Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Call for PhD student participation in Erasmus+ student exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal.
Deadline to apply: midnight, Sunday 24 January.
If you have any questions, please email GlobalBU@bournemouth.ac.uk.
The Government announced that new national restrictions came into force across England on 5th January to curb the spread of COVID-19 and that these will remain in place until at least late February 2021. In a similar way to the first lockdown, during this time you must not leave your home except for permitted reasons. Only essential activity will continue on-campus (further details to follow). Research remains a priority for BU and we have put processes in place to ensure time-critical research requiring access to campus facilities can continue. However, the fundamental message remains Stay at Home if you can.
Research on-campus: All on-campus research activity has been suspended temporarily. However, researchers and research students undertaking time-critical research which cannot be undertaken from home and who require access to specialist facilities, resources and equipment on-campus for their work can make a request to their Faculty to access the campus during this lockdown period. You will need to contact your Faculty Operations Team to request access, even if you have received approval previously. On-campus research activities involving face-to-face contact with participants are unlikely to be permitted during this lockdown period. It is recommended that before requesting permission to proceed with research on-campus, you read the latest government guidance on labs and research facilities.
Research off-campus and outside of the home: Research and knowledge exchange activities which take place off-campus and outside of the home should be reviewed in light of the latest government guidance on essential work. If these activities can be undertaken in a compliant way, the risk assessment should be updated and approved by the relevant Deputy Dean (Research & Professional Practice) and Faculty Operations Team. If the research cannot be undertaken under the new lockdown conditions, it should be paused until late February 2021. For colleagues that have previously completed the return to research process and/or undertaking research in the context of COVID-19 process, and have received a letter stating that they can undertake research off-campus, this permission is now paused until restrictions are lifted. If you have reviewed the activities, still wish to proceed and have the approval from your Deputy Dean (Research & Professional Practice) and relevant partner approvals, please email RDSProjectAdmin@bournemouth.ac.uk and an appropriate letter will be issued. It is recommended that before requesting permission to proceed with research activities, that you read the latest government guidance on research. This is important as although BU’s campuses have been made COVID-19 secure enabling you to continue to come into work, this cannot be guaranteed in off-campus locations, and therefore careful consideration needs to be taken as to the feasibility of research proceeding between now and late February 2021.
Further information:
Read the Government’s latest information on universities and the COVID restrictions here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950367/Students_returning_to_and_starting_higher_education_in_Spring_Term_2021.pdf
The spending review was quiet on HE and heavier on research spending commitments. A UUK publication tackles racial harassment in HE and the OIA provides examples of what will and won’t be upheld from student Covid complaints. We wonder about the TEF. See you in December!
Today’s news is all about tiers. Dorset and BCP are in Tier 2 and we thought we would help you with the links. There are 3 sets of rules which all apply at once:
If you are hoping to see family or friends outside the local area, The full list is here. As has been widely reported, only Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly are in tier 1, so cafes and pubs will be hard hit across the nation. The full reasoning area by area has been published.
And our local MPs are not all happy about it. The Bournemouth Echo have spoken to MPs
Phew – that was a lot of bad news and attempts at good news. Headlines: no big announcements on university funding or progress on the TEF. Lots of research news and lots about investment in education.
The documents are here. Press release here. The full content of the Spending Review session is available on Hansard here.
RP makes interesting points on the forgotten aspects of impending HE policy which the (3 year) comprehensive spending review was expected to tackle. We cover the TEF separately below.
On the spending review Wonkhe say:
We cover the R&D sections here and the rest in a separate section below. In the main document the scientific super power section starts page 58.
Research Professional have a good summary in A game of two halves.
Dods have a nice summary of the research announcements
This week’s parliamentary questions:
Everyone expected that announcements on the Pearce review of the TEF and announcements on the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding – promised with the spending review – would not be forthcoming, once it was announced that it would not be a “comprehensive” spending review but a one year look, with a focus on the response to the pandemic. Then there were rumours that there might be after all- but there wasn’t. Universities and HE are not mentioned at all, although there is a fair bit about research (as we discuss elsewhere).
So what is the situation with the TEF? The current awards were all extended to 2021. The OfS announced in January 2020 that they would not run a TEF exercise this year. But what is going to happen when those existing awards run out at the end of this academic year? It’s all a far cry from September 2019 when the Secretary of State was encouraging the OfS to get on with things and run an extra TEF in 2020. And read this on Research Professional from February 2020 (BP – before pandemic).
Meanwhile, the OfS are advertising for a Head of TEF (closes early December). So something must be going to happen?
The OfS website says:
This is a bit confusing. There is no TEF year 5 exercise in 2020, but what in that case will replace it when the awards run out in summer 2021? Will there be a gap? Or will the existing awards be extended again – at which time the year two awards given in Spring 2017 based on data from the three previous years start to seem a bit long in the tooth.
The documents published (in 2018) for the last subject level pilot said:
So it certainly looks like there will have to be an extension. And if the new exercise really is going to take two years, it will be quite a long extension – because with the Pearce review not released, and the NSS consultations ongoing, they won’t be able to start a consultation on what the new TEF looks like until 2021. The earliest surely is that we start preparing responses in summer or autumn 2021 – and with a nearly two-year period for preparation, submission wouldn’t be before spring 2023? With outcomes in summer 2023 at the earliest? That’s another two-year extension.
Two alternatives – just let them expire and have a gap, blaming COVID. Or, run a much quicker exercise in 2021 with a view to getting results out in late 2021 or early 2022 (with a short extension in that case). This is certainly possible. Could we get an announcement and consultation straight after the quality one, in March, say, with preparation to do from July, submission in October/November, results in January 22? Institutional only with subject level to follow during 2022 building on the institutional and then next round in 2025?
And what do we know about what it might look like when it does come out?
RP makes interesting points on the forgotten aspects of impending HE policy which the (3 year) comprehensive spending review was expected to tackle.
So what is going to happen? We don’t know. And we don’t know when we will know. But we know it will be a lot of work when we do know!
On Tuesday UUK published new guidance on tackling racial harassment in HE, and executive summary here.
The context: The 2019 Equalities and Human Rights Commission report ‘Tackling racial harassment: universities challenged‘ highlighted the prevalence of racial harassment within HEIs. Events of 2020, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the increased prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement, brought to the fore the extent of racial inequality in the UK and reinforced the urgency to act.
UUK build on their Changing the culture framework in the new guidance. There is a focus on strong leadership and a whole-institution approach, as well as engaging with staff and students with lived experience of racial harassment. UUK call on the sector to hold open discussions on race and racism, to educate staff and students and make clear that tackling racism and racial harassment is everybody’s responsibility. The guidance asks university leaders to acknowledge where there are issues in their institutions, and that UK higher education perpetuates institutional racism. It cites racial harassment, a lack of diversity among senior leaders, the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic student attainment gap and ethnicity pay gaps among staff as evidence.
The guidance also showcases emerging practice from HEIs making good progress in tackling racial harassment.
Recommendations include:
OfS has reported against key performance measure 19 which looks at students’ perceptions of value for money from their university education. 37.5% of undergraduates and 45.3% of postgraduates stated it did provide value for money when considering the costs and benefits.
OfS also published their Value for money annual report on how they have managed the funds they were allocated. They are still working on plans as to how they’ll reduce the registration fee for HE providers by 10% over the next two years.
The Lords Communication and Digital Select Committee inquiry into Freedom of Expression Online received evidence this week. There were some interesting points raised within the topics of free speech online Vs offline, public attitudes, protected characteristics, the narrowing impact of algorithm use and the role of the state in regulating. Platform moderation and take down rules on social media sites were also discussed. Dods provide a summary of the discussion here.
The British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) launched The Value of University Sport and Physical Activity: Position Statement and Evidence highlighting the role which sport plays within the student experience. It includes a focus on how sport contributes to students’ physical and mental wellbeing. The report itself divides into six key strategic drivers for universities – recruitment, transitions and retention, health and wellbeing, graduate attainment, graduate employability, and the civic and global agendas – outlining how sport contributes to positive outcomes in each.
And on graduate employment: Whilst graduates also earned more than non-graduates, those who took part in sport earned a higher salary irrespective of educational level, thus showing a positive correlation between sport and earnings that cannot be explained by level of education.
The authors state the report is a ‘call to action’ for universities to review how they position sport and physical activity; especially at this time when students are isolated and anxious, and universities are concerned about the retention of students with the current restrictions.
There was a relevant parliamentary question on university sport this week outlining what is and isn’t permissible during Covid.
The Commons Education Committee continued their inquiry into the educational outcomes of white working-class pupils. Dods have summarised the session here.
This parliamentary question on DSA paperwork/online applications clarifies the pre-population of information and that help is available by phone if the student’s disability causes difficulty in completing the paperwork.
