in 2020. Main points:
Quick News
Parliamentary Questions:
Question: Ensuring UK educational institutions avoid relationships with non-UK organisations that (a) hold or (b) host items taken from Ukrainian territory.
Answer: Michelle Donelan – I…have recently written to the higher education sector to outline our expectation that universities review their partnerships with Russia and take appropriate action…This includes taking action on research partnerships as well as asking universities to review their broader investments arrangements… I am continuing to ask that all universities conduct due diligence when entering into all international partnerships and accepting foreign investment, in line with Universities UK guidance on ‘Managing risks in Internationalisation’.
UUK have published their response: University leaders support much-needed flexible learning revolution (universitiesuk.ac.uk)
Our response has five key messages:
Full response is here: Our response to the Department for Education (DfE) consultation on the lifelong loan entitlement (LLE) (universitiesuk.ac.uk)
On the first point, which is a big deal:
And this:
They raise an interesting concern about placement years: It is unclear from the proposals how the funding for sandwich programmes would work. This must be considered to avoid any unintended consequences for the learners. We believe that sandwich years should be funded and not draw from elements of the loan entitlement. Placement years attract a fee but at a lower rate reflecting that students are mostly with their employer but do receive support from academics and professional staff and can use facilities. Depending on the design of the LLE there is a risk that students who choose a 4 year degree may use up all their entitlement in one go, and that students who come to year 1 having studied a foundation year would be disincentivised from choosing a 4 year degree with placement to progress onto. We do not believe the DfE intends to restrict sandwiches years – after all these courses support graduates to be work ready and meet employer needs – but this needs clarifying.
The rest of this is worth reading too – but let’s not underestimate how huge a change this would be across the sector.
The Lords have expressed concerns over the lack of information on the impact of changes to student loans legislation. The Regulations have been laid by the Department for Education (DfE) and make changes which mean the current repayment thresholds for student loans that applied in the 2021-22 financial year will be maintained and continue to apply in the 2022-23 financial year. This avoids an automatic 4.6% increase of these thresholds on 6 April 2022. However, the Lords are concerned about the impact on those who have student loans. The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (36th report) highlights that while DfE made it clear…that the changes made by this instrument will generate an expected £3.7 billion of savings in public sector net borrowing… [to] 2024-25, it is silent on any additional costs those with student loans might incur as a result of these changes.
Lord Hutton of Furness, Member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee said: In this instance, we are particularly concerned that while these changes will affect a large portion of the student population and possibly their families, the EM only emphasises the savings Government will make and is silent on the costs to those who have student loans. This is unsatisfactory and the House may wish to raise this omission with the Minister.
There are also several student loan related parliamentary questions:
APPs: Wonkhe report on John Blake’s (OfS Director Fair Access and Participation) request that variations 2023/24 access and participation plans be submitted by 31 July. The variations need to address new key priorities – making APPs more understandable and accessible to students and key stakeholders, partnering with local schools, and creating more routes into higher education through expanding degree apprenticeships and flexible level 4 and 5 qualifications. But given where inflation is at and the wider cost of living crisis, Jim Dickinson argues on Wonk Corner that revisions may well also need to consider student financial support.
Parliamentary Question: National scholarship scheme – Government are currently considering the design of the scheme and to set a roll out date after this – As part of the higher education reform consultation, we welcome views on how the eligibility for a national scholarship scheme should be set to support students and address ongoing financial barriers that can restrict high achieving, disadvantaged students from achieving their full academic potential whilst studying in higher education.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), commissioned by the DfE, published Higher degree classes are associated with substantially higher earnings examining the financial benefits associated with different degree classifications. After controlling for student characteristics, higher degree classes are associated with substantially higher earnings. Degree class seems to matter most for those attending the most selective universities and studying subjects where future earnings are highest. Suggesting that access to ‘elite jobs’ is governed by what you study, where you study and how well you do at university.
Main findings from the report:
Ben Waltmann, Senior Research Economist at IFS and a co-author of the report, said: The findings imply that degree classification may matter as much as university attended for later life earnings. Other things equal, going to a more selective university is good for future earnings, and the fact that few students from disadvantaged backgrounds attend the most selective universities is a barrier to social mobility. But that being said, many graduates who get a 2.2 from a highly selective university might have got a higher-paying job had they attended a slightly less selective university and got a 2.1. Prospective students, parents and policymakers should take note.
