What a week! Parliament is sitting (but not quietly) and there is lots of coverage from the Labour Party conference including the fringe events. Fresher loneliness Fresher loneliness: The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and Louise Knowles (Sheffield University) have spoken out on tackling loneliness during the first few weeks when starting university. For… 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.
HE policy update for the w/e 20th September 2019
With Parliament suspended until 14th October (despite calls for a recall, pending the outcome of this week’s Supreme Court hearing on the lawfulness or otherwise of the prorogation), things are a little quieter in policy circles, although there is likely to be plenty of news from the Labour and Conservative party conferences over the next… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 13th September 2019
Parliament has been prorogued, but did not go quietly and next week will see two court cases on whether it was lawful or not heard together in the Supreme Court. There were cheers from the sector as Chris Skidmore returned to the University Minister role and Gavin Williamson as Education Secretary also seems to have… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 6th September 2019
The political to and fro this week has been whiplash-inducing and the Universities Minister job is vacant – again. Brexit & Parliament Unfortunately the Universities Minister job is beginning to resemble that of the Hogwarts Defence against the Dark Arts teacher – in a shock announcement on Thursday Jo Johnson resigned as Universities Minister and… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 23rd August 2019
A quieter week for HE policy, however, there’s news on the KEF and lots of other relevant content. STEM for Britain As a member of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee BU’s early career researchers and PhD and post-doc researchers all have the opportunity for exposure of their work through the annual poster competition. Posters are… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 16th August 2019
Welcome to a bumper update catching you on the last two weeks in policy land plus Sarah has taken a special in-depth look at post-qualification admissions as it is the hot topic of the week. Post-qualification Admissions Labour reinvigorated the post-qualification admissions debate on Wednesday when they declared they would reform the HE system and… Read more »
Emerald Literati Highly Commended award for BU paper
Former PhD student, Dr Andy Harding, now at Lancaster University, and BU Professors Jonathan Parker, Sarah Head and Ann Hemingway have been highly commended for their paper Supply-side review of the UK specialist housing market and why it is failing older people published in Housing, Care and Support. As a result, this paper has been made available… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 26th July 2019
The Policy Update will take a break for a few weeks followed by a bumper edition catching you up with the summer news. We realise that this is poor timing given everything that is happening but we offer you some great links to use instead: The Institute for Government live blog You can catch up… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 19th July 2019
The big news this week was the defeat of the Government’s wishes to prevent an amendment which aims to hinder the prorogation of Parliament. Chris Skidmore made what may be his last speech as Universities Minister. Few HE reports were issued and the main thrust this week focussing on skills within industry including apprenticeships and… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 12th July 2019
We focus on the interesting set of reports released as people clear their desks before their summer holidays. Learning gain The OfS have published evaluations of the various learning gain projects that have been running for some time. The OfS website is very clear “The report below is independent research which we have commissioned. As… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 5th July 2019
A slightly quieter week in HE policy, dominated by the release of the latest NSS data, which if course has policy implications as: it will be included in the next iteration of the TEF (which looks at three years of data) subject to any changes to the TEF after the independent review, and potentially either… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 28th June 2019
Although after the frantic weeks in early Spring we seem now to be in a political limbo, when nothing is achieved except an escalation in rhetoric and an increase in polarisation, actually, there’s quite a lot going on. Some of it looks like political legacy building, but hey, if it works… Sharing access to health… Read more »
Invasive Species
The Environmental Audit Committee is running an inquiry into the impact of invasive species and their management. This tackles non-native species living outside their natural range which have arrived by human activity, either deliberate or accidental. Invasive species are those that negatively affect native biodiversity, ecosystem services and public health, through predation, competition or by… Read more »
HE policy update for the w/e 21st June 2019
The political news has been dominated by the Conservative leadership battle this week. Plus lots on research funding and tough conversations on social mobility. Collaboration between universities and business “State of the Relationship is the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) flagship annual report showcasing university-business collaboration across the UK and providing an authoritative… Read more »
Loneliness
The government has announced the launch of a campaign to tackle the stigma of feeling alone. Loneliness Awareness Week began on Monday (17th June), led by Minister for Loneliness Mims Davies. The initiative is called “Let’s Talk Loneliness” and brings together The Marmalade Trust, the British Red Cross, the Co-op Foundation, the Campaign to End… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 14th June 2019
Another busy week in national politics and also in HE policy. The government may be having a slightly quieter time while they elect a new leader but that gives us time for plenty of speculation…. Research Communications BU is running a Research Communication Day on Thursday 20 June. The morning (from 10:30) will share tips… Read more »
HE Policy Update for the w/e 7th June 2019
Is it only just over a week since Augar landed? Given the volume of commentary, it feels much longer. We are quite good as a sector at criticism and finding the potential problems and risks in things. As a HEPI blog says: “Last week’s Augar report divided opinion. At HEPI, we were at the more positive end of… Read more »
What does Augar mean for the Arts and Humanities – Policy Update Supplement 7th June 2019
One thing that everyone can agree on is that the implications of Augar are ominous for the Arts and Humanities – the (historian) Minister for Universities gave a speech on Thursday which we discuss below, with some reflections on what Augar could mean for Arts and Humanities subjects in universities. The Minister speaks In an… Read more »
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