Wonkhe report: A report from Civitas argues that a belief has developed around the university system that students from ethnic minorities are likely to underperform academically, and that the available data does not back this assertion up. Report author Ruth Mieschbuehler calls for a reexamination of the practice of disaggregating student data by ethnicity
The Sutton Trust has scoped how leading universities in different countries are addressing inequalities in access for those from low income and other marginalised backgrounds in Room at the top: Access and success at leading universities around the world. The report looks at the issues based on five themes:
The recommendations (they call them key messages) are on pages 5& 6 of the document.
Placements are big at BU. Every undergraduate honours student is offered the opportunity to undertake a work placement as part of their course and BU has an excellent reputation nationally and internationally for the quality of the placement opportunities. Covid has been a significant disrupter to students on placement. Internships were cancelled in some sectors and for some of those that were able to move to remote and online versions the richness of the face to face placement experience elements were curtailed. Pre-Covid individual parliamentarians regularly flirted with the notion that everyone on a work experience opportunity of over 4 weeks should be considered a worker, and therefore paid for the work they undertake. This would make a significant difference to students undertaking the traditional sandwich year, yet the impetus for this change has stalled. This week Sarah wrote for Wonkhe to continue to argue the case for students to be paid. The blog also suggests alternatives which employers could offer to reduce the financial pressures on students when they are offered an unpaid placement.
Children and Families Minister Vicky Ford spoke during the APPG for Assistive Technology launch event for their new research aiming to bridge the gap between education and employment for young people with SEND. The Minister praised schools, colleges and the technology sector for their response to the ‘historic challenges’ during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially for vulnerable students with the most complex needs, but urged companies to make sure all their products and practices are fully inclusive.
She said: Assistive technology can be life-changing and for many it is vital to communication, learning and overall independence…In recent months, the importance of Assistive Technology has been demonstrated like never before. The essential collaboration provided by groups such as this APPG is vital to ensure that we make policy which is informed by as much research and evidence as possible…Our review will give schools and colleges a helping hand by providing greater transparency in what tools and interventions can improve outcomes of SEND students and bridge the gap from education into employment. It will also support the technology sector in embedding accessibility features – such as text to voice tools – as part of their service development, and policymakers to better embed inclusion into their policies and services. This will lead to real, meaningful differences in the quality of education for children and young people…This is key, because we need to be clear: accessibility should never be an add on, it should be the norm.
Dovetailing the event the DfE released a series of rapid literature review reports on assistive technology in educational settings. The reports summarise the evidence on assistive technologies use and outcomes in education and cover when, where and for whom assistive technology works. The report are split by policymakers, administrators, educators, researchers and developers of assistive technologies and products.
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for HE (OIA) has published case summaries of complaints arising from the impact of Covid-19 on their HE learning and experience. So far the OIA have received nearly 200 complaints from C-19 disruption..
Wonkhe say:
The Joint Council on Qualifications have announced that, following consultation with schools and colleges, the final level 2 and 3 exams timetables are confirmed. The compulsory education sector are still waiting for further information on how the Government intends to facilitate Covid-safe exams, and what ‘Plan B’ will consist of. The announcement demonstrates the Government’s determination for the exams to take place in England during summer 2021. This is expected new as Monday’s Covid Winter Plan announcements mentioned their commitment to a ‘full set of exams’ in England.
Meanwhile, YouGov have an interesting series of polls on exams – see our polls special here.
Finally, Ofqual published a new research paper on the Sawtooth Effect. The Sawtooth Effect is the pattern in student performance that can be seen when assessments, such as GCSEs and A levels, are reformed. Performance tends to dip, then improves over time as students and teachers become more familiar with the new content and the new assessments. Research by Ofqual in 2016 highlighted this post-reform effect, and enabled mitigation to level out fairness for students. This week’s release covers the impact of Covid-19 on student performance. The research suggests the same methods could be used to ensure fairness during the pandemic. Wonkhe review the Sawtooth paper (worth a read) and also manage to mention why predicted grades are useful too.
The DfE have released the latest participation in education statistics. Summary also covering FE and apprenticeships here. DfE HE statistics
Research Professional on Erasmus:
Dods have a nice summary of the announcements which we’re re-ordered and edited
International
Student loans
Technical education
Apprenticeships
Department for Education
Pre-Spending Review this is what was MillionPlus asked for (but didn’t get):
There’s more detail on specific areas in the links below:
Jisc published the Teaching staff digital experience insights survey 2020, They report that 79% intend to use technology in their teaching.
Also within our polls special are the YouGov surveys on retraining for workers disrupted by Covid-19. There are views on whether the Government should be encouraging retraining and new careers – the national hasn’t forgotten the ballet/cyber retraining advert yet but it hasn’t had the negative effect that might be expected! Plus specific indicators show the popularity of industry’s skills gap areas (look out for cyber!).
Click here to view the updated inquiries and consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.
Bias in HE: Wonkhe report that Advance HE has published the first in a new series of literature reviews on bias in higher education. The review tackles bias in assessment and marking, bringing together literature on the topic and current good practice among universities. The next in the series – covering bias in the curriculum and pedagogy and bias in decision making – will be published next year
Online end assessment: Wonkhe have a blog on online digital assessment as an alternative to taking exams in person.
Alumni: BU’s own Fiona Cownie writes for Wonkhe on how alumni may be key in building a student community during the pandemic
Medical: Wonkhe tell us that The Medical Research Council has published a review of its units and centres portfolio. The report has identified research areas where MRC investment could have a significant impact, including the development of new tools and technologies, interventional approaches to population health, and research into health needs from anthropogenic effects such as urbanisation or climate change.
LEP: Cecilia Bufton has been confirmed as the new Chair of the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership from 1 December 2020.
Degree apprenticeships: Sums consulting have a blog on degree apprenticeships: Understanding the Apprentice Lifecycle in Universities.
The blog also advertises their services in this area.
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Dr John Oliver has recently been awarded a prestigious Academic Fellowship from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).
One aspect of POST work includes making scientific research accessible to UK Parliament by producing forward-thinking briefings that involves horizon scanning activities on a range of subject areas.
Dr Oliver will be working in the area of scenario planning and regards the fellowship as a unique opportunity to further extend the instrumental impact of his research with UK Parliament.
Dr Oliver said that “he was delighted to hear the news and is looking forward to working with POST”. He would also like to thank Sarah Carter, BU Policy and Public Affairs Officer, who has provided expert advice and support during the application process.
Women’s representation in entrepreneurship, the barriers women face in entrepreneurship is all well documented and well researched with robust evidence from around the world. From seeking access to external finance, to engaging in those critical business networks, managing the work-family interface- We have all heard and read about the many challenges women entrepreneurs have to navigate .
Women’s entrepreneurship in developing countries is particularly at risk, as women’s anticipated vulnerability is likely to be exacerbated due to the pandemic. Not only are women-led businesses amongst the hardest hit but more than 93% of women report having struggled with finding ways to support their businesses whilst managing their work and family commitments. Even before the pandemic women were already vulnerable spending five times more in childcare and over three times more in household chores than their male counterparts, experiencing an unemployment rate twice that of men (SME Finance Forum, 2020). There is a fear that this pandemic will turn back the clocks on women’s entrepreneurship because women bear the burden of unpaid caregiving including childcare, household responsibilities and elderly care .
With a staggering number of small businesses shutting down, there are disproportionate impacts on women business owners with a 25% drop in small business activity between February to Mid-April 2020 and a 16% drop in number of business ownership for active male and women business owners (Fairlie, 2020). And there is global attention to this as well which is very encouraging.
Hosted by BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum and supported by BU Women’s Academic Network on the 17th of November we led an international event with women entrepreneurs from Brazil, The UK, Oman and Iraq to share their experiences of leading and running a business in the midst of a global pandemic.
We heard from women entrepreneurs and their struggles and pathways to resolution in the face of having to manage the work and family commitments; we discussed issues around how external support in the form of women-centric funding bodies, incubation hubs, accelerators programmes can support more representation and increased success of women in entrepreneurship. What came out, very strongly, from the conversations, was the immense collective force of empowered women who are not just trailblazers but change makers and who, relentlessly, try to empower other women to take charge of their business interests and decisions!
With three parallel discussions in the event on women entrepreneurs and the care-giving role, we heard from the founder of The Mumpreneur Collective, Erin Thomas Wong, who discussed how motherhood was a springboard for her entrepreneurial actions and ambitions and in recognition of the multiple challenges and expectations that motherhood bestows on women she set up this organisation to provide support, mentoring opportunities and peer learning for mothers wanting to fulfil their entrepreneurial ambitions.Other women entrepreneurs, namely, Sarah Ali Choudhury, Forbes’s Curry Queen ; Aira Nascimento, Founder of Josephinas Colab, a social business of female entrepreneurs from the periphery and cultural space that rescues Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous culture in Campo Grande, Brazil; Maryam Al Amri, Founder of Youth Vision, Oman and Gabriela Anastacia, CEO of Gamarc Communications and Founder of (after motherhood) the social impact movement, Papo de Empreendedora [Female Entrepreneur Chat] discussed democratising access to entrepreneurship education for women and the support needed by mother entrepreneurs in the context of the pandemic.