UUK have weighed in on the topic publishing Busting graduate job myths. They tackle four ‘myths’:
That everyone goes to university nowadays
This delves into technical data a little stating that using a more nuanced and accurate measure no cohort examined has reached a participation rate in higher education of 50%. Although 40% do and, over time, it looks likely that there will be a cohort of young people of which the majority will go through higher education or an equivalent of some kind. Which includes vocational and technical routes:
There aren’t enough graduate jobs
Some degrees have little value to employers
All the best graduate jobs are in London
UUK suggest graduates are less mobile than actually believed with many choosing to work in places where they already have a connection. Only 20% work in an area where they do not already have a connection. Those than return home to their home area are the most likely to be in non-graduate jobs. Pages 23-24 (listed as pages 20-21 on the document) has a chart and further analysis explaining this. UUK conclude that the link to place (and therefore the levelling up agenda) is crucial: The levelling up agenda will need to take into account that graduates will tend to stay linked to places they know. A local university makes it much easier to attract and retain graduate talent.
More HE: The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change published We Don’t Need No Education? The Case for Expanding Higher Education arguing that the UK needs more graduates to counter a slowdown in growth and productivity over the past decade. Prior to publication Tony Blair pushed one of the report’s main recommendations – that the UK should aim to raise HE participation to 60% by 2030, and to 70% by 2040.
The research outlined in the report demonstrates how the expansion of HE over the past generation has become a progressively more important source of prosperity and the mainstay of economic growth since the global financial crisis. The analysis also suggests that if seven in ten young people completed HE, this would significantly raise the rate of productivity growth and boost the size of the economy by almost 5% over the next generation compared to allowing educational attainment to stagnate.
Former (Conservative) universities minister Lord (Jo) Johnson argues in the report’s foreword that the country needs more skills and that the skills we need are defined by future flexibility, rather than current employment needs. Jo Johnson:
The report recommends:
Batting for the Government, Universities Minister Michelle Donelan, responded in the Times criticising New Labour’s previous 50% target, and the new 70% figure proposed by Blair last week, as a “one-size-fits-all” approach and “condescending”. Adding that we should hear “a little less from Tony Blair, and a little more from Euan Blair” (Tony’s son who set up an apprenticeship-focused tech firm). The Blair Vs Donelan stance is perhaps not as polarised as it might seem. Higher level technical skills are a key part of the Government’s agenda. It remains to be seen whether HEIs delivery quality higher technical learning will be welcomed and whether the HE numbers reduction is really about the cost to the Treasury.
Wonkhe have a blog – The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change makes a case for (even) more graduates, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies argues there may be a graduate oversupply. David Kernohan tries to pull it all together
There was notable criticism of the lack of progress on the HE Freedom of Speech Bill from Shadow Education Minister Matt Western:
FE & HE Minister Michelle Donelan responded:
Research Professional also discuss the continuation of the HE Freedom of Speech Bill. Questioning why the Government is continuing with it given the isolated incidents and limited evidence there is actually a free speech problem within HE. They also highlight that a
Research Professional also state:
Michelle Donelan spoke on free speech at a Policy Exchange event. On the free speech ‘problem’ within HE Donelan said:
On the Bill Donelan said:
Following on from Dr Campbell’s appointment to head up Tech Transfer a new report from World Skills UK Wanted: skills for inward investors warns that the UK needs an investment strategy with skills at its heart to not miss out on foreign investment. It finds that if the UK fails to recognise the importance of technical and vocational skills it will be left behind as other countries reap the rewards of lucrative foreign direct investment (FDI). Key points:
Skills Taskforce for Global Britain Chair John Cridland CBE says: The countries successfully bringing in foreign investment have a sophisticated skills offer to attract investors. Put bluntly, if you want to attract investment you need high-quality skills, and if you want high-quality skills you need inward investment. We need the Department for International Trade to develop a coherent investment strategy that will deliver FDI throughout the UK and not just in London and the South East. Competition is becoming fiercer and the UK simply cannot afford to miss the opportunity to add skills to its international calling card. If the Government’s levelling up agenda is to be realised, the UK has to develop and promote the skills that will deliver a high-skill, high-wage economy and attract foreign investors.
