Welcome to your new mid-week update! If you missed our admissions special last week, you will also not have seen that we are moving away from Friday afternoon e-mails because we want to support your wellbeing. Nothing much has changed on admissions yet, by the way, so that one is still worth reading. Government Updates… Read more »
Category / policy
This part of the blog features news and information about higher education policy and how BU’s research is influencing policy.
COVID-19 Outbreak Expert Database – request for researchers
Over the past few weeks, Parliament has seen a surge in need for access to research expertise as it engages with the COVID-19 outbreak. In this rapidly evolving situation, Parliament needs quick access to researchers who can provide expert insights relating to both Coronavirus and its impacts. Parliament and Parliamentarians use these insights to help… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 20th March 2020
We are going to change the way that we do the BU HE policy update to respond to current circumstances. No-one wants to receive a long bulletin on a Friday evening after a long week juggling working from home with all the other requirements on your time. And really, we need to discourage anyone from… Read more »
He policy update for the w/e 13th March 2020
The first budget of the new Government was delivered on Wednesday. Overall a quieter week as most focussed on the nation’s health. We can do no better than refer you to the BU website and for staff, the BU intranet pages. The Budget There was very little specifically relating to HE in the budget. Of most… Read more »
Women Empowerment through Skills Development
UK could increase economic growth by 0.5 percentage points per year, with a potential gain of 10% of GDP by 2030 by equalising labour force participation rates of men and women (Gov.uk 2019). In the last few decades, women of various ethnic origins including Indian high-class professionals in the fields of IT, medical, academia and entrepreneurship have come to… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 6th March 2020
Pre-budget week has been as we’d typically expect with organisations releasing a hoard of reports, evidence and lobbying papers aiming to influence Government funding decisions. We’ve summarised the main reports and added links for the reports which say similar things. Graduate outcomes and apprenticeships& technical education were the loudest shouters, and this week also saw… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 28th February 2020
Welcome back to your policy update. We bring you the key news from the last two weeks including the new universities minister, rumours of student number control return, and we explore what the new points-based immigration system means for students and staff members. Admissions in the spotlight The anticipated OfS consultation on admissions has gone… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 7th February 2020
With a reshuffle on the horizon this week, last week was Apprenticeships Week and Children’s Mental Health Week. Parliamentary News Cabinet Reshuffle – we are expecting a ministerial reshuffle to take place before Parliament enters recess at the end of next week. Politico speculates about who may be in and out of favour. Brexit –… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 31 January 2020
A bumper edition covering lot of news across all the HE interest areas. We have also done a special edition on this week’s big OfS’ report analysing the future of HE Access and Participation. Parliamentary News Select Committee elections were held on Wednesday with some big names being elected. Here are the Chairs of the… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 24th January 2020
There are five reports touching on social mobility this week, lots of education statistics released, and we’ve almost Brexited. After all the focus on Parliamentary process over the last two and a half years, the ping pong was over before it really started. There is scope for more before the end of the year, although… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 17th January 2020
Another busy week in HE policy– with consultations and a very short timeline for the KEF. Everyone has hit the ground running in 2020! The third leg of the HE stool arrives: KEF has landed The outcome of the KEF consultation in 2019 has come out. UKRI have published the “Decisions for the first iteration”. … Read more »
REF2021: the importance of Open Access compliance
Introduction The four main HE funding bodies in the UK believe that ‘the outputs of publicly funded research should be freely accessible and widely available.’ The REF2021 Open Access Policy was introduced as a requirement for the next REF and it states that – all journal articles and conference contributions (with ISSN) accepted for… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 10th January 2020
Welcome to all our new readers! Parliament is back in the swing, the Labour leadership contest kicks off and the OfS has been VERY busy. Parliamentary News Daniel Zeichner, Labour MP for Cambridge, has been elected the new chair of the all-party parliamentary group for universities. The Budget has been scheduled for Wednesday 11 March… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 3rd January 2020
The end of 2019 saw a flurry of announcements and planning documents as the government issued detailed notes on the Queen’s Speech, building on their manifesto commitments, and the Office for Students issued a detailed annual review with an accompanying blog giving some ideas about what is coming up next. If you missed our policy… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 20th December 2019
It’s our last update until the New Year – we give you the Queen’s speech (not that one, the one at the State opening) and the OfS annual review, to get you ready for what will be coming in the New Year. At the time of writing MPs are expected to pass the second reading… Read more »
General election special – HE policy update for the w/e 13th December (2)
The exit poll got it about right, after all. So we don’t need to talk about hung Parliaments. Whatever 2020 holds, it probably isn’t long evenings of votes in Parliament and “will they, won’t they” arguments about Brexit. While the election was about many things, it has taken the place of a second referendum on… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 13th December 2019
It’s a full moon on polling day and the results will be announced on Friday the 13th! Superstitions aside we’re issuing your policy update early this week before the election outcomes are announced so you can focus on all the educational news. Fear not, we’ll bring you all the election fall out and early outcome… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 6th December 2019
A fresh selection of educational reports were issued this week. When we issue next week’s policy update the election results will be out. The campaign has already got a bit over-heated, with leaks from both main parties, edited videos, dodgy data and everyone trying to avoid making the ultimate error in today’s world – the… Read more »
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HE Policy Update for the w/e 6th March 2020
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