Ranya Bakr, Iraq; Ludmila Hastenreiter, Founder and CEO of Empoderamente Contabil, Brazil and Bia Santos, Founder of Barkus Educational, Brazil led the discussions on access to finance and impediment that creates for women entrepreneurs particularly now in the context of the pandemic and prior to it. Emphasising the importance of financial education to create a fair and just society Bia Santos also highlighted the racial inequality that affects businesses like hers in the context of Brazil.
The issues around incubation hub and accelerator support focused on the needs of women entrepreneurs were discussed in the light of the pandemic with expert entrepreneurs including Adrienne Saunders, Founder of Yes You Can Training, UK; Shaima Murtadha Al- Lawati, Oman; Beatriz Carvalho, Founder of Mulheres de Frentes (Women in Front) and Dayse Valencia, an ASHOKA Social Entrepreneur Fellow and coordinator of projects at Rio based NGO, ASPLANDE, Brazil.
It was a particularly proud moment to celebrate two BUBS students, Ranya Bakr from Iraq, a Chevening Scholar, UNDP project lead, Founder of Storey an architectural firm and her work in Iraq developing incubation hubs for women. We also had the pleasure of listening to Maryam Al Amri from Oman, another BUBS student and Founder of Youth Vision supporting youth employment issues in the Arab world through her exemplary work.
This event was co-hosted with Jiselle Steele who supports women and micro entrepreneurs through her work in enterprise development across Brazil, UK and Sri Lanka and is a Senior Project Lead at _SocialStarters, a social enterprise started by Andrea Gamson, a BU Alumna and Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise who supports enterprise development and business consultation across many countries including the UK, Brazil, Kenya and Sri Lanka.
Ranya Bakr, BU Alumna from Iraq and Founder of Storey, an architectural firm.
Bia Santos, Founder of Barkus Education, Brazil
Maryam Al Amri, BU Student and Founder of Youth Vision, Oman
Erin Thomas Wong, Founder of Mumpreneur Collective, UK
So what is the value of showcase events? Academia affords us the opportunity to create impact through education, research and external engagement. Events such as these raise the profile of the organisation, bring together international audience ( this event welcomed guests from Singapore to Latin America), become part of a global resolution of a huge challenges, support UN SDGs, further BU2025 ambitions and most definitely, lead to research outputs and enhance the student experience. So showcase events may be hard work to put together but absolutely worth every second!
It is a proud moment for us at BUSEF to be celebrating our second BU GEW 2020. Watch the space for more things to come.
Melanie Montinard, Mawon, Brazil
Camila Pinto, Migraflix, Brazil
Esther Yanya, South Sudanese Refugee Entrepreneur from Uganda
Noel Lilija, Microfinance Officer, CRESS UK, Arua, Uganda
Abdoulaye Fall, Self Funded Communities ACAF, Barcelona, Spain
Talal Al-Tinawi, Syrian Refugee Entrepreneur in Brazil
Debora Gonzaga Brassau Brazil
Sayma Ahmad, Co-Founder and Honorary Chair, Unity in Vision, Dorset UK
Globally, there are 65 million people forcibly displaced from their homes (WHO, 2019). Achieving legitimacy and acceptance and integration into the host community remains a challenge in most host countries with an increased inflow of displaced populations. What do refugees hope for? Safety, security, an ability to carve out a future for themselves and their loves ones and retaining the dignity of being a human being.
We recently concluded a study in Uganda,Brazil and Spain exploring how displaced populations seek and achieve legitimacy through the routes of entrepreneurship in collaboration with co-host Jiselle Steele. This study allowed us the opportunity to engage with displaced communities and individuals whose resilience, perseverance the the zeal to thrive, not just survive, showcases the true essence of the human spirit. Not only that, with the entrepreneurial offerings they created they are making huge community impacts to support others in the same circumstances as them- an empowerment pathway through entrepreneurship.
With the rapid developments in the pandemic sweeping our world, all the policy discussions around economic recovery has managed to not take into consideration the plight of the displaced populations engaged in business activities, mostly in the informal sectors.
This year, as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020, BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum (BUSEF), organised an event to celebrate the work of refugee entrepreneurs and support organisations that empower the displaced populations in integration and their entrepreneurial ambitions.
On the 18th of November, 2020, BUSEF brought together refugee entrepreneurs and support organisations from Uganda, Brazil, Spain and the UK. Esther Yanya, a 27- year old South Sudanese refugee, living in a displacement camp in Arua, Northern Uganda shared with us her harrowing story of walking across hundreds of miles with two very young children and arriving to no support, no food and so shelter. The work of Cress UK-led by Caroline Lamb (Founder and Chair or Trustees) and Noel Lilija, Project Lead at CRESS Arua, an aid organisation working to support refugees in medical care, education, agricultural training and microentrepreneurship- was the turning point in Esther Yanya’s life and now she not only leads a savings group based business in tailoring (She was wearing the most stunning dress similar to these Peaches Boutique white dresses for prom she crafted herself) but is also empowering other women in the displacement camp to achieve financial independence and a future for themselves.
Talal Al-Tinawi joined us from Brazil where he is a Syrian refugee and a gastronomy business owner. Having had to leave his mechanical engineering business in Damascus, Talal shared with us the role that society plays in integrating refugees like himself. The institutional barriers not withstanding, the role of social inclusion in allowing emotional security to refugees is something that is not well researched or discussed. Supported by Migraflix, Talal set up his gastronomy business, in the absence of being able to get employment.
What is quite extraordinary about both Talal and Esther is that, not withstanding their personal circumstances, they think of the community around them and how to support, how to empower. Talal has been working tirelessly to provide food to those vulnerable during this pandemic.
In addition to the refugee entrepreneurs, the event brought together Migraflix, Mawon, Brassau from Brazil and Cress UK with team from UK and Uganda, Self Funded Communities ACAF from Spain and Unity in Vision, Dorset, UK.
So what was the potential impact of an event such this? The obvious answer is of course, raising awareness and building the momentum in this conversation but also and critically, gaining increased visibility for the individuals who identify themselves and refugee entrepreneurs and the critical work that the support organisations do independent of and with very little state/institutional support.
We’ve a lot to cover this week as the new lockdown seems to have inspired policy wonks to publish!
Input from the Government has informed how students should travel home safely for Christmas and the Education Secretary wants all the Skills answers.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has written to Stephen van Rooyen (Sky CEO) who Chairs the Skills and Productivity Board. The Board provides a focus on the skills areas the Government should attend to within industry and also provides independent labour market advice. In his letter Gavin confirms the Board’s priorities for the year ahead:
Under your leadership the board will play a central role in driving forward the government’s ambitious plans to upgrade the skills system – including improving higher technical education – and boost productivity. I know we agree on the importance of ensuring that courses and qualifications on offer to students across the country are high-quality, are aligned to the skills that employers need for the future and will help grow our economy after the coronavirus outbreak.
To this end, you and I have agreed the board will prioritise the following questions over the next 12 months:
The Minister wants quick answers – I would encourage you to prioritise the accumulation of evidence that can have the greatest impact, to build on the excellent analytical work that has already taken place inside and outside government, and to focus on actionable insights that we can use to reform our skills system… I welcome the board’s advice on what ‘good’ looks like across the globe
The letter also confirms the appointees to the Board of six leading skills and labour market economists:
This is the surprising “big news” this week. Surprising from a timing point of view, at least. We need to get our acronyms right to start with. A lot of talk for years has been about PQA – post qualification admissions. However, it seems that we are now talking about PQO – Post Qualification Offer-making – i.e. students apply in a way not dissimilar to now, but offers are only made when results are available. So no more clearing – because essentially everyone is in clearing. It might also mean an end to unconditional offers in most cases (remember that these are already banned by the OfS in most cases, for the time being). Most importantly for the government, and those concerned by unfairness inherent in the system, it means an end to predicted grades. Although perhaps not……
UCAS triggered media excitement on Monday morning…
And on Friday, the UUK Fair Admissions Review – comes out in favour of PQO from 2023 subject to full consultation.
Other highlights:
Guardian Friday– Admissions reform – University leaders have given their backing to a radical overhaul of admissions policy which would mean UK students would only be offered places once they have their A-level results. The long-awaited reform aims to make the system fairer by eliminating the use of predicted grades, which are often unreliable, and will bring the UK into line with other countries, possibly as early as 2023/24.
We think it is a bit early to say that university leaders have backed it – this is a set of recommendations following a review which have yet to be consulted on…….
Stakeholder reaction to UUK proposals:
Emma Hardy MP, Labour’s Shadow Universities Minister, said:
Chris Millward, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students, said:
Is this a priority?
And what did UCAS say? In Monday’s announcement they set out two “options for reform”.
There is no more detail: “Full details on the two models being proposed and how UCAS will collect and review feedback on them will be published in the coming weeks.”
UCAS Chief Executive Clare Marchant notes that it is “It is absolutely crucial though that we limit any unintended consequences of such major change” and the report will be published alongside a mechanism to collect and review feedback from the sector. The Guardian and the Independent cover the announcement, while the Times publishes letters from Lord Blunkett, Nick Hillman and others on the proposed reforms.