Also on skills Wonkhe report that the DfE published new strategic guidance for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education for the 2022-23 financial year. One of the central aims of the strategy is to involve the institute in forecasting what skills will be needed in the future and working with the government as part of the new Unit of Future Skills. The strategy also calls on the institute to have oversight over the quality of T levels, contribute to economic recovery, and to improve the quality of apprenticeship assessments.
Spiking: The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has published a report on spiking. 81% of spiking victims were noted as students. We have a short summary of the report – contact us if you wish to read it. Wonkhe also have two blogs:
Prevent: Policy Exchange has published a report on the prevent counter terrorism strategy. Dods summarise: The report argues that Prevent has been undermined by anti-Prevent narratives and misinformation that has been spread by “Islamist groups” and allies. The groups named include the Muslim Council of Britain, Muslim Engagement and Development and CAGE. Policy Exchange accuses these groups of running disinformation campaigns to undermine Prevent, with university campuses being a key arena in which anti-Prevent activism has been particularly vocal.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced the allocations of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) amounting to £2.6bn of funding in total between 2022 and 2025. The government says the UKSPF matches the average spend from the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund, replacing the pots after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. It will be increased from £400m in 2022/23 to £1.5bn in 2024/25, at which point the government says it will match the EU funds it has replaced. England has been allocated £1.58bn. Each English Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area will receive the same in real terms as it used to under EU funding, and within each LEP area an index of need will be used to allocated funding to each local authority. In addition to the funds allocated to nations, £129m of the UKSPF funding will be used for Multiply – the new UK-wide digital platform for adult numeracy. The DfE has also provided links to trailblazers’ Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) here.
And there is a Parliamentary Question on the topic: How will the Shared Prosperity Fund maintain Research and Innovation funding at a level matching funding available through the European Regional Development Fund? Answer – the UKSPF is not intended as a direct replacement for ESIF funds. The Fund’s policy and delivery structure significantly differs, with a focus to deliver more tangible Pride in Place benefits across the UK. Read more here.
Universities UK have announced that Vivienne Stern will succeed Alistair Jarvis as its chief executive
Careers: Wonkhe blog – Students often have an amazing story to tell, but low confidence can prevent students from accessing the careers support they need. Jon Down thinks through what can be done.
Online learning: Research Professional note that:
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External readers: Thank you to our external readers who enjoy our policy updates. Not all our content is accessible to external readers, but you can continue to read our updates which omit the restricted content on the policy pages of the BU Research Blog – here’s the link.
Did you know? You can catch up on previous versions of the policy update on BU’s intranet pages here. Some links require access to a BU account- BU staff not able to click through to an external link should contact eresourceshelp@bournemouth.ac.uk for further assistance.
JANE FORSTER | SARAH CARTER
VC’s Policy Advisor Policy & Public Affairs Officer
Follow: @PolicyBU on Twitter | policy@bournemouth.ac.uk
This past three weeks Bournemouth University (BU) has strengthened our existing collaboration with MMIHS (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Science) in Kathmandu. Until 2023 we have a staff and student Erasmus+ student exchange with MMIHS. Currently one FHSS PhD student is in Nepal at MMIHS as part of this Erasmus+ exchange. Two weeks Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health, was here for the GCRF-funded health and migration workshop which was organised in Kathmandu jointly with MMIHS. See the BU Research Blog of 15th April for more details (click here!).
Yesterday Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen met colleagues from the UK and Nepal at MMIHS to analyse some of the data from the Nepal Federal Health System Project. This three-year major collaborative project examines the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure in 2015. This is a joint project led by the University of Sheffield with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, and two institutions in Nepal: MMIHS and PHASE Nepal. This interdisciplinary study is funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1].
At BU we are looking forward to welcoming MSc students and academic staff from MMIHS to BU as part of this exchange. We hope to generate interest among Nepalese postgraduate student to apply for a PhD place at BU.