Wonkhe:
In The Times, pupils could apply to university after A-level results day, an opinion piece says that now is the time to reform university admissions and an editorial says that universities should not make offers until A-level results have been received.
Admissions : Access to HE: Wonkhe cover the new report from AccessHE focuses on the impact of the pandemic on those applying for a higher education place in 2021. Assuming that students drop one grade from what they would otherwise have attained (for example D to E at A level) 5,000 applicants in London (75 per cent of whom are from BAME backgrounds) would miss out on HE study. England-wide, this could be as many as 27,000. There’s a position paper from NEON and the NUS calling for a later UCAS deadline and a national taskforce.
SURE: You’ll recall that Government had a bail out scheme of sorts for some universities research functions where Covid has caused significant disruption. It is now called the Sustaining University Research Expertise (SURE) package and Government have released a notice on the fund highlighting that UKRI will published detailed guidance shortly. Research Professional unpick the scheme here.
Some basic points on the fund:
ARPA: The Commons Science and Technology Committee held a session on a new UK research funding agency (ARPA) they continued to hear evidence on how the proposed UK ARPA will fit into the existing research landscape, with Amanda Solloway, Ottoline Leyser, and Sarah Hodgetts among the witnesses. Wonkhe report on the session:
Dods have a more comprehensive summary of the session here.
Arts & Culture: Research Professional (RP) report that:
RP are critical of the Centre stating its impact is based on anecdotal evidence. More here.
Security Threats: The Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) has received an additional £5.3 million to continue behavioural and social science research into security threats to the UK. Originally launched in October 2015 CREST is reported to have drawn collaboration from 140 researchers within 35 higher education institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises for research and engagement to add value to security training, practices and policies.
Doctoral Students: Wonkhe report that UKRI has advised funded doctoral students to discuss with their supervisors adjusting their projects to complete qualifications while funding is available. The research council will be making an additional £19m available to support students who find it more difficult to make adjustments – particularly those in their final year and those with ongoing support needs. This announcement comes alongside the publication of a review of student support, which found that 92 per cent of final year students asked for an extension, with an average length of 46 months. And there’s a Wonkhe blog on the topic.
Digital: Jisc has announced the formation of a digital research community which will explore how technology and innovation can help improve research practice. Researchers, research leaders, research managers and other professionals in the field, such as developers, software engineers, and library and IT staff can join.
Students Engage! The Future of Engagement at Universities from HEPI covers blending public engagement into the student university experience.
R&D Taskforce recommendations: The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) have published Research to Recovery a R&D taskforce report. In the report, business and universities set out a collective vision for a future driven by collaboration through research and development.
The report recommendations include:
Preventing abuse: HM Revenue & Customs have published a policy paper on preventing abuse of R&D tax relief for SMEs. It limits claims to £20,000 plus 300% of its total PAYE and National Insurance contributions liability for the period.
Parliamentary Questions
And this one won’t be responded to for two weeks (so it’ll fit within the timing of the Spending Review without giving anything away) but it is worth noting it now:
Wales: Following an independent review panel Wales has cancelled GCSE, AS & A level exams, due to the ongoing pandemic, replacing them with coursework and assessments. Some assessments will be set and/or marked externally, however they will be delivered in the teacher supervised classroom environment during the second half of the Spring term. The assessments will feed into the nationally derived centre-assessed grades. The decision will also allow schools to continue teaching throughout the summer term (BBC). TES also covered the story.
The BBC report Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams said:
Number 10 have confirmed that exams in England will still go ahead. Although Wonkhe have this:
Exams in Northern Ireland will also go ahead but the number of exams per subject will be reduced (BBC).
The Education Policy Institute has published a report and recommendations on the 2021 exam series. It finds the Government doesn’t have a credible plan B should exams not be able to go ahead and sets out a number of actions that would mitigate the risks for students. It also encourages HE providers to make full use of contextual admissions.
Committee: Ofqual partiality questioned & 2021 exams: The Education Committee has written to Gavin Williamson (Education Secretary) to highlight serious concerns about the independence, accountability and transparency of the exams regulator Ofqual. The Committee has called for proper planning to be put in place to ensure students in England are able to sit exams next year. The letter also sets out the Committee’s findings and recommendations following the problems which resulted from the cancellation of this summer’s exams due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP, Chair of the Education Committee, said:
Wonkhe put it succinctly: the regulator either seemed to ignore evidence presented to it or acted in such a way as to bring itself in line with ministerial wishes, blurring lines of accountability
Dods diplomatically say: …it is clear that Ofqual recognised the problems with the model of awarding grades yet failed to raise concerns about its fairness. Instead they simply followed the ministerial direction and hoped for the best— calling into question its independence.
Exams 2021: The Committee says:
The House of Commons Education Committee held an oral evidence session on Left Behind White Pupils from Disadvantaged Backgrounds (click Transcripts to download the full session content). Below are the elements most relevant to universities:
Wonkhe report: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) unlawfully prevented thousands of disabled students from claiming benefits for essential living costs for seven years, the high court has ruled. It found that the department had rejected students’ claims for universal credit without allowing them to undertake a work capability assessment (WCA), an unlawful refusal which Disability Rights UK has estimated could have impacted over 30,000 disabled students.
Piers Wilkinson, the former NUS disabled students’ officer said “It is imperative that the government publicly recognise the result of the court case, and apologise for the extra hardships they caused to the thousands of disabled students the government denied and ignored”. Despite the decision, disabled students making a new claim for universal credit will not be able to rely on the court ruling – Work and Pensions secretary Therese Coffey changed the regulations on 3 August, the next working day after she told the court that she would not be defending the judicial review.
Parliamentary Questions:
Social Mobility Index
The Social Mobility Foundation has published its annual Social Mobility Employer Index which identifies the top 75 UK employers who have taken the most action on social mobility. It ranks the UK’s employers on the actions they are taking to access and progress talent from all backgrounds. It highlights the employers doing the most to change the way they find, recruit and progress talented employees from different social class backgrounds.
This year’s Index highlights that some sectors of the economy – law, public sector and financial services – have made positive strides to improve social mobility in the workplace, but overall progress is too slow. The charity is calling on those sectors which have benefited most from the Covid-19 pandemic, especially major tech, gaming, or pharmaceutical companies, to make a public commitment to social mobility in 2021. None of these sectors are represented in the Top 75 employers.
Alongside the launch of the Index, their chair, Rt. Hon Alan Milburn issued a rallying cry for business to do more to improve social mobility in the wake of Covid-19 or risk a lost generation.
Key findings taken from the report:
Augar: The long awaited response to Augar may still be delivered during the Spending Review. Lord Parkinson mentioned it this week with some ominously odd phrasing: The government is carefully examining the Augar Report and its recommendations as part of the wider Post-18 Education Review. We are considering a response alongside the Spending Review, with a view to providing certainty to providers and students.
The Government responded to the latest tuition fee related petition – Lower university tuition fees for students until online teaching ends. In essence, they continue to maintain it is a matter for individual universities.
However, on Monday (16 November) there will be a Commons debate on tuition fees (as is required when a petition reaches over a certain high signature level threshold) and a DfE Minister will be present at the debate to respond on behalf of the Government. (The Commons Library is briefing members – here.) The debate will be based on all 5 petitions which, taken all together, received over 980,000 signatures.
You’ll recall the Committee investigated the fee petitions through an inquiry and issued a report during July calling for the Government to take urgent action and review the support for universities and students in the face of the “greatest challenge they have faced for generations”. Receiving a reasonable standard of education and the disproportionate impact of remote learning on certain groups (e.g. disadvantaged, disabled students, those requiring practical tuition or specialist equipment) were noted as important factors.
In its response to the Committee’s report, the Government accepted that students should be able to take action if they are unsatisfied with their university’s response to the pandemic. However, they rejected the Committee’s recommendation for a new centralised system which enables all students to easily seek a full or partial refund of their tuition fees, or to repeat part of their course.
The forthcoming mini Spending Review, unfavourable responses to parliamentary questions and Monday’s debate into tuition fees has the Russell Group on edge. Wonkhe report:
Plenty from HEPI this week:
Once again, the Government is facing three options: providing less money per student through lower fees and loans, which would drive some universities to the wall; reducing student places, just as the number of school leavers is about to start a decade-long growth; or tougher student loan repayment terms, which would mean paying a little more. None of these options is palatable.
If it were down to me, I wouldn’t cut education spending at all. The triple whammy of Brexit dampening down skilled migration to the UK, economic change wrought by the pandemic and higher unemployment among lower skilled people in the coming recession mean we should be investing as much as we can in all types of education. More education is always better than leaving people to build blank spaces on their CVs.
Yet if the higher education sector must take some further pain in the spending review, then tougher student loan repayment terms of the sort in place in other countries and of the type recommended by the Augar panel is a better place to start than pushing universities to the brink or blocking aspirational learners from enrolling in higher education.
HEPI’s big ticket item this week is on the Graduate pay gender gap which looks at how the graduate gender pay gap changes over time tries to explain its persistence. Findings:
Among the recommendations are:
Shadow Universities Minister, Emma Hardy MP, commenting on the report: This report shows that the government’s desire to judge university performance on graduate income is deeply flawed. The government ending it [presumably here she means gender pay difference] cannot be the job of universities alone.
Advance HE published their 2020 UK Engagement Survey of student and staff engagement between Feb and June 2020. They report:
Overall engagement:
Wonkhe report: Students who took the survey during lockdown also report much greater time spent caring for others and working for pay, and less time in scheduled teaching.
The Institute of Student Employer’s annual recruitment survey highlighted that employers hire back 50% of their former interns and placement students. Also despite efforts to move internships online during Covid there were 29% less short-term internships and 25% less placements than in 2018/19. The decline was not evenly spread across the economy, and in all sectors apart from legal, employers are expecting placement opportunities to decline – most dramatically in the retail, charity and built environment sectors.
There’s a good internship blog on Wonkhe by Tristram Hooley of ISE, he states: So far government employment policy has pretty much ignored higher education students and graduates altogether. There is a need for this to be addressed as the recession deepens.
As the survey sits behind a paywall here is Wonkhe’s coverage: The Institute of Student Employers’ annual survey of graduate employers finds tough times for graduate recruitment, with the number of graduate jobs dropping by 12 per cent in 2020, and further reductions expected next year. Sectors worst affected are retail and fast moving consumer goods, which has seen a 45 per cent reduction, while by contrast the charity and public sector has increased recruitment by four per cent. An immediate challenge for universities is widespread reduction of employers offering internships and placements – which could potentially affect promises made to students applying for sandwich courses and courses that include a placement as part of the offer. The Guardian has the story.
Meanwhile: The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) has called on the government to offer more support for graduates looking for employment, following the release of Office for National Statistics data showing that 13.6 percent of those between 18 and 24 are currently unemployed. [Wonkhe.]
i News covers polling of business leaders by YouGov, which says that more than half of them do not consider a degree important when hiring staff.
Finally, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have released their latest Labour Market Overview covering July – September 2020.
The Government have released the guidance for students to travel home at the end of the term while controlling Covid-19 transmission risk. The Government’s press release (which is more readable than the guidance) is here, the written ministerial statement is here and the OfS Student Guidance is here. The guidance has UK students observe the national lockdown then travel home on staggered departure dates between 3 and 9 December following mass Covid testing on campus. The exact departure dates will vary from between individual institutions and will coincide with the cessation of face to face teaching.
On mass testing the Government states: the Government will also work closely with universities to establish mass testing capacity. Tests will be offered to as many students as possible before they travel home for Christmas, with universities in areas of high prevalence prioritised.
Students testing positive will be required to self-isolate for a further 10 days. And the Government points out that: Moving all learning online by 9 December gives enough time for students to complete the isolation period and return home for Christmas.
There is additional detail on students who will travel outside of the UK.
De Montfort and Durham universities continue to run the pilot test for the mass testing within universities, including identifying those who might be infectious but have no symptoms.
Colleagues will have seen Jim Andrews’ all staff email explaining BU is working through the implications of the national guidance whilst putting the detail and local measures in place. Jim’s email also reminds that whatever a student’s individual situation is BU will be here to support them and that the University will remain open.
Wonkhe say: We’re not at all sure if this spreads out student migration in December, or in fact has the unfortunate and ironic potential impact of concentrating something that usually happens over a month or so into about a week. They are also quick to point out there is no detail on returning to campus in January. They say: To accidentally cause outbreaks via mass migration once is deeply regrettable, to do it twice is looking disturbingly like you value not bailing out universities more than you do public health. And even if you can get students to campus safely, there will remain the uncomfortable realities of campuses whose capacity has been reduced while halls and housing (where your problem was last time) will be even more densely populated than September thanks to additional international arrivals.
Finally they state: It’s fair to say the response to the plans has been mixed – with many in the sector and beyond raising concerns around viability and the cost to providers. Wonkhe have a good (and irreverent) blog on the topic which delves into the real issues such as are the tests voluntary (and the comments ask why would students take the test and how can they afford last minute train tickets?). The blog also talks about commuter students, students who will stay on campus, and students on placements. The Independent has a student penned piece which brings home the costs of public transport within the student travel window. The Times explain that National Express are in talks with some Universities to get students home at normal commercial rates. And Swansea have done the maths and concluded it is impossible for them to test all students in the time period allowed: If we were testing 21,500 people twice, at that rate of 1,500 tests a day, it would take a month – we’ve actually got about three days. It’s not possible to test everyone in the time we’ve got now, from the time we’ve been asked to the time everybody will be set up to do this we could not test all students – and certainly not all students 24 hours before they left – nobody will really be able to do that.
Both Wales and Scotland will also test students and are asking students to voluntarily reduce social interaction in the two weeks before they travel home. Wales also intend to adhere to the 9 December travel deadline.
Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said:
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Jenny Harries said:
Shadow Universities Minister, Emma Hardy, said: After weeks of unnecessary delay the government have finally acknowledged Labour’s call from September that more must be done to get students home safely over Christmas. They must work with universities and local government to ensure that rapid and accurate testing is available for all students who need it. It is deeply concerning that the government still have no plan for what students should do in January. They must bring a plan forward urgently.
Larissa Kennedy, NUS National President, said: We particularly welcome this mass-testing approach as it equips students with the knowledge to make informed decisions about travel ahead of the winter break based on individual risk, instead of being subject to blanket rules we’ve seen elsewhere this term. The government must now ensure that universities have enough resource to cope with the mass demand for this testing. We do now need a clear strategy for January return: students deserve better than another term of uncertainty.
It has now been confirmed that further guidance on the January return will be issued in the next few weeks. Despite media to the contrary a recent poll found that 85% of students intend to return to their accommodation in January 2021 when term resumes. More on the poll below
There is a parliamentary question requesting that UK students studying in France access Covid tests before they travel home so they do not have to quarantine on arrival. It is due to be answered next week. Shadow Universities Minister Emma Hardy asks whether the mass testing will use the Innova rapid lateral flow tests. A new angle – students who have signed accommodation contracts for courses that have no in-person teaching due to C-19. And the Government hasn’t able to confirm (yet) whether specific modelling on the demand for Covid testing re: the return of university students was carried out.
Meanwhile there are rumours that 50 Conservative MPs have banded together to oppose the imposition of any further blanket restrictions in England beyond the end of the current lockdown on 2 December. The PM has maintained throughout all his comms this week that lockdown will end as planned and the country will return to the tiered alert system.
PQs:
Unite Students and Opinium ran a student survey on Student Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic (separate results). The results paint a picture of relative satisfaction, resilience and a ‘making the best of it’ attitude amongst the students polled. The also run contrary to recent media which blames universities for bringing students into accommodation for financial gain under false promises of face to face tuition.
The importance of the whole university experience is reflected in students decisions to live away from home, with the majority of students feeling they are benefitting from the experience this year:
Different, but valuable from HEPI covers the Unite poll in brief.
Jisc published The impact of cyber security incidents on the UK’s further and higher education and research sectors. It uses findings from their cyber security posture survey. The document is intended as a means of strengthening understanding of cyber risk and promoting internal discussion, the report also offers advice on how institutions can improve their defences and shorten recovery times.
While many institutions reported a monetary impact of under £100,000 in the last twelve months, the exact monetary burden of cyber attacks remains unclear. The impact on staff is a concern, with additional staff time, including working out of hours, taken up to respond to incidents, as well as the welfare of staff and students targeted by cyber criminals. The report recommends that institutions ensure that they are up to date with security technologies and have a plan in place for when a security breach occurs.
Wonkhe have a guest blog on the topic here.
BU also reminded staff of our handy safety guide for staying safe online this week.
Click here to view the updated inquiries and consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.
Fees: Wonkhe have a new guest blog from the NUS president in post when the move to Higher Fees was voted through Parliament – 10 years ago this week. It’s a reflective piece looking back on whether doing anything differently would have changed the outcome and provides insight to the thought processes of the parliamentarians and politics of the time.
Adult Learning: From Wonkhe – The Social Market Foundation has published (Adult) education, education, education. It shows that funding for adult education (excluding apprenticeships) has nearly halved since 2009/10, and explores the role that adult education does and could play in improving the labour market outcomes of low-income households.
Curriculum cultural diversity: The Petitions Committee and the Women and Equalities Committee held an evidence session on Black history and cultural diversity in the curriculum.
Healthcare students: The House of Commons Library has updated its briefing on funding for healthcare students in England.
STEM: The APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM have published a Data Analysis Brief on the diversity and representation in the STEM (including health) workforce as it stood in 2019. Key findings:
Higher Education Task Force: A Freedom of Information request has pushed the Government’s Higher Education Taskforce to publish some details and documents on the meetings that have taken place. The documents themselves are the perfect shade of civil service bland making them palatable for the public without giving too much away. Only a small section is redacted in the notes from an earlier meeting. The documents are published here (you’ll need to open the zip file). As Wonkhe put it there are no jaw dropping smoking gun moments here and the content needs to be interpreted by reading what isn’t there as much as what is. This Wonkhe article delves into the non-published behind the scenes discussions and the wider sector occurrences to add meat to the scrawny published bones.