Last, but not least, last week Prof. Vanora Hundley and I launched the book Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences in Kathmandu. This textbook has three chapter authors who are currently (or were recently) affiliated with MMIHS: Prof. Sujan Marahatta, Dr. Pratik Adhikary and Dr. Yubaraj Baral.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P.P., Hundley, V. with Shreesh, K. (Eds.) (2022) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books. [ISBN: 9789937117609]
Earlier this week Bournemouth University (BU) ran the ‘Migration and Health Research Capacity Building Workshop for Early Career Researchers’ in Kathmandu. The organisation of this two-day event was jointly with the University of Huddersfield, Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu and the charity Green Tara Nepal. The event was part of the BU-led Health Research Network for Migrant Workers in Asia whose formation was supported two years ago by GCRF (Global Challenges Research Fund). The workshop plan was designed by BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi and Dr. Nirmal Aryal. Our recently started FHSS PhD student Yagya Adhikari and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen also contributed to the workshop in Kathmandu. Yagya spoke about his PhD which focuses on ‘Parental migration and its impact on the health and well-being of left-behind adolescents in Nepal’.
Two days ago Bournemouth University (BU) Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen together with University of Huddersfield academics Dr. Sharada Prasad Wasti and Prof. Padam Simkhada launched their edited collection Academic Writing and Publishing in Health and Social Sciences. This textbook is a guide for people attempting any kind of writing on social science or health science. Whether an MSc student, a PhD student, a health professional, a researcher, an academic or an editor, the book is packed with practical tips, expert advice, and examples to develop skills and build confidence. Each chapter addresses a different aspect of the art and science of writing and publishing. Written in a most accessible style, the book will be a particularly handy tool for budding academics who want to see their work in print.
The volume has been put together by editors with a long and wide-ranging experience as journal editors, peer reviewers, book authors and authors of papers published in scientific journals across the globe. They have brought together authors from Europe, Nepal, the Middle East, and the USA to share their skills, wisdom, and experience in the production of this very useful and usable book. The collaborators are all listed in the box on the side, but we would like to highlight those authors with a BU link. The authors include former BU PhD students Dr. Jib Acharya and Dr. Pratik Adhikary. We have contributions from both the current and a former BU librarian, Emma Crowley and Janet Ashwell respectively. There are contributions from several BU Visiting Faculty: Prof. Padam Simkhada & Dr. Bibha Simkhada (both University of Huddersfield), Dr. Emma Pitchforth (University of Exeter), Dr. Brijesh Sathian (based in Qatar), and Jillian Ireland (Professional Midwifery Advocate at University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust). Several BU staff contributed to various chapters: Prof. Ann Luce, Dr. Shanti Shanker, Dr. Preeti Mahato, Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Dr. Pramod Regmi, and last but not least, current BU PhD student Sulochana Rai Dhakal.
All of us at Bournemouth University working with Nepalese students, colleagues and collaborators wish to them a Happy New Year today. Welcome to the year 2079!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, & Dr. Pramod Regmi (all currently in Kathmandu)
The second presentation will focus of the Nepal Federal Health System Project, our major collaborative project examining the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure in 2015. This is a joint project led by the University of Sheffield with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, and two institutions in Nepal: Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences MMIHS) and PHASE Nepal. This interdisciplinary study is funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref.
MR/T023554/1].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternity & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
The Government has announced the current Parliamentary session will be prorogued in April (date not confirmed yet) (you’ll remember that process from “that” prorogation). A new session will commence with a State Opening of Parliament and the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday 10 May. This means that legislation that is currently incomplete will either be dropped or will need to be allotted parliamentary time for a carry over motion debate (not quite as easy as it sounds). For HE this means the future of the controversial HE Freedom of Speech Bill is less certain although Wonkhe reported that it is likely to be carried over.
Meanwhile the Government has a plethora of consultations and white and green papers out. We can expect expectations for these to feature in the Queen’s Speech. For HE we will be watching for the legislative and regulatory changes required to implement the lifelong loan entitlement and the response to Augar (see our 3rd March update for more info. Consultations on many aspects of these things close on 6th May, so we won’t get definitive announcements on the detail that is being consulted on, and the Queen’s speech itself is very high level and so are the policy statements that come out with it.