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In light of the Government’s announcement that new national restrictions will come into force on 5th November to curb the spread of COVID-19, BU’s Major Incident Group has announced that non-essential travel should not take place during this second ‘lockdown’ period.
Therefore, research and knowledge exchange activities which take place off-campus and outside of the home should be reviewed in light of the latest government guidance on essential work. If these activities can be undertaken in a compliant way, the risk assessment should be updated and approved by the relevant Executive Dean. If they cannot be undertaken under the new lockdown conditions, they should pause for the next four weeks.
For colleagues that have previously completed the return to research process and/or undertaking research in the context of COVID-19 process, and have received a letter stating that they can undertake research off-campus, this permission is now paused until restrictions are lifted. If you have reviewed the activities, still wish to proceed and have the approval from your Executive Dean, please email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk and an appropriate letter will be issued. It is recommended that before requesting permission to proceed with research activities, that you read the latest government guidance on research.
This is important as although BU’s campuses have been made COVID-19 secure enabling you to continue to come into work, this cannot be guaranteed in off-campus locations, and therefore careful consideration needs to be taken as to the feasibility of research proceeding between now and 2nd December.
The one-day event – an initiative of BU’s emerging Science, Health and Data Communication Research Group, in conjunction with the Royal Statistical Society and the Association of British Science Writers – aims to provide a “waypoint” for the participating journalists and academics to reflect on their experience, share their expertise and exchange ideas around issues and challenges in dealing with the science and politics behind Covid-19 facts and figures.
At the centre of the day will be what journalists have done and how they have performed in navigating, handling and communicating the constantly changing and rather chaotic flow of Covid-19 data and statistics, which have become a daily occupation of public and private thought during the pandemic.
The symposium is geared to stimulate rigorous interaction between speakers as well as between speakers and audiences in order to draw some preliminary lessons for the near and far future. The day will cover the following questions:
The event will take place on Zoom. Interested parties can find the detailed programme, including the full list of speakers, and register for free on Eventbrite.
For further information, please contact An Nguyen at anguyen@bournemouth.ac.uk.
BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum BUSEF is proud to present Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020 with not one but two stellar events!
Last year we celebrated the very first Global Entrepreneurship Week at BU with two mega events on campus and although this year the world is different but what’s stopping us from celebrating and raising the bar even higher?
It is a proud moment for us to introduce this year’s events- Women Entrepreneurs in The Times of Covid-19 supported by the Women’s Academic Network at BU on the 17th of November 1400-1600 GMT (online) and Refugee Entrepreneurs and Covid-19 18 November 1400-1600 Online.
These events are aligned with the purpose of BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum in supporting the BU2025 commitment to UN SDGs and creating Fusion-led activities supporting research and student learning and experience.
BUSEF, created in partnership with the Association of Sustainability Practitioners, Dorset and The Rotary Club at Poole Bay is a collaborative, inclusive forum to support the knowledge exchange between academia and the developing landscape of socially focused businesses in the region. In the past one year BUSEF has facilitated a number of student-led projects across BU, organised a number of free skills-based workshops, showcased GEW 2019 and is continuing to support local businesses through online workshops and events.
The library is offering a workshop on 16th November on Enhancing your Research Impact: understanding and navigating bibliometrics.
This will provide an opportunity to understand both what bibliometrics are, and how research impact is measured. We will also discuss how to look after your researcher profile and the various ways impact is measured across different disciplines, as well as exploring Altmetrics and how your research can be viewed through social media posts and downloads.
You can sign up for this workshop on the staff intranet, and you can explore the information in the guide below to find out more.
Image sourced from:
Altmetric 2015. Altmetric logo with black text [png]. London: Altmetric. Available from: https://www.altmetric.com/about-us/logos [accessed 29th October 2020].
A review of BU’s research and k
nowledge exchange activity demonstrated that over the past three years BU’s RKE income met c. 80% of the full economic costs (fEC) of the projects. The review also looked at the fEC thresholds and found they were out of date and unrealistic, for example, a number of the thresholds did not match the funding models provided by funders.
The Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC) have therefore approved changes to the fEC thresholds for RKE activities at BU. The new thresholds have been chosen to make it easier to work with organisations on RKE projects that will benefit society. Moreover, the new thresholds set realistic expectations for working with a range of funders so that research activity is sustainable at BU.
In addition to the thresholds, the RPMC has confirmed an expectation that all new costs to the project (Directly Incurred costs) must be covered by the income to be received from the funder. Ideally the income will be sufficient to also provide a contribution to the other costs to the project (i.e. existing staff time and overheads). This will enable BU to ensure RKE activities are financially viable and sustainable.
The new thresholds set a minimum fEC recovery rate by funder/activity type (see Table 1). They should be discussed with your Funding Development Officer at the start of the bidding process and before any conversations take place with external organisations/partners. All Principal Investigators will be asked to design their projects around meeting or exceeding these minimum thresholds and making sure the Directly Incurred costs will be covered. This may not be possible for all funding schemes. Where there is a strategic reason for applying to such a scheme and there is no alternative funder (such as some prestigious fellowship schemes) then this should be discussed with your Funding Development Officer who will advise on options.
If you have any queries about what this will mean for your research, please contact Ehren Milner (emilner@bournemouth.ac.uk).
Please tell us about the social, cultural and community events that you’ve been involved with by Friday 30 October!
BU is currently compiling the data for the annual Higher Education – Business & Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey. Data returned is used to calculate our Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) grant and feeds into our Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) submission, so it’s really important that we can provide an accurate picture.
We are asked to submit details of social, cultural and community events designed for the external community (to include both free and chargeable events) which took place between 1 August 2019 and 31 July 2020.
Event types that should be returned include, but are not limited to:
We cannot return events such as open days, Student Union activity, widening participation activity, commercial conferences, talks for academic audiences etc.
All events that we ran as part of the Arts by the Sea, ESRC Festival of Social Science and Cafe Scientifique series have been collated on your behalf centrally, so there is no need to add these.
If you have been involved with any other event which could be returned, please could you visit the SharePoint site and input further details about the event. The deadline for entries is Friday 30 October.
Click here to add your events
The site contains further guidance about eligible activities and a set of FAQs. If you have any further questions, please contact Genna del Rosa.
Some fresh news and reports but overall a quieter week HE wise as the Government continues to focus on the rise in virus numbers nationally. Much of the media interest has focussed on familiar topics such as student complaints and white working class students. HEPI looked at future demand for HE study and UUK surveyed about modular study, have a new vision for the HE sector and talk international research partnerships.
The Policy Update is taking a break next week to coincide with the Parliamentary recess. See you all in November!
The Treasury has confirmed that the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) will cover a one year period to set Government department’s resource and capital budgets for 2021-22 due to the constraints of the pandemic. The Devolved Administration block grants will also be set for the same period. The exact date the CSR will be delivered hasn’t been confirmed but it is expected towards the end of November. The CSR focus is expected to cover:
Factors that will be of interest to HE that were meant to be included within the spending review are the Government’s response to the Augar review, response to the Pearce review of the TEF, and implications impacting on HE resulting from the Government’s already announced intentions for FE.
It isn’t clear whether the announcements over the last month on skills and technical education are it or whether there is more to come on FE. There was a debate on the role of colleges in a skills-led recovery from the Covid-19 outbreak this week. During the debate Robert Halfon (Education Committee Chair) welcomed the recently announced increases for FE funding and called for a long-term plan for FE, specifically a 10-year plan for college funding. Speaking about a previous Education Committee report he said:
He also said:
UUK also published Recovery, Skills, Knowledge and Opportunity – a vision for universities. It sets out what universities do now and do well and how as a sector we contribute to the economy, communities, the nation’s wellbeing, innovation and research. It also sets out a wish list series of reforms and recommendations for the future vision.
Below we list some of the recommendations within each section. As you read the recommendations you’ll spot several touch on the Augar Review’s recommendations and recent Government priorities and announcements such as FE & the Skills agenda.
The Minister writes: Amanda Solloway has written to Greg Clark (Chair of the Science and Technology Committee) on the stages of consultation and discussion the Government has taken in the development of the new ARPA style body. She also responded to the Committee’s questions on university research funding and Horizon Europe and alternatives.
Reforming the REF
Amanda Solloway spoke of reforming the REF in the Research Landscape speech for the Education Policy Institute webinar on Tuesday.
She said that the Government recognises the importance of science and innovation for the future and mentioned the commitment to increase public spending on R&D to £22 billion per year by 2024/25. On the Roadmap she said there was a duty to spend that money wisely so it can make the biggest difference possible. Key to this is evaluation… And evaluation can be a powerful incentive – and it can change behaviours. Through linking evaluation to funding, we have introduced policies intended to drive greater impact and openness from our research… But, if implemented in the wrong way, or in a way which doesn’t evolve, evaluation can drive negative behaviours. She said culture was at the root of the challenges with conducting research.
Key points:
Research Professional cover the speech here and Wonkhe pick apart the speech in a very short (and worthwhile) blog, read the comments too!
REF2021 – Research Professional have a piece on getting REF 20201 ‘done’.
Horizon Europe – Politico raises concerns of ‘long-term consequences’ if UK does not participate in Horizon Europe following a leaked scientist letter.
Funding News – Wonkhe tell us:
Race Equality: Advance HE have a short video by PhD student Daniel Akinbosede on race equality and why it is important for HE to mark black history month. He covers the research funding awarding gaps and he urges HE institutions to use Black History month to reassess their policies and processes rather than ‘just hosting a few cultural events’.
Prolific Publishing : Times Higher profile a gambling studies academic who publishes a paper every two days
EU / UK Research & Education: You can watch a session on the future UK-EU relationship on research and education. The Committee intends to address these questions during the session:
Answering the Committee’s questions will be:
Parliamentary Question: how much funding the Government plans to make available in grants during the second stage of the university covid-19 research support package that was announced in June 2020. Amanda Solloway answered: …it will depend on income losses which at this point remain unclear – each university’s allocation is the lower of 80% of losses in international student income or the value of non-public research funding.
Future International Research Partnerships: UUK published Future international partnerships: putting the UK at the heart of global research and innovation collaboration. They state it
Recommendations for each area are peppered throughout the text and cover responsibilities for both Government and HE institutions.
Wonkhe succinctly report on a FE/HE review commencing in Scotland:
And a blog: A Scottish Funding Council review is supportive of the sector as it stands, but ambitious in rethinking tertiary education post-Covid.
Parliament’s Petitions Committee considers all e-petitions which achieve over 10,000 signatures. Decisions on all are here. Of most interest are:
UUK have published a summary of results from a poll they commissioned with English adults aged 18-60 who were interested in future university study and either unemployed (or at risk) or wanting to up or re skill.
UUK say these findings come as universities call for the introduction of loans for more flexible study, which would unlock opportunities for those with caring or work responsibilities.
UUK say: The polling also revealed concerns over how financially accessible university study is, highlighting the need for a comprehensive government-funded national education campaign on student finance… The lack of clear information on the student finance system is holding back individuals of all ages that could benefit from higher education. Targeted maintenance support should also be explored to ensure flexible learning opportunities are truly open to everyone who would benefit.
UUK Chief Executive, Alistair Jarvis, said:
HEPI have published Demand for Higher Education to 2035 which considers the country’s changing demographics and participation rates. It finds that England will need an additional 350,000 more places, whilst Scotland will need fewer places despite increased participation in HE.
The report explains the findings:
In England –
In Scotland –
This is ambivalent news for Scotland who are already struggling with the financial effects of Covid and the impact on their HE institutions. However, whilst expansion seems unlikely it means the cost to the Scottish Government is less. Wales isn’t covered by the report and Northern Ireland is expected to be similar to Scotland but precise calculations are not possible because of data comparisons would be inaccurate.
Although the report does cover how some in Government would like the student numbers cap on HE places to return it doesn’t really tackle the effect of the Government’s intention for technical education demand to increase, with a likely resulting shrinkage in traditional HE degree route. Although written for another topic Sarah likes the below by Wonkhe which summarises the Government direction:
Research Professional also make interesting comments in the same vein:
Returning back to the HEPI report…
However, while FE intentions and the growth of technical alternatives may direct young people aware from the traditional academic degree the HEPI report highlights how we are entering a global recession and that student numbers tend to increase during a recession as people choose to avoid entering an unstable labour market or look to retrain. On page 40 of the report HEPI also ponder a growth in mature numbers (again due to need to retrain and the intended flexibility in the loan system) and page 41 looks at the impact of Level 3 attainment increases and decreases on HE admissions. HEPI conclude that the growth in demand for English HE
Rachel Hewitt, HEPI Director of Policy and Advocacy, said:
Research Professional have their take on the HEPI report here.
While the discussion of how to get students home for Christmas still hasn’t abated this weekend the media are asking whether – once the majority are back home – how feasible it is for students to return to campus in January. Guardian article here; BBC here.
Research Professional:…what happens when they all need to head back to their university campuses again. Can Covid Britain condone not one but two mass movements of people in the space of less than a month? We are already witnessing the fallout from just one student exodus
From the BBC article:
The BBC article also states decisions on the process for students who wish to return home for Christmas will be published next week (commencing 26 October). Among the issues to be clarified will be how, if in-person teaching stops in the week beginning 7 December, what would stop students disappearing home in the days before that, rather than remain confined for a fortnight’s isolation. They’re adults and it isn’t boarding school. The DfE is expected to publish a specific date that face to face tuition should cease by.
And whether students will even want to return is covered by the Guardian:
Wales: Welsh universities will continue to deliver blended learning during the two week fire-break lockdown. It has been stated that it is safer for students to remain on campus during the firebreak and to avoid travelling home.
Covid Cases: Wonkhe have a very short analysis.
The Times also reports a slow down in young case numbers.
Covid related parliamentary questions
The Welsh move has reinvigorated media debate concerning whether all HE teaching should be online or face to face continue where it is essential. We’ve all been around this discussion wheel many times now. Research Professional bring it up again and highlight that an (unnamed) Vice Chancellor has sensibly said [That] there were three main reasons to keep in-person teaching going:
And Research Professional (RP) add (you’re allowed to sigh here): A fourth consideration not mentioned by the vice-chancellor could be the need to deliver what was advertised and avoid complaints—and more calls for tuition fee refunds. They mention the new OfS intention to monitor universities with significant numbers of students being required to take all their courses online and the pre-pandemic strike action.
In addition, RP made freedom of information requests to research-intensive universities finding that during lockdown the number of complaints about teaching or course…grew in 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. RP continues: At King’s College London, for example, complaints rocketed from 17 in 2019 to 567 in 2020. Cardiff’s response to the FOI request sums it up: the past two years had been “some of the most difficult for our students and their university experience”. While the spokesperson pointed out that the “vast majority” of Cardiff’s 30,000 students had not complained, the university recognised that there had been a “disappointing” increase in complaints… The cumulative impact of two periods of industrial action on some, and the current global pandemic, have presented unprecedented challenges and impacted on the delivery of teaching and learning.
What is interesting to note is that quite a volume of complaints relate to the strikes rather than the vast majority on Covid related online teaching and learning, as the media would have us believe. And RP highlight that Not all universities that responded to our request reported a rise in complaints, and not all complaints will translate into requests for tuition fee refunds. Anyone who has ever written an online review knows that the act of complaining can be cathartic enough. If you have the will you can read more from RP on complaints here.
The Guardian have an article too capturing the student voice amongst the reporting.
Research Professional highlight the parental role in student complaints:
Smita Jamdar writes for Research Professional to suggest how universities can mitigate the risk of student demands for refunds. Smita writes:
Smita suggests that To mitigate the risk of claims universities can:
Wonkhe have a guest blog on fee refunds urging universities to explain things better.
White Working Class: Following last week’s NEON publication Wonkhe have a blog on not treating white working class as a homogenous group.
There is a great comment to the blog which highlights that the past measures of social class were withdrawn and there hasn’t been a replacement:
Recycling spending again and again: Wonkhe have a blog – Jim Dickinson took to Wonk Corner yesterday to count the number of times that DfE has reallocated £256m of Student Premium Funding since the start of the pandemic. It’s a lot.
Education: Equality of Opportunity: An oral question within the Commons on ensuring equality of opportunity in education took place this week.
Michelle Donelan (Universities Minister): … talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. This Government have made it our mission to rectify that, and equality of opportunity lies at the heart of the work by the Department for Education, including opportunity areas, access to higher education work and reforms to further education such as the flagship T-levels. We recognise that education has an unparalleled ability to create and unlock opportunities across the nation.
White working class, the levelling up agenda, and raising school standards were also mentioned.
Parliamentary Questions
Gaps: Advance HE have published their annual analysis of students by equalities characteristics LINK. Wonkhe have a blog by Advance HE introducing the key points. Numbers of students with declared disabilities have more than doubled since 2003-04, and the participation gap between the genders continues to increase. The blog also highlights that at the current rate of progress the awarding gap between white and BAME students would not close until 2070-71, and that between white and black students until 2085-86.
SEN: A parliamentary question on when the Government expect to publish the outcome of their review of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities. The answer should pop up on this link from 3 November onwards.
There has been speculation whether the difficult study circumstances in 2020/21 will lead to an increase in the student drop out rate. Students who leave university within (roughly) four weeks of first commencing are not liable for their tuition fee loan. This week Wonkhe have been talking about the official measures – the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s UK Performance Indicator on non-continuation – which captures data on students who leave more than 50 days after the start of their course (but not before). This leaves a hole round about days 28-50 where student drop out is not monitored nationally. Wonkhe state:
Wonkhe have a blog cobbling together a data source to show attrition. On non-continuation they highlight that it is often a drawn out withdrawal:
The DfE updated guidance on UK students intending to study in the EU after the transition period. The information relates to those who are planning to study in the EU, and those who are continuing their studies in the EU. The links also contain information on travel insurance, making changes to Erasmus+ placements and support when students are abroad.