The Skills Bill is one they are trying to get through before prorogation. The Skills Bill parliamentary ping pong continues with MPs rejecting the Lords amendment relating to the changeover from BTECs and T levels. The Lords attempted to delay the defunding of BTECs and force a public consultation but MPs overturned it through their majority in the Commons. Compromises were also made on vocational careers advice provided by schools.
The outcome and more details of all the Skills Bill amendment are available in this Dods summary. The Commons Library also have a useful publication highlighting the changes as the Bill has progressed through the legislative system, shorter version here.
Next: the Bill will pong back to the Lords on Thursday 7 April. The Lords will consider the MPs’ rejection of Lord Blunkett’s BTEC amendment, which attempted to attach conditions to the defunding of BTEC/level 3 technical qualifications. Potential options:
Compromise is the usual solution when there is a hard stop like this.
Citizenship within Levelling up policy: The Lords Liaison Committee published a follow-up report examining the Government’s progress in implementing the recommendations made by the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement’s 2018 report. While the (new) report focuses on citizenship, including the educational delivery of citizenship, it is worth looking past this because the Lords highlighting the importance of citizenship within the Government’s current flagship levelling up policy. In brief, the Lords criticised:
Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, who was the Chair of the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement commented:
Also on levelling up – Wonkhe report: Speaking to Chris Skidmore at a ResPublica event yesterday, Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove expressed his view that the number of students in higher education should be further extended, and drew links between recruitment and research and development in the creation of local high quality jobs. On the future development of the sector he saw a mixture of national missions and provider aspirations driving future developments. A twitter thread describes the key points of the discussion, and a recording is available.
Dods have this on the research side of the Spring Statement:
In his Spring Statement to the House, the Chancellor also unveiled a new ‘tax plan’, part of which outlines what his focus will be for the Autumn Budget later this year. This included:
On R&D tax reliefs, the Chancellor announced these would be reformed in the Autumn Budget 2021, following a consultation launched in the Spring Budget earlier that year.
Delivering a UK science and technology strategy: The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee heard evidence from NERC, the Medical Research Council and ESRC at the session on delivering a science and technology strategy. They covered funding and the relative responsibilities of the research councils and other delivery organisations. All the key points that you’d expect were touched upon such as 2.4% R&D funding, Horizon, interdisciplinary research promotion, research morale and opinion of UKRI, academic/industry interaction, and how the research councils will interact with Government departments and budgetary implications. Summary here. Your policy team was also happy to hear that incorporating more academic research into government policymaking was addressed and it was suggested that UKRI could do more to coordinate the work with research councils to this end. BU researchers who are interested in sharing their work with policy makers or interested in influencing policy making are encouraged to sign up to our regular influence digest which highlights opportunities, sector policy news and shares top tips to increase influencing success.
Russia research | Ukraine support package: The Government announced a £3m support package to support Ukrainian researchers at risk and the suspension of publicly funded research and innovation collaborations with Russian Universities and companies of strategic benefit to the Russian state. Research Minister George Freeman stated:
Wonkhe tell us more on the Ukrainian package: The British Academy, UK National Academies, and the Council for At-Risk Academics have announced the Researchers at Risk Fellowship Programme – a new fellowship scheme for Ukrainian researchers who are fleeing the conflict or are already in the UK and unable to return. £3m is being contributed by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, and £0.5m from the Nuffield Foundation. The funding will provide visas, a salary, research costs, and living costs to successful applicants, and will be open to all postdoctoral or those with equivalent experience in all disciplines. Participatory institutions will need to identify six months’ worth of accommodation for recipients and their dependants.
A parliamentary question asking if universities should take action against academics who promote pro-Putin propaganda (set within the backdrop of the Government’s steer on HE upholding free speech) is met with a beautifully fence sitting answer: Alongside our allies, we are united in support for Ukraine. Universities, as independent and autonomous organisations, should decide whether to investigate such incidences.
Quick news:
Parliamentary Questions
Blogs:
The Public Accounts Committee published the oral evidence from the latest Financial sustainability of the HE sector in England session. The DfE and OfS were called as witnesses. A shorter summary is here. The session covered grade inflation, international students, financial support/Augar, risk modelling, student satisfaction and outcomes, regulation, value for money, student protection plans, minimum entry requirements, and the new loan terms.
In the Spring Statement the Chancellor said that there would be a review of the apprenticeship levy.
Regarding levy reform, last month the CBI challenged the Government to pursue more ambitious growth with new policies – one of which was to replace the Apprenticeship Levy with a new Skills Challenge Fund, to “incentivise more flexible training to meet skill shortages and rewards firms who invest beyond their apprenticeship levy levels”. Leaders across the sector have raised Levy reform for some time, and today’s announcement could represent a step towards this.
PQs:
The Education Committee ran a session questioning witnesses on the HE sector. Topics included outcomes for disadvantaged students, anti-Semitism and free speech. The NUS was criticised by Committee Chair Robert Halfon as they did not provide a witness for the session. A summary of the committee session is available here provided by Dods and good coverage by Wonkhe is available in: Is OfS asleep or woke at the wheel?
Here are the key discussion points from the session (which at times felt like an echo chamber):
Related to the above points made during the Education Committee are comments that Emma Hardy (previous Shadow Minister for FE & HE Education) made at an accountability meeting and again at the Treasury Committee Spring Statement session. Wonkhe report: At the Treasury Committee Emma Hardy highlighted the regressive nature of changes to student loans, and the impact of these changes on the national accounts. Rishi Sunak described the reforms as “sensible”, and emphasised that nobody will pay more back in real terms than what they borrowed. Hardy noted that this change would only affect higher earners, with lower earning graduates likely to pay more than under the current system. Sunak rejected Hardy’s characterisation of the changes as “a tax on low earners” despite the evidence presented from Office for Budgetary Responsibility and Department for Education figures. You can watch the committee session on parliamentlive.tv.
There’s also a very short Wonkhe explainer, snippet:
The Institute of Student Employers has released their 2022 Student Development report which compiles trends following a survey of the Institute’s employer membership base. It’s sat behind a paywall so here is Wonkhe’s synopsis:
There’s also a blog written by Nicola Thomas of ISE: Never have the skills required to thrive in the workplace shifted so dramatically in a two year period as in the last two years.
We wrote about UUK’s new Fair Admissions Code of Practice recently – as of 1st April there is a long list of universities who have signed up to it.
The OfS issued some data on their participation performance measures.
As you have seen in our recent commentary on the B3 licence condition consultation and TEF plans, continuation is a key metric for the OfS. They note from this data that there is a difference of 3.7% for continuation between the most and least represented groups. These splits will feature in the regulatory and the TEF data and so we can expect scrutiny of this – the Ofs target is “To eliminate the unexplained gap in non-continuation between most and least represented groups by 2024-25, and to eliminate the absolute gap by 2030-31”.
Wonkhe report on the black attainment (degree classification) gap:
Similar issues apply to the degree outcomes for disabled students.
As well as updating the KPM analysis, OfS has updated its Access and Participation Dashboard with figures for 2020-21, updated sector-level information on student’s qualifications on entry to higher education and their subject of study, and published a report that summarises the key gaps in access, continuation and attainment at a sector level for different student characteristics.
Blogs
Parliamentary Questions
It is Ministerial letter time. After the flurries of letters from Gavin Williamson, things had gone a bit quiet, but a letter appeared on 31st March 2022, offering guidance on strategic priorities. It replaces the previous guidance up to February 2021, but notably the guidance on teaching grant (strategic priorities grant) stays in place. The priorities as set out will not surprise you. Although the encouragement to the OfS to carry out in person inspections of 10-15 institutions is interesting and the instructions on how the new B3 enforcement regime will be carried out.
And on funding – a separate letter also came out on grant funding. Research Professional have a summary:
More detail from RP here. And you can find the letter itself here. Some interesting points:
In the meantime the OfS had published their 2022-2025 strategy focusing on quality and standards, and on equality of opportunity. The strategy aims for:
A summary is available here. Full content here.
Details of the latest appointments to the OfS board are here.
PQs:
Education: Schools White Paper: The Schools White Paper – Opportunity for All: strong schools with great teachers for your child. Dods summary here (see first 6 pages).