SUMS Consulting published a short briefing paper: Crystal Ball Gazing: What is the Future for Handling Exceptional Circumstances? Highlighting the changes that were made to exceptional circumstance policies to account for the pandemic disruption but also addressing the exponential increase in the volume of requests for exceptional circumstances in recent years. There is more content here. The paper concludes:
The Alliance for Full Employment (AFFE) have published Youth Report: A Million Reasons to Act on the impact of the pandemic on young people’s employment prospects. Under-25s suffered 60% of the post-March redundancies, and male youth unemployment is at 16%, more than three times the UK adult rate. They call on the Government to convene a jobs summit of UK nations and regions to address to impending issue.
The report also states that Kickstart, the Government’s main youth unemployment programme, will not provide anywhere near enough places for those in need of support. The report estimates that over 1m young people will be unemployed by November, and are likely to “fall through the net.”
They identify four new groups who will require the Government’s attention and help as we head into winter:
The report, which features a foreword by former PM Gordon Brown, recommends the following priorities for the Government:
Prof. Gregg (author) concludes: The recession in the UK has only just started, in terms of the impact on jobs, consumer confidence and firm planning. Yet because firm profitability was already low and the trading block under Lockdown, the wave of job losses will be incredibly condensed and intense between now and next April. This means that the need for getting intervention on the ground is urgent and hard to get to scale in time.
The Guardian cover the above report and report on a call from former PM Gordon Brown for employers to be given a wage subsidy of £100 a week to hire workers under 25 as part of a plan to prevent youth unemployment exceeding levels seen in the 1980s.
Graduate unemployment was also mentioned in this week’s Department for Work and Pensions topical questions:
Q- Tim Loughton (Con): With forecasts showing that there may be as many as 1 million young people without a job, I urge the Minister to think outside the box. I have long argued that we should use graduates and gap-year students to help some of those pupils who have missed out on schooling to catch up. Can we devise, with the Department for Education, a scheme to pay them a variation of JSA to provide such a service, or at least offer greater flexibility for claimants who volunteer to help in such a way or to take the pressure off other public services?
A – Dr Coffey: One element of the kickstart scheme, a £2 billion investment in the future of our young people, is designed to help people to get on the first rung of the ladder with a proper job. It is a way for those people who have recently left school or university and are at risk of long-term unemployment to get experience and financing, which does not just have to be through private organisations and could be through local government or charitable or other sectors. It is a specific way to ensure that those people get not only a job but the extra training and wraparound support that they need to help them further on in their lives.
As we’re on a break next week some of the parliamentary questions cover the two week period, you may have to check back on them in early November to see the response.
HE sector
Click here to view the updated inquiries and consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.
Shadow Education Secretary – Kate Green has been in post as the Shadow Education Secretary for 3 months already. There is a good background and profile on her in Schools Week which suggests she is committed to slower policy making with sufficient time for research and evidence based formulation.
Historic Statues: Colleagues following the debate surrounding the removal of historic statues may be interested in this Lords discussion on the topic. It is not specifically HE or education focussed, although the matters covered do have some application.
Groceries: While it isn’t policy news, if you were interested in the reasons behind the price increases for your food shopping during lockdown the Institute for Fiscal Studies have a paper on it. In short: less promotions were available and there was a reduction in product variety. They’re unsure if the autumn restrictions will see the return of grocery inflation.
HE numbers: The House of Commons Library has published a research briefing on HE numbers. It finds that: Headline student numbers have increased to new records following a short dip after to the 2012 reforms. There are however ongoing concerns about numbers outside this group where trends have not been so positive, including part-time undergraduates, some postgraduates students, overseas students from some countries, especially Nigeria and Malaysia, mature students and some disadvantaged groups. There is also considerable concern about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and student numbers, particularly those from overseas and uncertainty about the impact of Brexit on EU student numbers.
Physics: The Institute of Physics is railing against the limiting words of others which are influencing young people from continuing to study physics post-16. Report here.
The House of Commons enters recess next week and the policy update will take a break. We’ll be back on 6 November.
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Dr John Oliver formed part of an expert panel for a European Media Management Association webinar on ‘Overcoming challenges for bridging theory and practice’. The webinar was well attended by academics from across the UK, Europe, US, Qatar,Australia and provided an opportunity to discuss the opportunities and challenges for academics to create actionable knowledge and impact in the media industries.
Dr Oliver argued that BU was well placed to advance knowledge and create social and economic impact through its Fusion Strategy. He discussed his external engagement experiences, REF2021 Impact Case Study and his recent publication on creating actionable knowledge and impact (Oliver, J.J., 2020. Managing Media Firms: case studies of practice-led research, actionable knowledge and instrumental impact. In U. Rohn, & T. Evens (Eds.), Media Management Matters, 59-74. London: Taylor & Francis).
For more information on the European Media Management Association webinar series, please go to: https://www.media-management.eu/news/
Then we want to hear from you!
BU is currently compiling the data for the annual Higher Education – Business & Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey. Data returned is used to calculate our Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) grant and feeds into our Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) submission, so it’s really important that we can provide an accurate picture.
We are asked to submit details of social, cultural and community events designed for the external community (to include both free and chargeable events) which took place between 1 August 2019 and 31 July 2020.
Event types that should be returned include, but are not limited to:
We cannot return events such as open days, Student Union activity, widening participation activity, commercial conferences, talks for academic audiences etc.
All events that we ran as part of the Arts by the Sea, ESRC Festival of Social Science and Cafe Scientifique series have been collated on your behalf centrally, so there is no need to add these.
If you have been involved with any other event which could be returned, please could you visit the SharePoint site and input further details about the event. The deadline for entries is Friday 30 October.
Click here to add your events
The site contains further guidance about eligible activities and a set of FAQs. If you have any further questions, please contact Genna del Rosa.
Covid-19 has created tremendous uncertainty, to state the obvious mildly, particularly for small social businesses and social entrepreneurs where there is not much focused and specific support to go around.
A year ago we embarked on a journey, via the BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum (BUSEF), formed in collaboration with the Association of Sustainability Practitioners and the Poole Bay Rotary Club to develop the landscape of socially focused businesses in the community, to encourage knowledge transfer projects between BU and socially focused businesses and to provide a collaborative, inclusive forum to support business transition to socially sustainable yet economically viable models.
BUSEF is now offering free, focused, workshops online on the theme of ‘Coping with Covid-19’. Our very successful and well received session in August was on legal structures of social businesses and sources of funding with experts from YTKO , Jonathan Dixon, Head of Grants Programme and NatWest Community Business Funding support officers John Murray and Mairead Taylor .
Now, we have our next workshop on the 09th of October (online) where The Operations Director of Dorset Growth Hub, Nick Gregory; Director at Association of Sustainability Practitioners and lifelong environmentalist, Linda Farrow and Economic Development Officer at BCP Council, Claire Main will speak about the various types of direct support available, share experiences of business during Covid-19. And if that was not enough, we are also launching our BUSEF Clinic sessions! From this event onwards, we invite expressions of interest from local social SMEs and social entrepreneurs (via email to Sukanya at sayatakshi@bournemouth.ac.uk) to have their own particular case discussed live with an expert panel to seek a collective resolution and personalised support.
BUSEF is now in the final phases of developing its own website, in partnership with Worksity a social business founded by an ex-BU student Amin Pasandideh. Watch the space for our next exciting steps!
Register here at link
SAIL (Staying Active and Independent for Longer) has been a three year EU funded project that utilised a social innovation approach to developed 10 pilots that aimed to support active aging. Four pilots were developed in the Netherlands, 2 in France, 2 in Belgium and 2 within the UK. The role Bournemouth University Team (Prof Ann Hemingway, Prof Adele Ladkin and Dr Holly Crossen-White) was to undertake an evaluation of the pilots and develop a feasibility study regarding the use of social innovation.
Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 the presentation of the findings was postponed in March. The decision has now been taken to have a virtual presentation and if you are interested in hearing more about SAIL please register at SAIL@hz.nl.
BU staff can login below:
Dr. Paul Whittington attends Technology and the SEND Reforms Roundtable in the House of Commons
Dr. Paul Whittington joins Bett 2026 DfE Assistive Technology Roundtable
BU Prof Jonathan Parker promoting social work in Malaysia
New interdisciplinary paper accepted for publication
Three NIHR Internships awarded at BU
Research highlighted at the UN in New York
Horizon Europe Cluster 3 (Civil Security for Society) 2026 Calls Now Open
MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026 Call Information Webinar
ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026: Application Deadline Extended to Thursday 25 June 2026 Apply now to take part in the 2026 ESRC Festival of Social Science
Reminder: Register for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026 Information Session
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Apply now MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Research Information Network