Key aspects of the paper are:
SEN Green Paper: Nadhim Zahawi launched the green paper Special Education Needs and Disability Review through a debate in Parliament on Tuesday. Dods summarise the content here or there is a short Government press release: Ambitious reform for children and young people with SEND.
NUS: The NUS have elected new leadership. Wonkhe – NUS has announced that Shaima Dallali – currently President of City, University of London Students’ Union – was elected UK President for a two year term starting in July. Chloe Field – from Liverpool Guild of Students – was elected Vice President for Higher Education. Jewish News reports on concerns over Dallali’s “historic tweets” (since deleted), and her apology for them.
HE Data Reduction: Yes, you’ve heard it all before. Here’s the news from Wonkhe: Higher and further education minister Michelle Donelan has announced that she will chair a HE Data Reduction Taskforce. The new taskforce will meet every six weeks to “streamline and simplify reporting requirements” on higher education institutions. We understand that representatives from HESA, the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the Student Loans Company, OfS, Ofsted, Ofqual, UCAS, and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education – along with experts from the wider sector – will have a particular focus on instances of duplication in data requirements. The Task Force will produce interim recommendations within three months, and a final report after six months.
This announcement comes following a written parliamentary question from Shadow HE minister last week asking Michelle Donelan what steps have been taken to ensure that higher education providers have a good understanding of (a) the reasons for which the Office for Students collects the data it does and (b) how it uses that data.
Turing mobility scheme: PIE news has a good quick read:
More here. And the second year of the Turing Scheme bids has opened.
Graduate shaped learning: Wonkhe – Miriam Firth explains why incorporating graduates’ working experiences into teaching is essential to helping students develop.
To subscribe to the weekly policy update simply email policy@bournemouth.ac.uk. A BU email address is required to subscribe.
External readers: Thank you to our external readers who enjoy our policy updates. Not all our content is accessible to external readers, but you can continue to read our updates which omit the restricted content on the policy pages of the BU Research Blog – here’s the link.
Did you know? You can catch up on previous versions of the policy update on BU’s intranet pages here. Some links require access to a BU account- BU staff not able to click through to an external link should contact eresourceshelp@bournemouth.ac.uk for further assistance.
JANE FORSTER | SARAH CARTER
VC’s Policy Advisor Policy & Public Affairs Officer
Follow: @PolicyBU on Twitter | policy@bournemouth.ac.uk
Last week Chilean composer and researcher Dr Felipe Otondo visited BU. Felipe, a Senior Lecturer at the Universidad Austral, Chile, gave a fascinating research seminar to the Creative Technology Department discussing his role in the Soundlapse Project.
Soundlpase is an interdisciplinary research initiative funded by the Chilean National Agency for Research and Development, which seeks to highlight the acoustical heritage of wetlands in the south of Chile, and studies these ecosystems‘ unique soundscapes through field recording techniques. As an outcome of the project’s periodic documentation of the “Parque Urbano El Bosque” wetland soundscapes in Valdivia, in 2021 eight sound artists, including BU’s Ambrose Seddon, were commissioned to compose works using these field recordings, available as an album through the Gruenrekorder label.
Along with the research seminar, on Thursday 24th March we hosted a concert of the commissioned works, in the Soundstage, Poole Gateway Building. This was our first loudspeaker concert in this new space, and it was fantastic to be able to finally set up our loudspeaker system and present immersive sound works in our new facilities.
The audience was a mixture of UG students from the BA Music & Sound Production, as well as BU staff, and members of the public. Some of the students assisted with the concert set up, gaining valuable experience of immersive audio systems for live concert performance whilst also meeting and chatting with Felipe.
This paper on the art of writing editorials follows on from a series of papers on a wide-range of aspects of academic writing and publishing by FHSS (Faculty of Health & Social Sciences) authors [2-18]. FHSS co-authors on aspects of academic writing include: Dr. Orlanda Harvey [2], Dr. Pramod Regmi [2-3,4,16], Prof. Vanora Hundley [1,3,5,6,12-14], Dr. Nirmal Aryal [3-4], and Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhihari [4,16], Dr. Preeti Mahato [3,16].
References: